Well, it had officially been less than a day since Nora had broken her leg and she was already feeling like she could pull her hair out.

Madam Pomfrey had made her stay overnight just to make sure there was no infection. Aditi was spending the day with her new boyfriend—Nora was right about the other relationship being over already—so she thought she'd just make it easy for herself and spend most of the day in the library getting a head start on some of her assignments.

The only problem? Getting there.

Nora had vastly underestimated just how big of a pain in the ass crutches were. They hurt her underarms and were hard to use, especially since her cast felt like it weighed as much as a bloody dragon, weighing down her leg as it dragged along the floor. She was clumsy with the two useless devices but she was even worse without them so there she was, limping down the hallway while people avoided her like the plague. Her reputation as a hard-ass and the furious look on her face wasn't exactly a winning recipe for "How to Be Approachable."

"Almost there," she muttered to herself when the library finally came in view. She'd planned on going back and forth between there and the Great Hall until it was time for bed but that plan went out the window when she realized how difficult it was to move even five meters. She'd rather starve than embarrass herself anymore.

Finally, Nora made it to the library looking far more like a fool than she preferred but with at least a little bit of dignity intact.

Well, or so she thought.

"I thought I heard something about you totally failing but I didn't believe it until now," a nasally know-it-all voice said from behind her. Nora scowled before turning around to face it.

It was fucking. Hermione. Granger.

Nora loathed Hermione Granger and rest assured, the feeling was very mutual. She wasn't sure how it was possible to hate someone more than she hated Mattheo Riddle but then Hermione came along and taught her that anything was possible if you just put your mind to it.

Contrary to what you might believe, their mutual hatred was not, in fact, started by Nora. Or at least not directly. When Nora had gotten top grades in their first year, Hermione had immediately turned into the biggest bitch she'd ever met. Whatever happened to girls supporting other girls? In Hermione's case, that apparently only existed when the girls weren't competition for the top spot.

Nora, being Nora, didn't let Hermione talk down to her, instead trying even harder to beat her the next year. And the next year. And the next year. For six years in a row (about to be seven), Nora beat out Hermione Granger for the top spot, driving the bushy-haired girl completely bonkers.

It didn't help that Nora wasn't exactly humble about her wins because why would she be? Hermione started this feud and Nora was petty enough to dish everything she was given right back. If Hermione wanted to be a bitch, she would be a bigger one. Everything that Hermione did, Nora would do better with an arrogant grin on her face.

And the worst part? No one believed her whenever she said how fucking horrible Hermione was because in their eyes, Hermione was this saint who could do no wrong, the golden girl of the Golden Trio. Even Aditi adored Hermione, insisting that Hermione would never be mean. So, like always, Nora was the bad girl.

Fuck being good. Being good was boring anyway.

"If we want to talk about utterly failing, perhaps you should speak to your boyfriend about the way he let in the most goals all year? Or perhaps we should pull out Slughorn's last potions exam?" Nora asked with an upturned chin and a smile. Hermione frowned in that stupid scrunched-up way that made Nora want to hit her over the head with her crutch.

"Leave Ron out of this."

Nora scoffed. "You brought up Quidditch failures. I figured it was only right to bring up Hogwarts' biggest one."

The other girl's nostrils flared. "Oh, because you can talk badly about men. You're so insufferable that no man would want to be with you."

(Guys, disclaimer: I like Hermione but I tried and could not think of any world where she and Nora got along lol so sorry about that. Okay continue)

"I don't have a boyfriend by choice. What was your excuse? You spent years pining after useless men only to go completely unnoticed by them."

"Ron is not useless! And Viktor Krum noticed me."

Nora rolled her eyes. "Please. Viktor is a meathead who can barely spend his own name. And don't even get me started on Weaselbee. I think even Dumbledore would die before I got to the end of all of his faults."

"You're so—"

"Intelligent?" Nora offered with a saccharine smile. "Attractive? Because those are the only two adjectives you can use about me without lying. Now get out of my way, Granger, before you utterly humiliate yourself any more than you already have. It's getting pathetic how you go out of your way to try and shit talk someone who doesn't even see you as competition for a race you've painfully lost year after year."

Hermione's jaw dropped, probably because she wasn't used to being talked to like that when everyone else adored her from the moment she became friends with Harry Potter. Well, Nora was never one to be part of the crowd. Pity, too. She would have been more than willing to be friends with the girl but a one-sided rivalry that began when they were eleven destroyed any chance of that.

"I feel sorry for you," Hermione called out as she began to hobble away on her crutches.

Nora turned with a bored look on her face. "Why is that?" She asked dryly.

"Because your heart is so bitter that I can't imagine anyone ever choosing you. You're going to end up alone and it'll be nobody's fault but yours."

Nora's face tightened. "It's a good thing I don't care. Have a good week, Granger. Or don't."

She turned around and hoped that Hermione didn't notice the lie written all over her face. Because until that very moment, she didn't realize she did care. She didn't want to be alone and yet that's exactly what she was, surrounded by nothing but books and a broken leg.

Hermione's words still sat with Nora as she went through her day. True to her plan, she'd spent most of the in the library getting ahead on her papers before going back up to her room for an early bedtime so she could satisfy Enzo's resting order.

The problem was the cast made it fucking hard to get comfortable so Nora had spent several hours awake, unable to get comfortable at all. And of course, she was haunted by thoughts she wouldn't even dare to have during the day.

Your heart is so bitter that I can't imagine anyone ever choosing you. You're going to end up alone and it'll be nobody's fault but yours.

Something only a bitch like Hermione would say. But there as she lay completely alone with no one to take care of her, Nora couldn't help but wonder if she was right.

What was that saying? Even a broken clock was right twice a day? Well, Nora didn't think Hermione's gears were in full working order but she couldn't help but wonder if the girl had a point. Maybe Nora was lonely. Even Aditi wasn't with her, off with whoever her lover was now. And where was Nora? Alone. Utterly so.

She scowled. "I'll show her. I can have someone if I want someone."

Nora sat up and began to dress, putting on a cute but sexy red dress that showed off her great rack. The deep v-halter neckline left just enough to the imagination while the short skirt offered a tease of her ass. She curled her hair, leaving it all the way down instead of half-up like she normally did. The voluminous curls made her look like a bombshell straight out of Hollywood, which she accentuated with a glittery smoky eye and a red lip.

Nora admired herself in the mirror. She looked fucking sexy. Now it was time to prove she could have whoever she wanted.

She left the crutches in bed and began to limp down the corridor, earning a few wolf whistles from boys smoking in the hallway. Nora just winked at them and continued down to the Ravenclaw dorm room.

Linc had wanted her for months. Maybe it was finally time for her to give him a chance, to allow him to be her first relationship. She wondered if she could do better but perhaps it would be best to stick to someone she knew for her first one, someone safe who wanted her badly.

Nora knocked on Linc's dorm room before realizing that she rarely knocked, deciding instead to just walk in like she normally did.

"Linc, I've been thinking. I'm ready to be yours. I want to be yours," she said as she walked into the room.

But when she finally looked inside, she gasped. Linc was sitting on his bed with a dark haired girl, kissing her neck while she giggled. The two of them looked at her with confusion, which Nora returned in full. She glanced around the room and saw the vase of roses sitting on Linc's desk and the candles accenting the mood lighting of the room. He never did this stuff for me, she thought with a pang, hurt immediately filling her body. Was I not worth this extra effort?

"Give me a second, baby. I've just got to talk to my friend," Linc murmured under his breath. The girl gave him a quick peck before walking out the door, side-eyeing Nora as she left.

"What is this?" Nora asked in an accusing tone as soon as the door shut. "Are you replacing me? I thought you loved me."

Linc rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You snooze you lose, Nora babe. I offered to be yours for a long time and I got tired of waiting. Plus, I never loved you. I never thought of you like that."

She felt her chin wobble but she clenched it and forced it to stay strong. You're Nora Rosier. You don't get emotional like this, she told herself but even she knew it was a lie. Her eyes were already beginning to sting and her legs felt weak.

"So how did you think of me?"

"A good lay with a great rack," Linc said with a smile. "Someone I would have happily fucked for a while but not someone worth waiting for."

If she could have collapsed, she would have at that moment. But Nora was better than to show weakness over something as simple as hurt feelings. "If that's how you feel, then we have nothing more to discuss."

"It is. Bye, Nor."

She didn't remember the walk back to the Slytherin dungeons, not really. Nora remembered the way her eyes felt like a heavy weight was behind him, a dam holding back all of her tears. She remembered the way her leg ached as she forced herself to stand tall, at least until she reached her bedroom. She remembered the way her brain kept repeating, Hermione was right. You are alone.

She remembered the way she'd felt. Like for the first time in her life, Nora wondered if she truly wasn't enough. She'd had the passing thought but it always left as quickly as it came when she reminded herself of all that she had—her talent, her skill, her beauty, her wits. But lately, she felt like she'd given everything she had and it still wasn't enough. Not even for simple Linc.

Nora wrapped her arms around her chest as she desperately tried to hold back all of her tears and bad feelings. Everything hurt. Her leg, her pride, her heart. Why wasn't she enough for anyone? Why did she try so hard only to fall short every single time? She wasn't the best Quidditch player, was hardly the best student, wasn't the best friend, wasn't well-liked, and now the man she'd fucked for over a year didn't even want her. Did she belong anywhere? Did anyone want her?

"Nora!" A few voices called out when she reached the Slytherin Common Room. Nora blinked a couple of times until the tears receded.

Sitting in a circle on the floor were Lorenzo Berkshire, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Theodore Nott, Draco Malfoy, and… Mattheo Riddle.

"Damn, Nora." Daphne whistled lowly. Her blonde hair was up in two messy buns that looked cute in a way Nora could never pull off. "You look sexy as hell. You got a hot date tonight or something?"

"Or something," Nora muttered under her breath.

Daphne laughed and the rest of them continued to chat. Nora noticed a few bottles of firewhisky and some butterbeers surrounding the group. While she was admiring it all, she didn't notice the way the curly-haired boy had run up to her with a smile on his face.

"Hey, princess," he whispered before his eyes flashed with concern as he looked her up and down. Apparently, her hurt feelings were on display more than she'd like. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said a little too quickly. "Go back to your party."

He bit his lip while he grinned before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "The party just arrived. Join us."

She shook her head, not feeling like bantering with him tonight. It had been a long ass weekend and all she wanted to do was crawl into a hole. She looked around the room at all of the people who didn't seem to notice she was there, all of them talking amongst themselves as if she and Mattheo existed in their own little bubble they didn't care about.

"No one wants me here." She hadn't realized the double meaning to her words until she said them. No one wants you. You're alone. You're not enough, her mind repeating.

The smile dropped from Mattheo's face. He leaned close enough until she could smell the spicy scent that always seemed to surround him. "I do. I want you here."

"No, you don't. You—"

But he cut her off with a gentle kiss that she couldn't help but lean into. He pulled back and stared deeply into her eyes. From this close, she could see the different shades of chocolatey brown residing there, all of them staring straight into her soul. "I want you here, Nora. Come on," he whispered.

Mattheo didn't wait for her, walking over to the circle and taking his seat, leaving a spot for her right beside him. "Come on, Rosier," he said in a louder voice, a sharp glint in his eyes. But instead of flaring her temper like it normally did, it just made heat pool in her stomach. "Join us. We were just about to start a game."

"Yeah, come on!" Daphne said with a welcoming smile. Pansy flashed one her way too. "It'll be fun."

"What game?" Nora asked as she slowly limped over to the group.

Mattheo seemed to notice the way she struggled and jumped up quickly to help her, something that she couldn't help but lean into. Fire and ice, her mind repeated over and over. Because the heat in Mattheo's gaze and the warmth he brought to her was beginning to melt her Ice Queen facade.

He grinned. "Seven minutes in heaven."

Nora's stomach dropped as she finally began to understand. This was one of Mattheo's "secret parties", gatherings very few people were ever lucky enough to attend, at least those outside of Mattheo's inner circle. Something always seemed to happen at them, though none of the attendees would ever say what.

She bit her lip while she debated. This seemed like a horrible idea but then again, she'd had a horrible day. A horrible, dreadful, awful day. Perhaps if she were asked on another day, she would have said "hell no." But maybe today was a sign that she needed to have more fun.

"Don't worry, princess," Mattheo muttered into her ear. "You won't be going into that closet with anyone but me."

And she wasn't exactly sure why, but that was enough to make her say, "Sure. Sounds fun."

She just hoped she didn't regret it later.

I'm so nervous to write the next scene because I want it to be very spicy and very tense so ahhhh, I hope you all love it.

Let me know what you think! I love how Mattheo is melting her walls by being the Matty we all know and love.