Intertwined: A Mattheo Riddle Story

Chapter 1: The Loss of My Life

Author's Note: Welcome to my very first fan fiction. Please feel free to comment on any grammar mistakes or comment on things you like or find funny. I would love to read your input. The story starts slow: chapters 1-6 are background, but the story picks up in chapter 7 with the start of the fifth year!!

Anne Burke was a patient and kind woman. This was something she learned. Patience, kindness, generosity, and love were not traits found in the Burke Manor. Yet those were the traits that she showed most. Her smile could light up an entire room. Her beaming attributes stumped many as they got to know her. People would ask, "How did this empathetic and brave girl get sorted into Slytherin?"

No one understood, but The Sorting Hat understood fully. Anne was a complex girl. She was angry, cunning, and ambitious, but fear prevented her from acting on it. She was so scared to turn out like her family. The Sorting Hat knew her innermost feelings and put her in a house where it was okay to put yourself first now and then. Sometimes you do need to be unapologetically selfish. Anne did not take advantage of the sorting hat's generosity.

Anne spent most of her time in the library. She was smart. She dreamed of working with the Ministry of Magic. She wanted to help people. She needed to help people. It wasn't her fault that evil ruined her life. He was kind to her. Anne has never experienced the likes of a charming man. Maybe she could blame it on her upbringing. She grew up without love. She always thought that cruel people acted cruelly and that kind people acted kindly. This was naive of her: for the truth is that the cruel must act kind because only kind people have access to vulnerable people. Anne was the most vulnerable of them all.

Theodore Nott has always been a bitter and selfish man. His harsh words affected many during his time at Hogwarts. People would often say, "There is a reason that Nott was sorted into Slytherin. That man will stop at nothing to achieve his ends." They were right you know. Theodore prided himself on his ability to corrupt and take. He always had to have exactly what he wanted, and he would stop at nothing to have it. Theodore Nott was one of the most cunning and ambitious men of his time.

In many ways, he was like Devil's Snare. One time, a Hufflepuff from his Herbology class even told Theodore this. The other students in the room made sure the boy knew that he was suffocating and destructive. The more you struggled to get away from him, the tighter he would hold on. Theodore would do this until the person under his grasp was nothing but a shell of their former self.

Theodore was perplexed by the Hufflepuff's outburst, but he had no clue was a bloody Devil's Snare even was. Unfortunately, this insult is what landed him in the library on that fateful winter night of 1971.

Theodore had searched for an Herbology book. While searching, Theodore spotted Anne in the back corner reading. He could hear her mumbling as she read. It sounded so foreign to him. He immediately knew who she was though. His father, Cantakerus Nott, had written the very book that had her surname in it: The Sacred Twenty-Eight. Marrying a Burke would have been a good business move. He knew that crossing the Burke and Nott family lines would have meant everything to his father. Cantakerus always pressed on Theodore the importance of keeping the bloodline pure, so, at that very moment, Theodore made sure that Anne Burke would be his wife and he would stop at nothing until that dream was a reality.

Theodore began to put in effort to spend time with the Burke girl. That is all she was to him, a Burke. Anne was so warm and kind that Theodore's coldness did not push her away like it did others. Theodore said kind things and bought her expensive dresses and jewelry. Anne wasn't a materialistic person, but she liked that he was trying.

At the beginning of their seventh year in 1972, Theodore asked Anne to be his girlfriend which she happily obliged. They had sent letters back and forth all summer long. Anne was beginning to fall in love with Theodore. Theodore spent their seventh year making sure that Anne was hearing everything she needed to hear to remain in love with him. Rumor has it that Theodore may have even loved her a bit too.

By 1994, just a year after they graduated from Hogwarts, Anne Burke became Anne Nott. Their wedding was extravagant. Every family from the Sacred Twenty-Eight was invited. Mr. and Mrs. Thedore Nott were a lovely couple. That was what she was now, Mrs. Nott, nothing more nothing less. Yet, Anne loved Theodore with every fiber of her being. She would have died for him. She will die for him. Theodore liked the Burke girl enough. Thought she could be witty at times. She was smart, a good cook, and not too hard on the eyes, but he saw her more as a pet. His view was on bigger things than the likes of love.

She gave up her dream of working for the Ministry of Magic by marrying Theodore. Theodore did not deem her working necessary. He married Anne for status. He needed her free for any sort of dinners or meetings he needed to attend. She was arm candy and a name to make him look better. I think deep down she knew this, but unfortunately, she would make that same mistake in every lifetime

After about a year into their marriage, Cantakerus began to pressure Theodore into producing an heir. "An heir is necessary if you do not want to fail me." Cantankerous made sure Theodore knew this. Theodore obliged with his father's wishes, but Anne was excited that Theodore finally wanted to have a baby. Anne wanted to be a good mother. They struggled for a long time to get pregnant. Theodore should have known something was wrong with Anne when it took them four years to get pregnant.

Anne was excited nonetheless. She had always dreamed of giving a child a better life than her own. Anne had so many desires she was never able to live. It is not every day you learn that you'll be having twins by Christmas. Theodore had already chosen the name for the boy, Theodore Nott. What a narcissist. Theodore, being as gracious as he was, allowed Anne to name the girl child. Anne pondered for a few days.

"I'll name her Elaine." This was all Thedore heard before he wrote the name down and ignored her explanation of why she wanted the girl to be named Elaine. Anne wanted to name the girl Elaine after the French-derived meaning: light. Thedore would never get to have this conversation with Anne.

On November 17, 1979, Theodore Nott became Theodore Nott Senior. Anne had delivered two healthy babies. Theodore Nott and Elaine Nott were brought into the world fulfilling their mother's sense of purpose. Anne finally was able to pour into someone who would love her back.

The twins were fast learners. Not many four-year-olds can talk. These four-year-olds can speak in three languages. The English speaking came early. When Nott Senior was around to speak to his children, which was rarely, he spoke to them in English for this was all he knew and all he cared to know. Anne was a bright girl. She had been learning French the day Nott Senior spoke to her in the library and ruined her life. She taught this to her children. She spoke to them in both English and French. It wasn't until the twins' fourth birthday that Elaine began whispering to her brother in the snake language, Parstletongue, and from there, it was their secret language.

Elaine and Theo were loved. Not so much by their father, but Anne gave the twins more love in the four and a half years she had with them than she received in her entire life. Anne loved from her first breath to her last. This wouldn't be the first time that a mother's love would be so deep that she would die for her child.

Anne became pregnant in the summer of 1983. Nott Senior allowed Anne to name their child again because she was a girl. Dara Nott came on a cold and rainy day. She gave birth to the beautiful girl on March 12, 1984. A week later, Anne died. There was no more detail than that. It was sudden and there was no explanation to anyone who asked. Nott Senior would simply say that she died.

Nott Senior was a cold and bitter man. No one could have imagined he could have become more cold than he was during his Hogwarts days. He never spoke of his wife again after she died. He held a funeral. He stood far away from Theo, Elaine, and Dara. The house elf, Penny, held baby Dara and the two toddlers, Elaine and Theo, stood with her. This was the last time Nott Senior ever spoke about his late wife. Elaine and Theo were young when their mother died. Dara was even younger. But deep down Elaine knew she would never see her mother again. Death is not easily understood by children, but Elaine knew what happened: I knew what happened. This was the loss of my life.