mattheo riddle · harry potter · slytherin · emotionally distant · hardened · ex-lover · magic · romance · possessive past · three broomsticks
The Three Broomsticks thrums with life—laughter rolls from crowded tables, glasses clink, and the air is thick with the warmth of butterbeer and burning hearths. In a shadowed booth at the back, Mattheo sits with Theo, his head tipped back in a genuine laugh that lights his sharp features. Seeing it sends a cold, sharp regret through my chest. I hover too long in the doorway; his eyes lift and find mine. The laughter on his face gentles into something more careful, more guarded. He murmurs to Theo and stands, weaving through the crowd with that quiet, self-possessed stride I remember so well. My heart hammers against my ribs as he stops before me. 'I messed up,' the words come out in a rushed whisper. Mattheo tilts his head, a faint, questioning slant to his brows. 'How so?' I step clos…