The Snake Pit || Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 6: An Extended Potions Lesson

Octavia came out of her panic attack sweaty and trembling. Her cheeks grew tight with the drying tears, she tried to wipe at her face but her hands still bled. Her forearms ran with blood. The thick coppery smell misted the air.

A pair of dark eyes watched her, kneeling in front of her. Too close. She tried to pull back but her back was already pressed into the stone wall. Sensing her discomfort, he moved away from her. His cheek was bruising and a split in his lip bled onto his chin, the slow trickle tracing down his adams apple and blooming on his white shirt.

He was holding her wrists, inspecting her hands. He was warm and smelt like sweat and something dark.

'You need to go to the infirmary,' Mattheo said, his voice was raw. His gaze intense.

'I'm fine,' she whispered pulling away, digging in her pocket for her wand. She muttered over her right hand and then swapped so she could heal her left. The wet blood crawled back into her sealing skin; faint silvery scars etched into her palms. He watched it happen, a mild surprise in the quirk of his eyebrow and widened eyes. The blood that had dried on her forearms crusting.

Pressing her back into the wall she pushed herself off the ground, for a moment he looked up at her from the ground. A familiar tug in her gut liked the dominant position. She flexed her hands and he rose slowly never breaking eye contact. He stood over her, his eyes so dark. The rich brown irises glowed in the dim light. The cold stone wasn't enough to cool her flushed skin.

She put the tip of her wand to his chin, he didn't flinch. She manoeuvred him so he was up against the wall. He went so willingly. Her palm flat on his chest.

'Did you know my father was a Death Eater?' she leaned into his face watching his eyelashes flutter. That close to him she could see a faint scar carved into his cheek bone. He closed his eyes and tilted his chin harder into her wand.

'And then your father sent his minions to kill him, I watched him die in agony,' she whispered it. Her heart pounded. He squeezed his eyelids shut tighter, a sharp exhale through his nose and onto her face. It tickled. Her hand creeping up his chest to hold him like he'd held her, that morning. By the crook of the neck. She felt his pulse thrumming under her thumb.

'My father is dead because of yours,' she squeezed, a minuet movement but his eyelids flickered open. His eyes were black. The blood from his lip ran down her wand and onto her knuckles. She loosened her hold on him. Wand lowering.

Her fingertips were feather light over his neck. She traced them up over his adams apple and along his jaw, each rippling at her touch. He shuddered. She grasped his chin, tilting it down towards her further. Octavia stared him down with a withering look.

Something in her shook, something feral and strange. Something in her liked seeing him bleeding.

She couldn't seem to stop herself. She watched her thumb wipe his lip clean of the blood before it pooled again. He hissed. A sharp intake.

Her eyes flickered back up to his. A dead stare. She tilted her head to the side, watching, calculating. He held her gaze, eyes bottomless. She raised her wand, hovering over his split lip. And she whispered.

'This is the last thing my family will ever do for yours.' Octavia muttered the incantation, inspecting his mending lip as it sewed itself shut. His tongue teased at the new scar. Her hand ran back down his neck to his chest. She held him there, a whisper between them.

'Stay the fuck, away from me,' she spat at him. With one last shove she stalked away, hands still trembling.

*

*

*

Octavia returned to the Potions laboratory, blood staining her sleeves and hands. Mattheo didn't follow.

Professor Slughorn swept over to her, a fluttering of green robes and worry lines. She had already made it to her desk. He had the decency to speak quietly to her despite the curious gazes of her classmates.

'Miss Lemaire, you do not need to resume, I understand your time has been... trying,' he said delicately. She busied herself with her textbook, pulling out her things that had been packed away by someone. Readying to start again.

'No, I would like to finish the assignment, Professor, I apologise, it won't happen again,' she didn't look at him, just started to dice her Daisyroot. She could feel Blaise and Draco's eyes on her. Mattheo's things were neatly stacked like he hadn't ever started.

'Octavia, my dear, you haven't the time,' Slughorn pleaded with her.

'I'm prepared to stay until the assignment is done, Professor,' Octavia looked him dead in the eye, determined to not leave her first class with such a messy impression. He weakened.

'Alright,' he nodded carefully. His eye bags were evident, creases deep and dark. Slughorn wandered away sighing to himself.

Octavia focused completely on the task at hand. Dicing Daisyroot, crushing Fluxweed, stirring clockwise twice, simmer for 5 minutes. Finding Horklumps without interruption. Juicing them, careful to not prick herself on the ugly spikes.

The whole time, with Blaise and Draco trying to catch her eye. Octavia didn't even give them the chance, scared of having to explain herself. But really, it didn't matter, surely Mattheo would fill them in and everyone would know, right? She just wanted to appreciate the calm moment while she had it. That's what she was telling herself anyway.

The booming ring of the bell sounded with 5 minutes left on her potion. She watched it simmer carefully as her classmates scraped their chairs, vanished their mess and left the room. Draco taking Mattheo's stuff with him.

Her potion boiled the lilac colour shifting to a slow sky blue. She ladled it into its small phial, stoppering it and labelling it. She packed up her things slowly. She dreaded the chaos of the great hall, the knowing eyes of her new friends.

Slughorn took her potion, a pleased up turn of his lips gave Octavia some relief.

'Excellent work, Miss Lemaire,' he expressed, as they left the room together for lunch. Harry Potter stood outside the laboratory a nervous furrow to his brow. Slughorn was overjoyed at his presence. Clapped him on the shoulder, smile wide. Harry tried to catch Octavia's attention but she smiled kindly to the Professor.

'Thank you, Professor, I appreciate your time and kindness despite me keeping you from your lunch,' she spoke quietly. The poor man looked positively euphoric.

'Au revoir,' she waved her farewell, taking her opportunity to get away from Harry. She rushed away to the Common Room to relieve herself of her cauldron and potion ingredients. As she shifted her things into the correct places on her shelves she sighed.

She considered staying, curling herself onto her comforter and closing her eyes. She liked the idea of avoiding the questions Daphne surely had by that point. But she needed her to find her Charms class. She could brave the shifting stairs and corridors herself but her odds weren't good. Why Hogwarts didn't provide a map was beyond her.

Octavia washed her arms clean in the sink, water turning pink with her and Mattheo's blood. She looked at herself holding the sink. A smear of blood had dried on her cheek where she'd tried to wipe her tears away. She flushed and washed her face clean. Thank Merlin for waterproof mascara.

She felt feverish. She ripped her robes off, leaving her standing in her button up and skirt. Octavia pulled her hair off her neck, tendrils sticking to her heated skin. Hair high in a ponytail she fanned at herself. She splashed her face with water with some relief. She dried herself carefully staring herself down in the mirror. Jade eyes bright and a little bloodshot. She watched herself take a breath before she forced herself to leave, robes thrown onto her bed. Her bookbag cutting into her shoulder.

She took her time wandering down the stairs and through the Common Room. Running her fingertips over the suede couch as she passed. Passing through the small passage into the corridor, she spent more time looking at the chattering portraits than making progress towards the Great Hall. When she finally made it chatter was loud, even from the corridor. Her ears rung and her heart jumped dangerously. She forced a breath and stepped in