What if He had a Choice?

36

Most of Slytherin were frustrated by this new realization that Draco was favouring a Half-blood, or what they believed to at least be a halfblood, perhaps even a mudblood, but Draco would deal with everyone who questioned his choice later, as for now...now he had some other things to handle. Tom Riddle was...special, to him, something he was certain that the Trio had likely picked up. It was dangerous, he did not want the three trying to corner Tom at all. Whilst he can easily handle everything that would happen inside the Slytherin common room, it was outside that he was worried about. Slytherins would not dare to attack one of their own outside of the dorm room. He would have to handle the Slytherins tonight, though, when they got back to their dorm. Draco knew that this was likely to happen, and he was also aware that Tom was more than capable of handling himself, but he was not sure...He did not want to leave Tom to the mercy of Slytherin anger.

Then again, perhaps he should have thought about that before he sent Crabbe and Goyle down a peg by having Tom sit next to him. Either way, he would deal with the consequences of that himself. It would not do to have Tom have to handle that, particularly since it was Draco's fault that it happened in the first place. Though he supposed it was likely that Tom would have caused trouble by demanding a seat next to him either way. From what he had managed to gather, Tom was quite...peculiar about those sorts of things. Draco also not comfortable with refusing Tom, not yet, at least. Tom Riddle was not just Tom Riddle after all, he was the young version of Lord Voldermort. The sane, and...slightly less crazy version. Though his father would never admit such things aloud, he had heard enough under stories to get the jest of what the Dark Lord had been like in his latter reign before the war ended prematurely. Draco knew these things, but it would not do for most to know that he knew them.

As much as many would think that Draco spoke to his father about all that he knew, Draco held some secrets quite close to his chest. There were certain things that would be best not known, even to his father. Some information was dangerous, and that was something Draco had always known, as such, not many knew everything that he was aware of, and not many would ever know either. As much as he was worried about the Gryffindors, he was going to be more than able to handle his Slytherins with a sense of ease. He knew their mindset, and had the reputation enough, that once he stated his a general reason, and gave a certain look, they would back off instantly. Granted, there would be a little bit of pushback, something that Draco had to be prepared for, but he knew that it would not take long.

He glanced over to where Tom was sitting. The other had not made mention of a single thing, then again, he was not needed to. Nobody really bothered him, nobody wanted to. In some ways, it made sense, considering. Draco had moved someone that they had never really heard of before to his right hand man, at the very minimum, they were intimidated, and at the very least, they did not want to discuss such things outside of the SLytherin common room. Draco doubted any would start a conversation with Tom until Draco handled things, and even then, it was likely that they would be too unnerved to bother doing such.

-

Dinner was tense, something Tom had figured was liable to happen, but nothing that Draco could not handle, and he performed wonderfully, something that Tom was quite happy to see. Draco was quite the character, the actor too, if he was honest. Although the young Malfoy may think otherwise, Tom knew better. He was powerful, more capable in the Dark Arts than he thinks, and quite adept at handling his surroundings. Despite the obvious tension between this generations' Slytherins at Draco pushing away his usual entourage to make room for Draco. It may not seem like that big of a deal to most, but for Slytherin's, that was a rather large blow. Particularly considering Draco's position within the Slytherin hold.

Draco was considered the Prince of Slytherin, as most Malfoy Heirs were known as. Even in Tom's time, Abraxas held the title of the Prince of Slytherin. Granted, he held a title a tad bit above that once his true heritage came out, but Malfoy remained as ever, the Prince. The Malfoys had always been known as such, even over the Blacks. It was what caused a long reigning competition between the two families. Not so much jealousy or hatred over the issue, but it was definitely a position that each generation of Malfoy had to fight for in their own right. Draco was lucky, considering there was no Blacks in his generation, but that did not mean he had it easy coming into the title. It was something that you had to earn, and fight for continually.

This situation would definitely test Draco's ability. Outside of that, he did wonder just how it was that Draco would handle the problem when they returned to the common room. For now, despite the clear inner tensions between the Slytherins, to other Slytherins, the house as a whole was doing quite admirable at putting up a front.

Whilst Tom knew that things would come to a head in about thirty minutes once dinner ended, he found it rather relieving to see that Slytherin had not changed. He wanted to laugh at that, but he did not. It would do nothing to agitate those already agitated. Barring that, he was quite happy that he would not have to worry about dealing with the irritation of a house full of snakes. Had he demanded Draco make room for him, he definitely would have, luckily enough for him, Draco had made the move before anything else.