Chapter 1 - The Exchange

One morning in St Mungo's, chaos ensued when two muggles were admitted into the ground floor wards for Artifact Accidents.

"Healer Granger, you are needed at the ground floor wards, now." A silver patronus of a tabby cat strolled into one of the fourth floor wards where Hermione was talking to one of her patients who had been jinxed with a spell that caused severe swelling to the face.

"Excuse me," Hermione told her patient and asked one of the other healers to take over her task before leaving for the first floor.

Outside the ward, she heard screaming and shouting.

"Why is this happening? Why the hell are you me? What's going on? I'm going crazy!"

A man's shrill screech reached her ears and Hermione quickened her pace.

The door to the ward swung open, revealing a muggle man dressed in a blue nightgown and an extremely befuddled muggle woman who had stuck her fingers into both ears to keep out the horrendous noise he was making.

"Healer Granger! Thank Merlin you're here. Those muggles... The man is so bloody loud!" Healer Pentsworth said with a grimace.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked in an undertone.

"They both claimed to have bought some sort of an amulet that was believed to strengthen their bonds of love. Then when the man put it on the woman's neck, they both fainted. And when they woke up, both of them were in hysterics. Luckily a wizard was living nearby, and he couldn't stand the noise they were making, so he sent them straight here." He explained.

"Seems to me that the amulet is cursed." Hermione said. "I'll calm them down first." She turned around and cast a spell. Both muggles immediately passed out onto their respective beds.

"That's calming them down?" Healer Pentsworth lifted an eyebrow sceptically.

"Well, unless you want to hear that high-pitched male scream again, I don't suggest you complain about my methods." Hermione replied archly.

"Where's the amulet?" She asked.

"Still on the woman's neck, I presume. No one dared to touch it." He said, and suddenly he tucked his hands into the pockets of his robes; an uneasy expression crossed his face.

"Are you hiding something from me, Healer Pentsworth?" Hermione questioned him in a sharp tone.

"Uh... You should know that I'd taken the liberty to ask a magical artifacts expert to come here and have a look..."

"He's talking about me, Granger." A drawl came from the direction of the door and Hermione spun around to meet the smug gaze of a blond-haired man. Not again, Hermione groaned inwardly.

"Malfoy. You, again." Hermione stifled the urge to growl at him. This wasn't the first time he was summoned to help her deal with an Artifact's Accident case. Draco Malfoy was a successful entrepreneur and collector of magical artifacts and an annoying, self-assured, and infuriatingly handsome prat. However, due to his expertise and knowledge of magical artifacts (he was an avid collector of such), he was often requested to assist St Mungo's when there were patients admitted due to an Artifact's Accident.

His silvery blond hair was deliciously windblown and mussed, and from the looks of his attire, he seemed to be heading to work.

"A muggle suit, Malfoy?" Hermione couldn't resist the jibe, but she could not deny the fact that he looked good enough to eat in that muggle suit. Its gray colour matched his eyes perfectly, and the cut of the suit revealed a surprisingly good, lean and not too muscular figure, just the build Hermione admired on men. At that thought, she immediately jerked herself out of her reverie and saw Draco give her a knowing look.

With her cheeks suddenly suffused with a pink blush for no apparent reason, Hermione cleared her throat and returned to business. "Since you're already here, you might as well take a look at that amulet."

"With pleasure, Granger." He drawled, his mellifluous baritone sending little frissons dancing up her arms. Why the hell am I even reacting to his voice? Hermione mentally chided herself.

Draco moved towards the beds where the patients were unconscious, and observed them.

"What are the symptoms?" He asked both healers.

"They were hysterical, confused and somewhat distressed." Healer Pentsworth replied.

"Anything else?"

"Well, if you ask me, I think it's rather weird for the man to be the one screaming all the time. And he did say, why the hell does my voice sound like this?" Hermione mimicked the man's voice and his incredulous tone perfectly.

"You are saying that they are acting out of character, am I right?" Draco added as he examined both of the patients for signs of injury.

"Yeah, well. It certainly seems like that." Hermione replied in assent.

"Look, I'm going to take off the amulet." Draco told them as he took out a pair of white gloves and pulled them on. Healer Pentsworth nodded but Hermione interjected, "What if something happens to them when you take it off?"

Draco shrugged. "We'd have to take the risk. For all we know, maybe removing this amulet will remove the effects the magic has on these muggles altogether."

Hermione couldn't find a reason to disagree with him, so she stood back and watched as Draco unclasped the necklace and removed it from the muggle woman's neck. Then he stood, and all three of them held their breath and waited, as if expecting some sort of reaction from the sleeping muggles.

But nothing happened. The muggles were still unconscious.

"I guess your theory wasn't correct then, Malfoy." Hermione said lightly.

"Why don't you try waking them up and see?" Draco suggested and Healer Pentsworth pointed his wand towards them, "Ennervate."

The muggles woke up, bleary-eyed and confused. But when the muggle man looked to his left and saw his female companion, he leapt off his bed and started screaming again.

"Why the hell is this happening? Why is my body over there? GOD, WHAT SHOULD I DO?" And then he started to sob.

Oh dear, Merlin save us from all this terrible noise, Hermione thought inwardly, but she stepped forward and attempted to calm him down. However, when Hermione touched the man's arm, he suddenly cringed and pushed her away from himself in an almost violent motion. Hermione staggered backwards and Draco stepped forward to grab her arm and steady her. It all happened in those few seconds, when Draco missed her arm and grabbed her shoulder instead, she fell back against his chest, and the amulet glowed red in Draco's hand as Hermione's arm accidentally grazed it, then a jolt of magic ran through the both of them.

"Shit!" Draco swore and pushed Hermione away, but it was too late. The magic of the amulet had activated and it was cast on the both of them.

They gazed at each other, and for a moment both of them felt nothing.

"Thank Merlin-" Hermione was just saying when she felt her vision begin to blur. What-? She barely had time to think when her eyelids slid shut and darkness engulfed her.

Please leave a review if you think the story is worth continuing, and thank you for reading! And of course, Harry Potter belongs solely to JK Rowling.