Queen of Hearts (editing)

Chapter 17 - This could be fun

"This is mad, at this rate we're going to be the only one without dates." Ron mutters to Hermione and Harry, his eyes rolling back into his head as he glances around the girls in the study class.
Emilia smirks a little as she writes down study notes for Potions a few rows down as she overhears Ron. Despite Ron's statement making her laugh, she struggles to bring her thoughts to paper, given that Draco's harsh words continue to ring out in her head. I bet your daddy would love to know. I enjoyed her much more than you. Merlin, what a prick.
Emilia's father wouldn't hesitate to throw her to the death eaters if he ever discovers that Draco knows of Noah. The letter she wrote yesterday still sits in the drawer, acting as a reminder of her promise to bring Noah back into my her. She'll send it soon - before she loses the courage.
Snapping out of her head at the sound of slapping, she notices Ron rubbing the back of his head as Snape steps away from the pair of boys.
"Well, us and Neville." Ron groans out while he continues to hold onto his head, uncaring for the next slap that will no doubt come his way should he carry on.
Emilia's head jolts up, her eyes filtering to Snape before back to the two boys and Hermione, "it might interest you to know that Neville's already got someone." She whispers out once Snape is out of earshot from the table.
Ron lets out a nervous gasp. "Now I'm really depressed."
Hermione motions for Emilia to join the three of them and as Snape is occupied with another student, she pushes her books towards them, filling the seat next to Hermione.
"It's not hard you know." She whispers, rearranging the books in front of her. "You just need to find a girl and simply ask her."
Fred speaks out to Ron from a few seats up, a cheeky grin on his lips. "You better hurry up mate or all the good ones will be taken!"
Ron furrows his eyebrows back at Fred, "Who you going with then?"
Fred promptly throws a ball of scrunched up paper towards an older student, her head turning in disapproval.
"What?" The girl mouths as she shakes her head in annoyance. As Fred points to her, pretending to dance, a smile beams across her face with a nod.
"That easy, eh?" Fred laughs, throwing a wink to Ron.
Ron caresses his eyebrows with his hands, clearly uncomfortable with how easy it was for Fred to get a date. The silence is almost cringeworthy as Emilia throws her head back into her books.
Ron glances at Hermione, his face torn with awkwardness. "Well, Hermione... You're a girl."
"Oh well spotted." Hermione scoffs, not removing her head from her books as Emilia stifles a laugh.
"Come on. It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl, it's just sad." Ron speaks quietly. Ouch.
Emilia raises her brows as she focuses back in on the trip, watching as Hermione's face clouds with fury when she packs up her books.
"I won't be going alone," Hermione stands. "Because, believe it or not, someone has asked me." She leans back down to Ron, spitting out at him. "And I said yes."
Emilia can't help but admire the girl, it's clear that the two of them, Hermione and Ron, both feel something for the other, but their cues...never align. She watches as the curly haired girl storms off and Ron's face drops, his eyes sticking to Hermione like glue as she leaves.
"Emilia, you're a girl--" Harry starts off, raising a finger to her but she brushes it away quickly.
"Nuh-uh." It's not the prospect of going with Harry. He would be a wonderful date to the ball, however the image of someone else floating in her head is far too distracting. Someone else holding her waist tightly, leaning their forehead against hers in the—
"Who you going with then?" Harry asks, interrupting her vision which disappears like a puff of smoke.
He raises an eyebrow as she stutters her response, "I, uh.. I can't say."
Truthfully, she hasn't been asked yet, by anyone. Nor has she plucked up the courage to ask. If anything, it seems to be the last thing on her mind now, gnawing it's way behind the mountains of trauma and recent memories that fill her brain.
She packs the books quickly, unable to get any work done while the pair of boys continue to chat amongst themselves, wondering who the hell is even left to ask. "I gotta go."
If Noah were here, he would be the obvious choice - the safe choice. Feeling the emotion rising in her throat, she swallows it back - she can't be weak, not now.
Some students pass her by in the hallway as she heads towards the common room to pick up the books for her next class. Herbology, her favourite.
She's always been able to do well at Herbology and Professor Sprout takes a shine to her.
As Emilia turns along one of the last corners of the hallway, her eyes land on a familiar face. One that she could always recognise thanks to that familiar scar and the way his hands lingered on her waist during dance practice. Mattheo.
Her gut screams out that she should go straight to the common room, pick up her books and be on her way, but her feet move for her, turning the corner and taking the steps towards the boy she hardly knows. Logic never wins in her mind, which is the cause for most of her problems this year.
Mattheo doesn't notice, his back now turned as he converses with another Slytherin student. His hair is unruly, curled in tousled twirls atop his head and she hesitates, her hand stopping just shy of her shoulder. What is she doing?! She doesn't even know him. Before her logic can dictate her movement, she taps his shoulder twice, unsure where the sudden confidence that oozes out of her has come from.
As he turns, he raises an eyebrow before shooing away the other student. His shoulder leans so effortlessly against the stone column, his right leg crossing over his left as he grins, "Emilia Halloway, it is nice to see you looking so fresh now."
His voice is as deep and soothing as she remembers from last night and from the dancing today. The feeling of his hands tight on her waist returns, her arms forming goosebumps under the baby robe. Merlin, she doesn't even know the guy.
There's the scar again, the one that extends from his forehead to his sharp jaw line, it's so much clearer up close. What happened to him?
"And you are?" Emilia asks. She only caught his first name last night and dancing today, well that didn't provide much time for conversing.
"Mattheo..." The boy pauses, his unmoving, dark stare doing little to ease the swirling in her stomach. "Mattheo Riddle."
Riddle? As in...Tom Riddle? Maybe this is why Theo warned her to avoid him.
"Yes, Tom riddle is, or rather was...my father. And as for Theo, he's just looking out for you." His intense gaze makes her knees buckle, much more than his words and she takes a step back.
He was in her mind. She had felt a little scratch at the back of her head, but she had chalked it up to the stress of studying. But he was there. Just like her father. Easily accessing her thoughts as though they are set out in plain view from him to pluck through. The Dark lord? Theo? Legilimency?
"Yes, yes...and yes." Mattheo steps forward, closing the gap that she had just created between them. His eyes wander down her face for a moment but he doesn't miss the stumbling of her feet and he steps back a little. "You should really work more on your Occlumency. I'm sure your father has taught you that."
A hundred thoughts spiral through her mind at once, but she pushes them to the side, focusing on the walls that she has studied and practiced for months, years even, to maintain. At home, her mind would go crazy working on her shields. She never thought for a second that she'd have to consider it here. At Hogwarts. Legilimency is hard to master, even the most powerful wizards struggle with it aside from a few, like her parents and apparently now, this guy.
"And uh..." The words start piling out of her mouth before she can stop them. Call it fear, nerves - she's not even sure. "Why are you at Hogwarts? Why were you at my parents party? How do you know my—"
"—Woah, woah!" He raises his hands upwards, interrupting her. "We'll have plenty of time to talk at the Yule Ball." 
The Yule Ball had fizzled completely out of her head since exchange riddles with this boy. And finding out that You-know-who is literally his bloodline.
"What do you mean?" Emilia asks coyly. She didn't want to admit to this boy, who she cannot deny, she finds incredibly attractive, despite his recent confession of being thee dark lords son, that she did not yet have a date to the esteemed Yule Ball.
"The Yule Ball." Mattheo reiterates. "You know, dancing... music... drinking." The boy begins to float around the hallway while impersonating dancing, making Emilia laugh unexpectedly, her heart somewhat lifted it only momentarily. For being the son of a powerful, dark wizard - he seems pleasant enough.
"We were just dancing for it mere hours ago." He chuckles. A soft laugh, but meaningful. Not fake or forced. Merlin, even his laugh is nice.
"Oh, yes..." Emilia nods her head, shaking the thoughts away. The way they danced earlier, the feeling in her gut when he was looking at her - it all rushes back in an instant. "..That. I'm sure I'll find someone brave enough to take me."
Emilia casts her eyes over a few students that wander in the hallway and the courtyard, none of them standing out as a potential suitor as she considers her options. It has to be someone her parents would approve of, pure-blood of course. High ranking family. Hell, she knows that her family want her to take..him. Draco.
"I'm brave enough to take you."
It wasn't a question coming from this new student who she has a million questions for, more like a statement of intent.
"Will you now?" Her cheeks pool with warmth when she hears how flirtatious that must have come across to this boy - a boy who she should be scared of with every fibre in her being given his lineage, but somehow, she doesn't. "I don't even know you."
"What a more perfect situation to get to know each other.." His lips upturn into a grin before he looks over her shoulder, focusing on something..or someone in the distance. "That's if he allows me too."
Emilia slowly follows his line of sight and the familiar pinpricks of nerves build up in her chest as Draco saunters towards them, Theo and Enzo beside him. Slytherin's, just who she needs in her life right now. Not.
Mattheo lets out a short chuckle as Emilia mutters under her breath, "I seriously think I just need to get a restraining order on all you Slytherin boys.
"Mattheo." Draco keeps his eyes steadfast on Emilia as he speaks. They dig in, searching for any reason as to why she could be here with Mattheo.
"Draco." Mattheo stands tall, taller than even Draco, almost competitively as they eye each other for a moment.
Theo glances over to her, a soft smile filling the lower half of his face while Draco and Mattheo converse about something to do with the Slytherin common room, almost forgetting her presence as she stands, shifting from foot to foot with awkwardness.
"I heard Pansy said yes to you for the ball." Mattheo states calmly.
Emilia doesn't miss the slight step back that Mattheo takes as he finishes speaking, keeping his body close to her, his arm clashing lightly with hers when he speaks to Draco. Almost as a comfort.
Her breakfast swirls in her stomach, threatening to release with Mattheo's words. A rush of cold air fills her lungs quicker than she can process , but she is starkly reminded that they are on the out now as their conversation from earlier filters back into her mind. I enjoyed her much more than you.
"Yeah, of course she did." Draco scoffs confidently. "Who would say no to me?"
He looks back to the boys as they all laugh with him. She can't quite believe the confidence this boy has. He is a Malfoy, and he sure looks like one. Smart, attractive - who would say no? Only someone in their right mind of course.
"I would." Emilia scoffs, trying not to let her emotions better her for once. "Shame, I wish you had asked me, just so I could turn you down." Would she have though? Probably not.
Draco's grey eyes stare her down, trying to break her but she straightens her back, keeping her posture tight.
His words split her heart more than she would ever care to admit, "I never would've asked you in the first place, Halloway." Halloway, ouch.
Her heart almost heals, as though a quick fix bandaid has been placed on top, ever so gently as Mattheo replies to Draco, "she's coming with me, actually. Aren't you, Emilia?" Mattheo places emphasis her name and he looks down to her, a soft smile on his lips.
She nods her head quickly, revelling in the anger that flashes over Draco's face.

Maybe this could be fun.