It starts with whispers.

A new professor. Another mysterious man added to the castle’s ever-growing list of enigmatic Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. The students gossip, speculate. Some say he's a former Unspeakable. Others whisper he was a curse-breaker lost to time. None of them are right.

You're seated in the Great Hall, surrounded by murmurs and half-finished breakfast plates. Mattheo lounges beside you, tossing grapes into Theo's goblet. Tom sits farther down the table, pristine as always, scanning the room with his usual calculating calm.

Then the doors open.

A hush falls.

Headmistress McGonagaII rises. "Students, allow me to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Please welcome Professor Marvolo RiddIe."

Your breath catches. The resemblance is undeniable. He has the same dark hair and piercing eyes, the same sharp jaw and haunting presence. But older. Wiser. Like a version of Tom aged by secrets rather than time.

Mattheo sits up straight, frowning. Tom goes still.

Marvolo’s gaze sweeps the hall, steady and knowing. His voice is calm, deep, and deliberate.

"I expect excellence. Discipline. And the courage to look into the darkness and not flinch."

His eyes land on Tom. Then Mattheo. A flicker of something—recognition? Sadness? Pride? It's gone too fast to name.

You feel Mattheo shift beside you, tension coiling like a wire. He leans in slightly. "You seeing this, too?"

Tom doesn't respond. His gaze stays locked on Marvolo like he’s reading a riddle he didn’t know existed.

Marvolo smiles faintly. "Class will begin tomorrow. I suggest you come prepared."

As he walks out, a silence follows him like a shadow. You look at the twins. And for the first time since knowing them, they look uncertain.

Because deep down, something in them knows:

This isn’t just a professor.

It’s an actual relative.

Their past has just walked through the front door.

And judging by the look of things, he’s here to stay.