Chapter 10
Child of the Prophecy
Matt stopped going to class. He stopped doing most things, actually, including eating, moving, and talking. Nothing and nobody could make him or Megan feel any better. Most of his time he and Megan just sat together. Megan cried while Matt, Matt was beyond crying. The pain he now felt was so deep it could not be expressed. When he wasn't with Megan, he was sitting in the common room. It was there that he was when McGonagall came to talk to him.
"Mr. O'Brian!" She said sharply, but Matt didn't move. "I understand how you feel but you cannot jeopardize your studies. You need to…" "You do not." Matt interrupted her. Lara came and stood next to Prof. McGonagall. "You cannot possibly know how I feel." Matt told her coldly, tears beginning to well up in Matt's eyes. "Matt, you can't let yourself die because of the way you feel. You have to get over it and return to your life" Lara said. Matt stood up and looked at her. "How do you get over a parent dieing?" Matt asked, tears now starting to go down his face. "Matthew, you can't kill yourself because of the way you feel. It's exactly what you-know-who wants. If you really respect your parents then you'll stay alive and avenge them." Prof. McGonagall said. Matt nodded and said. "Yes, I'm sorry. I need some more time alone." And Matt went up to his Dormitory before he could cry anymore. He felt ashamed of himself for crying in front of McGonagall and hatred toward Voldemort. He never felt the urge to kill someone in his entire life before now.
Matt went down to breakfast like normal the next day. He felt happier now that he was with his friends. Megan seemed to be recovering as well, but then again, how do you recover from something like this? "How are you doing?" Lara asked him when he sat down. "Well, okay." He spooned himself some eggs. "I have some good news, though." Lara said brightly. "My dad wrote me and said if you and Megan want to stay at our house instead of your aunts he said it'd be alright." Matt pictured Aunt Polly's run-down shack in Nebraska, a basic roach motel. "Yeah, that'd be great." Matt said dully. "Does Megan know?" Lara looked toward the Ravenclaw table. "No, not yet. I'll tell her. Will she agree?" "Yes. Anything but living at Aunt Polly's will be great." Lara smiled and then walked toward Megan at the Ravenclaw table.
Matt had a lot to deal with when he went back to his classes, due to the fact that he hadn't gone to class for the last five days he had an actual pile of work. Although Matt was curious about the Prophecy in general, Lara made him stick to doing his work before looking up something for himself. "Come on, Lara. I have a few things I need to look up." "Need is not the word. More like want. And you will not look anything else up until you've caught up with your school work." "But, Lara. That could take days!" "Then it'll take days!" Matt and Lara were in the library, and Lara had somehow appointed herself school counselor to Matt. Chris and Megan came into the library, holding hands. Matt pulled Chris aside. "Chris, what are you doing with my sister?" Chris smiled. "Well, she seems fond of me and, well." He shrugged. "Aren't we a bit young to get into girlfriend relationships?" Matt asked. "I wouldn't say that. It's pretty obvious that you and Lara are going to be together." It seemed that Lara had overheard this because she made a noise, and Matt turned to see she was blushing. "Alright, just don't do anything." Matt told Chris. Chris smiled and went back over to Megan. Matt was very uncomfortable with Chris being that close to Megan, but he put up with it. Lara was making him concentrate on his work. "Listen Lara. Can't I just copy from you?" "No. What would you be learning then?" Matt turned to Chris. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't do well in astronomy."
Matt finished his work that day at close to sunset. He was walking back o Gryffindor tower with Lara. "Lara!" Someone was walking toward them. He stepped into the light and it was "Harry Potter?" Matt asked. Lara ran toward him and hugged him. "Lara, will you go to the tower? I need to talk to Matt." Lara nodded left toward Gryffindor tower and Harry turned to Matt. "How are you doing Matt?" "Fine." "Matt lets go for a walk. Come on."
Harry led him out of the castle and into the Quidditch field. "My parents were killed too, you know." Harry said. Matt was surprised. He hadn't read that anywhere. "I never knew them. They were killed when I was an infant. When I got this scar." "Yes. But it's good you didn't know them. You never had any good times to remember." Tears were starting up again in Matt's eyes. "That isn't the point. Matt…" He stopped and faced Matt. "I requested you and Megan stay here with me because I can help you go through these troubles. Grated that your Aunt would probably not grant you that much protection if Voldemort would attack again." Matt nodded. Tears were flowing freely now. Harry put his hand on Matt's shoulder. "Whom did you stay with?" Matt asked suddenly. "Pardon?" "With your parents dead, whom did you stay with during Hogwarts?" Harry smiled. "Funny you should ask."