mattheo riddle was honestly in shock when he stepped into school on the first day of his sixth year when he saw you.

over the summer, he'd spent it abroad with theo nott, his closest friend, at his italian summer house, where mattheo had met you. he wouldn't call it a summer fling — no, it was more than that. a fling was much more meaningless than the hours you'd spent on the coast watching sunsets or tangled in bedsheets.

it was a sorrow goodbye, when he'd departed with theo, not expecting to see you again, until he stepped into the great hall with his group of friends and saw you seated at your house table, chatting off with a few other students. from the gossip, he'd heard you were a new student transferring from a small wizarding school in sicily.

and because mattheo was so conflicted with his feelings, he ultimately decided to avoid you. avoiding was what he did best, anyways.

he'd spent the first few weeks of the school year averting his gaze when he'd caught himself staring, and switching his classes to those you were not in, and he'd even latched himself onto daphne greengrass, though he was unsure what his ulterior motive was — whether he truly liked her or not. he was certain you were aware of him, though you made no move to acknowledge him.

that was until he was fooling around in the library with theo, who was trying to study, when mattheo was shoed off to find a book for him. he up sauntered to a bookshelf, pulling out a book when he found you on the opposite side.

"your new girl know about us?" you had said through the bookshelf, and mattheo blinked in shock. he was certainly not expecting you to be the one to confront him.

he shook his head and shrugged, poking his tongue in his cheek like he always did. he mumbled, "i mean, i told her you were just a fling from summer,"