Disclaimer, Summary, Warnings and Important Notes are in chapter one.

KEY
"speech"
'thoughts'
'letters'
books/information/files/newspapers

The first few days of Damien Riddle's fifth year had gone smoothly. He'd managed to go about unnoticed as he subtly avoided Ginevra, Ronald, Hermione along with Dumbledore, who had been keeping his annoying twinkly eyes on youth.

So it was only natural that everything went wrong on the last school day aka Friday…

Waking up at his usual time of 5:55 am, which was 35 minutes earlier than half of the school, Damien got showered and dressed for the day in his school robes that showed off which house he belonged in. Once he was prepared for his day, the black haired boy waited for Draco, Theo and Blaise -all of which had become very close and oddly protective of the slightly younger boy in the space of four days- in the common room with his nose in a book.

"Hey, Dami? Hello? You-who? You in there?" A hand was being waved in front of his face when he snapped out of his trance-like state,

"Yes?"

"We've been calling your name for like 5 minutes!" Theo exclaimed as Draco moved away from in front of Damien,

"Oh. Oh! I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. That said, they headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. When the room was full, the owls started to deliver letters and newspapers.

Shouts of worry filled the room as chaos brewed. Damien frowned in confusion before picking up the Daily Prophet, his body tensed as he read the main article.

BREAKING NEWS!
HARRY JAMES POTTER IS MISSING!

Yes my fellow readers, you read that right. It would appear that Harry James Potter is in fact missing. Aurors arrived at his home where he resided with his Muggle relatives when Mr Potter failed to show up at Hogwarts.
But, my fellow readers, do not fret! We have reason to believe that he is somewhat safe.
'Oh, that boy just up and left on his birthday when Vernon and I had gone out to celebrate my Diddikins' recent victory.' His Aunt told us.
When the Aurors went to investigate, they found no trace of magic being used to take young Harry.
That leads us to question why he has run away?
Where did he go?

By
Rita Skeeter
Daily Prophet.

"SILENCE!" Shouted Dumbledore, successfully quietening the Hall, "As you have read and noticed Mr Potter is no longer in a known location, whilst there are people looking for him, all we can do is hope Mr Potter returns to us unharmed and soon." The room calmed…only for a very familiar snowy owl to enter and head towards Damien.

"It's Hedwig!" Ron and Hermione shouted, drawing more attention to the owl who landed in front of Damien,

"Oi you dirty snake! What have you done to her?" Ron yelled,

"Now now Mr Weasley, why don't we allow Mr Riddle to tell us how he came about Hedwig. For he could know where Mr Potter is-"

"Yeah, Harry's probably in some dungeon with You-Know-Who supporters torturing him!" Ginny screamed interrupting the old fool,

"Miss Weasley!" Minerva intercepted before allowing Dumbledore to continue,

"Mr Riddle, my dear boy, how did you come across Hedwig? And by chance do you know where Harry Potter is?"

"I'm sorry but who is this Harry Potter bloke?" He asked faking confusion,
"Who is Harry Potter!" Exclaimed the majority of Gryffindor whilst others looked at the boy in shock,

"Are you stupid or something?" Hermione yelled. The room fell silent as they expected Damien to answer their questions.

"No. I am not." Damien replied clearly offended, "However, I have been travelling the world with my dad and we didn't bother with any media…I reckon the only time we actually looked through some newspapers was a couple years ago when we were travelling America -you see they had some issues that we needed to be aware of as to not get hurt from it, I think it was a rogue witch or something. But as far as I am aware, wizarding newspapers tend to not bother mentioning other countries issues. As such I have never heard of this Harry Potter."

"But…but you read! You love books, surely you read about him?" Theo exclaimed in shock,

"Yes. I do enjoy to read books. But I tend to avoid those ridiculous biographies and rubbish because they tend to be full of nonsense and lies."

"Now that that is covered, Mr Riddle how did you come across Hedwig?"

"Oh well when I was exploring Diagon Alley -shortly after I met Fred and George- I had found myself staring longingly at the owls in Eeylops Owl Emporium when a boy my age dragged me off to a secluded area, he himself had this stunning owl. We spoke for a bit and he gave me Hedwig -I had to promise to look after her, he was rather hesitant to give her away, not that I blame him. When I asked why, he told me that too many people recognised her and would, therefore, locate him easier. He told me he wanted to train and get away for a bit, I think he planned to enrol himself in the school in America, Ilvermorny, maybe? Or was it Uagadou -you know the school in Africa. Either way, he gave me Hedwig and the way you lot are talking, I take it she was this Harry Potter's owl."

"I see. Thank you, Mr Riddle, that is rather useful information."

"Anytime, Professor." Damien murmured, inwardly chuckling at the wild goose chase he had most likely just sent Wizarding Britain on. From the corner of his eye, he could see Severus nod his head in approval as a smirk flashed across his face only momentarily.

"Why'd you make all of that up?" Draco quietly asked as breakfast continued, so only Damien could hear,

"Well, truth be told that is how I got Hedwig and I just felt it was more fitting to my story if I pretended I didn't know about Harry Potter." He lied once more to the blond boy,

"Fair enough," Draco muttered with a shrug.

—LINE BREAK—

Damien left to get to his first lesson, which was Ancient Runes. He had chosen to take both Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes as his elective subjects, whilst he was starting Ancient Runes two years late, he knew quite a bit from reading about it and as Harry Potter, he had already learned about Care of Magical Creatures, not that anyone needed to know that…

"Hey, Dami-"
"Wait up!"

"Hey Fred, hey George! What you guys want?"

"We just wanted to say-"
"How proud we were-"
"Of your little story-"
"Back there in the Great Hall."
"Yes. It was very believable if we-"
"Must say so ourselves."

"Thanks, guys." Damien beamed at the two, "But can we keep that on a down low. At Hogwarts only you two, Snape and Draco know who my dad is and only you two and Snape know who I once was, so to everyone else that is how I got Hedwig."

"Aye, sir." They said and saluted in unison, before bidding farewell and heading off to there own lessons.

—LINE BREAK—

Sixth period. The last lesson of the week. The Slytherins had Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors. As one might expect it wasn't all that fun considering the houses' rivalry with one another. Add in the Minister's toad and well…it was utter rubbish.

"Professor, these books are terrible! How are we supposed to learn how to attack and -you know- defend ourselves? This book tells you nothing but absolute shit!" Damien couldn't help but shout,

"Excuse me! First of all, you will raise your hand in my lessons. Second of all, how dare you! These books have been approved by the Ministry, they clearly have more knowledge than mere children. And thirdly, that will be a detention tonight at 8 pm for your disgusting behaviour and language." Damien bit his tongue to stop himself from shouting again, but that didn't stop him from glaring daggers at the short, pink woman.

It was 7:55 pm when Damien found himself outside of Professor Umbridge's office and knocking on the door.

"Come in Mr Riddle. You will be writing lines this evening." Not that it could be called an evening anymore as it was now nighttime. With a silent sigh, the Slytherin took a seat and in front of him he saw a quill and several sheets of parchment,

"Professor, what am I to write?"

"You will write 'I must not disrespect my superiors.'"

"How many times?"

"Until the message sinks in." Damien frowned in confusion, but picked up the quill only to frown once more,

"You haven't given me any ink."

"You won't be needing any, dear." He felt shivers running down his spine at her sickly sweet grin. Gulping he began to write.

I must not disrespect my superiors.
I must not disrespect my superiors.
I must not disrespect my superiors.

By the third line, the feeling in his hand had changed from a slight tingling sensation to a sharp stab.

I must not disrespect my superiors.
I must not disrespect my superiors.
I must not disrespect my superiors.
I must not disrespect my superiors.

The feeling was too strong and painful. Taking a look at his left hand, his deep and dark emerald eyes widened as he saw the words appearing on his hand.

"Professor?"

"Yes, dear?"

"My…my hand…"

"Hmm, oh yes. It's sinking in rather quickly." She took a look at how many lines he'd written already, "In that case, write another 393 lines."

"But -"

"And I expect you to be in my office again on Monday and Tuesday at 8 pm for another couple of detentions."

"I haven't done anything-"

"Do not talk back to me! Make that a week of detentions! Everyday next week. My office. 8 pm! Now continue writing your lines, Mr Riddle." She snarled, grasping his bleeding hand roughly, "Or I can do much worse!" Gulping once more, Damien grabbed the quill and with a sigh continued to write. As he did so he realised the ink that appeared on the parchment was red. He was writing with his blood…forcing down the vile that rose in his throat, he continued to write.

—LINE BREAK—

Damien stumbled back into the Slytherin common room at midnight. His hand was glamoured and tucked into his robe sleeve. He knew what he'd have to do for it, but for the time being, he planned to clean it, bandage it and keep it hidden under a glamour so it would appear like a normal hand to others.

"Damien! Where have you been?"

"Draco? Why are you up?"

"I was waiting for you! So was Blaise and Theo, but I sent them to bed 'cause they were drifting. Now answer my question!"

"I was in detention with Umbridge."

"For four hours?"

"She made me write lines. 400 lines to be exact." He mumbled into the boy's shoulder.

"Let's get you to bed." Draco sighed as he half carried, half dragged the exhausted boy to his dorm and bed.

Authors Notes:

Thank you so much for your reviews on chapter 5:
MirrorFlower and DarkWind -thank you so much, I always look forward to your sweet reviews!
Gurgaraneth -hopefully, this explains your question!
gryhndsr4us -I'm glad you liked it, thank you so much!
BisexualKitsune -as always your reviews make me so happy, thank you!
Carmella Goodman -as you couldn't wait for this chapter, I hope you like it!
lilyflower101 -haha I love your reviews, always so funny and sassy!
Maddyhatter13 -thank you!
kirsty21 -thank you!

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