The Little One with Green Eyes

--In Tantrums and Flower Crowns--

Request: Snuggles

-October 31 1987-
The Dark Lord's Castle

"My Lord, please forgive my intrusion."

Voldemort looked up from his towering stack of paperwork to glare venomously at the intruder. Had Voldemort known that being a Dark Lord and overseer of an entire Magical country would require so much damn paperwork, Voldemort would've tried harder to get that teaching position.

Before him stood one of his most faithful, Lucius Malfoy. Voldemort liked the Malfoys for several reasons. Not only were they of a pure blood line (which was necessary in this society) but they were also incredibly wealthy and best of all; entertaining. Voldemort took pride in knowing that the Malfoys were the most fun to be around purely because of how hard it was to rattle them.

So seeing the patriarch of the Malfoy family looking so distressed was enough to set Voldemort on edge.

"What is it, Lucius?" Voldemort demanded, setting down another piece of the infernal paper on the pile.

"My Lord, I beg of you---" that was yet another thing to make Voldemort's eyebrow raise. Beg? The Malfoys do not beg. "---he is absolutely monstrous."

Voldemort sighed and his crimson eyes quickly appraised the startled man. His long, bleach-blonde hair was in a state of disarray, and his grey eyes were wide with fear. His robes were scuffed and---Voldemort narrowed his eyes---was that mud on his pants?

Suddenly Voldemort knew exactly what this was about.

"What did you do?" Voldemort asked in an even tone. A part of him held great concern, and if anything had happened to him, Lucius would pay for it dearly. While the other part of him was smiling sadistically at the way his most beloved could frighten his Death Eater so.

Lucius shuddered. "I didn't mean to!"

"What. Did. You. Do?" Voldemort repeated, his interest growing.

"I said... that I did not want a flower crown." Lucius said, bowing his head with regret. It took all of Voldemort's self control not to burst out laughing at the remorseful tone of his follower.

"And...?"

"He... He tried to force me to wear one," Lucius said, his hand absently coming up to the crown of his head where his hair was in the most distress. Voldemort smirked gleefully at the mental image of Lucius attempting to thwart off his precious as he climbed him to place a crown of flowers on his head. "And when I would not let him, he..."

"What did my dear heart do to make you so nervous, Lucius?" Voldemort asked in amusement.

Lucius sucked in a deep breath, as though he were resigning himself to some unbearable punishment, before he spoke. "He threw... a tantrum."

Voldemort's eyebrow rose even higher, if that were possible. A tantrum? That was... unusual. A part of Voldemort wanted to smirk because his dear heart was quite ferocious in that state, and he had managed to terrify Lord Malfoy to the point that he would beg for Voldemort to fix it. Another part of him wanted to be grateful because a tantrum meant that his dearest was secure enough in his environment to pull such a thing, meaning he did not fear abuse or being thrown out for his behavior, which was exactly what Voldemort wanted. But the part that won was the concern.

Little One didn't do tantrums.

Voldemort stood then, startling the already spooked Lord Malfoy. "Show me to him." he said.