─── chapter one.
❛ MATCHSTICKS
ON A HILL ❜
QUIDDITCH WAS THE AETOS FAMILY'S LIFE. elliot aetos and his wife, clementine had been on the quidditch team at hogwarts (for their respective house), and their two daughters nova and claire had too taken after them in that aspect.
they were all crazy about the game. elliot had not helped fuel their enthusiasm, always instructing them in the way of quidditch, hoping one of the two sisters might end up in his own house, hufflepuff.
nova took more after her mother, who'd been a gryffindor and an expert keeper back in her year. of course, nova had tried for the position of chaser since there was no way she'd be willing the fight the oliver wood, captain of the quidditch team (and the love of first year nova's life) for that honor. however, a very small — er — roadblock, had stopped her from ever continuing that dream after her third year (and second year on the team).
claire was more like her father in the aspect of hogwarts houses. she was kind (although annoying at times) and very loyal — therefore the hat that nova had wanted to rip off her head in her first year had declared the youngest aetos a hufflepuff.
nova and claire were sisters appearance-wise, but as soon as one or the other opened their mouth, their personality couldn't be quite different. elliot and clementine had no idea where nova's temper had come from (though clementine suspected it was from elliot's great uncle florence) or no idea how to pacify it.
that was why, the two parents tried their hardest to keep nova from ever being angry while she was at home.
now, back to quidditch and this family's love for it. the aetos loved quidditch so much that they were one of the first families to buy tickets to the quidditch world cup. it had been a great occurrence that britain was hosting this year's world cup, and while the aetos usually couldn't travel much, this year they'd definitely attend.
nova and her family would be meeting up with fellow redheads, the weasleys (joined by harry potter and hermione granger) and amos diggory (plus his son, cedric, who nova was not very fond of) and spending the majority of the time there.
of course, like most of the wizarding world, nova knew harry potter, the boy who lived, blah, blah, blah. whether he was a savior or not, nova didn't feel like regarding him as such. he was just a boy with a scar plastered to his forehead as a reminder of what was taken from him, and a prophecy he was far too young to shoulder.
but harry potter wasn't what nova was focusing on for this trip (she'd leave that to her little sister, who was obviously crushing on the rather oblivious boy). nova dreaded seeing the weasleys, simply because two specific identical redheads had considered her a part of their family ever since they spotted her own red hair amongst the other first years.
each twin had grabbed a very annoyed and very temperamental eleven-year-old nova by the arms and declared her a 'fellow matchstick' before dragging her into the great hall and stating that all three of them would be placed in gryffindor. this statement, of course, made nova agitated and as such, when the sorting hat was placed atop her head (nobody ever told others this, probably because they were far too nervous to notice, but it smelled rather funky) she automatically denied entrance to gryffindor house.
the hat, obviously seeing her determination, chose to ignore her wishes — which was absurd, really. everyone else's opinion was put into consideration, but not hers? — and placed her in the red and gold house. there, she was greeted happily by the rest of the gryffindors, and especially happily by bill, charlie, and percy weasley (and by fred and george, as soon as they themselves had been sorted into gryffindor as well).
this would've been good and well evening had it been anyone with any decency, but nova was not 'anyone with any decency'. she was pissed that the stupid sorting hat hadn't placed her literally anywhere else but with kids that looked like family relatives, and she grew even more pissed when random people asked if she was the newest weasley (seriously, people see red hair and think weasley — hello, there are other people with red hair!) which definitely resulted in bloody noses and busted lips.
nova (NOT weasley) aetos became a name people grew to be wary of. and for professor mcgonagall, it was a name that only came before trouble.
"professor, nova beat up a fourth year!"
"professor, nova lit the weasley twins on fire!"
"professor, nova..."
"nova..."
and for the best of five years, nova aetos had become a name everyone at hogwarts referred to as the 'sleeping dragon'. in fact, someone even made a song about her! which was great, had she not been walking past as the stupid gryffindor blasted it into her ears, which only resulted in a loss of his own ears (not to worry though, she returned them — eventually).
back to what we were saying about nova and the world cup. yes, the redhead could almost crack a grin at the thought of seeing the irish win against bulgaria (krum would catch the snitch though, obviously — anyone who watched quidditch would know this) but then remembering that she'd have to bear seeing red hair that wasn't hers, claire's, or her mother's and the idiotic face of cedric diggory only squashed that grin down into a scowl.
which was, of course, nova's trademark expression. not that it was anything to gloat about — because it really wasn't. apparently her scowl can't be nova's trademark but claire's smile can be hers is absurd (by who's logic, you may ask. well, by claire's, obviously. who else would be dumb enough to have a trademark smile? oh yeah, diggory!) and yes, it does make nova angry, but at this point, what doesn't?
that's enough information, though. we're missing a bit of dialogue...oh, that's just because this dumbfuck is asleep! wake up, nova! nova, wake up...nova...NOVA!
"nova!"
nova shot out of bed, curls a mess as she squinted into the darkness.
"what the fuck...?" the older girl groaned as she groggily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"you sleep like a rock." claire replied with a frown, helping her sister out of bed. "mum said to go get ready for the cup. we're meeting up with the weasleys and the diggorys in an hour."
"i hate redheads." nova muttered, scowling as claire dragged her out of the room. "that includes you too, claire."
"well, i love redheads." the youngest aetos smiled. "that includes you too, nova."
nova hated whenever her sister was kind (which was literally every day. even in her sleep) because it meant regretting — ugh, what a foreign word — her actions.
"whatever. you're just in a good mood because harry potter is going too." nova replied.
claire went pink and muttered a "shut up!" before scurrying off to eat breakfast.
nova looked down at her clothes and sighed — if only she could go out wearing her pjs. it would make life so simpler. instead, she had to trudge allllll the way back to the room claire had dragged her out of (thanks claire — not!) in order to change into sometime more weather appropriate.
and now she was angry again — angry at the stupid weather for being cold, angry at the need to change out of her sleeping clothes, and especially angry that the fucking wall had smashed into her shoeless feet, stubbing her toe in the process (if you're wondering, yes, it hurt).
so excuse nova if she was moody — mornings are always like that. at least the gryffindor had the decency to wear a nice outfit (it was a knitted jumper — green, of course — and some brownish pants). despite hating on others, nova liked to dress to impress.
"nova! breakfast!" her mother called from the kitchen in her sweet, sing-song sort of voice (that too annoyed nova, because her mother always called her like she was still five and crying over losing a game — which, in her defense, was extremely frustrating).
"i'm going!" nova yelled back, maybe a little too snappish, but still.
with her boots in one hand, she ran to the kitchen in her flower patterned socks (what, they were a gift from her grandma, don't judge her!) and sat herself on her chair.
in the aetos family, everyone had their own chair, solely for them. for example, claire's chair was wooden and a white color with fancy yellow swirls and a hand-painted sunflower at the back. it sat next to elliot's, which was sturdy and rustic, hand crafted by nova's great grandfather theodore aetos (whom elliot was named after) for his son, nova's grandfather. it was tall and so beautifully crafted nova often felt like pushing her father off of it simply to see the designs in all their glory.
on the other end of the table was clementine, their mother's, chair. it was a vibrant red and had a roaring lion (that actually moved) on the back. sometimes, if sat on correctly, it would give a minuscule roar.
nova's chair was made out of ebony wood — it was dark and littered with millions of moving stars. occasionally, they would form a constellation (don't tell anyone i told you so, but her favorite is canis major) and shift as stars do.
there were spare chairs that usually sat unoccupied or with the unusual guest, otherwise it was just them four always.
the table was laden with dishes when nova arrived in the dining room, tying up the knots in her laces.
"my grandmother changes faster than you," elliot said as nova plopped herself on the chair.
"that's because great gran only has like...three different pairs of clothes." nova clipped back, bringing a plate piled with scrambled eggs and an unhealthy amount of bacon in front of her.
"woah, attitude alert!" clementine grinned as she sat herself down, her chair giving a 'roar!'. "someone was too excited for the cup to sleep."
nova scowled as she shoveled eggs into her mouth. "i don't have an attitude, mum. and of course i'm excited to see the world cup — it's the quidditch-fucking-world-cup!"
clementine disregarded her daughter's use of foul language and instead began to eat her breakfast.
"so, claire." the red headed woman began with a very large smile. the youngest aetos ducked her head in an attempt to avoid her mother's eye, but it was no use. "harry potter, huh?"
"mum!" she wailed, burying her face in her hands.
"yeah ollie, let's talk about you and potter of the prophecy." nova chimed in, raising her hands to enunciate the extravagant title.
"here we go again with the names," elliot sighed dramatically as nova shrugged at him.
"what can i say, dad — it's instinct." nova flashed a family's eyes only i'm-secretly-evil grin and stood up from the table. "ah, would you look at that...i'm all done — let's go, you sloths!"
THE MORNING WAS STILL CHILLY AS THE AETOS DEPARTED FROM HOME, preparing for their journey by portkey with amos and cedric diggory, the weasleys, and harry and hermione. claire, who was usually the chirpiest of the bunch had her lips frozen shut by the wind.
"i hate the wind!" nova yelled out in anger as the wind whipped her hair in every direction (like, seriously?! she spent time and effort into that!) and made her eyes water. the thought of cursing wind itself had fluttered into her mind more than once.
getting to the top of stoatshead hill would've been a breeze — had nova and claire known how to apparate. unfortunately, nova was set to start apparation testing this year, and claire had two more years to go.
instead, it took them the best of an hour to reach the ugly old mountain (who calls a mound of dirt of that stature a hill?!) and by then several heads of red and brown hair were waiting to greet the aetos.
fred and george dropped their scowls at the sight of their redheaded counterpart, replacing the expression with twin (see what i did there?) grins.
"if it isn't the match to our sticks!" fred announced, spreading his arms out wide.
"the jam to our biscuit!" added george.
"the see to our saw!" fred chimed in.
"the nova to our fred and george!"
nova grimaced as the two redheads engulfed her in the most uncomfortable hug she'd ever been in (have you ever been smushed in between two relatives — not that the weasleys and nova were even related, that would be gross, it's only an analogy — you disliked? yeah, that's exactly how nova felt) and was glad when they removed their arms from around her.
"weasleys." nova tried her best to look pleased at the sight of the redheads, but their overgrown hair really made her wish she had a pair of scissors on her.
"what's that look for, supernova?" fred said, putting a hand to his chest with that annoying grin. "you look like you've smelled dragon dung!"
"it's much worse than that, fred." she rolled her eyes.
"excuse me?" he gasped, and he and george shared a look. "i'm george!"
"as if." nova scoffed. "after years of being confused for a weasley, there's no way i'd ever get you two blithering idiots mixed up."
"aren't you in a good mood," george sniffed hautily before crossing his arms.
"great mood, actually. one of the best." nova replied sarcastically, pinching him by the ear.
"oi, claire!" nova called out to her younger sister, who was practically making heart eyes at harry potter. ew, just the thought of claire dating sent shivers down nova's spine.
"yeah?" claire shot back without turning around.
"scarf!" the older redhead called out, and claire tossed her a black scarf. leave it to claire to pack the things nova didn't.
"it's good to see you, aetos." a different, smoother voice interrupted the twins and nova.
nova made the most disgusted face ever before rearranging her features to give her a placid look as she turned to look at cedric diggory. his hair was wind-tousled, cheeks and ears pink from the wind.
'how annoying.' thought nova as her eyes strayed down to his nose and lips before shooting back up to his eyes in horror. 'no, nova! you don't stare at the enemy's lips!'
"diggory." nova nodded in reply, instinctively wanting to punch herself in the face for ever thinking such thoughts over cedric of all people.
"hello, weasley twins. up to any more mischief?" cedric's eyes twinkled when he laughed.
"you know us, ceddy boy." the weasley twins chimed in with wide smiles. "we're always cooking up something new."
"speaking of..." fred pulled out an empty sack from his jacket pocket with a gloomy look. "mum's confiscated our ton-tongue toffee."
"yeah, she's been bugging us over our O.W.L.s even after we did decent!" george scoffed.
the weasley twins had always wished to become inventors of silly jokes and contraptions. it was one of the things nova didn't hate about them — since she was one of the first to see their finished product. molly weasley, however, had always been against their dreams and chided them over their decent O.W.L scores.
"before i could try it? tragedy." nova rolled her eyes dramatically, although her words held a bit of truth to them. she'd have loved to try the toffee out.
"whose team will you lot be cheering for?" cedric asked randomly, his eyes never leaving nova. it made her a bit uncomfortable, if she was honest. "the irish, i suppose?"
"the right choice." nova huffed. "the only decent player bulgaria's got is krum."
"right'o, supernova," george said brightly, running a hand through his hair. "krum's more likely to get the snitch, but ireland is the obvious choice."
"actually, ickle ronnikin's got a teeny-weeny little crush on krum. he's been talking about him alllll summer," fred grinned, turning to his youngest brother who was in deep conversation with his three other friends. "ain't that right, ron?"
nova let out a quiet snicker as he turned abruptly. "huh?"
"nothing, mr no. 1 krum fan." fred chuckled, making the young redhead go red (well, redder) and angrily turn back.
"how was your summers?" cedric brought up, polite as ever (it might seem sort of rude on nova's part, but she really wanted to punch the ever-loving shit out of his perfectly sculpted face) as he addressed the three redheads.
"great, actually!" said george brightly. "we tricked harry's pig-looking cousin to eat a ton-tongue toffee — dad had to undo everything, but it was fantastic."
"this is one of those times where muggle contraptions like cameras would come in handy. i'd've loved to see that sucker cry out for his mother." nova said darkly.
"er — anyway, what about your summer, nov-ember? do anything fun?" fred interrupted, looking at her eagerly.
"not really." she shrugged.
"oh, come on novanator, you must've done something." george pressed on.
"nope — just went down to the muggle town by the house and pushed kids off the playground swings." nova answered with an air of nonchalance and blandness.
"you...pushed children off the swings?" cedric said in a sort of strained voice (as though he was trying not to judge her interests) and looked at nova oddly.
"of course not!" she replied irritably, rolling her eyes. "i'm not satan — i volunteered to be a helper around the muggle school for the kids that were failing. they let me teach those punks a lesson if they stepped out of line."
"so what you're basically saying is that you beat kids up all summer?" fred chuckled.
"no —" nova said defensively, slapping fred on the arm. "there's a difference, you prat."
"what about you, cedric?" george asked as he tried separating the two bickering teens apart.
"oh, well...it was mostly just studying and quidditch practice." the chestnut haired boy said sheepishly.
"the cup'll definitely be a moment to remember, then!" fred said cheerfully.
"— gather 'round, children!" nova's mother called out to the students. "the portkey'll be off in a minute!"
at her words, everyone ushered closer. nova made a beeline for a spot near her father, but ended up squished between a bushy haired girl (definitely hermione granger and someone who'd heard the rumors, judging by the timid look she gave nova) and cedric.
his shoulder was annoyingly warm in comparison to hers — it really shouldn't have pissed her off, but this was cedric she was talking about (everything he did made her want to throw herself off a moving train).
his nose was pink from the cold, puffs of frozen air escaping his lips. his eyes connected with hers, and he offered her a smile that made his eyes look silvery in the morning light.
as they all huddled around the dirty boot in amos diggory's hand, and as the portkey took off, nova felt her insides flip in her stomach and her chest tightened.
but clearly, that was all the portkey's fault.
clearly.
# LOVE, RAY !
nova needs to realize those feelings of hate are rlly just undying love to cedric yk
first chapter complete tho and i'm wondering if this is a good change of writing style bc my other one is more depressing and i wanted this one to be a little more upbeat
pls vote and comment and lmk if there are any spelling mistakes!!
love y'all and stay safe<33