Five Months Ago

"Alright lads, another month, another paycheck for Mattheo," he said as he grinned and jingled the coins from Malfoy for good measure.

"Oh, give it a rest. You earned your forty galleons, now shut up and spend them on something dumb like you always do," Draco groaned before taking a swig of butterbeer.

"Nah, I think I'll keep these. Spend them on something special." The smile hadn't left his face since it first appeared. Any excuse to torment Draco was good enough for Mattheo. The bloke just made it so easy. Meanwhile, if he tried to torment Theodore, his head would be cut clean off by Nott's vicious comebacks and if he tried to torment Enzo, the lad would just smile and not care at all.

"I can't believe you went a month without sex," Enzo said before taking another drink of the beer he was holding. "That's insane for you. Not a wank or anything. Power to you, mate. Power to you."

Mattheo grinned. To be honest, he couldn't believe he lasted a whole month without having his dick touched for anything other than a solid piddle. It was bloody hell but you know what wasn't hell? Forty shiny galleons—twenty from Theo, who made the bet, and twenty from Draco, who was arrogant enough to try and get in on it. They'd been jingling in his pocket ever since he made them pay up.

"Ah, Enzo, you could go a month without sex," Mattheo teased. "You do that anyway."

Lorenzo smirked. "No, I definitely do not."

"Wha— You cheeky fucker! Do you have a girl you didn't tell us about?" Draco sputtered, mirroring what Theo and Mattheo were thinking. They were all so used to Enzo not really caring about girls. Sure, he got a good ride every now and then—a good-looking lad who was a banger at Quidditch wasn't exactly hurting for women—but he kept them casual and didn't speak of them often. And ever since he was named Quidditch captain, Mattheo expected Enzo to shove off women entirely and focus on the game. It was what all of them were expecting, considering Quidditch was practically Enzo's entire life. Well, Quidditch and his younger sister. Now, she was a ride...

"Maybe," Enzo grinned with his tongue in his cheek. "But that's a story for another day, lads."

Gobsmacked, Mattheo could do nothing but stare at his friend, who took another swig from his drink and stared at the rest of them as if he had the greatest secret in the world tucked in his back pocket.

"Fine," Mattheo said, frustrated. He hated being kept out of the loop. There was a reason Theo always called him a "nosy fuck." "Then I bet that you have to tell us who the girl is!"

"That's not a real bet, Riddle," Draco scoffed as Enzo asked, "How much?"

"Three galleons. Not much to tell us a name."

"Still, three galleons is three galleons," Enzo mused, rubbing his jaw before looking up with deep blue eyes. "Alright. Cassiopeia Crane."

"The Hufflepuff?"

Enzo smiled. "That's the one."

"You two are shagging?" Draco asked with disbelief clearly written across his grey eyes.

"No," Enzo said simply.

"So then how—"

"Not yet, eh?" Mattheo hopped in with a joking tone as soon as he saw Enzo shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Enzo is just taking his time wooing the girl properly. Isn't that right?"

"You make it sound like I only want sex—"

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're a good guy who likes women for their brain and their hearts, not their tits, yadda yadda."

"You're a pig, Riddle," Draco scoffed. Mattheo just shrugged a took another swig of his drink, just like the other boys did. Butterbeer and Bets Night were some of his favorite nights, one of the few things he had to look forward to—mainly because he almost always made a fortune off of them, considering there were very few things Mattheo wasn't willing to do for a bit of spare change. He didn't have as much money as the rest of his friends. Eventually, he'd be rich as fuck. But until he graduated from Hogwarts, Tom wouldn't let him have any money beyond the weekly allowance he was accustomed to receiving already. Hence the need for his little side businesses: bets from his friends and maybe smuggling a few bottles of firewhisky here and there.

Well, before they were his favorite nights. Now, he was oddly beginning to enjoy the ones spent with Nora Rosier in a broom closet, dry humping like ickle third years. Why, he wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was old feelings that he'd stuffed down long ago beginning to resurface...

"Tell us about little Crane, Enz."

"Ah, ah," the boy said with a sly smile. "My bet was only for her name. You're getting nothing else out of me."

"Shite," Mattheo cursed under his breath.

"Well, now that we've wasted Enzo's bet for the month, what should Draco's be?" Theo muttered sullenly as if this was the last place he wanted to be. Mattheo narrowed his eyes at his best friend. Theo had been grumpy for far too long, something Mattheo figured had to do with his secret girlfriend. The bloke still wouldn't tell him—him! his best friend in the whole world—and Mattheo was pretty annoyed. Who doesn't tell their best friend even the name of their secret girlfriend? It had to break bro code...

"I've got it!" Mattheo exclaimed after a few moments of silence where none of them could think of a way that would get Draco to fork up some of his pocket money. "Draco, I bet that you and Astoria—"

"No," Draco said with a voice that made it clear he wouldn't budge.

"But you didn't even hear what it is!"

"Doesn't matter. Leave her out of it," the blond growled. All three boys looked at their friend with confusion. Mattheo was just going to bet that they had to play a prank on Daphne Greengrass together, Draco's fiancee. It would have made sense if Draco forbade Daphne from being involved but Astoria? Her sweet little sister? Well, the sweet little sister that had gained a sweet rack over the summer... still, it didn't make sense to Mattheo. Not yet, at least.

"But then you'll have to pay and Matt didn't even say what—" Enzo began but Draco cut him off.

"I'll pay up then. No bets involving Astoria. No exceptions." Draco reached into his pocket and flung a handful of galleons at all three boys—the price of failing to complete a bet. He didn't even look angry as he did it. Wow, he must have been serious about not involving Baby Greengrass then.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Mattheo grumbled before sitting back on his chair and drinking again. Then, lightening up at the prospect of nailing Theo, he sat back up again and said, "Oy! Notty!"

"What, my bad-postured friend?"

"What? My posture isn't bad?" Mattheo asked with confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I assumed your bigass head was the reason it was horrible. My mistake." Mattheo promptly threw his empty bottle at Theo but the sly little fucker dodged it at the last second.

"You little shit!"

"Hey," Theo said with his hands raised nonchalantly. "Don't blame me just because you're like a walking ad for condoms. One look at your oval head and birth rates go down."

Scowling, Mattheo walked over and tackled his best friend. Theo started to roll back, laughing at the rage on Mattheo's face. To be fair, Mattheo's feelings were far from hurt, just like Theo knew he wouldn't actually be injured. This was how they'd been since they met so many years ago and it was unlikely to change at this point. One of them insulted the other in a way that would make most people cry, the other would promptly kick their ass. Just the other day, Theo punched the shit out of Mattheo for saying that Theo looked easy to draw.

"That's it! I was going to go easy on you but you forced my hand, mate. I bet you ten galleons that you can't go two weeks without smoking." That'll teach the piece of shi—

"Done," Theo said without hesitation, shoving Mattheo off of him and sitting back down with his beer. He pointedly extinguished the cigarette on his pants leg with a cocky little smirk. "I look forward to my ten galleons in fourteen days."

"Oh, please! You can't even go one day without smoking, much less fourteen!"

Theo grinned. "You'd be surprised what I can accomplish with the right motives."

"And you think ten galleons is the right motive? Lad, I've offered you way more in the past to stop."

He shrugged. "Suppose my motives are different this time around."

"I'm so confused," Enzo whispered, whipping his head back and forth.

"Don't worry, Enz," Draco assured. "We all are. At least you're not alone this time."

Mattheo just ignored them both. "None of you are any fun. Theo took the bet without hesitation, Draco turned his down before I even finished saying it, and Enz gave us nothing. Blaise's ass didn't even show up. This has to be the lamest Butterbeer and Bets Night ever."

Theo grinned before taking another drink of butterbeer. "Not necessarily. We still have your bet, mate."

"Yeah, but your bets are always easy as shit. Even the sex one wasn't that hard." Because it turns out I don't need to touch my dick to come, he wanted to add as he thought about Nora grinding against him in the broom closet. But that was a mere technicality that he didn't want the other boys to know about. Mattheo liked keeping her to himself, liked keeping their nights as just theirs.

"You want a hard one?" Theo smirked. "Fine. You can have a hard one. I bet that you can't get Nora Rosier to fall in love with you."

"Ah, brilliant!" Draco said with a wide grin as he clapped to himself. "She hates your ass. It's bloody impossible."

Mattheo wasn't so sure about that, not after the way she breathed her name while his lips were against hers. He had a feeling that, right now, he sat somewhere on the spectrum between hated and tolerated, which didn't exactly speak in his favor but meant the world in Nora terms. Still, the idea of bet involving Nora like that made his stomach flip, and not in a good way. "No way," he said, shifting in his seat. He took another drink, hoping that it disguised his unease. "I'm good but I'm not a miracle worker. Getting her to fall in love in a month would be impossible."

"The time isn't the impossible part, Riddle," Draco chuckled. "It's the girl. No-ra. She loathes you. You could have all year for I fucking care and she still wouldn't love you. You're like fire and ice, you two."

Mattheo's blood ran cold. Because something about this felt wrong and yet he couldn't for the life of him think of what. His mind flashed back to a day seven years ago when he felt something similar right before ruining what he and Nora had. But they were nothing right now. Enemies. Still... why did this make him feel like he was about to hurl?

"How much?" he whispered.

"One hundred galleons," Draco said smugly. "Because I know you can't fucking do it. One hundred galleons to make Nora Rosier fall in love with you by the end of the year."

Theo and Enzo both gasped because this was the highest bet they'd had yet by far. That kind of money... that could buy him so much. Maybe he could get decent Christmas presents for Tom and Evelyn. Maybe he could start saving for his future. Maybe he could buy a shit ton of useless crap from the Weasley's. It didn't matter because with that kind of money, he had options.

Why was he picturing Nora's face looking at him with hazel eyes full of betrayal? Why was he thinking about how she would feel if she could hear him now? Why did he care when they were nothing, when she hated him?

One hundred galleons, he mused. That's a hell of a lot of money for a girl you can't stop thinking about anyway.

After a few minutes of debating with himself, Mattheo finally smirked, ignoring the pit in his stomach while he said, "Alright. You're on."

Ahhh, now we know the bet! I told y'all I'd been subtly foreshadowing this all story, Mattheo's been talking about bets nonstop and I'm just sitting here behind the keyboard rubbing my hands and giggling maniacally.

Also, I'm so proud of myself for dropping in three of my other couples into ONE chapter. I think that's a record for me! (also, if you haven't read Theo, Draco, or the beginning of Enzo's story yet, you definitely should). xx