Today is the last day before the evening, because the ball will take place tomorrow. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited because god, I'm more excited than usual. Even just thinking about it gives me butterflies in my stomach. Now each of us has a partner for the ball, Hermione and Pansy are going together which surprised me positively, Ginny is going with Harry and I, well, with Mattheo. We've met twice so far, but only in the evening so no one sees us and my head is a mess. He looks better with every meeting, we get along better than I thought and I feel really good next to him. He gives me compliments all the time, but the ones that improve my insecurities and he also says a lot about my details. It's been a long time since someone gave me such lovely compliments, I don't even remember it. I guess my head is so confused because we actually 'hated' each other and now we're suddenly sweet on each other. I wouldn't say there's anything between us, but it does make me think that he's not seeing any other girls anymore. It's not every day that you hear that Mattheo Riddle turns down every girl, even though I said it wouldn't matter to me. Only the people around us become suspicious, I don't like that. But today there is something much bigger at stake, we have to decorate the hall. I was standing in the hall with Draco and it was almost three o'clock, so my friends should come to help soon. I didn't want to include many people because ultimately no one should know what it's going to look like, but we can't do it with just two of us, so I asked Ron, Harry and Hermione to help. I think that many should be enough, there wouldn't be any work here for more. But Draco looked at the clock just as nervously, when I asked him why he was acting so strangely, I got an answer that I never expected. 'My people are coming to help', I looked at him with wide eyes, is he serious? I already told him that I asked some, as if he couldn't remember it. Well we didn't sleep too much but that's still no excuse! Oh damn, what should I tell him now?
"Are you crazy? Harry, Ron and Hermione are coming!" I said a little louder.
Now we both looked at each other with wide eyes, I wish I could laugh about it but that's just not possible. We screwed up so much, how stupid two people can be. No, sorry, how stupid can one person be? I told him, he has to remember such important information. I was about to start arguing with him but it was too late because my friends were already coming through the door. Oh no, that won't be good at all.
"Um, I don't want to add to the tension, but I asked Mattheo, Theo, Blaise and Pansy to come over."
WHAT? They all hate each other more than anything else. Mattheo and Harry, just recently because of that incident in The Three Broomsticks, Theo and Blaise hate Ron and Harry because of Quidditch and Hermione hates Theo because, as she always says, he's an arrogant prick. The only ones who like each other are Hermione and Pansy, not more of them. Now I was sure we messed up. Both groups kept asking 'what's the point' or 'What are they doing here' I looked at Draco with a stern look, then we each went to our friends and explained the situation to them. Back to our previous seats, I wanted the word take it, but the door opened, Astoria came through it and greeted Draco with a hug. All his friends had to laugh, me too, I admit that. It just looked way too funny, ridiculous too, I mean how pathetic Is it when the boy is obviously not interested and you keep trying to do something? Oh my god, what am I thinking about, fuck it, I have to take care of this now.
"Well guys, it seems like there's a bit of a misunderstanding." I said as nicely as I could.
I could just tear Draco apart, but I'll worry about that later. I heard a slight laugh from Theo I assume, but Mattheo took care of it and hit him on the back of the head. I smiled gratefully at him, it's normal right? You always smile at people who others think you hate, right? Now getting exposed would be the cherry on the cake. I was standing there in front of all those people and didn't know what the hell to do, who would know? Luckily Draco came to my rescue and took over the floor, at least one good thing he contributed today. He explained to the people what had happened and even had an idea that wasn't too bad. He looks for two people from his group who can go, they were Pansy and Astoria (luckily), but now it's my turn. When I saw Hermione looking after Pansy, I picked her out, saying she should do something fun. The others don't have to understand that. Well, at least there are only seven of us now, the problem is that I'm the only girl here. Maybe it would be better to let Ron go instead of Hermione. When Draco gave me the floor again I still didn't know what to say, but I gathered everyone at a table and showed them the plan. I guess I'll do the division, if they have anything against it I don't care. after all, I am the only girl today.
"Well, we'll do three groups. Theo and Mattheo, you do the hard work. You have to glue the frame together and put this big masquerade mask on it. Everything is over there."
Mattheo saluted me and smiled, as he walked past me he whispered 'everything for you'. I suddenly got goosebumps all over my body but I can't distract myself. In the distance I heard Theo complaining that they had to do the hard stuff. I ignored it and continued trying to make a plan.
"Ron and Harry, you're doing the stairs and the entrance. You can see that everyone has to come from these stairs and the red carpet is from there, the entrance should be designed with everything."
I pointed to a stack of decorations, then gave them my drawing of how the entrance and stairs should be designed. From Harry's expression I could tell he was really impressed with how good it looked. This was confirmed again by his statement 'This is damn good'. I was happy that I had everything under control so far, I'm not that bad. As I turned to the remaining two and a big smile appeared on my face, Blaise said 'Oh no' with a loud laugh. When I looked at Draco he just shook his head and laughed too, he knew what was coming. Somehow I feel sorry for them.
"To you guys, unfortunately you drew the bad card. The tables and chairs. Draco knows exactly what it's supposed to look like, but here's my drawing again. So have fun, I'll get to work on all the balloons,"
Draco put his arm around me and sighed. 'Thank you' he just said with a smile, I can understand if he doesn't feel like it but that's just how work is. Actually I could swap them with Ron and Harry but now it was too late. Now I just have to get to work, luckily magic exists otherwise I would be sitting here late into the night. And so the hours practically flew by, I checked on everyone a few times in between and they did really well. I guess after two hours we deserved something to eat, so I gathered everyone in the large hall and asked who wanted to come with me to get the food. Of course it was Draco, Harry and Mattheo, I haven't got the nerves for that now. I suggested going alone, Harry strangely agreed with me but the other two didn't let up, both wanted to go with me. Okay, fuck it, I'll manage it somehow. What can happen, Draco doesn't know that I'm going to this ball with Mattheo, he doesn't know that Draco and I have a past. Everything will go great, at least I am firmly convinced that everything will go well. Nobody said anything while we were walking, so I was able to leave them alone in the kitchen because I had to talk to one of the elves there. So I greeted Nox warmly, he is the nicest elf of all.
"Nox has already cooked Miss Scrambler, Nox is very happy with it."
How can you treat such sweet creatures so badly, they are so warm and sweet, at least most of them. When I offered to help bring the food over to the large hall, Nox seemed very happy, thanked me and managed to get back to finish the dishes. I turned around and couldn't take Mattheo's and Draco's faces seriously, they were both shocked because I was talking to the house elf.
"Are you always so nice to everyone?" Mattheo asked with a grin on his face.
I just smiled at him, maybe nodded a little. I haven't had such intense eye contact with someone like him, of course that doesn't mean anything but it's something different. Normally I can't make eye contact with anyone except Draco, but his eyes are different, they have such a beautiful shade of brown with a little hint of green and I'll be honest I could look at them for hours. After I was finally able to escape Mattheo's gaze, I asked them to go into the room and wait for me. I think they all did such a good job that they can now rest a little. Of course they both wanted to help me, which was certain. Actually, I could say that they can wait for the food on their own, but then Nox would want to do it himself and I just had to help him. He made all the dishes for us by himself, after his shift of course, and I just felt so sorry for him because he is always so happy after finishing his work. I actually think he's pretty new here since I've only known him since last year, that means he must also be relatively young. I think it's terrible that you have house elves anyway, it's so cruel. Especially because most of them are just treated so horribly, I remember Draco telling me earlier about Dobby and how his father treated him. He didn't like it either, always played with him and was there for him. His mother couldn't do anything either, she practically didn't dare and I guess she thought it was good that they had a house elf. Sometimes I think to myself that later I will own a house elf, but one who can enjoy his life, one like Nox who actually deserves so much more than being here. I would give them all a nice home. Suddenly I heard Blaise scream, we were shocked because he was screaming for Draco the whole time. It wasn't a frightened scream, but more like a command. He said that Draco had to help him because he wanted to have it finished before dinner. I knew he didn't want to leave us alone, but he couldn't help it. He sighed loudly and left. I watched him the whole time, he looked particularly good today. He had on his gray sweater that I love so much and gray sweatpants that I haven't seen yet, but it suits him incredibly well. Mattheo, on the other hand, was wearing a black sweater and shorts that were also black. I'm starting to feel like I'm in the middle of a love triangle, Mattheo, with whom I've had a lot of fun over the last few days, and Draco, my first big love. Hopefully everything will go back to normal after the ball, Draco and I will remain friends, Mattheo will continue to have something with every girl. But when Mattheo sat down next to me and put his arm around me, I was no longer so sure whether it would end. And next to them there is Harry, who I don't know if he has feelings for me or not.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked me smiling.
I shook my head, it's hard for me to tell him that I feel like I'm standing between him and Draco, that would be a little strange. But I have to tell him something, he definitely won't believe me if I tell him it's nothing . The bad thing was that I could only think of one thing and he definitely doesn't want to hear it. Who would want to hear that you're thinking about your cousin at the moment when you're actually going on a date with him?
"About the house elves. I think it's cruel to have house elves, later I would like to have one just to treat him well. For example Nox, we get along really well."
He smiled at me, but it was a different smile that I usually know. Of course I could be wrong, but somehow it seems to me like a proud smile, something that tells me that I'm a good person. I'm more and more surprised by him, maybe he's not as bad a person as I always thought. The saying 'Never judge a book by its cover' fits quite well. And that's exactly when I have something of an inner dilemma, because on the one hand I wish so often that Draco and I could be together again, but on the other hand I think that there is something special between me and Mattheo, something that you don't often find. Well I thought that too about Draco, but that was different, now I've become more mature and I know what I'm doing. At least I hope so. Oh God, when will this all finally end.
"I agree with you." he said briefly.
I looked at him a little shocked, but he didn't look at me at all.
"I live alone and everyone told me to get a house elf. But I could never bring myself to do it, especially because I knew how it would end. Draco's family would've take most of the control over it, then all the others who hang out with me and I didn't want that."
Wait what, he lives alone? I didn't know that. At first I always thought he lived with the Malfoys, but then I thought he lived with his other family. I never thought that you could live alone at sixteen. I guess it will take longer, that's why I'm so speechless right now. When I asked him about it, he replied like it was no big deal. He explained that he used to have a person in charge and sometimes lived with Draco, so I wasn't that wrong, but as he got older he got a house and now lives in it. I became a little more grateful that I have a home with parents who love me, that I can always look forward to returning to. When I imagine that he doesn't even know what it's like to have loving parents, it makes me a little sad. Now I think I can understand a little bit why he is the way he is. Exactly the same with Draco. I felt a little sorry for him, I especially wanted to comfort Mattheo a little, but I didn't know how.
"It's not so easy when your mother is in Azkaban and your father is a fucking psychopath."
I didn't know if I would regret this, but I hugged him. I couldn't help it, he sounded so sad and seemed so listless so I just had to hug him. I felt him hugging me more and more tightly, maybe I also felt a tear, but I could be wrong. I think that's what he needed right now. When we looked at each other again he smiled and put a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"That was the first hug I ever got."
And so he completely broke my heart with just one sentence. I was finally sure that he wasn't a bad person. all he was missing was love. And no love can turn someone into a real monster.