The Slytherin common room was buzzing, music spilling from an enchanted gramophone, the air heavy with laughter, the occasional pop of a Butterbeer cork. You’d been dragged to the party by your friends, insisting you didn’t need Mattheo glued to your side the whole night. He’d let you go. Sort of.

Across the room, leaning casually against the stone wall, Mattheo nursed a drink and chatted idly with Theo and Enzo. But his eyes? They never really left you.

You could feel it like a tether pulling at the back of your mind. Every time you glanced his way, he was already looking, gaze flicking over you in that sharp, assessing way he had. Not possessive exactly… but definitely protective.

You laughed at something Pansy said, only for a guy from Ravenclaw to lean in a little too close. Before you even registered it, Mattheo was moving, slipping through the crowd without losing that lazy, unbothered demeanor.

“Hey,” he said, sliding an arm around your waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Didn’t know we were making friends tonight.”

The Ravenclaw stammered some excuse and quickly found someone else to bother.

You looked up at Mattheo, raising a brow. “Subtle.”

He smirked, dipping his head so only you could hear. “I’m not here to be subtle. I’m here to make sure no one forgets you’re mine.”

Your heart gave an inconvenient little flutter. “And here I thought you just couldn’t stand the idea of me having fun without you.”

“Both can be true,” he said, his lips curling into that familiar, maddening grin. His thumb brushed over your hip, eyes still scanning the room like he was daring anyone else to try.

Even at a crowded party, you realized, Mattheo would always have an eye on you. And somehow, that felt safer than anything else in the world.