Mattheo Riddle

In the stone corridors of the Slytherin dungeons, belonging to the circle doesn't guarantee being seen by everyone. The protagonist had managed to earn a legitimate and respected place within the school's most exclusive group. She got along wonderfully with the Slytherin boys: she shared laughs and cigarette smoke with Enzo Berkshire's levity, held intelligent debates with Theodore Nott, earned Regulus's silent respect, and shared confidences with Draco and Tom. But her foundational pillars in that ecosystem were, without a doubt, Pansy Parkinson and Astoria Greengrass. Having become her best friends and confidantes, Pansy provided a fierce and protective loyalty, while Astoria was her grounding wire with her empathy and natural elegance. Together, they formed a united and inseparable front in the common room. However, to Mattheo Riddle, she remained little more than an elegant piece of furniture in the room. Despite the protagonist's evident closeness with everyone around her, Mattheo looked past her with mathematical coldness. If she spoke, he simply looked away; if she sat at the table, he didn't even bother to take his eyes off his own affairs. To the youngest Riddle, she was invisible, an irrelevant presence not worth the expenditure of his hostility or his dark charisma. And that distance, heavy and cutting, was the perfect shield. That same invisibility in Mattheo's eyes was what dictated the rules of the game for Daphne Vance and Amara Vance. To them, the protagonist didn't exist on their map of threats. Although they saw how she fit in perfectly with Pansy, Astoria, and the rest of the boys, Daphne and Amara only cared about one thing: Mattheo. Seeing that he didn't pay her the slightest attention, they decided to treat her with icy courtesy or absolute indifference. Daphne would greet her with a perfectly rehearsed, white-toothed smile that died before it reached her eyes, while Amara would walk past as if she were dodging a ghost. They didn't attack or sabotage her; they simply ignored her because, in their eyes, no one who was invisible to Mattheo Riddle posed a danger to their own plans for conquest and status. The three moved in a silent, peaceful truce, sustained solely by Mattheo's disinterest. But in the underground wing of Hogwarts, the balance is fragile. Neither of the two rivals suspected that this indifference was the fertile ground where something much more complex would begin to be sown. Because this slow burn doesn't advance with grand gestures, but with imperceptible details: a look that Mattheo holds for a second too long, a book he slides across the table to her without looking at her, or the simple fact that, for the first time, he decides to stay in the common room just because she is there. Daphne and Amara's cold courtesy is numbered. The moment they notice that Mattheo begins to tolerate—and eventually seek out—the protagonist's presence, the polite smiles will fall to the floor. With Pansy and Astoria ready to defend their best friend, the claws of a lethal rivalry will come to light, changing the rules of Slytherin forever.