"For Salazar's Sake!"

                                    

                                          
Three months.
Three glorious months had passed since I'd last seen Tom.
Well, I say glorious ... 
Glory with some serious caveats. 
As regarded the continued absence of Tom, there could be no denying how completely wonderful that felt. 
But in all other things ... 
The manner in which he'd left me to my own devices, absurdly difficult, torturous even. 
... But what did you expect? 
It's Tom Riddle.
For starters, Tom abandoned me in the wilderness, quite literally. Grabbing me by my waist and pulling me against him, he'd apparated us to an unfathomably remote part of the countryside. And there, in the middle of a deserted beech tree forest, he'd left me to survive on my own:
"Where are we?"
Still angry with me after our encounter the day prior in the library, he hissed and pushed me down on my knees to the mossy forest floor. Arms crossed, he lorded over me, "... Somewhere far from anything familiar to you."
"And -"
Shaking his head, he held up his hand and stared coldly down at me as he dug through his inner jacket pocket. Then, pulling out my wand and holding it tauntingly, he waved it in the air before my face, "A parting gift, perhaps?"
At this, I actually gasped, "My wand!'
"... Want it?"
Beyond exhausted by Tom and his unrelenting torture tactics, I stared up at him dully, "Obviously I want my wand, Thomas. Don't waste your breath with questions you know the answer to."
Eyes narrowing, he continued to stare down at me. And then, just when I thought perhaps he'd snap it, or demand I offer him something absurd for it, he merely shrugged and tossed it down beside me on the forest floor, "There you are, then."
Scrambling, I grabbed it and held it to my chest. My eyes darting back up to him, I shook my head in confusion, "... Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why, after all this ..."
My mind, racing: why are you just giving me my wand back? And why are you so generously granting me my freedom - albeit a conditional freedom, one with terrible strings attached -
But still ...
Why in Merlin's name are you doing ANY of this?
For a few long seconds, the two of us stared at one another. The surrounding forest, completely silent, as though the trees and wildlife themselves were on edge regarding the answer to my question.
Finally, he smiled sharply, "... Everything I do - absolutely everything - has a purpose. And that purpose is to promote my own personal agenda."
No shit! But I still don't see ...
"And this? How does any of this -?"
"For one, perhaps a bit of a breather for you. And after this respite, you'll come back to me, realise how much you miss me."
"I think not -"
More likely a long-term torture tactic. Allow me a breath of fresh air before suffocating me again, next time even more terribly than the last -