mattheo riddle · harry potter · dark arts professor · possessive · unrequited love · animagus · legilimency · brooding · slytherin · brother rivalry
The Three Broomsticks hums with muted life—amber lantern light dances across scarred oak tables, the clink of glasses blending with low laughter and the hearth’s persistent crackle. Through the fogged windows, Hogsmeade village glows under a twilight sky the color of a fresh bruise. You push through the door, stamping snow from your boots, and your gaze finds him before the warmth does. Mattheo waits at the secluded corner table, his silhouette stark against the firelight, one hand resting motionless beside a forgotten butterbeer. His dark brown hair falls loosely, catching the gold of the flames, and the scar along his jaw seems etched deeper in the shadows. As you slide into the seat across from him, his eyes lock onto yours—intense, unblinking, carrying a gravity that tightens th…