Title: Around the Cauldron
Rating: T
A/N: This drabble was written for a Quills & Parchment challenge. The prompt was: What happens around the cauldron stays around the cauldron. Hope you enjoy!
OOO
"I know you want me."
Tom Riddle's silky voice penetrated the silence that had brewed between them since they'd met in Professor Slughorn's office hours ago. The heat bubbling out of the cauldrons around them had long since frayed Hermione's hair to the point it had doubled in size. Her cheeks were flushed from exertion, her mind whirling with thoughts of the number of counterclockwise stirs left before she needed to switch directions. A short laugh escaped her lips. She was busy. She was working.
Hermione Granger certainly did not want him.
She definitely had not also been counting the number of times they accidentally touched. Those encounters absolutely did not elicit gooseflesh from her skin or cause her heart to pound even a little bit harder.
No.
Hermione Granger did not want Voldemort. That would be absurd.
His eyes were still locked onto her, a smirk playing at his lips. She met his eyes but quickly glanced away again.
No.
She was going to find her way back to her own time when the dark wizard was a physical monster, more dead than alive. His choices over the years had deformed him beyond recognition. She remembered that Voldemort with utter clarity.
But he was hard to reconcile with the suave and charming sixteen year old helping her brew extra potions for Professor Slughorn. Both versions made her stomach twist uncomfortably — but each for very different reasons.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione met his gaze once more.
Well, what happens around the cauldron stays there, she thought to herself, knowing that her mind was made up.
The witch stopped stirring and turned fully to face Tom. She took two calculated steps forward, and they were a breath apart.
"What if I do?"