𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐞 - 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

fifteen.

MATTHEO
"they were just kids."

•❅───✦───❅•

Mattheo awoke to someone slamming a fist to his door.

His room, a larger room compared to other students solely due to the fact when he started the professors thought it would be smart to have him housed alone to avoid becoming overwhelmed, was still dark, dimly lit from a single candelabra that lay on his nightstand, his journal thankfully shut.

Honestly, the moment the noise erupted from the door, his heart dropped and he shot up like a fish out of water. He hadn't gotten a real sleep anyways, his consistent nightmares plaguing his mind and denying him of any real rest. But still, going from a nightmare to a loud noise was quite horrifying, whether or not he wanted to admit it.

"Mattheo? Mattheo it's Octavia. It's us. Please open up."

The boy stammered, his eyes flickering over to the clock to see the time, it was only twelve in the morning, early for him. He squinted then, and realized he ought to speak. "One second." He finally huffed out, stepping out from his bed and reaching for a plain t shirt somewhere in his drawer. Once in hand, he put it on, and bound for the door, double checking to make sure his personal belongings were all away.

That's why he was so paranoid about keeping his room clean. He didn't know when someone would pull something like this, whether for emergency or not. He wanted to save himself hassle of having to clean up and hide his writing, or whatever it was he was working on.

The Slytherin clicked open the lock, and swung the door open, three people stood right in front of him on the other side. Cassian, who was in a t shirt that had some muggle band on it, plain pants and sneakers, Octavia, who was standing with red, puffy eyes that seemed to have been crying, in a pajama set he had seen her in before and Genevieve, who had a concerned look sprawled on her face, who's cheeks were red and who's hands were trembling at her sides as she looked at Octavia.

She wore a simple set of pajamas, a white top and blue plaid pants, bunny slippers on as well. He almost snickered at that, but he realized this was serious. Obviously. Octavia had clearly been crying, Genevieve looked like she was about to cry too, and Cassian- well he looked stoned. But he kept his mouth shut, and he ran a hand through his curls. "What's going on?"

Octavia whimpered, bringing a hand to her mouth and shaking her head. Mattheo wished he could be more help, truly, but he was essentially useless, his brain still half asleep, not to mention he was never quite good at helping others in the first place. "She saw something." Cassian finally spoke up, giving the girl a worried stare, one that confused Mattheo, before looking up at the Riddle.

"What did you see?" Mattheo said, moving closer to her, and placing his hands on the raven haired girls shoulders.

"I- I saw Atlas." Her voice was cracking, her tone weak and muffled.

Mattheo looked up at Genevieve, eyebrows raised as if asking her to elaborate, but her gaze was elsewhere, her gaze was stuck on her friend, clearly perturbed. She eventually snapped out of it, her gaze meeting his, and her face going white. "Go on, Octavia. It's okay." She breathed, placing a gentle hand on Octavia's back and rubbing.

"Okay, okay." She took a deep breath, her hands trembling and her eyes flooding with millions of feelings Mattheo could not read. He was not as exposed to human interaction as most, so he was truly just getting frustrated now. Frustrated because he was starting to worry, starting to desperately try and search for an explanation of the pain in her eyes. "I saw Atlas, and Emori, both in this- dark room, somewhere. It looked like Malfoy manor- but I don't know I could be wrong," She shook her head, hands running to push her curls out her face. "But it looked familiar. And- and Atlas was screaming. He was screaming so loud-" Her voice cracked and she brought her hand to her mouth. "Emori was on the ground. I don't know what happened to her. She was asleep- or-"