War, Love, and Riddle //Mattheo Riddle x OC

Epilogue

Emma drew in a slow breath as she stepped toward the railing of the Astronomy Tower, the cool breeze immediately catching strands of raven hair and carrying them across her face. Instinctively she reached up to tuck them behind her ear, her gaze drifting outward across the familiar landscape stretching endlessly beyond Hogwarts.

Everything looked untouched.

The sight stopped her cold.

No shattered towers scarred the skyline. No smoke drifted into the heavens. No evidence remained of the battle that had consumed the castle only moments ago. Hogwarts stood proud and magnificent beneath a blanket of stars so breathtakingly beautiful that for a moment Emma forgot how to breathe. They seemed brighter here, larger somehow, scattered across the heavens like countless diamonds sewn into black velvet. The entire world felt washed clean. Peaceful. Whole.

It wasn't real.

The realization settled quietly into her chest.

Not with fear.

Not with panic.

With certainty.

Emma's fingers tightened against the stone railing as she stared out into the impossible night before her. Slowly, painfully, the truth began piecing itself together. The battle. Voldemort. The ancient magic draining everything she had left to give. Bellatrix's curse. Mattheo running toward her.

Mattheo.

The thought alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

A sharp ache settled deep inside her chest as she lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn't meant for this to happen. Merlin, she had tried so hard. Everything she had done, every sacrifice she had made, every impossible choice she had carried throughout her life had always been for the people she loved. For Harry. For her friends. For Mattheo.

Especially Mattheo.

The memory of his face in those final moments nearly broke her.

She could still see him running toward her. Still see the terror carved into every line of his expression. She remembered the way his hand had been reaching for hers. Remembered the panic in his eyes.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

What she wouldn't have given to hold him one last time.

Not for some grand goodbye. Not for a dramatic final speech. She simply wanted him. Wanted to bury her face against his chest and listen to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. Wanted to feel his fingers tangled with hers. Wanted one more kiss. One more laugh. One more morning waking up beside the boy she loved.

The grief hit her then.

Not the grief of dying.

The grief of leaving him behind.

Because Mattheo had spent so much of his life believing people would abandon him. Believing everyone he loved would eventually leave. And despite everything she had promised him, despite coming back to him once already, she had done the one thing she swore she never would.

She had left.

The thought hurt more than death ever could.

Emma lowered her head as tears continued slipping silently down her cheeks, her gaze fixed on the grounds below. The silence around her felt endless. Sacred. Yet somehow it only made the loneliness worse.

Then she heard footsteps.

Not loud.

Not hurried.

Familiar.