[CHAPTER 31]

───🦋･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.🦋───

───🦋･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.🦋───

TITLE  : A SLOW THAW

ELLIE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT she had expected after deciding to give Mattheo a chance—certainly not for things to go back to how they used to be. That was impossible.

Too much had happened, too many things left unsaid for too long. But she supposed she hadn't expected this either.

This... awkward limbo.

She was trying. She really was. And so was Mattheo. He was trying so damn hard—never pushing, never forcing, just being there.

And that was the problem.

It would've been easier if he had been his usual cocky, relentless self, because then she could hate him a little. She could keep her walls up, keep the distance between them.

But Mattheo was being... patient.

And patience, she was quickly realizing, was her undoing.

It started with something simple.

She was in the library, flipping through her Potions textbook when Mattheo appeared, setting his bag down across from her.

Ellie looked up, eyebrow raised. "You do realize this is a library and not the Quidditch pitch, right?"

Mattheo smirked, but it was softer than usual. "Very funny. I do actually study, you know."

Ellie snorted. "Sure you do."

But she didn't tell him to leave.

They sat in silence for a while, both pretending to focus. She could feel his presence across from her, the weight of his gaze flickering up every now and then.

After a while, Mattheo sighed. "I'm rubbish at this."

Ellie glanced up. "At studying?"

"No." He ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. "At this. At... making things right."

Ellie's grip on her quill tightened.

"I feel like I have to be careful around you," he admitted. "Like one wrong move and you'll shut me out again."

She swallowed hard, fingers curling into the fabric of her robes.

He wasn't wrong.

She had been careful too. Watching him. Watching herself.

Because if she let go, if she forgave too easily, what did that mean for everything that had happened?

So instead of answering, she deflected. "You're not exactly subtle, you know."

Mattheo raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

Ellie smirked slightly, tilting her head toward the stack of books in front of him. "You haven't turned a page in twenty minutes."

Mattheo stared at the book, then groaned, dropping his head onto the table. "Merlin's beard, this is painful."

Ellie bit back a laugh. "I'm aware."

And for the first time in a long while, the tension between them eased, just a little.

Later that evening, as she sat in the Slytherin common room  with Lorenzo and Daphne, she found herself thinking about the library.

She thought about the way Mattheo had sat there, trying.

The way he had admitted his frustration instead of pretending everything was fine.

The way he had made her laugh without even realizing it.

Lorenzo nudged her. "You're thinking about him."

Ellie scowled. "I am not."

Daphne grinned. "You totally are."

Ellie crossed her arms. "I was thinking about how bad he is at studying."

Lorenzo  snorted. "Oh yeah, sure. That's what you were thinking about."

Ellie groaned, throwing a pillow at him. "You lot are insufferable."

But later, as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, she couldn't help but admit—if only to herself—that maybe, just maybe, she was thinking about him a little more than she should.

───🦋･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.🦋───