Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 32: Sinking feeling

Nova let her head fall into her hands, chewing on the crescent moon-shaped necklace she'd gotten for Christmas as Moody turned from the board to address the class.

"Right, I'm going to put you all into groups, we're heading out into the courtyard today to do some more lenient work," he mumbled, his gaze, stopping slightly on Nova, making her drop the necklace from her mouth as he smirked to himself darkly—it was obvious Moody had a dislike for Nova, likely from the way she'd reacted in their first class together, with the cruciatus curse. It just seemed to be that at every chance the old teacher got, he'd make some sort of snide comment or sly facial expression at her expense.

Nova straightened her back, sitting up as Cedric reached for her hand, caressing the back of it. She looked over at him, sucking a breath in, before slowly pulling her hand from his grasp. He creased his eyebrows for a second, but the sound of Moody's croaky voice pulled their attention away.

"Step forward when you hear your name called and stay within your group. Orderly line people, orderly, I'll have no lurkers! Right, Sampson, Wood, Berkshire, Diggory—" Cedric turned to Nova, placing a quick kiss to her cheek before grinning as he stood up and followed after his classmates. Nova blinked, caught off guard before she leaned back in her arms, feeling her face flush.

Students around her stood up as Moody called their names out, motioning toward the door. The defence against the dark arts classrooms weren't far from the courtyard, they were on the same floor so it was only one corridor down. As the one eyed teacher pushed another student out of the room, he turned back around with a sleazy smile.

"Lovegood, Riddle, Jameson, Lupin."

Nova glanced up, feeling her ears ringing as she turned to glance over her shoulder. A few tables behind her, Mattheo let his head fall backwards with a groan, glaring at Regina, who mumbled something to him.

Twirling back around in her seat, Nova began to chew on her necklace again. There was a flash of motion to her left and she didn't have to turn to face it to know it was Mattheo. He stormed past her, not stopping for anyone as he stepped past Moody, sending the teacher a dangerous scowl.

Nova sunk into her seat, crunching on her necklace as she felt a frown take over her face. There was a cough beside her and she glanced up, meeting eyes with Regina who gestured toward the door, waiting for the girl to stand with a semi smile.

Moody watched as they stepped past him, his gaze lingering on the blonde before he turned to the rest of the class. Nova watched Regina's brows furrow at that but she shook it off, stepping in stride beside the brunette as they trailed a few paces behind Mattheo.

They walked in silence for a few seconds, before Nova rubbed at her neck, toying with the necklace that sat there. "Has... do you know—" she started before swallowing her words back with a bated breath. "He's not talking to me."

Regina raised an eyebrow, keeping her attention ahead as she nodded. "I don't think it's my place," she began to say and Nova scrunched her nose up shyly.

"Of course, yeah sorry, let's just—" she began to move away, stepping quicker to the courtyard but the blonde pulled her back by the arm, pausing in the middle of the corridor.

Regina glanced ahead, watching as Mattheo stalked forward glumly, with his hands in his pocket, and then she turned to face Nova again.

"It's not my place, but I'm going to say what I think anyway if you want to listen?"

Nova nodded instantly, her face wrinkling with an eager expression and Regina let out an amused breath. "He's an idiot... an absolute, non-brainer, too stubborn, temperamental idiot... but, he's a good guy Nova, and he really fucking likes you."