𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙏𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎 | mattheo riddle

61 | layla's discovery

Layla makes her way downstairs, playing with her ring as she stays alert, now more than ever, after what she's just discovered. As soon as she enters the kitchen, Henry enters too.

"Where did you go?" He asks, and Layla's eyes make their way to his hands, stained with...

Blood? Oh god... Anne!?

He wipes them clean with a cloth and Layla looks away, pretending she never saw anything.

"Um I just went to get my things." She says, showing him her bag.

"Yeah that's good. We'll be going back to Hogwarts once the driver arrives." He says. "Did you not like the pancakes?" He asks, looking down at the pancakes Layla never ate now getting cold.

"Oh yeah, I guess I'm not too hungry." She shrugs.

"I've never liked pancakes."

Anne called him Luke before when she was giving him the pancakes... was he another son of hers? That she mistook Henry for?

"But... Luke did?" As soon as Layla says this, his eyes shoot towards her with a glare and he approaches her, gripping onto her neck.

"Don't you ever bring that name up again, you hear me!?" He shouts, his grip on her neck making it difficult for her to breathe.

She nods and he lets go, and they hear a honk coming from outside.

"That must be the driver. Get in the car. I'll be there."

***

Layla rushes through the Forbidden Forest, hoping that the boys would be there at base, it being the only place they can talk in private.

She walks through the force field and enters the base, rushing through the hallways till she swings the doors of the training hall open, the boys instantly looking at her as she enters.

"LAYLA!" Enzo exclaims and the all rush up to her.

"You took your bloody time!" Theodore says.

"Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?" Blaise asks, giving her some cookies.

"No, no I'm fine." She pants, out of breath from rushing to the base as soon as she got back to the castle with Spector.

She looks up, her eyes meeting with Riddle's, and he looks at her worriedly. He pushes past the boys and holds onto both of her arms.

"Are you sure you're good?" He asks quietly, and she nods with a smile.

"I have a lot to tell you guys. We're going to have to sit down for this one."

The group all head to the boxing ring and they sit down in a circle, looking at Layla attentively.

"Okay. Here's what I learned. Don't say anything until I've told you everything, okay?"

They nod and she begins.

"When me and Henry were dancing last night at the party, somehow the conversation of being the Dark Lord's heir, came up. He start talking about how amazing it would be... and how powerful he'd become if he was the heir. But then, I wasn't sure that that was his goal, or intention. But then he took me to his Manor. The whole atmosphere there was... off. Something wasn't right. It was like something out of a horror movie - it wasn't a home... it was a house for a man who's criminally insane. So we slept, nothing happened though, shockingly. But when I woke up that morning I headed down to the kitchen, and I met a woman there... she was... I don't know how to explain it. She was ill. Mentally. She told me that I was in terrible danger, and that Henry isn't who I think he is. She told me that the more he uses his dark magic, the more it consumes him. It takes over him. She told me that he's changed, that he never used to be like this. But the person he used to be is gone - because this power that he holds, it's completely possessed him."

The boys are drop dead speechless at this point, and Layla pauses to look at them, before continuing.

"She told me all this - and then I asked her what her name was. She told me her name was Anne Spector."

"HOLY SHIT!" Enzo exclaims.

"Shut it Berkshire, let her continue." Draco says.

"She told me that she's been looking after Henry since he was a baby, but that made more sense when... when Henry came into the room, and he told me that Anne was his mother. And then suddenly, Anne looked at me and she didn't know who I was. As if the conversation we just had before Spector entered the room never happened. And then... she made pancakes for Henry but she called him Luke. Henry told me she was just confused. But I didn't believe him. Then, I snuck upstairs to his room when I had the chance. And on his shelves, I found two picture frames."

Layla pauses to look at Mattheo, and his face shows no expression at all.

"One picture... was the one I found at back at my house. The one with me and my parents... and Spector in the background."

"What?" Draco says. "So you knew who he was this whole time? You've met him before?"

"No Malfoy, just hear her out." Mattheo says.

"My memory... it was taken away from me. Multiple times by my parents. They used the obliviation spell on me a lot when I was a kid. They probably used it on me again to make sure I never remembered that my family had ties with Spector. So that I never remembered who he was. But slowly... I became immune to the spell. They used it on me that much that... it doesn't work on me anymore."

"Wait so that time we took you... and I used the obliviation spell on you... it didn't work? You still remembered everything?" Blaise asks in shock.

"That's right."

"The second picture frame." Mattheo says. "What was it?"

"It was a family photo of Anne and Henry when he was younger... with a boy, younger I'm guessing, standing next to Henry."

"Luke?" Theo asks.

"That's what I'm thinking." Layla says. "I think he's Henry's younger brother."

"Well, where is this Luke now?" Dylan asks.

"That's the thing... in the picture... his face was burnt off. I think... I think Henry killed him. Anne told me Henry's powers would get uncontrollable at times... and I'm assuming that it was Henry who killed him. Before we were about to leave, I brought up Luke... and Henry threatened me and choked me, ordering me to never to bring his name up again."

Suddenly, Mattheo gets up and just walks off, exiting the training hall as we just all sit there in silence.

The boys completely speechless.

"I need a drink." Layla sighs, emptying the bag she took to Spector's house, trying to find her water bottle.

When she spills the bag onto the floor, suddenly, a vial rolls out, and Layla looks at it in confusion.

"What the fuck is that?"