Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 23: Eternal Glory

Nova paced back and forth through the hall leading to Dumbledore's office, chewing on her nail beds so viciously they had started to bleed. She stopped and glanced down at them with a frown, wiping the blood on her skirt till it faded away. See, when the tri-wizard contestants had been initially guided out of the hall, the brunette had forced herself out of Magnolia's arms and trailed after them, only to be stopped by Snape, who'd inconspicuously appeared in her path.

She'd looked past him, blurring out the monotonous semi-threat as she peered over at her cousin with anxiety ridden eyes. Harry stared back, trying his best to muster a courageous smile likely to ease her mind, but his lips were downturned slightly and she could see through his facade; she'd been around him enough now to know when he was putting a wall up. Beside him, Cedric placed an arm on the boy's shoulder, guiding him away with the other contestants while the rest of the hall either snickered at Nova's outburst or murmured in astonishment about Harry's name being called.

Once a few of the teachers had settled down the hall and returned to its usual madness, Dumbledore and the rest of the visiting ministry and head of houses followed out after the tri-wizard champions, moving toward the head teachers chambers. Before she could even think about it, Nova stood, pushing out from the wooden bench and subtly slipping out of the hall. She heard Magnolia whisper-yell after her, but the girl's voice was cut off by the doors closing, leaving Nova in the dark.

The Hufflepuff barged through the corridors quietly, sneaking around in the shadows and hiding from the ghosts, though she moved in such a hurry she'd barely heard the trail of footsteps following after her till someone grabbed her arm.

She turned around, eyes blazing yellow with a unintentional growl slipping from her lips before her brow softened at seeing Mattheo standing before her. His face was concerned, gentle, but still held that mischievous spurt of amusement, that was always settled into the shape of his brow. Nova softened her features, taking a step back and turning around with an inhaled breath to calm the golden flicker in her irises.

Hermione was standing behind the Slytherin boy, giving him a purposeful look before turning around to Magnolia, who had a dubious expression on her face. The younger witch grabbed her by the arm and guided her around the corner, mumbling something about making sure no ghosts or groundskeepers could sneak up on them.

Mattheo let go of her Nova then, surrendering his hands with a cautious smile before biting his bottom lip.

"Same side lunatic," he whispered, grinning to himself.

Nova blew out a frustrated breath and spun around again, continuing her strive down the corridor only to be followed every step of the way.

"Wait, Nova! You can't possibly think you can stroll right into Dumbledore's office while they're in the middle of this, especially not this wound up," Hermione called, stepping around the corner and taking a few steps to meet her while keeping her voice hushed.

Nova furrowed her brow, letting out a grumpy breath as she scrunched up her nose.

"I'm fine, I just need to see him... he needs to see us, to know that we're here... Where's Ron?" she asked, looking over the younger girl's shoulder to the space behind her. Hermione rubbed at her chin, clearing her throat awkwardly.

"He's sulking, thinks Harry did it on purpose, you know, for the glory."

Mattheo laughed at that before stifling it at the frown on Nova's face and looking down the corridor with a little whistle.

"He didn't do this on purpose," Nova breathed, studying Mattheo's eyes as they caught back onto her, flickering sceptically.

"Potter has an unusual infatuation with thinks like this, always finds himself in the middle of it, like a moth to flame, and somehow his name just happened to appear in the most talked about event of the whole school year."