The Arrangement (Mattheo Riddle)

Ch.43~ The Mark.

I awoke on the kitchen table of 12 Grimmuald Place, everything still a blur. I hears shouting, mostly between Mattheo and Enzo, and a bit of Draco trying to calm the situation. I felt the stinging of the healing potions of my face, and some on my body. 

I never fully knew how Enzo got us out of the Vault. So I'm told, I fainted from exhaustion, holding onto such a dark artifact also does things to your mental and physical abilities. It also explained how angry I got so quickly, my anger was magnified by the Horcrux. In between my fainting spell and getting back here, we ran into some trouble with some Death Eaters who were aware of a "break in to a valuable vault." Nothing serious, just a couple additional cuts and hexes, nothing incurable. 

It took the idiots, all of five minutes to quit fighting and realize that I had been awake, and hearing all of this. 

"Merlin, Rose!" Enzo sighed of relief. 

"Fuck." Mattheo huffed while blotting my face with a towel drenched in essence of dittany, "You scared the shit out of me."

"When don't I?" I let out a small chuckle. 

"I can't believe you did it." he shook his head down at me. 

"Which? Retrieved the chalice... or that I killed my mother?" it was beginning to come back to me now. 

"Fucking both." his eyes grew bigger, mostly at the fact that I mentioned it so freely. 

"Are you alright, Rose?" Draco butted his head into my vision.

"Just banged up really, my head is killing me." I grunted. 

"No I mean.. with.. you know." he shook his head awkwardly. 

"Dray... your mother was more of a mother to me, than mine ever was. Trust me, I am perfectly fine." I tried to straighten out my eyes, to convince them of the truth. 

Thats exactly what it was, the truth. At the end of the day, she was a shit mother. She always had been, and after what Enzo had told me. Her knowledge of the whole attack on me, and her finding a way to cast all the blame on me, it only confirmed it for me. All she did, was bring me into this world. She never provided love, or safety... I don't think she ever even hugged me. In fact, the only time her hands were ever on me, was to cause me pain. 

"You should've seen her face..." Enzo muttered, "Rose, the crazy bitch looked right up at her, and told her to say hi to our father. That was it. I was fucking floored." 

I heard chuckles from Theo and Draco in the corner, and Mattheo's lip raise the tinies bit, trying to still keep a straight face and stay focused on healing me. 

The boys trickled out, one by one, wishing me quick recoveries, telling me they were spud, things of that sort, until it was just Mattheo and I. 

"Are you sure your alright?" he looked down at me, brushing my hair out of my face. 

"I mean it, I'm fine." I let out a soft smile. 

"You amaze me. Truly." he smiled, grabbing my hand to help me sit up. 

He inched closer to me, as I still sat on the table, he put his body in between my legs, and let his head fall onto mine. He didn't say a word. He didn't move his hands from mine. He just wanted to feel me. I needed it too. 

"Theres no easy way to say this Rosalia..." he finally broke the silence, him saying my full name also sent an odd chill down my spine. 

"Your scaring me now, Mattheo." I whispered back. 

He pulled a chair in front of me, and sat. Moving his hands to my thighs and giving them a tight squeeze, as he just starred really deeply into my eyes. 

"I just got some news... regarding our mark's... My father must know, he must feel that someone is finding these and destroying them." His words were unsteady, as he looked over to the chalice.

"So? Theres nothing he can do now, this was the last physical one..." I shook my head in confusion. 

"He... altered the mark, the magic made to use it, the bindings of it... the requirements of it." He looked back up to me. 

"Spit it out, Mattheo." I almost hissed. 

"If he dies... all those with the mark... we all die too." his words felt like a dagger, sharply moving through my chest. "Me... Enzo... Draco... Theo.... all of us." 

I didn't want to believe it. It couldn't be true, there was absolutely no way.

"No." was the only word I could get out, "He made that spell nearly eighty years ago! He can't change it now... why would he wipe out his following?..no way." my head was shaking so hard, I thought my brain might tip out the other side. 

"He has powerful wizards by his side, of course its possible. He knows its an inside job, he thinks its reassurance. He did it, its done." I seen him swallow, hard. 

"So then we don't kill him. Simple as that." I sat up straight, trying to show him that I meant it. 

"You know he has to die, Rosalia." he gave my thigh a squeezed. 

"You swore. I'm not letting you do this, anymore." I let out a deep breath, "Everything has changed." I felt a tear forming.

"I don't think I have a choice, baby." he whispered, cupping my face.