Emerson Wilmore was an exemplary Ravenclaw student, known for her unwavering dedication to academics and an unyielding moral compass. However, things took a twisted and deviated turn in her life after her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by L...
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The days turned into weeks, each one feeling heavier than the last as Emerson and Mattheo slipped back into their old routine of trading insults, dark glares and pretending that their brief friendship of two weeks over Christmas never happened, playing their roles as enemies once more. The weeks that followed were a blur of cold glares, biting comments, and a simmering resentment that Emerson couldn't seem to shake.
To everyone else, it probably seemed like nothing changed between them because no one, other than Olivia, knew anything different. To the world, it looked as if they were still the same old enemies they'd always been. But to Emerson, everything did change between them and she couldn't just forget that it did.
Every word that left her mouth, every insult she hurled in Mattheo's direction, felt like a dagger to her own heart. She couldn't deny that she hated how sharp her words were or playing along so convincingly that it felt normal again. She hated their rehearsed hostility, and the way they treated each other now, as if those fleeting moments of closeness meant nothing. She hated that he ruined everything by punching Fred for reasons that still remained unsure to her.
But, most of all, she hated the hollow ache in her chest that refused to go away, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.
Every interaction with Mattheo left Emerson feeling a mixture of anger and sadness. She felt angry towards him for being so cruel to her and ruining their friendship. She also felt sadness because she strangely enough missed him, the real version of him who laughed with her, shared secrets and made her feel like maybe, just maybe, she wasn't as alone as she thought. But, either that Mattheo was gone once more, or he never truly existed, because he was back to being a cold, distant stranger who acted like she was nothing more than a nuisance.
His actions were slightly different though. When they were enemies, before their brief, fleeting friendship, Mattheo's gaze was always on her, steady and unrelenting. His dark brown eyes followed her every move whenever they were in the same room. They were once so intense and filled with a mix of emotions she couldn't quite decipher. He made her feel seen in a way no one else did, not even Cedric because he didn't stare at her like that. It made her feel like she was something worth paying attention to, even if it was just to mock or annoy her. But now? Now, he didn't even look at her. He treated her as if she was invisible.
It was as if he couldn't bear the sight of her like he could no longer acknowledge her existence. Why? Why did he treat her that way? Emerson found herself searching for his gaze in the crowded hallways, in the Potions classroom, in Herbology and even in the Great Hall during meals. But his eyes never found hers. Instead, they stayed fixed on something else, something far away, as if he were deliberately avoiding her. It made her feel small, insignificant in a way that she hadn't felt in a long time.
It was as if they reverted to being nobody to each other, which somehow cut her deeper than any harsh word or cold glance. Emerson felt lost in the sea of her own emotions, adrift without the anchor of their strange, complicated friendship. She played along with him like cat and mouse. What else could she do? She couldn't stay silent and allow him to insult and taunt her. She snapped back at him when he provoked her, rolled her eyes at his sarcastic remarks, and pretended that the sting of his indifference didn't hurt as much as it did. But, it was all a façade. She wore a mask of her prior self, the person she was around him at Christmas, to protect herself.
