Dusk and Desire - A Mattheo Riddle Story

Seven Years Ago

Seven years ago, things were different. Seven years ago, Nora's mother was sober after a battle that had been on and off for most of her life. Seven years ago, Nora's brother was just a brat, not the jerk he turned out to be. Seven years ago, Nora didn't utterly despise being home. Seven years ago, Nora felt like enough. Seven years ago, she didn't hate Mattheo Riddle.

She loved him.

It didn't start that way at first. She didn't mean to love him.

It just happened. Like a forest fire starting with a spark.

But the thing about fires? They destroy. And her love for Mattheo destroyed her once.

Nora's mother had been battling addiction ever since her father died. Nora wasn't sure if she could ever name a time when her mum truly seemed sober, at least not in the first eleven years of her life. Some days, she seemed there. Sad, but there. Other days, her eyes were ringed with red and she was gone, off mentally with the husband who left her with children she hardly wanted.

Nora's brother was already away at Hogwarts and had been getting meaner each time he came back. Nora was beginning to be almost thankful for those months he was gone. But then she would see her mother with her bloodshot eyes and remember that at least Christopher's presence meant that she wasn't alone.

The older she got, the more Nora's mother seemed to drink. Perhaps she couldn't stand to see the prettier version of herself in her daughter, the more talented, the more successful, the more well-liked. Jealousy rooted inside Nova Rosier from the moment Nora turned ten. And jealousy, once planted, grew better than anything in the world. By the time Nora turned 13, her mother hated her. Now, at eighteen, Nova could hardly stand to look at her.

But things were a little different back then. Nova barely watered her jealousy plant, Christopher was little more than a jerk older brother, and Nora hadn't yet felt the absence of a father in her daily life. Things weren't great but they were better.

The December after Nora turned eleven, her mother made an announcement. She—wanting to better know her kids—had decided to get sober. Nora was used to hearing this and scarcely believed it... until January rolled around and she hadn't seen those red-ringed eyes once. Her mother was there. She still cared. She was trying.

Because of her sobriety (and the absence of her son, which she was finally present enough to notice), Nova volunteered the Rosier household to foster the child. The youngest son of the Dark Lord. Mattheo Riddle.

"Now, he'll only be with us until summer. His older brother, Tom, is away at Hogwarts and just turned sixteen. Mattheo will stay with us until Tom can get him but if you two become friends, you'll see him at Hogwarts in September." Nova Rosier sounded like a mother at that moment. Nora wasn't used to it. She just nodded and allowed her mother to lead her to the foyer where a young boy with a dimpled grin, curly brown hair, and bright eyes waited.

Nora glanced at her mother. "Go on, pet. I'll leave you two to get to know each other."

Then, Nova left. Before, Nora might have thought it was to get a drink. Now, she wasn't sure what her mother did in her free time.

"Erm, hi, I'm N-Nora," she'd said awkwardly. At that point, Nora wasn't quite yet used to her differences. She was still learning what words flowed easily from her lips and what ones seemed to get stuck. She was still figuring out why she felt certain emotions differently, why she seemed to focus on things more than others. Conversing naturally hadn't quite come to her yet. She hadn't learned how to lie.

But that's the thing. With Mattheo, all of those things came easily. He had that inane ability to sweep you off your feet with just one little wink. His smirk could disarm every Auror in the country. His hair made him look like the friendliest person on the planet.