Half-Dimension

41

Two days later, Draco had yet to have more than momentary lapses of consciousness, and when he was conscious, he was not sober...he was not in control. It was all feral instinct, and Lucius was getting more and more agitated, however both him and Severus were unable to be besides their brother all of the time. The two still had classes, along with Draco, and if the younger Malfoy knew that they had skipped all of their classes just to watch him...though Lucius may be the heir even he shuddered to think at the anger that would flood through him with that interesting tinge of panic. So after the day where Lucius was agonizing over whether he should call St. Mungos, which he ended up not doing as per Tom's insistence that the other was fine outside of a longer transition than normal, they returned to their daily classes. They avoided questions about their whereabouts as well as they could, Lucius far moreso that Severus, given his higher status and the fact that he was more important in the school than Severus was, and known by far more people as well. Draco's absence was tangible, and even the most socially daft person could tell. Draco had been an enigma from the beginning. A sudden Malfoy, a promising student, and very adept in his magic, and yet there was a cloud of despair, and fear, that seemed to cling to him more than it did not. It was obvious that Draco had taken the school's attention by storm, and held it-which was more impressive honestly-so that his absence in classes for several days was clearly noted.

Of course, they could not admit what was actually going on. It had been strictly around the Slytherins, and the Slytherins were quite tight lipped about things as well. Even Dumbledore had enough sense to shut himself up and not say anything about it. Lucius really wanted to end Dumbledore one of these days, but at least the other was capable of some sort of self control, which was better than nothing. Dippet had already informed the teachers of what was going on, so Lucius and Severus were given some leniency with a majority of the teachers. Surprise surprise, Dumbledore merely seemed to double down. His petty behavior would be rewarded back tenfold, likely by Tom later given how much the other despised the man, but for now Lucius and Severus did and said nothing. People were beginning to mutter, some worriedly, about what could be taking Draco from schooling so long. Lucius would have much preferred that Draco be moved to the Manor, but also knew well enough that would do nothing to help things. Draco had essentially made his choice, and Lucius could really only help he rescinded it when he woke himself up.

For a big reason, however, Lucius was almost certain that he was not going to rescind anything. It was obvious that Draco looked up to Tom. Lucius had no idea why. The other was powerful, of course, and charming and charismatic, even Lucius could see that, he was not entirely daft, but then it was still somewhat unnerving how easily Draco seemed to side up to Tom, when it had taken Severus and Lucius weeks of the same, and even then Lucius could tell that Draco was not nearly as comfortable with either of them as he was with Tom. It was annoying, and he had absolutely no idea how to fix that. At this point, there was no way to even fix it, which merely made his bad mood much worse. Draco had kept up more correspondence with Tom, whilst also hiding it from them. Perhaps he just saw no reason to tell them, but Lucius had this inkling that there was more to it than that, though he could not put his finger on what exactly had caused it. The whole situation left Lucius feeling on end. He knew that Tom was up to something, but had no idea what it was. That left him reeling, and wanting to hope that Tom had nothing but innocent intentions, though he knew the opposite had to be true. Tom never did anything for mere innocent intentions, of course, and it was clear that Tom had intentions of some sort with Draco. Lucius just could not decide if he wanted to break them down or not.

Either way, leaving Draco with none but Tom by his side was leaving him anxious. Severus could tell, naturally, and tried to help, but Lucius could not really focus. He really wanted to know what Tom had seen in Draco, and why it was that he had decided to pursue the other, because there was clearly no other reason for Tom to form some sort of bond with Draco. He was not sure why he would go after Draco. it made no sense, he could have gone after his father, or even him, but Tom chose Draco? Was it because he was a sudden addition, and not directly in line to the family title? Or was there something else? The entire thing made Lucius' head ache.

"There is no point in continuing to worry over it, Lucius. We called for the Dark Lord anyways." Severus sighed out. Lucius huffed, waiting for the damned herbology professor whom he swore was always late to their class. Severus had been saying the same things for a long while, and Lucius knew this, but at the same time...He was just at a loss as to how to take things. He was unable to quite process them with Tom around, of course, and he and Severus were rushing to the hospital room more often outside of class than they were anywhere else. "At the very least, we can be certain that the Lord will not allow anyone else close to him, though I think Draco may have things handled in that department."

That really did not make Lucius feel better, and he could sense how Severus sighed, but simply gave up continuing this line of conversation. Perhaps finally, he had been saying the same things since this whole fiasco started. He was also quite irritated. With himself, with Draco, with their Lord, he did not really know. The irritation was festering, and something was telling him there was something wrong here, and he just did not know what it was. It was leaving him annoyed.