The Riddle of Us *Mattheo x Reader*

QoC: "I've been dragged through the Shrieking Shack backwards."

"Draco!" she cried, hugging her stomach. He turned to her still running, his gaze clouded with concern. She looked up at the mark once again, the world started to become fuzzy. The pain subsided or maybe she was just trying to block it out. Her vision blurred and the last thing she saw was her brother's pale concerned face.

—

She blinked twice, wincing as the soft glow of lantern light danced across polished oak floorboards. Her head felt as though it were stuffed with hedgehogs—spiny, prickling thoughts jostling for attention. She wasn't in her own bed; she was lying on a narrow chaise in the manor's care room, all draped velvet curtains and fading oil portraits that watched her with stern eyes. A tall healer in pristine robes—Lady Steam, as she'd been introduced—sat in a straight-backed chair, hands folded neatly in her lap, her slate-grey eyes studying Y/n with professional calm.

At the far end of the room, her mother perched on a deep-set couch upholstered in moss-green damask, clasping a floral teacup in both hands as though it were a lifeline. Wisps of steam curled from the cup in lazy spirals. By the crackling hearth stood Draco, arms crossed—shoulders rigid like pillars of marble—and behind him, the firelight flickered across his pale features, casting long shadows that made him seem almost statuesque. Her father's absence was so conspicuous she might have imagined he'd slipped through a hidden panel in the wainscoting—classic Malfoy behaviour.

Questions swarmed her head like excitable Puffskeins:

What on earth had happened?

Why had she collapsed so violently?

Why had she glimpsed a sinister skull blazing across the sky?

And for how long had she been unconscious?

Instead of unleashing the torrent of bewilderment, she forced out a shaky smile and croaked, "Did I seriously miss all the action?"

At once Draco whipped his head around, his expression shifting from grim to startled. Her mother nearly sent her teacup sailing into the hearth as she leapt to her feet.

"Darling, love—how do you feel?" her mother asked, voice thick with concern, rushing to press a cool hand to Y/n's brow.

"Awful," she admitted, each breath a rasp. "Like I've been dragged through the Shrieking Shack backwards."

Draco rolled his shoulders as though to shake off the tension. "Well, you'd best start feeling better soon," he said, tone clipped, "because we're due to head back to Hogwarts in a fortnight."

Y/n frowned, eyes fluttering shut. "I can't even think about that right now, Draco," she muttered, rolling her eyes in spite of herself.

"Needn't worry about that just yet," her mother soothed, brushing a stray lock of hair from Y/n's forehead. "You have time to heal. This"—she gestured at the poised figure in the chair—"is Lady Steam, one of the finest healers in the county, though even she can't fathom why you fainted."

Lady Steam inclined her head, pale curls bobbing. "May I ask, Miss Malfoy, what is the last thing you remember?"

Y/n drew in a shuddering breath. "I recall gazing up at that awful skull in the sky—its hollow eyes burning like coals—and then pain, fierce pain, stabbing through my chest and stomach as though someone were plunging a dagger straight through me."

"Hmm," Lady Steam murmured, eyes narrowing in thought. She rose gracefully and glided to a small side table lacquered in ebony. There, on a silver tray, stood a dozen vials of various shapes and hues: a stubby emerald-green phial that pulsed with phosphorescent light; a tall, slender vial containing a mercury-like silver concoction; a squat bottle of inky blackness that seemed to absorb the lantern light; and several smaller amber and violet flasks, each labelled with neat copperplate script.

"For now," Lady Steam explained, lifting the tray so that the lantern light gleamed through every coloured liquid, "I want you to take these. The small cobalt-blue phial"—she tapped the sturdiest vial, no more than the size of a walnut—"holds Essence of Moonwort. Three drops on the tongue will replenish your dwindling vitality and ease internal bruising." She lifted a crystal pipette and demonstrated, the pale blue drops catching the light like miniature lanterns.

"Next," she continued, indicating a pearlescent-white phial streaked with gold veins, "this is Lavandula Draught. Sweet-smelling, but potent. It will still the churning in your chest and calm the tremors. Two draughts no more than an hour apart."

Lastly, she held up a squat, bulbous bottle of deep crimson. "Finally, take this—in tonic form, two spoonfuls. Blood-Soothing Elixir. It'll help mend any tears in your tissue and ward off infection. The taste is...rustic, but bearable."

Y/n's fingers fluttered as she reached for the blue vial first, cork twisting away with a soft pop. She tipped her head back and took the drops as the healer instructed; the liquid slid down her throat, leaving a cool shimmer in its wake. Next came the Lavandula Draught—its scent was unmistakably lavender, with an undernote of something sharp that made her nose wrinkle. She swallowed, then bravely tackled the crimson Elixir, wincing at its iron tang.

"There," Lady Steam said, smoothing the edge of her sleeve. "Now, I want you to rest. Dreamless sleep is the most restorative." She set a small silver alarm pendant on the table. "I'll return once you're out of that half-conscious daze."

Y/n lay back against the pillows, the velvet cloak beneath her soft as moss, the lantern's light growing dim around the edges of her vision. Her eyelids drifted closed almost at once. The last thing she registered was the gentle murmur of her mother assuring her she'd be alright, the crackle of the fire, and the distant, ghostly echo of Draco's shoulders shrugging in that infuriatingly self-assured way.

Moments—no, seconds—later, she was lost to oblivion, sinking into a dreamless, restorative slumber.

—

Okay, so this is bloody short and I apoligise but I realised I haven't updated this in like a centuries and I have about like 40ish people waiting for an update so haha, here you are I'll have another one out shortly don't worry, I pinky promiseeeee

Word Count: 1001