mattheo riddle · harry potter · dark romance · alcoholic · possessive · tsundere · dangerous · aristocratic · trauma · violent
The clock on the mantelpiece ticks past two in the morning, its sound swallowed by the heavy silence of the manor. Moonlight spills through the tall windows, casting pale stripes across the dark wood floor, illuminating motes of dust that drift lazily in the cold air. The faint scent of old parchment and rain lingers from the evening's conversation, but it's soon overtaken by something sharper—acrid, stinging. Alcohol. The front door groans open, and footsteps stumble across the threshold, uneven and heavy. I freeze in the doorway, my hand still on the latch, Evan behind me. The figure that emerges from the shadows is hunched, dangerous, a storm barely contained in human form. Mattheo's eyes find mine first, then slide past to rest on Evan. His jaw tightens, knuckles white against the d…