Fighting Fate // Mattheo Riddle ♣️

Chapter Twelve - Midnight Snacks

Word Count: 2,455.

Warnings: None.

For the next couple of days, the only topic of conversation in the old halls of Hogwarts was that of Sirius Black. The whispers and looks around me increased and soon, it was odd to find a corridor where the name of my father wasn't mentioned.

We were no longer sleeping in the Great Hall and had returned to our Common Rooms, but not all of us had returned to our old selves.

I hadn't left my room in three days. Dumbledore had excused me from classes for the rest of the week and I took full advantage of that. I knew why he had let me stay off. It was pity. Everyone was giving me pity since the start of the year and now that things had gotten worse, it was obvious what everyone was doing.

I didn't want to walk down the halls of the school with everybody looking at me. I was able to manage it before, just being Sirius Black's daughter, but now I was the daughter of Sirius Black, the mass murderer of the castle. I didn't want to face them. Any of them.

"Lyra?" a soft female voice entered the room. I watched Pansy slowly make her way to my bed.

I had been wearing the same clothes for the past three days and my hair was simply tied up in a loose bun on the top of my head.

She gave me a sympathetic look. Pity. "Are you coming to class today?" she asked, moving a book from the end of the bed so she could sit down.

"Dumbledore gave me the week. Might as well see it through."

Pansy sighed, taking my hands in hers. "What's wrong baby?" she asked.

I pulled my hand away roughly, crossing them over my chest. "I told you. I'm taking a week to myself." She sighed.

This was becoming a running theme for the past three days. One by one, each of my friends had tried to get me out of my room, and each of them have all looked at me in the same away and asked me the same question.

"I'm fine. You better get to class," I dismissed her. Pansy nodded, quickly leaving the room.

I knew I was being cruel, ignoring them when they simply wanted to help, but they're help didn't seem like it would make any difference. Especially since I myself had no idea on the reason for my isolation.

It had only taken a couple of moment the morning after Sirius Black attacked the Fat Lady and I had retreated back to my room. The prying eyes of the entire school seemed to just feel too heavy on me. What was I scared of?

A knock came at the door. I jumped. No one ever knocked. "Lyra?" the voice asked. "It's Riddle." I didn't reply.

"I'm off to class. Don't want to keep Snape waiting." I heard him laugh.

Getting off the bed, I padded across the room towards the door, "You don't want to get detention again." I answered, leaning against the cold wall beside the wooden entrance.

"It wouldn't be any fun without you."

"I'm okay, Mattheo," I told him before he could ask, earning a sigh from the other side of the door.

"I know." I heard him move, footsteps heading away from the room.

I opened the lock of the door, swinging it open. Mattheo turned at the noise, watching my messy state walk out of the dorm room.

I took large steps across the hall, wrapping my arms around his torso and squeezing tightly. Mattheo yelped, jumping slightly at the contact. After a moments of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, one hand on the back of my head as I dug my face into his chest.