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hphmmatthewluther · 2 years ago

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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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