What if He had a Choice?

Talons

With Lucius gone for a few days, Tom could then focus on doing the next step of his plan. After all, he could not do much if he had no followers. His first target, the Malfoy boy. The Malfoy was his target for a variety of reasons, only one of which was that any descendant of Abraxis was worthy of his basic attention at the very least. Not to mention he would say that perhaps he was just a little bit curious. The boy had noticed who he was instantly, and despite that had not shirked around anything. Just as a Malfoy would not. He was most certainly interesting to Tom, and he would be the ideal follower, the head of his following, just as Abraxas was in Tom's years of school. Such was the Malfoy bloodline he supposed. Abraxas had been brilliant in his own right, and he knew that Draco would be as well, he could practically sense it. Who would he be if he passed up the opportunity to sink his claws into the younger Malfoy? 

Besides, it was perfect leverage against the other members of the Malfoy entourage. After all, it was very obvious that the elder Malfoy cared for his son, despite what the outsider may believe. here were definitely some...complications on that end, but in the end, Draco was also the sole heir to the Malfoy blood line. There was not much that Lucius would not do to protect him. Whether that was just because the boy was the only heir that the Malfoys had, or because the elder Malfoy actively cared for his son more then that, Tom did not particularly care. It was still good leverage either way, no matter what Lucius' reasons were for protecting the youngest family member. Furthermore, Draco was useful. In many ways, but particularly his intelligence, and his power.

His power...Tom could feel that from a mile away. The boy was restrained in his ability, and his power, but it was there. Lurking, just under the surface of his skin. Something that Tom often found himself having to calm around. After all, magic was dangerous, but especially if it went untamed. He had a bad feeling that Lucius was trying to tame his son's magic, but magic was not something that was naturally tamable. It needed to be released, hence why magical accidents happen when all that magic has nowhere to go. Though perhaps it was that young Draco already knew it, and that was why he was currently as of now still in the library, training himself. 

Without Lucius' permission. Which was ye another thing that Tom found interesting. He would have to ask, either Draco or the elder Malfoy, as he was somewhat confused about that. All the wealth of knowledge within the malfoy library, and it would seem some of it was constricted and forbidden to the heir of the family lineage. Tom simple could not understand that. Perhaps there was reasons for it, but Draco would be more the capable of flourishing in the Dark Arts, especially with the wealth of untapped potential. 

It was not often Tom found someone that he saw himself in, and if he were to choose, he would not expect it to be in the youngest Malfoy boy. After all, they had vastly different upbringings. The name of the Malfoy line suggests power and prestige, something that his name, Riddle, simply does not. Yet, Tom could not help but begin to draw such comparisons either way. Seeing the Malfoy boy look up but a moment from the stack of books that he had laid on the table just enough to smile at him, before returning to his self implemented study session. 

The similarities were there, and Tom simply could not help but draw them. From the thirst for more and more knowledge, forbidden to him or otherwise, to the desire to practice the arts leaning into far darker territory then is strictly acceptable to societal standards, and then there was the sheer wealth of power. Tom could sense it, only a moron would not be able to feel the power waving off of this boy. His quite mind, calculating nature, and the similarities simply kept coming. 

It left Tom...enthralled with the boy. He wanted to know more, and desired to understand the boy more and more, the interesting continuing to raise with every meeting that Tom had with him, and with every conversation that he held with the other. His mind fascinated Tom, and that was the majority of what Tom wanted to unravel. To figure out, to extrapolate and figure out how it is that it worked. 

The Malfoys were just extraordinary, and Draco was unlucky enough to be born within a family lineage that Tom was fascinated over. Though he felt that perhaps it was less the bloodline and more the inherent genius that tended to tap into them all, generation after generation. 

Tom sat down on the other side of the table, casually grabbed the side stack of books that Draco had piled to his right. Tom had studied with the boy enough to realize how he worked. Yet another thing that was subject to his fascination, and he typically got bored by now, and yet he had stayed long enough to figure out the boy's quirks and ticks. How he studied, and which side he piled his boks on was merely one of these things. Draco tended to stack the books that he had already read on his right side, and the books he had yet to read on his left. 

It was obvious that he had been here for at least a little while given the amount of books on the right was far larger then the ones on the left. Draco wondered if he was taking full advantage of the fact that his father seemed to avoid the library now that he knew that Tom had taken to making it his home away from home. 

"Interesting topics," Tom muttered, causing Draco to pause, hand lifted above the page of his book, blue eyes dragged upwards towards Tom's own dark charcoal ones. 

"Do you think?"

"Of course," He was studying the basic things that Tom had begun with...

The unforgiveables. 

It seemed the three unforgiveable curses tended to fascinate the both of them. The only difference is that Tom had less resources. 

"It is not..." Tom hushed Draco, silencing the boy before he could continue.

"I happen to know quite..." Tom paused, weighing if he should continue, but in the end he did so, despite his reservations. "Quite a bit about these curses. Should you like me to teach you?" 

Tom saw the shining blue eyes eagerly watching him, and knew he had sunk his talons in. Shallowly, for now.