After tending to his injuries, Dawn began cleaning up the scene.
Unlike Voldemort, he needed to delay others from discovering his departure from the school for as long as possible. Some cover-up was necessary.
First, he cast Reparo to restore his wizard robes and any salvageable furniture. Then, with a few more spells, he erased the bloodstains and various lingering odors in the dormitory.
Items too badly damaged to repair were disassembled and packed into his enchanted leather wallet to be taken away.
Soon, the room was tidied up—looking slightly emptier than before, but not suspiciously so.
....
Afterward, Dawn didn't leave right away. Instead, he pulled out a roll of parchment he had obtained a long time ago.
The Marauder's Map.
The twins' favorite tool for nocturnal adventures.
Dawn had never imagined that his first time using it would be under circumstances like this.
Pressing his wand to the parchment, he recited, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and watched as the black dots began appearing densely across the map.
He began scanning through every name in the school, hoping to spot either "Tom Riddle" or "Quirinus Quirrell."
Unfortunately, there was nothing.
He pushed aside any questions about why that might be.
Next, he checked the positions of the Headmaster and professors.
Dumbledore was not at the school. Judging by photos in the Daily Prophet, he was likely at the Ministry handling Halloween matters.
The four Heads of House were all gathered in the Great Hall, surrounded by about a dozen other dots.
Because all students had been ordered to remain in their dormitories, Dawn guessed those extra dots must be parents—either complaining after reading the news or trying to take their children home.
Studying the movement of people on the Marauder's Map and recalling what he remembered from the books, Dawn quickly chose the secret passage behind the hunchbacked, one-eyed witch statue that led to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
That would be his way out of the castle.
And…
Perhaps due to Dumbledore's insistence, today's Daily Prophet had not published a single photo of Dawn.
Yes!
Hermione and Harry were both pictured, but not him.
That, too, was an unexpected stroke of luck.
Calculating his next steps carefully, Dawn took out a piece of parchment and wrote down three words: Quirrell, Voldemort, and Blood-Splitting Curse.
He then cast a Disillusionment Charm, slipped through the dormitory door, and locked it again with a spell once he was outside.
The corridor of the Ravenclaw tower was especially quiet.
Even with students confined to their rooms, the Ravenclaws still preferred reading in silence over chatting.
The common room was no different.
When Dawn opened the door, a few students looked up at the sound, but seeing no one there, they simply returned to their books.
Typical Ravenclaws—never ones to meddle.
Before heading to the third floor, Dawn made a detour to the second floor, sliding the parchment with his three words under Professor McGonagall's office door.
He wasn't about to pass up a chance to cause trouble for Voldemort.
That done, he followed the Marauder's Map to the third floor to find the one-eyed witch statue.
At last, in the corridor near Gossmoor, he found it.
Raising his wand, he murmured, °Dissendium°.
The hump on the statue opened, revealing a narrow passage, and Dawn slid down into the darkness.
The stone chute was cold but surprisingly smooth, and the angle was just right—not too steep, not too shallow. There was a strange sense of exhilaration, even addiction, as he glided along.
After a long slide, he landed on damp, soft earth.
He stood up and cast Lumos, lighting the low, narrow tunnel. He walked for a long while before reaching a broken staircase.
Climbing two hundred or so steps, he finally pushed open the trapdoor at the top and emerged into the cellar of Honeydukes.
Though it wasn't a Saturday and Hogwarts students weren't allowed out, business at Honeydukes was still booming.
Taking advantage of the crowd, Dawn used the Disillusionment Charm again and slipped out of the cellar, weaving his way through the bustling customers.
A vibrant village opened up before him.
Hogsmeade—one of the few all-wizarding settlements in Britain—was as lively as ever.
But Dawn wasn't in the mood to admire the view.
With a quick transfiguration spell, he removed the Ravenclaw crest from his robes, turning them into a plain black cloak. Then, pulling up his hood, he ducked into a secluded alley.
Raising his wand, he summoned the Knight Bus.
In no time at all, a triple-decker purple bus squeezed through the narrow street and screeched to a halt in front of him.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transportation for stranded witches and wizards. Just step on board, and we'll take you anywhere you want to go," said a young conductor with a thick London accent, leaning out the door.
"My name's Stan Shunpike, uh… sir—"
His words caught in his throat as he glanced down at the small figure in front of him.
He hesitated, tempted to ask if this boy had snuck out of school.
But before he could speak, Dawn stepped aboard and said in a hoarse, disguised voice, "The Leaky Cauldron."
As they brushed past each other, Stan caught a glimpse of pale, wrinkled skin beneath the hood.
Well… he shrugged. Wizards came in all shapes and appearances, after all.
"Eleven Sickles. Fourteen if you want hot chocolate…"
Stan launched into his usual sales pitch, but Dawn cut him off by tossing over exactly eleven Sickles.
"Oi! Careful!"
Stan fumbled to catch the coins and looked up, ready to complain—but the customer had already retreated to the farthest seat in the back.
"Alright then…" Stan muttered, turning to the driver. "Let's go, Ern!"
With a loud BANG, the Knight Bus jolted forward.
Dawn pressed himself deep into the seat, head lowered so the hood cast his face in shadow, avoiding the gaze of the few other passengers.
When he'd brushed past Stan earlier, he had subtly transfigured the appearance of his facial skin. But this kind of advanced human transfiguration was still difficult for him, and wouldn't last long.
Best not to be seen at all.
Even the act of tossing the coins had been deliberate—to keep his hand, too, hidden from view.
"Heh. I really do look like a stray dog…"
Watching the world blur past outside the window, Dawn gave a bitter little laugh in his mind.
No matter how many reasons or excuses he could come up with, it didn't change the truth.
He had been driven out of Hogwarts by Voldemort.
"Tom Riddle…"
"Tom Riddle…"
Dawn muttered the name softly, fingers curling into fists, nails digging into his palms.
________________
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