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hphmmatthewluther · 1 year

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The Phantom Woes of Matthew Luther: Part 1

It’s time, at last! This story features:

Verna Malinda ( @gaygryffindorgal ) Camille Jeanes ( @camillejeaneshphm ) Rosie Mayfield ( @magicapandora )

As well as characters from:

@stupendousbookworm @catohphm @nelabelievesindragons @endlessly-cursed

The Phantom Woes of Matthew Luther

“Matthew Luther hasn’t come out of Ravenclaw Common Room at all recently, and his friends and quidditch teammates are starting to worry. With the help of the Most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts, can you find out what’s happened to both Matthew and Helena Ravenclaw without being spirited away yourself?”

Part 1/4 : Bring the Boy Back Home

To think the weekend had started out so normally. Just like always, a smallish crowd of students had gathered at the Quidditch Stadium to watch whichever team had managed to book a spot first practice for their upcoming matches. Today, it was the blue-clad Ravenclaw team who had taken to the air, under the ever-watchful eye of captain Orion Amari. But Eagle-Eyed watchers might have noticed that there was one less player out on (or rather, above) the pitch. The first to notice was, naturally enough, a quidditch player herself. Verna Malinda, fifth-year Gryffindor and chaser for her house’s team, frowned at the players overhead. She saw the seeker, the beaters and the keeper, who she recognised as Ara Black. However, only two chasers were in play, the captain, and Skye Parkin…so that begged the question:

“Where’s Mathieu?” came a hushed voice from behind Verna. Turning around, she saw the worried face of Camille Jeanes, one of her dormmates. She too was looking up and frowning, but more nervous than perplexed.

“You noticed too, then?” Verna asked, causing Camille to jump in her seat.

“Eep! V-Verna, sorry, didn’t see you there…” she began, taking a second to calm down. “What were you saying?”

“You noticed that Luther isn’t up there practising.” Verna explained, leaning back on the bench. “You’re pretty close with him, know what’s wrong?”

Camille shook her head. “He wasn’t at breakfast either…I’m worried…”

Verna nodded, frowning. “I’m sure it’s nothing too bad. Maybe he’s got the flu. Or overslept.”

Just then, Andre Egwu, Ravenclaw’s seeker, slowed down overhead, talking to Orion before descending. Verna listened intently, and picked up part of the conversation

“-might be able to help with Curse-Breaker-”

Curse-Breaker, the two thought. One look between them and they both knew. Andre’s nickname for none other than Matthew Luther.

“Come on, let’s see what he’s up to.” Verna said, a sudden determination in her eyes.

“Really?” Camille asked, following her out of the quidditch stands, “I wouldn’t want to be worrying over nothing…though I do that a lot…”

Verna chuckled. “You sound a fair bit like Matthew, no wonder you two get along so well.”

They headed down through the stands, watching as Andre appeared, placing his broom to the side. He watched as someone else came up to the stadium. They were wearing a fully pink/white ensemble: pink heels, patterned pink-and-white skirt, a fluffy pink jacket that stopped at their waist, and a thin white scarf. Unfortunately for Verna and Camille, while Andre hadn’t noticed them, the person in pink most certainly had.

“Hey guys!” Rosie Mayfield said, waving and smiling brightly. Andre twisted around and blinked in surprise at the two, who had gone as red as their house colours at being found out. “You here about Matty too?” they asked.

Camille opened her mouth and closed it a few times, but it was Verna who finally spoke up. “Y-Yeah…” she said, moving ever-so-slightly closer, “we…saw he’s not at practice.”

Andre sighed, nodding in confirmation. “Yeah. I was only asking Rosie to see if they knew anything I didn’t…you two haven’t seen him recently then?”

The question seemed more directed at Camille, which Verna supposed was fair. Everyone knew those two were like brother and sister. Millie and Matt, an inseparable duo.

Camille shook her head. “No, that’s why I was here, I was hoping I’d see him, but…” she trailed off, looking like she was about to cry. Rosie placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, it’s ok, Millie.” They said, “It’s not like we don’t know where he is, since Andre’s in the same dorm with him, so…” they turned to look at him, gesturing at Camille.

“Right! Sorry, yes, darling, it’s ok, Matt’s up in Ravenclaw Tower, in his dormitory…” his smile faded slightly, “...which is the problem.”

Millie sniffed, wiping her eyes. “Wh…what do you mean?”

Before Andre could say anymore, one of the reserve Chasers and Orion Amari appeared.

“Hey! We need you on the pitch!” the other Chaser said. Andre groaned.

“Sorry, I was-”

“It is quite alright, Andre.” Orion said, sighing, “You have done what you can for Matthew. It’s out of your hands for now, and so we must now prepare for our next role in these events.”

Andre nodded, slightly confused by his captain’s words, but said his goodbyes to the others and followed the reserve chaser out from the stands. Orion turned to follow them, but briefly turned back.

“All of Ravenclaw House is worried about what’s happened. You will need to talk to them to continue on the path you’ve chosen.” he said matter-of-factly.

“That…doesn’t make any sense.” Camille said, very much confused.

Orion just smiled. “Has the path chosen by Matthew Luther ever made sense?”

Verna clicked her tongue. Orion was being even more opaque and cryptic than usual. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Captain!” the reserve chaser yelled. Orion remained unfazed, waved to the three, and left.

***

It wasn’t until lunchtime that day that Camille, Rosie and Verna were finally able to talk to the Ravenclaws.

“Did either of you know what Andre was going on about?” Verna said, stepping into the Great Hall, “stuff about “paths” and that.”

Camille shrugged. “I don’t know…sorry.”

Rosie pondered this. “Maybe…maybe he’s asking us to do something about this? He doesn’t seem to think anyone else can.”

They came up to the Ravenclaw tower, where most people were reading while eating, taking care not to leave any crumbs on the pages of their books. Camille scanned the table. She saw Cato Reese eating a sandwich and reading a book on Charms, Coraline Wytte passing the water jug to Isabelle Dubois, but no sign of Matthew Luther.

At that moment, Rosie decided to take the initiative and actually ask someone. They walked over to where Tulip was and smiled.

“Oh, hey guys!” she began, “Mind if I ask you guys some things? It’d be a real big help!” Camille and Verna watched in awe as Rosie worked their magic, Camille noticing one of the other students next to Tulip going bright pink at how near he was to them. Before long, Rosie beckoned the others over. “Ok…so, what’s up with Matty?”

Tulip looked up at them, looking unsure where to begin. “Matthew Luther’s been up in Ravenclaw Tower for a while. None of us thought much of it at first, sometimes he needs a bit of alone time, but this is…definitely the longest he’s been like this. Normally Helena Ravenclaw’s able to convince him to talk to someone about it by now…”

The three non-Ravenclaws looked slightly confused. “Helena?”

Tulip rolled her eyes. “You know…the Grey Lady. The Ravenclaw ghost?” At last, they nodded in understanding. “Well, yeah. Matthew Luther and her are pretty close. The amount of times he’s accidentally called her mum, honestly…”

Camille suddenly looked rather annoyed. “What’s so wrong with that, exactly?” she said a little louder than she expected.

“...Nothing, Camille Jeanes.” Tulip replied, looking rather guilty. “But…yeah, that’s what’s happened. The problem is of course that it’s not like it was back in year 2. He’s got prefect duties and that quidditch match is coming up. Matthew Luther can’t afford to be up in his room like that.”

The boy who had gone bright pink, and seemed unable to meet Rosie’s eyes, finally spoke up. “Y-you could um…try going to see him yourselves…”

Verna considered all of this. She knew that if she flaked on her duties as both chaser and prefect, it would really mess things up. Something had to be happening with Matt. Something more than a sulk. “That’d be nice, but we’re not exactly allowed in other house dorms, are we?”

The boy continued. “Actually, um…there’s no rule like that for Ravenclaw. If you can get past the riddle you’re allowed in.”

Rosie grinned. “That’s it! That’s what we’ll do!” they declared, smiling at the boy. “Thanks so much for letting us know, um…”

“...V-Victor.” he said, scratching under his jumper’s turtleneck.

“Victor! You’re the best! I owe ya one!” They said, winking, before turning to the others. “Right! Shall we?”

Camille nodded, looking slightly more determined than before. “We’ve got a path ahead of us, um…it would seem.”

Verna chuckled. “Yeah, there’s something about all this…best to figure out what the hell’s going on.”

Rosie brought their hands together excitedly. “That’s the spirit! Let’s wolf down our lunch and head on up there!”. The three did just that, and as they left passed by the quidditch team as they left the Great Hall, Andre giving them a silent thank-you, Orion nodding at them knowingly, and that reserve chaser not even acknowledging them. Camille looked behind her and saw him staring back at them, scowling.

***

Their journey up to Ravenclaw Tower was quiet for the most part, with most people eating lunch in the Great Hall, but they stopped in their tracks when they got close to the entrance of the Tower.

“Hear that?” Verna asked, glancing to and fro. It sounded like stomping and yelling coming from up ahead. The three drew their wands in preparation.

“What could it be…?” Camille wondered aloud. She was sure she recognised that voice, but it was muffled by the castle walls so she couldn’t fully make it out. When they opened the next door, they saw the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower, made of dark oak wood with a bronze eagle statue as a door knocker. A few feet away, looking rather like a caged tiger with a toothache, was none other than Merula Snyde.

“Stupid door!” she hissed, “that’s barely even a riddle!”

The bronze eagle looked at her, expressionless. “Is that your final answer?”

“Of course not you damn fool! Just let me-” she would have most likely kept ranting if it weren’t for her noticing Verna (who rolled her eyes in exasperation), Camille (who looked almost angry that she was here) and Rosie (who was holding in a laugh).

“...Malinda? Jeanes? Mayfield?” Merula said, her confusion causing her to calm down. “What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?”

Verna crossed her arms. “We could ask you the same thing.” Camille repeated the gesture. Rosie, however, seemed to know her reason for being here already.

“Aw, were you worried about Matt?” Rosie asked, trying not to smirk. “That’s so sweet…” Verna looked at them, confused, as Millie began to understand. Merula went pink in the face.

“Shut up! It’s not like that!” she snapped. “I was just…well…I have prefect duty with him, see…”

Rosie was bouncing on their toes at this point. “Eee! You have prefect duty together! That’s the cutest thing ever!”

Camille, too, was beginning to smile. “Aw, ‘rula, you should have said-”

“Do not test me, Jeanes…”

Verna, meanwhile, was still slightly confused. “Wait…are they-” Come to think of it, they had gone to the Celestial Ball together, and had dinner at Madam Puddifoot once, and were often seen talking to each other a lot more than rivals usually did-

“Oh wow.” Verna said finally, “You sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t you Snyde-”

“What is that supposed to mean?!-”

At that moment, the Eagle cleared its bronze throat. “Do you have an answer to my riddle?”

The four looked at each other. “Can we hear it first, pretty please?” Rosie asked, still smiling at Merula, who was fiddling with the strap of her satchel, staring at the floor.

The eagle nodded, and began to recite:

“What can go around the wood but never go inside the wood?”

There was a brief silence as they thought it over. Verna was the first to think aloud. “Around the wood…but not inside…what sort of…”

Rosie frowned. “Ugh, riddles are the worst sometimes.”

Merula nodded. “Luther told me that half the time the answer on the door is just “a river”, but I have a feeling that’s not it this time…”

“Could it be?” “No, you’re barking up the wrong tree there.”

Camille looked up. “Of course! Um, I think I might have it…maybe…”

Rosie squealed in joy. “You do?!” Merula, too, had a smile on her face. “Say it! Go on!”

“O-Ok, um…” Camille turned to face the bronze eagle. “What goes around the wood but never inside the wood…the bark of a tree!...right?”

There was a brief nothing, which was full of all the fear in the world for Camille, but it passed, and the door creaked open.

“YES!” Verna yelled, punching the air. “Nice one, Millie!” Rosie cheered, and Camille felt a little shell-shocked. “I…I did it!”

Even Merula was grinning in relief. “You sure did! You’re not just a pretty face, huh?”

Before Camille could respond to that, Merula rushed into the Common Room. “Let’s go!” Rosie exclaimed, the three following after the Slytherin Prefect, past several shelves of books and up several staircases until they came to the boy’s dormitory.

Most of the doors had been opened by the students leaving that morning, and only one remained shut. Merula was staring at it, playing with her satchel’s straps again.

“Well? Gonna knock?” Rosie asked, gesturing to the door.

“Of course! I just…” she said, trailing off. Seemingly understanding, Verna stepped forward and knocked thrice. “H-Hey! Matthew?! I-It’s us!”

“Mathieu? You ok?”

“Luther, what’s happening in there?”

“It’s alright Matty, we’re here to help!”

There was the sound of shuffling from inside the dormitory.

Merula was quickly losing patience, but it was more out of worry than anything else. “Alright, that does it! Hope you’re decent, Luther! Alohomora!”

There was a clack, and the door started opening. The shuffling inside intensified, before there was a thump noise. The group entered the room and, half-on half-off of the furthest bed, was a tall boy with green eyes, pyjama trousers, a dressing gown, and an incredibly serious case of bed hair. Verna would later say of it that it looked more like a hedgehog than Merula’s hair normally did.

Matthew Luther seemed frozen in fear, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times. The fear seemed to morph into what could only be described as shame as he nervously spun his silver bracelet around his wrist. “...H-Hey guys…I-...I’m sorry, I…”

Camille sighed, looking him up and down “Oh, Mathieu…”

“There’s no need to apologise.” Rosie reassured him, “We just wanted to check up on you.”

Verna nodded in agreement. “Yeah, no need to worry, really.” Merula, meanwhile, walked across the dormitory so she was standing right in front of him.

“...You look terrible.” Merula said, smiling in spite of herself. “That…wasn’t a good way to start, um-”

“N-No, it’s ok…not like you’re wrong, is it…” Matthew said, shrugging “I um…don’t you guys have lessons?”

“Luther, it’s Saturday.”

“It is?! Oh, thank god, I thought I’d been in bed for the whole weekend…”

“Wait, you thought it was Monday?”

“Well, yeah, and I thought I’d overslept for Charms, and that really made me feel bad, and…yeah.”

The three others watched, slightly gobsmacked. “It’s like they’ve forgotten we’re here, isn’t it?” Verna whispered.

Camille nodded. “He definitely seems to have brightened up quickly…but that’s a good thing, right?”

Rosie finally cleared their throat when it looked like Merula was about to try flattening his hair down with her hand. “Sorry, it’s just…well, we were wondering how we could help.”

Camille nodded. “Mm, we’d like to see you around again, Mathieu.”

Matthew sighed, sitting down on his bed. “Y-Yeah, I just…” he sniffed, trying to steady himself. “It’s…about Helena. She’s…gone.”

The four looked at each other. “When you say…gone…” Verna began, scratching her temple.

“I don’t know what’s happened. She’s nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere for her…she’s…I don’t know if she’s left…or…she’s…something’s happened to her…or she…a…ab-...”

Merula placed her hand on his shoulder. “You thought she’d abandoned you.”

Matthew nodded. “I know she’d never, but…that fear that she had…that I didn’t have her anymore because of something I did…”

Verna sighed. “A missing ghost…” she wondered what it’d be like if Nearly Headless Nick went missing. Slightly more quiet feasts, but definitely an outcry to find out just what had happened.

Rosie sat down on the other side of Matt (Merula was on the other side, her hand still firmly on his shoulder) “Ok…tell you what. You want to find out what’s happened with Helena, right?” When Matthew nodded, they continued, “So: we can help you find out what’s happened with Helena, but you gotta help us, and help yourself, by getting out of this dorm again. Does that sound doable?” they asked, no form of belittling or patronising present in their voice. Matthew looked at Merula, smiled, before turning back to Rosie.

“A-Alright. I’ll try. Promise.”

“That’s all we ask.” They replied, getting up. “Ok! First off, let’s get you some actual clothes…”

Merula rolled her eyes, “We’ll be here a while, then…” she whispered.

Camille smiled at Matt, happy to see her baby brother again, while Verna peered out the window. Though it was daytime, the moon hovered in the sky above the quidditch grounds, tinted blue as the sun shone overhead. She wondered silently just what she’d gotten herself into as Rosie came in with multiple sets of clothes for Matthew to choose from, insisting that he could do with more designer clothes in his wardrobe.

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #100 followers!!!#matthew luther #verna malinda #camille jeanes #rosie mayfield #cato reese #coraline wytte #isabelle dubois #ara black #merula snyde #hphm fic #the phantom woes of matthew luther

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hphmmatthewluther · 1 year

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The Phantom Woes of Matthew Luther: Part 4

Here we go, it’s time for the grand finale!! ( Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3 )

Featuring:

Verna Malinda ( @gaygryffindorgal ) Camille Jeanes ( @camillejeaneshphm ) Rosie Mayfield ( @magicapandora )

As well as characters from: @endlessly-cursed @catohphm @stupendousbookworm

Chapter 4: In the Flesh

The next hour or so happened in moments for Verna. A group of students heard the commotion and wondered what was happening. They were jostled back to Ravenclaw Common Room (she didn’t even catch what the answer to the riddle was). Matthew, Merula, and Rosie tried to explain what they had seen, but before long it had devolved into a shouting match; it was argued that whoever had placed the book for Helena to find was most likely a Ravenclaw, seeing as they knew enough about the ghost to put it in the right place. As a result, with tensions high, things had quickly spiralled out of control.

“What do you mean someone here did it?!” Andre exclaimed indignantly, “When it could be anyone who gets through the door!”

“Oh, come on, it’s fairly obvious.” Tulip insisted. “While other house members can come in, there’s no way they’d do all this to get to Helena!”

“If you ask me,” said Chase, “You, Tulip, are one of the more likely suspects, seeing how much trouble you cause on a regular basis!” “Are you insane?!” yelled Ara Black. “Look, anyone here might have done this-” Cato Reese tried to interject. “That’s just another way of accusing everyone here! Why does it have to be a Ravenclaw?!” fired back Issy Dubois.

Things were only getting worse from there. Matthew had backed away behind Merula at this point, clearly not enjoying the noise or the atmosphere this argument was creating. Camille, too, was too overwhelmed to do much and looked on the verge of tears, while Rosie was trying to calm people down (it was not working.) Verna, however, looked from one side of the room to the other, at her friends, and her face turned into a scowl that Ismelda would be proud of. She stepped forward, past Rosie and yelled:

“WOULD YOU ALL PLEASE JUST STOP?! AREN’T YOU MEANT TO BE THE SMART HOUSE?!”

It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room, like some enchantment had been dispelled. The Ravenclaws who had previously been close to decking each other in the face now backed away like a dog caught chewing apart a pillow. Matthew poked his head out from behind Merula. Camille moved her hands away from her ears as the noise quietened.

Rosie looked at Verna, smiling. “Thank you…that seemed to have worked.”

Verna scanned the room. It seemed that Chase was now nowhere to be seen. “No worries. You guys alright?” she asked, turning to the rest of the group.

Matthew and Camille both nodded silently. Merula looked between the two of them. “...and I thought the arguments in Slytherin could get nasty.” she muttered, sighing. “Ok…yeah, we’re good.” she said finally, as Matthew stepped out from behind her.

“Um…” he began, looking at the now expectant crowd of Ravenclaws. “I know it seems like someone here did it, but…I don’t think that’s the case at all. The book that Helena picked up, The Ramifications of Reflections…it’s not an easy book to find. The only copy of it in the school is in the restricted section…or at least it was.” He held up the book in his hand. “I looked in the front and it hadn't been checked out; whoever it was stole it from the library. No student would ever do that, especially not a Ravenclaw.”

That seemed to be a satisfactory explanation for most of the Ravenclaws. As they started to awkwardly shuffle away, Matthew turned back to the others. “Okay…phew…that was…a lot. Still got ringing in my ears, blimey…”

Camille wiped her eyes. “Why did they have to start fighting like that?” she asked, her voice still shaky.

“Because they’re afraid.” Merula said. “People get angry when they get scared. Especially when they don’t know who to blame.”

Rosie raised their eyebrows. “That’s a surprisingly insightful point, Merula.” they said, smiling. “So what’s the plan now?”

Matt held up the book again. “We look through this and try to find something on the magic mirror. Then we try and find it again, and we’ll hopefully be ready to take on whoever’s behind this.”

***

“Bingo!” Matt said finally, after a good half an hour or so of flicking through the great tome. At once, the others gathered around him, Merula nudging the other three so that she was right by Matt’s face, leading to Rosie having to stifle a laugh. Once they had all got comfortable, Matt gestured to the page in question. “Here it is…” He pointed at the image on the page; a resplendent mirror with silver and purple decorations around the edge of it.

“That’s the one.” Verna said, looking down at the page, frowning at the image of trapped souls within the mirror.

“The Royal Sovereign Mirror”, Matthew began to read, “Is one of the great treasures of the old Changeling Kingdom. Kept in the Throne Room of the Changeling Royal, the mirror was enchanted to have a separate Reflected Realm in comparison to other mirrors. In short, unlike other mirrors, a person trapped within the Royal Sovereign Mirror is unable to access other reflective surfaces.”

“This damn book…” Merula said, cursing under her breath. “I thought we were done with it after third-year.”

“Third year?” Camille asked. “Isn’t that when Mathieu got trapped in that mirror?”

When Matthew nodded, Verna chuckled. “Didn’t you two kiss when Matt got his body back?”

Matthew and Merula both suddenly went pink in the face. “N-NO! What?! Where’d you- No!” Merula snapped. “Keep reading, Luther!”

“A-Alright, um, When the Changeling Kingdom collapsed, the mirror was recovered and placed in Hogwarts, where the latent magic within the mirror caused it to warp from place to place, normally stored in the fourth-floor corridor, but- Ah-hah! But the mirror’s location can be tracked by following the magical trace left by it! Brilliant!”

There was a sigh of relief from all of them. “Thank Merlin, a solution. That book is most definitely a curse and a blessing.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Matthew said, “It seems to exist solely for luring people into mirrors and then getting them out again.”

“Who even wrote it?” Camille asked, trying to lean over to see the author’s name.

Matthew looked at the front cover. “...Someone named Henri Reign.”

“Doesn’t sound much like a wizarding name to me.” Merula said, frowning. “Weird.”

“Well, we can solve that mystery another time.” Rosie suggested. “Let’s solve this one first!”

“...You’re having an idea, aren’t you Mathieu?” Camille asked as they headed out of Ravenclaw tower and towards the Grand Staircase.

“...Well, I was thinking about what you said about what happened in third year” he replied, pointing at Merula.

“Me? About you getting trapped in a mirror?” Merula had to yell a bit over the sound of the stairs swinging above them.

Verna snorted from behind them, “and then you two accidentally k-” “Yeah, anyway, Luther?!” Merula snapped suddenly.

“Guys, here’s the fourth floor!” Rosie exclaimed, as the group tried to get off the stairs before they swung back round.

“What I’m saying is it might be the same thing. Another-” he was cut off by Verna pushing open the door.

“Alright Matt, showtime.” she said, gesturing to the wall where the mirror was. Matthew took hold of his wand and pointed it, but hesitated.

“I…sorry, it’s just…the handiwork for the spell…and…i’m usually fidgety as-is but here, when m…when Helena needs me, I-”

“Mathieu.” Camille looked up at him, smiling softly, “take it from me. You can do this. You’ve had it rough these past few days, but you’ve managed to pull yourself out of it in a way the rest of Ravenclaw couldn’t.”

“She’s right, Matty.” Rosie nodded, “You’ve got this. And we’ve got you.”

“And when all this is over we’ll be able to look back on all these ups and downs and laugh.” Verna promised.

Taking a moment to breathe, Matthew readied his wand once again. He deftly manoeuvred it through the air, until a faint blue light began to appear at the end of it. “Revelio!” he said, and a faint purple thread became visible, stretching from where the mirror was and out through the door behind them.

“Haha, that did it, Matt!” Merula cheered, “Now let’s kick whoever it was that jinxed us in their sneaky little arse!” With that, she was running after the purple thread.

“Merula, wait-” Camille said, heading after her.

“She has such a way with words…” Verna laughed, following behind her.

“You can say that a-” Rosie began, before pausing, “Did…did she just call you Matt?”

“Uh, maybe? Was distracted. Come on, before we lose the others!” he said, failing to hide how pink he had gone.

***

It was almost night now. The candles illuminated the group as they followed the thread upwards. And upwards. And upwards.

“The Astronomy Tower…” Merula complained, “of course it would end up there. Just our bloody luck.”

“On the bright side, it does give us a bit of time to prepare.” Verna pointed out. “Wands at the ready, everyone.”

They all obeyed her, keeping an eye out for any sign of moment. “I really do hate heights sometimes…” Camille was doing her best to keep her eyes on the thread, and not look down the spiral staircase.

“It’s alright, we can handle this.” Rosie said, having swapped her heels for flat shoes just in case they needed to move quickly. At long last, they came to the top floor. They walked past telescopes and other astronomy equipment, before finally seeing it. The Silver Mirror, leaning back against the wall, rattling a little in the wind. And there, in the glass, they could see Helena Ravenclaw…and Chase the reserve chaser.

“Hang on-” began Merula. “Wasn’t he-” Camille tried to say. “Isn’t that…” Rosie and Matt said at the same time.

“What’s he doing there?” Verna said, shocked. “To be honest with you lot, I thought he was the one behind all of this!”

“Well…yes and no.”

All five of them turned around, and there, impossibly, was Chase. But something was off. He looked paler than usual, his hair seemed slightly frayed, his quidditch clothes didn’t seem to fit him as well as they did. “Why couldn’t you just have left him in his room?!” he snapped, pointing at Matthew. “He has made your lives far more needlessly tedious!”

“Tedious?!” exclaimed Camille, “Who are you to say that?”

“Yeah, is that the only reason you put Helena in here?” Verna asked, pointing at the mirror, “Who even are you?”

“Uh…” Matthew began, “I think…I was going to say it earlier, but…I’m fairly certain he’s a, um…”

As Matthew stammered through his words, “Chase” began to change even further. His skin went from pale to a shade of purple, his hair went bright white, when he opened his eyes they were completely blank, and his clothes fell away to reveal an ancient-looking set of armoured robes.

“...he’s a changeling.” Matt said, finally, wincing as he realised how obvious this now was, his face becoming very very still.

The changeling laughed, stretching now they were out of their disguise. “Ugh, you do realise I had to do quidditch practice in order to stay hidden? I had to do those stupid drills and listen to that Orion kid so I could make sure things run smoothly…until they didn’t.”

Merula clicked her tongue. “So you did all this…why, exactly? I thought there weren’t any changelings kicking around anymore.”

“Really?” Camille asked, briefly shaken out of her fear.

“Yes, it came up in History of Magic.”

Verna snorted. “You can stay awake in History of Magic?”

“If you don’t mind!” snapped the changeling. “I have waited centuries for this and will not be talked over.”

“Of course…” Rosie said, piecing things together. “You must have been the one in the mirror at first.”

“Indeed, put in there by his ancestor at the last stand of our people!” they pointed at Matthew, blank eyes full of anger. “I was one of the Royal Family’s advisors and his adorable little family member got the better of me. A truly mighty sorcerer…unlike you.”

Matthew’s mouth twitched as the changeling continued. “I mean really, it was all so easy to send you into a mess just by having the Grey Lady gone for a while. I knew getting revenge would be simple, but goodness…what a disappointment.”

“That’s just-” “Oh you cannot-” “Shut up, you-” “Piece of-”

“SILENCE!” the changeling bellowed, as purple waves emanated from his hands, forcing all of them against the railing, their heads pushed back over the edge. All except Matthew, whose bracelet was crackling with blue electricity.

“Fascinating. So that’s your bracelet that does all of the heavy lifting for you.” they snarled. “Probably looted from us too. What a waste of a wizard. It took four others to get you back on your feet, let alone anything else!”

“M-Mathieu…” Camille whispered, struggling against the magical enchantments, “Don’t listen…”

“You’ve been telling yourself the same thing. They’d be better off solving this without you. You’ve only held them back.”

Matthew’s face grew into more and more of a scowl. The wind howled, and the moon came into view, basking him and the changeling in its blue light.

“You’re right…” Matt said bitterly, looking back at his friends, at Helena. “I have heard it before…that’s probably why you saying it doesn’t mean much to me.”

The changeling laughed a little. “Doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. And it doesn’t change the fact that your friends will suffer, all because you’re nothing but a worthless, woe-ridden, incapable nothing. Sorry that your friends had to find out the hard w-”

What happened next the changeling did not expect. Blue swirls began to dance across Matthew’s arms, the wind flapped through his hair which seemed to shiver in shades of cerulean, his eyes began to lose their green, matching the rest of him, and from his forehead a glowing green began to shine. But what was happening on the inside was far more interesting. Matthew had heard all of this before, but hearing it from a centuries-old changeling who’d manipulated his house and stolen the only real mother he’d ever had was one time too many. Simply put, he had had-

“ENOUGH!”

Several things happened in quick succession. Bright blue lightning shot out of Matthew’s hand; as it flew through the air he heard Merula gasp “Wandless magic!”. The changeling hit the railing, causing the enchantments around the others to shatter. More than that, the image of Helena and the real Chase within the mirror warped and twisted.

“Look!” Rosie exclaimed, “The Mirror! Now might be our chance! Millie, ‘rula! Verna! Help me with this…Merula?”

But the Slytherin’s attention was elsewhere at that moment. Matthew was busy laying electrified blows on the changeling, cracking their armour and sending them into more sections of the railing, lightning crackling off of Matthew’s body.

“Woah…huh? Oh!” she said finally, racing over to help the others with the mirror. “Matthew! Send him our way!”

Matthew turned to look at them, basking in the moonlight, before grabbing the changeling by their cuff. “I knew kicking your arse would be simple,” he said, chuckling in a voice that rang back through the centuries, “but goodness…what a disappointment.” And with that, he ran forward, graciously tossing the changeling forward, where Camille, Verna, Rosie and Merula were waiting with the mirror. In went the changeling, and out came Chase the reserve chaser and Helena Ravenclaw.

“...Matthew?” she said, trying to get her bearings. “There was a mirror…and that awful changeling said he’d do something awful to you…I was so worried…” He looked up at her, sighing in relief, the blue fading away from him as he calmed down.

“Oh, M- uhm, Helena, you’re alright!” he said, grinning up at her, even going to hug her before remembering that was impossible. Meanwhile, Rosie and Camille were helping up Chase. “...should never have trusted that guy in the mirror…” he murmured weakly “...said he’d help me get on the team…”

“Poor guy.” Rosie sighed. “Getting scammed by a changeling must be no fun.”

Camille nodded in agreement, giving Chase a reassuring pat on the shoulder, while Verna was laughing at the changeling in the mirror. “Saw right through you from the start, mate.” she said, smirking.

When she looked away, she was surprised to see Merula had wrapped Matthew in a hug. “You didn’t tell me you could do….that!!” Merula yelled.

“Ssh, you’ll wake everyone!” Camille hissed.

“Oh, worry not, I shall explain to any teachers that come looking.” Helena reassured her. “Thank you all for helping him. I worry for him, but…he is stronger than he knows.”

“You can say that again…” Rosie said, raising her eyebrow as Matthew tried to explain to Merula that he didn’t know what she meant by “lightning hands”. As they headed down from the Astronomy Tower, nobody bothered pointing out how Merula’s hand had slipped into Matt’s, or that his silver bracelet was still glowing faintly. The four said their goodbyes to Matthew, Helena and Chase at Ravenclaw Tower, keeping an eye out for Filch as they did so.

“Thank you. Really.” Matthew said, wiping a tear from his eyes. “I, um…I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Doesn’t mean you weren’t a massive help.” Merula pointed out, smirking. “See you tomorrow, Luther.”

“Actually, it’s past midnight, so you’ll see him today-”

“Oh don’t be so pedantic, Jeanes-”

They laughed until it was time for the Ravenclaws to leave, closing the door behind them, leaving the others to head back to their dormitories.

“It’s like we learn something new about Mathieu every day.” Camille said, shaking her head. “And once again, he completely misses it.”

“I’ll make sure he knows about this.” Merula promised. “He deserves to know he can shoot lightning from his hands. Anyone would be.”

Rosie chuckled. “Aw, you two…you’re adorable together, you know that?”

“Oh…shush.”

Verna snorted. “Gotcha, ha ha. Don’t worry, we won’t tell a soul.”

“If any of you do, I’m throwing you in that mirror-” she said through gritted teeth.

“Oh don’t, I don’t want to have to deal with that changeling again…” Verna fake-lamented. They bickered and laughed along the corridors, the blue light of the moon shining overhead.

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #the phantom woes of matthew luther #matthew luther #verna malinda #camille jeanes #rosie mayfield #merula snyde #issy dubois #ara black #cato reese

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