if one of them is dead.

chapter six.

Lilith.

In the common room, Mattheo is sitting on the couch, and I have my head on his chest while his arm is around my shoulders. Blaise sits on the other couch, trying to read a book. Key word: trying. Draco throws something at him and mumbles an 'idiot.'

I'm tired, like really tired. And Mattheo is so comfortable that I could fall asleep on him right now. But I'm not going to. I'm going to stay awake as long as possible. I want as much time with him as I can get.

"Hey, Mattheo," I mumble against him. He hums. "Do you want to eat outside tomorrow? Or we can sit out by the tree?"

I can hardly hear his reply since his face is buried in my hair. "Of course. Right after the quidditch game, I'll shower and we'll go out there, okay?" I hum because I don't want to move my head.

He made the quidditch team again, and I'm more than proud of him.

"Are you two going to stop cuddling soon?" Blaise asks, tossing his book on the table.

I mumble something, but I don't even know what I said. Mattheo says something into my hair, but I can't understand that either.

"Maybe you should go to sleep," Draco offers, grabbing Blaise's book before opening it. He groans and tosses the book back onto the table. "What the hell kind of book is that, Blaise? Is it amusing?"

"I can't even read half the words in that book," Blaise says, shaking his head.

"Maybe we should go to sleep," I mumble and Mattheo nods.

I get up and pull him up by the hand, starting to drag him to the stairs. "Night guys!" I shout back at the other two and they say their goodnights as we walk up the stairs to Mattheo's dorms.

I don't normally sleep in my dorm anymore. The whole year I've been sleeping in Mattheo's dorm with him. I was originally thinking about it because I want to spend as much time with him as possible, but it's not my dorm. But he told me that I could always sleep in his dorm. I think that is partly because he wants to make sure I'm not cheating on him. But I've been sneaking out.

I feel horrible. Letting him think for even a second that I'm cheating on him.

He walks in front of me and opens the door, dragging me into the room. He closes the door and locks it. I tell him I have to use the restroom and go to the bathroom to change, but I pretend that's not the reason. He doesn't seem to care, but I know it bothers him.

He's already laying in the bed when I get out of the bathroom. His arms are out, gesturing for me to lay with him. I climb into the bed and put my head on his chest, and he wraps his arms around me.

I watch the Black Lake through the window until I fall asleep, which isn't that long of a time to wait.

☯︎︎

When we wake up, our legs are tangled together, but we're in the same position that we were in when we fell asleep.

We both get up, and I grab my things. He furrows his brows. "Where are you going?" he asks, digging through his dresser.

I kiss his cheek and start for the door. "I have clothes in my dorm room that I need to get."

He nods. "Okay, I'll be down to breakfast in a little bit."

After I get to my dorm with all the other girls, none of them are there. I'm thankful for that. I dig through my luggage and find a black tennis skirt and a dark green sweater. I put my clothes on along with some jewelry and combat boots.

Then I go down to the Great Hall. None of my friends are there yet. All three of them are probably still getting ready for the quidditch game. It's the first game of the year, Slytherin against Gryffindor.

You spoke very highly of me at the Slug Club dinner.

I try not to smile to myself.

Yes, I did. You taught me a lot, Dad.

Well, thank you for that.

I send a mind gasp to him. Did you just thank me?

Don't make me regret that.

Love you too, Dad.

Someone kisses my temple and sits down next to me. Blaise and Draco sit across from us as Mattheo grabs some eggs. The other two start piling their plates. "You look amazing as always," he says, and I smile.

I also may or may not have forced Draco to play quidditch this year.

We got into a fight about that.

He told me that he had too much on his plate right now as it is. That he couldn't do quidditch this year. I told him that he only has another year left to do quidditch, and even that might get cut short because of the war. He needs to do something he enjoys, even if he's normally really busy.

I know he's a death eater. He didn't have to tell me. I don't think he knows that I know, but I do.

I figured that Narcissa and Bellatrix coming to my house had something to do with Draco.

They don't usually come over for late night tea.

"The Gryffindors are good this year," Blaise mutters. "As much as I don't want to admit it, they are."

"Not as good as previous years," Mattheo puts in.

"They have Weasel," Draco grumbles.

"Potter is the captain this year," I say. "He's good, but I don't think he's as good as his father was. And, as much as I don't want to admit that James Potter was good at anything, he was decent at quidditch. I think Potter just gets dumb luck half the time. Remember in first year when he almost swallowed the snitch? Yeah, I don't think that was intentional."

"Why do you hate James Potter so much?" Blaise asks, raising a brow. "I mean other than the fact that he was a total douche."

"He was a dick to my dad all throughout school," I say. "Like really bad. He never left Dad alone, and he always thought he was the best just because he was a Potter. He strutted around like he did nothing wrong ever. No wonder it took that Evans girl so long to tolerate him. Which, I'm not a huge fan of her either."

"Oh, you hate all Gryffindors, don't you?" Draco asks. "Not that I'm complaining."

"That's not true," I say. "She and Dad were best friends when they were kids. Then they both came to Hogwarts and Evans got sorted into Gryffindor, and my dad into Slytherin. Potter and his friends took interest in Evans, and she started hanging around with them more. She hardly even looked at my dad after that, which is a total bitch move."

"So what you're saying," Mattheo says, raising his brows at me, "is that my father wasn't completely in the wrong—"

I cut him off and slap his arm. "Oh my god, Mattheo. You're an asshole." He puts his hands up and Blaise and I start laughing. Draco rolls his eyes and picks at his food. Mattheo smiles and shakes his head.