𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 || 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰

Chapter Eight: The Restricted Section

Chapter Eight 

That night, Matty had planned everything out. The idea in her head made her feel a lot more malicious than what her real intent was, maybe it was because she had never snuck out before. But the Restricted Section couldn't want. She had to find out why that map had the magic above the Restricted Section.

So, past when everyone was supposed to be in their dorms and when only prefects were lurking around, Matty had planned to sneak out of the common room then. Natty and Nellie were already asleep, which meant it was the perfect time to leave and find Sebastian. She had also come up with a few excuses just in case they caught her sneaking out.

Matty slipped out of bed, trying to be as quiet as possible to not wake them but then Nellie's voice came from behind her. "Where are you going?" She asked.

Matty froze in place, turning around to see Nellie already out of bed. She wasn't even asleep?! "Oh—um, Hi Nellie!" Matty said, putting her hands behind her back. "I'm just...walking around, you know, can't sleep so I thought I might as well just clear my head."

But Nellie was smarter than that, having snuck out several times herself. "You're sneaking out." She said, crossing her arms. There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two of them. "You're going to meet someone, aren't you?"

Well, there was no point in lying. "No, well, yes. But not in the way you are thinking!" Matty said, already stressing herself out. "I'll believe you on that one, but why sneak out? What are you and 'whoever this person is' going out late?" Nellie asked.

Matty sighed. "Look, it's important that I leave. I can't exactly tell you, although I really want to, trust me, I don't like keeping secrets from my friends." She said, not wanting to violate Professor Fig's wishes again. She had already told Sebastian, and although he promised not to say a word and she trusted him, she was still anxious about it.

Nellie raised a brow at Matty for a moment before deciding what to do. "Well, you're not getting out all alone. Sir Nicolas is bound to see you." She said, walking towards Natty's bed.

"What are you doing?" Matty asked, watching Nellie walk over to Natty's bed.

"Waking her up, you're going to need help from the both of us to sneak out of here. There are prefects everywhere this time of night." Nellie said, gently shaking Natty awake. Natty woke up, squinting her eyes and grabbing her wand, casting Lumos for some light. "What in the name of Merlin is going on?" She asked with a small yawn.

Nellie stepped back. "We're helping Matty sneak out, for good reasons of course." She answered Natty.

Without a second thought, Natty nodded her head and stood up, smoothing out her crinkled nightrobe. Matty smiled knowing that Natty and Nellie were willing to help her without much questioning as to what she was doing, they were great and amazing friends and they seemed to know a lot about sneaking out too.

Natty and Nellie walked over to Matty. "Okay, here's the plan. Sir Nicolas is out in the common room, he has a big mouth, so he's bound to say something about you sneaking out if he sees you." Nellie said to Matty. "But you're also going to want to avoid any prefects you see; they are all tattletales. Natty and I will help distract Sir Nicolas while you run for the door, okay?"

Matty and Natty nodded their heads, getting down Nellie's plan. The three girls crept out of their dorm room and down the stairs to the common room. Sir Nicolas was floating around the upper part of the stairs, facing away.

"We may be able to get you to the door without him noticing," Nellie whispered to Matty as they slowly inched down the second flight of stairs.

They made their way towards the door, and everything seemed like they were going to make it over there with no problem, but suddenly Sir Nicolas turned around. Immediately, Natty pushed Matty forward toward the back of a couch so she could hide behind it. Matty, who was going to do it anyway but wasn't expecting to be pushed, tripped on her foot, and hit the ground with a "Thud!".