Betrayal

Home for Christmas - Mattheo's POV

A/N: This chapter takes place at the same time as the last chapter. This one is from Mattheo's POV while he's at home for the holidays. 

Home, not so sweet, home. It feels weird to be home again. On the one hand, I'm not being constantly reminded about having lost Y/N. But, on the other hand, I don't get to see her every day. Eventhough, we're broken up, seeing her everyday makes my day a little better. I opened the front door to my house to be greeted with silence. 'Father?' I called out. No response. I walked over to my bedroom first, so I could put away my bags. I opened the door and walked into the mess I had left before leaving for Hogwarts. There were still books on my bed waiting to be studied and my desk was covered with notes about said books. I dropped my bags next to my bed and decided to put the books away first, before searching for my father. I stacked all of the books on top of eachother and put them in one of bookshelves. Next, I put away all of my notes in one of the deskdrawers. I took a couple steps back and looked at the instantly neater room. 'That's better.' I said to myself. 

I took a couple more steps out of my room towards the stairs. I walked down them and went to my father's office. If he were home, he would be there. I knocked on the door and heard no response. I knocked once more, but still it stayed quiet. I softly opened the door to see if he maybe didn't hear me. Only, my father wasn't there. I closed the door again and made my way to the kitchen. Maybe he was there. I opened the kitchen door and was greeted by our House Elf Geaner instead of my father. 'Master Riddle, welcome home.' He said. 'Thank you Geaner. Do you maybe know where my father might be?' 'My apologies Master Riddle, but the Dark Lord is not home right now. He is away for business and won't be home for another week.' You've got to be kidding me right? I'm at home for Christmas, for him, and he won't even be there? What did I expect to be honest? 'Are you okay, Master Riddle?' Geaner asked me when I didn't respond. 'I'm fine.' 'Can I make you some food, Master Riddle?' 'Yes, please. Oh and Geaner?' 'Yes, Master?' 'As long as my father isn't here, you can stop calling me Master Riddle. You can just call me by my first name.' 'Okay, Master... Mattheo.' 'Thank you. Now, I'm going upstairs for a bit. Could you call me down when the food is ready?' 'Ofcourse.' 

The next couple of days I was alone at the manor together with Geaner. However, I didn't see Geaner much to be honest. I mostly stayed in my room reading, writing and listening to music. Everyone is home for Christmas, so there was noone to talk to or hang out with. Today was Christmas. A muggle holiday, that for some reason my father lets me celebrate. We don't do anything really special, but we do have a dinner together, which is more than on a regular day. Today though, that wouldn't happen. My father was still not at home and I didn't even know anymore when he would come home. Every time I asked Geaner he gave me a different day, because my father's travels somehow ended up changing from day to day. Since my father wasn't here, I asked Geaner if he could just make me something simple to eat and if he could bring it to my room. I didn't need to sit at the dinner table and being reminded that I'm home alone at Christmas. Ofcourse, like the House Elf Geaner is, he made sure dinner wasn't as simple as I asked it to be. He made me some turkey with gravy and roasted potatoes. A real Christmas dinner. Next to that he asked me if it would be alright if he ate together with me. My father would've been furious with a question like that, but I was happy Geaner asked. This way neither one of us would have to eat all alone on Christmas. During dinner, Geaner and I talked a lot about everything and nothing. I had never really spoken to Geaner about anything other than tasks, but it was fun to get to know him a bit more. He told me about Dobby, his friend who used to be the House Elf of Malfoy Manor and told me about Kreacher, another one of his friends who is the House Elf of Black Manor. I never knew Geaner had any friends, but I'm happy he does. 

The day after Christmas my father got home. He was in his office and he didn't even come over to me to see how I was doing. He made Geaner come to me, to tell me I needed to go to my father's office. 'Thank you, Geaner.' 'You're welcome, Mat... Master Riddle.' Since my father was home again, Geaner couldn't call me by my first name anymore. If my father would hear Geaner say Mattheo, Geaner wouldn't live to see another day. According to my father, it's disrespectful for house elves to call their "masters" by anything other than master.  I went down to the office and knocked on the door. 'Come in.' My father's voice rang through the door. I slowly opened the door and walked inside. 'Welcome home, Mattheo.' 'Same to you, father.' 'Sit down, son. We have a lot to discuss.' I walked further inside and sat down opposite my father in one of the chairs facing his desk. 'Tell me, son. How is it going with the girl?' He's talking about Y/N. He rarely uses her name and I hate it. 'She has a name, you know.' I said under my breath. 'I know.' My father said coldly. 'So, use it.' 'Keep your attitude in check, son!' 'No, keep your attitude in check, father.' I responded just as angrily as he had said it to me. 'EXCUSE ME!' 'You're excused.' I regretted it the moment I said it. I knew I had already made a mistake by going against my father, but to tell him he's excused, that was the worst mistake I could have ever made. 'Crucio!' I screamed out in pain, while my body contorted from the pain. 'Don't talk to me like that. Now tell me. How is it going with the girl?' 'FINE! IT'S GOING FINE!' I yelled out in between the bursts of pain. 'Is that why you're acting like this?' I didn't know respond to him and that made him perform the Cruciatus Curse on me once more. 'CRUCIO!' I yelled out in pain once more. I knew I wasn't going to win this discussion and my father wouldn't stop until I gave him a real answer. 'I'm... sorry...' I barely got the words out in between the pain, but as soon as I said them, my father stopped the curse. He let me take a couple of deep breaths before asking me to tell the truth once again. 'I hit a tiny bump in the road.' I wasn't completely lying. I did hit a bump in the road. It just wasn't tiny. It was enormous and something I wouldn't be able to fix with the flick of my wand. 'But, I'll have her over to your side by the end of the year, father.' I added.  I could see my father was disappointed that I hadn't finished the task yet, but he didn't say anything about it. 'Good, now tell me what she can do.' I didn't know what to say. If I told him she couldn't do anything impressive he would know I was lying, but if I told him how amazing she truly is, he would want her on his side even more. 'Tell me, son!' My father raised his voice to say it, once I didn't respond. I had to make a choice, so I told him the truth. 'Y/N knows Occlumency and Legilimency. She's quite advanced in Occlumency, but is still learning Legilimency.' 'Good, we can use that to our advantage. Now, leave my office.' 'Yes, father.' I quickly got up out of the chair and speedwalked back to my room. 

Once I reached my room, I started packing my bags again. I never completely unpacked them, but I still had some items laying across my room that I needed to repack. I was supposed to stay here for a couple more days, but after what just happened in the office, I don't want to stay here anymore. My father is an asshole who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And hurting me, doesn't mean anything to him. I wanted to leave immediately, but he would know something is up if I left right after our meeting. So, I decided to leave tomorrowmorning. I will come up with a lie, that Y/N came back to Hogwarts early and that she asked me to come back as well. It would be the only way to not raise suspision on wanting to leave early. 

The next morning, I was almost ready to leave. Since the Hogwarts Express wouldn't go back to Hogwarts for another few days, I had to go by broom, so I got my broom up and ready and made sure Geaner brought my bags to Hogwarts. Now, there was only one thing left to do. Talk to my father. I walked to his office for, hopefully, the last time in a long while and knocked on the door. 'Come in.' He demanded. I carefully walked inside, while waiting for my father to say something. 'What is it, son? I'm busy.' 'I got a letter from Y/N that she is back at Hogwarts already and she asked me if I could come back early as well. Since I had a bump in the road and we ofcourse want her on your side as soon as possible, I thought it might be a good idea to leave for Hogwarts as well and meet up with her. Is that alright?' 'Yes, good thinking, Mattheo. Go and make sure you get as close as you can again.' 'I will do that. Goodbye father.' My father didn't say anything more and just waved his hand in a way to let me know I should leave. I turned around and walked out of the door. For the first time since my father had come back home, I had a smile on my face, knowing I finally got to leave again. 

I walked out of the office again, closed the door and almost ran out of the house to my broom. I said goodbye to Geaner and set off. It took a couple hours, but once I was at Hogwarts it felt more like coming home, than my own home ever had. I walked inside and went straight to my dormroom. My bags were already there, thanks to Geaner, so I started unpacking them once again. Only this time I really did unpack them instead of keeping them mostly packed. After I finished unpacking, I sat down at my desk to write a letter to let Theo know I wouldn't join him and the others on the Hogwarts Express. I had made plans with Theo to meet up before the train left, but now that I wouldn't take the train, I should tell him I wasn't going to meet up with him beforehand. 

Theo,

I just wanted to let you know, that I won't make it to travel with you all on the Hogwarts Express. I ran into some trouble with my father and decided to leave early. You know how he is and I couldn't stay there any longer. I'm already at Hogwarts once you're reading this, so I will see you again, when you guys get back. 

Mattheo

I gave the letter to my owl and layed down on my bed with a book afterwards. If I was going to stay here on my own for the next few days, I was going to make the best of it with a good book.