Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 37: Law and Order

"Come on, everyone's waiting," Nova whispered, pulling Harry along the second floor corridor. He kept glancing around as they moved, taking in the darkness of the place with a crumpled expression as Nova guided him towards a cleaner, more lived in-looking hallway. Buckets of paint still sat on the hardwood floorboards, along with half-covered walls and masking tape. They hadn't really got around to de-haunting it all yet, but there were a bunch of plotted plants and colourful sun catches scattered around at least, breathing a little life into the dusty old building.

Remus had sent them upstairs to get Harry settled in. Although they both knew that really meant that he, and the other order members wanted to have a proper conversation that didn't include any underage ears.

"Who's waiting?" Harry asked, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes. He probably hadn't slept a wink, which made Nova feel a little bad about the fuss that awaited him in the next room. Without any time to answer his question however, the bedroom door swung open ahead of them.

"Oh Harry! Are you alright?" Hermione asked, urging forward to tangle the bespectacled boy in a hug. He let out a mildly alarmed noise, stumbling back a little as Nova tiptoed past them.

It was Harry's bedroom, or well, what they'd designated as his room. Remus had painted it, a daring maroon colour that of course Sirius had picked out. It matched the gold curtains perfectly, and especially the lion shaped cushions Nova had added on his bed. Posters were already hung up in the room, different quidditch ones along with some family pictures—James and Lily, Hermione and Ron, Harry and Nova—the Polaroid style photographs were scattered around the room so that everywhere he looked he'd know he wasn't alone.

Ron stood up from the bed as Nova entered the room, studying her hands before frowning a little. She giggled under her breath and reached into the pocket of her denim jacket, pulling out a pack of gummies and tossing them to him. The ginger boy grinned as he caught them and then looked up at Harry with a welcoming nod, shaking his head as Hermione continued to badger on.

"You must tell us everything!"

"Let the man breath Hermione."

Chuckling under her breath, Nova wandered over to the bed and sat down, rubbing at her bandaged forehead. It wasn't as bad now, especially not after some painkillers but still, she got the feeling it would likely leave a bruise. She'd hit the wall pretty hard to the point the room still felt a little like it was spinning, but she kept that to herself, not wanting to worry her father anymore; he'd already told Molly he'd be staying awake tonight to watch over her.

At the doorway to the dark red bedroom Harry continued to get bombarded. "—And this hearing at the ministry, it's outrageous."

The news had spread pretty quickly, even though the adults tried to keep it from them, although it wasn't Nova's fault she had better than average hearing. Harry was due to a hearing at the ministry, for using underage magic, and in the presence of a muggle no less. Nova was going to go with him as a witness, to explain that what happened and how the spell was absolutely necessary. The trip had already been okay'ed with her parents, and her mother was set to take her; seeing as Tonks worked in the ministry and Remus was, well... not really welcome there, now that they all knew what he was. Nova hated that, but she knew she had to be there for Harry.

Of course, no one in the department of magic knew of Nova's condition herself. They knew of her father but it was uncommon for lycanthropy to be passed down, so they'd assume she was just a witch—That didn't make her feel any less uneasy.

Hermione continued. "I looked it up they simply can't expel you... it's completely unfair."

"Yeah there's a lot of that going around at the minute," the boy replied, weaving his expression to a more condescending look. Nova frowned. After that first week of the summer—once Harry had returned to the Dursleys—no one was allowed to get in touch with him, under Dumbledore's orders.