War, Love, and Riddle //Mattheo Riddle x OC

Chapter Eleven - Unconditional Love

Morning light spilled through the high windows of the castle, pale and wintry, the kind of soft December sun that fooled you into thinking it might be warm. It wasn't. The corridors of Hogwarts carried a cold that bit at exposed skin, and Emma Potter pulled her cloak a little tighter around her shoulders as she walked beside Lorenzo Berkshire.

Enzo was in rare form, animatedly recounting some wild story from last night, something involving a trick stair, a startled portrait, and what he swore were "unfair accusations of clownery," though Emma was laughing too hard to catch the details. Her laughter echoed off the stone archways, bright enough to warm the frost from the air.

Harry found them like that his sister doubled over, clutching her stomach, Enzo grinning at her like she'd hung both the sun and the moon and felt something sharp twist behind his ribs.

Why couldn't she have chosen someone like him? Someone safe. Someone normal. Someone who wasn't Mattheo Riddle.

Emma straightened the moment she sensed Harry, that instinctive tension threading through her spine. She forced a small, polite smile.

"Please let Molly know I already miss her," Emma said gently. "And tell her I'm sorry I can't come this year."

Enzo stepped subtly closer, a wall of quiet protectiveness. Harry didn't miss it—and didn't appreciate it.

"They'll be disappointed," Harry said, unable to hide the bite in his voice. "Actually, I need to talk to you.....privately."

He glanced at Enzo.

The Slytherin boy blinked. "Oh.....right, yeah. Of course." He looked to Emma. "You want me to stay?"

She shook her head. He nodded once and retreated...but didn't go far. He stationed himself near the wall, keeping her in his line of sight.

Emma faced her brother. "What's so urgent?"

Harry wet his lips, scavenging for the fury and certainty that had kept him up half the night.

"I overheard Snape and Malfoy after the party."

Emma stilled. Dra. Her friend. Her family, in all but blood. She braced herself.

"Snape told Draco he swore to protect him," Harry pressed on. "And Draco was talking about being chosen for something. He said he won't fail him. And Snape mentioned an Unbreakable Vow."

Emma kept her expression carefully blank, though her heart hammered. An Unbreakable Vow. Why? What role was Draco being forced into? What trap was being set?

"Are you sure that's what he said?" she asked.

"Positive." Harry narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Nothing. I'm just...trying to understand."

Trying to breathe. Trying to hold every broken, tangled piece of her world together.

"Emmy, don't you see?" Harry's voice lowered. "Draco is working for you know who......Voldemort. Snape is working for him too." He leaned forward, voice tightening. "And so is your boyfriend."

Emma stepped back as if struck. "Stop."

"I'm trying to help you," Harry insisted, desperate frustration cracking through. "I don't know how he convinced you to like him. Maybe he used Amortentia.....I can't figure out anything else. How can the Dark Lord's son be with the Chosen One unless there's a plan? A distraction? He can't love you, Emma. He's using you to get to me. To get to all of us. Don't you understand? It's—"

"Stop," Emma whispered again, voice tremoring.

But he didn't. He couldn't.

"Emmy, please—"