Mattheo Riddle - Imagines/OneShot

Ghost

Word Count: 656

Song Inspo: "The Other Woman" - Lana Del Rey

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The other girl gets kisses in the daylight.

She gets hand-holding in the corridors.

She gets to laugh out loud with him in the Great Hall, while the world watches.

Me?

I get 1 a.m. footsteps, cloaks pulled low, and silence pressing against my ribs as he slips into my room like he doesn't belong to anyone else.

Mattheo never says her name when he's here.

He never says mine either.

I used to count the nights he didn't show up. At first, it hurt. Then it became a rhythm—three nights with her, two with me, one where he vanished, one where I cried.

Now I don't cry. I just wait.

It's always the same: he comes in without knocking. Like he owns the shadows. Like he owns me.

Tonight, I hear whispers outside the library as I pass–two Ravenclaws huddled near the staircase.

"Did you see them by the Black Lake? He had his hands on her waist. How romantic."

"I swear, I never thought I'd see the son of 'You-Know-Who'  be so...different. I think he's in love with her."

I don't stop walking.

Funny. I thought love looked a little less like cheating.

But I'm not her.

I don't get the love story.

I get what's left of him when the light goes out.

He's in my bed before I even speak. The room smells like worn books and night air, and the window rattles slightly in the wind. I'm not cold. He brings fire when he touches me, but it burns in a way that never feels kind.

"Did you miss me?" he murmurs, mouth against my throat.

I don't answer. What's the point?

Mattheo never wants the truth.

His hands slide across my hips like he's memorizing something he's always meant to forget. I close my eyes and try not to picture the girl he does kiss in the daylight.

I bet she smiles when she sees him coming.

I bet he smiles back.