Keiran Black was a mystery for everyone. He was a silent Slytherin who showed the signs of immense power but he insisted on poor spellwork. He harbored a strong grudge for the Girl-Who-Lived but he ended up as her closest friend. He was supposedly Draco's lost cousin. Keiran thought he had himself all figured out. But then he is more of a mystery than he himself knows. Dark! Harry.

Disclaimer: I am not making money out of this, and this isn't mine, except for the plot and the OC's of course. (Which basically means Violet, Keelan, Cassiopoeia, Scipio and Irina, the last three I haven't introduced yet and probably won't for a while, but they will be in this story.)

A/N: Vote for who you want Keiran to end up with! The poll is on my profile! If there's somebody missing in the list that I put up then please inform me and I'll add the name! And as a follow up: since my friend, irradiation, recommended my story on his story, I'm recommending his too, for all the people who like Star Trek, go look up his 'Of Steaks, Salads and Medical Checkups', the story's complete and the sequel 'dirty plates' is up.

AND NO I DO NOT KNOW WHY CHAPTER 4 AND 5 ARE THE SAME. D8

IDEK WHERE TEH MISSING CHAPTER IS DDD8

WARNING!: this is going to have an angst overload. Gonna be a lot more of those in the future so brace yourselves. But not to worry, though there is a lot of angsty stuff, action is in the future. (around the time that they get, or try to get, the stone )

Living a Lie

The news that two Slytherins had risked their lives in an attempt to rescue Gryffindor's resident know-it-all from a mountain troll travelled around Hogwarts like wildfire. It was unheard of for Slytherins to put their necks on the line just to save a Gryffindor, or any other person for that matter. Slytherins, on principle, stuck mostly to themselves, talking to other houses was rare; saving somebody from another house was a huge shocker. The fact that one of the Slytherins was the famed Girl-Who-Lived gave more publicity to the stunt than it should have had if any normal Slytherin had been the one to do it.

Whispers followed Violet wherever she went. Apologetic smiles and approving nods was what she got from those who just weeks ago, would sneer at her and ridicule her for being sorted in the house of the slimy snakes. The Slytherins on the other hand, who had once favored her with comfortable silences and tolerant smiles, glared at her incessantly and the comfortable silences she spent with them now became tense and strained.

It turns out that it was only Keiran's presence that was keeping them from antagonizing her, and now that Keiran was so conveniently disposed in the Hospital wing, and all evidence pointed that it was her fault, they went all out with their snarls and veiled insults. The worst part was that Violet couldn't exactly say that she didn't deserve that treatment. She felt very guilty over it all. Especially now, as she sat by Keiran's bed and noticed just how extremely pale and fragile he looked against those powdery white sheets. He had braces on his torso to keep him from making any unnecessary movement as the bones of his ribs and spine healed, and he looked nothing more than a puppet only held together by those strange contraptions.

He hadn't opened his eyes once throughout the seven days that he had been there. He was practically covered all over in bandages and swimming in the sheer number of potions, that Madam Pomfrey forced down his throat. She'd placed him in a healing sleep, all the while murmuring that if they'd brought him just minutes late, the damage to the boys' spinal column would have been irreversible. Hermione's hit on Keiran's back was extremely lucky, any higher and he could have died, any lower and he could have been paralyzed. He'd come so close to never opening his eyes again, and it had all been Violet's fault.

If she'd just listened to him and hadn't dragged him along in her willy-nilly adventures, then maybe he wouldn't be hurt. Maybe, but this was no time for maybe's. He'd been the only one to fully accept her, aside from Theo of course, but Keiran was the first one who did. He'd become the very first friend that she had and now look where that brought him. Right now, she was sitting by what could have been his deathbed and wished that he would open his eyes and tell her that he was alright. But she was dreading it too, dreading that the moment he opened his eyes she wouldn't see the warm blue pools they always were but the icy ones that head pierced her on their first night here.

Violet teared up at the thought that Keiran might choose to not be her friend anymore after this, she couldn't blame him though. Merlin, he'd nearly died. She kept repeating that mantra in her head as she gazed forlornly at the first ever friend that she ever had, but it didn't make it any more real. She'd almost lost him, and she just couldn't wrap her head around this. She was only eleven and she shouldn't be dealing with near-death experiences at such a young age.

But then, she thought bitterly, she'd already seen death at the age of one. She abruptly shook her head to clear it from depressing thoughts, and reached out to touch Keiran's hand. Just to assure herself that he was still alive, the warmth that she found there was comforting. The one sign of life in Keiran's way too pallid form, the rise and fall of his chest was to subtle to see, and you'd only notice that he was breathing of you looked hard enough. But this, this was her proof that he was still there, beaten, but alive, and while he slept, she wouldn't release the warm hand in hers.

Living a Lie

Pain was the first thing that Keiran was aware of when he came into consciousness; Waves of cascading pain, worse than any of that that he had ever felt before. It was so painful that he couldn't bring himself to make any coherent thoughts. With every breath that he made a sharp stab would hit him and he hissed in pain. He wished that he could curl up, fetus style to pretend that there wasn't any pain, but he was held down by something which felt like a cage made by cold metal.

Had he been captured by his enemies? He couldn't remember any sort of interaction would them that could have caused such a predicament. Last he remembered, he was at the feast, and he was enjoying a hearty dinner. But then…no, there was a troll, and Violet was there. Keiran snapped his eyes open at his and immediately groaned as the light immediately attacked his tender eyes.

"Keiran! Wait, hold on Keiran!" a panicked voice said above him. Then there was the sound of running feet and a voice frantically calling for somebody called Madam Pomfrey. Seconds later, the matron was standing over him and waving her wand above him in complicated patterns while muttering indiscernible words under her breath. Keiran's eyes quickly adjusted to the light after he had blinked several times and he now watched as Madam Pomfrey nodded and bustled off again, muttering about pain potions.

His mind couldn't register what the nurse had done, but it did give him a jolt when a familiar bushy brown head leaned over him. Granger looked paler than she ever had before, and her hair was frizzier than usual, but aside from a few scratches on her cheeks and bruises on her arms, she looked fine.

"Are you alright, Keiran?" she asked in concern, but before he could answer her, she began speaking again, "Of course you're not alright! Why am I even asking? Oh Keiran, don't move!" she shrieked when he tried to raise his head. "You might strain your muscles! Madam Pomfrey said that your spinal cord was hit and I searched it in the library and you really shouldn't be…"

Her shrill voice was starting to make Keiran's head hurt, she wasn't helping to ease the soreness he was feeling or the dull ache at his back. He was saved from having to reprimand her when Madam Pomfrey returned with a tray filled with potions and a disapproving expression.

"That's enough Ms. Granger, you're parents are waiting outside." The matron snapped and Granger's face reddened when she realized that she had been babbling.

"I'm sorry about that." She murmured, bowing her head so her bushy hair covered her eyes, and then she slipped out of the ward. Keiran turned his attention to the mediwitch fussing over him. She took a foreboding-looking potion from the tray and Keiran eyed it warily.

"It's for the pain." She told him snootily when she saw his expression. Keiran hesitated for a moment, but then, another shoot of pain travelled up his spine, so he grabbed the vial immediately. He gulped it down and grimaced at the horrible taste it left in his mouth, but he didn't complain, he'd do anything to get rid of the pain. Thankfully, the pain did begin to dull till there was only a faint tingling left in its wake.

Madam Pomfrey made him drink several other potions before she nodded her head in approval, told him to go to sleep and bustled out. Keiran sighed and settled back down under the covers. Happy that the pain had numbed somewhat but still rather confused. Why were Grangers parents here? Weren't they muggles? What happened to Violet? He remembered protecting her, but he couldn't remember what happened after that.

But the most important question that was nagging his mind was whether or not his father had succeeded in his task. Was Father back in his body yet? Was he safe back in the manor? Or had he been caught and thrown in Azkaban? Keiran didn't know. Granger had told him that he'd been out for several days. Just what did he miss?

He contemplated turning into a phoenix and going out in search for his father. But then, the metal contraption holding him down wouldn't budge. In the end, he was too tired from his attempts to escape and by thinking too much that he fell in a restless sleep.

Living a Lie

The next time that Keiran woke up, it was dark. The silence around him was absolute, and no sound reached his ears, except for the soft breathing of the person watching over him.

"Father?"

Said man leaned out of the shadows and regarded Keiran with his scarlet eyes, but he did not speak. From the blank expression on his face, Keiran couldn't decipher what he was feeling. Was he angry of what he'd done? The faint twanging of his scar told him that his Father was feeling something very intense at the moment, but what that was, Keiran couldn't know without fully bringing down his occlumency shields and adding a little bit more pain to the discomfort he was feeling now.

"Are you wearing the locket?" Voldemort said sharply, startling Keiran from his worried trance.

Keiran nodded, but stopped quickly when his head began to throb because of it. He felt incredibly hurt that Voldemort was asking for him to return the locket, but he closed off his hurt behind his occlumency shields. He reached gingerly under the folds of the pajamas that the matron had fitted into him. He pulled the chain over his head and handed the locket over to his Father, all the while wondering if Voldemort had decided that he wasn't fit enough to carry a horcrux of his.

"Have you learned how to open it?" Voldemort asked, rubbing the "S" pattern on the locket with his thumb while eyeing Keiran critically.

"No, Father. I didn't think it would be proper." Keiran mumbled, hoping his inaction hadn't been a mistake on his part.

"Open." Voldemort hissed. The locket swung open with a soft hiss. Keiran peered in the locket and barely stifled a gasp when he saw a handsome young teenage boy, only a few years older than himself, looking up at him from the locket. He immediately knew who it was, he'd had enough experience of his Mother cooing over how much he looked like his father when he was young, and this man looked just like him, only, the face was thinner, the eyes were colder and the hair was much more tamed than his.

Locket Voldemort seemed to stutter at the verge of speech when he saw who was holding him, but then he regained his composure immediately, a cold calculating look taking over his face.

"Are you…me?" were the first words that the locket said. Keiran could understand the locket Voldemort's hesitation in making that statement. It just sounded silly.

"Yes." Voldemort acquiesced, tilting his head to the side while his eyes narrowed, as if he was challenging his younger self to comment on his physical appearance. Locket Voldemort didn't take the bait.

"Why have you opened the locket? There is no need to resurrect us, is there?" Locket Voldemort's tone was one Keiran had never heard from his father in a long time. It was curt, straightforward and unemotional, much like the Voldemort he had had when he was a child.

"I wanted to introduce someone very important." Voldemort said. Keiran sneaked a glance at his Father's smile before he glanced quickly away, cursing himself as he felt a blush coming to his cheeks. But he couldn't hide his blush for long as Voldemort had handed the locket back to him. Locket Voldemort eyed the blush on Keiran's face disapprovingly, but otherwise, didn't waver from his stony expression. Keiran had to admire his younger father's acting skills. A person would be blind not to notice the similarities between them. Only a slight compulsion charm on him prevented the people from making the connection between Keiran and Tom Riddle.

"Who are you?" Locket Voldemort demanded with an authoritative tone of voice, and Keiran couldn't help but smirk, he could see where Keelan got his bossiness from.

"I am Keiran, Keiran Erebus…" Keiran hesitated for a moment and glanced at his Father for confirmation. At Voldemort's nod, Keiran turned back to the locket, "Riddle. Your son and heir."

Locket Voldemorts jaw dropped open in shock. Whatever the man had been expecting, may that be cousin, apprentice or what not, it definitely had not been something as severe as SON. Keiran had never seen his father lose his composure before, and this chance was such a rare treat he just had to savor the dumbfounded expression on Locket Voldemorts face. Unable to keep his face straight anymore, Keiran grinned, even as another wave of pain sot up his body, he was getting used to the pain already.

"What? How? WHO?" Locket Voldemort managed to warble out after staring intensely at Keiran. The shock must have been so severe to make his normally articulate father begin asking one-word questions. Real time Voldemort found this so amusing and chuckled at his younger counterparts expense, this brought Locket Voldemort out of his stupefied bewilderment and his cold calculating mask returned, not before sending his older counterpart a venom filled glare though.

"What is the meaning of this?" Locket Voldemort demanded in (subdued?) alarm. He threw all his attention to the real Voldemort as if he thought that if he ignored Keiran long enough he'd turn out to just be an illusion. Rather than being hurt by being ignored, Keiran actually found it rather amusing, and used his amusement to keep his mind away from the pain which grew the longer he stayed awake.

"Bellatrix is his mother. We have two other children, Kiara and Keelan, but as Keiran is the oldest, he is our heir." Voldemort allowed this to sink into his younger self before he continued with his explanation. "As such, I've entrusted you to him." Locket Voldemort opened his mouth as if to complain but he was silenced by an intense glare from his red-eyed counterpart, "He will protect you, I have faith in his skills. Originally, it was just going to be a one-sided relationship between you two, but because of recent developments, as you can see." Voldemort said, motioning towards Keiran's injured form. "Our son has been injured and I am forced to give you a job."

"Quit rambling and tell me want you want already!" Locket Voldemort hissed, having reached the end oh his patience already.

"Fine." Voldemort sighed, rubbing his temples. "I forgot that I was this temperamental before." This comment earned an enraged snarl from the portrait, but Locket Tom did get the message and toned down his lethal glare and did his best to return to his former icy expression but couldn't quite manage it, not after an emotional upheaval like that.

"Your job is simple. You are to guide him, act on my behalf when he can't reach me, and alert me if he is in danger. That is all."

"What are we getting from this?" Locket Voldemort demanded, displeased.

"He is our son." Voldemort stated, before he stood up and handed the locket back to Keiran.

"I have to go. Madame Pomfrey is going to do one of her rounds soon." He said, closing the locket in Keirans fist and squeezing it.

"Never take this off."

And just like that he was gone, and though Keirans back was hurting him like hell Keiran couldn't help but feel incredibly happy. It was rare when his father showed him emotions, and this time he showed that he cared.

He opened the locket again and smiled down at the miniature Voldemort.

"I don't like you." Locket Voldemort said.

Keiran closed the locket in response.

Living a Lie

A/N: i haven't updated in forever. i should just go die. Or write a lengthier much more interesting chapter. IDK what to do anymore.