The castle corridors were unusually quiet, but tension lingered as you stood pressed against the cold stone wall, your heart racing while the boy's sharp, cruel taunts cut deeper than you'd admit.

“Look, maybe if you weren’t so—”

“Hey!” Mattheo’s voice rang out like a thunderclap.

Mattheo strode toward you both. “Got nothing better to do than bother her?” he asked, his tone laced with mockery but his eyes burning with something far more dangerous.

“Stay out of it, Mattheo,” the boy growled.

“Not a chance,” Mattheo shot back, stepping between you and your tormentor.

The boy swung without hesitation, landing a punch that cracked Mattheo's nose and sent bl00d splattering onto his shirt, though Mattheo barely flinched. “Bad move,” he muttered.

Before you could process what was happening, Mattheo retaliated with a punch that sent the boy stumbling backward.

“Mattheo!” you scolded, reaching out to steady him. “Sit down before you make it worse.”

“I’m fine,” he insisted.

“No, you’re not.” You pulled him to sit on the edge of a bench nearby. You pulled out your wand, muttering a soft incantation to stop the bleeding. “There,” you murmured. “You’re lucky it wasn’t broken.”

“Thanks,” he said softly, his usual bravado momentarily absent.

You smiled faintly. "Thanks for... you know."

Mattheo shrugged. "No need to... Well... I'm not in love with you anymore."

Your brow furrowed, confusion flickering across your face. "I didn't know you ever were."

The words hung between you, the kind of silence that demanded answers.

Mattheo froze for a moment, his dark eyes widening slightly as the weight of what he had just said hit him. His voice, when he finally spoke again, was lower, as though the confession had slipped out before he could stop it. “I thought you knew,” he said, almost a whisper. “I didn’t think I’d have to say it out loud.”

He turned his head, his expression hardening as though trying to put the walls back up, but you could still see the cracks in his armor.

But you couldn’t forget.