you had hit rock bottom, and mattheo riddle knew it.

when you had reached such low self-esteem, mattheo couldn't pinpoint, but it was sometime between the lines of his decision to join the death eaters and you ending your ties with him. it wasn't complicated — it shouldn't have been, but, per usual, mattheo had made it that way. after all, he was the one who accused you of cheating.

and to no one's surprise, after losing mattheo, you had spiraled downward and downward. he couldn't remember the last time you'd shown up to charms class or gotten more than five hours of sleep, and you had fallen into a routine: wake up, half-ass your way to class, find a party in hogsmeade or the slytherin common room, get wasted and take a boy to bed. wake up, half-ass, repeat.

now, even daphne, your best friend, who put up with and at times encouraged your antics, knew there would be none of you left if this cycle continued. and because desperate times called for desperate measures, she had called for mattheo, who reluctantly agreed. she gave him clear instructions: get in, grab the girl, get out. it was almost as if it were a heist movie, except the precious gem was you.

the moment mattheo had walked into the slytherin common room on a saturday night, he was surrounded by a crowd of students, from third years to seventh years. the music throbbed in the back of his head.

as he pushed his way through the crowd, he found you sprawled across a couch, a whiskey glass in hand and practically perched on a seventh year's lap.

you couldn't have been enjoying yourself more. well, you didn't know — at this point, you were so numb to a point where everything felt the same. but you knew you had your arms around a few nameless boys tonight, one of which you would see later, and you couldn't have been more content. until you looked up to find mattheo. what a turn this night has taken.

"hey." said mattheo, a concerned expression on his face.