The Fear in The Child

Part 29

It was towards the last half of the break, on a day where the Malfoy family was sitting together in the living room that Tom had come down. Abraxas, Lucius, and Draco were all sitting together, talking about something that would seem to be rather important. As much as Tom would not want to get involved with the Malfoy state of affairs, he did not care for them either. They could be spoken about in another time, and he merely strode forwards, placing his hands on Draco's shoulders, and pressing down when he felt the boy try and pull his body up, having startled him. He stared at the other two Malfoy's who were watching him with different sets of emotions on their faces. Lucius had one of interest, while Abraxas was slightly worried. Neither bothered to interfere with what he was doing, they merely stopped talking about whatever fascinating thing they had been speaking on previously, and instead kept their attention fixed on him.

"Tom, is there anything we can do to help you?" Abraxas asked, keeping his son from speaking anything and potentially angering the boy whom he suspected to be the Dark Lord's son. Tom hummed, letting his fingers dig into Draco's shoulders, feeling the boy slightly shudder underneath him as the pain registered through his body to his brain, his breath exhaling sharply as he stayed stiff in his seat. Lucius did not really react to the fact that Tom was digging his nails into his precious heir, which was somewhat expected, although Abraxas as lurched forwards, until Tom fixed him with a daring stare. Draco seemed quite content to stay were he was, not that he could move if he wanted to in the first place. He felt...quite nice in this.

"No, you can't. Draco, if you will come with me?" Tom worded the sentence as a question, but his tone of voice was anything but. Draco furrowed his brows, but nodded, almost sighing in relief as the crushing grip on his shoulders were finally released. He turned on his heel, not looking to see if Draco would follow, knowing that he would. Lucius glanced at Abraxas, the worry finally showing through his face as the two left the room.

"Father," He whispered softly, anxiety coursing through him. He had not seen such a person look at Draco like that before, and it was causing him some severe worries and anxiety. He did not really like it. He found it rather...possessive. The way he had put force behinds his hands, to hold Draco still. The way Draco just...took that. He did not know what it was, he did not know what it meant, but he did not really like it either. There was something behind that look. "What...exactly just happened in front of my eyes?" He asked, turning to look at Abraxas, clearly expecting an answer.

"Tom, he...is the Dark Lord's son." Abraxas admitted. Lucius stared at him, blankly.

"Are you sure?"

"He speaks parseltongue, he is young enough, has a similar dislike of gryffindor, of Dumbledore, and furthermore, he has the same look in his eyes."

"What do we do then?" Lucius whispered, picking at his nails, something which he had not done in years.

"Nothing," Abraxas admitted.

"What do you mean nothing?" Lucius hissed, anger flooding him. "You expect me to what, just allow a miniature Dark Lord consume my son?"

"He will not consume Draco, if anything the two have quite...intense personalities."

"Draco is not me father." Lucius grit out. "He is far too much like his mother for my taste, I worry in general, and now you are telling me that a youngling Dark Lord has set their eyes on him?"

"Lucius, you are overthinking this. You know, it is too late to try and seperate them. Draco will not allow it. He will resent you for it, and in the end it will not do much good either way. As long as we keep close eyes on the two, we will not have too much to worry about...hopefully." Abraxas muttered the last word. Lucius glanced back at the door the two and left through.

"Well, I suppose he could do worse in terms of partners." Lucius sighed heavily.

-

"Tom, what...what is it?" Draco questioned, huffing as he rushed forwards to meet Tom at his level. "Please stop walking so quickly!" He whined. Tom finally stopped, pulling Draco against a wall.

"I want to court you." Tom said decisively. Draco just stared at him.

"Where...exactly is this coming from?" Draco wondered softly, a bit nervous. He was not used to others grabbing at him, much less pinning him against a wall. He also did not really dare to move himself, or shove Tom off, he had a feeling that it would not end well.

"I just..." Tom paused, cutting the bottom of lip open with his teeth. "Well...Ah, just...forget it."

"Hey!" Draco lunged, grabbing Tom's wrist. "I did not say no, I just was...curious why."

"Is that a yes." Draco rolled his eyes.

"What do you think?"

"Good," Tom paused. "What do we do now?"

"Well I am sure there was more than just that reason you called me out here, but if it truly was, why don't you let me know why it is that you came up with this idea of wanting to court me?" Draco questioned.

-

Lucius dropped back into the armchair worried. He glanced towards Abraxas.

"Is there really nothing we can do but just watch?"

"I doubt that Tom is as close to his father as we are worrying. Even if he is, that is all the more reason to keep him under our radar. To watch him, and assess how he and Draco's relationship is going. We will have to be careful, but I do think that perhaps this is for the best."

"Or it is some...painful way to get back at us for something." Lucius huffed. Abraxas just sighed. He had to admit, he did not know what was going on anymore. He had not thought that Tom had been so close to Draco. It was obvious that he was mistaken. The conversation that they had overheard in the halls was more than enough information to tell them that Draco too had not seen this coming.