The Fear in The Child

Part 27

Tom had to admit that he was rather pleased with the progress that he had made. Well, apart from cementing the elder Malfoy's trust and loyalty with him, and the fact that he had managed to figure out just a little bit more about what had happened before, he was somewhat, twisted to hear about his biological father. Not that he was sad, the old bastard deserved to die for abandoning his child helplessly in the middle of a war fraught Europe, but he was more upset that he could not do it himself. Well, he supposed he had done it himself, but more like, remember, doing it. Instead he was forced to know it happened, but no memory of it. It would have been quite the becoming he was sure. Unfortunately, he was forced to be satisfied with the mere knowledge of it happening, which was somewhat sad in his opinion. 

Morfin was a different matter, of course, as the man was absolutely insane. He was surprised he was even alive, though it did suit his purposes at the moment, which was the entire reason he was alive at the current moment he supposed. Talking with him was more unnerving than many things that Tom had done prior, partially because this man had memories of him before, and memories of his father. It was a double edged sword should he ever figure out that Tom was not Voldermorts son but actually him just in a younger form ripped forwards to the present. A part of him wished that they would have just let him continue in his own line, but at the same time, then he would not have another chance to take down Dumbledore, and reinsert himself at the top of the food chain in the Magical world. He just needed to learn where exactly he had gone wrong. 

Oh yes, and he fully intended on making Dumbledore suffer, just as Dumbledore had done to him, and likely countless others. The fact that he had such a large following had only to do with the fact that he claimed to do things for the 'greater good'. Such a Grindlewald Agenda that Tom was rather stunned that nobody else had caught onto it yet. Particularly the older generations, as they were still alive whilst Grindlewald was wrecking havoc on America, and that had fought when he brought that over to Europe, and yet nobody even blinked an eye. Dumbledore had killed Grindlewald so apparently that meant he could not possibly be anywhere close to him, after all they had cared for each other deeply it was a huge sacrifice. 

Tom mentally rolled his eyes at his own thoughts. It was stupid. Then again, it would have been quite obvious that most of the people among the Wizarding World was stupid, so it was not really all that surprising. At least this trip had done something positive. For one, Morfin recognized him as the Heir, and furthermore, while he perhaps did not fully approve of him, he approved of him enough to succeed the family matters to him, which was really all that he needed. Furthermore, he had managed to pass whatever test it was that Abraxas was attempting to give him. Though he was not entirely certain what that test was. 

While he was not fond of people testing him for reasons he did not know it had cemented the loyalty the man had towards him. With Abraxas trusting him, Lucius would trust him, and he already had Draco's trust. Having the Malfoy family on his side was important, as that would slowly spread to the other families as well. His connections would span wide quickly. The Malfoy's were always central when it came to the high social conventions. They had endless connections of varying statuses, and as such if anyone wanted to do anything with any degree of success in the dark world, it was important to go through the Malfoy's first. The main reason being since they have extensive connections it would be easier to do what was wanted, and get the information that was needed. 

It would just make things easier in the future. Not to mention the Malfoys were powerful dark wizards. Well, powerful wizards in their own right, but especially when it came to dark magic. He could not only gain their respect, but the respect of others, and vast resources, including their own help as he needed it. As such, he would never imagine going another direction, unless it did not go the way that he wanted, in which case he had a back up plan, but this was the easiest direction. Furthermore he was still stuck at hogwarts, it was best if he cement his social standing as swiftly as possible, again, something being friends with the youngest Malfoy definitely helped with. 

"How do you think the sudden meeting with your grand uncle went?" Abraxas asked, his voice treading carefully, as though he was curious but not wanting to push things, which was wise on his part. Tom was feeling quite a swirl of emotions after all. 

"Well, it was definitely unexpected." The glance that he cut towards the eldest Malfoy told him that Tom had already figured out that he had known about Morfin and had neglected to tell him, and something about it made him shudder. It was so similar to the looks that the Dark Lord would cut the followers who had toed the line of his patience that he almost found himself apologizing. Almost, because despite the incredible similarities this was not the Dark Lord, though it was obvious that Tom had a son, though the reason that he had named him after himself and his father was rather baffling. He had always hated the name after all. Despised it beyond anything more. He had not expected that he would use that very same name on his son.

"I could tell you were not expecting it," Draco said softly. "I was not either, who could have known, Morfin was alive. I had thought he had died, as it would turn out, he was just holing himself up in the Slytherin family home." Tom shrugged.

"It makes sense in a way. Nobody can get past the wards unless they speak Parseltongue, which is not only not common but a unique signature of the Slytherin family, so it would be useless to try given the wards on the house." 

"Perhaps, but what are we going to do now?" Draco wondered, glancing at Tom with wide eager eyes. 

"What do you mean?" Tom asked, tilting his head. "Is it not obvious?"