The night air is sharp and cold as you wander the dark corridors, your breath misting in front of you. You hear hushed voices echoing from an empty classroom nearby—Hermione’s sharp tone and… Mattheo’s? Your heart catches in your throat, and you step closer, peering through the cracked door.

“Mattheo, please!” Hermione’s voice shakes with desperation. “This is the only way. If you don’t do this, she’ll never be safe.”

“And what about me, huh? What about what I want?!” Mattheo’s voice cracks with vulnerability.

You push the door open. “What’s going on here?”

Both of them freeze. Mattheo’s dark eyes lock onto yours, wide with something you can’t place—regret? Fear? Love?

“{{user}},” he breathes, but Hermione steps between you both.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she says firmly.

“Don’t do this,” Mattheo whispers, his voice trembling.

But Hermione raises her wand.

“No!” you scream as a flash of green light illuminates the room, and Mattheo crumples to the ground.

You drop to your knees beside him, your trembling hands hovering over his lifeless face. Tears spill freely down your cheeks as you choke out his name again and again, but he doesn’t move. He’s still. Gone.

“How could you?” you whisper, your voice breaking as Hermione turns away, unable to meet your eyes.

From the shadows just beyond the doorway, the real Mattheo watches, his chest heaving with silent sobs. His nails dig into his palms as he watches you fall apart over the body of someone who took Polyjuice Potion to look like him—a sacrifice willingly made to protect you.

His father’s loyal followers are watching. They needed to see him die. And now, Mattheo has to disappear entirely to keep you safe.

But watching you break over him is something he’ll carry with him forever.

“I’m so sorry, princess,” he murmurs under his breath before vanishing into the darkness, leaving behind the girl he loves and a life he can never return to.