Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 6: Moon bug

The basement was dark and gloomy.

Creaks crackled through the ceiling as Mattheo let his wand guide the way, the tip of it lit up the dim space in front of them, casting a small ring of light.

Nova gulped and looked over her shoulder feeling a pair of eyes watching her, she kept walking as she tried to pinpoint the feeling and suddenly bumped into Mattheo who gave her a playful look. "Afraid Lupin?" he whispered teasingly, and she tilted her head with a shrug.

"Yeah, I am actually as any sane person would be in a scary dungeon like this," she said nonchalantly, and he let out an amused hum as they carried on through the darkness.

"... you know, Harry told me about the basilisk. No one knew it was there, lurking, waiting to attack, dormant for so many years... Who knows what else is down here?" she whimpered as her eyes scattered around the empty walls, even the paintings didn't dare to be down here.

"Good job we're not staying here then," Mattheo chuckled, pointing toward a door at the end of the corridor. "That leads to the back fields, usually pretty empty, but Filch might be there by the groundskeeper's shed. If we just stay out of his way, we can make it off the grounds no prob-" his words were cut off as Nova suddenly grabbed him by the arm.

"Where are we going, Riddle? we're not supposed to leave the grounds, my dad would have a fit."

"Aww, do you do everything daddy says?" the boy muttered darkly, catching her eyes with an intense look that anticipated her next move.

She dropped his arm and brushed at her robes neatly, "mostly, he's a smart man. Usually right about everything and he takes pride in that, so do I, even if it's excruciating to bear the smugness sometimes."

Mattheo raised an eyebrow at her, "so you want to go back then? Do you not trust me?" he whispered, letting the words fall out like a dare.

Nova placed her wand under her chin, giving him a teasing look as she pretended to consider his words.

"I thought you were the one that told me to avoid you, now you want me to trust you? Mattheo Riddle, you're going to give me whiplash," she teased. He hummed and looked toward the door again, "so do you?" he asked.

She took a step toward him, looking up at the Slytherin boy with a cunning smile before stepping past him toward the door, "I hope you know some good hiding places because my dad's gonna kill you."

Mattheo chuckled and followed after the brunette as she neared the doorway. "I can handle Professor Lupin," he scoffed.

Nova hummed and placed her hands on the wooden frame in front of her, opening it gently.

"I doubt that."

-

The air grew colder as Mattheo led Nova through the back fields of Hogwarts, being careful to stay out of the wandering eyes of Filch who was indeed hovering outside of the groundskeeper's hut.

The Slytherin glanced over behind one of the brick walls of the building, watching as the groundskeeper stomped through the field searching for his next victim.

Mattheo placed his hand in front of Nova before she could take another step forward. Pulling her behind the wall and placing a hand over her mouth as mad muttering fell from the groundskeeper's lips.

The dark-haired boy swore under his breath, loosening his hold on Nova as he thought through an escape plan in his head now that their path had been blocked.

He glanced around and then tugged her toward the owlery behind them.

His hand gripped her arm as he took slow steps backward, not wanting to alert Filch of their presence. Nova smiled at the concentration on his face as he led them both toward safety.