How Did it End? | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter Five

The rest of the week Seraphina spent the majority of her time actively avoiding Mattheo at every turn. She was forced to be stuck with him in classes, but actively avoided his existence. She felt stupid and ashamed for ever thinking that Mattheo saw her as anything more of an annoyance. She really thought that as of late, they were finally starting to become friends. But every time they crossed paths all she could think about was the darkness in his eyes as he held her against the wall. He didn't care about her, nor was he grateful to have her on his side. He had finally pushed her away once and for all. She didn't see how they could even reconcile to be cordial at this point.

Seraphina's avoidance was evident to her friends. She sat as far away from Mattheo as she could and when they were in close enough quarters that the distance wasn't enough, she elected to stay away from her friends even if it meant she was sitting by herself. Pansy and Enzo had filled the rest of them in on what had happened in the corridor and they didn't blame Seraphina's distance from them but still missed her presence.

Saturday afternoon, Seraphina was in her dorm pulling a jumper over her head and smoothing out her black skirt. She stared at the combination in the mirror for a moment before she put her boots on. She looked at herself one last time, fixing her hair before she grabbed her bag and pulled it over her shoulder as she walked out of her dormitory and into the common room.

She stepped off the steps and glanced around before stopping on Theo, Enzo, Mattheo, and Blaise in the corner of the room. Theo stopped talking when he came down and smiled at her. Mattheo followed his gaze, staring at Seraphina for a moment before he shifted his eyes back to Blaise, resuming the conversation like she wasn't even there.

"Where are you off to, Fiore Mio?" Theo asked her with a smile.

Seraphina took a deep breath, resisting the urge to glare at Mattheo for even glancing at her, and focused back on Theo who was watching her with a much more playful expression. She relaxed a little as she smiled back at him and opened her mouth to respond but was cut off before she got the chance.

"Well, don't you look gorgeous?" She heard looking over at Evan Rosier as he walked over to her. He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it.

Seraphina blushed and smiled back at him. She looked him up and down for a moment before looking back up at his face. "I could say the same about you." She said brightly.

Evan smirked and gave her hand a little squeeze "Ready to go?" He asked and Seraphina nodded excitedly.

"Lead the way." She said softly and Evan did just that and walked with her toward the door to the common room.

Seraphina looked back at Theo and smiled at him "See you later." She said, giving him a little wave.

Theo smiled at her and nodded once. He watched them exit the common room and his smile quickly turned into a scowl. Seeing Seraphina leave with Evan once again felt like a sucker punch straight to the chest.

Evan opened the door to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop, letting Seraphina walk in. She thanked him as the smell of tea and cinnamon hit her. She looked up at Evan who smiled as he put his hand on the small of her back as they were led to their table.

Seraphina looked around at the other students clearly on dates as well, some more nervous than others. As Evan pulled her chair out for her it hit her how similar the tea shop was to Umbridge's office. She looked down at the doilies on the table as a pit formed in her stomach. Evan made sure she was tucked in before going to sit down across from her. Seraphina was looking around at the pink wallpaper and bows decorated on any open surface.

The shop itself was bustling and rather lively with chatter as Madam Puddifoot attempted to make her way around the room to serve tea to other students. "I know it's a bit... much," Evan said finally.