I hope you guys like this, I'm really enjoying writing it. Updates may be a tad sporadic because I'm working a full time job and it keeps me pretty tired, but I promise to do at least one chapter a week. Please read and review!
Draco took a look at the files on his desk. There was always a never ending stream of them, cases that required his attention. He had been at St. Mungos for 5 years now, and had worked his way up through the ranks, using his skills and intelligent. For the first time in his life he had worked hard for something, and not had his father pay his way through. And that made him love his job all the more.
His favorite nurse, a grumpy old woman who secretly reminded him of Professor McGonagall, and was named Agnes, brought him several folders. He thanked her and began to thumb through them.
There was always a stream of patients that needed his attention, so Draco sipped his morning tea and began thumbing through the files. Suddenly he choked on his tea, reading the name on the tab of a folder, "Granger, H".
'Hermione?' He thought to himself, a little shocked. He was used to seeing familiar faces in the hospital but none of them had been schoolmates like this.
Draco flipped the envelope open and skimmed her paperwork.
Birth Date: September 19
Blood Type: O-
Concerns: Illness with unknown cause
Note: Patient requires extra privacy
As a doctor, Draco's interest was piqued. It wasn't often they got illnesses without explanation and knowing Hermione, she would have researched it extensively to find the cause before admitting defeat and coming here.
Of course she would want extra privacy. These days she was almost more famous than Harry Potter. In just 5 years she had built her own business, an advocacy group that found homes for freed house elves and taught them how to live freely, along with advocating for a different species each week. She had been a contender for Minister of Magic but she had been too focused on her work with giants rights at the time. Draco had remembered the papers writing about her lack of public appearances lately but he, along with everyone else, assumed she had just been buried away in an office. But now he wondered if she'd taken ill and hid it.
He finished his tea and gave the final folders cursory glances before heading out. He was curious to see what had Hermione Granger asking for help.
In the last 5 years, Draco had hardly bothered keeping up with his old schoolmates. The ones he had run with were all in hiding or disgraced. He was no longer interested in them or they way they lived their lives. The only people he had kind of kept up with were Granger and Potter, but that was unavoidable given that the Daily Prophet ran a story on either of the two weekly.
Draco had read all about Granger's dramatic divorce from Ron Weasley, how she had hidden any personal feelings toward the matter while in public. Potter had married the Weaslette, their wedding was strewn across every wizarding paper of course, he had taken up a higher Auror position, and he was still being heralded as the "Savior" of their world.
Draco shook himself from his thoughts as he knocked on Granger's door. The sign beside it was marked "Private" as opposed to the standard last name marker, fortifying the need for privacy.
"Come in." a voice responded.
Draco stepped through the door, shutting it behind him before stepping through the curtain. He wasn't sure who gasped first, Hermione at the sight of her new doctor, or himself, at the sight of the girl in front of him.
"Malfoy?" the girl said. Hermione's voice was unmistakable but not much else was right. Her usually fluffy hair was thinned out, oily and she had dark shadows under her eyes. Her cheeks were gaunt and she looked much thinner than he'd anticipated. She continued speaking, "You're my doctor?"
Draco stood straighter, adopting his preferred professional demeanor. The nurses often whispered about his lack of bedside manner but he found that especially with the Malfoy name, people also preferred he come across as a straight professional, it made the situation more comfortable for all involved.
"Hello Ms. Granger. Yes, I'll be your doctor, and I assure you I'm the best for the job." Draco hesitated, knowing he sounded pompous. "I also assure you that your case will be handled with the highest level of discretion and professionalism."
Hermione stared at him for a moment longer than he felt comfortable. Then she gave a curt nod and smoothed the blanket in her lap. "Yes, well, that'll be fine. Then you've had a chance to look over my file. I've lost 2 stone in 3 months, I find I have no appetite most days, not that it matters as I can't keep anything down when I can eat. I'm getting weaker each day and it's a struggle just to stay hydrated. I was admitted last night, after I found I've lost feeling in my right arm and right leg. Based on the painful cramping I feel in the left leg, I assume I'll lose feeling in it soon too. Any questions?"
Draco had been taking notes and was hiding the concern that he felt growing, this was definitely odd. "So loss of appetite, frequent vomiting, dehydration, weakness and fatigue, pain in limbs followed by total loss of feeling. Can you move said limbs?" Hermione shook her head, her arm and leg laying limply in the bed.
Draco continued, "Any trips out of the country?"
"I was recently in Romania, we're trying to establish laws on the capture and containment of dragons."
Draco scoffed quietly, of course goody-two shoes Granger would be the one trying to get rights for dragons. But he remained stoic on the outside. "Did you come into contact with anything out of the ordinary? Foods, creatures, people..?"
"Well obviously all of those. However, I've researched dragons extensively and this couldn't have been caused by them, it's not in line with any human carried diseases, and the foods I consumed were shared with my employees and no one else has contracted this."
Hermione's mouth twitched, while she wore a blank expression, much like Draco's, he couldn't help but note the sadness trying to creep through. He dropped his demeanor, something that hadn't happened in his 5 years here.
"Look, Granger, you know as well as I do that this isn't something we've seen before. I know you've done your homework and you're here because you need help. I'm going to help you, no matter how long it takes. Can I call someone to keep you company?"
"No." Hermione's voice was stern and too fast. "No one knows I'm here."
"Not even Potter?" Draco couldn't hide his surprise.
"No. No one. I don't want to burden anyone with this." Hermione turned away, acting like her pillow needed plumping.
Draco felt a sadness wash over him. Hermione was alone. Just like he was. He bid her a good morning before quickly leaving the room. He spent 10 minutes regaining his composure before continuing his morning rounds.
He returned later in the afternoon, having taken care of his smaller cases. Hermione had been assigned a single nurse, and Draco had assigned his favorite nurse to her. Nurse Agnes would not be interested in gossiping about Hermione's presence, nor would she want to sell the story to any papers. He also figured Hermione would appreciate her no nonsense approach to patient care, and she had been the one to check Hermione in. Aside from Nurse Agnes, Draco was the only one who was allowed into the room, or access to Hermione's files.
As Draco slipped into the room, he noted that Nurse Agnes had brought Hermione lunch, which lay untouched next to her bed. The two women were discussing Hermione's pain level and their opinions on how to proceed. Draco listened as Nurse Agnes pushed for tougher pain potions, while Hermione insisted a mild one was fine.
Draco cleared his throat. "Good afternoon, Ms. Granger. You say you're experiencing pain?"
"Yes, my left leg seems to be getting worse. A mild pain potion should be fine." Hermione cut a look at Agnes but somehow Draco didn't think it was a hostile look. He wondered if the women were going to get along better than he thought. He then dispatched Agnes to get the potion, and then took a seat near Hermione's bed.
He had a stack of books with him and several stacks of parchment and quills. He rolled a table over to Hermione that he had stacked several of the resources on.
"What's this?" Her eyes brightened.
"It's medical journals, both wizarding and Muggle. They're not accessible to anyone without medical training but we've got a lot of research to do and I assume you won't be interested in just laying there while I do it."
Hermione laughed lightly. She had already begun taking notes on the pages in front of her. "You're right. It would kill me to just lay around." Her voice shrunk, and her demeanor turned serious again.
Draco realized she was afraid of dying. "Granger," he started, "you may have been the brightest in our year, but you weren't the only bright student. My marks were right behind yours. Surely the two of us together can figure this out."
Hermione smiled a little, "Right."
And this began a long night of research for the two of them. Draco didn't even notice the time until Hermione's head started to drop. He quietly cleaned up both of their supplies, noted her vitals on her chart, then headed to an on call room to get some sleep, ending the day at just after 2 in the morning.