Chapter 20
Draco jolted upwards with a shout of terror. He felt hands on him and he tried to fling them off, terror making it difficult to move as his limbs were not working with him but against him, and causing his vision to go blurry. The fear, the utter terror he felt coursed through his veins in the worst possible way. His breathing was fast and shaking, not wanting to cooperate with him despite his desperate attempts to bring air in. His fear was not only reasonable, it was understandable to anyone who knew of his family workings, including Tom.
Draco squirmed and writhed on the bed, in a mixture of pain caused by his movements, and fear. The terror was overwhelming, and centered in the forefront of his mind, and he was unable to think clearly. The fog of horror and despair, and pain kept him from managing to think rationally, or logically. He was choking on his very breath from the sheer terror that he felt coursing through his every being. He screamed in horror when he felt hands flexing, attempting to get a better hold on him. He sobbed openly shaking his head, body trembling with fear, as he continued to try to tear himself away from whomever was trying to hold him down only able to drop the attempts once the person on top of him manage to successfully hold him down. Please and begging echoed from his lips, the trembling words 'no, no, no, no,' and 'not again, please,' and 'i'm sorry,' and 'i promise, I'll be good, I promise' was the mantra played on repeat in his mind and partially to the echos of the room.
- - -
The Golden Trio was already aware of the odd relationship that Draco Malfoy and Thomas Riddle had with each other. It was obvious, in the way Tom was so obviously possessive of Draco, and dominating, if the hand on the neck thing was any indication, but neither was it painful for Draco. In fact, if Ron had anything to say about it, he and the others would agree that the relationship seemed to be mutually beneficial for both parties. Now, in what ways was still to be determined.
Either way, the Trio had noticed a few odd things about the Malfoy heir's behavior as of late. He was still condescending and arrogant to their faces, but it was in the times that they were not looking that his quiet, and gentle behavior showed, the times when he and Riddle were alone, that the submissive side was dawned. Though the Trio had noticed it at times, such as times when Riddle would give Draco a pointed look when his tongue became especially sharp edged, or when Riddle would seemingly soothe him by cupping his neck. None knew why it had a apparent calming affect, it was another mystery.
But, the scene that they were met with when they entered the boy's rooms, it was most certainly not what they were expecting.
The Trio had decided to talk to Riddle, and hopefully Malfoy, and see if they needed anything, as Riddle had refused to come down for hours now. They had hoped that his temper was relatively calmed, they did not want to be on the wrong side of a curse or hex in the boy's anger. For a sixteen year old, he was terribly frightening, expecially when calm, which was not something you would really expect.
Draco was attempting to throw Tom off of him, it was clear he was not totally coherent. Tears were streaming down his face as he sobbed silently, and expertly, Harry thought. His arms were trying uselessly to throw Tom off, but Tom was in the process of restraining him. The younger boy was literally throwing his entire body around, trying desperately to get Tom away from him. They could hear strangled, half-choked words of 'please no' and 'sorry' and 'I'll be good' barely understandable in the boy's terror. He was clearly out of it. They watched as Tom tried many futile attempts to restrain the boy, only to have to stop as the boy continue to flail about. His entire body was both tense and trembling at once, somehow. It was a horrid sight to the three children. Remus and the Twins came up to check on them, as they had to have been staring at the scene before them for at least five minutes, totally uncertain as to how to handle what they were seeing.
Upon the arrival of the adult, and the twin children, the three Gryffindor children were spurred into action. They lurched forwards to help Tom, only to stop with wide fearful eyes. Tom, upon noticing their movement forwards whirled around. His face was furious. His eyes were wild and dangerous. His face showed only one thing, and that was anger and danger in spades. It made them back up hastily. Remus nearly choked his breath evaporating when he saw the look in the young Riddle's eyes.
"Back away!" And it was that which chilled them to the core. The boy's voice was not loud, he was not screaming in anger, though it might have been better if he had been. The teen's voice was cold as ice, and just as deadly, it was soft, and quiet, but filled with dark promise. He looked back towards Draco, and lunged forward, took hold of the boy's wrists, and pulling them from his arms, which he had been scratching up and down, drawing blood from his skin, from his long nails, and quickly held them securely, pinning them to the bed, causing the child to panic more, but Tom ignored his verbal pleas to be released. He did, however, gentle his hold, making sure not to crush the fragile's boy's bones, and bruise his skin. But all that did was cause the boy to redouble his struggle, weeping silently as he thrashed about. Tom was desperate, and so, despite the fact that there was so many people in the room, and it would cause for hours of questioning from...well..everyone, he did the only thing he could think of.
Looking back on it, it was not really surprising that Tom did what he did at that time. Both he and Draco were out of the zone of comfort. It was the first time, however, that Tom used his full Alpha Voice, on the boy, and it had such a profound affect, that even Tom himself was shocked with it. Tom would have never used his highest level Alpha voice had the tension not been so terribly high, and had Draco not been in danger of causing serious damage to himself, at Tom naturally, not only that, his instincts were off the charts, so much so that had the golden trio attempted to continue forwards, Tom would have forgone magic, and simply lunged at them hands likely going round their throats, which he never, ever, did. He always relied on magic, even in stress high situations, which showed just how out of it Tom really was.
Tom, in the current moment, hauled himself on the bed, pinning Draco by his own hands around the younger's wrists, and his knees digging into his thighs. He than growled, eyes flashing a deeper darker blue than his normal eye color, and said the simply words "Stop Struggling" accented with a growl. It was an obvious, undeniable command, one that Draco would be incapable of throwing off, as he could-but chose not to-do before, though it would take a severe amount of will-power and healthy physical and mental strength, neither of which the youngest Malfoy had at the moment.
What happened next shocked and scared the others to the bones. Draco seemed to freeze in bed, and began blinking rapidly. "Draco, it's me, Tom." Draco's eyes seemed to clear of the terror that gripped him not seconds before Tom gave the command for the boy to stop struggling against him, partially.
"Tom?" came the small and weak reply. Tom seemed to instantly loose all the tension that had wracked his body not moments before. Tom took several steadying breaths, with a breathless 'yes, it is me, it's me' directed at the younger teen. Tom did not relinquish his hold on the boy, continuing to pin him to the mattress, daring not to release him just quite yet.
At that precise moment, Severus came rushing in the room, eyes glazed and wild, looking quite like Tom had seconds ago. Tom did not look up, but directed his orders to Severus. The others still watching in awe as this sixteen year old boy commanded the terrifying potions master. "Severus. You will go downstairs. you will wait downstairs, until I have calmed the young Malfoy down enough to bring him down with me. You will take the others, and limit their questions, until Draco and I come down."
"What happened to him?" came the quiet and neutral reply.
"Draco has suffered a drop, Severus, a very severe one at that." They watched as the Potions' Master's face paled, and his eyes narrowed into slits to the others around him.
"Downstairs. NOW!"
"And Severus." Tom said once more, stopping all procession towards the door.
"Yes?"
"Perhaps you should answer some of their questions, and tell them what to expect when Draco and I come down, hmm?" Tom suggested.
"Of course,"
Tom sighed, and started the task of calming the boy down enough to bring him downstairs.