LI

It had been years since Hogwarts. Years since Draco Malfoy had broken your heart — swapping you out cold for Astoria Greengrass, as if every promise, every quiet moment in the corridors, had meant nothing at all. You’d grieved, slowly healed, and then you met Tom Riddle: intense, dark, utterly devoted. He saw every piece of you, loved you fiercely, and never made you feel second‑best ever again. Tonight the whole old Slytherin crowd was out — loud music, flashing lights, drinks flowing, and karaoke blaring at a sleek, crowded nightclub in London.