mattheo riddle was used to being the one to pick fights.

he found slamming his fists into other boys' faces was a nice pastime to relieve his stress. and whether he instigated the brawls or was dragged into one as a misunderstanding, mattheo usually wound up the victor. it wasn't as if he came out unscathed, but thankfully you had always been the one to clean him up.

mattheo had heard the rumours circulating around the two of you, some not so bad and some very brash, but rumours were rumours and he paid no mind to them. it would have been different if someone had gone up to his face, but if they were simply whispers then he easily tuned them out.

today, he was met with a surprise.

it was just as he walked out of charms class towards the courtyard to find a large group of students circled around chanting, "fight!", which was not a rare occasion. he assumed it was theodore or draco or such who had been caught in a wrestling match, but as he pushed his way through his classmates, mattheo couldn't hide the shock on his face when he found you, straddled on top of daphne greengrass. your fists landed one after another on her cheeks as she attempted to push you off of her. you were not one to get into fights, so he knew this was a rare occasion. what had daphne done to anger you so much?

mattheo didn't know if he should intervene or leave you to it, but by the looks of the match, you didn't need any help. instead, he stood back, crossing his arms as he watched daphne spew a few curses at you. you looked as if steam were about to come out of your ears, and he couldn't lie, you looked damn good, too.

"that's my girl," mattheo muttered to anyone around him that happened to be listening, and he didn't care that no one responded. rather, he just whooped for you with a proud smirk on his face, waiting for you to come up to him once you were finished with daphne.