Emerson Wilmore was an exemplary Ravenclaw student, known for her unwavering dedication to academics and an unyielding moral compass. However, things took a twisted and deviated turn in her life after her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by L...
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Mattheo sat at the Ravenclaw table, slouched casually with one arm draped across the back of the bench. To anyone glancing over, he looked detached or bored even, as Emerson, Olivia, Theo, and Enzo carried on about Alecto's latest spectacle in Muggle Studies. Apparently, Lavender Brown was caught whispering to Parvati and Alecto made her scrub the flagstones with a knife until her hands bled. The others were murmuring about how unfair it was and about what could be done to stop this madness. Mattheo let the words wash over him like background noise, his dark eyes fixed on his untouched goblet.
He wasn't heartless but he couldn't let himself unravel in front of Emerson or with Snape stalking the hall and the Carrows prowling like wolves.
So, instead, he let his attention slip elsewhere. Across the hall, at the Hufflepuff table, Ariel sat alone. She was too small for the bench, her legs swinging above the floor. Most of the Hufflepuffs around her were huddled together in their friendship groups, whispering and talking, but Ariel sat apart and by herself, a Charms book open in front of her. She was smiling at the page, as though she discovered some private joke the rest of the world wasn't privy to.
For a kid who was practically abandoned by everyone in her own house, Ariel had a strange sort of stubborn light about her. He recognised the smile as well. It was the same one she wore when he told her that he would show her the castle because she didn't have any friends. Ariel didn't belong here in this place soaked in the Carrow's cruelty, yet she was trying. Merlin, she was trying.
Mattheo shifted his hand beneath the table, his wand balanced between his fingers. The timing had to be perfect; Snape sat at the High Table, his cold eyes surveying the Hall like a hawk. Alecto and Amycus flanked him, sneering through mouthfuls of food. Mattheo kept his posture loose, looking for all the world as though he was absorbed in Enzo's latest grumble about the Carrows.
With a flick so subtle it could've been mistaken for adjusting his sleeve, a folded scrap of parchment appeared on the bench beside him. Emerson leaned closer to Olivia, laughing softly at something Enzo said, her shoulder brushing his for the briefest moment. Mattheo's pulse jumped despite himself, but he forced his eyes away, scribbling quickly in sharp handwriting underneath the bench.
Little Mermaid,
Meet me at the entrance of the Hufflepuff Common Room.
- M
He folded it twice and charmed the parchment into a fluttering moth. With another discreet flick of his wand, Mattheo sent it gliding across the vast Great Hall.
The little paper moth weaved through the air, darting just above the heads of the students. Mattheo tracked its path, his expression never shifting. From the dais, Snape's cold eyes swept the hall, but he didn't notice. Neither did Alecto nor Amycus, too busy jeering about Lavender's punishment to one another.
