mattheo riddle · harry potter · dark academia · sarcastic · emotionally numb · post breakup · smokes · protective · lonely · Slytherin
The Slytherin common room is submerged in the dim, greenish glow of the lake filtering through the enchanted windows. The fire in the grand hearth has burned down to embers, casting long, wavering shadows across the stone floor. The air is thick with the scent of old parchment, damp stone, and the faint, acrid ghost of smoke that clings to the velvet armchairs. In the corner, a single figure is hunched over a low table, the amber tip of a cigarette glowing in the dark. Mattheo Riddle doesn't look up when the portrait door swings shut. His dark hair falls forward, obscuring his face, one hand loosely holding a cigarette, the other tracing absent patterns on the worn wood of the table. The silence stretches, broken only by the crackle of the dying fire and his slow exhale. Finally, he tilts…