Fighting Fate // Mattheo Riddle ♣️

Chapter Twenty-One - Calling

Word Count: 3,538. 

Warnings: None.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Riddle asked me again as we approached the Great Hall.

"I'm fine," I told him again, hugging my books closer to my chest. It was a lie. I think he knew it was a lie, but he didn't call me out on it. At least not directly.

"Lyra, you may be a little more social than you were last week but you're still not..." he paused.

"Me?" I finished the question for him. "I know. Something different happened at the Manor. I wanted to kill Pettigrew and I would have if it wasn't for that voice in my head."

"Yes, but we're not at Malfoy Manor anymore," he tried, placing a hand on my arm.

"That doesn't mean that I've forgotten about it. It doesn't go away just because I change location. I can't turn it off like you can," I explained, stopping.

He sighed. "What makes you think I turn it off?"

"I'm sure you've seen worse than I have in the past few months, in the past year," I started. "And you come back to Hogwarts and act as though it didn't happen."

"Don't think it doesn't effect me, because it does, I just choose to leave it there. Leave it in whatever Hell I was in."

He moved his hands to the side of my face, giving me a small smile as he leaned his head down to look me in the eye.

"But what if that Hell," – I took a breath – "starts bleeding into everything else. What if you can't stop it?" I asked him, referencing more than just being at a Death Eater meeting.

He nodded slowly. "Then we deal with it. We deal with it when it happens, not before. Okay?"

I nodded in return. "Okay." Letting out a long sigh, I moved forward, laying my head against Mattheo's. "I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry," he replied, tilting his head to kiss my cheek softly. "Let's skip class. We don't need to go today."

"I –"

My response was cut off by the sound of a shrilling voice echoing through the corridors of Hogwarts.

"In!" It said, furiously.

Sighing, I pulled away from the boy, poking my head around the corner of the wall.

There stood Professor McGonagall, figure strict as I had ever seen it. She had Harry and one of the twins by the collar as she dragged them into her office.

"What's going on there?" Riddle asked, poking his head out around the wall.

"I've got no idea," I replied, turning from the door for a moment to watch the boy in front of me. "Do you want to find out?" I asked him.

Riddle perked a brow at my suggestion before a smile blossomed on his lips. "I thought you would never ask."

Returning his smile, I took Mattheo by the hand and quickly rushed over to Professor McGonagall's office.

The door was still wide open, giving us a view of the now pacing teacher at the top of the room. I shushed the boy beside me as he lowered onto his hunkers, craning his head to the right as to see the classroom properly.

"Well?" she asked the two figures that were hidden from view by the wall I was pressed against. "I have never seen such a disgraceful exhibition. Two onto one! Explain yourselves!"

"Malfoy provoked us," said Harry stiffly.

"Shit," I cursed quietly.

"I thought they had stopped fighting," Riddle commented.