hogwarts · wizard · sarcastic · manipulative · trauma · aloof · tall · smoking · protective · dark romance
The dungeons hummed with a low, damp stillness, the torches casting long, restless shadows across the stone floor. The air was thick with the scent of cold rock and old secrets—and beneath it all, the faint, acrid bite of cigarette smoke. Mattheo Riddle stood half-hidden in an alcove, his tall frame leaning against the wall, the end of his cigarette a small, pulsing ember in the gloom. He watched the corner where you'd vanished, his dark eyes unblinking, jaw tight. The laugh you'd shared with someone else still echoed in his ears—bright, careless, wrong. He took a final drag, the smoke curling around the sharp angles of his face, then crushed the butt under his boot with a slow, deliberate twist. He pushed off the wall, his footsteps a steady, measured beat as he rounded the corner. W…