𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎 | mattheo riddle

27 | specialised skills

Layla watches the boys walking into the Forbidden Forest.

The Forbidden Forest!? Are you kidding me!? I better get a closer distance to them then, I'm not going in that place alone.

Layla scurries up towards them and hides behind a tree at the edge of the forest as the boys walk in.

It's barely morning yet, so the sky is still dark and the sun still due to rise. Taking a step into the forest, Layla feels the eeriness almost instantly, sending shivers down her spine.

She shake it off and continues to follow the boys. That's when they come to a stop at a clearing in the middle of the tall trees that span across the whole forest.

Layla hides behind a bush, waiting for them to make their next move. They all raise their wand, pointing towards the same direction, Layla squints her eyes to see but there's literally nothing there.

That's when they take a few steps forward and walk straight into some type of force field, disappearing almost suddenly.

What the fuck did they just walk into?

Layla stands up and jogs towards rhe clearing, standing exactly where they stood. She holds her hands forward in the the same direction, and suddenly feels tingles on the palm of her hands.

"There's definitely something there - a portal or Merlin knows what." She mutters to herself, looking around it.

She moves her hands a little more and continues to feel the tingles.

"Here goes nothing."

She takes a step forward, feeling like she's being sucked into the something. She closes her eyes tightly and when she opens them, she finds herself to be in some sort of large building - almost everything in the theme of black and gold.

Black walls, floor, ceiling everything. As well as grand gold doors just ahead of her.

"What is this place?" Layla wonders, slowly approaching the golden doors in front of her.

Layla slowly opens it, only a little so she can peak through to see what's on the other side.

Her eyes open to find a large hall, with a boxing ring right in the middle. Layla's eyes look around, trying to process everything she's seeing.

Dylan and Blaise enter the ring with boxing gloves on, holding their fists up to guard their face. They begin their boxing session and Layla wants to get a closer look.

She remembers that she has the invisibility spell hiding her so she slowly opens the door and closes it, before entering the sports hall, or whatever you call it - training hall, maybe?

She watches Dylan and Blaise spar, and find Theodore and Enzo going through some guns that are arranged in cabinets with clear windows, creating a magnificent display of all the guns and it's ammo.

Layla walks around, watching all of the boys. Draco sits beside the boxing ring in a chair, taking a bite out of a green apple. Typical.

Layla then makes her way over to Liam, who stands by a long wooden table, with an apron and goggles on. He grabs a hammer, and begins to beat down some metal on an anvil.

A blacksmith?

"Can you keep it down Matthews!? We're trying to work here!" Enzo shouts over Liam's continuous hammering.

"Work?" Liam scoffs. "Sorry, do you mean looking at some muggle weapons that all look the same?"

"Shut up Liam. You know our speciality is guns, you know nothing about them." Enzo rolls his eyes. "These guns are my babies."

"Our babies." Theodore corrects him.

"Theodore... is this you coming out?" Enzo asks, looking at his friend seriously.

"What!? No! That's not what I meant!"

Layla attempts to hold back a laugh, but manages to let out a snort, causing Liam to look straight up in her direction.

"Did you guys hear that?" Liam asks.

"No." Theodore shrugs.

"Never mind." Liam says, before continuing to hammer down the metal.

Layla continues to wander around, to find him at the other end of the hall.

She notices some targets stuck onto the wall and watches as Mattheo grabs a knife out of his armoured vest, and throws it directly at the bullseye, without any effort at all.

She walks closer to him, watching in admiration as he continues to land each throw perfectly on target.

Suddenly, he turns around quickly as Layla takes a step forward. She covers her mouth, not wanting him to hear her.

He shakes his head and goes back to throwing the knives, when Layla decides she should mess with him. She takes a knife from the knife racks and suddenly throws it right on target.

Mattheo jumps back, pulling out two daggers with each hand, looking around, alerted.

"Who's there!?" He asks, making Layla giggle.

She takes another couple of knives and throws them, each one of them landing on each target.

She slowly walks up to Mattheo and tiptoes, whispering into his ear, "bullseye."

Mattheo takes out his wand and casts a spell, suddenly removing Layla's invisibility spell. When he does, she shouts,

"Boo!"

Mattheo stumbles back, and grunts when he realises it's her.

"Lopez!? How the fuck did you get here!?" He exclaims, causing the boys to stop what they're doing and rush right over, gasping when they see Layla standing before them.

"Layla? How-"

"She must've followed you idiots." Mattheo says, whacking the back of Enzo's head.

"Just wanted to find out what you guys are up to." Layla shrugs, grabbing another knife and inspecting it.

Mattheo snatches it off of her and throws it directly to the target.

"So, this is where you guys train?" Layla asks. "Before you go out to kill people?"

"Evil people." Liam corrects her.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm guessing each of you have a certain skill? Seems like Mattheo handpicked each of you for a specific reason." She scoffs.

"You've got a good eye." Dylan says.

"So I'm guessing Dylan, the boxer."

"Correct."

"Enzo and Theodore the gun boys." Layla laughs. "Liam, the blacksmith? What were you making over there?"

"Armour." Liam tells her.

"Armour?"

"Yes. Specially handcrafted by me."

"How will armour protect you from magic?" Layla asks.

"Matthew's work is exceptional and too complicated for your feeble mind Lopez." Mattheo says, taking a step towards Layla, giving her a death stare.

He's being so protective. It's like Liam is his little brother or something.

How cute.