Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 26: Furry little problems

In the great hall, the sound of voices and laughter mixed together, drowned out by students stuffing their mouths with the evening feast. The sky above was a light indigo, barely breathing into the night as flickering candlesticks hovered in the air.

Mattheo dumped a load of mashed potatoes onto his plate, swiping them snidely from Draco's side of the table as the blonde boy reached for them. Ignoring his younger cousin's outraged hiss, Mattheo turned to Regina, who was sitting beside him, and pointed toward the gravy boat on her left.

"Oi, pass that."

Paying him no mind, she idly played with her food, her gaze shifting to the Hufflepuff table one house over, past the blue crested flags of Ravenclaw.

The sandy-haired blonde was supposed to be sitting there, along with the rest of her house, but she rarely did—Only on the odd occasion that her sister Luna would spend her lunches in the great hall rather than in Ravenclaw tower, accompanied by a ghost she had apparently made friends with.

Regina took in a spoonful of carrots, narrowing her eyes as she continued to stare at the black and yellow table.
Leaning on the table with his elbow, Mattheo furrowed his eyebrows. "Reg? Hello?" She hummed questionably and glanced toward him.

"What?"

Raising an eyebrow, the dark-haired boy pointed at the gravy boat again. "Pass that."

Regina scoffed, shaking her head at him before returning to her previous state of staring. "Get it yourself, you arse."

Mattheo audibly sighed and deliberately leaned over her, prompting the girl to roll her eyes and lean back to avoid him. Before he could even reach for the jug, Draco abruptly snatched it, resulting in gravy spilling onto his fingers. He winced as the hot liquid poured over him, shaking it off, but still smirked victoriously, moving the gravy further away from the older boy and hiding it behind his arm.

After smirking sarcastically at the younger boy, Mattheo leaned back on his side of the bench and let his gaze follow his friend's.

"What are you looking at, anyway?"

Regina was watching Nova and her friends. For once, Cedric joined them, sitting to the brunette's left and engaging in what was probably some boring small talk, while on the right a pretty black-haired girl dressed in blue fed Magnolia a spoonful of chocolate mousse.

Mattheo tore his eyes away from the group rather quickly, raising an eyebrow at Regina. Huffing quietly, she stole a glance at him, maintaining her narrowed gaze. "There's something about that girl."

"Who? Magnolia? Well, yeah, she's a nutcase," Mattheo said, digging back into his mash. After taking a spoonful into his mouth, he made a face and reached for his wand. "Accio gravy!"

Gravy poured over Draco's arm, causing his eyes to widen as he jumped back. It then levitated into the air in a wobbly murky puddle, floating across the table, and landing on Mattheo's plate, splashing everywhere. Avoiding the gravy dripping from the table, the dark-haired boy cursed quietly and rolled back, feeling Regina's mocking gaze on him.

"You should have said accio gravy boat, not just accio gravy."

"Yeah," Mattheo spat, reaching for a napkin. "I got that."

Draco snickered under his breath, turning to his friends, who hesitated to join in the laughter. Meanwhile, Mattheo grinned slyly, sending the excess gravy in their direction with a smooth swoosh of his wand. As they shouted and leapt away from the table, the dark-haired boy arched his eyebrows smugly, grinning at Regina who calmly reached for another napkin to wipe at the brown mess. "No, the other girl."