Different worlds

"Lower the wand Weasley, no point risking punishment because we chose to speak with a Professor." Mattheo looked Ron dead in the eyes for a few seconds, not in the least threatened by the wand being pointed at him and Draco.

"It's not the questions that worry me, it's the person you're asking about. First Snape talks to Dumbledore about you two trying to read about her. Then Harry overhears Slughorn act as a mumbling mess speaking about how you" he points his wand at Draco "asked him and the Headmaster about her. And now you're asking Hagrid about a possible secret keeper she might've had?"

Mattheo whistles in amusement and takes a few steps towards Harry and Ron. "And why exactly are you worried about this? What do you think we're gonna do if it turns out the Headmaster is a secret keeper? And what exactly do you think we're looking for Weasley?" He glares at Ron more intensely than before and decides to put at least one of his father's teachings to good use: legitimency.

He swerves through thought after thought in Ron's head until he finally finds one that's useful to him. 'He can't learn the magic, he can't achieve the one thing Lord Voldemort didn't- "Blood Magic." He finished the thought Ron had, causing the ginger to drop his wand in complete shock.

"What did you do?!" Harry reaches for his wand and points it directly at Mattheo.

"Calm down Harry, no need for threats." Mattheo takes his hands out of his pockets and bends down to grab Ron's wand. He turned to look at Harry, seeping into his mind to alter the moment that just occurred, having it seem as if Ron was sharing his thoughts out loud and Mattheo was simply question what the ginger was saying. "I was simply curious what Mr. Weasley meant by 'blood magic'. I highly doubt a book on that will exist even in the restricted section."

Harry begrudgingly lowered his wand, believing what Mattheo showed him to be the truth. "I think you'll have to go elsewhere to figure that out..." He grabbed Ron's wand from Mattheo's hand and pulled his friend away from the two Slytherin.

"Well, well, well. Seems you've been listening to your father's teachings." Mattheo turns back to Draco, who looks both worried and amused at his friend's magical feat. "Now what exactly is that 'blood magic' thing you claim Weaslebee mentioned?"

Mattheo shrugged and walked past Draco, the blonde following close behind him. "Not sure, but I'm sure my dear father could shed some light on that for me. You see if you can get anything else from the staff. You said Slughorn seemed off when speaking of her so he might know something."

"I'll let you speak with the Headmaster when you return then." Draco glanced over at Mattheo who looked in his own world. "What, scared dear old daddy will clam up and refuse to speak?"

Mattheo furrowed his eyebrows and scrunched his face with disgust at hearing those words leave Draco's mouth. "Never, and I mean never, say that again Malfoy." Once he nodded in acknowledgment Mattheor continued "I'm more concerned that my father will catch on if we mention a form of magic that seems to only exist within this one bloodline. If I mention it without a proper reason, my father will know instantly that someone lied to him."

"And you think he'll be irrational about it?" When he noticed his friend stop walking, Draco sighed and took a few steps backwards and turned to face Mattheo. "I know you'll figure it out. Worst case scenario, your father reads you mind and learns that dozens of his own followers have been lying to him. As much as he'd hate to admit it, he relies on said followers for information and will refrain from killing them."

"No" Mattheo laughed drying and shook his head, "no death would be mercy if my father found out they lied." He looked Draco in the eyes and took a deep breath in and out. "I'll do what I can to keep my father from figuring anything out." With a calmer composure, Mattheo walked past his friend, holding his arm up to wave the back of his hand at him, "and do inform the professors that I'm not feeling well and shall be resting for a day or two."

***

Mattheo emerged from a cloud of black smoke at stood in front of the Riddle Mansion. He's only been here a few times since his father's return, up until now he was staying with the Malfoys. He brushes himself off and takes out his wand, waving it to have the door open before him.

As he closes the door he hears a hushed sound from behind him, keeping his eyes closed as he turns around.

"𝔚𝔥𝔬 𝔡𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔟𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯'𝔰 𝔥𝔬𝔪𝔢?" Mattheo can hear shrieks and slithering move faster towards him.

"ℜ𝔢𝔩𝔞𝔵 𝔑𝔞𝔤𝔞𝔫𝔦, 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔧𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔪𝔢." He holds his hand out to feel the nose of his father's basilisk brush up against it, the aggressive noises slowly dulling, allowing Mattheo to safely open his eyes. "𝔚𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔦𝔰 𝔪𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯?"

Without needing an answer, a cloud of black smoke floata down the stairs and lands next to the basilisk, Volmemort appearing and the smoke cleared. "Mattheo. To what do I owe this visit?" He signals for Nagani to leave and watches her slither away to below the house.

"I have a question on something I found in the library. The professors weren't much help and figured you'd at least know something." Mattheo holds out his hand and, with a flick of his wand, a books appears in his grasp. "Hard to explain, but the book called to me in a sense."

He watched as his father looked and the title of the book and waved his hand. "No need to show me, you wanna know of the House of L/N, correct? The pages on that family are the only ones damaged from years of tampering." He walked over to the living area and signals for his son to join him.

"Don't suppose you had anything to do with it's distortion, seems like something you'd do to hide information." Mattheo begrudgingly joins his father, sitting as far as he can from him without coming off as rude and sets the book down on the table between them.

"Not in the slightest, it was a member of the family whom I atteneded Hogwarts with. She would distort the pages every year while she was there, making it more and more unreadable each time." He waved his hand and the book flew open, turning directly to the distorted pages. "She had two reasons for doing it. One reason, her father ordered her to destroy any information regarding their family-"

"And the other?" Mattheo raised and eyebrow and propped his elbow unto the armrest next to him, resting him face in his palm.

"She wanted no one to learn the unique skill the family possessed. Now, why exactly are you asking about this?" Voldemort tilted his heard and stared at his son, but was unable to fully access his mind.

"As I said, I was in the library and the book stuck out to me. I mindlessly flipped through the pages and noticed...that" He gestured at the pages in front of them. "Draco claimed to have never heard of the family when I asked him and none of the professors were willing to answer anything."

"So you came to me, hoping I'd miraculously know what information those pages used to hold? It pains me to say I never did learn the history hidden beneath the spells and was never able to undo them myself. But I knew the person who cast it."

"Y/N L/N, the auror you killed....the Headmaster told me all about that." Mattheo looked at his father, waiting for any kind of response. But he looked to see his father digging his nails into his palms, tiny bits of blood trickling out the minor puncture wounds.

"Her sacrificing herself was the dumbest decision I ever saw her make in her entire life. All that power, all that skill, all her potential wasted!" Mattheo listened to his father growl and hiss in anger. "I had gotten so close to learning her magic only for her to shatter every bit of faith I had in her to protect that damn wand!"

After hearing his grow more and more furious, Mattheo rushed over to Voldemort and took hold of his wrists. "FATHER!" Snapping him out of his trance, Voldemort looked up to see his son standing over him. "I haven't the damndest idea what is Salazar's name you might be talking about, but I'm gonna need you to calm the fuck down and get a hold of yourself!!" He let go of his wrists, shoving them aside as he turned to head back to his chair. "For Merlin's sake you're getting annoyed for- what, being besting by a measly witch?" He fell back into his chair and waited till he knew his father had calmed down enough.

Once his father was no longer growling like a rabit animal ready to tear someone limb from limb, Mattheo straighted up and sighed, "What was so special about the magic she used, hm? Was it really that big a deal you never learned it?"

Voldemort sat up and took one last breath to ensure he was calm before speaking. "The L/Ns created a unique form of dark magic known as 'blood magic' which was equally as dangerous to the user as it was its targets.

"And how exactly does it work?"

~°Flashback°~

"You expect me to believe those are from a tussle with a pet that I know you weren't allowed to have?" Tom pointed at a few scars he had previously noticed on Y/N's arms.

The two were sitting on a tree reading, Tom: a dark arts book he snuck out of the restricted section and Y/N: her charms book as she's been out sick for a few days and needed to play catchup. It was a day off from classes and the two snuck out the venture into a clearing Tom had previously spotted in the Forbidden Forest so Y/N could practice in a more open space.

"Hey, how do you know I wasn't allowed a pet?"

"Same reason we couldn't have one at the orphanage, another thing for the caretakers to look after a feed."

Y/N blinked a few time, completely forgetting they both shared somewhat similar living situations. She jumped down from the branch she was on and walked around the clearing. "My dad used to explain the unique magic my family used, which would require the caster to bleed in order to work." She waved around her wand to match the digram shown for each spell, stopping every now and then to make sure her stance was correct. "Over time I made sure to use the same two locations on my arms when practicing so it wouldn't draw suspicion."

"How does it work, exactly?" Tom watched Y/N pace in circles and practice her charms, no longer paying much attention to the book he was reading. This was the second or third time he had ever heard her mention this 'unique magic' since he saw her mess up the pureblood book 2 years ago during their first year at Hogwarts.

Y/N stoppped wallking and looked at Tom who was anticipating an answer. She thought to herself for a moment on how to best explain it before going back to reading. "Let's say I receive a wound that causes me to bleed. I can extract some of that blood and have it absorbed into my wand. So now if I cast a spell, it will be slightly altered to where my own blood can be used in either an defensive or offensive state." She closed her charms book and tucked it under her arm, setting her wand back into her inner pocket. "The spells get stronger the more the caster get injured or bleeds, which is why I refuse to use it unless I've expended all my options"

Tom bookmarked his page and jumped down, joining Y/N as she paced in circles. "Do you think you can bend that rule, just this once?"

"Nice try, Riddle, but we both know that charm of yours won't work on me." She playfully nudged him with her elbow. She begins to walk away and stops when he feels Tom hold onto her wrist, but doesn't make an attempt to actually stop her. "Tom, you really need to stop this habit." She had grown used to, and annoyed with, Tom grabbing onto her arm when he refused to let her leave a conversation where he wasn't getting his way. With other people he wouldn't have this issue, as all he'd have to do is breath in their direction and they'd obey his every order, but his charm never worked on her the way he wanted it to.

"I'm not asking for you to teach me or cast some grand spell." He lets go of her writ and pauses for a brief moment, mentally cursing to himself for what he's about to do. "I just wanna see how it works...."

"And I've already told you-"

"...Please?"

Y/N freezes completely and stares at him with wide eyes. She blinks a few times and tried to process what she just heard, in the process, also forgetting that she needs to breath. She coughs a few times "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm heading back to the dorms." He turned around to walk away, hearing the words 'carpe retractum' spoken behind him. He doesn't have enough time to react before a orange light wraps around his waist and pulls him back. He feels the light release from his waist and stumbles back to regain his balance, his back hitting a tree and causing him to fall.

Y/N watches him fall to his knees, one hand on his stomach and another on the ground for balance, becoming a coughing mess. "Oh nonono. You do not get to drop a bomb like that and then walk away! Did I seriously just hear you, the ever prideful Tom Riddle, say 'please' over a minor magic demonstration?!" She kneels down infront of him and places the back of her hand to his forehead. "I didn't get you sick, did I?"

He grabs her wrist with the hand that held his stomach and moved his head away. "I'm not doing it again, trust me on that." He pushed himself off his arm so he was kneeling and rocked back so he stood, forcing Y/N to stand with him. "You said trust is a two way streak. And if you can barely trust me with a little magic after two years of knowing me, then how do you expect me to trust you with anything remotely important?"

"It's not you I don't trust, Riddle. If I were to ever use this magic seriously, whose to say I won't end up rotting in Azkaban alongside my parents?"

"Because you're not your parents!!!"

She couldn't describe it, but something in her brain clicked into place as she looked at her friend who tightened his hold on her wrist, pulling her closer.

"Just because you share the same last name doesn't make you like them. You've spent the past three fucking school years proving that you're better than them!! I know you can be better so why the fuck can't you see it yourself?!" He lets go of her wrist, running his hands through his hair as he turns away, pulling at his scalp.

"You-you believe in me?" She felt a drop of water fall onto her hand. What the-it's not raining. She places a hand to her cheek and feels it to be slightly damp. Was she...crying? Her worries were confirmed when she felt a tear slide against her hand. Without fully acknowledging it, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground, staring down at the dead leaves beneath her.

She felt a pair of hands cup each side of her face, forcing her to raise her head and see her friend staring at her. She refused to look in his eyes and averted her gaze back to the ground. "Sorry....I um- I don't know what came over me." She forced out a laugh in hope it would help her stop crying, but it appeared to have done the exact opposite as she watches Tom's eyes grow more worried from her upper peripheral.

"Look L- Y/N... you clearly possess the skill, passion, and motivation to be better than your family name, so what's the point in doubting yourself now?" He grabbed his wand from his inner pocket and waved it for all the tears to fade away from her face, making her look as if she never cried in the first place. He gave an awkward smile, not used to consoling someone crying (usually cause he made them cry I the first place).

Sigh "Fine, you win." She moved her head away from him and lightly hissed at her bracelet, which uncoiled around her arm, cutting one of the preexisting scars. "Sorry, but I'm not letting you learn the incantation."

Tom felt a barrier cast between them and saw Y/N point her wand at her cut, he could tell she was speaking but wasn't able to make out any of the words being said, nor read her lips to see if he could learn thr spell thats way. Once he could tell the spell was cast he felt the barrier vanish and watched a bit of blood from her wrist levitate and absorb into the wood on her wand, the wood color shifting to contain a more redish undertone. "Is it really that simple?"

"Believe it or not, yes." She picked up a leaf and lightly tapped it with the edge of her wand, a bit of blood splashing into it, before handing it to tom to hold. She then picked up 2 more leaves, tapping them with her wand and separating them. One leave was kept in her hand while she had asked Tom to levitate the other. "Now, what's something similar about these leaves?"

"They....all have your blood on them?"

"Yes. And because of that, if one leaf catches on fire with lets say..." She waves her wand at the leaf in her hand "incendio," the two watched as leaf in her hand lit on fire, the other two leaves burning as well despite not having a spell cast in them.

"Your blood was what caught fire, causing everything else that came in contact with it to burn even if it wasn't directly targeted." Tom watched in amusement as the leaf in his hand was set ablaze. He shook and blew at the flame but it never faltered, the flames only went out when Y/N lowered her wand to stop the spell. He set his leaf on the ground and released his levitation charm on the other before looked over at Y/N's wrist, reaching a hold of it carefully.

Aside from the cut that her bracelet had caused, he also noticed that the few drops of blood on her arm that her wand didn't absorb had also caught fire and left burn marks on her skin. He lightly tapped at one of the marks in curiosity, causing her to hiss from pain and pull her arm away from him.

"A downside: even the tiniest drop of blood that isn't safely concealed within my body can also get infected and, since my family is apparently filled with masochists, the spells get stronger the more pain a caster is in." She waves the wand, casting a spell that Tom swears wasn't a language he recognized and the blood from her wand falls from the wood, evaporating before it reached the ground.

"And how exactly do you manage that?" He gestures to the cut on her arm. He assumed a healing spell wouldn't work or scars wouldn't be present on her arm.

"Apparently there's a healing charm for it, but my father never taught it to me. Even then, my ancestors made it so the person casting the charm can't be related by blood, and never used blood magic before either." She shrugs and stands up holding out her hand. "We should be getting back. We've spent longer than planned out here and I'm sure your fan club is freaking out by now."

Tom rolled his eyes and stood up on his own making sure he had his book and wand in his possession before taking a few steps towards the school. He stopped briefly when feeling Y/N hold onto his hand and walk alongside him. He scrunched his nose and gave a look of annoyance but didn't do anything to stop her as they both made their way back to Hogwarts.

~°End of Flashback°~

Voldemort took a few seconds to think before repeating the explanation he had heard as if it had happened yesterday, "Let's say I receive a wound that causes me to bleed. I can extract some of that blood and have it absorbed into my wand. So now if I cast a spell, it will be slightly altered to where my own blood can be used in either an defensive or offensive state."

Mattheo tilts his head and tries to take in what his father said.

"I never learned the incantation to create the magic, and the spell to undo it wasn't english, or latin. However, I was able to learn the healing charm associated with it."

"Really? Is that something I'd be able to learn?" He examined the book to see if he could possibly learn anything new then looked back up at his father.

'my ancestors made it so the person casting the charm can't be related by blood.' Those words rang through his head over and over again. "I wouldn't count on it. Her family was very meticulous when creating the magic on whi and couldn't use it." He stood up and walked toward the staircase, past Mattheo. "You really should be off though. I'd hate for the professors to start getting suspicious."

"Y/N...." Mattheo heard his father let out a light 'hm' at his words "she wasn't just a friend, was she?" He turned to see his father withholding a smile, or any expression for that matter.

"That's a more...complicated answer that I think shall wait for another day. I've heard it's quite rude to speak of the dead anyways." And with that, Mattheo watched his father vanish back into the shadows.