Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 7: Deja-Vu

The Quidditch pitch poured with adrenaline and rain as the game set off in high spirits.

It was Gryffindor vs Slytherin and the tense competition was thick in the air; the teams were divided on either side of the pitch like the battlefields of a war.

Nova covered her ears with a shriek as the students beside her jumped out of their seats with a cheer; Gryffindor had scored a goal.

Hermione reached over to duck Nova under her arm, smiling at the girl happily as Harry flew past them. "Go Harry!" Hermione yelled and Nova closed her eyes as the sound radiated in her ears.

"Sorry," the curly-haired Gryffindor squeaked after seeing her friend's pained face.

"S'okay," Nova mouthed back, quietly over the booming roar of the crowd.

She'd never been to a Quidditch match before, it was certainly louder and more rambunctious than she'd imagined.

Over the last few weeks, Cedric had asked her to watch him practice, which she had gladly accepted every time. Practice wasn't as loud as this, it was peaceful in fact.

Nova liked watching Cedric practice, he'd always wave up at her and smile brightly, truly in his element on the field. Nova would wave back and watch as he flew around like a bolt of lightning.

The wind would flow through her hair in a peaceful breeze, allowing her a minute with her thoughts and she'd just relax back against the bench, mostly with her head in a book. Magnolia joined her too somedays, when she wasn't on the pitch herself.

Nova had talked Cedric into helping her friend out, which he happily obliged and committed to teaching Magnolia everything he knew about the game. They quickly became friends themselves, despite the fact they knew of each other before that. From spending time with Nova, they both grew pretty close.

Hermione joined Nova the most, always keeping her company. Sometimes she'd bring friends like Ginny Weasley who Nova had become quite fond of, as well as the rest of the Weasley gang, they treated their friends like family.

Fred and George were in some of Nova's classes and took a liking to her quite fast, thankfully she managed to dodge their pranks, having picked up on their tricks early on.

Their mischievousness reminded her of her father and his friends, the twins loved hearing the stories of the Marauders, they definitely took inspiration from some of the scandals she'd tell them.

It wasn't just Cedric who she'd come to watch practice, she'd usually join Hermione in the mornings chatting away as Ron and Harry sleepily took to the fields.

Ron would fall asleep on his broom and Harry would kick him awake, causing the girls to laugh.

After hearing so many stories of the Marauders, it was nice that she was finally starting to find that sort of found family for herself.

The game was interesting enough as well, she enjoyed watching it and didn't think it was as mind-numbingly boring as Mattheo described it.

He never came to practice, even though his cousin was on the Slytherin team. He didn't care much for the sport, but Nova guessed it was just a bit too social for him.

He liked being alone, but he liked being alone with Nova more.

They had several secret hideouts; ones Mattheo had known about for years, the Astronomy tower, the forbidden forest, and Nova's favourite, the old muggle studies wing.

Nova was teaching him to play the piano even though he was excruciatingly awful at it, but he let her teach him anyway just so he could hear her laugh when he played really badly.