Inbreeding and Insanity: A Lovers Tale

This is a one-shot that slithered into my head whilst writing another one-shot on a similar theme. I love Druella and Tom together, especially now that Cursed Child has cannoned its way into existence and made everyone get so upset. Mwahahahaaa! But no spoilers on THE GREATEST PLAY IN EXISTANCE, and I promise this has nothing to do with Cursed Child, I'm just blethering unnecessarily.

Disclaimer: Characters and world belong to dear old JK, situations and wild outbursts of fantasy belong to me and my twisted mind.


Tom paced across the stone floor of the room of requirement, his footsteps quick and light, displaying his poise and grace, something he had learnt, rather than had instilled into him at birth.

Druella watched him like a hawk, she knew that one flicker of emotion across his face or one twitch of his wand hand could mean a curse flying in your direction, and that was not something she wished to experience at present.

The Dark Lord froze suddenly, before turning to face them. "Who here knows why I have called this meeting?" His voice was high and cold and his eyes were darker than the nights sky outside. No one was going to speak up when confronted with that presence.

Druella had a feeling that she knew exactly why they were here, and it was all her fault. Not that she was going to let that be known, it would be the last thing she did if she betrayed even a glimmer of knowledge pertaining to that of which he spoke.

"Rosier!" Tom shouted and Druella jumped about a foot in the air before cursing herself inwardly, so much for displaying nothing. He was, of course, calling to her brother, Evan. Lately Evan and Tom had become closer, or as close as anyone could be with the Dark Lord, now that they were in seventh year together and Tom was just itching to finish school. His restraint was growing weaker and weaker as the days went by, his need to lash out, to punish, to torment, they all shot to the surface more and more frequently and at times, even his most loyal followers found it difficult to be around him.

Evan stepped forward and bowed, "Yes my Lord?" He inquired calmly, as though this was an ordinary meeting and not one where blood was soon to be shed and pain was soon to be felt, they all knew that look in their Dark Lord's eye. Evan had always been the calm one, it came naturally to him, like breathing. Calm and sly and slippery, like and eel, whereas Druella had to work constantly to maintain nothing but a flicker of distaste upon her haughty pureblood features. Many times she failed and let something slip, she was too wild in her ways, cursed to never be as good as her brother, the perfect Slytherin boy child. Fortunately the Dark Lord had eventually seen potential in her and had brought her into the fold, late in her sixth year. Her parents were still sceptical about their children swearing loyalty to one man, but many parents were. It was only the Black's and the Malfoys who had ever played host to the Dark Lord during the occasional holiday and it was their word that this was the real deal that had swayed the other families into allowing him power and control over their offspring.

Druella didn't care much for any of that, she didn't follow rules or bow to authority. Of course on the outside she did, as appearances had to be kept up, but inside she was a rush of whimsy and desire, lust and pain, darkness and darker. She was a confusing construct of everything a pureblood should never let anyone see, for if they did they would become privy to the twisted underbelly of insanity that came hand in hand with the purity of their birth and the inbreeding that wound around their family tree like chains.

Tom glared at Evan, now was not the time for hiding ones anger, now was the time for action, and this had gone on long enough.

"You!" He nearly screeched at the boy before him, barely noticing the wince of fear that crossed his face. "You! Tell me why I am so angry. Why I, Lord Voldemort must sink so low as to Lose. My. Temper?" He enunciated the last few word clearly, so that everyone in the room was shivering with fear at what was about to follow. They did not have long to wait. Before the usually calm Rosier could even begin to stutter out an explanation Tom began to Crucio him. Whilst the body writhed on the floor before him, Tom looked up and met Abraxas Malfoys shocked eyes.

"Well, Malfoy," he drawled, twitching his wand so that Rosier's screams were suddenly silenced. "What have you to say for yourself?"

"I-My Lord, please, I beg you. It was just a misunderstanding!" Abraxas was terrified now, the fear was evident in his features, and his eyes were flicking round the room as though natural instinct was forcing him to look for a way out, when they all knew there was none.

"If I had known my Lord-" Abraxas tried again but this only seemed to make Tom more angry. So angry in fact that he stepped over Evan's body and moved towards Abraxas, letting Evan slowly twitch to a standstill as the curse was lifted. This was good for Evan but bad for everyone else present, who knew which one of them would be next.

"Your family has tried to take what is mine!" The Dark Lord was screeching once again, all thoughts of composure long gone from his half-blood mind. Druella almost let herself smirk before she rained it back in, leaving a sort of stupid looking grimace upon her lips that she didn't want to fix in case it was noticed. She often called Tom 'The Half-blood' in her mind, it was dangerous, but then, she liked the feeling of danger, it was rather addictive. And nothing was more delicious that getting one up over the Dark Lord, even if it was only in her deepest, most tucked away thoughts.

Tom seemed to have realised that he was losing face as well as composure and had reigned himself in a tad. That is to say he was screeching less and cursing Malfoy with non-verbal's more. Once Malfoy was reduced to nothing more than a gibbering wreck at his feet Tom strode away, with his back to them all. When he turned he looked more Dark-Lord-Deadly and less Evil-Schoolboy-Tantrum. Druella wasn't sure it was an improvement.

"The Malfoy family has betrayed me! This cannot be tolerated. My contract with the Rosier's was almost complete and your-" he paused here to spit on Malfoys shivering form, "-pathetic waste of space offer has caused the whole deal to fall through. Do you know how irritated I get when I Do. Not. Have. What. I. Want?"

Evan raised his head slightly from its position on the floor, "My Lord, my parents will re-instate the contract, it's just a formality anyway, you can just make my sister marry you if you want, no one will stop yo-"

"IF I WANTED TO JUST MARRY HER THEN I COULD JUST IMPERIUS HER AND YOUR WHOLE FAMILY!" The Dark Lord was screeching again and Druella actually did role her eyes this time, relaxing slightly. So this was what the so called, urgent emergency meeting was all about, this Great Matter that kept arising. If she had known that sleeping with Abraxas was going to cause so many problems then she would have gone back to her own bed that night and left him to drink himself into a stupor in the common room alone. Actually, she smiled to herself, now she thought about it she would probably still sleep with him, it was worth it getting to see Tom all riled up, and not even at her for once! She could even pass it off as some pure blooded Slytherin cunning, although it was nothing of the sort. She didn't really have the capacity to think that far ahead on a daily basis. And Abraxas was just so very pretty when he was drunk and depraved.

For the past few months Tom had got the idea into his head that in order to cement himself into the powerful pureblood elite, he needed to marry one of them. Druella had been offered, formally by her brother Evan on behalf of the Rosiers and just as the contract was being drawn up, Druella had slept with Abraxas. When Abraxas had awoke and found a naked, pureblood daughter of an ancient house in his bed he had panicked and, oblivious to the plans being set in place for Druella's marital doom, he had contacted his own family in order to seek permission to press his suit and wife the girl before she slandered him.

Not that Druella would have even considered such a thing, probably. And now, of course, Tom had found out. Druella had only discovered his partial contract when the Malfoys had begun theirs and the Rosier's had had to declare direct competition for their daughter's hand. It was ridiculous really, Druella wasn't going to marry anyone, but of course, no one had bothered to ask her what she thought of the whole thing.

It had all started soon after Druella had been brought into Tom's inner circle. He had been cold, calm and in control, made of steel and dark, damaged danger when everyone else was warm and soft and flaccid. He was power, and she lusted after it in ways that made her head spin and her heart ache and her mind go down roads to thoughts that were strange and new and frankly terrifying. He was everything, and her world was broken open and given the lease of life that she had been craving. Which was why she had made sure that he would notice her, she had got under his skin and into his bed and he had responded with utter charm and a charismatic sexual prowess that had set her on fire.

Which was why she had plummeted down into he depths of despair when she had discovered that he was completely and utterly insane. And devoid of any emotion that could remotely be described as love.

"Ella!" Tom shouted at her and the whole room stiffened slightly, knowing that things were about to get more intense.

Druella sighed and struggled to refrain from rolling her eyes yet again. "Yes Tom?" She smiled sweetly at him, ignoring the glare of hatred that was firmly fixed upon his face.

He took a step closer to her, his wand raising slightly till it was directly pointed at her chest. "Ella if you laugh at me one more time I'm going to do something that, frankly, I doubt I will regret."

Opps, she hadn't realised that she had laughed out loud but really, Tom just brought out the joy in her. Didn't everyone feel that way?

"Oh Tom, just because I let a teeny tinny giggle escape me, that does in no way diminish the feeling of utter fear and intimidation I'm sure I and everyone else in the room is currently experiencing when faced with your oh-so-great power and wrath."

There was a slight intake of breath from around the room and Evan, who was still on the floor, groaned quietly and shook his head.

Tom stared at her for a moment, his expression now unreadable. "OUT!" He suddenly shouted and everyone made to move, several of them stopping to pick up the blob that had previously been Abraxas, presumably to see what the hospital wing would be able to do for him. Although personally, Druella thought they were being overly optimistic. She didn't bother to move, Tom's eyes were still focused on her and she knew that she was about to get one hell of a punishment for her outburst but she didn't really care. Tom had ruined her for caring, she had lost the capacity to feel the first time he had crucioed her. All she had been guilty of was crying in his presence, and it had been his fault for fucking her too roughly, little did she know the pain would get so much worse. Now there was precious little left of her original self, he had erased it with sex and pain and a complete lack of emotion which confused her greatly when she found out he had wanted to marry her.

"Ella, you make it incredibly difficult for me not to kill you." They were alone now and Tom looked less angry and more exasperated. He waved his wand and it was a testament to how screwed up their relationship was that she didn't even flinch. Fortunately all he was doing was conjuring a sofa which he sunk down onto and gestured to her to sit down as well.

"Why do you have to act like this Ella? Is it not enough that I have chosen you? That I am giving you and your family this great honour?"

He looked at her like he was expecting her to bow down and claim that everything he said was true. Druella just stared at him for a few moments. Then she burst out laughing.

"Silencio." Tom said in a bored voice and the laughter was cut off abruptly mid flow, Druella leaned over and hit him on the arm. Within seconds Tom had grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head, using his body weight to push her back into the chair. He was hovering over her, a maniacal gleam in his eye.

"You really push me Ella, you know I can only take so much. Sometimes I wonder why you even let me sleep with you in the first place, you so clearly regret it now."

He was cool and calm again, which was the Tom that got Druella the most hot and bothered. But what he said was true, she did regret it, not that there was anything she could do about it now.

"I didn't know you'd be insane." She whispered after realising the silencing spell had been lifted.

"Well you got what you wanted, you got me. Just because the dream doesn't comply with the reality does in no way allow you to defy me publicly."

Rational Tom always got her going too, especially when he was explaining something in a way that she just knew meant he was angry, and that was why he was acting so calm.

He was like a knife edge, and she was resting on it. One wrong move and he would cut her in half as easy as slicing through skin. And yet there was no way she could ever let him go.