I Am Dansmesyeux Riddle

Part Two

TWENTY-THREE: Away From Here

Response To Reviews:

Marauder1prongs: You give me an insight on life? That's ALMOST funny. Katie, let me tell you something. People want to prove themselves because it feels good when someone else can see what you do. It like the old saying: "If you see something that someone else doesn't, they'll call you blind; if you see something that others can't, they'll call you crazy."

Starrylibra: smiles sheepishly Sorry about my little outburst. I didn't mean anything by it. I guess the day wasn't treating me right.

A Sly Fan: I'm sorry that you had to wait for so long. It's Fanfiction's fault! I swear!

Previous Chapter: Barty turned and left, leaving Dan to his thoughts. It didn't take long for Dan to reach his decision. He was going to run away.

Dan grabbed his cane from underneath his bed and took his wand out of his pocket. Without worrying about that rule against magic when adults weren't around, Dan used a spell to shrink his cane, and then he placed it on his bed.

Hurriedly he pulled one of the pillow cases off of one of his pillows and he stuffed the (mini) cane inside. He then looked about for anything else important. Well duh! His guitar! Dan reached over and seized his guitar (that Barty had left on his bed), he shrunk it down, and placed it inside of the pillow case.

"What else?" Dan asked himself. Then it hit him! He was going to need some food if he was going to survive. "Abby!"

The house-elf appeared, quivering before Dan. Before the Riddle heir could even ask for anything he decided to see if she was OK. "Hey, Abby, you alright?"

"Young Master Dan is too kind to bad old Abby," squeaked the elf. "Abby is forgetting to ask the Death Eaters if they is wanting anything else at the party, sir. Bad old Abby!"

Dan sighed. As concerned as he was for the elf he didn't have time for this. "Abby, I need a favor."

"Yes, sir. Anything for Master Dan!"

"I need you to go to the kitchens and bring me any kind of food that I could bring with me on a trip," ordered Dan. "I also need you not to tell my father of what I just said or what you're going to do. Got it?"

"Yes, sir. Abby isn't saying anything about this to the Master," summarized Abby. "I be back soon, sir."

Dan nodded and as soon as Abby was gone he returned to gathering up his things. By the time Abby returned he had added a few pieces of parchment, an ink bottle, a few spare quills, a spare set of muggle jeans (and…other underclothes), the photo book that Barty had give him, some wizard money, and a small book that he kept to write in. After Angina was safely in his pocket and the food that Abby had brought was tucked away in his pocket, he quietly tip-toed out of his room.

It was late into the night by the time Dan had stepped foot outside. Surprisingly he hadn't run into any Death Eaters or their kids on his way out (not that he wasn't happy about that). His teeth clattered as a strong blast of wind caught him off guard. It was December after all. He just wondered how long he could survive on his own in this kind of weather.

Barty Crouch, Jr. watched through his bedroom window as Dan headed toward part of the forest that surrounded Voldemort's manor. From somewhere behind him Aaron appeared.

"You know the Dark Lord is going to kill you, right?" Aaron said. His eyes were focused on the small speck (Dan) who was almost out of sight. He blew a mouthful of smoke from his cigar Barty's way. The older man coughed and glared at Aaron before replying.

"Not if nobody tells him."

"Hey! Why you lookin' at me?" demanded Aaron.

"Because you're the one who always blabs about everything, you little snitch!" snapped Barty. He stood up and began to leave his room.

"I am not!" Aaron defended, following Barty.

"Remember that time when I wanted to kill Bellatrix and you just happened to mention it to the Dark Lord?"

"OK,OK. So what? I told on you once!"

"Or the time when I sent that little kid an exploding ball for Christmas and you told the Dark Lord that I did it on purpose," Barty reminded him.

"Barty! I get it!

"Or the time when-"

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Aaron exclaimed.

It had been almost an hour and a half since Dan had left the castle. He was already cold and tired; after all it was late at night. Still he pushed himself onward. He just had to find the man from the photograph. He just had to find out what this stranger knew about him.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind caught Dan off guard and he was thrown backwards, into the deep snow. His teeth clattered as he used a lot of energy to attempt to stand up.

Once he was up he pulled his cloak (that he was wearing over his muggle clothes just incase) tighter around him ad he swung his pillow case over his shoulder. The strong winds continued to push him in all directions, causing him to stumble or fall as he walked.

The wind howled fiercely. Dan used his arms to shield his face and to try to keep his glasses on his face. As snow was blown about all around him, he coughed, making his chest burn with intense pain He had been coughing a lot since he had stepped foot outside and the only explanation could be that Dan couldn't handle such a dramatic change in weather.

He took one more step, and his foot sunk into the ground under him. "Oh no," groaned Dan as he felt his foot sink into the freezing cold water beneath where he stood. When he tried to get up his foot slipped further into the ice. A panicky feeling arose inside of him.

He was out in the middle of nowhere and no one knew that he was missing. Surly he would die out here, all alone and freezing cold.

It didn't take long for his foot to lose its feeling, not to mention any form of warmth. Dan's teeth were aching from clattering together. A few chills ran down his spine.

There was no option. He had to either escape or wait until he was frozen and buried beneath a bunch of snow. He had nothing to lose. Without giving it a second thought he pulled his foot out with all of his night ad fell backwards, to the ground. However, his triumph lasted only a few seconds. Underneath him he heard cracking. Before the thought of moving registered through his mind he fell through the ice completely.

His head emerged from the water in a matter of seconds and he struggled to get a grip on the ice to pull himself out. Once he was out he scrambled a good twenty feet away from where the hole in the ice was, and he collapsed in a small pile of snow.

The moment he felt rested he pocketed his bag of belongings and reached into his other pocket to pull out Angina. He noticed that the snake was barley breathing and he feared the worst. "Angina?" he hissed to the snake, shivering from head to toe.

Angina lazily looked up but didn't reply. Dan held the snake within his two hands to try and warm her up but he knew that she was soon going to die from this cold. He had to find shelter.

A loud bark rang through the night, piercing the Riddle heir's eardrums. Dan looked all about him to see if the thing that had made the sound was coming after him. He slowly got to his feet and backed away from the direction in which the sound came from. But all too soon he heard the sound again.

From somewhere behind him a twig snapped and he whipped about to see what the creature was. A shaggy black dog was standing before him. Dan sighed in relief but then he remembered that Angina needed to be warmed up. He placed her back into his pocket. Just as he went to turn around so that he could continue on his way the dog began to growl at him.

"Nice doggy," Dan said nervously. "Why don't you go play or dig some hole?"

This statement, however, only seemed to anger the creature more for it advanced on him slowly. It appeared that the black dog knew what he was saying. Its gleaming yellow eyes were locked on him. Without warning the creature tackled Dan and pinned him to the ground. Using its muzzle it reached into his pocket and took his wand. Then the dog bolted deep into the forest.

Angina still in hand, Dan took off after the dog. "Come back here! I need that!" But the dog ignored his calls and kept running. Every time that Dan thought he had lost the mutt it would stop and then take off again when he got close. The blizzard going on around them was blinding and after the chase had continued for at least ten minutes he collapsed in exhaustion.

Shivering I the snow, Dan decided that the damn dog could keep his wand. It wasn't worth it anyway. Something nudging his side made him look up. It was the dog. It barked and looked ahead as if to say, keep moving. The dog didn't leave Dan's side until he was on his feet and then he barked.

"What do you want?" Dan demanded in a hoarse voice. The dog barked again and looked ahead. That was when Dan saw it, a small, cozy looking cabin. Smoke was coming out of the chimney. He looked down at the dog in amazement and then proceeded to the cabin's front door. The dog got their first, and he began to claw at the door as if expecting someone to answer because of it.

"I'm coming, Padfoot," came a voice from within. The door opened and the dog pushed its way inside. An ill looking man with shabby robes looked down at Dan from the doorway. He then turned back to the dog. "Are you bringing strays back with you?"

Before Dan's eyes the dog transformed into a man. Then man looked to his friend and replied, "He was all alone and freezing cold. What should I have done? Left him there?"

"Well don't stand there, child," the man in the doorway said as he turned back to him. "Come on in and warm up. I'll get you out of those clothes and then I'll pour you a cup of tea."

Dan smiled nervously and wondered inside. Once the door was shut the cabin felt a lot warmer than he was use to. Not caring what anyone would think he pulled his belongings out of his pocket along with Angina and then took off his cloak.

"I'll take that." The man with brown hair took his cloak and said, "By the way my name is Remus Lupin. And my friend Sirius Black was the once who saved you."

"I'm Dan R-" Dan stopped. He didn't want to tell them his last name just in case they knew that his father's last name was Riddle. He didn't want to be killed or returned. "People just call me Dan, sir."

"No last name?" asked Remus.

"Ummm…it's…" Dan thought frantically of any last names he had heard recently. "It's Frankfort."

Remus looked at him skeptically and Dan expected for him to say that he had never heard that last name before. However Remus left the room without a word, Dan's cloak in hand. Sighing Dan shivered as Sirius Black came up from behind him and handed him his wand. Grinning the man said, "I'm sorry I tackled you back in the forest."

"It's OK, sir," Dan replied. He wasn't trying to sound like a suck up, but what choice did he have? These two men were his only chance for survival. "I'm actually glad that you did. It made me come here." As Sirius went to turn away Dan called, "Sir? Do you have some towel or something that I can use to warm up my pet snake with? I need to keep her from freezing."

"Well, Dan, why don't you change out of your clothes? I'll take care of your snake." Remus's voice came as he re-entered the room. The adult threw him a large cloak and pointed toward a hallway on his right. The Riddle placed Angina on the couch behind him and then he proceeded to go where he was directed. He entered a small room with a bed that wasn't even half the size of his bed at home. Deciding not to get too snobby he changed into the dry (and warm) cloak, though he would have much rather worn his muggle clothes.

Dan rubbed his cold hands together and then bit his lip. How was he going to get out of this mess without the two men finding out who he really was? Dan looked at the door and then away from it. Well one thing was for sure. He wasn't going back home anytime soon.

A/N: I finally reached over 100 reviews! I'm so happy. Now all I need is more reviewers. Not that I'm not soooooo very grateful to all of you for actually liking my stories. So now on (if you all won't kill me) I'm only going to update my story once every week or two.

Sorry if the chapter sucked or didn't make sense. Need I apologize for any mistakes? Oh well…Sorry for any mistakes.

Moony