charm and consequence

'✭.<Alora Ivory>.*•
Maybe this wasn't the best idea

Once Mattheo was gone and completely out of my sight, I turned back to staircase and made my way up. The hallways were quiet, each footstep I made against the stone echoed off louder. I wasn't sure if I was ready for this, being near the house was already gut-wrenching already but I couldn't imagine being inside. I felt sick to my stomach.

When I got inside the common room, I booked it toward my dorm room, I tried to make my footsteps as quiet as I can up the spiraled stairs. By the time I reached the room, I slipped inside-everyone was asleep. The faint rustle of blankets, and the quiet breathes. I just moved silently through the room, and grabbed a towel from in the toiletries the girls and I have shared. I grab my toiletries too and slipped out, running out and to the bathroom. I needed to let out all the steam, and calm myself down from my troubled thoughts. From my complete paranoia. Once I got done with my shower washing off all the dirt, tension and that awful smell of the feed from the forest. I changed into my pajamas and crawled into bed. That house lingered in my head, even when I shut my eyes, I could feel it, pulling. Waiting. Sleep was useless. I laid awake for what felt like forever, staring at the canopy above my head. My nerves were really getting to me, and I didn't realize how bad it got. My fingers were drifting to my skin and I scratched, and scratched. I could still hear Hagrid's warning, and his angry reaction when we were near that house. My heart was racing faster and I just kept scratching until it felt raw and stung. Which ordered me to stop. If I didn't go then what would happen to my brother. I can't leave those boys without any guidance, they are not sharpest people and I don't want to feel guilty if something did happen to any of them. I wouldn't bare it. I sat up, peeling my blankets off. The time was ten thirty on the dot. It was almost time.

I grabbed my wand that laid beside on my nightstand, then slowly crept to the trunk at the end of the bed, I clicked open the locks but when I opened the both sides, I heard a girl rustle around her bed, making me feel sweat by the second. I grabbed a handmade medkit that I put together myself last year when working in herbology. Bandages, burn paste, vials of healing potions, you know all that stuff. A flashlight that I actually took from Alex. Then a camera, an old model that I found in a pawn shop, I had it enchanted to never need film and develop pictures immediately. I wasn't sure what made me grab it but I might needed it to document whatever is in that house. And rope, which I can't explain where I found this at but I'm pretty sure it was in some closet when we worked with magical creatures. It's enchanted to be light but strong enough to contain a hippogriff. My hands worked quickly as I slided everything in a satchel, which is a gift from my brother for my birthday, back when he smiled then scowled.

Once I had packed my necessities, I snuck to my wardrobe slipped on to change into a practical clothing rather then pajamas and slipped on a cloak, taking Lorenzo's advice of staying hidden as much as possible. I took one last breathe and crept towards the door, creeping down the spiraled staircase. I crept down the stairs in my socks since I didn't want my boots thudding down the creaky stairs, the satchel tight at my side. The common room was dark, quiet. I took one step at a time, I paused every couple seconds to see if any of the paintings were awake. Luckily none of them were at the frame so I booked it, slipping past the stone archway and toward the towers exit. I hit the stairs and crouched down to put my boots on, laces tied slowly.

Once I was outside, the castles changed. The stone corridors were filled with the dimmed light torches, that didn't burn so bright, barely flickering any light at all. I moved quickly but carefully. The deeper I went the more paranoid I gotten. The wind whistling from the windows felt louder, and every corner felt darker then previously, every hallway felt longer. I tricked myself in thinking I saw movement or started hearing things. My eyes flickered to paintings strung up on the wall to see if any of them were there, watching me. Then at one point I swear I heard footsteps, but when I looked to see there was no one there. When I had reach the grand staircase and making my way down these long stupid moving stairs toward another corridor, I got out from the stairs I ran chest-first into someone. My heart dropped but the first thing I noticed was the smell of smoke and expensive cologne. This wasn't just somebody. It was Mattheo.

He had his hood up, the black fabric casting a shadow against his face but I could still see the loosely curls dangling over his face. "Geez, what the hell? Mattheo?!" I gasped, my voice louder than it should've been , "didn't know Ravenclaws were so jumpy." He said voice low and amused. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack!" I hissed, my heart still pounding from the panic. He looked pretty pleased to me, his hands were stuffed into his cloak pockets like watching me panic was entertainment for him. "Why are you the one scared? You ran into me-should've been more careful." He scoffed, rolling his eyes. Was he right? Yeah but I'm not admitting that to him, he will use that against me forever. He gazed at me before looking towards my bag, and laughed. "That bag just screams of paranoia. Merlin, what do you have in there?" I adjusted my strap of my bag-shooting him a glare. "I'm sorry, did you not hear anything of what Hagrid said? I'm not showing up to a cursed house unprepared or unarmed."

He laughed, shaking his head with a grin tugging at his mouth. "What is this survival camp?" He is laughing at my preparation? Please, I don't even see anything on him, not anything but his wand. "It might be..." i muttered, "You didn't bring anything." He looked at me, face full of amusement. "I brought my wand." He said smoothly, pointed towards himself, "And my natural charm." Yeah like that's what is gonna make him survive this cursed house.

I had gotten a better look at Mattheo, now that me and him were more face to face. He had this dark cloak on that loosely fit him, underneath he was wearing a crisp white button up, few of the buttons were undone exposing his chest, he was wearing neat uniform pants, along with plain dirty sneakers. I looked him up and down, "Are you seriously wearing your uniform?" I asked, "How is that at all practical?" He shrugged, grinning. "So what? If we die in that place I at least want to go looking pretty." Merlin, I hate how he has that mentality. How calm he sounds when says there is a possibility that we could die or disappear in that house. It made my stomach hurt even more, and makes me want to scratch into my arm deeper.

We decided to walk to the passage together. We walked down through the corridors side by side. I glanced over to him, "what were you even doing there in the first place?" He looked at me, shrugging. "Taking a walk." A walk, in the middle of the night? "The Slytherin dormitory is far closer to the passage. You would have to go completely out of your way to come all the way here." He let out a sharp sigh that just screamed shut up already. "Maybe I wanted to see if you chickened out?" I stopped in my tracks realizing really why he was there. He stopped turning back to me as I greeted him with narrowed eyes. "Or maybe...you were waiting for me. You were just that excited to see me. Weren't you, Riddle?" He didn't say anything but that doesn't mean he didn't deny it, he turned to face towards me, walking backwards, motioning me forward with a dramatic wave. "Okay, Ivory. Enough with that, let's get moving before Lorenzo gets all pissy." And I did. I caught up to him to be side by side again.

For a little while, we walked into silence but I feel like we didn't want too, neither of us wanted to break the silence first but it was unbearable and so uncomfortable at this point that I had to say something. "Are you not nervous about this whole thing?" His eyes flicked toward me, one of his browns arching as if he was amused. "You are?" He asked, his fingers tapping nervously against his side. "No." I lied, he didn't bother to expose my lie but after a moment he said quieter. "I know to expect the worse in there. Why dwell on it when you already know that's it going to ruin us whether we are prepared for it or not." His voice stayed smooth, sure of itself. Like he knew what he said was right and I didn't even bother to deny it. Because I knew he was right.

His voice lingered in my head, the way he knew he couldn't give himself that false hope that things in that house wasn't all sunshine and rainbows let alone just some type of abandoned house, it was filled with dark magic. We all felt it.

For most of the journey I followed after Mattheo, he knew where he was going. Each step we make was coordinated to what he was doing. I kept myself behind him, attempting to match his pace and his stealthiness in each step and turn we took. The deeper we descended down through each hall, it felt darker than the other. The cold air grew heavy, causing shivers down my whole body. When we were near the lower level of the castle, Mattheo suddenly froze, then suddenly spun and yanked me into a nook between the halls. My body was against his chest, as we were closer than we ever been. "What-!" I began, he put his hand over my mouth, "Prefects." He whispered. Sure enough, the flicker of wand light approached where we were, followed with murmuring voices. I hadn't moved, barely even breathing, Mattheo had moved ahead of me, where we were standing beside each other now-too close. As the prefects neared our spot, Mattheo leaned close to ear, "Spell to make them forget?" He asked, I whipped my head toward him in shock. "That breaks school rules." He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms with a sharp tilt in his head. "So is this." I shook my head, pressing my lips together. "You can't just oblivate a prefect." I whispered harshly. "That's a stupid idea." His eyes darted to incoming footsteps that was louder. Closer. "Do you have a better idea?" I didn't.

Flash. Mattheo and I froze as lights flashed us catching us. Two prefects stood ahead of us with narrow eyes and shooting glares. "You two!" The male prefect barked, putting his wand light closer to our faces. "Out past curfew!" The girl beside him, stood with her wand raised, face intense, cold. I wanted to die right there. Of course we got caught, if it wasn't for him suggesting such bad ideas we wouldn't have been in this predicament. Mattheo though? He didn't seemed panicked at all, he nudged me on my arm giving me a look, stepping forward calmly, flipping his hood in one practiced motion. I followed after. The light from the prefects wands flickered perfectly on him, his tousled curls, and his dark eyes shined brighter.

"Evening," he said, he smiled-too easily. Too genuine. "We didn't mean to cause any trouble. We were chasing a cat-her cat, actually. It had gotten out of her hands, bolted straight down here and well...she panicked." He turned his gaze towards, a slight raise in his brow signaling a cue. "Yeaa...Sprinkles got quite a fright.." a weak laugh came out, they looked at me like they knew. He flicked his gaze on me, giving me a look 'shut up'. "I didn't want her wandering alone," he added, voice full of fake empathy. "She gets...dramatic." He did not. He did not just say that. The girl prefect raised her brows, her eyes going from me to Mattheo. Her lingering eyes stayed on Mattheo far for even him to notice. He grinned and step closer, "Yeah, but you know how Ravenclaws are with their books and pets. I figured to be a gentleman." The girl blinked, when he empathized the word 'gentleman' she seemed almost impressed. Captivated. The male prefect had took a step closer, gaze flicked to my bag then me, "What's in the bag?" He asked.

I had gripped my bag tightly, and my body stiffened. This is how we get caught. One look in my bag they are just gonna know. "Nothing suspicious." I blurted out, "Just...cat treats. For sprinkles." The panic in my voice. The way I blurted this not-so believable lie way too fast. I cried on the inside. Mattheo though sensed my panic, I knew he could. "She's a Ravenclaw." He muttered, giving a simple shrug. "Her bags probably filled with books and unnecessary things, and well I dunno-taking a wild guess also, girl stuff." Girl stuff? How unbelievable, he really just pulled that card of girl stuff. "You've got to respect it if it's girl stuff." He said, patting the guys shoulder as if they were two bros. "And we're both guys. Don't think either of us want to search in there, I mean if we did we would probably be seen as complete invasive assholes." The boy crinkled his nose, obviously full of discomfort. "Have Cindy do it then." We all froze. The girl looked at the boy, wand twitching in her hand-but then Mattheo tilted his head, his gaze soft and I swear it felt so genuine that I almost felt for it. The soft smile he gave almost made the girl melt.

Cindy hesitated, "Well if it's personal..she doesn't have to show us." She said carefully. The boy whipped his head towards her, "What?! Are you serious, Cindy?" He was baffled, and Mattheo stood there with a grin. "I'm not digging through her things," she said firmly, as she met Mattheo eyes where we returned it with a nod. "It's her bag." He scoffed, but looking between both Mattheo and I, "Fine, but you two have five minutes. Then straight back to your dorms, don't let us catch you!"

"Of course." Mattheo said, "We'll be ghosts for the rest of the night." Before I could react Mattheo grabbed my arm and pulled me past them, without looking back before he took a glance back towards Cindy. "Excellent patrolling, by the way. Really vigilant work." He said, as he gave a wink that made her blush. Mattheo yanked me away and then we ran off through the halls. Our footsteps echoed through the quiet corridors, every turn we took was more careful then before, every move we we made in the shadows were more thought out. Once we no longer seen the light of the prefect we slowed down our pace. "You shameless, manipulative flirt. I cannot believe you." I scoffed-Mattheo didn't even seemed bothered, he just blankly shrugged like it was not a bad thing. "You're welcome, Ivory." I rolled my eyes, "Not to mention you winked at her."

"I saved your satchel of rope and paranoia. Maybe a little gratitude?" He hissed, as he tug on my bag. "Maybe I should've of let them open it, and find evidence of my mental instability." He rolled his eyes as he scoffed. "Please, I'm sure the rope would've explained itself." I groaned, and hurried my pace. "If we get caught again, you are using that little charm on Flich." Mattheo shivered in disgust. "I think he would prefer you." Eugh. Gross.

Up ahead, the familiar shape of the one-eyed statue emerged from the shadows, "This is it." I muttered, Mattheo reached forward without hesitation, placing his hand on the statue and whispering the passphrase. The stone turned, and shifted revealing a hidden passage. He glanced at me with a grin. "After you." I exhaled, then stepped in the dark. There is no turning back now.