Riddle Me This | Mattheo Riddle

s e v e n

This chapter takes place during Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and follows parts of the original story by J.K. Rowling.

-Mattheo's POV-

"How do you do it?" Draco asked once we were back in our common room, obviously suggesting I was the one who had 'opened the Chamber of Secrets' and hurt all those people. 

It wasn't. But most students thought the same way my cousin did. 

And arguing with him was pointless. 

Who would believe the son of a murderer?

If he wasn't such a coward I might've suspected him to be behind the cruel attacks.

"I'm not stupid enough to think Potter could be the Heir of Slytherin. Of course it's you. Did your father give you a mission?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Who's next?"

That bastard. 

"You might be, if you don't stop being a pain in the ass."

That shut him up instantly. 

I sat down on my bed, focusing on calming myself down. I was pretending to be collected. That was all I was doing all day, everyday.

Pretending.

And I still hadn't gotten any better at hiding the storm inside me, given up on trying to tame it a long time ago.

The silence was disturbed once we heard a knock on the door. 

"Dumbledore wants to see you in his office," Snape said in my direction but I didn't make any indications of getting up. "It's urgent."

I sighed and followed him out of our dorm and into the Gargoyle Corridor, where the Headmaster's Tower was located. After Snape had uttered the password, he indicated for me to move up the staircase on my own.

Professor Dumbledore sat at his desk, a quill in his hand as he was writing something down in a hurry. Once he realized he wasn't alone anymore, he put it down and looked me straight in the eyes.

I gulped under his critical gaze and decided to speak first. I knew what I was here for after all. I knew what he wanted to know.  

"It's not me- I'm not the one-" I started to explain but he interrupted me with a wave of his hand. 

"I know that, Mattheo."

What?

"But why-" I cleared my throat that had clogged up when he called me by my first name. Not many people did. "What am I here for then?"

He must've found out how I tried to destroy the Mirror of Erised. Hitting it over and over again to crush the image it kept on mocking me with. Until my fists were sore and all I could see was red. 

But the magic mirror had looked as good as new, taunting me even more.

The old man in front of me smiled slightly, before his expression turned serious again. His gaze locked in on my bandaged hands and I felt the urge to hide them behind my back. 

I didn't.

"I'm worried about you. You don't seem to be socializing." He pushed his glasses that had slid down his nose back up again with his middle finger. 

Socializing? This was a joke, right? It had to be. 

I took a deep breath to calm myself before I would do something irreversible I'd possibly regret.