Surviving Fate // Mattheo Riddle ♣️

Chapter Thirty - The Barrier

Word Count: 2,840 words. 

Warnings: None. 

The spell hit my side, causing my body to fall to the ground, head hitting the stone hard. The impact rang in my ears, and I fought the urge to let out any sound of pain. Hands pressed firmly against the cold stone floor, I tried to find the strength in me to stand up. To pull myself back to my feet. To be anything but the weakness I felt.

"What would you suggest?" Voldemort asked.

I turned my head, eyes blurring with the dizziness I felt. The pain wasn't just where he had hit me, but it had spread across my entire body and it was only getting worse.

"For what Tom?" I replied, panting.

"Punishment," he told me, now bent towards me on the ground. "How do I punish a traitor?"

I laughed, licking my lips. They tasted like blood. I couldn't help it as a cough left my mouth and red splattered against the floor.

"Personally Tom, I'd kill them," I lied, looking him in the eyes, "but I'd like to keep my life... just a little longer."

He couldn't kill me know. He would, I knew that he would, but not right now. Harry didn't have the stone and the wand was still in my pocket. If I died here, he wouldn't get them and then he wouldn't be powerful enough to go up against Voldemort.

He smiled cruelly, taking the Elder Wand from his pocket. He flourished it into front of my eyes. "Is it mine?" he asked.

I could feel the cracks in my wand's hilt. It wasn't his wand to use and now he was destroying it. I tried not to look at the Elder Wand but the pull was too great and I found myself even reaching out towards it.

He pulled it away, standing again. "Grindlewald was obsessed with this wand. Even when it no longer belonged to him."

"You killed him," I reminded the man, finding that as I pushed against the cold ground, I was able to bring myself to my feet. I wobbled, holding my side in pain. It was wet and my clothes became soaked with blood. 

"He told me the truth," Voldemort explained. "He told me that my wand didn't work because it didn't belong to me..." he paused. "You killed Dumbledore that night and so you inherited his wand."

I shook my head. "That bastard." I didn't care much for his revelation. I cared more for the betrayal that now sat in my heart. I should have expected nothing less from the man named Gellert Grindlewald but I would be lying to myself if I said I hadn't been hopeful. That I thought he might have some good left in him.

"It was when he told me, that I realised how I missed it all," he continued. "I had always suspected –"

"No, you didn't," I cut him off. "Tom, you didn't suspect a thing until Gellert sold me out."

He was angry. I could that. It was best to calm him down. If I kept riling him up like I was, he would surely kill me, but he had my wand. He had it in his hands and I wanted it back.

I could feel myself opening the door of my mind. I could feel the power blooming and the fire tingling across my fingers. I could kill him. Right here and right now. I could do that. Screw other plans.

"My lord," a voice spoke. One that hadn't been in the room before.

Snape entered the dockhouse, his eyes watching me carefully. The sight of the man helped me to drop my hands and suddenly the want to have my wand faded. How had I been so incredibly stupid? I wasn't strong enough to go against my own wand.