Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The First Horcrux	By : magentasouth Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Tom Views: 27247 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from any part of the Harry Potter universe.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Eleven steps.
Turn.�
Pause.
Twelve steps to the wall with the door � a forbidding handleless iron portal that did not bear so much as a
shuttered slit in its surface.
Turn.�
Eleven steps to the stone wall with the chipped third row
block and the yellowing mortar in the top left corner.
Turn.
Eight steps to the wall with the scratches on the stones
around head height.

It continued to irritate Tom that the dimensions of the room were irregular
while to all intents and purposes the room appeared to be perfectly
square.��

It was impossible to determine � and quite irrelevant - whether it was an
extension charm that had been applied to the space at some point in the past or
perhaps just a strange effect of the area � like many rooms within Hogwarts, he
had noticed.�

Of course, he could not even say with certainty that he was still within the
castle.� It was possible that he was in
some cell in the ministry of magic.. or even Azkaban � though he doubted the latter.� The atmosphere within the small barren room
was inhospitable but it did not evoke blinding despair, as Azkaban�s
quarters were reputed to do.
Dumbledore had left quite a long time ago.�
He paced aimlessly, wondering how long it had been now.� Several hours at least..
although since the matt yellowy light never changed
within the room and, as he had since been left undisturbed in this nearly
featureless little cage, it was difficult to keep track of time.�� His body was not yet used to food or sleep
and their absence did not register in regular intervals.
Vacillating between vague worry and irritated boredom, he
had taken to walking slowly around the perimeter of the room, simply to fill
the time and keep himself occupied.� It was doing little to quell the restlessness
within him � his thoughts were too agitated to allow him to rest.
He couldn�t feel his magic.

More precisely � he couldn�t sense any
magic at all.� The worst had come to
pass.� Dumbledore had wrung everything
out of him.� Their �discussion� had gone on
for interminable hours - the old bastard insisting not only upon extracting
details of the events that had occurred since Tom had been released from his
paper prison, but delving into emotions
that he had felt.. motivations.. reactions..
sensations.�

It was inhuman to have his face pushed unceremoniously into the steaming
pile of weakness that he had not wished to acknowledge lay within him.

And to have to expose himself so in front of that irrepressible, twinkling-eyed
son of a..
No.
No.. He could not have this.� This was not how he had intended things to
proceed.� This ..this..
shame..could not be
endured.�

Tom felt more rage than he could ever
recall feeling before in his life.. and
he had thought nothing could supersede the fury he�d felt when he realised his
other self intended to leave him to rot in the diary.

It was all that thrice damned mudblood�s fault!!

The thought of the witch, so close to the thought of his diary prison was
inconvenient.�� At this time he did not
wish to have to remember that Hermione had been instrumental � vital in fact �
in bringing about his release.

That did not matter! She was
responsible for his current incarceration;� for the loss of his magic!!� ��

The filthy blooded little animal had had the chance to save him and to restore
all to a pleasant state of status quo and she had chosen to inapacitate him and allow all of his actions to be revealed.�

She had betrayed him!!�

After he had been so generous; had not hurt her; had not simply taken her...
At the first available opportunity, Hermione would receive a
suitable recompense!� Tom would delight
in watching her suffer.� If he ever
regained the ability to do magic, at the very least the little witch would be
an incoherently ranting squib for the rest of her natural life.
Unfortunately it
did not seem that Dumbledore was positively disposed to the idea of releasing
him from whatever spell, ward or potion was currently suppressing his
magic.�
For a while, it had seemed that he would release it.� The old man had tried at length to persuade
him to rouse Draco from his sleep and undo the brandings that were placed upon
him (not that Tom was entirely certain how to begin to achieve that.); quell the burning of the dark
marks, or, if he was not willing to help the potions master, then at least to
still the painful tug of the mark upon the unconscious blonde.�

Tom had agreed too quickly, thinking only that any opportunity to regain his
magic would immediately allow him to exact revenge upon Hermione.

Obviously Dumbledore had seen that possibility too.

When he refused to agree to remove his spells from her; when he refused to even
promise not to harm her in this instance if his magic were freed, Dumbledore
had become disappointed and introspective once more.�� He had sat and thought for a long while,
pale blue eyes flickering over Tom in a way that made his wand hand itch,
After Dumbledore had left, Tom had watched, irritated, as
every piece of furniture in the room dissolved slowly into vapour and vanished,
last of all the bed.� It left him with
nothing but an empty stone box and the clothing that he stood in.

And he was glad that that had
remained.

Over the hours since, he had berated himself constantly for his handling of Dumbledore�s
interrogation and negotiation.

Reluctantly, he was coming to see that decades spent entirely alone
had...perhaps... left him less than adequately equipped to deal with complex
social exchanges.� While he could
dismantle wards, construct spells, unravel interrelations between charms and
direct magic quite adequately without a wand, he was clumsy in his dealings
with others and unpracticed in regulating the
emotions and..yes.. hormones
and chemical reactions.. that came with human
interaction.�

He had been irrational in his approach to the mudblood..
unreasonable in his management of Draco Malfoy and he
did not even want to think about how
he had comported himself with regard to his �enemy� � the boy prophesised to
vanquish him.� He had held Harry Potter�s life in his hands and had chosen, for quite inane reasons, to spare
it!�

If he were ever confronted with his other self, he would no doubt find himself
hanging from his thumbs, in short order, screaming in torment as the wizard exercised
his more than justified frustration upon him.
He wondered what was to become of him now.� Would he be released back into the
comfortable head boy�s room?.. would
he remain here in this cell until Dumbledore had extracted every particle of
use from him?�

Was it possible that the old wizard might know some way to return him to the
diary?

He didn�t ...think... that his former
teacher would kill him.� No.. it wasn�t Dumbledore�s style, somehow.

Snape now... Yes.. Snape would kill him without a
second thought.� He could see it in the
man�s eyes when he had held him at wandpoint.

Would Dumbledore allow that?�

Probably not.�

Surely not.
Tom swallowed and paused in his slow circuit of the cell,
turning and leaning his back against the wall, abruptly reaching the thin
knife-edge of despair.

What had Dumbledore expected of him?!�

He had kept him in a cage � thrust a pretty (yes.� She was.
Despite her dirty blood and absolute aversion to him) witch into his face and
left him to his own devices.�

Was he supposed to ignore her?� Read
books in his room?�

She had rejected his affections.� Should he have swallowed that slight without
demur?�� The spells he had used upon her
had been relatively innocuous and as for the oath � she had taken that burden
upon herself through her own lack of foresight.�
He couldn�t be blamed for capitalising upon it.

Then Harry and Draco had placed themselves
in his path and, lacking the merest attention of the mudblood witch � could he
be blamed for seeking it elsewhere?� Any
harm that had come to Draco had not been delivered by Tom�s hand.

Well.. Ok.. perhaps in a manner of speaking it had � but in a practical
sense � he had not harmed the other boy.�
Draco had pleaded with him for
affection.

Fine.� The second time they had met, Draco had
pleaded with him for affection.�
Tom scowled at the flagstones in the centre of the room
pensively.�
He hadn�t sought Draco out � the boy had broken into his
rooms of his own device.�

He had...hardly..
forced him.� Much.� Draco had been
hard � he had wanted it.� After a very
short while he had been hard at least.��
And then he had nearly raped
Tom himself.�

Draco did not merit the generosity and affection that had been bestowed upon
him.� Tom certainly did not need to
concern himself with the possible repercussions of returning him to his other
self.�� Draco would receive whatever he
deserved.� His other self would examine
his memories judiciously no doubt, assuming that Dumbledore allowed his return
and did not simply keep him here, despite the damage to the boy�s body and mind
that would result from ignoring the summons of the mark indefinitely.
And as for the fact that he had been
attempting to find a way to escape his prison.� Was that entirely unreasonable?!� He was told nothing of the circumstances in
the world he now found himself and every person around him in his little gilded
cage openly despised, feared or pitied him.�
Any halfway intelligent being would be quietly seeking a way out � if
only as an option, should circumstances change.
Circumstances had quite apparently changed now.�
He had failed in his plan to escape because he was too
distracted by his own hormones.� In all
likelihood this had been Dumbledore�s intention in placing the mudblood with
him.�

This thought dragged an even less pleasant one after it.

Dumbledore had anticipated his behaviour more accurately than Tom had himself.
He slid down the wa;; to the floor and rested his arms on his bent knees,
tipping over the edge into morose despair.
He had never considered Dumbledore superior to him.� Not even upon his first meeting with the
infuriating, apparently colourblind, wizard.� Rather, he
had thought of his former teacher with dismissive derision.� Dumbledore had been an irritation, an
inconvenient obstacle, but never a truly formidable threat.��
He had been a child
when he had last encountered the man.� He
had viewed the world through the lens of childish self-absorption.�

Of course he himself would prevail.�
Naturally he would become the most powerful wizard in the world � he
would never die.� He would never fail!� His enemies would fall
before his wand until there remained none who opposed him.� He was far more intelligent than everyone
around him � especially the bumbling fool who taught transfiguration.� The man dressed like a clown and taught the
most nonsensical things.� Who would ever
need to transfigure a raven into a writing desk?!� What peculiar circumstance would have to
occur before one found oneself desperately in need of a writing desk and
possessed of nothing whatsoever but a wand and a raven?!!
Now, he was forced to see that his thinking had been � and
probably still was � flawed, and that Dumbledore truly held absolute power over
Tom�s own existence.

The freedom and comfort offered when he had been restored from the diary had
been misleading.�

In his false sense of security, he had thought the man incompetent and naive �
incapable of extracting the information he wanted and lax in his application of
control.� But obviously he had held the
power to interrogate Tom thoroughly whenever he saw fit, and he had set quite
considerable security around him � security which his own half articulated
escape plans would have not stood against.�
Had he had the chance to break free of his rooms, he would have been
felled in the corridors ...or worse.�

Knowing far more about the fortifications, his other self had stated in his
letter that he did not see any way for Tom himself to breach them without
assistance.�

He was probably right.
A crack startled him and he glanced up quickly toward the
door where, on its reverse side, locks were being ponderously retracted.
He considered standing, if only to preserve the impression
that he was little affected by his current predicament, but really � what use
would it be?!�
The door opened ponderously, revealing the tip of a wand
before anything else became visible in the murk beyond.
Seconds passed with the ebony shaft hovering, wavering
slightly, before a tall dour form slipped through the doorway with odd clumsiness,
quickly closing the door behind itself as if Tom might leap up with
preternatural speed and insinuate himself through the gap at a moment�s
notice.�

Tom�s stomach dropped.�

Snape.� And Dumbledore
was not with him.

Had it been decided that he was to die?!

Why else would this man be here alone?!�

Perhaps Dumbledore did not know he was here?�
No.� Foolish.� He had underestimated the man the entire time
he had known him.� No one would reach him
unless Dumbledore had sanctioned it.��
He looked up at the sallow faced wizard with trepidation as
the man swayed slightly and drew his wand.�

Was he drunk?!� His eyes were strangely
glazed as he narrowed them upon Tom.�

Had he perhaps truly managed to get into the cell without Dumbledore�s
knowledge?� Was he here to finish what Hermione
prevented in their last encounter.

A smooth black wand was levelled somewhat unsteadily upon Tom.� He looked up at the looming figure with
cornered aversiveness.
�Im..periuss� Snape slurred with something that might
have been a skewed sneer.
Tom went rigid under the sudden unexpected onslaught against
his mind.�� It felt like a soft warm comforting blanket were slowly but inexorably
smothering him from within.�

It felt like drowning.�

A seductive pressure was drawing him down into cotton wool and the feeling of
security.� Fighting that security was
almost impossible.� It was insidious,
infecting his rational thought.�

He knew with certainty that nothing in the world would feel better or make him
happier than giving in to the sensation; the urge to let himself simply float
on the current of Snape�s will.�

It was almost impossible to resist.. to remember what was actually happening.�
�Yes.� Give in... you little demon!� Let
go.. of all those
cares...� I�ll take them all away...��

The bitter, vicious, twist on the man�s face was presently quite meaningless to
Tom, struggling as he was to recall why he needed to fight against this
pleasant feeling.
In response to his continued resistance, Snape focused more,
his blunted expression sharpening slightly and his voice losing some of its
slur dropping to a low velvety register.

�Calm yourself...� Doesn�t it feel..good.. So..relaxing...
Just enjoy it..�
Everything is being taken care of by others.� There�s nothing with which you need concern
yourself.�
Tom furrowed his brow in irritated confusion.� He wanted to listen.� It seemed that Snape was speaking the
truth.�
�I am..extremely skilled.. with this spell, Mr Riddle� Snape purred soothingly.� �You are quite safe...� Everything will be wonderful.. I�m sure it must be tiring to
worry so needlessly.. so let
it go.� Put those thoughts from your mind
and focus on the feeling.�
With his last thread of resistance Tom held on perversely to
the pain and confusion rather than let himself slip
into the serene comfort.� It hurt to fight against the pleasure.� He was exhausting himself swiftly.
�Stop being difficult.� You know
there is nothing you can do to escape this.�
It is..inevitable.� Why torment yourself?� Whether you give in now or later � you will
eventually weaken.� It would be far wiser
to give in sooner and save your strength.�
And is it so terrible to allow yourself to feel it?� It feels....so... good..�
That made a lot of sense.
Tom could feel his body trembling with the exertion of
simply retaining focus on the here and now.

Let go.�� He should let go.� Yes.�
It would be so much better.. so
much wiser to let go now.� Everything would be fine if he only let
go.� He would consider it more fully
later.�
He let go of the last bare fingernail grip on his worries.
Slipping down into languid comfort he watched with no
particular thoughts either way as the Potions master stepped nearer, a small
smirk of satisfaction twisting his lips at the corner.
�Alas, Mr Riddle � no.. I think I
shall call you Tom, if only because
it would have the Dark Lord foaming at the mouth �� No, Tom, �there is evidently no
substitute for experience.�

Reading about the imperius, as you see, is
insufficient to enable one to counter it.��
I have tried to convey this fundamental truth to Miss Granger at
infuriating length.� Books will get you only so far.�
Tom nodded back amiably, unsure what he was agreeing
to.� He wasn�t really certain of much
right now, but he did feel absolutely wonderful and one of the things that he
was certain about was that he was quite content for this state of affairs to
continue.
�Now then.. shall
we begin with something simple.� Stand.�
Tom floated to his feet, his muscles obeying with strange
ease.� It felt as if he were not quite
restrained by gravity.. as if
he were faster, stronger, lighter than normal.
�Very good.� Perform a handstand.�
The world inverted itself as he balanced himself on his
palms, finding it effortless to retain the position.
�One hand only.� Snape instructed with a low sadistic
amusement in his voice.�� Tom
complied.�� He was required to balance
himself upon his fingertips of that hand shortly thereafter.� He did fall at that and two of his fingers
caused him some pain, but it was quite alright nonetheless and he waited amiably
for the next directive from Snape.
The man in question walked carefully backward to the door
and performed a complex knock upon it behind him, without averting his gaze
from Tom.�� The cracks and creaks of the
locks sounded then and soon enough the door was swinging slowly open on its
heavy hinges and Tom watched disinterestedly as Dumbledore entered with a grave
expression on his face.� He seemed
somehow far older than he had been
just hours earlier.� When he spoke, he
sounded hesitant and troubled.
�I wish there were another way, Severus.� I suspect that this is the wrong way to solve our problems.� He did not seem entirely the boy I remember
him once to have been.� The things he
revealed..�� He
has shown signs of genuine regard for Harry and even for Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy
� if one can overlook his somewhat unfortunate approach to these things.� If there were more time..�
�Yes,
Albus.� And if wishes were horses,
beggers would undoubtedly ride.� I cannot delay going
to Him any longer.� The potion�s effects
are already weakening.� I refuse to sacrifice Draco�s sanity to
your incessant need to forgive those who neither deserve it nor appreciate..�� Faltering
slightly, the potions master, whose eyes had not once flickered from Tom,
glared at him as if he had hauled back and spat at him.� �Yes.. I realise the
hypocrisy, Albus. I..�
You know that I...appreciate..� He seemed to shrug the
issue off visibly, blinking hard and refocusing like a man struggling to hold
himself together under extreme inebriation.�
�There is �no other way � you have said yourself
that he refuses to remove the spells.�
The white bearded old wizard sighed heavily.
�Yes.� Yes.. I see no other way. �We cannot delay further.� Miss Granger then, if you
would, Severus.�
Snape did not reply but something in his posture shifted
minutely.�
�Draco it is, then� Dumbledore sighed with flat cheer. ��He turned and busied himself at the door, his
wand circumscribing a complex shape before the door creaked open a crack.� He nudged it further with tiny wandflicks and walked through the gap, returning almost
immediately with a limp, floating figure in tow.��

Draco.�
His face was pinched and tight with pain in his artificial
sleep, and his fingers twitched in the air in faint muscle spasm. ��The now
clothed form was lowered to the floor before Tom.
�Go to him.� Snape instructed impatiently.
Shakily, Tom climbed to his feet and moved closer to the body
on the floor, finally dropping to one knee beside the still form of the larger
boy
�Pick up Draco�s arm.�
Reveal his mark.�
Without hesitation, Tom reached out and took the limb in
question, lifting it slightly and gently tugging Draco�s left sleeve up his arm
to expose the dark mark.� Faintly, his
mind delivered the observation that something felt wrong or missing.�

Ignoring it, he placed his hand upon the black lines, feeling them painfully
hot against his palm.
Snape twitched slightly at his independent action but
recovered and ground out between gritted teeth.�
�Reveal the messages.�
Blinking muzzily at the strange
bubble of cognition that rose up in his mind in response, Tom wondered why on
earth he might want to disobey.� He had
the strangest feeling � a woolly, disconnected sense � that
he did not want to do that for some reason.�
But of course he did.� Nothing
felt better than letting Snape�s voice make all the decisions for him.�
Softly he hissed ::Reveal:: at Draco.
The lack of any effect whatsoever caused
him to stop, mentally derailed, and look up at Snape in passive
confusion, waiting for the next instruction.
The man towering above him was grinding his jaw and looking
infuriated, as if Tom had done something to offend him.
�As I said, Albus � this will not work without magic.��
Dumbledore nodded slightly, dismissively and seemed to be
waging an internal battle with himself, the emotions flicking, complex and
unreadable through his blue eyes.� �I
know, Severus � I had hoped..� But nevermind.� It should not make a difference if your imperius holds.�� He
sighed finally, wearily and enunciated clearly �Suffering Succotash Puddy Tat.�

From the expression on the potion master�s face, had he not had to hold his
gaze upon Tom, he would have rolled his eyes at Dumbledore�s choice of
key-phrase.� Tom barely registered it,
however � he was too preoccupied with his own internal state.
It was like ecstasy..�
Closing his eyes, Tom felt his head fall back in pleasure
even as he tumbled to the floor in bliss, arching his spine at the most
delicious sensation fizzing through his entire body.

It felt like..sparks.. or
bubbles..or..warmth...or..being somewhere one belonged; somewhere one felt in
control.� It was intoxicating and it
suffused every particle of him, elevating his already spell-drunk mind to a
state of euphoric excess.

He groaned and writhed, bathing in the feeling, absent any higher thought
whatsoever.
�Enough.� Cease this
display now.� Reveal the messages, you
wretched little blemish.�
Even though the feeling had in no way diminished, Tom could not
help but hear the repulsed voice issue a new directive and moved to obey at
once.� It was difficult to force his
trembling limbs to comply but he pushed himself up off the floor after only a
couple of tries and crawled to the prone blonde once more.
This time when he touched the delicate living image on the
boy�s pale forearm, he felt a heady surge of reaction both in his mind and
against his hand.
::Reveal:: �he hissed softly and the skin beneath his
fingertips suddenly prickled in goosebumps before Draco
began shaking violently.� Tom experienced
only a brief flicker of surprise, quickly sublimated beneath the warm blanket
covering his mind, when the tow-headed boy on the floor before him began
emitting soft pained whimpers. �
Dumbledore seemed to wince and turned his face away.
�Don�t you dare
look away!� Snape hissed with vitriol.� �Watch.� Watch and see what has been done to him, Albus!� �What
is still being done to him.� This is... a vertitable drop
in the bucket... compared to what They did to him �
what I was obliged to do to him.�� Watch!�
And remind me again why it is important that Draco remain under His
influence.�
The old wizard wilted further.�
�I understand, Severus� he returned weakly.� �Really � I do.� But you know that there
is more at play here than the fate of one boy.�
You know yourself that Draco would not accept our protection.� He has been offered the choices and has chosen this path.��

Dumbledore appeared to hesitate before adding
�We may need him, Severus.�
Harry may need him within the Dark
Lord�s circle � within the Dark Lord�s..�
�Bed?�� Snape finished sourly.�
�I was going to say.. trust.� The white bearded man corrected
softly.� �but..
I concede that the two locations are perhaps not so very distant from one
another.� Tom has rarely..� at this he fixed the potions master with a calm, measuring
stare �allowed any witch or wizard so close � even in his time as a student
here.� He has always held
himself...aloof... from physical pursuits.�
For him to choose Draco... for
him to share anything with anyone � even his own horcrux � is an
anomaly that we cannot ignore, for it may be of benefit to us.
�Sometimes I feel very weary of being counted among �us�� Snape
muttered.� �The
clothing.� He added in a decisive tone.�
Dumbledore wisely did not respond to the first comment and answered only
with a wandflick banishing the remainder of Draco�s
clothing with the second.� It revealed
small precise lines of raised flesh in Tom�s flowing script dancing across Draco�s
lower abdomen.� Both men seemed to waver
in faint surprise at the sight.��

Tom found his own eyes drop down in response, and he looked with mild, blunted
interest at the flattering artwork on the older boy�s skin.� He thought.. He
thought he might want to touch it and swayed slightly as the spell tightened
around his mind in reaction to his independent will.
�Well..� As tattoos go � Mr Malfoy is at least not disfigured by these.� Dumbledore mumbled
in a tone that sounded almost embarrassed.�
�Can you think of a means of removing them, Severus?� I did have Tom describe them in detail �
however the reality is somewhat different than I had envisaged.� Do you see the way the magic hooks into..�� He faltered and glanced apologetically at the
other.� �Ah.� No.�
Well � take my word for it then.�
The magic is quite securely anchored into Draco�s own magical core.� To remove it would be more harmful to him
than its placement.�� He stepped closer
and drew himself with creaking knees down into a crouch before the naked
blonde, tilting his head and peering at the words with a more scrutinizing gaze.�

�I rather suspect that physical means of removal will be ineffective.� The text will renew itself.�
�Remove it!� Snape hissed at Tom angrily.� �I know
you know how, you vicious little...�
Tom felt a sudden horrifying sensation flare to life within
him.� He had to do something..� He had to do it.. and he didn�t know how.�

It was awful.� Directionless
urgency.� He shifted on his knees
anxiously and looked down at the body before him as if it were a puzzle to
solve.�� He.. he didn�t quite know where to begin.� Uneasily he raised one hand over Draco,
considering a scouring spell.� No.� it wouldn�t
work.� Even Dumbledore had just said
it.�

He couldn�t think..
too much wool in the way of his mind;� He couldn�t figure out the problem like
this.� It would drive him mad.�
�He does not, Severus.�
I questioned him quite thoroughly.�
He knows only how to cast the incantation to place new text.� I can quite understand why Voldemort would
have chosen to omit telling him about the counterspell.�� Perhaps we can place more text that will achieve the same result as removing this.�
The Potion Master�s silence had a rather heavy, angry
resonance to it.� Finally, just as Tom
had returned his fingertips to Draco�s mark and was prepared to start trying
random parseltongue commands, Snape spat, disgusted, �Disregard the last order.�
Relieved, Tom relaxed back down and let his fingertips
simply rest on the burning skin of the tattoo.��
It felt good to touch it.� He
stroked it slightly before the imperius blurred his
will and stopped the unconscious movement.
Dumbledore seemed to be thinking.� His gnarled old fingers played restlessly
with the end of his beard as he crouched on the far side of Draco�s body
glancing between the blonde and Tom himself.�
Abruptly he seemed to come to some decision and stood with far more
flexibility and ease than should have been possible for a man of his advanced
years. ��I must retrieve something, Severus.
�Something I believe may be of help in
removing Mr Malfoy�s new adornments.� I shan�t be long.�� He whirled in place and with a brief glance
to Snape, was gone with apparent haste, the door closing with a dull thud
behind him.
In the void of his balancing presence, the air in the cell
seemed to shift and heat slightly while Snape glared at Tom and Tom stared down
at Draco�s dark mark.�
Silence stretched on for almost a minute, precarious and
pendulous before the potions master apparently reached a decision.
�Revive him� Snape demanded quietly.��
Tom blinked and glanced up questioningly.� Black eyes bored into him with deadly
resolve.� �Revive him, I said.� Snape hissed poisonously.
With a faint, amorphous feeling that this wasn�t something
he wanted to do, really � Tom hissed ::awaken::,
feeling a subtle twitch in the limb he held that informed him of his success.

Something inside him flared for just a moment and seemed to rage furiously
before drowning once more in the mire of contentment.
Papery pale eyelids flickered slightly and the boy before
him on the ground emitted a low, pitiful, groan of pain before turning his head
and furrowing his brow, muscles tensing all over his body.
�Get away from him.�
Go over to the wall� Snape snapped impatiently.� �Draco.�
Draco wake up.�
There is-�
Silvery eyes tight with hurt snapped open in horror as Draco
flew into a sitting position yowling and reeling in sudden agony and
bewilderment, before half collapsing back down onto one elbow. �Sev-�� He darted
hunted looks all around, taking in his environment, pausing for a second on Tom
himself, now kneeling passively in the far corner of the room as far from him
as possible, and finally landing, mortified, upon the Potions master standing
above him, his own gaze trained unceasingly upon Tom as he held the imperius in place.�
He became belatedly aware of his own state of undress and covered his
genitals with one hand in a manner that seemed bizarrely coy.
�What have you done?!
Merlin, Severus � what are you.. Oh fuck, my arm..my ARM!!.. He knows!!�
He�ll kill me for this.. he�ll...� Oh sweet fucking Merlin.. Why did you have to interrupt
us?!� Why couldn�t you just go away and
come back later when we were done?!� Do
you hate me so much that you�d-�
�Draco!� the older
wizard snapped with annoyance.� �He does
not know.� He merely knows that your mark.. our
marks have been activated by his.. by Riddle over there.� He does not know why or what has happened since we left his presence.� Calm yourself now.�
Draco blinked, shaking his head as if he were trying to
reconcile conflicting facts within his head.��
�But... But why are you doing this?!�
What do you stand to gain from..�
Tom watched the events before him with as much interest as
he would have watched the blank wall, had the room been empty.� It was happening before him but it was none
of his concern somehow.� Nothing really
concerned him at present.� And that was
fine.. Perfect in fact.� It had..startled..him slightly for a moment as Draco had reacted in agony and
fear.� The sensation of aversion had only
been a momentary interruption in his contentment but it was troubling.� He�d wanted it to stop.� It had now, it seemed.� Draco was more composed, even if he seemed to
still be in quite a lot of pain, and glanced at him curiously before his
attention was claimed again by the looming bat of a wizard above.
�Draco.. I realise that you cannot
but view the world in certain, rather limited, terms, due to the environment
you have been immersed in from birth.. the subtle influences of your father...and your friends..� Snape
hesitated, drawing a soft breath between his lips and seeming to steel himself to continue.�
He did a moment later with resolute conviction in his voice.� �-but I encourage you to ask yourself whether
you are truly content with your
current state of servitude.�� Do you wish to continue to be be tortured?� ..Raped?...
indefinitely?!� Do you wish to yourself become a murderer and a
rapist?�

Is this the great future that you
would have the entire wizarding world subjected to?� What will happen when the Dark Lord
wins?!� What will
happen to you?!��

The older wizard, who had not shifted his eyes from Tom once throughout his
little speech, nevertheless looked pained.��
His concern shone through in his eyes.. wavered in his voice.
Silence held the room in its grip for long seconds.� Tom observed vacantly that Draco was
shaking.� His eyes were fixed on a
flagstone beside his knee and betrayed no sign of his thoughts.
�Draco?..� The older wizard
questioned uncertainly.�� You do not need
to face this fate.� We... we can help you..� I will
help you!� You need not ever return to
Him.� We can..�
�Who is we?� Draco asked softly,
his tone dull, as if he did not care what the answer might be.
Snape hesitated again.�
�You know the answer already, Draco.�
Feigned ignorance does not suit you.�
�So you really are a traitor then..�

If Draco�s voice had been empty before, it was very nearly a vacuum now.�
Snape did not answer and Draco turned his head, flicking
cool grey eyes up at him challengingly.�
�Well?� Are you?� Say it!�
Admit that you�ve lied to me from the moment I was born.. admit that you�ve deceived my
father for decades.� Say the words, Severus!�
Snape bristled visibly and thundered back in defense �I have always
sought to protect you, Draco.� Always!�
I counselled you not to take the mark although you would not hear me � I
tried to protect you from ever learning of the truth about your father and the
perversions of that to which he and I
had pledged ourselves.�
You were so.. damned..
eager to see.. eager
to taint yourself with the dark.�

I tried to shield you as best I could and you,
foolish child that you are, manage to discover and thrust yourself upon the one thing that would irredeemably damn
you.�

What in the world possessed you to-�
�You!!!� Draco snarled the word,
narrowed eyes cutting the wizard above him to pieces. ��It was you, you stupid arsehole!� You made it impossible for me to gain any
respect from my father or the Dark Lord otherwise.� You made me seem weak!! �And ridiculous!� When Pansy laughingly told me of something she
thought was proof that Weasley was losing his feeble little mind, I realised
that I had to look into it in case
there was some base to it.� After father
told me of the true events of my second year, I thought there could be other
objects similar to the book he�d had.�

I saw my chance to get the Dark Lord�s respect, Severus.� And my father�s.� And yours!��

�Draco seemed to shrink slightly, as
if withdrawing into himself most of the rage that had set him to vibrating and
clutched at his arm again, wincing before pulling it protectively against his
own chest

�I didn�t intend to do..� what I did to make
him that angry with me.� Draco mumbled.�
�It was.. it was an
accident.�
Tom tilted his head a nearly imperceptible centimetre.� Again that small flicker of
disturbance in his pleasant peace.�
It was Draco�s pain.� He didn�t
like it.� It was getting in the way of
the soft warm feeling he was floating in.�
Without thinking, he stilled the blonde�s mark somewhat till the distracting
awareness was less than the gentle waves of pleasure.
Draco had bowed his head but now glanced
up toward Tom again, an unreadable expression in his eyes.�

�What are you going to do with..� he trailed off
uncertainly.� �Him�
Tom stared back at them both calmly, faint contentment
softening his features.
�Draco..� Snape�s softly
exasperated low voice purred.� �I did not
intend to humiliate you.� I regret that
you perceived my actions in that manner.�
But you must see that it would be dangerous for you to return to the Dark
Lord now.� He will continue to punish you..and to ...use...you.� There is little I can do for you there
now.� Here however, you might finish your
education undisturbed by the course of the war.�
You could undertake an apprenticeship in potions if you would like.� You are certainly sufficiently proficient in
the subject to succeed if you applied yourself.

There is.. a potion.. that
will allow you to function when the mark burns.�
We will find a way.� I will compel
this wretched creature disguised as a boy to subdue your mark as often as
necessary until the Dark Lord relents and loses interest in you.

Do not disdain the offer that is being made to you purely because of the skewed
worldview of your father.� Surely you
have realised by now that Lucius is not the man you
have held him up to be?!

He will hurt you, Draco, if you
return.�� He will seek and almost
certainly gain permission from the Dark
Lord to do so.�

Would you become your own father�s catamite purely in pursuit of some notion of
respect � respect that you must realise he will never give you?!�
The blonde wizard shuddered in irrepressible physical
repulsion, closing his eyes again.

�No.� No.. I
don�t want that� he whispered tightly.�

He struggled to compose himself again.
�Then will you take the assistance offered you?� �Remain
here.� Step aside from the war and allow
me to protect you!
Draco stilled as if frozen in time.� When he next moved it was only to slide his
gaze slowly across the floor back to Tom once again.

�You�re mad if you think that anyone can just �step aside�, Severus.� You can�t protect me.� And you never answered my question.� What is going to happen to the Dark Lord�s
horcrux?�
Tom almost wanted to smile for some reason at the soft
frustrated huff of the dour crow.� He
didn�t really know why and the impulse was gone in a fraction of a second.
�I can try.� Let me
try.� It cannot be any worse than your
present position.� Snape paused and seemed to compose his thoughts.

�� ...I do not
know what will be done with the horcrux.�
Dumbledore was still deciding.�
Draco nodded at the first statements summarily though
something in his eyes sharpened as if in confirmation as he continued to hold
them on Tom.� He began to pick himself up
from the floor, which made Snape shift slightly, warily.
�You know.. I�m surprised that you
can hold him under the imperius..�
Draco was musing distractedly as he brushed himself off primly.� �He was so much stronger than this..�
Snape sneered and narrowed his eyes at Tom slightly.

�He has never experienced the unforgiveables � merely used them.� He may have been a monster at fourteen but
the others of his acquaintance were not quite so prodigious.� He did not have any dark wizards or dark-wizards-in-training
attempting to place him under the curses � he has only practiced their casting.�
Draco nodded thoughtfully and stepped closer to where Tom
knelt passively watching.
�Draco..� Severus cautioned
uneasily.
�You know..� Draco started,
ignoring the warning but remaining to the side in his movement, not breaking
the Potion Master�s line of sight upon the small boy he was holding the curse
upon.� �You can�t protect me Severus.� Only he
can.� You should have left me with
him.� You shouldn�t have
interrupted.� I was doing fine on my own.�

He had arrived to stand above and to the side of Tom, which meant that Tom
could no longer see him, staring straight ahead as he was.� The faint flicker of discontentment this
caused was easily dispelled by turning his head and looking up at Draco.
�Draco!.. Come away from him now� Snape
demanded with sharp urgency and the soft wool surrounding Tom�s mind thickened,
making his eyes slip out of focus as he lost interest in external events.

He barely registered the cool hand that tentatively stroked over his hair.
�He wasn�t at all like the Dark Lord..�
Draco murmured, looking down at him with a faint indecision that meant nothing
at all to Tom.
�Draco..�

A more desperate tone crept into the warning this time.�

�Nothing will happen to the ..boy..� Now come.. here.�
�I don�t think I have
to do that actually� Draco mused aloud, slipping his hand from the head of the
kneeling horcrux to cup his face gently.�
The searching look he gave him was utterly wasted on Tom.

�I think you�re too busy trying to hold his mind down to have any attention left
to stun me or move me by force.� And
you�re a liar, by your own admission.�
Why should I believe anything you tell me?!� I think you�re planning to kill him.�� He punctuated his words by grazing his thumb
feather-lightly over Tom�s bottom lip, grey eyes narrowed speculatively. �...Traitor.�
�You are refusing?!�
Snape spat incredulously.� �You unbelievably idiotic little waistrel!� Draco!�
Why?!� For this..
this.. half-living thing that should not, by rights exist?!�
Or merely out of contrariness - because I could not endanger you
with the truth of my thoughts on the Dark Lord�s agenda?!� Or do you truly
think his quest noble?!� He is a half-blood Draco.� Like
myself � like Potter, for that
matter.� Does it not seem the slightest
bit odd to you that almost the entire pureblood aristocracy are falling over
themselves to bleed for the man?!� To
what end?� Toward a goal that cannot
possibly be attained through the means he is choosing to employ in its apparent
pursuit?!� Think, Draco!!� And stop touching that damned boy!!� He is responsible for your present position
servicing the inner circle.� It is his fault that Lucius
was able to exercise his own perverse fantasies upon you and his doing that I am forced to know you
in a way one should not know one�s
godson.� Touching that...creature... has
made you the Dark Lord�s whore!�
Draco�s hand shook against Tom�s cheek before he removed it,
clenching it into a fist and relegating it to his side.� He did not turn to look at the other wizard
but his eyes burned as he glared at the wall behind Tom.�

Then they cleared again and the tinge of indecision was gone.�
�He wasn�t bad, you know..� Draco
said with a quiet amusement in his voice.�
�He wanted me so urgently that it was flattering.�

Turning, Draco looked at Snape, leaving Tom to look up at his back.�

This was a slightly less satisfying view.�
He wanted Draco�s hands back, stroking him and paying attention to him.
�I enjoyed it.�
�Draco...� Snape began uneasily.� �Think about this..�
�I�ve thought about it.�
You wouldn�t believe how many hours i�ve spent
thinking about it.� Thanks... but no thanks.�� He
was walking slowly, carefully in Snape�s direction now.

�I enjoyed it, Severus.� Even..� even.. Him.� The blonde shivered visibly.� �They were both... good..�
He was good � when I got past
his..his appearance. �I can take it.. if it�s just.. just them.� He
hurt me less than they did.� He won�t let father do it again if I.. if I just..�
Snape, now visible as Tom no longer knelt in Draco�s shadow,
paled and looked quite ill.� �Draco stop.� You cannot get
out of this cell.� Even I do not know the
incantations.� Dumbledore will return at
any moment.� Please reconsider!!�
Tom watched ambivalently as Draco approached the much larger
wizard with calm determination.�� He
stared impassively at their brief tousle and then, abruptly, it felt as if a
weight had suddenly been lifted from him and his mind sharpened in time to see Draco
flung through the air to crash into the opposite wall.� Snape was whirling, his wand cutting through
the air in urgency to return it to where it had been held upon Tom.

That wasn�t going to happen!��

Desperation fuelled his magic as he raised every wandless shield he could and
threw himself to the side, just in time to evade the white numbing pulse of the
imperius spell.�
It spattered against the wall and dissipated silently.�
Hitting the ground with a soft grunt of impact, Tom was
already throwing spells.� Severus Snape
was a far more formidable opponent than Harry had been however and he waved the
first two hexes aside with barely a twitch of his wand, while the third bounced
off his shield.�

Tom paused, his hand raised, trying to work out what spell, if any, might be
effective against the man.� The pause was
all Snape needed to launch his own attack, with a narrow-eyed, faintly
satisfied expression he drew back and threw, in small economical slashing
motions, three dark coloured spells in Tom�s direction.

He wasn�t certain what the first one was and so rolled quickly, trying to evade
it.� The second two were definitely not hexes he wanted to be
struck with, although they would have been sufficiently repelled by his shield,
he was almost certain.�
Still unable to think of a spell he could be certain the
other wizard would not be able to counter, he glanced up, righting himself quickly, and found that his evasion maneuver had brought him closer to Draco�s fallen
body.� He lay a short distance from the
wall, crumpled slightly and apparently unconscious.� The accio corpus
barely took a thought.� He caught the
movement out of the corner of his eye as Snape diverted his own hex at the last
moment, flicking it instead at the ground several meters and to the side of Tom
and Draco � who was now splayed bonelessly in a slumped sitting position in
front of Tom.

It was the opportunity that Tom needed.�

A simple expelliarmus and Accio
at the precise moment of Snape�s uncertainty and indecision and Tom was holding his opponent�s wand tightly in his left
hand.� Peering out from beside the silky
blond head, his arm around Draco and hand laid flat over the boy�s heart, he
mustered the faltering old wizard across the room with a narrow gaze.
�You have disarmed me.�
You do not need to threaten Draco..��
Snape�s tone was quiet, careful, with just a hint of
beseeching to it.�
Tom snorted, amused.�

�Why would I unnecessarily throw away something that belongs to me?� As you say � You are no longer a threat.��

Toying with the thought of using the wizard�s own wand against him, he
discarded it almost immediately.� Wands could be loyal.� Better to stick to his wandless magic.� At least that he knew would work.� He incanted the incarcerous and stupefy silently.� Snape did not even attempt to move out of the
path of the spells and soon became more unconscious furniture in the room.
Tom looked over toward the door.
He could try...
Surely there might be some way out if he looked for one.� Somehow.� He could at least try.

But he knew there wouldn�t be.�

He didn�t have to examine the door to know that Dumbledore had somehow keyed it
to be opened only by himself.� Tom could throw
everything he had into it and he still wouldn�t be leaving this room unless it
was with the old coot�s permission.
It was disappointing that he couldn�t even manage to work up
the enthusiasm to feel frustrated over that anymore.

For the lack of anything else pressing to do, he cast a diagnostic charm upon Draco
and then healed the minor concussion and bruising that his impact with the wall
had left. Then with some awkward difficulty, due to the size discrepancy
between then, he turned Draco so that the boy�s head could rest in his
lap.� He was just stroking through the
blond hair, straightening it, when the door emitted it�s
low cracks once more and Dumbledore bustled in.

It was amusing to watch the cheer slide off his wrinkled old face into dismay.
To be fair � the dismay was far less than Tom had
expected.� Perhaps some part of Dumbledore
had expected something of this sort to happen. He certainly didn�t appear to be
holding whatever it was he had left to retrieve and he recovered quickly when
he looked toward Tom and found him cradling Draco�s head protectively.� The bright twinkle and grandfatherly smile
were back at full volume as if they�d never left.�
�Ah Tom.� I see you�ve managed to recover yourself
after all.� And Mr Malfoy too, it would
seem. �I do not need to summon assistance
to bring Severus to the Infirmary I trust??��

There was a faintly ominous note to the last.. like sharp rocks hidden beneath the surface of murky
water.� Tom suspected that Dumbledore
would be more than merely disappointed in him if he discovered the potions
master to be seriously injured.�
�Just stupified� he reassured
quietly.� �But please make him
understand, when you wake him later.. out of my presence.. that
If he ever tries to use that curse on me again � the next time, he won�t be
waking up.�
The headmaster nodded grimly.

�Yes.. I rather suspected you wouldn�t take it well.�� He seemed to let the topic go without a
second thought �...Mr Malfoy appears calmer.�
I take it that he is no longer enduring the call.��

This last remark was, once again, slightly pointed and Dumbledore lowered his
head slightly to examine Tom over the rim of his half moon spectacles.
�No.� I.. it�s stopped.��
Damn Dumbledore if he would make him admit
it.� Tom hardened his face.� �Snape is still being summoned..� I only..�� He faltered.
�And Lord Voldemort will have taken close note of the
anomalous activation of Draco�s mark, even so.� Dumbledore finished, with a
nodding sigh.� �Nevertheless � perhaps we
might ease Mr Malfoy�s burden somewhat.� If the Dark Lord believes that Mr Malfoy was nearly responsible for your escape...��

The level of twinkling was truly appalling.

�And if his failure is thought to be due to the information that he
unfortunately does not possess, regarding the protections that I have placed
around you... That is - Information which Lord Voldemort might have supplied
him with, but had not... yet.�
Tom scowled slightly, to cover the uncertainty of his own
inner state.� Was Dumbledore
suggesting...
�I will speak with you later, Tom.� Do try
to avoid making any further unfortunate choices in the meantime.�� The old wizard smiled in a strangely
affectionate manner and turned, apparently leaving.
�I..� Tom stopped him, finding
himself fascinated with the flagstones at the curly toed boots.� Loathing that Dumbledore had always had the
power to do that to him somehow, to
reduce him to looking away rather than meeting pale blue, knowing, eyes, Tom
forced himself to raise his gaze and glare at the old wizard.

�I still hate you, you know.� ��
�Oh, I know,
Tom.� I know.� Oh.. That reminds me..��

With suddenly frightening quickness, Dumbledore�s wand was in his hand and
levelled down upon him.� He did not even
have time to blanch before the spell struck.��
It had not struck him, however, but the head cradled in his lap.�

Draco didn�t so much as twitch.�

A shiver wound its way irrepressibly up Tom�s spine.� It was a strangely enjoyable sensation.� He added it to the list of the myriad
pleasures of tangible existence that he had forgotten about entirely while
trapped in the diary. ��
Dumbledore was returning his wand to his sleeve with the
look of one examining a job well done.�

�I think that should suffice.�� He smiled faintly, whilst turning away once
more.�
�Goodbye, Tom�� the old wizard�s voice floated back
airily as he exited the room through the open door.� �And mind the mice..�
Shaking his head slightly, Tom wondered yet again about Dumbledore�s
level of mental stability.�

�People in glass houses shouldn�t throw
stones� � a voice whispered surreptitiously in the back of his mind.� He shrugged it off.� He was not unstable.� He wasn�t mad..� Dumbledore quite evidently was.

The dark gap of the partially open door continued to leer at him.

It wasn�t closing.
�He frowned slightly.

Was the old coot really going to let him just wander out?� Was this a test of some kind?
Hesitantly and carefully, he displaced Draco�s head from his
lap - It wouldn�t do to damage him after he had bothered to heal him, after all,
he told himself � and moved toward the door, fully expecting it to snap shut
before him.

It didn�t.

It remained as perfectly inert as a large, heavy, well-balanced object could
be.

There was a slight draft from the darkness outside as Tom peered into the murk.
�Dumbledore??� he called softly, hating himself for needing
to.� �Are you still there?�
Silence.�
Silence and the faint smell of Hogwarts
dungeons � the must and mildew of the lake.
Wherever his room had been before � it was clearly located
in one of the towers � He hadn�t smelled this scent in..
such a long time.��
It brought back his memories of.. of before..� He could see the others before his inner
eye.� Abraxas,
constantly preening in front of his gilded mirror.� Lester and Jona and
Prence and...�

Shaking his head like one fighting off dreams, he pulled back from the memories
that wanted to bubble up like an infernal fountain and overwhelm him.�

The door was open and Dumbledore was, apparently, not here.�
His older self had described the protections that were
currently in place.

Surely.. surely � knowing � he might somehow be able to
conceive of a way out.
He fervently ignored the tiny, irritating voice in the back
of his mind that informed him that Dumbledore wouldn�t have left the door open
if he thought that was possible.�

What Dumbledore thought was possible
and what was actually, verifiably, able to be done sometimes diverged.� Merlin knew, the man
had always discounted possibilities that did not meet with his own moral
requirements.� It had been chief among
the reasons why Tom had often been fuming when he had left
transfiguration.� Dumbledore had
sometimes � not often, admittedly, but sometimes � marked him down for some
solution which he had not agreed with.�
More commonly he had given him the marks he deserved but scrawled some
pointed remark on the paper. ��
There could be a
way.�� He just needed to find it.
Thoughtfully, he turned back to the cell, his eyes sliding
across the floor and coming to rest on Draco�s still form.

�
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Author note.
Yes I�ve been away for a long time.� Sorry about that.�

Raven and unneeded� - Thanks!� Good to be back.� I�m sorry to have accidentally fooled you
with no new update.� I noticed something
was screwy with the first few chapters.�
I readded chapter one in the hope of fixing it
and it seemed to be fixed � so i readded
ever other chapter and deleted the prev ones � only to
discover the problem back.� I give up
now.� Oh well.�
Addiena Saffir
� wow.. I�m not sure if this is entirely meant as a
flame.� I was left wondering whether or
not I should be upset by it.�� You do
realise, of course, that you are the master of your own actions.� You can choose not to read anything that
disturbs you and, indeed, if we learn anything at all from Oscar Wilde�s Dorian
Gray � anything you read inevitably alters you, so on
your own head be it if you do choose to read disturbing things.�

That being said � what makes you think that I haven�t got a happy ending in
mind here?� Just what is your concept of
a happy ending actually? �I suppose that
is the relevant question. �Ah well.. I can�t promise to do or not do anything that you might
or might not be bothered by, not least because it might bother someone else.� All I can do is write what comes in on the
strange tide in my mind when I sit down at the keyboard.� Sometimes the plot that I had been following,
twists itself as I write.� Not everything
always ends up where I had intended it to.�
�
Review replies to ALL stories can also (sometimes) be found
at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/18725-review-replies/� when I remember to go there.
- 15
- 16
- 17
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The First Horcrux