A laugh escaped Y/n’s throat as Hannah Abbott finished recounting her failed attempt at charming her quill to write her essay for her. The thing had apparently spelled out every single word backwards, then dissolved into a puddle of ink on her desk.

“It looked like an explosion in a muggle factory,” Hannah said, gesturing wildly.

Across the hall, at the Slytherin table, Mattheo Riddle had not touched his breakfast. This was unusual for two reasons. The first being that Mattheo Riddle did not wake before eleven unless the castle was actively on fire. The second being that he would rather starve than admit he’d arrived early on purpose.

He hadn’t arrived early on purpose. That would be ridiculous. He’d simply… woken up. And he’d been hungry. And the Great Hall was a perfectly reasonable place to be hungry at eight in the morning.

Except now he was staring across the room at a girl he’d never spoken to, watching her smile like it was his favorite sport, and he was not hungry at all.

Theodore Nott, seated to his left, followed Mattheo’s gaze with the practiced ease of someone who had spent far too many years watching his friends make terrible decisions. He sighed. “Merlin.”

“What?” Mattheo’s voice had the sharp edge of a boy caught doing something embarrassing.

“Nothing.” Theodore reached for the toast he had absolutely no intention of eating.

Blaise Zabini lowered his coffee cup and followed the same line of sight. A slow grin spread across his face, the kind that meant he saw everything and was going to be insufferable about it. “Oh, this is going to be embarrassing for you.”

Mattheo finally frowned. The expression suited him about as well as a Quaffle in a trophy case. “What are you talking about?”

Blaise and Theodore exchanged a glance. The kind usually reserved for people standing on train tracks while insisting they couldn’t hear the train.

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” Theodore said.

Across the room, Y/n laughed again—bright and effortless, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Mattheo’s eyes snagged on the sound and something in his face went soft. Barely. Just for a second.

Theodore groaned.

Blaise nearly choked on his drink.