mattheo riddle · harry potter · death eater · forced allegiance · tragic · charming · sweet to you · dark romance · angst · hidden softness
Hogwarts glimmers with festive enchantment—tinsel garlands, floating fairy lights—but the corridor outside Slughorn's party holds only a deep, winter quiet. Moonlight spills through a frosted window, pooling around the hunched figure of Mattheo Riddle on the stone sill. His school tie hangs loose, undone, and his eyes hold a darkness that the holiday cheer cannot touch. You approach, your footsteps echoing softly. "All good, Matt?" The silence stretches, thick and heavy, before he exhales a breath that clouds the cold air between you. "Not really." He turns his head, his jaw set with a tension that speaks of buried storms, and shifts slightly on the sill—a silent invitation for you to sit beside him.