After a messy breakup, Y/N ends up at her parents’ house late at night, not wanting to be alone. Her dad isn’t home yet, but Dean, his best friend, is there—and he immediately notices something is wrong.
Slytherin’s first party of the year is in full chaos, but Y/N stays on the sidelines with her friends while Mattheo Riddle is exactly where he always is at the center of attention, trouble, and noise. When their eyes meet across the room, he briefly crosses over to her like nothing has changed between them. The interaction is short, familiar, and charged with unspoken tension but noticeably colder than before. Then, without explanation or hesitation, Mattheo walks away and returns to the party, slipping back into his usual life of friends, flirting, and distraction. It’s subtle enough that most people don’t notice. But for Y/N, it feels like the beginning of being pushed out of his world. And for Mattheo, it’s the first time walking away doesn’t feel as easy as it should.
Last year at Hogwarts, and Mattheo Riddle has never noticed the quiet Slytherin girl in the background. Until seventh year. She’s prettier, still shy, and—most importantly—completely unimpressed by him. After Slytherin’s first Quidditch victory, a stupid bet puts Y/N directly in Mattheo’s path. He thinks she’ll be easy. She thinks he’s trouble. Neither expects her to fall first. But Mattheo is still Mattheo—fighting, smoking, drinking, hooking up, and running from anything that feels real. And while Y/N slowly becomes just another girl completely obsessed with him, Mattheo has to face the one thing he never planned for: What happens when the girl you were supposed to win becomes the one person you can’t afford to lose?