𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂 || 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Facade

Chapter Twenty-Eight 

"This is truly the worst decision of my entire life," Matty muttered to herself internally as she trudged towards the forest in the cold, nippy weather. With a heavy winter coat on her body and her house scarf tucked tightly around her neck, she tried her best to keep warm. Why was she trudging out into the forest in the cold weather? Well to sum it up in just one word—Marvolo.

When he had told Matty he'd "be in contact", she didn't expect him to actually do anything. But earlier, she had received an owl (how he had even managed to get it to her, she had no idea) telling her to meet him in the forest so she could give him whatever pieces of information she had gotten so far.

To be completely honest, Matty contemplated just not showing up. Part of her couldn't even comprehend the fact that she was aiding a literal murderer right now but she didn't really have a choice. It was either, help him get his brother into Azkaban or end up there herself—with possible, additional punishments towards her friends. So, she was just trying to avoid any more mess than she already had.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't come," Marvolo said to her as she neared him in the forest. It was broad daylight so for once, Matty could get a good look at him. Even though there were stark differences between the two—he and Ominis were definitely brothers.

"Well, if I had a choice, I wouldn't have," Matty said, her tone unamused and flat. She kept a decent amount of distance between them. She took rest against a tree, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Well, since you clearly don't want to be here, just tell me what you've learned so far and then you can be on your merry little way," Marvolo said to her, trying not to show the annoyance in his voice. The two were equally annoyed by one another.

Matty gave a very exaggerated roll of her eyes. How she was brave enough to roll her eyes so casually at a man whose initial intention was to kill her and who was now blackmailing her—she had no idea. But perhaps this new, somewhat careless attitude was coming in handy for once.

"I have nothing more than what you told me the other night because you have barely given me a minute to figure things out." She retorted. "Besides if you already know all of that, why don't you just do it yourself, huh?"

"Now, now, don't get an attitude with me," Marvolo warned, his eyes narrowing a bit. "I was trying to be a least a little nicer to you."

"Well you're failing miserably, you're literally blackmailing me into this all because you have some family issues. And you call that being nice?" Matty asked, turning her nose up at him. The banter between the two was making this more difficult than it had to be but Matty figured if she was going to be stuck here "helping" someone she hated, she shouldn't make it enjoyable for them.

"You could at least try to do what I asked you and figure something out." Marvolo scoffed.

Matty's patience with him was running thin. He was so insufferable and childish. How did anybody around him stand his presence? "Fine, here's some pointers to think of then." She said, her tone going a bit flat. "If Leona is running this poacher ring now, she's going to succeed where Rookwood failed. With everything she's organized, she doesn't sound stupid like he was. She'd keep any important main camps away from the school. The smaller ones around here are just probably there to keep the less important poachers occupied."

"See, now we're getting somewhere," Marvolo spoke. "Was that really so hard?"

Matty let out a small, annoyed grumble. "My question is, why even have camps around the school at all? I mean, it gives what they're doing away pretty easily." She said. "And there's nothing here anymore that they'd want. The repository's gone, and the centaurs are doing a good job at getting rid of any poachers who go into the Forbidden Forest. I mean, what motives could they possibly have by being here?"