LUNACY ll Mattheo Riddle x Reader

60. ᴅᴏᴡɴᴡᴀʀᴅꜱ ꜱᴘɪʀᴀʟ

"Draco?"

My brother gives a pained moan in response.

"Draco, stop being so dramatic. Wake up, you twat."

Eventually, Enzo and Theo each take one of his arms and shake him into consciousness. My brother sits up in the hospital bed, looking to be in a daze.

"I had the strangest dream," he informs us drowsily. "Potter was here, in the castle... They were talking about... About..."

I hold my breath.

"No, wait... I think Granger was trying to shag Marietta Edgecomb."

I try not to make my relieved sigh too obvious. I wasn't entirely sure that the Confundus Charm would work, seeing as Draco was unconscious at the time in which it was cast.

"What in Salazar's name are you on?" Theo demands, smacking him upside the head.

"We've just come up from lunch, Draco. We wanted to see if you were feeling good enough to make it to Charms."

"Nngh," is the sound that my brother makes in response, to which I roll my eyes and come up with another insult for him to take personally.

Eventually, we manage to drag him out of bed. Draco, Enzo, Theo, and I find ourselves walking to Charms together, just like old times.

Enzo has just stepped in through the doorway of the classroom, when he freezes on the spot. I nearly run into him because of it, and have to steady myself on his arm.

"Enzo, what are you-"

Theo stiffens from beside me, able to see something over Enzo's shoulder that I can't. But I don't have to look to know what has brought on this reaction- Theo's expression has settled into something cold and distant, whereas Enzo appears to be struggling to settle between genuine concern and a mask of indifference.

He's back. After over a week of unexplained absence, Mattheo is back in school. And when Enzo finally moves aside to take his seat, I see that Mattheo is as composed as he ever is. One would never be able to guess that he'd nearly tortured a fellow classmate to death over the weekend.

Flitwick has us pairing up to practice Bubble-Head Charms. As there is absolutely no one else willing to pair up with Mattheo, it's Draco who gets partnered with him, while Theo practices with Blaise, and I do so with Enzo. Three of the Gryffindors, whose House has been odd in numbers ever since the Muggle-borns were pulled out, end up in one group together.

By the time we're halfway into class, I'm the only one who's managed a proper Bubble-Head Charm, but Flitwick doesn't seem to notice. Just as he's failed to notice my presence all throughout the past five months of term.

Set on undoing the Charm, I've just raised my wand over Enzo's face when he gives a sudden jerking movement in his seat. His hand flies to his nose, from where droplets of blood start to drip out.

"Merlin, are you alright?" I say frantically, transfiguring one of the gloves in my pockets to a handkerchief for him to use. Gently, I press it up to Enzo's nose, trying to staunch the blood flow. "Please don't tell me I did that."

"Don't- Think so," Enzo gasps, because instead of ebbing away, the trickle has decided to grow into a steady stream. "But it doesn't feel- Normal."

So someone hexed him, then? My eyes fly over to Mattheo faster than I'd like to admit, but after the show he put on with McLaggen last week, it's just not possible for me to give him the benefit of the doubt anymore.

And yet, when I catch him glowering at the way Enzo has his hand over mine, in an effort to press the handkerchief more tightly to his nose- I can't help but think that if Mattheo had been planning on maiming Enzo, he would've gone much, much further than a simple nosebleed.