𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝. - 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

You are running out of time.

Ravenna walked through the golden hallways, the sun illuminated it and made the brown wood look beautiful and as Ravenna thought, made it look bright gold.

The long, patronizing school day was done and there was a SlugClub dinner tonight, so after bothering and harassing Severus, she was finally on her way to the silver and green dorms to get ready.

It had been a week since Mattheo and her last talked, and it's not that they didn't want to talk to each other, they weren't sure what to say to each other. It wasn't uncomfortable tension or uneasy. It was content. And that's what was so unsettling, she wasn't used to it. Yes, she wished for him to choose a side but it's not like he ever had, he's wasn't cold and distant, but it's not like he'd ever continue to be friendly.

Would he?

She wasn't sure what to do, she looked out the windows of the school, there weren't many people on the hallway she was in, she was passing the Herbology room, she looked through the windows. Then she stopped.

A boy in there caught her attention, a boy with deep brown hair and green eyes, standing over looking at a plant deeply, as if it held untold secrets. She recognized him, and dread filled her to the top.

Neville Longbottom.

She had never spoken to him. She hadn't even seen him up until now, she couldn't exactly blame him.

It's not like she would want be around the person whose mother destroyed her entire family. And although it wasn't Ravenna's fault, she felt at blame for the whole situation.

Guilt and accountability, are ascetically bitches.

He didn't grow up with a loving mother or father, but not because they didn't want to shower him with love. They got that choice taken away from him. By a monster, disguised as a fucking person.

Ravenna grew up without her mother and father's love, and it hurt her heart thinking about how Neville must feel. She knew he had his grandmother and she was comforted knowing he had someone there for him, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that nothing was quite like a mother and father's love.

Or the lack thereof.

She had wanted to say something to the boy the second she found out that he went to Hogwarts, but like she said, she hadn't seen him anywhere. She had just assumed he was avoiding her. Rightfully so.

And before she could make up her mind, a rash decision came as she started walking for the door that entered into the Herbology tent. Her back straightened, she was uncomfortably tense. She stood behind him, he didn't even notice her, being so entranced with the unusual looking plant in front of him.

She cleared her throat, awkwardly. He turned his head, his eyes immediately widened in fear, he turned around fully facing her, he backed away trying to create as much distance as possible from the girl.

"I just wanted to... apologize." she said, blurting out her words before he could run away or dismiss her.

"I understand that you may not want to see me, and that's okay, but you need to know I don't condone anything my mother did to your parents." she said looking at the boy as he slightly trembled, he tried to make himself smaller, eyes still wide with fear.

And while her voice was hard, her eyes read sincerity. She didn't hide her emotions, no this was too deep for her not to show just how disgusted she was with her mother's actions.

And even though the relentless feeling of guilt still wavered in her very veins, the shame that was deep in her bones lightened. Only a little. But enough to notice.