What if He had a Choice?

Giving Lucius a Task

With Dumbledore out of Hogwarts, it would be Mistress McGonagall who was head of hogwarts, at the very least until a replacement was found. Lucius wanted to know what his plans were for such things, but Tom was not all that sure that he wanted to force McGonagall from the top. Of course, she had been a sympathizer for Dumbledore, right up until his memory had been shown. It was really quite beautiful to see Dumbledore's most faithful ally rally against him. Furthermore, once he ordered Lucius to get more information on the green glad woman, he found out some rather interesting information. While he did not take well to many Gryffindors, he had to say that she was rather admirable in her own right. She had definitely proven herself quite capable, and Tom would say that he had very little problem with her remaining in the position that she was thrust.

Barring perhaps Severus, she was the only one who did not favour the gryffindor students, something which had Tom personally greatful. He needed someone who would not judge based off of heir house or jump to conclusions, this was perfect. While Lucius likely had wished for a Slytherin to enter the headmaster position, and while Tom would agree that would have been quite wonderful, the fact remained that it would be far too suspicious. To go from a Gryffindor to a Slytherin. Tom felt it best to undermine as many potential suspicions as possible, and a person such as McGonagall in the headmaster position would do exactly that. Tom felt that she would, unknowingly of course, be perfect to stop any investigations into his background and history. At least too much.

This was something that was rather important, for though Tom had made concessions, and he had back up plans in place, he would still prefer not to have to use them until they were absolutely necessary. This was a very tension filled time, specifically for him since it was him who would have to deal with the repercussions should things end badly. Though, he did suppose he had subtly threatened the elder Malfoy enough that he know that Tom would ensure that he was not the only one who would suffer. Tom was more then willing to drag the Malfoys down with him if he needed to, but of course he doubted that it would come to that. he had ensured that he had done everything properly. 

"My Lord," Lucius said gently, pulling Tom from his thoughts. Tom simply glared at him, rather annoyed, but sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair that he had laced himself, staring at the ceiling as he contemplated what to say to the Malfoy elder. He thought on the next courses of action that he wished to take. There was still much to do, but he needed to work primarily on increasing his influence over the Malfoy heir, though he would not say that to the Malfoy elder, of course, that would somewhat diminish his plans a bit. The elder would undoubtedly try to stop him from that.

Not without consequences, but that was irrelevant, as such, he needed to give Lucius something to do that would get him out of the house. He had to think on it carefully, because if Lucius did it too swiftly, he would come back too soon. Tom needed him gone for at least a few days. That way it would aid him. He just needed to think of something that would ensure that the older man was gone for such a time, which was not as easy as one may think in the beginning. His first thoughts were on obtaining rare materials, but the other had several contacts, and Tom could not really risk that, because knowing the elder malfoy, he had a multitude of the rarest ingredients that Tom would be able to think of, and he was not entirely sure which ingredients were considered rare in this time, so he could accidently state the wrong thing. This would be, highly unfortunate. 

It was, after a few minutes of dead silence that Tom found a way that he could get the Malfoy out of the house for a while, though he detested sending the elder man over there. It was a perfect distraction for the wizard, and Tom was sure that it would be worth it in the end. He just needed to ensure that the man saw no problem with actively leaving for a few days, and that he suspected nothing, after all. Lucius was astute, and he was most certainly observant, and Tom knew he had a bit of an ego complex. He disliked being thought of as disposable, and while Tom was many things, he had done enough of placing Lucius on a firm pedastool underneath him that he needed o make the other think that this was something that was of vital importance. 

Which Tom supposed that it somewhat was. He would not give this to Lucius to do if he did not feel that it was not important enough that Lucius would not see anything wrong with the story. Important, yes, to Tom...well that was somewhat complicated. Tom both loved the place, and hated it. It was a very complicated problem for him.

"Now, now I have something I need you to do, Lucius," Tom said softly, turning his eyes to stare straight into the blues of the Malfoy elder. "Personally." Tom watched inwardly joyful as Lucius's eyes widened, and conveyed some sense of joy at being given a personal order. Though Tom supposed when someone you idolize tells you that they need you to do something that would be the case. He just needed to ensure that it seemed important enough to keep Lucius's full attention. 

"Whatever it is that you need, I would be more then willing to do it for you, my Lord." Tom's lips twitched into a small smile, unnoticed by the elder malfoy, who was staring at the floor. 

"Well, that is good." Tom leaned back in the chair that he was sitting in, keeping his eyes on Lucius. "I need you to clear out a place for me." Tom sighed heavily. "There is a possibility that there is someone there. Eliminate them if there is," the young Dark Lord said, admiring his nails. "I need the place renovated and cleaned up." Lucius glanced up at the young lord, somewhat shocked at the meaningless request. There were...house-elves for such things and yet the young lord was asking him to...clean? "Make no mistake, Lucius," Tom said, having noticed his reaction was unfavourable. "I am asking this of you because I cannot trust anyone with this location. It is a rather...secret...a big one. I am entrusting this information to you because..." Tom tilted his head slightly, watching the elder. "Draco has spoken favourably of you. If you don't meet my expectations, you can thank your son for the aftermath." 

With the subtle threat Lucius seemed to be satisfied, at least a little bit.