Spirals || Mattheo Riddle

꩜ Chapter 8 ꩜

After my encounter with Mattheo, I kept my head down a little more. He still hadn't given me a real reason to fear him but I had had my fill of being thrown around for a while. 

The weekend passed with a lack of notable events, aside from tormenting a pair of hungover Slytherins. Draco and Theo had emerged from their room in the late afternoon holding their heads with red rimmed eyes.

The following week also came and went in a flash. Mattheo sat by himself in Charms and never showed up for Astronomy. I often caught myself watching him in the hallways, trying to figure out why he acted the way he did, what drove him to make the actions he did. It seemed to me like he had very little interest in anyone but himself. He avoided situations that would force him to talk to anyone, unless it was to snap at them irritably.

He never met my stares, always looking past me or completely ignoring me. I didn't mind, it meant I could avoid his attention while still being able to try to understand him.

I had eventually given up trying to figure out what happened at the party. Part of me didn't want to know and the part that did gave itself headaches trying to remember.

After being at the school for two weeks, my father sent me a letter asking how I was doing. It surprised me considering I thought he'd forgotten about his only child. I was glad to hear Lily and Mossy were well, but there was nothing of import.

It was a Saturday, giving us free rein over what we wanted to spend our time doing. The day was surprisingly warm for mid September, remnants of the hot summer that had passed, which led to Theo and Pansy dragging the rest of us outside to the black lake to swim and sunbathe.

I walked next to Draco as the other three skipped down the hill, a bit too cheery for my liking. "What's got them acting like the world's right?" He asked me. We had been slowly becoming friends, Draco and I. Since the start-up party he had made an effort to greet me with small nods and rarely, I even got him to smile.

"I don't know but they seem like they're having fun." They all radiated energy and good will, unlike so many who inhabited the castle these days. The reports of mysterious deaths and rumours of the dark lord himself weighed heavily on a lot of people.

My father always had a lot to say about Voldemort if asked. He believed the way everyone feared him and treated him like some sort of nightmare-fairy tale just gave him more power. He never feared to say the name.

"Oh come on you two, you're slowing us down!" Pansy yelled back at us.

"SLOWPOKES!" Blaise yelled while sticking out his tongue.

"First one to the bottom owes the other a chocolate frog," I announced to Draco and started running.

"Hey! Not fair," he called, but I could hear him jogging behind me, a smile in his voice.

I won - obviously - and made a mental note to call in that chocolate frog later.

We quickly caught up with the others and set our stuff down, close to the edge of the lake. I didn't want to actually go swimming today, I just planned on maybe shoving Theo in and sunbathing with Pansy. I sat down on the warm grass, looking across the lake. It went as far as the eye could see and was coloured a daunting black rather than the light blue the sky currently was. The wharf that stretched out onto the lake was reflected by the water. It was a beautiful day.

My thoughts were interrupted with Theos and Blaises arguing, as they often were.

"No fucking way am I getting in there." Blaise's voice was serious with no humour.

"Aww come on man, it'll be fine. Don't be such a baby," Theo cooed.

My dark skinned friend stood with his arms across his chest, his jaw set menacingly. "What are you two on about?" I asked.