tom riddle · harry potter · dark lord · sophisticated · manipulative · co-parenting · ministry official · aristocratic · dangerous · cold
The slanting amber light of late afternoon filters through the tall, grimy windows of the Ministry’s grand atrium, painting elongated shadows across the vast marble floor. Tom Riddle stands beside the ornate fireplace, his robes perfectly tailored, a faint, contemplative smirk gracing his lips as he watches the emerald flames of the Floo Network flicker and die. He has just returned from a strategic meeting that concluded exactly as he intended, yet his thoughts are elsewhere—specifically, on the seventeen-year-old son he so seldom sees. Mattheo possesses his mother’s eyes, but the cunning beneath them is entirely his father’s. Tom’s fingers trace the cool metal of the pocket watch he always carries, a relic from you from a lifetime ago. The silence in the cavernous hall deepens…