Chapter 13 Hufflepuff Gossip
By the time Liora returned to the Hufflepuff basement, her heartbeat still hadn’t settled.
The warmth of the common room—normally comforting, glowing with its golden lantern light and earthy smell of polished wood—pressed in gently around her. The round doors, the low ceilings, the abundance of mismatched armchairs and sunflower-yellow cushions made the whole space feel like a giant hug.
Usually, she loved that.
Tonight, she felt watched.
Not in a sinister way—nothing like the piercing, shadow-cutting stare Mattheo had given her—but in a curious, whispering, this-is-definitely-about-you kind of way.
She tried to walk quietly past the sitting area, but a chorus of quickly hushed voices trailed her like ghostly dust.
“She was gone for ages.”
“Probably exploring again.”
“You heard she wandered near the dungeons, right?”
“Why would anyone go there? Slytherins—”
“Hush, she’s coming!”
Liora winced.
Too late.
Three Hufflepuffs immediately swarmed her: Josie, the bright-eyed chatterbox; Bram, soft-spoken and always carrying a small notebook; and Mina, whose protective instincts were strong enough to rival a Hippogriff guarding her eggs.
Josie leaned in first, already talking fast. “Where were you? We were about to send a search party! Bram was drawing a map and everything—”
“I wasn’t drawing a map,” Bram muttered. “I was drawing a diagram of potential castle shifts based on—”
Mina cut him off with a gesture sharp enough to slice parchment. “Liora, what happened?”
Liora forced a smile that felt like it wobbled dangerously. “Nothing. Hogwarts accidentally led me toward the dungeons again, but I found my way out.”
Mina groaned. “The dungeons. Again? Liora, that’s basically Slytherin territory. You can’t keep ending up there.”
“I didn’t plan it,” she said. “The castle traps me. It’s practically a hobby at this point.”
Josie snorted. “Trust you to get personally bullied by architecture.”
Liora tried to laugh, but the sound felt too thin. She clutched the strap of her bag and looked toward her dorm, hoping they’d let her escape.
They didn’t.
Bram closed his notebook and peered at her over his round spectacles. “You came back… different.”
Liora froze. “Different how?”
“Your aura feels unsettled,” he said softly. Bram was the type who saw more than he said. “Like you touched something cold but didn’t mean to.”
Her breath caught.
Mattheo’s voice echoed in her memory.
Some shadows notice you.
And they shouldn’t.
Liora exhaled slowly. She tried to brush past them. “I’m fine, really. I just—need sleep.”
“Sleep?” Josie repeated dramatically. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
“I didn’t.”
“A poltergeist then.”
“No.”
“An animated suit of armour—”
“Josie,” Mina snapped.
Then Mina turned back to Liora, arms crossed, expression stern. “This is about Slytherins, isn’t it?”
Liora blinked. “What?”
Mina stepped closer, lowering her voice. “People saw you near their hallway yesterday. And today. There are rumours.”
Liora’s stomach flipped.
“What rumours?” she whispered.
“That you’re… curious.”
She swallowed. “About Slytherin?”
“About one Slytherin,” Josie corrected, her tone dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Mattheo Riddle.”
The name made Liora’s shoulders tense. She tried to hide it, but the trio noticed immediately.
Josie’s brown eyes widened. “Oh Merlin’s beard—you are curious!”
“I’m not—” Liora began.
Mina held up a hand. “We’re not accusing you of anything. We just… worry. Slytherins can be intense. And Mattheo Riddle—” She hesitated. “He’s not someone you casually notice.”
Bram nodded. “People say he has a… presence.”
A presence. That was putting it lightly.
Liora tried to steady her breath. “He didn’t do anything.”
“Exactly,” Mina said firmly. “That’s the concerning part.”
Liora stared at her. “Why?”
“Because Mattheo Riddle doesn’t involve himself in other people’s business,” Mina said. “Not unless there’s a reason.”
Josie chimed in, whispering as if the walls would eavesdrop. “He’s powerful. Brooding. And a little—creepy.”
“That’s harsh,” Bram murmured. “Maybe he’s just misunderstood.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “Bram, he made a third-year cry by staring at him too long.”
“Maybe the third-year was weak.”
“Or maybe Mattheo Riddle radiates doom.”
Mina sighed. “Point is: we don’t want you tangled up in Slytherin trouble. Especially his.”
Liora forced her voice to stay steady. “I’m not tangled in anything.”
Mina raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Then why do you look like you’re hiding something?”
Liora swore under her breath—Hufflepuffs were supposed to be gentle, sweet, and cozy. But when they cared about someone?
They were relentless.
“I’m just tired,” she insisted. “It’s my first week. Everything’s confusing.”
This, at least, was true.
That seemed to ease Mina’s stance a little. She placed a gentle hand on Liora’s shoulder. “If something’s weird or dangerous or—dark—you can tell us. Okay? We’re your friends.”
Liora felt warmth creep into her chest.
“I know,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
Josie’s expression softened almost instantly. “Good. Because if a Slytherin ever so much as looks at you the wrong way, we’ll hex the daylights out of them.”
“Mhm,” Bram nodded, though he looked like he’d faint before casting a hex.
Mina squeezed Liora’s shoulder once more. “Promise us you won’t go down to their side of the castle again.”
Liora hesitated.
Mattheo’s face flashed through her mind.
His voice, deep and unreadable.
His warning.
His eyes.
The shadows curling around him as if they belonged to him.
Something inside her whispered she’d see him again. That she was already drawn too close.
“I’ll… try,” she said quietly.
Mina narrowed her eyes but accepted it. Josie looked mildly suspicious but distracted herself by pulling Bram into a debate about enchanted pumpkin pasties.
Finally—blessedly—Liora slipped toward the girls’ dormitory.
Inside, the round room was dim, candles flickering beside warm beds covered in patchwork blankets. She sat on hers, sinking into the mattress with a long exhale.
Her mind spun.
—Mattheo saving the potion accident with something she didn’t understand.
—His cryptic warning.
—His eyes watching her like he knew something she didn’t.
—Hufflepuffs whispering about secrets she hadn’t even realized she was keeping.
She brought her knees to her chest and stared at the floor.
She wanted to ignore him. Truly, she did. He was trouble—every look, every word, every quiet brush of magic around him screamed danger.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about him.
Not about his reputation.
Not about the fear others had of him.
Not even about the darkness surrounding his name.
No—
She couldn’t stop thinking about the moment he’d stepped from the shadows and looked at her like he saw something hidden beneath her skin.
Like she mattered.
Like she confused him.
And somehow… that tangled her thoughts more than all the gossip in the world.
Liora lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling beams overhead.
Her heart whispered one question she didn’t dare say aloud:
Why would someone like Mattheo Riddle notice her at all?
She didn’t have the answer.
But somewhere in the castle, she felt the faintest ripple of awareness—as if someone else was thinking about her too.
Liora drifts to sleep not knowing that Mattheo, deep in the Slytherin dungeons, has just asked his own dangerous question:
Why can she enter his world when no one else should?