Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I do not make any money from writing this story. I do it only for fun.

Chapter 1: Sweet Tom isn't so sweet after all

Tom was pacing back and forth in the little room. He wanted to go back to Hogwarts. The day after was the first of September, and he was going to go back there to start his sixth year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. He was a wizard, he knew that. He could speak Parseltongue too. He was the brightest student at the school. He was a prefect. What else was he? Very powerful and of course not as nice as everyone thought. His friends in Slytherin admired him; they were scared of him. They obeyed him; did everything he told them to do. There were four people that were his closest. Abraxas Malfoy, who followed him almost everywhere and Cygnus Black, who followed him when Abraxas wasn't there; he always had someone close to him. Then there was Melinda Rocko. She was a bit peculiar; was always trying to impress him to make him like her. He thought it was irritating, but as long as she did what he told her he was satisfied. Last, but by no means least, there was Rose Movo, the rebel of the group. Tom had forgotten how many times he'd had to punish her for disobedience. By beating her, mostly. He had never used magic against her; it would have been humiliating. He didn't want to think about them now. All he wanted was to come back to Hogwarts.

Suddenly the dinner bell rang. Tom sighed and went down to the canteen.

"Get out of the way!" said a boy as he tried to push past Tom.

"Do not speak to me in that tone," he whispered in the boy's ear, which made him give a jump.

"I'm sorry," he said and followed Tom nicely all the way to the canteen.

After dinner he went back up to his room and threw himself on the bed. He stayed there all day, where no one could disturb him. Packed what was left in the trunk before he locked it. Then he lay down on his bed, trying to sleep, and within a couple of minutes you could hear deep breaths.

The next morning the sun and birds singing awaked him. He had forgotten to pull the blind down the night before, and the sunlight was flowing into the room. He got on his feet quickly and pulled the curtain down. He despised days like these, or at least he should despise them. Then he recalled what day it was and checked his watch.

Not more than eight, he thought and started to get dressed, but he stopped and headed for the bathroom instead.

He at least wanted to be clean the first day at school. He wanted to be on time. He was going to go at ten o'clock, and it was best to be finished by then. When he was ready and had showered it was already nine, which happened to be the time the breakfast opened. He pulled out a pair of clean jeans and got a shirt on before he went down.

A quarter to eleven he was at the station. He saw Abraxas at a distance and started to walk that way.

"Tom!" called a voice and he turned around and spotted Melinda and Rose. He nodded, and they followed him over to Abraxas.

"Hi," Tom began, and when Abraxas turned around the girls looked away.

In Abraxas' face there were a long scar over the cheek down to his chin.

"Hi," Abraxas replied silently.

"What happened to you?" Rose wondered. "I don't know what you look like, but it's certainly not very pretty."

"It's a long story. I'll tell you on the train, that we should, by the way, be getting on now. Are you coming?" he started walking towards the train.

A couple of minutes later they were all in a compartment waiting for Cygnus.

It was five past, but he didn't show up. It was ten past, and he still wasn't there.

At a quarter past, Tom stood up and went to check where he'd gone.

He found him in a compartment in the very back of the train that was stocked with seventh-years from Slytherin.

Tom opened the door, and instantly everyone fell silent. He made a sign to Cygnus to come with him. As usual, he did what he was told.

"What?" he asked sourly when he'd closed the door.

" I want a couple of things. One: you don't speak to me in that tone. Two: I do not care where you are, if only I get to know it. Okay?"

"Sure," Cygnus answered in the same tone.

Tom smacked him and he groaned in pain.

"Did it hurt?" he asked and smirked.

Cygnus could do nothing but to nod.

"Good, 'cause I don't tolerate disobedience, I thought you knew that. Come with me to my compartment, so that I know where I've got you."

Cygnus nodded again and followed Tom.

"What happened?" Melinda asked when she saw Cygnus' blue turning cheek.

"Ask your master," he answered before he took a seat opposite to Tom.

"What did you do?" she asked Tom.

"What I usually do when people don't obey my orders. I punish them."

A couple of hours later everything seemed to be back to normal, and everyone was talking and having a nice time. Everyone except Tom.

"How was your summer?" Cygnus asked after a while.

"My parents have bought a house in France. On the Riviera, actually. It's very nice, we were there all summer," Abraxas answered

"What did you and your parents do this summer, Tom?" Rose asked and grinned. "Oh, right, you haven't got any parents."

"Shut up," was all Tom said. He knew it wouldn't help, but he said it anyway.

"But please Tom, how could I help that your parents were so useless that they didn't even want to keep you," she continued, even though she knew what he would do to her.

" I said SHUT UP!" he screamed, and Rose gave a jump, but it was apparently not enough to make her keep quiet.

He knew what he had to do. It was both forbidden and unforgivable, but he had to do it. Rose was making fun of him, and he wasn't going to tolerate that. He whispered something to Cygnus, who instantly stood up and went outside.

On his way out he pulled the blind down, and Tom put a silencing spell over Rose who looked very surprised. The next instance it occurred to her what he was going to do. She shook her head violently and she looked absolutely petrified.

"Crucio," Tom whispered and pointed his wand towards Rose, who fell of her seat and twitched in pain.

Tom saw that she was trying to scream, but no sound came off her lips.

Tom sat down again and let the curse last another couple of minutes. Melinda and Abraxas sat on their seats, looking absolutely petrified. He looked at them, and they bowed in respect.

After a while he had to let go of the curse. He thought seeing Rose unconscious on the floor was enough. He kicked her to make her wake up and squatted beside her. Rose looked up and flinched when she saw him. She crouched beneath the window, shaking.

Tom stayed put on his seat and started to talk to her.

"You know it's your own fault, Rose," he began and smiled, satisfied, when she nodded. "I don't want you to mention my parents again. Okay?" he continued, and Rose nodded again.

"Don't tell anyone about this," he said silently and looked at Melinda and Abraxas, who both nodded.

He doubted that Rose would dare to tell anyone. She knew what would happen to her then, and he wouldn't stop the next time.

He got to his feet, and after a couple of minutes of persuasion Rose tried to stand up. It didn't go very well. She managed to get up on her knees, but then she was so out of breath that she never could have managed any more.

Tom knew it wasn't even worth a try.

Melinda stood up to help her, but a harsh look from Tom immediately got her to sit down again.

A while later Cygnus came in again. Apart from Abraxas and Melinda he didn't seem the least bit chocked. Relieved, rather. Probably because it was over.

Rose was still lying on the floor. She had started sobbing again and Tom sighed. One thing got him to smile, though. Rose's wit seemed to be gone, and she really needed to rest.

She got on her knees in front of him, begging for help. Cygnus did the same and got down beside her. Tom smiled when he saw Abraxas and Melinda do the same.

He gave them permission to rise, he'd even had enough of Rose's sobbing and gave Melinda orders to help her; something she gladly did.

Tom looked at his watch; they should be there soon.

As a response to his thoughts, the train slowed down and stopped.

Rose, who seemed to feel a bit better, could walk normally again. It was good that they didn't have to carry their things to the carriage, 'cause she couldn't have done that.

Tom looked at the great, winged animals who pulled the carriages and sighed. Sighing had obviously turned into a habit, something he had got to break off with.

He quickly got into the carriage, and the others followed him.

It couldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes to get up to the castle, and yet Tom thought it felt like an eternity. He checked his watch every second.

In the Great hall he sat down at the middle of the table. He pulled Rose down on his left side while Cygnus sat down on his right.

A couple of minutes later the sorting started and Tom sighed again. He was hungry and hoped for the sorting to be over soon. For once he actually found it quite nice.

When the feast was over he went slowly up to the dormitory after telling Abraxas and Cygnus to keep an eye on Rose and make sure she didn't speak to anyone about what he'd done. When he got up to the dormitory he stopped and looked around. Seven beds stood next to each other. They were in green and silver; the colours of Slytherin.

Suddenly the door opened, and Abraxas and Cygnus came in, followed by another boy. Tom thought he was second year, but he wasn't sure. Abraxas and Cygnus quieted instantly when they noticed Tom, but the other boy kept on talking like nothing had happened; which he didn't think it had.

"What is it?" he asked when he noticed that the others had quieted.

"Nothing. You should go to bed," Abraxas replied calmly.

"But I…"

"NOW!" Tom roared and smiled when the boy immediately ran off to his own dormitory. "We've got to talk," he continued, and Cygnus and Abraxas nodded.

"What did Rose say?" he asked impatiently.

"I don't know what you mean," Abraxas replied insecurely.

"What did she say about me when I had left?" he asked again. He started to get irritated. "Cygnus?"

"We didn't listen. Should we have?" was the answer.

"Incompetent fools! Go to bed."

Tom quickly went to the girls' dormitory; cast a spell that allowed him to be in there. He put a silencing spell on her again before dragging her down to the common room where he let her go. He let the spell go and she looked at him, terrified.

"What do you want?" she asked and pulled back.

"Shut up," he said, and smacked her so that she fell on the floor. "What did you say about me?"

"Nothing, I swear," she answered a little too fast.

"Don't lie to me," he said silently and sat down on the floor beside her. She tried to get up, but he pushed her back down. "What did you say?"

"I told Dippet what you did on the train, but he didn't believe me."

"Did you tell anyone else?"

"No, I would ne…"

"Shut up," he said again and interrupted her.

He tried to find out what she'd actually said, but eventually he had to give up. She was telling the truth. He was relieved, happy that she hadn't told Dumbledore. He didn't trust him. For good reasons, certainly, but anyway. He wasn't supposed to know about him yet. He would, in time, if he was alive then.

"You can go," he said and let go of her."

She stood up and went back to her dormitory, slowly. Tom did the same thing and lay down on his bed. He lay for a long while and stared up in the ceiling before he finally fell asleep.

A:N// Hope you liked it. If someone is intrested in Beta-reading this story, please tell me. I really need help since english is only my second language. Ton't forget to rewiev.