Babysitters

Chapter 39

LORENZO BERKSHIRE

I rushed to the hallway I last saw Mattheo in, but Theo and him had already disappeared somewhere.
Goddamnit.
If this was what I thought it was, we were in a hurry. I knew Voldemort wouldn't wait any more than he had to do this, and they might already be preparing the process. I needed to find Mattheo before they could do this.
I sprinted up the stairs all the way to Mattheo's door. It was closed, as usual, and I latched my fists onto it hard, creating noise louder than thunder.
"Mattheo, I swear to Merlin, open the door!"
The door swung open, making me almost fall inside the room but somehow I managed to steady myself.
"What is it?" Mattheo asked, a hint of annoyance in his tone. I couldn't blame him, I almost broke his door.
"It's Tom," I panted.
Mattheo's face turned from its previous annoyed expression to a more concerned one. "What?"
"I just spoke with V," I continued, still trying to catch my breath, "and if I have not completely misunderstood, you father is planning to make him a horcrux."
Mattheo's eyes widened, and right after he pushed past me, pulling me with him from my hand. "How do you know?" He asked as he hurried down the stairs.
"V said they'd been planning to start the 'preparations' as soon as we'd get back. She assumed the conversation she eavesdropped on was about the marriage, but I don't think so. According to her, Tom had sounded almost enthusiastic and the marriage is not something he'd be very excited about," I explained all in one breath as I followed him through the hallways.
"Do you know where they are?" Mattheo asked, his voice already ice cold. It did that when he was angry, stressed or just plainly not in an abnormally good mood.
"No," I replied immediately with an apologetic tone. "As soon as I fugured it out I came to get you."
"We have to find them!" Mattheo huffed, now a bit of panic in his voice. "I have to talk him out of this."
"Do you think he'll listen?" I asked, turning my gaze down on the floor to watch my steps not to fall with the pace we were moving forward.
"I don't know, and I don't care," Mattheo answered. "I won't let him do it."

We checked every possible room they could be in the manor, but to no avail. The only remaining options were either the Riddle manor, or somewhere completely different. If it was the latter, we were already too late. We'd never have the time to figure out where they might have gone.
If I had known what the purpose of the artifact was, I'd been much more reluctant to get it. Although I don't know if it'd helped much. There's not much you can do to defy the Dark Lord.

"I'm going to apparate to the Riddle manor, you get Theo and Draco and then follow," Mattheo ordered, making his way out of the door while forcefully digging his wand out of his pocket. I nodded, even though he couldn't see it, and wasted no second to hurry back upstairs.
I really need to do more cardio and practice more at the gym if this is tiring me out. Only quidditch doesn't seem to be enough.
I was a bit more careful as I knocked on my other friends' doors, although still being a bit too forceful. Both were immediately just as worried as I was, because despite all Tom's flaws, he was still our friend. I couldn't even begin to count the times he'd gotten us all out of trouble at school with his authority and privileges being the Head boy, prefect and all of the professor's favorite student gave him. Not to mention how he had helped us all pass countless of our tests by helping us study. But it was not about just school. He had just always... been there. He was a part of our group. Our friend. Mattheo's brother. He was one of us, and now he needed help. Even if he most probably didn't want it, we'd still do it.

It only took us around ten minutes to leave the manor, but to me it felt like an eternity. I had to admit, I was a bit grumpier than usual, but that was completely reasonable, right? One of my best friends was making the worst mistakes of his life, and Theo was changing his clothes?
I apparated all three of us as soon as we got out of the front door, and soon enough the familiar large tree was standing before us, towering over everything while preventing the stray stripes of sunlight ever reaching the ground. Draco was the first one of us to recover from the change of scenery, and began running towards the bridge. I briefly glanced at Theo before we, too, started moving our legs to reach Mattheo and Tom before it was too late.
Draco held the door open for us and we quickly made our way inside. The dark hallways were completely devoid of people as we navigated towards the room we supposed the others would be in.
As we ran, my mind was throwing scenarios so wild at me I almost felt the need to come to a halt, even for a moment to gather my thoughts.
Veronica said Tom had sounded excited of whatever he was talking about with Voldemort, which pushed away the possibility of the topic being the upcoming marriage. All of us—except probably V—were nearly certain he wasn't enthralled of his father's plans. The only reason he was doing it was to achieve his father's validation. Of course, Tom had never admitted it, but it was all he'd ever craved for. Regardless of all the abuse, hurtful words and unrealistic expectations, he'd made it his life mission to reach them. He wanted to be worthy of his father's love, and as far as I knew as an outsider, that was something no one would ever be able to have. I highly doubted his high baldness—bald highness—even had a heart.
I shook myself from my thoughts as Theo tapped me on my shoulder. We stopped in front of a large wooden door that was only slightly open. I assumed Mattheo had left it like that.
I looked at Theo, as if to make sure he was ready, but Draco went ahead and practically burst inside.
For fucks sake.

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A/N:
Hello loves
Here is another update for you guys :) I've had a busy week and this whole thing was written during today, so I was kind of stressing if I'd even be able to get it out, but I did.
I hope you've all had an amazing week and continue to have one. Take care of yourselves <3
Love u all x