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

Chapter Sixteen - The Real Harry

Emma watched the Dursley's pack up their car, Harry standing next to her. Uncle Vernon struggled to put their entire life in a small trailer, she almost felt sorry for him. Part of her couldn't stomach watching as she turned to walk through the hall glancing at a solemn Aunt Petunia staring at her empty home. Emma didn't want to be around her, she hated to admit how terrified she was of her aunt. All the physical and mental abuse that woman how bestowed upon her all those years. "I have lived in this house for 20 years...and now in a single night, I'm expected to leave." she tells her niece.

Emma couldn't speak, her throat felt like sandpaper as she continued to stare at her aunt. Harry walks up behind her saving her from trying to explain. "They'll torture you. If they think for a moment you know where we are going, they'll stop at nothing." He warns her taking a step closer to her.

Petunia gives them a strained look, "Do you think I don't know what they're capable of? You both didn't just lose a mother that night in Godric's Hollow, you know. I lost a sister." with that, she walks past the twins, without so much as a goodbye. Harry and Emma stand outside of 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging watching their Uncle, Aunt, and cousin drive away.

This was not how she expected her summer to go.

Mattheo sat across from Draco at Malfoy Manor, it was odd to see him again. His whole life has been filled with physical abuse from his father, more specifically torture. It didn't help his mother was Bellatrix Lestrange, the mental abuse he suffered from her was almost just as bad. Draco was the only one he could talk to all those years before Hogwarts, the only one who could understand what he's been through. That was until he met Theo and Enzo, their home lives were just as shitty as his. I mean at least their father wasn't the Dark Lord, but this wasn't about comparison.

Mattheo looked across from him, he could see the internal struggle Draco was having not being able to ask about Hermione, about their friends. They had a part to play and Mattheo was determined to make sure no one found out that he had fallen in love with Emma Potter. He would do anything to keep her safe.

The long dark table was filled with talking and laughter. Mattheo tried not to look at her, he didn't care that this was the same professor who went out of her way to get him kicked out of Hogwarts. No one deserved this. Professor Burbage was suspended upside down over the table not too far from him.

He didn't have to turn his head to notice Snape walking in, "Severus" his father said. Snape unable to look away from Burbage. "I was beginning to worry you had lost your way. Come. We've saved you a seat." Mattheo watches from the corner of his eye as Snape takes a seat. "You bring news, I trust?" Voldemort asks him.

"It will happen Saturday next at nightfall." Snape answers. Draco's eyes swiftly meet Mattheo. His dark eyes giving him a slight glare. He didn't need Draco giving away what he already knew. Emma and Harry were being moved, he hasn't been able to leave to warn her, it's been killing him being away from her for so long.

"I've heard differently, my lord." Yaxley interrupts. "Dwalish, the Auror, has let slip that the Potter twins will not be moved until the 30th of this month. The day before they turn 17." he finishes, Snape rolling his eyes.

"This is a false trail. The Auror office no longer plays any part in the protection of Harry Potter. Those closest to him believe we have infiltrated the Ministry." Snap says commanding the attention of everyone.

"Well they got that right, haven't they?"One of the death eaters laughs, Mattheo didn't know his name nor cared to, he rolls his eyes tilting his head to the side looking utterly bored of this conversation but on the inside he was a nervous mess.

"What say you, Pius?" Voldemort says to the man sitting at the opposite end of the table. Nagini on the floor neck to him.

"One hears many things, my lord. Whether the truth is among them is not clear." Mattheo sees his father smile delighted in the conversation.