Surviving Fate // Mattheo Riddle ♣️

Chapter Three - Changing Ownership

Stepping into Albus Dumbledore's office was different this time. Quieter. It was as though the room itself had stopped talking, as though it had had a voice before. The portraits on the walls had been removed, leaving no room for any chatter, but that wasn't what had silenced it's voice. Rather, it was a feeling that coursed through me as my feet guided me forward. This gutting feeling at the sight of his office. He would never pace the room every night or sit at his desk again. Albus Dumbledore would never pet his phoenix or talk to the paintings on the walls. He was gone. All because of me.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to where Ariana's picture hung, finding that it was still there. She smiled at me, seeming completely unaware of the world around her. I wondered did she know. Did this moving picture of the young girl know that I had killed her brother? Would she want me to pay for what I'd done?

I turned away from the youngest Dumbledore and slowly began to move up the steps of the Headmaster's office. His desk seemed untouched.

Snape was now Headmaster of Hogwarts, and surely he had been here before, but everything that Albus Dumbledore had placed in the room still stood. Aside from the missing portraits, it was like he wasn't gone at all.

A letter lay open on his desk, and I found myself leaning over to read it, the handwriting recognisable to my eye. I had had many a letter from the author.

"Abe," I breathed, noticing the signature at the bottom.

The Hog's Head had gone up in flames at the end of last year and although I had returned to the building on several occasions, I was yet to find anything other than ashes. I feared he was dead, but he couldn't be. He just... couldn't be.

Albus, the letter read.

I gently placed my hand on the piece of parchment, closing my eyes.

The office I stood in changed, the portraits returning to the wall as two figures appeared in front of me. It was Albus Dumbledore and his brother.

"I am outraged Albus!" Aberforth told his older brother firmly. "Outraged!"

The man in front of him, the Headmaster was a calm as he always was, a stone wall in front of a begging brother. I had never seen Abe so angry at anyone. He was fuming.

"How could you say that to her?" he asked, softer than his shout had been. His voice broke. "How could you tell her that there is nothing to stop this – "

"Because there is not," Albus replied. "There is no way to stop this."

"There's always a way," Abe argued, shaking his head. "She's a child Albus."

"But she is not your child."

"She's as good as."

Albus took a breath, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You cannot save her Abe. Lyra Black will die. No matter how much you wish she didn't."

Aberforth looked up at his brother, eyes glossed with tears. "I can't lose anyone else Albus. I can't."

The figures faded as I gasped, taking my hand from the letter. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Abe," I breathed.

"Did you read it?" a voice asked.

I turned my gaze upwards to find Severus Snape entering the room.

"No," I replied. "I don't think I could bear it."

He nodded gently. "I am sorry," he apologised.

Shaking my head, I answered. "For what?"