Infinity [D.M x H.G]

08. In which she's well and truly done

"Get out of my house Mason Clark." Hermione muttered, fury raging in her eyes.

"Not 'till I kiss ya sugar. Missed havin' ya 'round to push over. Not so fun without ya, disgusting prude." he slurred, leering at Hermione.

She took another step back, blindly reaching for her wand. She felt disgusted. Just when she had finally managed to forget all the lies, the deceit and shame he had put her through in the course of their relationship. It no longer hurt her, Hermione looked him in the eye. the man she had loved and thought he loved her back and when the surge of comfort did not fill her, she knew. She was well and truly done with the toxicity of Mason Clark and she was never going back.

Pointing her wand at the pathetic man before her she took aim about to stun him while he laughed menacingly, too wasted to see clearly. She had barely murmured the spell when a fist came colliding with Mason's face. The combined force of the two had him flat on the floor, unconscious while Hermione looked up at the man who had punched Mason.

It was Draco.

Rolling down the sleeves of his button-down, there was a look of inexplicable fury on his face, which immediately softened as he glanced at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, startled when she ran to him, arms wrapped tightly around his chest. He noticed that her breathing was uneven and found that he was running his hand through her hair.

"Thank you." she mumbled into his chest.

"For what? We both know you could've handled that prat on your own Granger. You stood ground against my aunt at 18 for Merlin's sake, there's nothing you can't do." he replied, looking down at her.

"You punched me in our third year Granger! If anything I was scared for the bloke. Isn't he that idiot Ravenclaw who works for the Wizengamot? What the hell is he doing here this late?"

Hermione moved away slightly and that bothered Draco, though he couldn't explain why. "Yeah that's Mason Clark. My ex-boyfriend." she told him.

Draco's eyebrows raised, "He looks like he was drunk off his socks."

"I think he was. I don't care." Hermione replied, crossing her arms.

"You sure?" Draco asked gently.

"Yes," her reply was defiant, "how come you're back?" she asked. Mason wasn't a topic she wanted to discuss. Not now, not ever.

"Well I was about to head home when I saw this dolt," he threw a dirty look at Mason who was still out cold, "heading upstairs and I just followed." he shrugged.

Hermione sighed, rubbing her temple as she stared at Mason. "How do I get him home?"

"Don't, just turn him into a slug or something." suggested Draco and Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she whacked his arm.

"That's a horrible thing to do even to someone like him." she reasoned.

"And yet you had no problem sending attacking birds at your best friend's face in 6th year?" Draco retorted smiling when she had no reply and simply stuck out her bottom lip.

'Darn she looks adorable doing that!' he thought.

His train of thought ended abruptly when the pig on the floor groaned. He was beginning to stir and in a minute he was standing up straight, holding onto the door for support. "Who the hell are ya mate?" he asked, trying and failing to keep focus on Draco.

"That's none of you-" Hermione began but Draco cut her off, placing an arm on the small of her back. She gaped looking up into his face. What could he possibly be doing?

"Not that it should matter, but I'm her boyfriend you scumbag. And you'll stay away from her if you know what's good for you." Draco muttered, stepping dangerously close to Mason's face.

Mason's jaw dropped and then he threw a spiteful glance at Hermione before limping away.

"Why would you say that? This charade is just for our families Malfoy!" Hermione questioned.

Draco shrugged, "See Granger the thing is, as much as I believe in your capabilities, toxic men like that pig, see others, especially women as possessions. While I did not mean to degrade you, the only way he was going to stop pestering you was if he saw that you had moved on," he explained, "I just wanted to keep you from being hurt." he mumbled the last few words, so she wouldn't hear.

"Oh." "Well thanks Malfoy. For the jacket too." she replied, scratching her cheek so that he wouldn't be able to see the pink tinge on them in the dim light of the hallway.

"Well I better get going. Hope you're going to be okay? Goodnight Granger." he said, turning to leave.

But she held onto his arm and whispered, "Stay?"

A/N: Hii! I'm back. The updates here might be slower now because I'm a lil busy in my uncle's wedding and school tests but I'll try to keep it to 1 update per week. I originally planned a much bigger chapter but I feel like the new way I've figured out works better and while this wasn't as mushy as promised, I'm going to do that in the next one.

I've also made a playlist chapter for this story, that'll be updated as the chapters go on, so take a peep at that if you'd like to!

Vote and comment if you liked, it really does help. Constructive criticism is always welcome :)

Thanks for reading, stay safe.
lots of love,
writinganewtale ✨