Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 13: Lost

Nova's eyes had changed from hazel to a deep blue, fluttering with each movement and threatening to pour down like rainfall as she brushed a hand over her cheek.

Her father stood next to her, glancing at the train's schedule. He looked over at the board, then down at his watch with a sigh; the train was late.

"I knew I should have gotten the earlier one," he sighed, scrunching up his face disapprovingly.

The girl beside him didn't reply, she just kept looking down at her hands, picking at the paisley green nail polish that was fragmented across her nail beds.

Beside Remus were a few trunks, blocky and quite ragged, everything he'd brought to Hogwarts with him. All his belongings were neatly packed away, scattered into just a few bags, leaving nothing behind but an empty office which Nova would no longer familiarise with home.

Over the past year, Lupin's office was like a safe-haven for Nova. She'd spent countless lunch breaks and evenings sat opposite her father, listening to him read or talking about their days. Either way, it was a way for her to unwind, to get everything off her chest and feel the comfort only Remus could supply. The whole time she'd been at Hogwarts he'd only been a few feet away behind the blackthorn doors, now he was going to be hours away. It would be the furthest they've ever been apart and the longest.

"For a magical train you'd think it would at least be on bloody time," he huffed out, finally looking up from his watch toward his daughter, she didn't reply. Remus bent forward slightly to see if she'd heard him and frowned upon seeing the way her head was tipped down. He peered closer to get a look at her eyes and slumped his shoulders at the colour that shone within them.

Lupin snaked his arm around the girl's back and pulled her into his chest without a word, placing the back of his palm against her head lovingly as a sniffle fell from her.

"It's okay, sweetheart, it's not forever. You'll see me in a few weeks."

Nova let out another sniffle and wiped her eyes on his jumper, failing to stop the downfall of tears that tumbled down her cheeks. Everything she'd been holding in till that moment seemed to finally erupt at those words.

Remus pulled a face and pat her head gently. "Well, at least I'm taking a part of you with me now, I just wish it was something less disgusting than snot. Could have at least made me one of those little bracelets you used to make me, the ones with all the beads," he whispered, and Nova let out a soft laugh through a sob.

"I haven't made you one of those since I was 12," she smiled and he gave her a playful smirk. "I know It's long over due, I recall you promising me one every month for the rest of my life to remind me I'm the best dad in the world."

Brunette curls fell into the girl's face as she dipped her head forward with a chuckle. She rolled back on her heels to look up at him and noticed the redness threatening his irises, he was clearly holding back tears himself.

"You don't need a little flimsy bracelet to remind you of that, you'll always be the best dad, you always have been... but just in case you forget I'll send letters," she smiled, looking up at him with glossy eyes.

A soft look fell onto his features and he reached out to push the hair behind her ear sweetly. "I look forward to them sweetheart... and don't judge the bracelets I loved the bracelets... flimsy or not."

Nova's lips started to tremble slightly as she adverted her eyes from his loving gaze. Remus frowned and gently cupped the side of her cheek, rubbing away the fresh droplets that had fallen as she let out a breathy sob.

"I don't understand why you have to leave."

The man adjusted his weight onto one side, his left hip had been quite sore that afternoon. It had only been a week since the full moon, so he was still recovering and though his injuries were increasing lower than usual, his hip always played up after the moon, still giving him a slight limp when he walked.