What if He had a Choice?

40

He relinquished his hold on Draco's body once it was time for them to head up to bed. Draco frowned, brows furrowed down slightly, but he did not question Tom, merely gave him a small smile before stating that he would wait in the dorm room for him the next day. Something which Tom was glad that the boy remembered, though whether he would abide by such orders when the morning came was a different story. He normally would not test someone like this, and it was such a pitifully simple test at that, but he figured that it was the precise sort of test that his hold over the young Malfoy Heir needed. A test that did not seem all that much like a test.

Typically, Tom would not be going to bed so early, it had barely even reached ten at night, and he knew that he could easily stay up far later. Draco knew this as well, as they had stayed up quite late studying the curses that Tom wished Draco to learn, or even just breathing in each other's space. After all, physical closeness was the first building stones to trust, let alone the fact that Tom could not really justify Draco learning anything other than the Unforgiveable's by himself. Even if they were only practice runs. Magic was unpredicatble, after all, there was no way to tell what would happen. Despite that, this was a different situation, though Tom did fully intend to continue his late night dark magic study sessions with the Malfoy boy, as it was clear that his magic was already far more settled and calmed than when he had first met the boy. Despite that he called himself to bed early, they needed to be well rested for their classes tomorrow, after all. Although there was not really an official curfew in the Slytherin house, or at least, there was not during his time in Slytherin, outside of the mandated no wandering the corridors past nine pm, and to be in the dorm rooms by midnight, everyone tended to go to the dorms early on the first day. This was for various different reasons. The first being that there was an importance on appearance, so most tended to wake incredibly early in order to ensure that there was enough time to prepare themselves for the day.

He moved up to his dorms with the other sixth years, humming to himself softly as he found his bed already decked with his trunk and prepared for him. The spells he had placed on his luggage were enough that he would not have to worry about it being riffled through, or even if it was he would not really have to worry about trying to figure out who had done it. He had placed a myraid amount of charms and hexes on his items, as he normally did. He did not want to take any chances, after all, and it was dangerous for him to leave his things without some form of protection. He had always charmed his things before entering Hogwarts. Typically on the train, or at the very least it was the first thing he did. Granted, at the beginning the charms were not all that complex, but that was because he was going off of some rather limited knowledge. He knew far more now, as a result his charms were not only more complex, but far more powerful as well. Something which was obvious that the other Slytherin's had noticed, considering they had left as much room between their own beds and Tom's as possible, or that could also be related to Draco's revelation, but Tom was not entirely sure which it was. It could be the latter, but he would be more so on the former. Dark Magic tended to ward people away, and he was a rather mystery card at the moment. The only viability that he had was Draco, which would change soon, but for now...he would have to deal with it.

Tom hummed as he pulled the dorm room door closed behind himself, once more one of the last people in the room, but that was not exactly horribly uncommon. He glanced about the room as he noticed the other three sixth years were huddled close together. Whispers floated through their little group, but Tom had never really found himself enjoying gossip. He understood the practicality behind the art, and he knew just how dangerous they could be, but at the same time, he did little to entertain them himself, barring staying up to date in the most recent ones, he never really actively spoke about them, merely acknowledged that the gossip and rumor were there.

Tom continued to hum as he moved through the room to his four square bed, the tune under his breath catching the attention of the other classmates instantly, who all turned to stare at him. It was a mix of wary caution-something Tom enjoyed seeing-and curiosity-something he knew he was bound to be looked at with since Draco's bold proclamation. There was also some underlying emotion, though Tom was not entirely sure what it was. For all that he was good at reading people, he never quite learned the nuances between the emotions.

"I suppose you have something that you wish to say." Tom said idly, dropping down on the mattress of his bed, twirling his wand through his fingers idly as he tilted his head towards the dorm mates of his for the next year. "I would suggest you say whatever it is on your mind, rather than letting it fester." it was a threat, and the Slytherins' clearly caught onto that almost immediately. Tom was glad to see his house had not diminished in the art of passive aggressive threats...or noticing one.

"You and Draco...." Tom glanced towards the person who seemed to be the leader of this little group. His eyes raked over the teenager, before settling once more on his eyes. The others shuddered, clearly knowing what that meant. Assessment of a potential liability, or threat, and it was clear that Tom had not seen anything that he should worry over. It both angered and excited the leader, though not in any way that he could quite explain.

"What of Draco and myself? Hmm?" Tom prompted. "Are you not going to speak further? I think you will find I require a bit more information than what you have given me in order to respond in any which way."