What if He had a Choice?

67

"I think a bracelet would be perfect," Tom said smoothly, leaning back in his chair. "Have you procured it yet, or are we to wait?" Draco flushed again.

"Well, I don't have it...yet!" He said, eyes shining now at the attention. "I did have an order sent though, so it should come soon enough...and then...then we can...can..."

"Yes," Tom assured smoothly. "I will teach you what to do. Have no fear of that." He fell back into silence, hushing Draco when the other tried to speak. There was many things to think of, and he needed silence in order to do it. In order to avoid angering the boy, he ensured he ran his fingers through his hair. There was a lot to do, not much time to do it in, and there was other issues as well. For instance, if that woman continued to push an investigation, things could get tricky. He did not need any extra eyes on what he was doing, much less Lucius, considering he was using the man to do what he did not want to do, or could not risk getting into trouble doing.

Furthermore, if there was an investigation on the man, and he was found guilty-unlikely but still a possibility, there was the chance that his insistence Dumbledore be fired would be rescinded. That was not something he wanted or needed, and he was definitely not going to allow his project's frailty to dampen his plans. Lucius had played the caring father card. Most saw him as exactly that. Draco's boggart, whilst unfortunate, could be twisted to make sense. He would need to think on it.

"You can go to the Headmistress tomorrow, not now." Tom tilted his head to the side. "Would you like to tell me everything you have learned? I am sure you worked very hard, my dear." Draco lit up, eyes sparkling as he went on long tangents about the contents of the book. Tom already knew it all, but hearing his pet talk about what excited him was just an easy way to get his adoration that he couldn't not give him the chance to do so. The boy needed attention, and quite a bit of it too, else he thought he did something wrong. Lucius' doing, no doubt.

Tom tapped his finger against his lips. He would need to figure out how to dispose of Lucius once he no longer served his purpose. As long as Draco tried to vie for his father's innocence, even if there is an investigation, if Lucius can get away with it, it would not be too hard to stage something later on. Tom doubted he would even need to stage anything. Lucius was quite cruel when he wanted to be. It was a positive, and a drawback at the same time. He could not decide which he preferred.

"Tomorrow, when you speak with the Headmistress, do be sure to be careful how you talk. She is a gryffindor, and I am sure you know how they take everything at face value." Draco grumbled lowly, something about Potter and his gang. Tom smiled. It was well known how much Draco disliked Potter and from what he could gather, it was not an uncommon sentiment. Particularly among the Slytherins. However, his reputation had taken a rather large dent after last year. Thanks to his little snake, and himself of course. With the girl lost, and Tom here, and Dumbledore gone...well things were working quite well for him for now.

He just needed Lucius to break the warding on the Gaunt house. He had to figure out whether he had gone through with his plan or not. Not to mention, he intended to restore the SLytherin family home. Maybe not immediately, or perfectly, but he did intend to do it. How, he was not sure, but he was certain Lucius would pay for it. He really needed to go through more information. He knew Morfin was alive, but was he still around...did he actually succeed in getting the man into Azkaban. He needed to figure out who was his allies, and who were not...

It was rather unfortuante most of his staunch supporters seemed to have gotten themselves landed in prison...

No matter.

He would just break them out.