The Fear in The Child

35

Draco shuddered at Tom's words, the nails digging into his flesh, but he did not stop him, nay, he could not do that in the first place either way so there was little reason to even bother trying. He swallowed nervously, but began to try and pull together words into a cohesive sentence so that he could answer his partner. He did not know why it seemed that words were so hard for him to form, he was usually quite adept at this. Then again, it could possibly be something to do with the fact that everything was still so raw, from what had happened, and on top of that he did not wish to lie to Tom, but he did not wish Tom to fly into a rage either. He shuddered but was determined.

"I dissatisfied Father, again," Draco admitted, the feeling of wanting to curl into a ball and hide away was quite strong at the moment, but he also knew that it was not going to do much good in the long run. Tom would continue to push, and eventually Draco would cave, and it would be less...well it was always better if Draco simply obeyed, and that was what he had known, that was what he had always known, and he was not sure how to really...push the topics with Tom. He knew Tom was dangerous, he knew he was a descendant of Slytherin, of the Dark Lord, but he also was confused as to what the...the rules with Tom were. They had not gone over anything, it was frustrating, and every day it left a bit more of a worry in his heart.

"Oh?" Tom questioned, finally releasing Draco's face from his fingers. He sighed. It would seem that he would have to have a talk, with Lucius. He did not like other people punishing his toys. It was annoying, at best, and frustrating at worst. Hard to ensure his manipulations and such were working if he was not entirely in control of what was going on. He doubted that his power among the Malfoy's was strong enough to outright demand this, but he could definitely manipulate a situation where they would concede control of Draco's punishments to himself. He just had to figure out a way in which to do that, but he was not so good at manipulation for nothing after all. He had practiced the art for ages. He would hope that something as simple as this would be easily handled within moments.

"What did he do?" Draco stiffened at that, tensing almost as quickly as he forced the tension away from his body. Not easy to do, somewhat impressive, really. Tom would have to give the boy a compliment when he was not attempting to pry information out of him. As of now, however, such things were merely frustrating to deal with. Still, he would deal with them, he had managed before, and he will again. One of his specialties was getting information that others did not want him to know, although he typically employed more...painful methods.

Whilst he was sure that those very methods that he normally would use amongst others would work quite amazing on Draco, he did not want to damage their slowly progressing relationship either. It was a dangerous situation, and something which he was sitting on the precipice of. One wrong move, and his entire chess board becomes a fortress to a mere plain, with no defenses left. He would not allow such things to happen. Right now, Draco was the Queen, quite important in the end, and he had to ensure that he was protected, even if that meant from dissatisfied fathers. Moreover, he was not as stable in his relationship with Draco where he could use painful tactics to get points across and not have them frighten Draco away, and potentially ruin his plan.

"Nothing too bad, I have had worse, and besides that, it was deserved either way." Draco muttered under his breath. "I-I am sorry for worrying you," He began, pulling himself away from Tom swiftly. Tom furrowed his brows, completely confused with what was going on. "I should not have bothered you with this, you surely have more important things to be doing, you have a whole thing to set up before school begins again and I just..."

"Enough." Tom hissed, watching as Draco lapsed into silence at his command. "Come here," He ordered, watching as Draco took his seat on Tom's bed once more. "I asked you a question, I believe, are you going to answer it or do I need to pry the answers out of you? Because I would really prefer you just be forthright with me, it will be easier on everyone." He said, a smile lighting on his face as he tilted his head to the side. It was one of those sarcastic smiles, once again. The thing that made Draco shiver slightly, not understanding why.

"It was just a standard punishment. In all reality it was not even that many hits."

"He hit you?" Draco cringed backwards at the venom in Tom's voice.

"It is normal," Draco said with a shrug. "Barring that, it is not as though he put full strength behind it this time, and I was over reacting, I realize that now, I am sorry to have bothered you with this, but it is not necessary to get so worked up, I swear."

"I don't particularly care for you trying to tell me what is necessary or unnecessary to be upset about, Draconis." Draco's eyes flickered to the ground, growing infinitely more wary at the use of his full name.

"I am sorry," He whispered softly, knowing that he must have crossed another line. It would seem that was all he was doing these days, crossing lines that were not meant to be crossed. Perhaps his father's words that evening had some point to them. He was sort of useless when it came down to it.

"It is fine," Tom sighed out, realizing the affect that his tone had on the boy. He was going to have to learn to be more careful with that. It would seem that Draco was ever so much more sensitive in these little moments than usual. "I am just worried about you, is all. When I was...back at the orphanage, those sorts of punishments were only saved for severe cases." Draco furrowed his brows in confusion. Saved for severe cases?

"Why?" Tom couldn't help but barely manage to suppress a smirk at the question.