Chapter Text
Tom does not like animals, in fact, he despises them. They smell, bite, scratch or screech so loud his eardrums feel like bursting. He has made that clear to both his followers and his enemies. Especially after Halloween, a black dog had somehow broken into the Malfoy manor and trashed his study, the painting of one of the many Malfoy ancestors destroyed to the point Abraxas had to get a new one painted and all of Tom's research was covered in dirty paw prints.
Ever since then his mild dislike for animals turned into undying hatred for anything that wasn't himself or Abraxas. So, neatless to say that any and all animals — that weren't Abraxas' fuckass peafowls that keep screeching like they were being devoured by a dementor — had been banned from entering the Malfoy manor or be in a one hundred meter radios of Tom. Or well, that was so until a stupid, long white ferret somehow got into his office, laid itself on Tom's hand and just... fell asleep. And that moment was now.
He stared at the sleeping thing, blinking profusely. Attempting to lift his hand, the ferret whined, yet it didn't wake up. Instead, it bit right into Tom's hand and fell asleep again. But that did not deter Tom to remove this furry bastard from the manor and complain to Abraxas about the wards not working properly. So, he reached for it again, grabbing it near its head and pulling it off of his hand. The ferret whined and squirmed, looking at Tom with its beady eyes and —
Something in Tom's mind snapped. It had one ocean blue-coloured eye and the other was dark green with teardrop-like pupils. He blinked once, twice, a third time before slowly letting the head of the ferret loose and staring at it. "Abraxas?" The furry beast nodded and leaped onto Tom's lap, blinking slowly. Tom swallowed and picked the ferret — no, Abraxas, up and examined him. "You're an animagus?" Another nod.
Letting out a frustrated groan, Tom put Abraxas down and crossed his legs. "Turn back," he commanded, glaring at Abraxas. Obedient as always, Abraxas did just that and turned back into a human. The blond had a smirk on his face, innocently tilting his head. "You seem a bit frustrated, mon chou," he purred (how ironic) and moved closer to Tom.
Tom sighed and leaned against his chair. "You bit me, aziz-am," he hissed and stood up. "Besides, when did you become an animagus?" He placed a hand on Abraxas' shoulder, who simply shrugged. "I don't know, I woke up today and I was a ferret. So, I wanted to see your reaction to a ferret breaking into your office. And your reaction was... mildly boring, if I may be honest, my lord. I thought you despised animals with your every bone?"
Before Tom could give some snarky reply, Abraxas turned back into a ferret. Tom let out a sigh and picked him up, sitting back down and letting Abraxas wrap his freakishly long body around Tom's shoulders. Abraxas, happily as ever, swished his tail back and forth, resulting in it hitting Tom in his eyes repeatedly. Tom sighed, it was going to be a long day.
─── ⋆⋅☾⋅⋆ ──
Elrond Avery, cousin of Abraxas Malfoy, ran towards his lord's office, panting heavily. He'd gone to his cousin's room at eleven in the morning, because normally he'd already have talked — or more like complained — with Elrond about the other followers, Dumbledore or their family, or anything. But his cousin wasn't there. Not a big deal, maybe he was with Socratos Lestrange, but no, Socratos had kissed his forehead and told him that no, his cousin wasn't drinking tea with him at the pavillion. That made Elrond worry, his cousin did not like many people, simply pretended to for appearances. He wasn't anywhere in the manor, no letter, no house elf knew where he was and he didn't have any missions.
It was only natural for him to assume that his cousin had disappeared, so he went to the only man that Abraxas had been close with since their third year of Hogwarts, their darkest of dark lords, Tom Riddle.
He broke the door down, panting heavily and shouting, "My lord! Abra—", but before he could finish his sentence, he noticed the long pillow-like thing wrapped around Tom's shoulders. They stared at each other, and Elrond noticed that it wasn't a pillow, it was an animal. To be specific, a ferret. A pretty, snow-white ferret. It looked up and locked eyes with Elrond. Mismatched eyes met gray ones. Swallowing, his lord sighed and placed the ferret onto his desk. "Is that—?", Elrond asked after an awkward long silence. His lord nodded.
Breathing in and out, Elrond nodded and turned around. "I shall leave you to it, my lord, Abraxas." And before his lord could shout at him to not spread any rumours, Elrond had already left, a shit eating grin on his face. Socratos would love to hear what just happened.