For four weeks straight, your name and Mattheo Riddle’s have been the headline of The Restricted Section—Hogwarts’ most notorious journal.

At first, it was laughable. A single article claiming you and Mattheo were caught in a moment outside the Great Hall. Then another, saying you had been sneaking off together. By the third, people had started whispering. By the fourth, you and Mattheo had enough.

So, you devised a plan.

Now, you walk through the courtyard with your friends, pretending not to glance around, pretending not to anticipate when it’ll happen. And sure enough, just as you round a corner—someone slams into you.

You stumble backward, colliding into something—or rather, someone. Strong hands catch you. Mattheo.

Fresh off a Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match, he’s still in his uniform, sweat-damp hair clinging to his forehead, a victorious grin lingering on his lips. He doesn’t move away. If anything, he holds you just a second too long, enough for the scene to burn into anyone’s memory. Enough for Colin Creevey, who lowers his camera with a look of pure panic.

Mattheo’s smirk sharpens. The plan worked.

Before Colin can bolt, you and Mattheo do exactly what you agreed on—you chase him. Colin is fast, but Mattheo is faster, and there’s something terrifying in the way he moves—determined and relentless. Colin shrieks, pleading as he skids around a corner Mattheo launches, catching him.