Fire Breathing Dragons (Matthew)

Ari held the keychain she had gotten Matthew when she went shopping. She genually hoped he liked it, as it was a gift she had put a lot of thought into. AND it came from her... So OF COURSE he had to like it. She hoped to run into him in the common room sometime to give it to him, as she didn't see him at all during the summer liked shed hoped too. She had a rather boring summer. She saw no friends, and didn't get any letters. Which really hurt her feelings. Ari was really worth the effort to write too and catch up with.

She wore her Slytherin uniform, and her red hair in her Princess Anna braids, and she couldn't help but hum let it go as she waited. FINALLY, after what seemed like ages, Matthew came down the stairs! She was a little disappointed because she was in the middle of her favorite verse, but it was her best friend! And best friends where WAY more important than stupid songs.  She yelled, "MATTHEW! I HAVENT SEEN YOU IN FOREVER! Here! I got you something! Do you like it!?"

She held up the fire key chain with his name engraved in it. Ari was smiling from ear to eat. She had been picturing his reaction for the longest time, and now that moment was here! She only hoped that he liked it. But of course, it was a gift from her, and all gifts she got her friends where the best. So of course he would like it! Right!?

While Matthew liked going home for the summer to see his family, home was just never quite as awesome as Hogwarts. First of all, their back yard only had one tree to climb, and it was constantly supervised by Ollie, who had never really forgiven Matthew for injuring it the first time. And no matter how many times Matthew told Ollie it was just a tree and couldn't really feel it, it never really seemed to get through to his brother. Second of all, he wasn't allowed to do any of his awesome fire spells at home. Which was completely unfair, but on the bright side, Matthew was still able to light fires with matches. That was, if he could figure out where his mum was hiding them from him. It was always important to be able to light fire without magic, because who knew when he would get stuck without his wand!

But now Matthew was back, and he couldn't even come close to hiding his excitement. It was his first day in the castle, and after the feast, he headed up to his dormitory to unpack his things. It was an extra cool dormitory because even though it looked exactly the same as his old one, it was for third years! It didn't take him long to unpack, and when he was done he had to make a decision - stay in his dormitory or go down to the common room. If he went to the common room, he'd probably end up having to see Ariadne, who he'd successfully avoided all summer. It was probably better to just stay in his room, since none of his other friends were Slytherins. But, in the end, he ended up decided to go downstairs anyway. But it wasn't at all because he wanted to see Ari. No, definitely not. Though, he was having a hard time coming up with an excuse for leaving his dormitory if that wasn't the reason. But it wasn't the reason! Of course not!

Okay, so maybe seeing her again wasn't sooooo bad. She was waiting for him in the common room, and he actually felt a smile tug at his lips when he saw her. But he instantly convinced himself that it was because of what she was holding up, not because of Ari herself. "Woah, is that for me?!" he exclaimed, bounding the rest of the way in a few big leaps and leaning down to inspect the keychain that she was holding. "It's a dragon! That's so cool! I think it would be awesome to have a pet dragon, but mum says they're too dangerous," he added rolling his eyes. "Wow, thanks!" he said happily, taking the keychain from her. Maybe he should have gotten her something, too. But he didn't. And then, he hesitated awkwardly. Because in his excitement, he almost thought about hugging her. But he'd never hugged her before, not counting the time that she tackled him to the ground. And he didn't know how to hug a girl. So he just didn't, figuring that if she wanted a hug, she'd just take it. She was Ari after all. "How have you been?" he asked her more brightly than usual. "How was your summer?!"

Ari nodded and was glad he liked the key chain. Anything with fire Matthew liked, so the boy was easy to please. Ari smiled she said, " your welcome! I thought of you when I saw it as it had your name with fire and a dragon in it. So I thought that since, you know it was from me, obviously it would be the best gift ever."

Ari was rambling again. She could tell that he was hesitating to give her a hug. And instantly, OLAF from frozen popped into her mind. She giggled a little bit. Matthew obviously didn't like warm hugs. Which was weird to ARI. Maybe if she hugged him, the thoughts would come into his mind and he would decide that he actually did like warm hugs after all. Aunt EVELYN said Ari's hugs where the best. And, as always, aunt EVELYN was always right.

But Ari didn't want to be put in that awkward situation with Matthew. You only hugged people you really love. Ari loves aunt EVELYN, so therefore always hugs her. Ari only really likes Matthew and not loves. After all, he is her best friend. And one simply could not love their best friend. It would be too weird. Ari replied to his statement about the dragon. She said, "DUH you can't have a pet dragon. It would probably kill you and then you would die." She thought her statement was highly logical. But of course, Ari was highly logical all the time. So it didn't matter if it wasn't or not.  

He asked ARI how she had been and how her summer was. Summer went like it usually did. They spent a couple weeks in Ireland, and then the rest of the summer was spent in London at the vacation house. Ari shrugged and said, " it was alright. Kind of boring. I bet yours was boring too as I wasn't there."

Ari knew this had to be true. She remembered how much fun they had the summer between their first and second year when they spent it at the park. She remembered he had a brother. Ollie or something stupid like that. To be nice, Ari asked, "how is your brother? Ollie right?" Now Ari was getting bored. Maybe they could go outside and play Quidditch or something.

Matthew grinned as Ari when she said that it was the best gift ever since it was from her. "Obviously," he agreed, but instantly wondered why he'd said it. Because Ari was annoying, and a gift being from her didn't make it any better than a gift from anyone else. But, even as he thought it, he realized that she wasn't being all that annoying. Or, he wasn't finding her all that annoying. Which was ridiculous. Ari was the most annoying person that he'd ever met. Was it really possible that after two years, he'd finally adapted to her annoyingness? Or was she trying to not be annoying? The whole thought of it was too confusing, and he snapped out of his thoughts when Ari started giggling. Because she'd noticed his awkward pause. Matthew just rolled his eyes at her, hoping it was enough to end the moment completely.

"Oh come on, a dragon would not eat me," he said, giving her a look. "You sound just like my mum. I'm sure they're just like any other animal and you just have to know how to handle them. Like a dog!" Obviously, Matthew would be the best dragon owner ever. Because he knew how to take care of something that breathed fire. How hard could it be? It was completely unfair that Matthew wasn't allowed to have one. "I mean, as long as you don't keep it in a wooden house, I don't see what the problem is. Because you can't expect a dragon to not accidentally set a house on fire." Actually, sometimes Matthew thought that even he shouldn't be expected to not accidentally set his house on fire. His mother's expectations for him were far too high.

Matthew nodded. "My summer was boring, too. I hate not being able to do magic at home!" he complained. "And mum made me do all kinds of chores every day. I like being at Hogwarts way better than being at home." That didn't mean he didn't miss his parents when he was away, but home was definitely not as much fun. Matthew made a face when Ari asked about his brother. "He's gotten so boring! He never wants to do anything with me anymore, and he doesn't even let me climb the tree in the yard because I might break it like I did last time." Ollie was no fun anymore. Still awesome, just not fun. "It's all Veronica's fault, too. Her name isn't really Veronica, I just call her that to make Ollie mad. Her name's Victoria. And Ollie wants to spend all his time with her, which is ridiculous because she isn't even as cool as me." Matthew just didn't understand. "I think she's corrupting him, and turning him into an old and boring person."

Ari was glad that Matthew liked her gift. She smiled widely. Because of course he would like it. She knew her best friend well. He liked fire, and dragons AND it had his name in it. So DUH. Ari said, "I thought you would! Since fire and all. I'm not exactly sure why you like it so much! I mean, it could seriously hurt you! And where would I be if you got hurt?! I'd be without a best friend! And that would make me sad!" Ari nodded as she finished her statement. It was true. Ari didn't like the idea of Matthew and fire. The boy was clumsy enough as it is, what if a spell went awry when he tried to do it and he got seriously burned? Ari couldn't fathom the idea of not having Matthew around as her best friend. So much she started to get teary eyed, but cleared them out before he could see.

But a dragon SERIOUSLY would hurt him! That's what the stupid boy didn't understand. Dragons where 3297382975489 ft bigger than this little second year boy, and his odds weren't good. She argued, "Your mum is a very wise lady then! Like I'm a very wise lady. Dragons are NOT like dogs! Dragon's can eat you in one bite! A dog would take several bites to eat you! And besides, dogs are cuter than dragons. So HA!" Ari was trying to get him to understand that fire and dragons were bad. Maybe this would help him understand that he was indeed stupid. He was actually saying some things that made since. Well duh you shouldn't keep a FIRE BREATHING DRAGON in a WOODEN house. The idea made Ari laugh. She could actually picture Matthew placing a dragon in a wooden house.

He actually said another smart thing. Not being able to do magic outside of Hogwarts truly was boring. It meant that she had to act like an actual human being, which was boring. Because most human beings couldn't perform magic outside of Hogwarts. She said, "yeah, that part is boring. But I didn't have to do any chores. We have somebody for that. I went to Ireland first and then came to London next. Pretty much like every summer. Which is boring. We never go ANYWHERE fun." Matthew went on talking about this Veronica person. Or Victoria. Ari's head started to spin as she was getting confused with all the names. Well obviously Victoria or Veronica wasn't a cool person because she hadn't met Ari yet. Anybody who hadn't met Ari wasn't a cool person. Ollie had met Ari, so Ollie was a cool person. Ari doubted he was boring. And it sounded like Ollie liked this Veronica person. She said, "Have you thought that maybe Ollie LIKES this Veronica person? Like more than a friend like?" Matthew was so oblivious sometimes.