Mattheo Riddle - Imagines/OneShot

Two Birds

Word Count: 680

Song Inspo: Two Birds - Regina Spektor (I feel like I've used this song before...oh well)

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Y/N had been watching over Mattheo Riddle for as long as she could remember.

It started when they were children—back when his hands were always bruised from fights, back when his temper burned too hot for someone so small. He had always been reckless, always one wrong step away from disaster, and somehow, Y/N had appointed herself his keeper. His shadow. The person who made sure he didn't spiral too far from his own darkness.

But Mattheo never made it easy.

"Why do you always follow me around, Y/N?" he had asked once, lounging lazily on the grass beside the lake, his dark curls a mess from the wind.

"Because someone has to stop you from doing stupid things," she replied, rolling her eyes.

He had only smirked. "Maybe I like doing stupid things."

"Maybe I like keeping you alive," she shot back.

And that had been their pattern.

She kept him grounded. He pretended not to need her.

But she knew better.

Years passed, and Hogwarts became their home. Their late-night talks in the common room, stolen glances across the Great Hall, the quiet moments between chaos—it all became second nature.

But something changed.

Y/N noticed it before anyone else did.

Mattheo stopped seeking her out first. He started avoiding her questions, brushing off her concern with empty jokes and cooked smiles that didn't quite reach his eyes.

She found him staring at his hands more often, flexing them like they weren't his own. Like he was afraid of what they were capable of.

She knew the weight he carried. The name Riddle was a curse of its own. It whispered in the halls, wrapped around his throat like a noose, and she cold see—clear as day—how much he was struggling to breathe.

But the worst part?

No matter how much she tried, he wouldn't let her save him.

"Mattheo, talk to me."

She cornered him one evening, dragging him into an empty classroom after he had ignored her for days. The light from the torches flickered, casting shadows over his sharp features, but Y/N wasn't afraid.