"A mudblood? Well, isn't it convenient?" he exclaimed and walked closer to her.
She was in shock, he wasn't supposed to come back, magic or even muggle science hasn't ever achieved that. Her mind couldn't comprehend his words, it was full of questions. Did he have more horcruxes? Will she be blamed for Voldemort's return? What has happened to his corpse? How had he regained his youth?
"It's almost impossible to believe such a foul being can perform magic so mighty and evil. Bringing back the dead."
"It was a mistake," she quickly replied, slowly recovering.
"A mistake? No. A witch, who was able to broke the spell has to be powerful. Mudblood or not, you have proven your worth."
With every spoken word, he paced closer until he was face to face with her. Sharply breathing in and out, frozen in fear, at Voldemort's mercy.
"As much as I would like to kill you, you are much more useful to me alive."
"I won't help you rise to power again. You have already been defeated, more than once. And the last time I was directly involved. Or don't you remember? Harry Potter, the boy who lived?"
She had to stay strong and not let him see her in weak state - afraid of the monster, who was assumed to be dead.
"And you're Hermione Granger, his best friend. I'm starting to doubt, you're really that smart."
His words had a huge impact on her. He knew her and what had she done to his plans and she was still alive?
"Wouldn't you say that if I tried to conquer the world again, I would have more enemies than ever before? My previous followers would be dead or not loyal to me anymore. Especially when Potter still lives. Wouldn't it be foolish of me?"
She didn't answer. There was no need to. He bowed down, ready to whisper in her ear.
"I have always wondered what it would be to meet my match."
Her next words died on her lips, his mouth had moved to her neck and was gently pressing little kisses on it. She couldn't think clearly anymore. 'What is he doing, what does he want from her?' Her mind tried to warn her through the clouds that he's a monster - Lord Voldemort - who minutes ago was dead, but her body betrayed her. It started to respond to that uncharacteristic behavior.
'It's wrong. He is trying to mess with you. His manipulation games, Voldemort is definitely not sexually energized person. Moreover attracted to anything else but power, especially her, a mudblood, although that word didn't hurt her feelings anymore.' She could feel him smirking against her neck as he moved his mouth close to her ear again.
"Stop thinking, let it go."
His voice turned to silk and her legs became weak. She definitely could not let it go, world had turned upside down. It didn't matter, that it was Valentine's Day and she had accidentally resurrected Voldemort. It didn't matter she hadn't had her needs fulfilled for months now, because she was alone - being dumped by Ron months before, who claimed that he didn't see the spark anymore.
Her head bent back unconsciously, giving him better access to her neck, until she regained her senses and pulled out her wand.
"Weren't you ready to kill me few minutes ago? What exactly do you want from me?"
He chuckled. "Well, look who's finally catching on. I need your magic."
"My magic?" she stuttered and noticed the first time that he didn't have a wand, so he was incapable of doing any magic of his own, unless he knew wandless magic, which was quite unlikely. "As hell I'm going to give you my magic!" her face turned red and she was quickly becoming angrier and more frustrated.
"Tsk, tsk. Who said anything about me obtaining your magic? I couldn't use it anyway, even with your wand. You have to perform magic for me."
"You really think this works with me? Few kisses here and there and then I'm falling all over you. Have you forgotten who I am? I'm not going to perform any magic for you, did you really think I was that naive?"
"And yet you still haven't asked me the most important question."
"Why do you need my magic, what happened to yours?"
"It seems that you're not clueless after all. As you can see, the spell, which you performed to bind my old horcruxes together wasn't enough to bring me back fully."
"So, you want me to fully bring you back from dead? Do tell, why would I do such thing? To help you terrorize people again?"
"I don't have any magic and after you've performed the spells, I wouldn't be able to use it for months and it won't reach its former power. You want knowledge? I can give you that and much more. You are bored, I can help you skill in magic you've never heard of and which could give something good back to world. That's what you want, isn't it?"
"What makes you think I would simply forget all what you've done just for the sake of getting new knowledge from you. I'm not that selfish, I won't betray my friends. And what makes you think I'm bored?"
"You're resurrecting the Dark Lord or well you tried to gain knowledge about horcrux magic, so you wouldn't keep reminding yourself that you're alone on Valentine's Day. Your job isn't challenging for you, you miss adventures you used to have with your friends when you were trying to fight me. You were willing to come here - near the pieces, which once held my soul for years and fully aware it could cause damage. You're interested. I can see it."
"It doesn't matter, I won't do it."
She was getting more anxious, how did she got in that position she didn't know. She only wanted to get out of the room, because Voldemort or Tom Riddle, whatever he calls himself now was distracting her and his thoughts started to make sense to her and it was bad. Really bad.
"Oh, really? Should I lay down pros and cons for you? Pros are that you could have an equal partner. You would get more knowledge and most likely be successful and do something meaningful in your life. Also, there's a huge bonus, you wouldn't be alone on Valentine's Day or any day after it."
"You really think I would throw away people's sacrifices, when they fought against you and everything I believe in just for some stupid facts and a good shag? You of all people."
"So you admit it, I would be a good shag."
"You completely missed my entire point."
"Because it's irrelevant. These are just excuses you made up to deny yourself what you want."
"You think I want you? A mass murderer, a soulless creature, a non-human being, who made my best friend's life miserable?"
"For your information, I do have my soul in whole, so you could scratch that out of your unnecessary list of vile names. I bet you want to know what the cons are. Well, here's that, you have to trust me. You'll never know if I turn my back on you - betrayal proceeded with killing you. Then again, I don't have power to do anything harmful. And I have already established the fact that you'd be more useful alive. What a surprise, there are no cons after all."
"I won't be responsible for the deaths of innocent people, if you decide one day to throw a tantrum. I have the right to decide, if I tell you no, you can't do anything to me."
"Suit yourself. It would have been a win-win situation for you."
He backed away and slowly sat on a lonely chair, giving up the conversation and everything he wanted to achieve. She was confused. Didn't he want to use her as the witch, who would make him wholly alive? She didn't understand his reasoning, but at the same time, she was sure he was trying to manipulate her, she wasn't going to fall for that. She took her bag, which had fallen on the floor before lifting the spell, and walked to the door. His eyes were watching her intensely, but other than that, he looked emotionless.
"That's it? You give up? Very unvoldemort of you," she said and turned the knob of the door.
She couldn't believe that he wasn't stopping her, trying to force her with violence to perform the spell. She was surprised that he had offered her the advantages, for which she craved so badly, but she couldn't trust him. He hadn't changed, because his soul was whole and because he had been dead an hour ago.
She was fully prepared to walk out, but something in her made her freeze. She could make her life interesting again. Looking back to Tom Riddle, who still sat motionless, she closed the door. His eyebrows raised slowly as daring her to come closer. She started to walk, step by step towards him, afraid of herself and what she was about to do.
"I'll accept the offer. I would perform the spell, which would make you entirely alive and you'd have to swear not to hurt anyone or use me as a tool to get your power back."
She couldn't believe that she just said it. She had made the deal with the devil. She'll be dead before the day is done.
Tom Riddle smiled - almost wickedly - and stood up. He had his hand stretched out, ready to shake hers to confirm the deal.
"Done."
She slowly extended her own hand out and shook his. His smirk widened as to say 'I know exactly what happens now'. She didn't stop him, she didn't want to. She would have something to gloat over. She would be able to tell her story, how she had scandalous sex with a stranger on Valentine's Day.