What if He had a Choice?

Headed Home

"That bastard did WHAT?" Pansy screeched in the early morning. Zabini, Malfoy, and Theodore, as well as Tom though unseen to the others, flinched at the high pitched sound. 

"Pansy," Zabini breathed softly, trying to calm her.

"No, do not even try." She seethed turning on Blaise within a second. "Or have you forgotten what happened in the early 1970s, and the whole reason that the law was put into place?" She asked, dark eyes glaring at Blaise. Blaise raised his hands, mimicking his surrender. Tom was curious, though. He was curious what had happened for the Council to decide that such a law prohibiting Dumbledore from entering the common rooms without the head of house present. It surely must have been something utterly...scandalous. Dumbledore may not have had the prestige that he had now back in the 1970s, but the man was highly influential even in the 1940s, and by the looks of things that had increased drastically, not decreased. 

"Of course not." Draco snapped, eyes flashing. If Tom were to guess, he would assume that this was personal on the Malfoy boy's part. Perhaps he knew a person who was related to the incident? Or, perhaps this law had helped him escape Dumbledore's wrath. To be honest, it was likely both.

"Then why..." 

"Enough," Theodore now, spoke effectively silencing everyone with the combined weight of his words and the Malfoy heir's. "Pansy, do not try to turn this on us. We forced Dumbledore to leave as soon as possible, and Blaise has already sent a letter to his father. Draco will be speaking with his father in but a few hours, a few days at most about the incident as well, and I will speak to my own. This may not be enough to throw Dumbledore out of Hogwarts, but it will do much to damage his reputation. That is certain. I am surprised that he managed to salvage it as well as he had during the 70s." Theodore was clearly not happy about that either. 

"Well, in the 1970s, I was not around." Draco seethed. "Of course, father was not in the position that he is currently either, and Grandfather can only do so much with the reign that he had back then. Slytherin had increased our influence exponentially. The old bastard will have a much more difficult time getting away this time." Tom would say, it was obvious that Dumbledore had offended Draco on a personal level. How interesting. 

"Draco," Pansy seemed cowed now, worry clouding her eyes. "The evil old man did not do anything untowards to you, right?" Tom jolted, staring with wide eyes at the boy. 

He may not know the Malfoy boy well, but he was respectable, and polite, and had saved Tom multiple times now. Still. Tom liked to think of the Malfoy boy as his. Really, why should he not? The child had helped him multiple times, and severed him, had so willingly placed himself under Tom's rule...It was a rather intoxicating feeling. One which he did not intend to loose anytime soon. The boy was his. His. Dumbledore...should he dare try to take Draco from him...would find that it would be much more difficult than before, before when Tom had been naive and but a mere teenager with nothing to own and nowhere to go. 

"No, of course not." Draco said dismissive. "He would not dare." Though Draco's words seemed to placate his classmates, Tom simply narrowed his eyes. He would figure things out soon enough, whether Draco was a willing recipient of his obtaining the truth, or not. 

"The point..." Blaise cut in. "Is that Dumbledore dared to directly disobey a law from the Council.  This is something that we can take advantage of. Especially now since Potter is of the opinion that the Dark Lord killed that blood traitor." Draco bit his lower lip. Tom noticed nervousness present in the twitching of his fingers, slightly, barely noticeable, and quickly contained. 

"The old man is taking Potter's side. With no evidence, however, it will become increasingly difficult for either to really prove anything. Taking Potter's memories proves useless given the fact that he was half dead and he is incredibly susceptible to mind magicks. With nothing else to prove that the Dark Lord was the one who killed that Weasley girl, soon...we can use this to our advantage." Draco muttered softly, voice quiet, and contemplative. 

"How so?" Pansy asked, eyes narrowing in on Draco.

"Well, think about it. Potter is outright convinced that the Dark Lord is wandering around alive. Yet, the book that he supposedly emerged from is gone, the Basilisk is still alive-curtesy of much healing-that Weasley girl cannot provide testament, the blood traitor boy and the Professor, neither went with Potter, nor did either see anyone but Potter exit the cave. Not to mention, with everyone so willing to believe that the Dark Lord is gone and gone for good, there is no way anyone will believe what he says. Unless they are under Dumbledore, and even then, it can be kind of tricky." Draco paused, humming softly, as he contemplated his next words very carefully before speaking on them. "Dumbledore, as we all know, is the reason for the law which was put into effect by the Council in the 1970s. He then breaks that law shortly after the Weasley girl's death, coming into the Slytherin Common Room, and not only that, but the second year dorms armed and having already used limited magic. It could be seen as threatening. Furthermore with him backing Potter up and yet having no evidence to actually prove anything, we could easily turn this around on Dumbledore. Everything could be turned around on Dumbledore."

Tom saw where Draco was going, but...even if he had not been hidden from the boy's year-mates he would not have interrupted, curious as to how the blonde's brain was fast connecting lines together to weave a story. 

"First, the Weasley girl had been acting odd lately, then with the attacks of the other students, only two people who currently reside at Hogwarts had been there when the Chamber was opened the first time. The half breed, and the old man. Both of them currently work here as well. Furthermore, no attempts were truly taken in securing the school, or the students, other than a verbal warning to the students. Which, in all reality, does nothing. Not to mention, the Weasley girl dies, Potter makes baseless, unfounded claims, the other blood traitor and useless professor are not even capable of backing him up, so nobody really knows what happens. Next thing anyone knows, after Potter is in the medical wing, the old man sneaks into the Slytherin Common Room without alerting the Head of House, comes into the Second Year dorms, and who knows what would have happened had we all woken up." 

Tom would have to praise the boy, this was actually quite entertaining, a smile slowly etching its way onto his face. The boy was a mere second year and yet he was proving himself useful to Tom more and more by the moment.

"Given his questionable background, I think it would be incredibly easy to claim that a few of the Slytherin second years had been the witness of something horrible which the old man had done, and Dumbledore had snuck into the 2nd year dorms to quiet them." 

Oh, the boy was quite pragmatic. Tom liked him. He generally liked Malfoys, with Abraxas, and Abraxas' father, and now this boy...perhaps it was just the lineage that he favored. Either way, there was no way that he could possibly allow the boy to escape his clutches now. No, Tom liked pretty things, and he liked useful things. This blonde was both very attractive and useful. Not that Tom would do anything...of an intimate nature...the child was far too young for that. only 3 years younger than himself, but Tom would prefer to wait for the boy to enter his early teen years at least before such things happened. Tom also had many other things he would need to sort out. Finding out his previous followers, figuring out what his older self had done and where he had gone wrong, and amassing a new following. One which he could be certain would be loyal only to him.

Malfoy, Tom knew, would potentially be the most important person he could view. Not that he enjoyed having to so heavily rely on another, and Tom would have to make sure that Draco realized that he was not to be messed with, though how he would go about that would entirely determine on Draco's behaviors. He needed to know the boy more to be able to cultivate his psychological mindset properly. 

It would take time. But they had time. In the meanwhile, the Train was going to be here soon, and Draco was to introduce him to his father...the current Head of the Malfoy family, Lucius Malfoy...Abraxas' son.