Passed Around Dark Lords

20

"Perhaps we should get a bit more on topic." Draco stated, cutting into the discomfort on both his own self and the others. The sooner they got away from this topic, perhaps was best. Draco knew something about Pureblood arguments, and he could see it within his grandfather's face, he wanted to argue. Whilst he would typically love to watch such a debacle, Tom was dangerous, and Draco was somewhat unable to use his own protective magic against Tom, as for some reason it would seem that Tom's magic seemed to almost smother his own. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely could cause some complications, and therefore he would prefer that Tom remained calm, or at least, as calm as was possible given the current situation. "Which is the fact that although my parents may be unknown, it is clear I am of the family, which is definitely going to cause people to go up in arms, particularly the traditionalists, and there are a few other groups I would name off the top of my head, but the real problem I think will be how to pitch this." Draco stated, turning his gaze to the other two. "After all, unknown relatives do not suddenly appear often, you will have to draft something to save the reputation of the family."

"Right, I will have to speak to Father about it, but I think it will be easy to state that the split in the mid 1800s between the two Malfoy brothers likely was the cause of this. Whilst we thought that there were no relatives of note from the second brother, as we were never informed of such a thing, it is possible that something went unknown, or unforeseen." Draco nodded. He supposed that was a good enough cover, but there was also the problem...of heirship. He and Abraxas would both be seen in contention, at least in the strict regards of how things worked. Whilst Draco would technically be considered secondary, there was the risk. After all, Regulus Black had been given the heirship after Sirius Black was found...incapable, to put it lightly. They may not be common, but they did happen fairly regularly.

"I think as long as we keep things under a shroud of mystery, to an extent, and give no definite answers, it would work itself out fine. People can presume whatever they want, but if we give certain fact to details, which may or may not be true, that runs its own separate risk." Draco stated softly. "Hinting to the fact that it is thought my relations come from the 1800s split is a good idea, but do not state it outright. That could cause potential issues in the future, that you may want to mitigate but find yourself unable to, and the reputation would merely end up a jumbled mess. Never state anything for certain, or has that practice not come about yet." Draco muttered the last part under his breath, but it was still heard, leaving Abraxas and Orion to stare at him discomfortingly. Draco shook his head, as though breaking himself from something. "Either way, the point remains that we should ensure that no specifics are mentioned, no certainty is given, outside of my legitimacy in the family, that way if something needs to be walked back...it is still capable of being done."

"He is right," Orion muttered to Abraxas, the other narrowing his eyes as he stared him down. Draco merely stared back, emotionlessly. He knew that Abraxas had his own suspicions, and honestly he did not want to make things worse, but he also was not able to allow Abraxas to do something brash. This was why they were conversing about it. It was an important step. Abraxas would speak to his father and they would then make the official statements. It was really not Draco's role anymore, but it was something of a habit, nonetheless. It was language policing, and Draco knew he should not be doing it, particularly since he had always hated it when his Father did it to him, but this was different. Draco was not going to hit Abraxas with a cane if he failed to give the proper answer, or say the right thing. He was giving a better and alternative suggestion. He supposed...that generally would make all the difference.

"Very well, I will speak to Father about adopting your stratagem." Abraxas said, he gave Draco a genuine smile over the table. For a few moments, it left Draco stunned, unable to quite understand...but his father had never smiled at least not in a genuine way, he had supposed that he had thought his grandfather would not have either. It would seem he was wrong, in that regard. "Tom, I hope you and Draco would stay perhaps for the next few weeks. Hogwarts is so close...after all, and I feel perhaps..." Tom looked at Draco, turning directly towards him, leaving Abraxas pausing on the edge of his request. For a moment, Draco was consumed in Tom's attentions. He should have been used to it, perhaps, since it was obviously clear the other had a rather drastic obsession with him, that was swiftly getting worse with no way Draco could think of to get rid of it, but sometimes it still caught him relatively off guard.

"Well?" Tom questioned him. "It is up to you," He said gently, his fingers going up to stroke his cheek. Draco's eyes widened at the boldness, and audacity, of the action. he had not expected Tom to do such things, but then again, it would seem what he did not expect Tom to do was far more common than what he did expect Tom to do and he did anyways. He had not expected Tom to be a wizard when he first saw him, hadn't expected to have to hide his mind constantly, hadn't expected him to bite the shit out of him regularly it would seem-despite the seemingly good reasoning that Tom had, Draco knew it had more to do with the sadist just wanting to bite him rather than actually pulling him from his panicked spells-and so really this should not have been all that surprising, and yet it was. He could not explain it...but it was. "The Matron would not mind, in fact I bet she would be ecstatic to get rid of us for the rest of the summer."

"It is...a wise decision." Draco hedged. "Though, I think perhaps it should go through your father first." Draco stated, turning to stare at Abraxas, ensuring the other knew that he was talking about him.