Tom Riddle

Rescuing Sirius from Azkaban led to some changes in Tom's usual routine.

For one thing, ever since Sirius' escape, Tom had spent most of his days with the man, doing everything he could to restore him to an adequate condition. This was not done out of the goodness of Tom's heart, of course, but for more practical reasons. After all, the sooner Sirius Black was stable, the sooner Tom could delegate some of his more menial tasks to him, giving Tom more time for more important endeavors.

Contrary to Tom's initial concerns, Sirius proved to be quite resistant to the aura of despair emitted by the dementors, leaving the man quite lively despite more than a decade of imprisonment in Azkaban. There was certainly some residual despair left in the man's soul, but it was still fairly negligible, given the circumstances.

Tom suspected that that "resistance" was somehow related to Sirius' animagus status, since the animalistic nature of his soul might have shielded him from some of the dementor's abilities.

That was not to say, of course, that Sirius' stay in Azkaban did not leave any mark on the man. While Sirius fortunately did not turn into a soulless husk during his imprisonment, his traumatic experiences seemed to have made him quite wild. Tom was quite sure that this change was influenced at least partly by Sirius' canine side, but then again, most people would probably go feral after a decade of imprisonment. At least it was better than before, as initially Sirius was in a state of permanent ferocity, but he was still quite prone to emotional outbursts.

Such as the one Sirius was experiencing at the moment.

"Dementors out of Azkaban?! And they're in fucking Hogwarts?! Near Harry?!" Sirius howled madly, shaking with rage and throwing one of Tom's chairs at the wall, breaking it completely. He didn't seem to care, however, as it looked like he was already looking for another object to destroy. How troublesome. "Those stupid fucks from the ministry sicced those disgusting leeches on my pup! I'll rip their fucking throats out for this!"

Tom was quite pleased with Sirius' declaration, but his constant, uncontrollable fits of rage were getting quite inconvenient.

The reason for Sirius' current rage was currently in the man's hand, crumpled and torn beyond recognition. Previously, it had been the Daily Prophet, or more precisely, the Daily Prophet article about the Ministry's brilliant plan to send dementors to Hogwarts in search of Sirius. It was actually Tom who delivered the article to Sirius as part of his plan to restore the traumatized man's hatred of the Ministry, previously beaten out of him by his long imprisonment. Admittedly, it worked quite well, as Sirius was now fuming with rage, but unfortunately it also seemed to have triggered Sirius, turning him into a wild dog. Figuratively, of course. He was still in his human form.

"Calm yourself, Black. You're slipping again." Tom said flatly, looking at Sirius' mayhem with dispassionate eyes. While he understood the reason for the man's outburst on an intellectual level, knowing about Sirius' relationship with both Harry Potter and the dementors, the fact that Sirius was still so unstable despite Tom's guidance was quite irritating, especially given Tom's perfectionist nature. Allowing the man to continue his rampage would mean Tom's defeat, and that was unacceptable.

That's why Tom hoped his words would stop Sirius, otherwise he would have to use methods he knew Sirius wouldn't enjoy.

Unfortunately, Sirius didn't seem to be listening anymore.

"N-no! They threaten the pup! They threaten the pack! I'll kill them! I'll kill them!" Sirius growled, his voice taking a dangerous tone.

Tom sighed. It seemed he had no choice.

Slowly, so as not to alarm Sirius, Tom reached into his pocket and pulled out a very particular item. After making sure it was ready for use, he slowly aimed its end at Sirius' body with a steady hand, no hesitation in his movements.

Tom pulled the trigger.

Consumed by his delusions, Sirius had no way to defend himself when a spray of water suddenly hit him directly in the face. Not expecting such an attack, Sirius was sent spluttering to the floor, his previous rage forgotten and replaced by shock.

It took Sirius a few seconds to come to his senses, but when he did, he looked at Tom with anger in his eyes.

"I told you to stop treating me like a dog, you asshole!" Sirius spat, his voice still a bit heated, but otherwise fine.

Seeing that his tactic had worked and Sirius was back in control, Tom slowly lowered the water spray he was holding and looked at Sirius with hard eyes, devoid of any sympathy or pity.

"You're not a dog? That's quite a surprise to me, because only a dog would act the way you do." Tom said mockingly, causing Sirius to growl in response. Seeing this, Tom raised his water spray threateningly, quickly silencing the man and proving his point. "Get a grip on yourself. Pampering you for so long has become quite annoying."

"Would it kill you to show a little compassion, you brat?" asked Sirius, cautiously glancing at the bottle in Tom's hand. "I've spent the last twelve years in Azkaban. Cut me some slack."

"Compassion? I showed you compassion by freeing you. I am helping you expose Pettigrew and protect Potter. You received a lot of compassion from me." Tom declared flatly. "I also want to remind you that it is impossible to achieve both of these goals if you act like a feral dog that is liable to bite anyone who comes too close. Is this how you want to present yourself? Is this what you want Potter to see?"

Using the water spray and treating Sirius like a mere mutt may have been an overtly cruel and humiliating way to force him to deal with his trauma, but that was the point.

Tom had neither the time nor the patience for this so-called "compassionate" way, seeing no point in coddling Sirius. Their main goal was to humiliate the Ministry and get revenge on the Rat man, so Tom intended to do just that. Everything else was secondary. And the longer it took for Sirius to recover, the harder it would be to achieve those goals. That's why Tom decided to take the fastest and most direct approach to the problem, intending to brute-force Sirius into recovery.

After all, the more humiliated Sirius would feel, the more determined he would be to improve. Sprinkling water on him, making him see Tom read Muggle books on dog training, calling him a mutt - all of this was intended to light a fire in Sirius and make him deal with his trauma like a mature adult, rather than the whiny child he was behaving like*.

(*Tom's opinion on dealing with trauma does not reflect the authors' personal views).

"Shit, has anyone ever told you that you're one edgy brat? There's no way you weren't a Slytherin at Hogwarts. Fucking snake." Sirius muttered disgruntledly, hopefully humbled by Tom's words. He then smirked mischievously, however, as if he had just thought of something. "Then again, it should have been obvious from the start. You certainly have a vibe of someone who spent most of his education in the basement. Seriously, calling yourself a 'half-blood prince'? How long did you write names in your secret diary until you came up with that?"

Was that sass? Coming from a crazed Azkaban escapee living in his house for free?

Tom squinted, any lingering compassion gone. Not thinking much, he raised the water spray again, aiming the nozzle straight at Sirius' nose, and pulled the trigger before Sirius had time to react.

Angry screams once again filled Tom's hideout.