Hogsmeade
I woke up feeling well rested and completely excited. I had a general idea on how to teach my subject thanks to what I talked about with the professors the night before, but I still needed to accommodate the classroom to my liking. Although that had to wait, I needed to have breakfast beforehand. I put simple clothes on and got out of my room. Mattheo was getting out of his room at the same time, so I decided to wait for him and walk together. He was wearing some green and black robes, as he told me the prior day he was head of Slytherin so I guessed it made sense. Being the head of a house was too much job added to the already draining work that was being a teacher. I could have never accepted such a position without an alarming increase of the salary.
The breakfast was beyond my expectations, the typical spanish breakfast was as simple as a cup of coffee and maybe a toast, so it was shocking to see so much food: toasts, beans, sausages, potatoes, bacon, eggs… I decided to go for something simple because I wasn't used to eat that much first thing in the morning, but I saw how everyone filled their plates to the brim.
It was hard to find my classroom, Mattheo showed me the way to get there the previous day but the castle was huge and I got lost. I was out of breath when I finally entered, I was carrying a couple of boxes full of books, some materials that I was going to use with the second year students, and a couple of mannequins. I did enough cardio for a week at least.
It was a little cold inside the class, it was almost empty, just the tables and chairs and a little platform located at the right side, probably for duels. It had a dark vibe, like a class belonging to death, which made sense given the circumstances of why the spot I was occupying was free for a couple of months. I decided to bring some color, some life and some comfort to the space that was going to be my personal workplace for the next few months. I put up some decoration, a couple of paintings I had that were incredibly realistic representations of some of the most basic spells that were teached in my subject. I placed the mannequins next to the dueling platform so they could be used by third grade and below year students. I didn't like to practice duels until the kids were already in their fourth year. The books were put away on the shelves, I had some copies of every year's books just in case I needed them, or any student that couldn't afford them, or was forgetful and didn't bring the book to the class. When I finished, the class looked way better and was ready to be used, but I was already late for lunch. Here in the UK they had every meal really early in the day, I had to get used to it.
Later that day, Mattheo just presented himself in my class to take me out. He said something about not having an entirely fulfilling Hogwarts experience if I didn't visit Hogsmeade, so that's where we went.
It was like any other village in northern Europe, but completely ruled by magic. The streets were full of witches and wizards wearing rather eccentric robes, paper and boxes flying, the houses and shops had this ancient style… It was super cozy, made me feel at ease and welcomed. I like to think of it as a place where every magical person or creature would feel at home. We passed through a candy shop that looked rather appealing, making a note on my head to buy some candy before heading to Hogwarts again.
- Tell me please that you fancy a drink, I need some alcohol before the school year starts, and I have a great companion today. - I didn't like alcohol at all.
- Yeah, sure. I need something to drink right now, not alcohol tho, you are alone in that. - He laughed and sent me a smirk. I felt warm all over my face, I hoped my blush wasn't too severe.
- By the blush on your face at least you don't need alcohol to keep you warm. - He could go fuck himself, honestly.
When we arrived at The Three Broomsticks it was mostly empty, it wasn't September so apparently most of the people that frequented the bar were not back to the village from their holidays. We decided on a fire whiskey for him and a simple alcohol free blackberry liquor for me. I really hoped he wouldn't get too drunk, I wanted to keep talking to him and knew his personality better.
- Okay be honest, why haven't you asked about the big elephant clouding the room yet? - It wasn't possible for him to be drunk; he didn't even touch his drink a bit.
- Which big elephant? What are you talking about?.- I was starting to get concerned.
- Why didn't you ask about my legacy? You know the whole Voldemort topic, pure blood crimes, me being the child of the worst dark wizard of the last century… It surprised me that you were not curious enough to ask about it in the amount of time we have spent together. Everyone asks immediately, or looks bad at me, they are cautious, you are not. - Oh that big elephant…
- Oh… I'm curious to know, but not in that way. I want to know about the crimes that are happening now, just curious to know what you know, not curious in the “I think you have something to do with all of this and I want information from you so I dropped a couple of veritaserum drops in your whiskey”. - He then proceeded to laugh at what I said, and inspected his drink.
- Definitely not veritaserum here so I will believe you. I know just as much as you know from what is happening. - He sat more straight, but closer to me. - I know there are a lot of people that can't trust me, after all I am who I am, my father was a psychotic sociopath obsessed with the pure blood stuff even if his father was a muggle; and my mom was his most devoted dog, obsessed with keeping the Black lineage completely pure. I had to be raised by one of my grandparents' brothers: Alphard. He raised me with great values, he was the one that gave my cousin Sirius the money to run away, he was really important in the War, helped to defeat my father. - He started to tell me his story even if I didn't ask, I guess he needed to tell someone that wouldn't judge him, someone that would listen. He already finished his glass of Whiskey and asked for another one. - I remember when I started my first year at Hogwarts, everyone was looking at me, many were afraid, other ones were hopeful that I wasn't like my father, I was raised by a good man and they knew it. But well I was sorted into Slytherin, I think all handsome people are Slytherins so that's the main reason, definitely nothing to do with the fact that I'm ambitious, I'm smart, and the heir of Slytherin by blood.
- Let me guess, humbleness is a Slytherin feature too. - I chuckled while looking at him, he was opening to me, I wanted him to know that I wasn't thinking bad of him, so a little bit of humor would do.
- Exactly Mía! You could be an amazing Ravenclaw. - Oh little did he know.
- Maybe you don't know but we had houses at Beauxbatons too, I was sorted into the house that would be the equivalent to Slytherin here, just more elegant and fancy. - I was ambitious too, just lazy.
- That is expected too, only a Slytherin would befriend another one that easily. - He then kept silent for a couple of seconds. - Thank you for listening to me, I'm being completely honest about everything, I really don't know anything about what is going on… Maybe they are just a couple of radicals that need to be sent to Azkaban. I know Mr. Collins recruited you without an option for you to say no, and I'm sure he wants you to observe me and I'm okay with that, just please believe in me. - My heart broke a little bit at that moment, all his antics hiding a boy that needed a friend, someone that he could trust and would trust him in return.
The next couple of hours we changed topics, we talked a lot about holidays, how life in Spain was different from Scotland´s, some interesting topics about the Ministry of Magic from the USA,... Just anything that could help us to understand each other better.
We were so caught up into talking to each other that it was a surprise to see Neville and a cute blonde girl sitting next to us, I looked at the clock and it was almost 8pm, I needed to head back so I could have dinner and ultimate some things for the arrival of the kids the next day.
- Hi Mattheo, Mía, it's nice to encounter both of you here! This is my wife, Hannah. - She smiled cutely and I thought that they made a great couple, both of them seemed to be soft.
- It's a pleasure Hannah! But I'm really sorry, I must head back to Hogwarts now since it's getting late, I hope we can talk in some other moment! - She smiled cutely to me and made a movement with her hand.
- Don't worry honey I understand, we will see each other without doubts, I work nearby here so come see me if you want any girls talk. - I looked at her completely happy, she was the cutest, did I say that already?
- I guess I am going now too. I had a little bit too much of Whiskey and we start tomorrow so I should accompany Mrs. López to her room and then go to sleep. Nice to see you both, let's catch up another day.
He then took his wallet, paid for everything that we drank and stretched out his hand for me to take, probably so we could apparate at Hogwarts together.
- Mattheo, do you mind if we head to Honeydukes before going to the school? I'm in need of something sweet. - He smiled at me and nodded.
- Sure thing! You will have to put up with me being slightly drunk for a couple of more minutes, though.
We walked to the shop together, close to each other, enough to feel our heat but not to touch. The shop was not as big as I thought it would be, but it was the most colorful one in the village, and the most magical too. There were a lot of sweets, candies, chocolates and so on on display. Mattheo suggested me to try the chocolate frogs and Caramel Cobwebs since those were his favorites. I added those to the basket and put some licorice too, I ate those when I was anxious. And the same happened as in the bar, he paid for everything, I tried to refuse but he told me that he was planning to steal half of my bag of sweets, so he had to pay for them.
- I didn't know you were a candy thief. - I gave him one of the cobwebs.
- You don't know much about me, Mía. - He took a bit of the sweet and looked at me.
- I'm sure I will learn more about you soon enough, Mr. Riddle.
- I will be glad to show you everything you want Miss López. - Every time I wanted to flirt, he did it way more smoothly and obviously than me, he was quite the player.
I had a really nice evening that day, I remember it being my favorite for a while. I remember too thinking about how difficult that year was going to be if Mr. Riddle and I kept our friendship. I liked him a little bit more than I should have.