Riddle Me This

Disclaimer: I do not own these boys. I wish I did, but I don't.

Thank yous: Sheshe17, Barranca, Mistress Vamp, SailorHecate,

As LuthorCorp mentioned in a review, I have said that this story could become Mpreg. I am still not fully decided whether it will or not, but it might.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chapter 8: Understanding

"You are not going, James."

"Why not?" questioned James as he followed Tom along a dark corridor on the second floor. "I am perfectly capable of running this operation, Tom. I don't see why you're refusing to let me."

Tom stopped in the middle of the corridor and turned back to James, who had nearly walked straight into him, "Get this through your head, James. You. Are. Not. Going," he found himself being fixed with one of James's nastier glares. "I am not changing my mind," with that said he turned on his heel and continued on his way.

James stayed standing where he was in the middle of the corridor silently fuming for a few moments before he rushed after Tom to catch up, "Is it because of my capture? Is that why you're refusing to let me go out on missions now? I escaped a week ago; you don't afford anyone else the luxury of not having to get on a bended knee for you," he nearly walked straight into Tom again as the other man stopped in his tracks so suddenly.

"James!" Tom turned back to the younger wizard and gripped him by the shoulders. "Lucius is in charge of this mission and you are not going. That is my final word on the matter," once again, he turned and left James standing there.

James sighed; "I don't need you to protect me, Tom," he called after the retreating Dark Lord. He watched silently as Tom glanced back at him but did not stop in his path again; very soon Tom had disappeared completely from James's sight. "Fine. Be like that then…"

James remained standing in the middle of the corridor for a few minutes longer, thoughtfully chewing his bottom lip, until he felt his Dark Mark start to burn. He then headed off in the same direction that Tom had gone; all the while muttering obscene words at the Dark Lord's expense.

……

"Crucio!"

Tom held the torture curse on Rodolphus Lestrange for about thirty seconds before lifting it and letting his eyes move across the mask covered faces of each of his Death Eaters, "I am displeased with the way things have been handled recently. I am annoyed that all of my Death Eaters have failed in capturing one old and mad ex-Auror," he could see James's body visibly tense out the corners of his eyes at the mention of Moody. "Lucius, you know what I want you to do; put your team together and get on with it."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Bellatrix; find Moody, and find him now."

James suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the female Death Eater's eagerness to inflict pain and torment upon someone.

Tom frowned slightly, "Leave him alive, Bellatrix. Remember that."

"Yes, my Lord."

Tom glanced to his left at James again, "James, I think it is time our prisoners were interrogated. I will leave that in your hands," he didn't bother to wait for a reply from James; he knew his lover was scowling at him. "You are dismissed," he watched as the Death Eaters started to file out of the hall. "James, come back here."

James sighed and turned back to Tom; he pulled off his hood and mask as he did so, "Yes, my Lord?"

Tom narrowed his eyes at the younger wizard, "Firstly, do not mock me," James stopped in front of Tom and gazed coolly back at him. "Secondly, you do not like the task I have set you?"

James folded his arms across his chest and continued gazing levelly at Tom, "No, I don't. I think having me interrogate them is a waste of my skills."

Tom raised a dark eyebrow, "I have seen you in action before, James, you are perfectly suited for interrogation."

"No, I'm not," replied James. "I am not torturing them into talking. They were my friends."

"Were, James. Were. Past tense. They abandoned you a long time ago; you don't owe them anything, especially not your mercy."

James slowly shook his head, "I can't do it. I won't do it," he was willing to suffer Tom's displeasure; he honestly couldn't bring himself to use his skill in torture to interrogate his former friends. "Ow!" he found himself being grabbed by the arms and forced over to a chair, which he was then pushed down onto. He watched as Tom crouched down before him, those rough hands now resting on his thighs. "What?"

Tom sighed; he took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke, "I want to be understanding, James, but you are not making this easy for me. Use this chance to tell me what's wrong, because you will not have me on my knees in front of you again."

James leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his stomach; he was pouting slightly, "Maybe they did abandon me, but I can understand why. You are Lord Voldemort and I was sleeping with you; they had every right to flee, and I don't blame them for it for a second," he sighed and looked down at the hands on his thighs. "If they willingly give me the information that I need from them, then fine. If they don't, then someone else can do it, because I am not going to torture it out of them and jeopardise any chance I might have of getting my friends back."

Tom frowned a little, as he regarded the lowered head of the younger wizard; he had never understood James's need for his friends, especially friends that had pushed him away over who he was sleeping with.

James didn't wait for Tom to reply to him, so he continued talking in a quiet voice, "I know you don't understand why I want my friends around, but I do. They were there for me when my parents stopped caring and they were willing to risk their education in my defence when Dumbledore kicked me out of Hogwarts," he raised his eyes enough so that he could see Tom's bright green ones. "You saw in my memories of my capture that Regulus helped me escape. They're not stupid, Tom, they can see that Dumbledore is failing; I know they know that. They can be talked around, but I don't think torturing them for information is the way to go about it."

Tom remained silent for a few moments longer before slowly nodding, "Ok then. I am still leaving it entirely up to you, James; do what you must, but I do want any information they have that Severus has not been able to get. And I want it now."

"Yes, sir."

Tom raised his eyebrows slightly, "What did I say about mockery?"

"You haven't punished me yet."

"You really should stop tempting me."

James smiled; he removed Tom's hands from his thighs and got to his feet, feeling the slightest bit more powerful standing over the Dark Lord, "You really should stop making idle threats," in a moment of Gryffindor bravery he ruffled Tom's hair as he walked passed.

Tom straightened up and smirked as he watched James wander out of the hall; he was once again reminded of just how soft he was being with James.

James wandered slowly down to the dungeon so that he could have his talk with his former friends and current prisoners; he pulled his wand out so that he was ready for any attack.

"Finally come for an interrogation, have we?"

James ignored the scathing comment and gave a flick of his wand; the door unlocked and slid open, he stepped inside and with another flick of his wand the door had sealed itself shut behind him, "We can do this the easy way, which I personally would prefer, or the hard way. You decide."

"What does the hard way entail?"

Regulus and Remus both turned to Sirius in disbelief.

James raised an eyebrow, "Torture. But I am hoping that it doesn't come to that, and I would rather not have to kill you as well," he fixed his gaze fully on the glaring form of the older Black brother. "I just want your co-operation."

"You have our co-operation, James," said Remus calmly. "What is it you want to know?"

James sat down on the stone ledge jutting out of one of the cell's walls, "I just want to know if you have any knowledge about Dumbledore and the Order that Severus has not been able to get."

"What kind of knowledge?"

"Anything you have that Voldemort doesn't already know."

The three prisoners remained silent for several minutes before Sirius, as their self-appointed ring leader; spoke up, "What's in it for us?"

James snorted quietly, "You are really not in any position to bargain with me, Sirius," he found himself being glared at again. "Spill your secrets and you will live. Keep your silence and you will die. Your choice. Make it quickly."

"You're going to kill us over some miniscule bit of information?"

"No, I'm not," James shook his head. "But Voldemort will. Actually, you're probably not important enough for him to kill personally, I imagine he would set someone else the task; maybe Macnair with his blood thirst, or your darling cousin, Bellatrix. Like I said, your choice."

……

"Did you get anything out of them?"

"Mm, yeah…" James was finding it very hard to concentrate, as he felt the Dark Lord's hands moving over his body and an eager mouth kept attaching itself to his neck. "Mm, you're very…horny today…"

"Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," James managed to shift his position so that he was straddling Tom's lap before forcing his tongue into the other man's mouth; he could be just as rough as Tom when he wanted to be and right now he really wanted this. However, he wasn't quite so sure he wanted to have sex with Tom just yet, not after what Moody had done to him.

Tom chuckled against James's mouth, "Eager, are we?"

"Shut up and kiss me, Riddle."

"Yes, sir."

……

James slowly woke up a couple of hours later to find himself all alone in the big bed; he had decided to give into his urges and allow Tom to take him again, after all, he knew Tom wouldn't hurt him and he was gentle about it. He rolled onto his back, the covers twisting around his waist, gazed up at the dark ceiling; he was wondering where Tom had disappeared too, perhaps something had happened that needed his urgent attention because he had seemed pretty intent on staying in bed earlier.

James had just started to drift back to sleep when a sharp knock on the door jerked him back to alert, "Yes?"

"The Dark Lord requests your presence."

"All right. I'll be there soon," James yawned and stretched, arching his back only to wince when he felt it crack; he then forced himself out of the bed and went in search of the clothes that had been haphazardly thrown about earlier.

About five minutes later James entered the meeting hall and headed straight over to the Dark Lord, ignoring all the other activity going on around him; as he neared, he noticed the look of amusement on Tom's handsome face, "You called?"

Tom smirked, "Indeed I did, James," he placed a hand at the middle of James's back and led him over to a far corner before he spoke again. "Moody has been captured," he felt James tense under his hand again. "I will be killing him shortly, but if you wish, you can have some revenge first."

"Don't kill him."

"What?"

James folded his arms, "At least not yet. I want him to suffer," Tom was frowning at him. "I want him to pay for what he did, and killing him will just give him the easy way out."

Tom was still frowning but he nodded slowly, "Very well. I will still be having a word with him."

James snorted, "I don't doubt that."

"Good," Tom patted James on the back. "Talk to your friends, see if they are willing to join my cause."

"They won't."

Tom raised an eyebrow, "Then they will die," he saw the wide eyed expression on James's face. "I will not be letting you talk me out of something again, James. If they refuse, they are finished, and you will not try and help them to escape."

James sighed in defeat, "Yes, sir."

Tom noticed the defeated tone to James's voice, "I trust you, James, don't let me down."

"I won't."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Author's Note: Muahahaha! I guess it's sort of a cliffhanger… Wasn't meant to be. I guess you'll just have to wait until the next update to see what's going down with Moody and the Imprisoned Trio.

Next Chapter: One Month Later. What treatment did Moody get? Have Remus, Regulus and Sirius agreed to go over to the Dark Lord's side to save their lives or are they willing to die? Appearances by Lucius, Severus, Draco and Narcissa. Also an update on the information that James got out of the Imprisoned Trio (my new nickname for them).