False Confidence //Matteo Riddle x OC

Chapter Eight

Blow after blow leaving her bloodied and already bruising. She tries to scramble off the table but he grabs a hold of her hair flinging her back making her tumble to the floor. She crawls to a corner trying to hide behind one of the chairs. She listens to his footsteps getting closer as she chokes on a sob. The chair gets thrown across the room as his foot comes stomping down on her. She screams as pain explodes in her body. The snap of her ribs causing her whole body to revolt in agony. A strangle sob left her as she tried to make her body curl up into a protective ball. He grabs her by the hair again, the fiery red that reminded him of his wife's hair. Yanking her to the kitchen leaving her to watch him in horror as he rummages through the drawers. He finds his wand holding it towards her. Ophelia scurries back as she watches the way his face scrunches in disgust. 

"Crucio" suddenly she's hit with a wave of excruciating pain that made her breath stop. The pain seizing everything in her body. The scream that rips through her body threatening to break the glass. She could barely fathom the pain that was making it's way through every crevice. She wasn't going to survive this. 

"Avada Ke...." He begins. She was going to die if she didn't do something now. She knew she couldn't apparate to Hogwarts. She just needed to get close enough. She pictured right outside of Hogwarts, right where the Anti-Apparition Charm stopped. 

Her father's roaring scream faded into the wind as she apparated a few feet away from the Forbidden Forest on the path that leads to Hogsmeade. She fell to the ground as she tried to get air inside her lungs. Each breath she took was labored with agonizing pain. She was drifting fast, the cold biting into her. She had made it out, she had gotten away from him but it seemed useless. She couldn't stand without becoming violently dizzy, the edges of her vision darkening each time she tried. The pain was radiating through her body, make the bile in her stomach rise. She tried one last time to stand, her legs were wobbly as she slowly stood. She tried desperately to steady herself but it was useless her vision became dark as she fell to the ground unconscious.

Matteo was coming back from Hogsmeade, he needed a drink or more at the three broomsticks. He hated this time of year, Christmas was just another reminder that he was the dark lords son. That he didn't have a family to go home to, that he didn't have a family that loved him. He was walking the usual path from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. Coming out of the Forbidden Forest the castle soon in sight, something caught his eye as he strained to see someone laying a few feet up ahead. 

He instantly recognized that fiery red hair as he took off towards her. He pulls her into his arms as his heart fucking stops beating in his chest. Her face was a bloodied bruised tear stained mess. He quickly checked her pulse, it was still there, faint but there. He stands, adjusting her in his arms before he races as quickly as he could towards the hospital wing. "It's going to be okay Ophelia...just...just hold on" he tells her as he rushes towards Madam Pomfrey screaming for her to help. Her eyes widen in shock at the sight of the poor girl. She tries to shoo Matteo away but he refuses to leave Ophelia's side. When Pomfrey realizes she wasn't going to get rid of the stubborn boy she quickly makes work of assessing Ms. Selwyn's injuries.

"What happened to her?" she questions Matteo as he shakes his head. "I...I don't know. I found her not far from the Forbidden Forest." he answers her. Pomfrey casted a spell that left her face white as a sheet, her eyes widening in horror. She quickly make's work using spell after spell to treat Ophelia's broken bones and deep cuts. Pomfrey knew she could heal the injuries with no issues...the emotional damage that has been casted upon this poor girl...that would be something she would never be able to heal for her.

Once she was done Matteo moved a chair right next to the side of her bed, his fingers intertwining with hers as he carefully watches her. Dumbledore clears his throat at Madam Pomfrey walks over to meet him. Their voices were hushed but Matteo could hear everything. "Where was she found?" Dumbledore asks. "Mr. Riddle said he found her not far from the Forbidden Forest." she answers the Headmaster. "Curious." he says more to himself than her. "That's not all Albus. When I scanned her I not only found her current injuries but past injuries. The amount of pain this poor girl must have endured for years.....dozens upon dozens of fractures that have healed without the help of magic." Time seems to slow down as Matteo listens to the two of them talk. He felt the weight on his chest, the heaviness of knowing she has been brutally beaten more than once. That she has had to heal all of her broken bones with time and pain, that she couldn't easily mend herself with magic. It was all overwhelming for him as he sat there staring at her, bruises were still peppered all over her face. His vision began to blurry, guilt eating away at him. He spent six years taunting her, making her life hell. Six years of him being a proper asshole towards her all while she was dealing with something unimaginable. Hogwarts was her escape from whatever hell she was going through at home and here he was making her escape another nightmare. He had turned out exactly like his father.