Disclaimer, Summary, Warnings and Important Notes are in chapter one.
KEY
"speech"
'thoughts'
'letters'
books/information/files/newspapers
September soon became October; October quickly turned into November, then gradually December rolled around.
Nothing too hectic had happened in those few months:
Professor Umbridge kept holding Damien back for detention for mere things like breathing too much, it seemed that she enjoyed torturing the boy with the Blood Quill. He was the only Slytherin who faced the torment. Damien would guess that when he didn't tell anyone of the abuse, she believed she'd get away with it and no one would hear of it from his mouth. Unfortunately, she was right. It would appear as though Damien's personality was still the same as Harry's, thus if he had anything to do with it, no one would ever learn about the Blood Quill from him…except for Fred and George. The wicked toad of Defence Against the Dark Arts, apparently used the Blood Quill an awful lot on the Gryffindor's or more specifically Fred and George. Then they had put two and two together and found out that Damien too had been subjected to the quill. They had tried to persuade Damien to tell someone but it did not work -apparently, McGonagall didn't believe the Twins and told them to keep their heads down.
Draco and Damien had gone on their first date down to Hogsmeade, they had a nice lunch at the Three Broomsticks Inn. They explored the shops and Damien bought several bags of sweets from Honeydukes, much to the amusement of Draco because the younger boy had a childish look of glee on his face. On their way back to the castle as they walked hand in hand, they bumped into Luna and Neville, who had also been on a date, to which Damien was jumping in happiness when it was revealed!
—LINE BREAK—
However, unbeknownst to them, Dumbledore had been watching Damien ever since the sorting. He was curious, suspicious and plotting. He had plans for the boy…he just needed a moment alone to go through with his plans. Yet, the moment had not arisen, so for the time being, Dumbledore just sat back and waited. Allowing his blind followers to assist in keeping an eye on the youth.
He'd had Ron and Hermione trying to befriend him, unfortunately for Dumbledore, that plan hadn't lasted very long:
Ron and Hermione had approached Damien one day in the library, they had taken a seat at the table with the lone figure who was studying away and interrupted him.
"We were thinking, it would be nice to try and… cross the boundaries separating our houses. So we thought we'd do some studying with you." Hermione smiled as Damien raised a disbelieving eyebrow,
"Umm sure." He muttered before going back to his book. Gradually it became a common occurrence...until Hermione blew up at him.
They had had a big practice exam in all of their subjects except DADA and when they got the results, Hermione wasn't very impressed. She was overall fourth in the whole year based on the individual's results being combined and Damien was the first. He had gotten 100% in practically everything save for Ancient Runes, but that was understandable as he was new to the subject and even so, he got 97% on the exam. So when Damien was walking to his common room at the end of the day, Hermione cornered him, yelling, screaming and close to cursing him and suddenly Damien could easily remember why he, as Harry, hid his intelligence once at Hogwarts.
"You stupid, cheating, slimy snake! You can't be smarter than me, I'm the smartest! Me! Not you, me!" Everyone in the corridor had paused to watch the escalating scene, "How did you do it? I read more than you, I know more than you! I purposely distracted you when you were studying! How on Merlin's beard did you beat me?" She was screaming, ignoring the gasps and wide eyes of the onlooking students,
"Maybe I got better marks than you because I don't see education as a competition." The normally quiet boy's voice echoed across the silent corridor, "You hate people who are smarter than you and it's pathetic. There's always going to be someone more intelligent than yourself, it's life, yet you can't handle it! A Muggle woman, called Margaret Fuller, in the early 1800s once said 'If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.' and that is something you have never done! I love to help people if they come to me and ask, you, on the other hand, would probably say yes, but then feed them absolute bullshit information. To make matters worse, you don't learn anything! No, you just copy and paste information from a book into your essays and exams. That shows that you don't know anything other than remembering work that isn't yours! I don't know how you've gotten away with it, but it's your education so I don't really give a damn because all your doing is screwing yourself over." Before he knew it, he felt his neck snapping to the right, a stinging sensation crawled across his cheek like knives. She had slapped him. Her face red with anger as her arm remained in the air from hitting him. Damien could taste a metallic substance and realised he'd bit his cheek and lip. Damien smirked, "You're pathetic." That said and done, he abruptly turned on his heel and walked away with his head high and making sure his footsteps echoed loudly before the onlookers would start speaking again.
From then on, Hermione and Ron were just told to keep an eye on the youth and not interact more than they would any other Slytherin.
Then there was Ginny. Dumbledore had wanted her to pursue Damien and hopefully become an item. Only she was immediately shot down and Albus had her keeping an eye on Damien like Ron and Hermione:
Damien was walking out of the Great Hall with Draco and the Twins when Ginny grabbed hold of his arm.
"Damien," Her eyes fluttered quickly as she drawled his name out in what she believed was a seductive tone…it was the opposite, fighting back the urge to retch, Damien lifted an eyebrow,
"Yes, Ginevra?" She pouted,
"Don't call me that, it's Ginny!" Tightening her grasp on his arm, she leaned in close, "Be my boyfriend." It was a demand, not a question. Damien tried to shake her off,
"I'm afraid I must decline."
"No! I want you."
"Well, I don't want you." Before he could do or say anything else, she grabbed him by the chin and forced his lips to hers, in Damien's shock, she slipped him the tongue. When the dark-haired boy realised what was going on his green eyes widened almost comically and he hastily bit her tongue. She shrieked but released him. Damien scrubbed his sleeve over his lips.
"You vile bitch." Draco snarled before smacking…his lips against Damien's. The kiss was full of hot, sexy, passion. Whistles filled the air and Damien could've sworn he heard a 'get a room'. "Now that is how you kiss a Riddle." He smirked before turning and glaring at the red-headed girl, "Don't you ever touch my boyfriend again you blood traitor." With a quick glance at the Twins in an apology, to which they just waved it off.
—LINE BREAK—
It was the end of September when Damien finally got a response from Sirius and Remus. The wait had gradually been eating away at him, so when he saw the letters he had to refrain himself from screaming in relief. Despite what was in the letter, they had to care enough to respond, surely?
Dear Damien/Harry/Prongslet/Cub,
No matter what your name is, you'll always be mine and Remus' cub.
Truth be told we weren't all that surprised to learn that you weren't biologically Lily and James' son. Thing is we were always quite suspicious of your parents.
You see, when we finally got to meet you, Remus' nose picked up an odd scent from you, which led us to think you weren't biologically theirs.
Either way, we loved and still love you and whilst we may not be your real godfathers, we will still act like them.
Plus it would be extremely hypocritical of me -Snuffles- to judge you for your family.
Now we have to be honest.
When we got your letter, I -Snuffles- did blow up, slightly… which is why you didn't receive a reply immediately. Once I had calmed down, Remus and I spoke with Narcissa -she's my cousin- and organised a meeting with Voldemort your father.
Surprisingly, it went…well. We learned a lot in fact -Remus was over the moon, haha- and we agree with his plans. What I'm getting at, is should a war start, we will fight with you, Damien. Dumbledore's an old fool, who wants to be seen as a god when clearly he isn't.
Anyway, we will hopefully see you over the holidays, you can come over anytime. Tom's given Remus a cottage, will send you a coded message with more information though! Can't have any nosy nuisances learning of it!
Also, Tom has promised to prove my innocence! Yay!
Love from
Snuffles and Remus.
Damien's face broke out into a large grin as he read the letter, he was so happy!
—LINE BREAK—
One night nearing the end of November, something strange and painful happened. Damien had gone to sleep when the next thing he knew he was there, watching as Azkaban was broken open, watching as Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastian Lestrange along with several others escaped. The next day it was in the Daily Prophet and Damien thought nothing of it, maybe he had somehow seen a copy of the Prophet before falling asleep and it had briefly mentioned something going on at Azkaban. At least that's what he thought until he read the articles and realised…that Bellatrix Lestrange was the only mentioned escapee. Thinking back, Damien could recall the summer before fourth year, where he kept seeing things from Nagini's point of view. Eyes widened as he realised the extent of his connection with his father.
—CURRENT TIME/LINE BREAK—
Damien sighed softly to himself, a content smile painted his lips. Only two days until he got to go home. He'd be having his first Christmas surrounded by his family. A Christmas that wasn't at Hogwarts. A Christmas where he wasn't forced to watch as Dudley opened his many many gifts. It would be a Christmas where he was loved. One where nothing could go wrong…or at least one he would never forget.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Hours later, he woke up with a silent scream. Scrambling out of his bed, the sweaty boy threw on his invisibility cloak, grabbed the Marauders Map and raced off to the Gryffindors Tower. Damien had been given the password by Fred and George, so he could easily sneak in, racing up to the dorm room the twins occupied.
"Fred." He whispered loudly, shaking the older twin.
"Dami? What are you doing?" Fred asked sleepily,
"I…your dad…he's been attacked!" That got his attention, quickly waking George up they went down to the empty common room.
"What do you mean?"
"I saw it, I…I was there. He got attacked guarding something in the Ministry." Damien stammered, "Please you have to tell someone, I…I don't think he'll make it unless…unless someone goes quickly!" Fred nodded to George, who stayed comforting the shaken boy, whilst Fred ran off to tell Minerva, who got Dumbledore. Fred told the old man a lie, saying he had a bad feeling and overheard someone saying something about an attack on the Ministry. It worked. Mr Weasley was alright but in a wheelchair for a little bit.
Authors Notes: This was like a recap sort of chapter because I wanted to get to the Christmas holidays, so I hope you don't mind this somewhat fast chapter of everything that happened from September to December.
Also, I know in canon the Azkaban break out isn't until after Christmas, but for the sake of the next few chapters, I changed it to now.
Thank you so much for your reviews on chapter 7:
vangogh32 -Thank you for the review, he'll find out soon...like maybe chapter 11...or 12.
MirrorFlower and DarkWind -Thank you! Glad you like it
Gurgaraneth -Hope this is alright with the Remus/Sirius bit. I wouldn't be looking forward to Draco finding out if I was you...mwah haha!
kirsty21 -Thank you
BisexualKitsunr -Glad you like that ship lol. OMG thank you, you're too kind!
and lilyflower101 -Haha, he probably can't!
Anyway,
Thank you for reading,
Hope you enjoyed,
Please review,
No hate,
Bye~