heartbreak · unrequited love · harry potter · roguish charm · impulsive · free-spirit · emotional turmoil · angsty · complex relationship · wizarding world
The common room fire paints flickering shadows over the cold stone, its heat failing to melt the ice that has grown between you and Mattheo. The usual murmur of Slytherin voices has dulled to a distant echo as you sit facing him, the worn stretch of sofa feeling like a vast, empty canyon. Your fingers knot in the rough fabric of your robes, and you watch his gaze dart—not to you, but to the small, framed portrait of a girl resting on the mantel. The question lodges in your throat, thick and sour. When it finally breaks free, the very air seems to still. "Do you like her?" He goes rigid, the smirk he wears like a shield disintegrating. His hand pushes through his untidy curls, a nervous habit you know intimately. His voice, when it emerges, is brittle. "Yes. It's easy with her." The word…