She had not seen him for years. Her own expectations were unformed; so when Draco Malfoy strode into the room with confidence that rivalled her own, she wanted to slap him. Who was he to dare? She knew no one within her present company that would think to step into her office with straight shoulders and lifted chin.
Mild surprise registered on his face and a smirk alighted his face.
"Granger?" He tilted his head and Hermione wanted to smack him. But she needed him. There was time to show who was in power later. " You're the Baron?" He laughed in that teasing way she hated. She said nothing. He would acknowledge her power sooner than later.
"I had my men bring you here, Malfoy." He quirked an eyebrow. It was clear she was still a teenager in his mind. She smirked her best version of his own. "I can have them get rid of you as quickly as I had them procure you." She let the statement ruminate as her men stood still as statues around the room. Malfoy eyed them and appeared to think.
"I see." Malfoy approached her, his hands visible at his sides, devoid of his wand and unthreatening. "How can I be of service?"
"At my service so easily, Malfoy?" Hermione was curious and tickled. "So easily bowing to a mudblood and ready to do as I say?"
"You just told me I can be disposed of easily, Granger." Malfoy tilted his chin in that arrogant way she remembered. "I'd be a fool to test that. I know who the Baron is."
"Good man." Hermione sat again in her chair and conjured one for Draco. She rarely kept chairs on the opposite end of her chair. They often got broken when she reprimanded them. She might have gotten rid of her desk too if she didn't need it for keeping track of the business.
He hesitated before sitting, but once he had, he looked so at ease, Hermione found herself irritated again with his haughtiness. Maybe she had gotten used to her power. She wasn't used to this, this laid back person who treated her as normal.
"Firewhiskey?" Hermione gestured vaguely, her wand at in her fingertips with magic trilling through her reassuringly.
Draco inclined his head. "Thank you."
She wanted to bend him to her will. His slouch, the tilt of his head. He needed to be rigid at her feet. She conjured the firewhiskey and poured them two glasses. The aroma was strong and woody, hints of cinnamon and spice rounded it off. She tilted her glass toward him as he mirrored her and sipped.
"I'll cut to the chase, Malfoy." Hermione placed the glass on the table with a clink. "I need you to clean my money."
"I wonder," Draco smirked; the men in the room became uneasy and Hermione felt them shift in the shadows as they expected her to do something. Anything. "What's in it for me?"
"I'm sorry," Hermione leaned forward now; she was thoroughly enjoying this. She shouldn't, she shouldn't be letting him speak to her like this but she was so bored. And now she found a fuck toy she was itching to play with. "I think you are under the impression that you have a choice."
"Don't I?" Draco's fingers drummed easily on the armrest, light airy sounds with long elegant fingers. She flicked her wand and his arms flattened to the armrest. His eyes widened in mild surprise before a chuckle slipped past his lips. "Oh, don't tease me, Granger."
Hermione's sternum tickled, her spine zinged and her toes curled. With her eyes locked on Draco's, she commanded, "Out." The men in the shadows shifted uneasily. "Out!" They lurched forward and when the door finally shut behind them, Hermione locked the door with a tight flick of her wand. She strode around her desk and stood directly before him; he had the audacity to widen his legs, arms still firmly to the armrest.
"Do you think this is a game?" Hermione lifted her foot and placed it on his crotch, pressing her toes with even pressure. Draco's eyes didn't even flutter so she pressed harder. His jaw was clenched.
"I do not, Baron." Draco's voice was strained. "But I have to ask. Do you do this to all your launderers?"
"Just the ones who need to be broken in." Hermione leaned forward and she could taste his cologne in the air. Musky and sweet.
"What kind of program do you run here?" Draco…was grinning. Under her toes, she could feel him beginning to firm. He wasn't scared, he liked it.
"I don't know if this could work." Hermione removed her foot and released the binding spell. His entire body remained rigid and he uncoiled like a snake, he rolled his muscles as he relaxed into his seat.
"You need your money clean." Draco's voice was low and Hermione couldn't bring herself to look at him. She was over his defiance, he wouldn't be broken. She lost interest quickly. "I clean money."
"You're insubordinate." Hermione snapped. "I don't take well to insubordination."
"I thought I didn't have a choice." Draco quipped. Hermione was staring out of her window; it looked like rain.
"I'll have you obliviated. You'd go back to knowing the Baron as the Baron, and Hermione Granger as Hermione Granger." Hermione said in monotone. "I'll find another launderer."
"Have you ever thought," Draco's voice was in her ear, she stiffened, "that I cannot be broken?" He had her wrist painfully twisted behind her back and pushed into her spine. She couldn't use her wand this way. "That your little…operation…could use someone like me. That," He pushed her into the glass of the window with the entirety of his body. " You could use someone like me. You can't break me, Granger. But I think the one that needs the breaking, is you."
"Let me go if you want to leave this establishment alive." Hermione was prepared to slash his arms off with her wandless magic, something she had perfected for moments like this. Of course it was Draco fucking Malfoy that required her first use of it.
"I bet your knickers are sopping at the thought of being controlled by someone who knows exactly what you need." Draco pressed into her back and she decidedly hated him. She also decided that she would break him and he was interesting again.
Draco stumbled backward and Hermione turned to find him rubbing his wrist. She didn't cut him, but his skin was violently red. He winced as she drew her wand and levelled him with her gaze.
"If you are to work for me, there are stipulations." Hermione loved the look on his face when he realised she had performed wandless magic and hurt him with it. "Sit."
Draco sat.
"You have a trial period. I have a backlog of roughly one million galleons to be washed." Hermione wanted to make it difficult, but possible; she needed to know how good he was. "If you get this done, I'll regularly funnel the money into you, up to two million a month depending on the sales to the European countries as we expand."
"I assume that isn't all your stipulations." Draco sounded sufficiently in line. Hermione liked that. He wasn't quite broken in, but he was listening without typical leering.
"You're right. It isn't. I need the reports in person. I don't trust owls and coded messages. They get intercepted and Harry's already on my ass. If I'm not careful, he'd connect the dots." Hermione smirked in what she thought was a good likeness to his arrogance.
"Potter is the lead Auror tasked with finding the Baron." Draco said with dawning realisation. "I remember the stories, the public aren't too keen on Potter. It feels like Hogwarts all over again."
"I'm sure you're enjoying that." Hermione looked down where he was seated but he said nothing. Good, he was learning. It might have to do with the wand in her hand pointing directly at his forehead. "Finally, I need your complete obedience."
"I can't just-" Draco immediately spluttered. "I need to make decisions, Granger. You aren't always going to be available for a drop in-"
"You misunderstand." Hermione tilted her head. "I need your complete obedience whenever you step foot into this room." She followed his slow swallow, feeling immensely satisfied.
"What if I don't like this agreement." Draco said, still eyeing her wand and keeping his voice even and unlike a question.
"And what would you do if you didn't agree?" Hermione was curious. She would let him out, but she would have to obliviate him to ensure her identity remained secure.
"I could tell anyone who the Baron is." Draco lifted his chin in a small show of his base defiance.
"I could tell everyone you're Silver Eyes." Hermione chuckled. "Who would they believe, Malfoy? The best friend of Harry Potter and Golden Girl," Hermione rolled her eyes at the monicker, she hated it, "or the former Death Eater, Draco Malfoy?"
Draco laughed in a huff. His eyes remained closed as he thought. "Fine."
"Fine what, Malfoy?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"You have a deal. I'll launder." Draco swallowed. "Why me, Granger? Why not some other poor fool?"
"My regulars are incapable of conducting overseas laundering. You're the best, not so Silver Eyes?" Hermione's cadence was slow and she enunciated every word. "How about we test that obedience now?"
Draco said nothing. He stared up at her, silently waiting. She didn't like people as dolls, but it was part of the process. He would learn how she liked her toys to behave soon.
"Kneel." Draco blinked once before he slipped off the chair and onto his knees. She looked down past her nose and power hummed through her. "Very good. I think," Hermione combed her fingers through his hair, stroking the surprisingly soft strands before gripping it and yanking back, he hissed. "That our partnership should be fine after all."
