Tit for Tat

Chapter 2 A Dressing Down

Hermione waited with her mother in the doctor’s office anxiously.

“Mrs Granger, I know you’re nervous, but I can assure you that we’ve had some promising results with this treatment on tumours much larger and more invasive than yours. The prognosis is good. We’ll admit you to hospital tomorrow morning for the first procedure, then we’ll follow up in a few weeks, alright?”

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. It had been the best she could hope for under the circumstances. She drove her mother home, left the car there, and apparated back to her apartment. It was a modest one bedroom flat, but it was all her own, paid for with her wages as a junior assistant at the Ministry of Magic. She flopped down on the bed and kicked off her shoes, picked up a book from the side table and fluffed the pillows.

“Granger, I want you,” Malfoy’s voice boomed in her ears.

“Ow, not so loud,” she muttered, before slipping her feet back in her shoes and apparating. She was surprised she didn’t splinch herself on the landing. She hadn’t been particularly determined to reach her destination but she knocked on the door and Malfoy hauled her inside by the wrist.

“I told you instantly and silently, Granger,” he growled. “You were neither.”

“Sorry, Malfoy,” she replied tersely.

“Now, now, Granger. Attitude will get you extra punishments. In here.” He thrust her into his office again. “It’s been a terrible day at the office and I want you to make it better for me.”

“How?”

“Address me with the proper respect, Granger,” he said, circling her like a shark.

“How can I improve your day, Malfoy?” she curtseyed.

He grabbed her by the neck and forced her forward. She caught the edge of the desk with her hands to stop herself from being slammed all the way onto the upright quills in their holders. Malfoy slapped her firmly on the backside. She gasped out loud at the shock of pain.

“Enough of your cheek, Granger,” Malfoy drawled, releasing her. He rounded the desk and sat reclined, his Italian leather shoes resting on the desk.

“Yes, Malfoy,” she said, dully.

He eyed her up and down slowly, saying nothing. Hermione grabbed her elbow in her hand, wishing desperately to hide from his steely gaze. Malfoy must have used occlumency because no sooner had she wished to hide he sneered and said, “Yes. That will do. Strip for me, Granger.”

“What?”

“Slowly. Shirt first, then the bra.”

She glared at him with burning hatred.

“Do it now, Granger. Trust me, I can think of worse things to do to you than you can,” he threatened. “I know you’ll believe me when I say I learned from the best of the worst.”

Hermione closed her eyes and lifted her shirt slowly but smoothly over her head. She dropped it at arms length beside her.

“Good.” Her eyes flickered open as the voice had moved from behind the desk to sitting on the front edge of it, closer to her now. “Keep going.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat and undid the clasp on her bra, feeding it down her arms and onto the floor with her shirt. She thought she heard a sharp inhalation but Malfoy’s face gave nothing away.

“Turn around,” he commanded. She obeyed and closed her eyes again. “Jeans, now,” he barked.

She undid the button-fly jeans awkwardly and slid them over her hips, slipping off her shoes as she did so, then awkwardly pulling them off each leg.

“Jesus, Granger. I’ve seen more graceful newborn calves,” Malfoy chided. “When you take off your panties I want you bent forward, legs apart slightly...and I want you to look at me while you do it,” he growled hoarsely.

Hermione’s hands wouldn’t move. She couldn’t bring herself to do it, to present herself in such a way to him.

“Do I need to take matters into my own hands?” he growled, rising from the desk.

“No...no,” she stammered. “I’ll do it.” She took three deep breaths and placed her fingers in the waistband of her pants and pulled them over her thighs to her knees and let them drop, turning her head to the left where Malfoy sat, mouth open, eyes hungry.

“Come here to me,” he commanded. She stood in front of him slightly more than arm’s length away. He leered at her unashamedly, she averted her eyes.

“How do you feel, Granger?”

“Truthfully? Or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?” she asked.

“Truthfully.”

“I feel ashamed.”

“Because you’re naked or because it’s with me?”

“Because it’s you. Your eyes make me feel dirty.”

“That’s because you are, Granger. Haven’t I always said so?”

She bit her tongue.

“You’re free to go now,” he dismissed her.

“That’s it?” she blinked.

“For now. Next time I call I expect you to be here immediately.”

She nodded, grabbed her wand and ran from the room, summoning her clothes back onto her body before apparating home to the safety of her apartment.

Malfoy sat down behind his desk and chastised himself. “You’re supposed to be humiliating her, you dumb shit, not getting turned on by it. Filthy little mudblood. Well, as long as she was humiliated I suppose I achieved my goal. She couldn’t get that pert little bum out of here fast enough.” He groaned and tried to will his erection to settle down before giving it up as a lost cause and taking care of the problem. Granger didn’t need to know she’d taken more control of his body than he had of hers.