Our Past ; Mattheo Riddle

meeting

Throughout the entire week, Valeria has spent most the time locked in her room getting drunk and high, yet there were moments when her father would call her down and would throw a few punches,a few curses, just all the shit. By this time, it was now friday around 5:00, she hadn't eaten in a full week and had bruises and cuts all over her, to sum it up, she looked fucked up. 

"Valeria!" Her father had barged into her room in a rushed, angry manner. "Yes father? What can I do for you?" She spoke very politely and stood up straight. "Get ready right now. We have a death eater meeting." "Yes father." Valeria says as her father smirked at her quiet voice and walked out. Over the week, Valeria had been talking less and less, her confidence was fading and he knew that, which he absolutely loved. She went to her walk in closet to look at her dress options. She picked out a simple black silk dress and put on a black blazer over it with some black and white jordans. She quickly scrunched her hair, defining her beautiful black curls she inherrited from her mother, picking up her phone and wand and putting them into the pocket of her blazer. She took the elevator down to the first floor, which she hadn't seen in a full week since she got back and saw her father and Marissa waiting for her. "What took you so godamn long you brat." Marissa started at her. Even with her abusive father, she didn't think she would have to worry about her weight ever again but with Marissa here, she has opened that world back up to her father and Valeria was starting to look like her old self again, you could see her ribcage and her jawline was proficiently more defined. "Im very sorry, I had to clean myself up a bit." Valeria responds to her in a gentle manor. The two of them nodded and they all grabbed hands and apperated to the Riddle manor. 

The Riddle manor was absolutely scary to say the least. but in a good way. Valeria found some home in it as she had spent multiple weeks here with Tom over the past year helping him plan his return and getting him to look like his old self again, just obviously a bit older, and they had finally worked it out a week before they were called for the triwizard tournament. She knew Mattheo and Draco would be at the meeting and that scared her a little bit, the last time she saw Mattheo, they had just made up and started to get comfortable together, but she also told him that she was completely sober, which was obviously a lie, and now even more. Over this week, Valeria had fallen into horrible drinking habits again, always having some type of alcohol on her at all times, and she was able to turn any drink she was drinking into alcohol without anybody noticing. And now, she had to face Mattheo knowing that she was blatantly lying to his face. Now as for Draco, he was horribly hungover and in a bad mood. Now Valeria and Draco had also grown up together with Theodore, yet Theo was not a death eater yet, and they were hoping that it would stay that way, even though they knew that that was a hopeful doubt and not a reality. They knew that at some point, everyone in their friend group would have to become one whether they wanted to or not, as for Valeria, she was turned to one a week after her mother had passed, even Mattheo wasn't a death eater at the time, and thats one of the reasons  why Valeria thought that Tom had a soft spot for her.

They walked into the manor and into the dining room where they usually held the meetings, Valeria sitting to the left of the head of the table where Tom sits and her father sitting next to her with Marissa next to him. Other people and families were already there, including the Malfoys, she noticed Narcissa staring at her and giving her a seemingly worried stare and as they made eye contact Narcissa gave her a head nod to ask if she was ok, and all Valeria could do was show a weak smile, not wanting to set her father off. As everyone made their way into the room, the one person that she was most hesitant to see walked in. Mattheo immideatly gave her direct eye contact and gave her a sorrowful look. Everyone could tell that she looked noticeably thinner and there was a bruise on her neck that was peeking through the makeup a little bit. 

"Good evening my lovely followers." Tom started saying as he walked into the room and sitting down at his seat, "Valeria." He whispered giving her a head nod, "Tom." She whispered back ever so lightly so that no one could hear but them. She was the only one that he would let call him Tom because him and her mother were amazing friends during their time at Hogwarts and he saw her as a daughter. "Now, I have called you all here very unexpectedly and I know it is our first meeting since my leave, so let's get to business. It has come to my attention that some families here have children that have not yet been taken into our group, and for our good, I thought it best to have two of those children join us today. So may we all welcome, Theodore Nott, and Blaise Zabini!" He yelled as the double doors opened at the front of the room. Valerias heart sank, she knew that they were going to have to become death eaters, but they didn't know that it was going to happen this soon. "Theodore, Blaise, Please come up next to me." Tom spoke as he stood up from his chair, now Val knew where Mattheo got his 6 foot 5 height from because Tom had to at least have been 6 foot 6. The two boys made their way up to stand beside them, Theo standing in front of Blaise almost trying to protect him. 

"Theodore boy give me your left arm." Tom told him as Theo looked straight at the wall in front of him and put his arm forward. Tom took his arm holding his wand up to it and pressing firmly down until Theo started to shake, and soon enough, he was yelling in pain. The thing about the dark mark was it was horribly painful, it started as just a little sting as if a bee had stung you but then it starts to spread everywhere and soon enough, your mind starts replaying all of the worst moments of your life and your whole body feels like there are millions of swords being stabbed into you from every direction. Tom even told Valeria that she was the first person to have little to no reaction to getting the dark mark, she stood there completely silent and blacked out for a moment, her mind replaying the night where she watched her mother die right in front of her eyes and then everything stopped, and her whole body felt numb. Soon enough Theo's screams died down and he stood there looking embarrassed, but everyone in the room had been in his position before, so he had no reason to be looking embarrassed. "Theodore, you may have a seat now, and Blaise boy, your left arm." Theo sat down next to his father, his father giving him a proud look and Blaise stretched out his arm to Tom and the same thing repeated, but this almost hurt Valeria more. She had always been very close with Blaise from the moment they met, she knew everything about him and he knew almost everything about her. They were always each others getaways from life and they knew how to make each other feel better in a quick smile. Blaise looked over to her hoping for some sense of peace but all he could find were completely blank eyes staring at the table that was sitting in front of her, he could obviously tell that she was not doing well and he knew that Enzo was going to be absolutely livid about her not eating, but all his thoughts were emptied when his whole body filled with the worst pain he had ever felt in his entire life. After Blaise was marked, he went to sit down next to his mother and step father and Tom went on about what his plans were for the death eaters and explained how he soon wanted to go to war with Hogwarts and informed them on the Orders plans. Once the meeting was over, Tom had left first as he always has to leave before anyone else does and Valeria quickly got up from her seat, wanting to leave as soon as possible so that she doesn't get questioned by her friends. And for once in her entire lifetime, she got saved by her father roughly grabbing her wrist and pulling her with him out of the manor. She could see Theo, Blaise, and Mattheo staring straight at her out of the corner of her eye and they seemed to be talking about something serious but she didn't want to think anything of it.

Once they got home, her father gave her a couple more bruises and cuts before telling her to clean up and go to bed for the night so that she could be ready to go back to Hogwarts the next morning. Val made her way towards the elevator and once she got into her room, she completely broke down, she hadn't cried since her moms passing and she felt absolutely horrible about it. Seeing two of her best friends in the most pain they've ever experienced in their lives was one of the worst things she has ever had to go through and so she went to the one thing that would help her get over the sadness. Alcohol. For the rest of the night, she drank and drank until she passed out on her bed with foggy memory of the entire night that had happened earlier that evening.