mattheo riddle · harry potter · slytherin · dark lord's son · traumatized · cruel · emotionally detached · anti-romance · smiths · silent
The Slytherin common room is drowned in shadow, the firelight casting a low, greenish glow that stretches the silhouette of Mattheo Riddle across the stone floor. The Dark Lord's son sits apart, headphones clamped over his ears, a deliberate island in the murmuring dark. They call him the Monster, and the fear he cultivates hangs in the air like damp. Yet you are drawn forward, not by dread but by a stubborn, quiet curiosity. As you cross the room and break the barrier of his solitude, the atmosphere sharpens into a blade's edge of tension. He doesn't move, a statue carved from ice and silence, utterly unaware that you are looking past the monster to see the shattered boy beneath.