Fighting Fate // Mattheo Riddle ♣️

Chapter Twenty-Five - Happiness

"Potter?" I asked him, turning the boy's attention to me for a moment.

"Yeah?" He looked at me.

"You know I'd choose you, right?" I told him. "If it came down to it, I would choose you, not the dark."

He visibly sighed. "I know Black. I know." Harry left the room.

"It's Christmas?" Riddle asked me.

I turned back to him with a nod. "Yeah. It's Christmas."

Mattheo shook his head, bringing his hand up to touch the now clear skin. "All healed then?"

"Snape was here," I told him. "He's good a healing charms."

"Well then, I better remember that for when I need a little pick me up-"

"You looked dead," I cut him off, gaining his attention. "For a moment."

"Lyra –"

"There was so much blood, and I can't help but feel terrible because this is my fault."

He shook his head. "This is not your fault Lyra."

"You were punished because I couldn't kill Pettigrew," I told him. "Tell me I'm wrong."

He bit his lip. "You're not wrong."

I let out a sigh. "Riddle, if I had known –"

"You would not have done anything differently," he cut me off.

"I would have taken the punishment myself."

"I would never let you do that," he spoke sterner. "You don't deserve to be punished for being good."

"Neither do you," I argued.

He sighed. "I would suffer for the rest of my life if it meant that you didn't."

I shook my head. "That would break me. Knowing that you were in pain because of me."

He scoffed a laugh, bringing the hand that was intertwined with mine up to my cheek. "I lied you know," he started. "When I told you that I was falling in love with you."

I gave him a confused glance. "You're not falling in love with me?"

"I already love you," Riddle told me, brushing a thumb across my cheek. "I love you."

I smiled with tears forming in my eyes. "That's a mistake. Love is a weakness. Something they can use against us."

"And yet, it didn't stop me. You can't just stop feelings. Love. Hate. You can't. They happen whether you want them to or not, but we get to choose whether they are our weakness, or our strength and I choose for it to be my strength."

Mattheo wiped a tear from my cheek and gave me a small smile. "I love you," he repeated.

Nodding, I replied. "I love you," I told him. "I do."

He only smiled, moving his head forward to rest it on mine. "You don't know how happy you make me Lyra."

"Ditto," I replied.

He moved his head back to look at me. "What does that mean?" he asked him with a laugh.

I shook my head. "It means the feeling is mutual."

"Then why not just say that?"

"There is no fun in just saying it," I told him.

The boy in front of me shook his head. "Merlin, I love you."

He leaned forward, pressing a short kiss to my lip, the both of us smiling into it. He kissed me again.

"Well," a voice entered the room, causing us to pull apart and turn to the door. My father stood in the doorway.