What if He had a Choice?

Though Tom was not entirely certain that he was too eager for his memory to be revealed to an entire scourge of old fashioned wizarding world elites, if it truly was what caused Dumbledore's downfall, that was a sacrifice that he was more then willing to make. He would do much more to ensure the old man's fall. He had too much riding on the headmaster's fall from power to not. He had gone through worse things and he had dealt with many things, however, his hatred of Dumbledore was firmly cemented in this one incident. Granted, he had disliked the man before this, but this event...this event was what made him truly realize the one-sided behaviors.

So he was genuinely excited to see that it was his memory that cleared things up. Tom could not help but smirk a bit, as Lucius began the memory. Putting aside the rather impressive feate of magic to the side. He had already known that the Malfoy family was incredibly powerful, it was still somewhat stunning to watch, but he did not wish to dwell on how powerful Lucius was, at least not at the moment...For that would lead him to different thought paths on how to test Draco's magic limitations. He needed to focus, so he put the thoughts away to assess later, and to sort more before he went forwards. 

"Professor Dumbledore..."  Riddle spoke softly, pausing slightly to see the Transfiguration Professor standing at the top of the staircase that he was standing. Tom stared at him, blankly, watching the other professor with a emotionless stare, watching the other unnervingly. 

"Tom," Dumbledore said simply. "What are you doing out so late tonight?" Dumbledore narrowed his eyes slightly at him. Tom just glanced down to his Prefect crest, looking back up at Dumbledore with a small mocking smile. 

"Professor, I am the Slytherin Prefect. Surely you have not forgotten that it is my duty to ensure that all of the Slytherin students are not out past curfew." Tom said with a small glint in his eyes. 

"Come with me." Tom looked at Dumbledore with an unreadable gaze. "Professor, I do not believe that..." Dumbledore silenced him with a glare, his mocking grandfatherly charm dropping in an instant.

"I did not ask, Tom." Tom stiffened, lifting his head, breathing in deeply. Dumbledore turned around and strode quickly in the direction of his office and Tom reluctantly followed. 

They reached the transfiguration office and Dumbledore entered first, Tom following silently as he closed the door behind him, he stood near the door, not moving closer. 

"Professor, what is this about?" 

"I know you framed Hagrid." Tom grit his teeth, eyes darkening. 

"Is that so?" He asked, looking up at Dumbledore tilting his head to the side a bit. 

"Hagrid would never do something so vile." Dumbledore glared. 

"Perhaps he would, maybe. The fact remains that you have no idea who this Hagrid is, you never speak to him, barely look at him, and now you are making judgements on his character. He is not even part of your pathetic band of Gryffindors. Alls the pity."

"Do not try me, Thomas." Tom inhaled sharply, eyes gaining a cold edge. 

"Do not call me Thomas," Tom hissed through his teeth.

"I know..."

"Do you have proof?" Tom cut the Professor off. 

"What?" Dumbledore seemed a bit put off. Tom would have thought that he would have learned by now that Tom both hated and feared him, but Tom was also not one to back down either, not if it did not suit him. 

"I asked if you had proof. That I was the one who opened the Chamber of course. After all, you are so sure that it was me, out of all of the other students in Hogwarts surely you have the proof to back it up." Tom stated simply, eyes glittering. "But you do not do you?" He said, a scoff exiting his lips. "After all, if you did, you would have presented it to the Wizemagont at Hagrid's trial, where he was expelled and his wand was snapped. Yet you did not. Because not only do you not have any proof that it was me, but you have no proof that it was not Hagrid." 

"I..."

"What were you planning on doing, Professor? Convince me? To what? Confess?" Tom narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. "You are pathetic." Tom turned to leave, dodging the curse instinctively that Dumbledore had thrown at him. He stared at the man with wide shocked eyes. 

He had not actually expected Dumbledore to try and curse him. Especially not when his back was turned. 

"I do not appreciate your words Tom." Dumbledore said coldly. Tom stood, hands clenched into fists to hide the trembling. 

"Professor, I must finish my night rounds. If I may cut this meeting short, after all, I must still report to my Head of House." Tom said, straightening his robes carefully, words thrown out, and he exited the room as soon as possible....

Once the memory faded, leaving horrified glares at Dumbledore, and Tom could not help but smile darkly. He had thought that this moment would be used in court. At least Tom had thought that had been Dumbledore's intention. Dumbledore alone likely never believed that it would see the light of day. Those who had held Dumbledore in high regard were forced to reassess everything that they had known about the man now. 

"Furthermore," Lucius said, allowing, Tom noticed, enough time for the suspension to stew and stir in everyone's mind. "It is not uncommon knowledge that Albus Dumbledore is not allowed within the Slytherin Common Room without the Slytherin Head of House present, given what had happened in the 1970s, with his attacking and threatening several senior Slytherins for seemingly no cause." Lucius paused, turning to look at Dumbledore, restraining a smile from what Tom was able to tell. Tom knew that there was far more then that about the law regarding Dumbledore's ban to the Slytherin common room. He was twisting words."It has also come to my attention that the Headmaster you see before you had not only disregarded that rule, but attempted to bribe my son, and his fellow second year dormmates into not informing anyone that he had gone to the common room without the Head of House." 

Loud gasps of shocked outrage hit a majority of the Wizemagont, whilst Lucius slowly continued. 

"Obviously my Son would not ever hide such information from me." Tom stared at the elder man. The 'or else' was heavily implied, from what Tom could read of him. "And as such I was swiftly informed of this, as were the fellow students my Son rooms with. I am afraid..." Lucius paused, heavily sighing. "I am afraid my Son has refused to speak on much else other then the fact that he went to the dorm rooms and attempted to bribe them." Lucius gave a small, sad smile. "I wish I could know, given the evidence that was presented today, I feel terrified of what he could have done to my son." 

Dumbledore was sputtering in outrage. He had done nothing to the Malfoy Heir. 

Tom looked at Lucius once the memory ended. He did not showcase anything, but inside he was quite giddy with joy and laughter. Instead, however, he merely sat in the seat near him, turning to Lucius. 

"Now, for the second part."