Chapter 8

Hermione had no idea you could manage to buy so many clothes in one go. Her small closet wasn't going to fit all the gowns. There were bright colourful gowns, there were day dresses, there were more informal dresses, which were still more formal than anything she had worn growing up, even to weddings.

She had shoes, scarves, even gloves. Where the hell was she supposed to wear gloves? There was lingerie, which made Hermione very uncomfortable, ribbons for some reason and silk stockings. She now had the wardrobe of a historical romance novel heroine. All of it in either bright colours or pastels. The uniform of the less reputable. Wives wore more modest colours, black, gray, brown. Hermione wondered who decided these things. Did someone decide on this clear demarcation between the reputable women and the less so. Was this something the council had decided or did it just evolve?

Hermione presence had been demanded that evening. Her closet now had two green dresses, but it grated on her wearing Slytherin colours. She wasn't going to give the impression that she was supportive. She wasn't entirely sure what she meant, but she just knew she wasn't going to wear green.

She got prepared and floo'd over to Draco's house in the evening. He was dressed and waiting for her. He was sipping a whiskey. They were obviously going somewhere.

"Have you eaten?" She asked. It was an awfully familiar sentiment and Draco raised his eyebrow in surprise. Hermione wasn't sure why she asked, actually she'd guessed it would tell her how quickly he would get drunk.

Draco didn't answer, but instead looked her over.

"Better." He said as she stood up and come over to lightly grab her elbow, he was obviously talking about what she was wearing. "Did you enjoy spending my money?"

"Enjoy would not be the most accurate description." Hermione said. "Exhausting would be more accurate."

"You are a strange girl, Granger."

"Why, because shopping isn't the highlight of my life?"

"Well, of course not, I am." He said with complete confidence.

Hermione couldn't help but to snort. Draco's grip tightened around her elbow as he apparated her to their destination. It was another Slytherin house. She could tell by the decor.

By the facial traits of the portraits, she would guess this was Zabini's house. The party was already in full swing. Connie smiled at her as she walked in behind Draco.

Zabini was chasing some pretty girl who was giggling like a ninny. The dark haired half blood girl wasn't there. Connie confirmed that she'd been replaced by the blond giggly thing.

Blaise acted like he was completely infatuated by the new short, curvy girl. Apparently, according to Connie, Blaise falls in love at a drop of a hat and he falls out of love just as quickly, but he is completely convinced that he is in love at the time. Connie was stressing the word love like it was a euphemism.

Hermione grudgingly accepted that they were in for another night of revelry for the young Slytherin crowd. Hermione hadn't had time to eat, so she busied herself with the various food plates around the room. Draco was already in conversation with Nott. They seemed to be laughing about something and Hermione wondered what kind of things they talked about.

The voices got progressively louder. Blaise and the new girl had disappeared somewhere and most of the others were playing some drinking game that involved levitating a glass while the others tried their best to distract them enough to drop the glass. They were starting to get drunk now and their attention span was shrinking.

It was Flint's turn to hover the glass and the intent on his face was complete until Draco mentioned some event when he had fucked Armenda Fudham in Divinations in sixth year. This sent both of them into fits of laughter and the glass broke as it plummeted to the ground.

Nott tried next and managed pretty well until the others got sick of his fortitude and tickled him until he dropped it. Now that she had seen the Slytherin boys tickling each other, she decided that she had seen everything. Her mind automatically concluded she should tell Harry and the thought made her sad. It was funny, her mind didn't accept Harry's death, but it had no problems letting go of Ron because he didn't feature in her subconscious decisions.

Malcolm Baddock joined the party. Hermione hadn't seen him previously and he made a double take when he saw her. A creepy smile spread on his lips and Hermione felt intensely uncomfortable. He had always been creepy and apparently nothing had changed. The others seemed to greet his arrival with enthusiasm.

Connie managed to corner Theo and after a quick conversation during which she was stroking the labels of his jacket. She was pouting and teasing as she was whispering to him. Theo was smiling sweetly at her and then leaned in a kissed her on the cheek. Whatever it was that Connie wanted, she got. Hermione had the impression that she had just watched a master at work.

Connie gave Hermione a little wave goodbye and walked out of the room. She was leaving the party for the night. Somehow she'd got Theo to agree to let her leave. Hermione hadn't even realised that leaving was a possibility. She looked over at Draco and wondered how she could achieve the same thing.

They had stopped playing the game now and were sitting down, laughing at some anecdote or joke. Flint was slightly spanking a girl who was lying over his lap, chiding him in a way that implied that she didn't mind at all.

Hermione considered how she should approach him. Maybe she could just ask. She decided to give it a shot and walked over, he was completely absorbed by the others anyway so maybe he wouldn't mind. As she got there, Draco pulled her into his lap and Hermione sat there stiff as a board.

"You really need to loosen up, Granger." He drawled. "This is a party and you are behaving like its a wake."

"Its just not my kind of thing." She said trying to formulate a way to ask to leave.

"Just not comfortable out of the library huh?" He asked and laughed. "You only have two modes, harpy and swot."

Hermione was getting annoyed and she could feel anger rising in her.

"I would like to leave now." Hermione said. Maybe a direct approach would world. Maybe he was drunk enough to listen.

"I don't think so." He laughed even louder. "Seriously, you need to get go a bit Granger. Join the party. Not everything can be about showing people how anal you are."

"I'm not..." She started, but didn't finish as she decided to get off his lap instead. He held her down as she struggled.

"This must be rectified, you're going to do yourself an injury. I think you need a lesson." He said and pulled out his wand. "Imperio."

Hermione felt the curse wash over her, taking away her control while Malfoy filled her mind completely. Her body relaxed completely against him, while her mind tried to reinstate some control. The pull to please was so strong, it echoes through her mind, wiping whatever intent she had over and over again.

"Dance." He ordered and Hermione felt herself get up of him, step up on the table and dance. Laughter was roaring through the room and Hermione only smiled sweetly as she danced for the audience.

Draco's ordered flooded her mind and she was losing track of her own identify as his will became the centre of the universe.

He ordered her to undo the buttons on her dress and she complied, then to slip the shoulder out and the arm. He was making her perform a strip tease. Hermione got a flash of realisation that her dress was on the floor, but the self awareness was wiped away within microseconds.

She was dancing in her underwear on the table. Her mind was fighting harder when he told her to take her bra off, but it was no use, she couldn't fight it.

He didn't ask her to go further, but she danced on the table for what must have been ages. He was watching her and he was making her smile at him. The others were watching her too, lust shining in their eyes as she was gyrating her hips, flicking her hair and teasing.

Deep inside Hermione consciousness, she was absolutely mortified. Eventually he ordered her to stop dancing and get dressed before Draco apparated her back. He didn't drop the curse until they were back at his house.

The first thing she did was slap his as hard as she could. The contact almost sounded like a gun shot.

He fell back onto the chair with the force of it.

"How dare you!" She shouted at him.

"It was just a bit of fun."

"You forced me against my will." She said. "An unforgivable."

"Come on. It not that bad." He said. His voice was slurring a bit. "You looked hot."

"Unforgivable Malfoy, because its unforgivable." Hermione was shaking with anger.

"Ok, I'm sorry." He said and came up behind her. "It was a stupid thing to do. I was drunk."

"That doesn't excuse it." She said and forced her hands off her.

"I said, I'm sorry." He said with a coy look. "I promise I'll never do it again."

"I don't care to hear your insincere apologies." Hermione said. "This little experiment is over."

"Come on, Granger." He said. He tried to grab her but he missed. His seeker reflexes had completely deserted him after a nights worth of drinking.

Hermione marched to the fireplace and floo'd back to MQ, she heard his protests, but didn't care. She didn't quite manage to get home before the tears started flowing. She had never been so misused in her life. What else had she expected, she chided herself.

She wasn't going to see him again. She didn't care what the outcome would be, but she would not let herself be abused in such a way. She needed a bath and she didn't care if it was two in the morning. It took a whole hour of soaking before she was finally cried out.