The Serpent & Hawke | Mattheo Riddle | Enemies to lovers

Part 53 - Like father, like son

10 Days Since Dumbledores Death

Mattheo's POV

"Incendio!"

Potter cast, his voice cracking with frustration.

The locket burst into flames, orange and red dancing around the metal in the dim light, but when they died there wasn't even a scorch mark.

The horcrux seemed to mock us from its place on the forest floor.

I stepped closer, twigs breaking beneath my shoes like tiny bones.

The sound felt too loud in the oppressive silence of the forest.

"Reducto!"

The locket flew into the air and back down with a dull thud, again without even a scratch.

Each failed attempt felt like another moment Lyanna might be suffering.

"Diffindo!"

Hermione tried, her wand movement perfect as always, but the locket didn't even budge.

It lay there, pulsing with dark magic, untouchable.

She let out a frustrated exhale, her breath almost visible in the cool evening air.

"Yeah, that'll do it, breathe heavily, that's going to destroy it."

Pansy said sarcastically from her perch on a fallen tree nearby, her chin resting in her hands.

Her voice dripped with the kind of disdain only she could manage.

Hermione glared at her, one week of tension finally boiling over.

"Perhaps your breath might do the trick."

She mumbled almost to herself.

Pansy shot to her feet, twigs crunching under her boots. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Pans, stop." Astoria tried to calm her, stepping in front with placating hands. "Go for a walk or something?"

Pansy threw her hands in the air, her movements exaggerated with pent-up frustration.

"Walk where, exactly? In circles? We're confined to these bloody trees."

"We'll make that do for the night." Potter said, frustration edging his tone like a blade.

Another failed attempt weighing heavy on all of us.

He picked up the locket and clasped it around his neck, the metal gleaming malevolently.

We all watched it settle against his chest, knowing what would come next.

It hadn't taken us long to realise that wearing the locket had a truly negative effect on the wearer's mood.

The darkness within seemed to seep into our very souls.

Potter became aggressive, his usual determination twisting into something harder, crueler.

Astoria would cry, silent tears tracking down her cheeks for hours.

Enzo would stay silent with a look that could kill, his eyes growing darker with each passing moment.

We had to start taking shifts so none of us was subject to its power for too long.

The corruption it brought was too dangerous to risk.

"Fantastic, another failed attempt means another night in hell."

Pansy muttered under her breath as we walked back to the tent, her words dripping with venom.