Bodies moved in the dim, crushed together in the heat. Laughter and the clink of bottles against glass mixed with the heavy, enchanted fog that curled around ankles and clung to hair.

And in the center of it all was Y/n. A little unsteady, a glass of something amber dangling from her fingertips, she was a beacon. A flush high on her cheeks, she wove through the crowd, a smile playing on her lips as she moved to the rhythm, drawing eyes like a magnet.

The distance between them vanished. His body aligned with hers, his forehead coming to rest against her temple as they began to move. It wasn't the playful, chaotic dancing from before. This was a slow, deliberate grind, a claiming. The heat of him was a brand through her clothes.

From the shadowed archway leading to the dorms, Mattheo Riddle stood perfectly still. A cigarette glowed between his fingers, the smoke wreathing his head like a bitter halo. His eyes, hard and unblinking, were locked on the two figures moving as one in the center of the room. His jaw was a tight, sharp line.

Theo, feeling her every shift against him, slowly backed Y/n through the press of bodies. The cold, rough stone of a pillar met her back. He didn't pause. He caged her in, one hand braced against the pillar beside her head, his other arm snaking around her waist to haul her flush against him.

Across the room, Mattheo took one last, long drag from his cigarette, the ember flaring brightly in the gloom. He dropped it to the floor and ground it out under the heel of his shoe with a sharp, final twist. He turned on his heel and melted back into the shadows, his retreat a silent, furious storm.