Fighting Fate // Mattheo Riddle ♣️

Chapter Two - The Invitation

I straightened, heart quickening. Mattheo. I was expecting a letter from the Slytherin. Unlike last summer, we had kept in constant contact with each other, sending letters back and forth almost every day. I expected this to be one of them. I was wrong.

It had my name on the front in cursive writing but it wasn't Riddle's penmanship. He didn't write his 'l's like that. Turning the envelope over, I spotted the Malfoy family seal on the opening.

"Why would they be writing to you?" my father asked, rising from his chair.

"Draco?" Lupin suggested.

I shook my head. "He doesn't use the family seal. He hardly seals his letters at all."

I broke the wax, taking the neatly folded piece of parchment from its package and reading the letter quickly.

Miss Black.

I am writing to invite you over to Malfoy Manor for dinner tomorrow evening and to stay the night as our guest. My wife and son wish to see you and there are family matters that we need to discuss.

Please reply as quickly as possible with you answer as the House Elf will need to know how many people to prepare for. We will have other guests and would wish to give your seat to someone else if you are not going to attend.

Sincerely, Lucius Malfoy.

My eyes widened at the name on the end of the page. "Lucius Malfoy writing to me?" I asked myself. "There must be something wrong with him."

Sirius quickly ripped the letter from my grasp, scanning the words quickly. "We have family matters to discuss? He's not your family, what in Merlin's name do you have to talk about?"

"Our complete and utter loathing for each other," I offered. My father wasn't listening.

"We have other guests? Moony –" he turned to the werewolf – "he has other guests."

My uncle sighed. "What guests?"

"I think we all know what guests he has," I told them. "Lucius Malfoy never willingly spends his time writing me letters. He'd only do it if someone he was scared of made him and that list is short."

Their expressions turned fearful. Sirius was the one that spoke first. "You're not going," he ordered ripping the letter up. "I will not let my daughter be in the same room as that monster."

I shook my head. "Do we have a choice?"

My father's head snapped towards me. "Yes," he exclaimed. "We do. You're not going."

"Padfoot –" Moony tried.

"No! I'm not sending her into that horrid Manor. She's never going to be in danger again. Where she can be manipulated or treated less than she deserves. I won't stand for it." His words were firm. My father was staring Lupin down.

"He'll get me one way or another," I spoke up. "You know he will. Voldemort wants me. He believes in the prophecy he saw, and this is only an invitation to meet him. If I refuse, he'll be dragging me from my Hogwarts dorm. I'd rather go willingly than make him think I'm afraid. That's power over me he won't have, dad."

My father continued to shake his head. "Then we'll go with you."

"We'd be killed on the spot Sirius," Moony told him.

My father turned on him. "You seem awfully calm."

"One of us has to be."

"What the fuck is that supposed to me?!"