Perfectly Wrong (Mattheo Riddle)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Emerson Maeve Wilmore pushed her carriage along the platform of the Hogwarts Express, a dull look in her hazel green eyes. Her brown hair was lazily curled around her face, somewhat messy from not brushing it that morning.

Truthfully, Emerson didn't care about what she wore or how she looked anyway. She didn't care about much lately. Her grief was her prison, her tormentor and her companion. It never left her since it happened. The hole in her life was unable to be filled.

Her mother, Sofia Wilmore, walked at her side. She was wearing a matching navy skirt and blazer set, ready to apparate straight back to Ministry of Magic once the clock struck eleven o'clock and the Hogwarts Express departed from Kings Cross Station. She was talking loudly to Emerson about some sort of formal function she was arranging with the Cuban Council of Magical Ministers, the country where her mother was born.

Emerson wasn't properly listening. Her mind was completely faraway as she walked towards a place full of memories that she really just wanted to walk away from, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Mum," Emerson said quietly, dragging her feet towards the shining scarlet steam train, even though her mind was telling her to go back home. Her steps were slowing with the weight of her sorrow, which had never disappeared. "Please... I don't want to go back. I can stay with you and be home schooled. It will be so much better."

Her mother sighed. She knew the emotional pain that her daughter was going through, and she wanted to take it away from her, even though it was impossible.

Shortly after Sofia gave birth to her first and only child, Emerson, her husband, Benjamin Wilmore, was murdered in the first Wizarding War. He was an Auror, tracking down the movements of Death Eaters through Hereford when he was brutally tortured and murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange. She was never allowed to look at his body that they uncovered when they searched for him. A member of the Ministry of Magic told her that his remains were unrecognisable after what Bellatrix put him through. Emerson was exactly seven-months old on the day of his funeral. Her mother held her small body in her right arm, as she doubled over the closed casket, sobbing over the love of her life.

But, Sofia could not run away from the loss of her husband. Every moment of her pregnancy that passed reminded her of the death of her husband because she was alone. Sofia was alone during each happy milestone that her daughter achieved, like her first words, her first steps and her first day of school. There was never a moment, good or bad, that Sofia could share with anyone else. If it wasn't for Emerson, Sofia would've been completely alone.

Although she fully denied it, her mother became a completely career-focussed woman and got a job with the Department of International Magical Co-Operation once Emerson was old enough to stay home alone to avoid any feelings of loneliness and grief associated with her late father. Her mother worked long days into the night and often over special holidays like Easter, Christmas and New Years. Emerson was used to spending time at Hogwarts between September and June each year.

It was perhaps for that reason that her mother refused to allow Emerson to be home schooled. It was a conversation brought up many times over the summer holidays, but her mother was firm on her refusal and never gave in, no matter how many times she begged.

Her mother stopped her from walking and turned to her. "Listen to me, Em. You are only fifteen, you are still so young. It is not healthy for you to stay inside for the rest of your life while you deal with the loss of him."

Him. She knew the worst part about returning to Hogwarts was going to be the reminders and memories of him that would follow her everywhere. There were memories nestled in the Great Hall at the Hufflepuff table, in the library, in the hallway near Charms class where they met on a Tuesday between classes and their spot by the lake.