Spirals || Mattheo Riddle

꩜ Chapter 57 ꩜

Mattheo's POV

My chest felt like it was about to cave in the second I destroyed the stone Marigold, severing the connection between the two portkeys. The only thing I could feel was the need to rip out my own lungs. My wand quivered in my hand and I grabbed my wrist with my other hand to stop it. I could blame the cold, my clothes and hair were still drenched from the rain in Rye, where I had been inspecting new recruits when the message had been delivered that Gringotts bank had been broken into.

More like broken out of, I thought. Harry Potter and his friends had flown a bloody dragon out of the fucking place. If I wasn't so stressed I would take a moment to be impressed.

But regardless of the chill that had set deep in my bones, the muscle spasms currently overtaking my hands were not the result of the cold.

I huffed angrily. Now was not the time to panic. Soon these gates would house the very evil I had attempted to leave outside the gates these past weeks.

As if the universe felt the need to emphasise that point, a shiver ran through the wards that surrounded Riddle house, alerting me to someone's arrival. I took a steadying breath before starting down the driveway.

The grounds already felt darker without Raven's presence. I gripped my wand tighter in frustration, fighting the urge to scream. The look of pure pain on her face would haunt me for the rest of my days. I promised I wouldn't hurt her again, and now I had broken that promise. It was for her safety, I knew that, but it didn't help me overcome the drowning guilt that acted like ice in my veins.

The double oak doors opened on command for me and I waved my wand over myself to dry my clothes and hair before entering.

Lucius Malfoy stood slumped in the middle of the room. His platinum hair was falling out and he flinched at the sound of the door falling shut behind me. He straightened his spine the second he saw me, fear colouring his expression. There was no doubt that this was a shell of the man he had once been.

"Mr Riddle. I was... instructed here," the man's voice jumped in pitch on the word instructed. Malfoy had always refused to call me 'Lord'. He believed that term was deserved by the Dark Lord and the Dark Lord only.

I set my jaw. "When is he getting here Malfoy?" My father returning from wherever he had been was a bad sign. This whole fucking thing was a bad sign.

The older Malfoy drew in a stuttering breath. "He is collecting some- some witnesses. He'll be here within the hour."

Fuck.

I had woken up this morning expecting life to carry on as it did every day since we got Raven out of that God-awful school, and in just a few hours, everything had changed.

I ran a hand through my hair and the touch made me think of Raven again. I needed to shove her out of my mind before my father got here. I had gone too long without practising the mental walls required to fight off his mental attacks.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Malfoys voice bounced off the walls and echoed in my ears. I glanced up, expecting to see smugness on the wizard's face. Instead all I saw was recognition in those grey eyes. It was what made me brush the comment aside and focus on bigger problems. I turned and sat on the bottom step of the staircase, closing my eyes lightly before focusing my energy on collecting my emotions and storing them in the darkest parts of myself, away from the prying eyes of my father.

The deeper I shoved the memories of Raven's feather light kisses and dazzling smile, the safer she would be. If the blonde Death Eater in front of me had anything to say about my practise of occlumency, he didn't say anything.