Mattheos pov
My aunt Narcissa drops me off at the station with her son Draco, he’s a little stuck up but it’ll be nice to know someone at school who won’t immediately hate me. Draco and his mom walk in front with Narcissa holding his hand as we walk to 9 ¾ .
It gives me time to look around without being worried she’ll tell me to hide my face. Looking around I see another family with their kid, the mom is peppering the baby’s face with kisses and the father is looking at them with longing and admiration in his eyes.
My mom never did that to me, she shipped me right off to the Malfoys the day after I was born. I only see her a few times now when she comes over for meetings.
I keep looking and see this boy around my age talking with a girl that looks around my age as well, I can’t fully tell as I can only see the back of her head. She looks down at the ground almost like she’s hiding her face from the boy she’s with, did he say something mean to her?
For some reason I feel anger in my chest for this girl I don’t even know. I guess I just know how it feels to be talked down too. My mother and Draco’s father have never held back when talking to me, whether it be verbal or physical they always do something to try and put me in line.
The girl lifts her head and I get a glimpse of her face for the first time and all the anger inside me disappears, replaced with something different, something nice.
She has the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen and the smile on her face is enough to make me melt down to the floor. She turns back to the boy and they start walking together. I fear if I stare at her for another minute more Draco would bully me relentlessly so I quickly run to catch up to him and his mom a few feet ahead.
I catch up and risk another look at the girl to see her talking to another boy, this one with bright red hair. She looks happy to talk to him and I’m worried she’ll never look at me that way since I’m going to Hogwarts and she’s probably heading to another part of England. For some reason that makes me more sad than I should be.
“Mattheo my love, we’re at the platform. You and Draco should get onto the train and find a good train car, it’s the best near the back.” She whispers the last bit to me and wraps me up in a hug and kisses my forehead and it feels nice so I just hold onto her until she finally lets go.
She puts 20 galleons in my hand and informs me of a treat trolley that goes through the train and tells me to get myself something nice for the ride. She then goes over to Draco and does the same to him, gives him a hug and kiss and then gives him some galleons.
Draco comes over to me and pulls me through the brick wall and all of a sudden there’s a huge steam train in front of us and many families weeping as they let their kids go. I see people getting onto the train and go to follow suit with Draco but he stops a few feet from the entrance.
“ Don’t expect me to talk to you when we get to school, ok? I’ve got my own friends.” He says to me and walks right into the train. I’m dazed for a second but quickly go inside too and follow him, I see him talking to two other boys in a train car. I catch the names Theo and Blaise. I guess I was wrong to think Draco wouldn’t immediately hate me.
I walk deeper into the train until I reach the last car on the train and take a seat in one of the booths that’s empty. I stare out the window for a bit before getting bored and rummaging through my bags before finding my notebook.
I draw the girl from the station, I start with her face shape and hair and I have to keep redoing her eyes to get them just right and perfect enough to fit her. I hear some kids getting into the train car and choosing the booth across from me and continue my drawing when all of a sudden the door to my booth is opened.
“Hi, do you mind if I sit here please?” an almost sickly sweet voice says from the door. I keep drawing, finishing the last few freckles on her nose hoping this girl will take the hint and just leave soon. After a minute I don’t hear the door close and I look up.
It’s the girl from the station.
Like an idiot I just sit there staring at her, mentally comparing her to my drawing. I missed a few freckles on her cheeks and made her lips too thin compared to hers that are all full and pink. I try to say that of course she could sit with me and that it would probably make me the happiest person alive if she did but no words were coming from my mouth.
I shuffle close to the window and prop my feet up onto the other bench patting the spot next to me. That way she’ll have to sit next to me and if that thought alone makes me happy imagine what would happen if i actually had a conversation with her.
She takes the seat beside me and I wonder what happened to the other boys she was talking to. I sneak a glance at her and catch her already looking at me. Before I can react she tells me that I could sleep for a bit and that she'd wake me up once we get to the school. She mistakes the bags under my eyes for a bad sleep schedule instead of what they really are. If I would get into trouble Draco's father would sometimes send me to the basement with no food or water. I'd been down there for the past two nights. The coins in my pocket promise food and I couldn't love Narcissa more.
“If you're sure,” I answered. Do I trust her enough to not stab me in my sleep? What am I saying? I'd trust her even if she was already holding a blade to my heart. What does that say about my judgement skills?
I look up into her eyes to see what she probably saw on mine. There's a reddish purple tint to her eyes and just by the way her posture is I can tell she's drained.
“If you need to sleep too just wake me up,” I say to her
“Your eyes look tired” I whisper more to myself. Right after I say it I regret it but her face doesn't change and I assume I spoke too low that she didn't hear.
“If you're sure.” she smirked. Mirroring my earlier words right back to me.
My lips curve upwards without my notice and I can't help but produce a smile. I tug my hood over my hair and turn to the window leaving my back to her. I dont pass out for awhile just watch her in the reflection of the window. Just watch her as she watches me with the same curiosity.