THE KNIVES EDGE | M R ✔︎

FOURTEEN ⁂ RIDDLE

I've been in my bedroom for three days.

I haven't left once. I don't have a reason to.

Shower? I have a bedroom with a bathroom extension. Food? The house elf Dinky brings it up. My father? I haven't spoken to him since he decided to infiltrate my mind. Tom? He's at Enzo's for the entirety of the break. Something about a movie marathon.

So, in my bedroom I sit, focusing on reading my classical novels. I finished Frankenstein yesterday and began Pride and Prejudice right after. There's little poems scribbled in each book, hiding in the margins or coating the edges of the pages in hopes to distract my mind from whatever might be happening in our home.

If my father knew I was writing these little poems, he'd crucio me. Poetry was always seen as pathetic in my house. It was something he said he'd never support. That's why it's hidden within my books.

I've read the actual pages so many times that I have them memorized. When you look at a page and can recite word per word without actually reading, staring at that page becomes like a chore. So I spiced them up in my own little ways.

Each poem in the Pride and Prejudice book has one thing in common.

They all have to do with her.

Novaline Wrath.

The girl I'm meant to kill in under two months.

My stomach twists with nausea at the thought of even harming an auburn hair on her head. If I'd tried to kill McLaggen for touching her in a way she didn't approve of, imagine what I'd do to myself.

I'm not good for her, yet I can't stay away.

Novaline is like a drug. The most compulsive kind. And I'm clinging to her like an addict. She's my drug of choice and I'm damn near going into withdrawal. She's my drug, not in the way that I'll overdose on her, but in the sense that one taste is not enough. I'm hooked on her.

I would change it, but I'm too weak.

Every moment I spend with her, I'm slowly killing myself.

The moment my father realizes that I won't kill her, he'll kill me and then send Tom to do it.

My fear is that my brother actually might. From what I know, he hasn't the slightest suspicion of Novaline and I's infatuation with one another. He isn't the tiniest bit aware of the events that unfolded during the Snowfall ball.

And that alone has my heart slowly peeling away.

I scratch at the back of my neck in hopes of pulling myself out of my mind, though I'm unsuccessful.

If Novaline has me hooked after a single kiss, I wonder what sex with her will be like. Mind-bending, undoubtedly. But, how will I view her afterwards. I doubt I could grow anymore obsessed with her than I already am, but then again, I never pictured kissing her while she moaned into my mouth, hidden by shadows, yet in front of half of Hogwarts.

A hoot catches my attention and I twist my head to see a dark owl sitting in my window frame, holding a letter with my name delicately written over the envelope.

I take the letter from the owl and thank him, nodding once to send him back off.

I rip it open, unfolding the paper and allowing my eyes to drift across the note. I can't fight the smile on my face as I immediately begin packing my bag, shoving in clothes at random and thanking Merlin for the extension charm I'd had on my suitcase since fourth year.

I drop in my classical novels and my wand, throwing in my toothbrush, toothpaste, towels, and a few more items when the door is thrown open. My father enters rapidly, his hand worming its way around my throat as he directs my gaze to him.

"What is that, Mattheo?" He asks, his eyes landing on the letter.

He reaches for it, his cold fingers clasping the paper in his hands. He tugs and I fight it for just a second and then release.

His dead eyes scan over the paper and he tilts his head, dropping it to the floor before narrowing his eyes on me again. His forked tongue juts out to wet his bottom lip before he speaks.

"What a great opportunity for you to finish your task earlier, my boy." He says huskily, his voice scratching against his throat. "Of course, that was your intention, right Mattheo? You know what happens if you disobey me."

Novaline dies.

I nod. "Of course, father. I'd never betray you."

"Or disappoint me, right?"

"Or disappoint you." I restate, nodding to strengthen my words.

He grins and leaves without another word. I exhale a breath I hadn't noticed I'd been holding when the door closes. I slump back against my bed, my back colliding with the mattress as I stare up at the ceiling.

I thank any gods that might be listening that he didn't dig through my mind. He would've found memories I couldn't risk him seeing.

The moment I'm done packing, I hop in the shower. The steam billows up around me, the glass fogging as the scalding water bites against the skin of the back of my neck. I have one hand on the wall, the other shoving my hair out of my face.

Novaline's brothers are people I've learned to watch my back around and now they want me to stay with them for four weeks. My nerves are high as a kite and my anxiety is higher. Nova said not to worry, but I can't help it with Spencer and Nathan.

The look in Spencer's eyes on the platform declared me dead when we return to Hogwarts. Now I'll be sleeping in a room just down the hall from his. Maybe. I'm not sure yet.

I lather soap into my hair, feeling the curls soften beneath the combination of mixtures. I silently thank Tom for making it. It doesn't take long before the water runs cold against my skin. Or, at least it doesn't feel like it.

By the time I get out of the shower, it's nearing two in the afternoon. I tug on a pair of black sweatpants and a hoodie before slipping my beat-up converse onto my feet.

I grab the button from the envelope and flip it over, my stomach dropping as the world around me warps.

My feet touch solid ground and the room shifts. Cream colored walls, white furniture and a champagne pink rug. A large, glass coffee table decorated with flowers, and classical piano playing lightly in the background.

For a second, I assumed I was in the wrong place until I hear a familiar voice.

"Riddle."