Half-Dimension

38

"Professor, or should I say Headmaster now?" Tom said with a light tone to his voice. Anyone with any sense would know he was not playing around, though. This sort of Tom was quite dangerous. As kind as Tom could be, he could be just as if not more ruthless. He was also typically only kind when he had a reason to be, and nothing more or less could deny such things. It was scary, but one could get used to it. Lucius himself was a prime example of such things. Granted, it still unnerved him when it came to Tom''s...darker nature, but he felt that he had gotten quite good at keeping himself from flinching ever so often when things like that happened. To some extent, of course, Lucius would always be surprised in some way with Tom, or at least that was what he felt. Tom was quite the interesting character, and all the more dangerous for it.

"Professor is fine, Tom, I am still a teacher of the arts after all." Draco narrowed his eyes at the words being spoken, his body stiffening as Dumbledore's speaking cascaded over his ears. It was obvious that Draco did not like Dumbledore, rarely there was a Slytherin that did. Between the man's sheer incompetence, lack of regard for...well anyone barring his precious gryffindors, and the blatant disregard for any barring the same, well it was not all that shocking that Dumbledore did not amass himself many well wishers in the House that was notoriously known to suffer from the blatant favoritism. Severus was quite the example, as it were, of what happens when one favors Gryffindors a bit too much. Despite that there was something a bit more....unnerving in the boy's countenance. Something darker, more personal. It did not seem to make much sense considering from what Lucius knew, Draco had very few meetings to get such a personal hatred of the man.

Not that it matters. Lucius thought to himself softly as he watched the staredown continue as Draco did not let Dumbledore get closer to himself and Tom, but also refused to take his eyes off the man for a mere second. just knowing some of the things that have happened on his watch already is enough to get anyone pissed off. It was obvious that Dumbledore was never up to being Headmaster. I don't even know why he bothered to take the position in the first place. He was offered plenty other positions, and chose this one...of all things? He was far more than just unsuitable to the task. Lucius did not shake his head to his inner thoughts, but it was a rather close thing. Barring the obvious personal dislike of Dumbledore, nobody in the Pure families tends to like Dumbledore. Hell, even the Potters have had quite the rows with the man. Still, the Gryffindors make the mistake of actually trusting the bastard. I don't know how anyone can trust someone who lies to the Ministry of Magic just for the sake of one teenage boy but I supposed Gryffindors never were quite the brightest. Sure, Slytherins misdirect to the Ministry all of the time, rarely outright lying, but that is entirely different. We don't pretend to be nice and law abiding citizens on the majority either. We are quite open when we dislike something. Still malicious and scheming, but at least we present a more honest front, unlike this old bastard. Lucius stopped in inner thoughts from continuing forwards. He could rant on and on about his dislike of Dumbledore, but the reality showed only one situational outcome for this...and that was that Dumbledore was not going any further than the several feet he stood now.

It gave Lucius at least some small degree of comfort to know that. He did not really want Dumbledore around Draco, much less whilst he was in this state. It was more than likely horribly unnerving, and he knew that Draco would come to and have some rather...choice words about the situation. There was not much that anyone could do now, halfway through a presentation, anyone knows that it is a rather bad idea to try and do anything when the recipient clearly dislikes them in presentation. It is a different state of mind, one that draws on the subconscious state of the natural being.

"I see, well, Professor," Tom stressed the word slightly, leaving Lucius curling his nails into his palm to try and stem his nerves at least a little bit. It was scary, he realized, and definitely not something that he enjoyed entirely, when Tom acted like this. All malice and next to no regard. It did hold some sort of...inturige, of course, but at the same time Lucius knew well enough to fear such things. He was not one to speak of things idly, but Tom was quite dangerous when he wanted to be, and even when he did not wish to be. "What did you feel so necessary to come back. Clearly, I am sure we are all more than aware, your presence agitates the Slytherin currently undergoing a Transition, which as I am also sure that you are aware, does not make things bode well for them."

"I was just wanting to check in, and ensure that everything is going well, is all," Dumbledore stated. Lucius silently seethed, along with Severus. No, the old bastard did not want to just check in. That was a plain old lie, and they all knew that it was, but there was little to be done about it. It was not as though they could really do anything, or change Dumbledore's mind. He was the Headmaster after all, even trying to get the other to admit that he was not needed was a pain, let alone trying to force him to leave where he was not wanted or needed.

"Well, everything was going far better before you entered the infirmary, Professor, so perhaps it would do best for you to once more exit yourself from the room, as I am sure the Madam will ask you to leave even if you don't take the initiative yourself, which of course would be quite embaressing for you wouldn't it?" Tom questioned, tilting his head slightly.