LUNACY ll Mattheo Riddle x Reader

69. ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴘʏ

ummm???? i succeeded in minimal shifting last night????!!!!!! like i didn't go anywhere but i FELT myself shooting forward and my heart was racing like crazy and i could hear a roaring in my ears??? someone help i'm freaking out

aaaanyways, on with the story! things are a tad bit slow now on the romance front, but just hang on til the next chapter, cuz by then you're gonna be wishing i'd dragged out this whole martyrdom business for much much longer :)

The loft in Muggle London was, of course, a well laid trap.

Elias Nott and whichever of the unmarked Death Eaters he took with him were met with a nasty surprise when they blew in the loft's doors last night, a residency that had recently been purchased under one of Shacklebolt's aliases. Ex-Aurors and new recruits slipped out from every corner and ambushed the lot of them. Two Death Eaters were killed, three times that were severely injured, and the only one who made it out of the duel unscathed was Theo. Apparently, the Order members didn't think it necessary to attack the boy who was off sulking in a corner with no intention to fight.

I don't doubt the Dark Lord suspects there's a spy in our midst. Too many of his plans have been going wrong these past two months for it to be all bad luck. Fortunately for me, the last person anyone ever turns to when a plan of attack goes wrong is the source that gave them the means of attack in the first place. So long as I remain on my toes, there's little danger of me getting caught out.

Especially when the Dark Lord has other, more frustrating things on his plate at the moment. For reasons unknown to him, his son has lost his sadistic touch. Mattheo no longer revels in the screams of those he hurts, which is odd indeed for someone with an allegedly split soul. The only reason Mattheo even bothers with the Death Eater business anymore is to keep his father from taking another dive into his mind. He's only doing this... To protect me.

I don't want to think about how he'd react if he found out I was willingly putting more of my life on the line with every passing day.

I start off the following week with another visit to Gringotts, where the Head goblin there informs me once more that there is no way for me to access the Malfoy vaults without either the Lord or the Lady Malfoy present. And once again, I pay him a good sum of gold to keep his lips sealed about our conversation, should my parents happen to stop by.

It's probably not even worth it, really. All my efforts stem from the supposition that there just might be a sliver of a chance that the Dark Lord's sixth Horcrux has been given to my father to keep safe. It's not a main concern of the Order's that I get into the Malfoy vault, seeing as it's a bit unlikely that the Dark Lord would've entrusted his second-to-last Horcrux to the very man who lost him his first one, after all. Still, the Order has no other leads to follow, so they've put it up to me to confirm that Salazar's locket is, in fact, not in Lucius Malfoy's possession. 

Draco accompanies me to our usual dinner with the Minister and his wife. Madam Thicknesse is a wonderful host, keeping the conversation from dying out while her young children stuff themselves full beside us. If she notices anything strange about her husband, such as him drifting off at odd moments of time, she doesn't mention it. And neither of us Malfoys are stupid enough to ask her if she knows anything about the telltale signs of the long-term effects of the Imperius Curse.

*****

"Two-timing a French ambassador and the heir to an ancient House? Pansy, you evil little thing," Daphne cackles in between sips of her gin and tonic.

Her family chateau is a lovely place, although quaint by our standards. Her cousin's new wife only wanted a small gathering, apparently, hence the intimate little tea party I've found myself squashed into this afternoon. I hardly let my discomfort show, of course, though my acting skills are nothing compared to Enzo's state of natural ease. I both admire and loathe him for it, how well he can melt into surroundings such as these.