What if He had a Choice?

The 1st Curse

He paused...contemplative. The boy was not...hopeless. To be fair, he was scarcely turning thirteen. He managed to perform the curse, as was expected of a Malfoy who was as powerful as he sensed from Draco. He did not, however, manage to hold the spell. That was perfectly fine, as the fact that he managed to even cast the spell at such a young age was more than what Tom was banking on. of course, the Malfoys were notoriously good at Dark Magic, so he supposed he should not have second guessed the boy's capabilities. It was quite impressive, and Tom was quite sure that with relatively regular practice, the boy would be capable of mastering the curse, despite being so young. He let a small smile curve on his lips. 

They had practice for a few hours. Continuing the routine for the last two weeks. Draco seemed to have a great inclination to the arts, which made Lucius' desperate attempts to keep him from practicing all the more suspicious to him. He would have to figure out what it was that kept Lucius from allowing Draco the study into the arts. It was rather...frustrating, that he did not know. He knew that Draco had more knowledge on the subject then what he was willing to broach, which was fine, for now. Once he managed to extract the boy's loyalty from his father to himself, it would be nothing. How he longed for that time to come more swiftly. 

Unfortunately something like extracting the loyalty of a son from his father was a slow, and a steady, progress. It could not be hastened. He needed to take this slow. Which was why he spent that horrible time attempting to remove Dumbledore from office. Which was now successful. With Dumbledore no longer a headmaster, it opened far more avenues that he could explore. 

He breathed out, leaning back on the chair he was sitting at. Lucius was heading to his old family home, to clean it up. He wanted to know how much Lucius knew of his past self, this would be helpful in doing so. Though, he doubted that Lucius knew too much, that would have been Abraxas. 

The school started in less than two weeks, and he had done enough setting of groundwork for him not to really have to worry about his past being truly discovered, well, the past that he wanted them to find would be easy, but his true self....less though. He was making ground with Malfoy boy, who now trusted him, somewhat, and the two were becoming something like these...friends, similar to how he had been with Abraxas. It was nice to have someone he could count on once more. Even if they were a couple years younger than he was. Abraxas had been a few years older. He found the roles reversed, something which was slightly amusing to him. 

"What a fascinating thought." He muttered under his breath. 

If he kept up the pace he was with the Malfoy boy, he would be under his wing, which would be just in time for them to head to Hogwarts. He was curious about this Severus fellow. Lucius, was capable, but had a slight temper. Someone who had become friends with the elder Malfoy...and even to the point where they had been made Draco's godfather, despite not being a pureblood, had to have a very strong connection. Furthermore, he had heard the way Malfoy defended the halfblood. 

They were friends. Though Tom was curious about more than that. He wanted to see just how much Hogwarts had changed. He was also curious about this Potter person that Draco seemed to dislike so much. This would be a rather fascinating time for him, he knew. Restarting himself in fifth year. It was...ironic in a way. At the very least, he could find some sort of fun. 

He heard soft footfalls slowly enter the library. He gave a small smirk, there was only one person that it would be. It was the same person that it had always been whenever Tom was in this library. 

Draco Malfoy. 

The boy seemed a bit nervous. Tom would say that, he could tell that, from the slight tremble to his fingers and the wide iris in his eyes. Tom leaned back in the chair, staring at the boy with his head tilted slightly to the left. 

"Yes, Draco?" He asked, his voice coming out calm and collected. He was the Dark Lord, the boy was bound to be nervous of him, but he needed to lessen this nervousness, and change it, mold it into more dependency, rather than fear. Although a healthy mix never hurt anyone, at least...not for him. 

"I...I got it." Draco licked his lips, averting his gaze to the side. Tom sat straight up now, his dark eyes glittering with excitement. 

"Have you? Are you certain?" He asked, his voice soft, lightly touching the syllables at the end, bringing a softer edge to it, but all the more dangerous. It was both a reminder, and a warning. 

After all, Tom was not one to deal with false comments of ability. It was rather frustrating, and he most certainly found it...pitiful. After all, your words have to match your ability. It does nobody any good except your enemies if your level of skill is less than what you boast. There was the possibility that the Malfoy boy could be lying to him. After all, though he had been maintaining steady progress over the last two weeks with the Imperius, something which Tom was quite gladdened to see, there was always complications with the curse. Furthermore, he was so young. Tom, once he had began his studies, did develop the ability to use the curses quite quickly, but Draco was not him, and even though two weeks is a rather short time period, he also has other limiting factors. That being, they could not practice as much, and Draco had not really been introduced to the darker side of magic before. If Draco was in fact, capable of it, of course he would be rewarded, and it did not seem as though he was lying. Then again, Draco was also one who wished to please him, it would not do for him to lie about his ability to perform the curse, knowing that Tom would have him cast it before his own self. 

He did notice that the other's magic was more settled, and controlled than it had been when he had first laid eyes on the young heir. This was good. It showed that these studying sessions and practical lessons were doing him good. This heartened him. Though it made him more than a little annoyed with Lucius. The elder man would have much to answer  for when he returned, something that he was looking forwards to, and he most certainly would ensure that Lucius remembered. 

"Well then," Tom said as Draco nodded shyly. He summoned a rabbit, instead of going out to the forest this time. For one, it was cold and Tom did not want to be freezing in his own skin, and for two it was more problematic to get Draco outside. Lucius had wards which would warn him should he step foot out of the mansion past dusk. Something which was...annoying more often than not. He did not question why it was there, he already knew, and it made him...Tom shook his thoughts around to focus on what he was dealing with at the current moment. Distractions were useless. 

Draco took a deep breath, and with a slight whisper he said "Imperio", and a green light emitted from his wand, the bunny's eyes glazed over...

As it would turn out, not only could Draco case the curse, but he could hold it now as well. This would, of course, be more difficult with more complex creatures, for instance a human, but the ground work and the foundation were already there. 

This was...absolutely brilliant. Next...Next was the Cruciatus.