Chapter 5: Blame

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Professor McGonagall escorted them inside, telling them to settle down around Dumbledore's desk. Enzo sat down in the chair next to Harry, while Mattheo and Blaise found a spot by the wall on their right. Theo and Draco stood side by side behind Enzo.

"What's going on?" Draco asked, looking from Dumbledore to Harry with confusion written all over his face.

Dumbledore looked at Harry. "Are you certain?"

Mattheo felt as though there was a large pit in his stomach, and he felt his blood run cold when Dumbledore spoke those words. This meant that they had been caught, and it seemed there was nothing left to do.

"Yes sir," Harry said in that annoying voice of his, "I overheard them speaking about their plans to let out the Nifflers the other morning at breakfast."

Lorenzo's head lowered, and he intertwined his fingers with each other to keep them still. "It is settled then," Dumbledore said slowly, his gaze falling upon Mattheo. "You may leave now, Harry."

Harry stood up and exited the room, allowing Draco to take his chair. "You cannot be serious?" Draco scoffed, "Potter has a personal vendetta against us; you cannot claim him to be a reliable source."

Dumbledore inhaled slowly. "I believe Professor McGonagall and I have made it very clear to you that there are rules which must not be broken," Dumbledore completely ignored what Draco just said, "and now you must suffer the consequences."

Mattheo sighed in utter disbelief, looking away from Dumbledore and Draco who looked like he was about to explode. His eyes landed on Enzo, who was still looking down into his lap. His hands were shaking profusely, and his knee was bobbing up and down anxiously.

Mattheo felt bad for him, even though he had no reason to. These boys had done nothing but make his Hogwarts experience living hell, yet here he was, feeling pity for one of them. He then realized that the only one out of all of them who had even tried to give him a chance was Lorenzo, and suddenly the pit in his stomach grew.

Enzo was the one who tried to talk to him on the first night, Enzo was the one who did talk to him when they had detention, and Enzo was the one who invited him to do the prank. If he had to feel bad for anyone in this room, it would be Enzo. Yet he still could not believe himself when he opened his mouth to speak the following words. "It was my idea, Professor," Mattheo completely interrupted Draco's rant to Dumbledore, "I was so desperate to finally make some friends, and I thought the only way to do so was to do what I do best."

"-Destroy things."

There was silence. All eyes were on him, but Mattheo would not take his eyes off Dumbledore. "Malfoy, Nott, Zabini, and Berkshire, you may leave," he said, "return to your dorm and wait for any news on the matter."

None of them said anything as they left the room. McGonagall followed them out, leaving Mattheo alone with the headmaster. Mattheo took a seat, inhaling slowly to calm himself down. "Please don't send me away," he said quietly, "I am aware that I messed up. Just give me one last chance."

Dumbledore stood up, turning his back to Mattheo. Mattheo closed his eyes, trying to get ready for the punishment he was about to face. "I will not be sending you home," Dumbledore turned around to face Mattheo, "I know you took the blame, and I believe that to be a lesson in itself."

Mattheo was shocked, to say the least. "I don't understand?"

"When you got here," he began, "I found it difficult to believe that someone of your bloodline could even feel emotions such as remorse. But you have proven yourself otherwise, therefore I am letting you stay."

"Why you feel remorseful will be a riddle to me, but I am hoping that you from now on will consider your actions more carefully," Dumbledore sat down yet again.

"Thank you," Mattheo replied in an exhale.


Back in the dorm, the remaining Slytherins were practically losing their minds. "I don't understand?" Theo ran a hand through his hair, sitting down on his bed once they closed the door behind them.

"Me neither," Draco said out into the room as he stared ahead, sitting on his bed.

"Do you think he wants something from us?" Blaise asked, looking out of the window. Lorenzo flopped down onto his bed. He did not say anything; he just rolled onto his side to face the wall. He raised his hands to look at them. They were still shaking.

"Do you think we're getting in trouble?" Blaise then asked when no one really responded to what he said before. "What are they going to do? Give us more detention?" Draco scoffed.

"Expel us?" Theo said slowly, as if it only just hit him now that he's got a lot at stake.

Enzo closed his eyes. Getting expelled was the absolute last thing he wanted. "My father would kill me," Draco replied, "he would cut my head off if he had to."

"We're aware that your father is a terrible man," Blaise said, walking away from the window to sit down on his bed.

Draco scrunched his nose at the comment. "I did not say that."

"No. I did." Blaise threw a pillow at him.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps appeared out in the hallway, and the boys immediately gathered themselves. The door handle moved, and Mattheo walked in. Theo got out of his bed immediately, walking up to Mattheo. "So?"

Mattheo sighed loudly. "You're not in trouble."

Enzo got out of his bed now too. "And you?"

Mattheo shook his head. "Nothing."

There was a long silence. Blaise turned to look out of the window again. Enzo fiddled with his hands, and Draco tried not to say something stupid. "Do you lads want to do something?" Blaise asked suddenly, "maybe it's time we show Mattheo the Quidditch pitch?"

Draco looked at Theo and Enzo, who didn't know what to say. Enzo turned to look at Mattheo, whose eyebrows were raised in shock. He knew that this was some sort of act to be nice because of what he just did to them, but the more he thought about it, the nicer it sounded to finally just hang out with someone. As friends. Not because they were scared that they were going to rat them out, but because they wanted to give him something in return for what he did.

"Uh sure," he responded, looking at Theo for confirmation. Over the course of the last few days, Mattheo had noticed how all of the boys seemed to respond to Theo. Not necessarily because he's in charge, but the real reason is yet unknown to him.

"Let's go then." Theo grabbed his robe from his bed, waving at Draco to get up.

The rest of the day was spent teaching Mattheo how to ride a broom and the rules of Quidditch, and at last, they practiced how to shoot the Quaffle into the baskets. They stayed out until nightfall, completely missing dinner, but none of them really cared. "I mean, we've snuck into the kitchens before?" Blaise bumped his shoulder into Draco with a laugh, "we can do it again."

A/N
I really like the first bit of this chapter, but then the more I wrote the more I disliked it. Also I don't know if you've noticed, but I've tried hinting at a few things that I think will have a great influence later on in the story. I hope you enjoy reading it. See you soon (hopefully)

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