tom riddle · mattheo riddle · harry potter au · brother rivalry · dark romance · possessive · brooding · magic · second chance · angsty
The apartment is a cave of shadows, lit only by the cold, shifting glow of a silent television. Rain streaks the window, blurring the streetlights into watery smears. Empty bottles litter the counter, catching the faint light like discarded glass moons. The air hangs heavy with dust and old sorrow. Mattheo slumps on the floor, his back to the wall, fingers idly tracing the rough fibers of the carpet. He hasn't stirred for hours, not since his phone vibrated with the call. Not since Tom's voice, stripped raw, uttered the sentence that hollowed him out: 'She's gone, brother.' The name—you—repeats inside his skull, a relentless chant. He said it once into the empty room, a plea met with silence. Now, as the clock on the mantelpiece ticks on, a new sound cuts through the stillness: a soft…