Mattheo scowled as he watched the girl with the perfect dirty blonde hair walk onto the field. Wait, did he say perfect? He meant absolutely fucking disgusting. Looking like dirty dishwater. Looking like golden leaves in the sun.

Fuck.

Mattheo Riddle hated Nora Rosier. Well, perhaps hated wasn't a strong enough word. Loathed beyond all reason? Was tempted to push her off of the Hogwarts Express and laugh as she screamed down to the canyon below? Hoped that his father would return to life just to cackle as Nora pleaded for her life in that annoying ass voice of hers? Yeah, that seemed about right. Not hate. Hate wasn't enough to describe the girl who seemed to ruin every aspect of his life.

Well, not every aspect. She hadn't ruined Quidditch. Not yet.

But she was damn well trying to.

Nora Rosier showed up without fail for Quidditch trials each year, which was hilarious because it seemed that it was the only thing she wasn't good at and he was, which meant that he hoarded it over her every year like it was the most delicious pumpkin patsy.

"Eh, Rosier, are you coming to the Slytherin Quidditch game?" he asked last year before the first game, the year that Nora fell off her broom and Enzo Berkshire, the captain, had to do a last-minute slowing charm so she didn't break her neck. Mattheo wished that the spell wasn't successful so the world didn't have to hear from her ever again. "I bet it will have you falling out of your seat."

Nora had scowled. She always scowled. Mattheo wasn't sure if her face could make any other expression. "Fuck you, Riddle."

Mattheo winked. "You wish."

That only made the scowl worsen.

Despite the fact that she seemed to fail miserably at tryouts, she showed up every year. Every year. Even first year, when it was well-known that almost no first year makes the team except for him and Potter. That year had been one of her most spectacular failures. Nora couldn't even fly and yet she tried out for chaser anyway. He still remembered the look of pure shock and fury on her face as she couldn't even get the stick off the ground yet he flew circles around her on his.

That memory made him smile every time.

Nora hated how he was better than her. He could tell, which is why he brought it up any chance he got. She hated not being the best at anything and considering she was, without fail, top of Slytherin class in every goddamn subject (except potions, maybe, since Malfoy was top of the class and she wasn't in it anymore). Mattheo wanted to be up there but he always seemed to come in second, which pissed him off beyond all belief.

Every exam season, she would rip the scores off the wall and come skipping down the hallway to him, gloating written all over her damn face. "Look, Riddle. You were second in class! Oh, I wonder who was number one. Bet she's beautiful." Her bragging was even worse because she was beautiful and she fucking knew it. He could say whatever he wanted about Nora Rosier—her father died stupidly in the first Wizarding War, her mother was neurotic, her brother idiotic, her voice annoying, her personality infuriating—but he couldn't say she was ugly. That would be lying. Nora was incredible, with long, sexy legs that led to a pert ass, breasts that looked like they would fit in the palm of his hand, large lips, catlike eyes that always had a bit of brown liner on them to make her look even fiercer, silky hair. Yeah, she was beautiful. On the outside. He wouldn't be a guy if he didn't notice.

"Right!" Enzo said, clapping his hands together. Enzo was a right handsome young lad with a constantly dimpled face, bright blue eyes, and shaggy, straight brown hair. Everyone liked Enzo. Apparently, even Nora did, smiling at him as he gave commands. "Let's get started. Keepers, you're up first."

Enzo was named their captain during their seventh year and he was a damn good one. Mattheo didn't listen to others well—probably a direct cause of... well... no parenting. But for some reason, he listened to Enz. It was just hard not to like the bloke. Even Gryffindors liked him. He was a good captain, too. Calm, strategic, good at seeing potential and knowing where everyone best fits. He was just a good leader. So good, in fact, that Enzo was far too humble to do the position on his own so he created the co-captain position. Something that was clearly going to be Mattheo's, though Enzo said he wasn't going to name the position until after the Christmas holiday so the back half of their season could be strong with two leaders rather than just one.

There were three keeper candidates this year. They followed Enzo to the pitch, leaving the beaters and chasers to chat amongst themselves. There were no seeker tryouts. Everyone knew that Draco was bloody brilliant, good enough to go pro if he wanted, though Mattheo doubted he wanted to. It probably cut into his "staring at myself in a mirror and fixing my dyed blond hair" time. Bloody git. How were they friends again? Right, they were cousins.

Mattheo had two cousins. Draco and Evelyn, though his relationship with Evie was complicated at best and confusing at worst. She was his cousin and also his sister-in-law. Weird, yes, but all somehow legal. He and his brother, Tom, both were "lucky" enough to call Voldemort their father but Tom had a muggle mother who was deader than the Bloody Baron and Mattheo's mother was the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange. His mother and Evelyn's father, Regulus Black, were cousins so it meant that he and Tom were related through their father while Evelyn was through his mother's side so when she and Tom found out that they were soulmates—literally—Evie joined the family for good.

She was a much better cousin than Draco. Draco, who didn't show up to tryouts even though he said he would. Again, bloody git.

"What's wrong, Riddle? Thinking about all of the ways I'm going to beat you this year?" Nora's haughty voice rose over his thoughts.

Mattheo scowled and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. It was far too early in the year to deal with her bullshit. Maybe Granger would let him borrow the time-turner she thought was a "secret" so he could go back in time and smack Nora's mother upside the head for choosing to give birth to her. "We're trying out for different positions on the same team, you ninny. You can't beat me."

"Not at those but I can become co-captain instead of you." Her hazel eyes were bright with arrogance. Or maybe it was confidence. Mattheo didn't quite know the difference.

He scoffed. "You? Co-captain? Last year, you couldn't even stay on a broom and you expect me to believe that you're going to somehow make the team and become the co-captain? Man, I knew you were daft but I didn't realize you were delusional too. I don't know how you do it, Rosier, but you somehow make it impossible to underestimate you."

Her nostrils flared with anger. Mattheo bit his lip to keep from laughing. Nora getting angry was like watching a toothless shark get angry. So frustrated that she didn't have teeth yet still attempting to bite in case they somehow developed.

"You're a right foul git, you know that?"

He grinned. "Foul in the streets and in the sheets. Not that you'd ever get the pleasure of finding that out."

"Oh, poor me. What will I ever do without a night in bed with Mattheo Riddle? Without five seconds of mediocre fucking? Woe is me." Her voice was sardonic and slow as she rolled her eyes.

Today, Nora's hair was in a tight ponytail with a singular braid running along her scalp until it reached the rest of her hair. Normally, she wore it half-up. He wasn't sure he had ever seen it fully down. That would be unlike Nora, to have something out of her control, even something as ridiculous as hair. It was so unlike his own messy brown curls, who seemed to have minds of their own as they styled themselves in whatever way they felt like that day. A small strand of straight, long hair freed itself from her updo, dangling in front of her head.

Grab it, an impulsive voice inside of him whispered. Mattheo was used to having impulses but his only impulse with Nora was usually to murder her. He wrinkled his nose and shoved to the side, convincing himself that he only wanted to grab her hair to yank it off her fucking scalp. Yep, that sounded more correct.

"I'll have you know, Rosier, that many women can attest to the fact that it is much longer than five seconds," he drawled.

Nora smirked and he almost paled. Nora smirking was never a good sign. She was a total bitch, one with a smart and witty mouth that almost matched his. When she smirked, it meant that some comment was about to come out of her full lips that would keep him up for days.

Wait, did he say full lips? Fuck, these goddamn tryouts were getting to his head more than he thought. Either that or it was the fact that he was forced to wake up at the fucking crack of dawn.

"Erectile dysfunction is nothing to be ashamed of, Riddle."

Fuck. Her.

Mattheo clenched his jaw while the group around them sniggered. It seemed that whenever he and Nora had one of these verbal sparring matches, they drew a crowd. It couldn't be helped. It was the first day of their first year when they both were sent to speak with Snape because Mattheo called Nora a heinous bitch and Nora called Mattheo a pile of hippogriff shit within five minutes of them being sat by each other at the Slytherin table.

Ever since then, people actively went out of their way to pull Mattheo and Nora apart. Professors sat them on opposite sides of the room, their dormitories were put on the farthest ends of the corridors so they wouldn't run into each other, and their friends tended to steer them in another direction when one of them was near. Sometimes, though, it couldn't be helped.

They were like magnets. Except if magnets exploded upon contact and wanted to kill each other with laser eyes or something like that. Man, a ravine below the Hogwarts Express sounded pretty damn good right now...

That still wasn't fully ruled out. Tom kept Nora alive to keep him entertained with some little nonmaterial matches of wit. If Mattheo asked for her to be dead, though, Tom would do it.

Perks of having your brother as the Dark Lord.

Mattheo stepped closer to Nora so only she could hear what he had to say next. "If you want to know about my erections, princess, you don't need to make a scene. All you have to do is ask."

She gave him a saccharine smile. For a moment, he almost believed she could be nice.

For a moment.

"Sorry. I like mine large enough to make a difference. Don't give up though. I'm sure you'll find someone who doesn't care about size."

That was the thing about Nora Rosier. He loathed her. Fucking loathed her.

But there was a teeny, tiny part of him that enjoyed her too. Enjoyed the way she never backed down, always retorting sharply. Any other woman would have been breathing heavily, giving into the boyish charms that allowed him his fair share of female companionship. Any other woman would have folded years ago.

Not Nora.

No, she wouldn't be Nora if she backed down from an argument. She wouldn't be Nora if she didn't turn up her sharp chin and stare at him with fire in her hazel eyes. She wouldn't be Nora if she didn't wound him with her words as much as he wounded her with his. She wouldn't be Nora if she didn't continue to show up year after year to Quidditch tryouts even though she had never come even remotely close to making the team. She wouldn't be Nora if she didn't lit a fire inside of him.

Perhaps there was a teeny tiny part that enjoyed being around Nora. Perhaps there was a bit of masochism in him, from his mother, maybe. There was a part of him that looked for her in each room, that enjoyed their little battles of the tongue, that (admittedly) liked the way her hair was a perfect golden blonde, even now as it blew in the wind on the Quidditch pitch.

Yes, there was a part of him that enjoyed being around her.

But he still fucking hated her.

Whoop, whoop! Mattheo's story has officially begun. On my other stories, you guys have seemed so excited for this one so I hope you like it. Be prepared for a lot of witty banter because these guys crack me up every time they're on the page together. The next chapter will be Nora's POV and we'll finally get to learn more about our bbg. Let me know what you think!

Also, for anyone who is new, you can read about Tom and Evelyn's story in Darkness & Devotion (up on my page). If you want to know where Mr. Draco Malfoy is, check out Secrets & Snakes to read about his little secret romance! Lastly, to read about Mr. Theodore Nott, AKA Mattheo's best friend and roommate, then check out Smoke & Stars. ALL of these stories feature Mattheo and Nora fighting at some point (in hilarious ways I might add) and Mattheo just being an icon :) For a little sneak peek at what you get in those stories, here's an excerpt from "The Brother" in Darkness & Devotion:

The boy sighed and set his apple on his plate. "Look. I'm not supposed to tell you anything. Actually, I'm not even sure I'm allowed to talk to you; Tom just got angry that I wasn't sitting near you but I thought it would be creepy to just watch you eat. So don't try to get me in more trouble than I already am. Tom's a scary bloke and I'd like to keep my beautiful face."

She heard a snort from down the table. "It's not beautiful, Riddle," a girl's voice called out.

"Fuck you, Nora!" Mattheo sneered. "Maybe you would see how attractive I am if you got your head out of your ass."

"It is out of my ass! You would know if you stopped staring at it so much!"

"Oh really? Because from over here, it looks like you're wearing it like a hat!" Mattheo then turned back to his food and began to grumble angrily about the blonde girl he was just talking to. "Stupid fucking Nora with her stupid fucking face and her stupid fucking ass."

Hope you enjoy the story!