Heart of Glass - Theodore Nott

Chapter 18: Random Encounters

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I open my eyes to find myself in a graveyard. It's dark and foggy out. I survey the area around me to look for a hint at what's going on. Odd. No one's around.

I take a step forward and suddenly cloaked figures appear in a circle around a bubbling cauldron. I must be dreaming, I must.

All of the sudden another cloaked figure steps forward holding something cradled in its arms. He throws whatever it is into the cauldron and an eruption of bright lights escape from the bubbling pot with a great force.

I'm flung to the ground from the force of the explosion. What the hell is going on? I turn over on my side to come face to face with Cedric's dead body. I attempt to scream out but am silenced by the ground I was once lying on caving in, causing me to fall through into darkness.

I lay in the pit of darkness for a moment and a moment only before I sit up. I look forward to see a figure walking towards me. A man dressed in a black robe; except he wasn't human. He was pale white and had two slits for a nose. His eyes were a horrid green color, and they peered down at me in a sinister manner. A grin crept up onto his face as he neared me. Naturally I began to scoot backwards in an attempt to get away from the ghastly figure walking towards me.

"Don't be afraid." He states with authority, "I'm not going to hurt you, you have something I need."

I feel my bottom lip begin to tremble when I realize I could no longer move. I was frozen where I was.

"We'll meet very soon Vivian, until then...rest." With this he begins to laugh maniacally as I begin to descend into darkness once again.

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I wake up abruptly, sweat pouring off of my forehead. I take a deep breath before I feel tears begin to fill my eyes. I look over at my clock and see that it's only two am. I wipe my tears and quietly leave my dorm, careful not to wake Astoria, in order to head down to the common room. I needed to clear my head and shake the dreadful feeling bubbling inside of me.

When I enter the room, I notice someone's already down there. Matteo Riddle. Not exactly the person I'd want to see.

I begin to turn away and head back to my room when I hear him call out to me.

"You don't have to leave. I don't own the common room or anything." He states blandly, staring at me straight in the eyes, his face illuminated by the warm flames dancing in the fireplace. It was honestly quite terrifying.

"It's fine, I don't want to bother you." I reply.

"You're not bothering me, just sit." He mumbles out, motioning to the seat next to him.

I take a deep breath before making my way over to him, taking a seat on the sofa, leaving room between the two of us. To say it was awkward would be an understatement. We never really had conversation between just the two of us. We only ever talked in group settings since I always just assumed he hated me.

He pulls out a cigarette from his pocket and lights it, taking a hit.

"Want one?" He asks, exhaling smoke.

"I'll pass." I mutter, pulling my legs to my chest, not making eye contact with him.

"You sure? It'll help you relax." He states, holding it out to me.

I look at him for a moment before replying.

"I've never smoked before." I mutter quietly.

A smirk makes its way onto his face, "I'll help you then. Open."

I open my mouth slightly as he places a new one in my mouth, it was quite an awkward situation to be in since he had to scoot closer to me. He reached into his pocket to pull out his lighter before lighting the cigarette for me.

"There, now inhale for a moment and hold in the smoke...like this." He demonstrates, inhaling the smoke from his before removing it from his mouth.

He sits there for a moment before exhaling, "then exhale, it's quite simple, McMillan, but uh, try to inhale for a good second before exhaling, that way you really get the full effect."

I look at him for a moment before following his directions. I inhale as best as possible and perhaps almost too much seeing as I let out a cough or so when exhaling.

"There you go, not so hard now, was it? It gets easier the more you do it." He explains.

We sit there in silence for a while just smoking, and he was right. It got a lot easier, and I felt myself becoming more relaxed. I knew this wasn't the best 'stress removing' habit to get into, but it worked for the moment.

"Why are you down here anyways?" He speaks up, turning his gaze in my direction. He must've grown tired of the silence if he's talking to me about, well, me.

"Bad dream." I mumble, staring at the fireplace.

I felt his gaze linger for a moment before he turned away, not wanting to pry.

"You know Theo would kill me if he knew what we're doing right now?" He spoke with a small laugh.

I turn to look at him, confused, "Why? Doesn't he smoke?"

He smirks, "Yeah, but that's not why he'd be upset. He'd be pissed that I'm corrupting you or whatever you want to call it."

I brows furrow at this, "I doubt that. He doesn't care about me; in fact, I think he's mad at me right now for some reason I can't figure out."

"He cares a lot more then he lets on Vivian. None of us really hate you, y'know?"

"Really? It sure seems like you do."

"We just dislike who you associate with...and snog in your free time, that's all." He jokes.

I smile a bit in response, "Thanks for telling me."

"It's nothing, but Theo really does care about you he's just..."

"Bipolar?" I ask.

He nods.

"If he does then he has a funny way of showing it." I scoff, rolling my eyes at the idea.

With my comment, Matteo extinguishes his cigarette in the ashtray on the table before motioning for me to hand mine over. I comply and he does the same with mine before tossing them into a wastebin.

He stands up and heads up the stairs before pausing.

"Isn't it your birthday today?" He asks, turning around to look down at me, his arms resting along the banister.

I look at him for a moment, once again perplexed before replying, "Yeah, that's right...how'd you know?"

He shrugs, one of his signature smirks on his face, "Happy Birthday."

With that he continues his trek to the boy's dormitories leaving me alone on the sofa to reflect on his statement. I sit there in silence for a moment before returning to my own room and going back to sleep, feeling a bit more at ease.

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A/N: short chapter because I'm setting up stuff for the next part of the book (👀) You didn't think she'd just get to be happy with Theo after Cedric, did you?
Anyways! Tournament should be next chapter, followed by a conclusion chapter!
Published: 8/25/24
Word count: 1250