New Colors of Life

It looks like a second chappy in a row! Yey!

All the mistakes you may/will find belong to ME. Do not blame my beta, because the chappy has not been betaed yet.As soon as RoseTyler checks it out, I will replace that one with the betaed version. So please, no flamming for the spelling :) English is not my first language!

Chapter 8.
Tom.

It was well after midnight when Tom returned to his room. This was one hell of a day and he was really looking forward to having some sleep at last.

Taking his uniform off, Tom went to the bathroom to have a shower. His headache was killing him, but there was no way he was going to drink the potion tonight. He was becoming an addict and he was not happy about it. His constant headaches were killing him, plus it was only on a rare occasion that he could get a good night sleep. His involvement with the Dark Arts was taking it’s toll on him. No one ever would have said that Tom was a fluffy puppy, but lately he was basically loosing his mind. He was becoming more and more aggressive and impatient, constant headache adding to his already “sweet” character. But really, Tom did not complain. His power was growing, the number of followers was increasing and, all in all, he was satisfied. One could say that Tom was even happy, but Dark Lords don’t do “happy”.

Drying his body with a green towel, Tom went to bed. Just as he finally decided to get some sleep, somebody knocked on the door.

‘Great,’ mentally snapped Riddle and went to see who the hell decided to add to today’s wonderful collection of surprises.

Since the knocking did not repeat, Tom guessed that the person outside his door must be a student. A student, scared to repeat the knocking. The Dark Lord liked the way everybody around him feared and admired his powers.

Well, almost everybody.

‘I’ll deal with her tomorrow,’ thought Tom taking his time to put on his outer robe. Even thinking about her made him want to rip the pillow with his teeth. Catching himself on that thought Tom mused for a second if madness was contagious- he could already imagine Dumbledore’s face if Tom started ripping pillows with his teeth. That thought alone improved his mood and Tom decided that whoever was bothering him now would live.

Abraxas Malfoy, Tom’s Death Eater, an arrogant pureblood was the one that disturbed Tom’s rest.

“What is it, Malfoy?” snapped Tom. “You better have a good reason for disturbing me now”.

Malfoy visibly swallowed, trying to calm down. He really hoped that the Dark Lord was not busy when he disturbed him. Abraxas could clearly remember the last time he approached the Head Boy’s rooms. His bones still ached after a round of Cruciatus. How the hell was he supposed to know that Tom was busy with some Ravenclaw chic. So now, Abraxas was silently praying that the Head Boy was alone.

“My Lord, I am sorry to disturb you at this hour, but we were unable to find you earlier.” Murmured the Malfoy heir.

“Who is that “we”, Malfoy?” Annoyed, hissed the Dark Lord. Even though Abraxas was one of his most loyal servants, and he was one of the smartest as well, Tom was still pissed. Everybody around him was just irritatingly stupid.

“Me and Orion, my Lord. We wanted to ask you about the new girl.”

Poor Abraxas did not really know that the new girl had already become Tom’s headache number one and only mentioning her at the moment, would bring him some unpleasant experience.

“The new girl, you say,” all but hissed the Dark Lord, “the new girl”.

Malfoy stood shocked at the anger and annoyance he heard in Tom’s voice. For a second Abraxas thought that perhaps Tom was speaking in Parseltongue, because the hissing was evident, but after a second he just guessed that the Dark Lord was beyond pissed. That always meant one thing- pain.

“What about her, Malfoy?”

Abraxas wondered what had happened between Tom and that Hermione girl. When he first saw her he did not really pay attention- there was nothing special about her.

Abraxas always enjoyed tall, curvy and beautiful females, and the newcomer was rather short and plain all in all. Sure, she had a nice face, but nothing beyond that. Besides, her hair made Malfoy shudder : how can one have such a rat’s nest instead of nice hair was beyond him. However, it seemed that Escada caught somebody else’s attention. And that somebody else being Tom Riddle, made the Slytherins uneasy- they had to know how to behave with that girl, because lately it was no surprise to find one of the them screaming under the Cruciatus curse simply because the Dark Lord had a bad mood.

“We hoped that you could tell us about that girl. How should we treat her, my Lord? She seemed a bit off when I last saw her.” Explained an already very nervous Malfoy. He could guess the answer already if Tom’s twitching eye had anything to do with it.

“Leave her to me, I think I told you that already. Do I have to repeat myself all the time simply because all of you are as smart as that oaf Hagrid?”.

Mentally, Abraxas was already trying to remember if they had any of the “After-Cruciatus” potion left in their room.

“I don’t want to hear another word about her. Not a word, not a thought, not a whisper. Is that clear enough, Malfoy?” venomously whispered the Head Boy.

“Yes, yes, my Lord. I understood perfectly,” whined somewhat relieved Malfoy, because the Dark Lord was calming down. That meant painless night.

“Now go, before I make you regret you coming here in the first place.” Drawled Riddle slamming the door in front of Abraxas’ face.

‘Whoaa, that was close. I’ll have to take a better look at that Escada chic, there must be something about her if the Dark Lord’s mood has anything to do with her.’ Thought a relieved Malfoy heading towards the common room.

It was time to get some beauty sleep.