Chapter Text
The whispers followed him everywhere.
Mattheo Riddle strode through the dimly lit corridors of Hogwarts, his presence commanding yet unsettling. A name like his wasn’t carried lightly, and in the shadows of Slytherin’s dungeon, it carried more weight than most could bear. Some feared him. Others admired him. Few dared to truly know him.
He was not his father. That much he told himself every night before sleep claimed him—if it did at all. Yet the blood in his veins betrayed him, the expectations suffocating. The Dark Lord’s shadow loomed over his every move, whispered behind his back, a ghostly presence in the eyes of his housemates.
“Oi, Riddle.” A familiar voice cut through the tension. Blaise Zabini leaned lazily against the common room fireplace, his smirk unreadable. “You look like you’ve just crawled out of the Chamber of Secrets.”
Mattheo arched a brow. “Disappointed I made it out?”