Of course, the real question wasn't why Tom could pull off such a wonderful sting operation, but rather, why he wanted to. Pansy couldn't help but notice that he was silent on the subject of why he hated the purebloods after spending such a long time working with them, even marrying one of them. "Tom," she said in her most inquisitive tone of voice, "why do you call the purebloods 'pompous bastards'?"
"Well," said Tom, "I could tell you—or I could show you with a flashback and I think we both know that a flashback would be a lot more fun."
He had a point.
Flashback:
Tom was sitting in the local library, enjoying a cup of coffee that he had smuggled inside, cheerfully flouting the library's "no food or beverage" rule. He knew that he would never be caught because he was sitting in the reference section and he was positive that no one, not even a librarian, would ever go into the reference section of a library. He chose to ignore the people that he saw occasionally straggling through and privately explained the fact that he was there by telling himself that he was much smarter than any one else. He was in the library that day because he wanted to find out something about the criminal justice system so that he could one day realize his dream of becoming a detective sergeant with the Magical Scotland Yard. Just then, to Tom's surprise, Lucius Malfoy strolled in, surrounded by some of his pureblooded friends.
"Do you know what I just discovered?" asked Lucius.
"No," said Tom, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
"Well, I'll tell you."
"How fortunate."
"Yes…"
"Go on." Tom was tiring of Lucius rapidly.
"I discovered that your father was a muggle." Lucius raised his eyebrows triumphantly.
Tom took his time in responding. "Didn't you already know that?" he finally inquired.
"I don't think so. Maybe."
Tom read a few more paragraphs of his book, The Criminal Justice System and You. Then, "So, what's your point?"
"That you're a filthy half-blood."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Is that all you care about? What about the fact that I almost conquered the world? Or that I'm the goddamn heir of Slytherin?"
"Well," said Lucius, in that annoying whispery voice of his, "soon I'll have succeeded in conquering the world."
"But you're forgetting something."
"Oh? What?"
"That if I'm a genius and I was defeated by Harry Potter, then how do you, a complete idiot, stand a chance of succeeding where I failed?"
"Oh, that's easy. I'm a pureblood." And with that, Lucius and his friends sauntered out of the library, capes flowing behind them, laughing as they walked.
"I'll teach them to laugh at me," thought Tom. "I'll make sure Lucius never conquers the world." And with that, he devoted himself to stamping out the dark forces, although he had to admit that he was looking forward to all of the benefits that came with working for Magical Scotland Yard as well. "There's a selfish motive for everything, after all," he muttered.
That's the end of the flashback.
Pansy frowned. "Well," she said, "I suppose I can see why you'd be annoyed."
"Of course you can. It's completely obvious," Tom said encouragingly.