LUNACY ll Mattheo Riddle x Reader

55. ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʜᴜʀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ

Trigger Warning: i know i'm always joking about the trauma but i'm being serious today when i say that certain scenes for this chapter might make you uncomfortable; it's hard to explain what the direct trigger is as this is a fantasy story involving magic and so i'd feel pretty stupid trying to factor that into the explanation; (spoilers) just know that our fmc is going to be forced into a situation she is NOT okay with, and that there'll also be a brief kiss that she's severely discomforted by 

(also, please note that i do not condone any of the behavior a certain character will be displaying in this chapter, nor am i romanticizing his actions in any way; i wouldn't have gone through the whole process of having him tear apart his soul otherwise!)

side note that probably doesn't have anything to do with the matter at hand (it most definitely does), let's just thank my dad for a sec for giving me all the psychological issues necessary to come up with stuff like this; like dude you can do better than a non-fictional fictional character (no you can't, at least i know for a fact that even a toxic mattheo would never be telling me to kms every other week and threatening to kill me himself practically every other day and what's more, he would never in a million years shove his wife hard enough to fracture her spine how the FUCK did we never have you arrested for that)

recently watched a show that put focus on how everyone always has hidden shit they're dealing with, that really spoke to me and i feel that we all collectively need to remind ourselves of that on a regular basis

anyways, let the toxicity commence!! (again, TRIGGER WARNING!!)

Even in his sleep, he looks to be fighting a battle.

Mattheo lies in his bed in the Slytherin dormitories, having been moved here in a stabilized state, thanks to my recognizing the curse Bill Weasley shot him with. It was an old one, but not unheard of, and I managed to perform the counter-curse before any severe damage could be made.

"He will need to be checked on every two hours," Snape informs me, after completing a complex Diagnostic Charm on Mattheo's unconscious form. "I could have him moved to the Hospital Wing if you'd like, Miss Malfoy. The state of Mr Riddle's health is not a responsibility you are required to bear."

I shake my head instantly, knowing that I won't be able to stay away from him for long. Especially not with the dive I took into his mind, which allowed me to witness the thoughts he's had about me. What I mean to him. What he would do for me.

"Very well, then. Once he wakes, have him take these five potions," Snape conjures up several vials holding liquids of various shades. "They're enchanted to refill automatically, so make sure he takes no more than a sip from each, and that he continues taking the medications after every meal."

Enzo and I leave Mattheo's room soon after Snape does, shutting the door quietly so as to not wake Mattheo up. We make our way into my dorm, and as Pansy and Daphne have disappeared elsewhere, it's just the two of us sitting in silence, still too stunned from the afternoon's events to be capable of doing much more than that.

After what seems like an eternity, the quiet is finally broken when Enzo begins to speak.

"He's right, you know," he says. "Snape, I mean. Mattheo's not your responsibility, Y/n."

I lift myself off the wall and join him by my bed. "Then whose responsibility is he?" I ask quietly. "His father? The Death Eaters? He's got no one else to look out for him, Enzo. Just us Slytherins."

"Just you," he corrects me. "He lost the rest of us- Blaise, Theo, and the girls- When he chose to push us all away."

"That's not being fair to him. We're not the ones who had to go through all the shit that he did."