The Snake Pit || Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 19: Odette Lemaire

Daphne looked alarmed, the dark scar at her throat tightening as she gulped. The bookbag slid off the blonde's shoulder, crumpling to the floor with a dull thunk.

'Odette is coming?' Daphne questioned, eyes wide and blinking slowly.

'Contacted,' Octavia read from the letter, correcting her. 'But she'll be on her way. Slughorn wrote a time and password to the Headmistress's office,' Her hands had gotten shaky. Any reassurance she had gotten from the conversation with her friends disappeared immediately.

'Fuck,' Daphne stressed, a nervous twitch to her shoulders. She wrapped a long blonde curl around her finger and twisted it. Octavia was nodding along, that one word described it pretty well. She could feel the pulse in her neck, anxiety back with vengeance.

'So, we don't like your grandmother?' Pansy asked eyebrows creasing. Pansy leaned onto Daphne's bed post, watching the others descend into jittery stress. Her face read as unimpressed and clearly annoyed to be out of the loop.

'No, it's just well-' Octavia stuttered, '-she's blunt and old-fashioned.' She sagged back onto her bed. Octavia raked her hands through her hair and clenched her jaw tight.

'And rude and forceful,' Daphne supplied. Octavia frowned at her.

'She's protective,' Octavia reasoned. Daphne was shaking her head at Pansy. Annoyance rose in Octavia.

'That's not the point! Auror's are investigating!' she fussed, back on her feet and pacing. 'They're investigating me! And Mattheo! Oh, Merlin. Maybe McGonagall didn't believe us at all!' Octavia fretted. 'What if they make us take veritaserum?'

'Well, you don't have anything to hide, right?' Daphen asked, then she grimaced.

'No, of course not, je ne sais pas,' Octavia's voice drifting into a quiet whisper, head in her hands. Merlin, she didn't want to start crying again, but the pain in her cheek begged for tears.

The bell rung through the dorm room, the girls jumping in sync with it.

'Quick, you'll be late,' Octavia sighed, waving at them to leave. The pair rushed away, leaving Octavia to stand alone. The water of the lake rippled with activity above her. Mermaid's playing between themselves, batting a neon orange pufferfish like a ball. Watching them made her panic pause. The pulse in her neck slowing and breaths easing. Closing her eyes, she gave herself a minute to worry, then she had to start dealing with it all.

Had she set up for Mattheo to be sent away? To his death? What on earth would her grandmother say? Nothing encouraging, or remotely reassuring, that was for sure. But she held onto the fact that they hadn't attacked that boy, no matter how many people would believe it. And that was enough for now. Her eyes fluttered open and twisting her face into a determined frown, she marched to the bathroom.

Octavia showered and dressed faster than she thought possible. Catching her messy appearance, she froze and forced herself to slow. The buttons on her shirt were done all wrong, her hair a mess of curls and her skirt too high. She sighed, glaring at herself in the mirror. She straightened her shirt, rebuttoning it as she went. Brushed her skirt down and fixed it to the required length, not like she usually wore it, like the other Slytherin girls, but just above the knee. She straightened her socks to the exact same length and buckled her shoes carefully. Octavia scrubbed the surfaces of her Mary Jane's until they shined a glossy black, she couldn't risk wearing her converse.

Then she got stuck into her hair. On a regular day she'd let it air dry and maybe curl its ends, but today wasn't a regular day. Today, she would be under the scrutinising gaze of her grandmother, and that meant perfection. With the help of her wand, Octavia dried her hair and meticulously curled each strand so her dark hair bounced down her back. She carefully pinned the tendrils around her face back, pins held in her mouth with a furrowed brow.