War, Love, and Riddle //Mattheo Riddle x OC

Chapter Fifteen - Secrets Come Out

The weeks following Dumbledore's death settled over Hogwarts like a funeral shroud.

The castle never truly recovered.

Students still attended classes. They still completed assignments and sat through meals beneath the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall. But something essential had changed. Conversations died whenever professors walked past. Laughter sounded strange now, brittle and uncertain, as though everyone had forgotten how to do it properly.

Even the ghosts seemed quieter.

Emma understood the feeling.

Death had followed her for as long as she could remember. First parents she never knew. Then Sirius. Countless others claimed by a war she hadn't asked to inherit. Sometimes she wondered if loving people was simply another way of losing them.

The thought terrified her most when she looked at Mattheo.

Because she loved him more than anyone.

And everyone she loved eventually ended up standing at death's door.

The only bright spot in recent weeks had been her friends. They refused to let her disappear completely into her grief. Pansy dragged her out of bed most mornings. Theo insulted her whenever she became too melancholy. Enzo braided her hair while she studied. Even Blaise, in his own strange way, seemed determined to keep everyone from falling apart.

Which was precisely why Pansy finally snapped.

"No."

The declaration echoed through the common room.

Everyone looked up.

Pansy stood in front of the fireplace with her arms crossed, looking like an angry queen preparing to declare war.

"No more moping. No more staring into space. No more acting like we're already dead."

Theo immediately looked concerned.

Whenever Pansy adopted that tone, disaster usually followed.

"Pans," Blaise began cautiously.

"No." She pointed at him. "I've spent three weeks watching all of you spiral."

Hermione barely looked up from where she sat curled into an armchair. Her grief had evolved into anger now. Draco's absence haunted every corner of her life.

Emma knew that feeling all too well.

"We're having a party."

The common room fell silent.

"A what?" Enzo asked.

"A party."

Blaise blinked.

Theo groaned.

Hermione actually laughed.

It was the first time Emma had heard her laugh in weeks.

Pansy pointed dramatically toward the ceiling.

"Dumbledore is dead. The castle feels haunted. The Dark Lord is gathering strength. Half the student body looks like they're attending their own funeral."

"Encouraging," Blaise muttered.

Pansy ignored him.

"If the world insists on ending, then I refuse to spend what's left of my youth crying beside a fireplace."

For a moment nobody spoke.

Then Emma smiled.

A real smile.