Surviving St Mungo's
Chapter One
In which Draco gets caught, Ginny has a run-in with the Director and a new nurse gets her feet wet.
XxX
On the seventeenth of November the weather across Britain was trying its best to send as many people to St. Mungo's as possible. The ferocious rain the night before had frozen in the early hours of the morning, leaving ice sheets blanketing the pavements.
If that wasn't bad enough, as people awoke snow fell across the country, so those people who were out walking didn't know that only a few inches of snow separated them and the slippery ice.
As it was, only six people were sent to Mungo's, although many suffered from bruised and sore bottoms.
Blissfully unaware of the weather was a man who was fortunate enough to have permission to use one of the few staff only fireplaces at Mungo's, and who was thus able to Floo in, without having to leave the house at all to get to work.
Gracefully sliding out of the Floo, he brushed off his shoulders before striding out of the room and heading down the pale blue hallway to his department.
"Healer Malfoy! Healer Malfoy!" The short rotund woman waddled out of her office having caught sight of her target, a man who had been steadily avoiding her all week.
He disappeared around the corner, oblivious to the frantic cries behind him.
Seemingly oblivious at least.
She redoubled her efforts, her short legs working twice as hard, rapidly moving. The increased friction caused a worrying heat to blossom where the legs were furiously rubbed against each other but she put it aside, intent on catching her prey.
"Healer Malfoy! Healer!"
The blond before her realised the chase was over and paused, a frown gracing his narrow features as her turned on his heel to face her. "Yes, Healer Caul?"
She came to a rest before him, out of breath and red faced. "Healer Malfoy, how many times have I told you to call me June?"
"Many a times Healer Caul. Was that all?"
"No, no, of course not, of course not! A little birdie told me you haven't been quite up to date with your clinic duties! Now, I don't what to push you, but part of your contract with us here does ask you to attend five hours of clinic a week and you just haven't quite been getting there!" She finished with a flourish and a matronly smile.
"Ah, I see Healer. I will try my utmost to correct that."
"Yes yes, but unfortunately Healer Malfoy you said that last week, and the week before. The Head Healers are pushing me to bring you into line! And rightly so!"
"Well Healer Caul-"
"-June."
"June, as you are aware I do deal with a lot of difficult and complex cases which demand all my attention and I simply do not have the time to go down to the clinic." Considering the conversation over, he gave he a small unapologetic smile and started turning around.
"Oh but I realised that Healer," her words froze him, "so I talked it over with a number of other Healers in your department and your case load has been lightened. You should have plenty of spare time now! Some now in fact!" Without waiting for his reaction she bustled off, leaving him standing in the hallway with a stricken expression on his face.
"What's wrong with you Malfoy? You look like someone just doubled your clinic hours." Ginny Weasley stood in front of Draco, indifferent to his annoyed glare directed towards her.
Nevertheless he replied. "Caul's just made it clear that clinic hours are for everyone."
Ginny grinned. "'Bout time too."
"Just because you spend all your time down there with them, it doesn't mean we all should. I spent my time with patients who require my intellect and attention. Not some idiot who has a rash on their back, thinks it's terminal and forgot about last night's sex on the living room carpet."
"That only happened once."
"That we know of," Draco muttered.
"Either way," Ginny continued brightly, "there are plenty of people who are dying for your attention today."
"I wish they would."
"Would . . . ?"
"Die."
"Draco!"
"Yes?"
"What a horrible thing to say."
"Please, you cannot tell me you haven't wished it every so often. I bet I'll walk into that waiting room and the entire place will be filled with old people who should have just given up and died already."
"I seriously can't believe you just said that."
"They're being held together with magic and potions, that's all." Scowling deeply he darkly added, "And half the time there's nothing wrong with them except the fact they're old. 'Oh, Healer Malfoy, my knees ache, my eyesight's failing and my teeth have fallen out.' What am I supposed to do? 'Of course Mrs Jones, here's a prescription for two bottles of rejuvenating potion and an appointment with the fountain of youth.'?"
"If there's nothing wrong with them, why do they come?"
"To socialise!" Draco almost shouted, the disbelief tinting his tone.
"Socialise?"
"Yes! The biddy's seemingly can't organise a tête a tête at their homes, they have to come here. It's an endless cycle of elderly who know that if they come they'll have someone to talk too."
"Why don't you set aside a room for them then? Use your sway on the board?"
"Do I look like I care?"
"You sound like you do."
"I'll rephrase; do I look like I care about them?"
After a pregnant pause in which Ginny almost took a step back and did have to question her hearing, she replied simply with the first thing that came to mind. "You are a shockingly appalling healer."
"No, I'm a brilliant Healer. I have shockingly appalling bedside manner, but who cares? They're just patients."
Ginny scowled at his casual disregard but it didn't last long. After working with Draco Malfoy for two years she had got used to his casual indifference with which he treated his patients. She didn't like it, but knew berating him wouldn't change him; he hardly listened when people spoke to him, he never listened when they were telling him off.
Draco looked down at her - not only because he was taller but because he was an ass - and gave her one of his pointed looks. "Was there something you wanted Weasley, or did you just come here to admire me? I don't mind of course, but I'd rather give you a picture instead of standing here for your pleasure."
Ignoring his comments, Ginny handed him one of the folders she was carrying. If she handed it to him with a bit of irritation, thrusting it at him, he didn't notice - or at least comment.
"I was down at Walk-In and as I was leaving Nurse Rajik gave this to me, asking if I would pass this on to you," she explained.
"You're doubling as my secretary now Weasley? Is money really that tight?" He didn't look at her while he spoke, instead choosing to flip through the file. He paused on one page, the page which Ginny could see was covered in the patients blood work-up results.
"That's why it was passed on," she commented, not even bothering to reply to his insults which flowed from his lips automatically. She thought he didn't even care if she was hurt by them or not any more, he just knew it was what was expected of him.
"Yes, yes," Draco said, still studying the results, "just have him transferred to my department, will you?" He turned and began walking off, leaving Ginny to shout her response down the corridor.
"I'm not your bloody secretary Malfoy!"
Huffing she spun around and smacked straight into the director of Mungo's, Director Parkinson.
The spinster great aunt of Pansy Parkinson, Malfrida Parkinson was unlike her in almost every aspect. Whereas Pansy had left Hogwarts and jumped into a job at the Ministry, working there until marrying a diplomat (the ambassador to France at the time), Malfrida Parkinson had left Hogwarts (at the top of her year) and accepted a position at Mungo's. There she stayed for six years, before taking off and travelling the world, learning about all manner of illnesses that affected Wizarding kind. After twenty years of that and building a reputation as a brilliant Healer with a quick mind and no tolerance for simpletons, she returned to Britain. With her own strengths combined with her family name and power she soon became a Head Healer and then Director, ruling over all. Ruthless and dedicated to her art, none of the staff believed Malfrida to have ever had a partner at all after never seeing or hearing of one in all the years Malfrida had worked at Mungo's.
The Director peered down at Ginny, one of her carefully drawn on black eyebrows raised questioning at her. "Is there a reason for your language Miss Weasley?" she whispered as per norm.
"No ma'am," Ginny quietly replied.
"Reason for your raised voice?"
"N-no."
Malfrida's lips were pursed as she considered Ginny, and Ginny hated the fact that the woman was able to make her feel like she was a child who had just broken a priceless antique. Malfrida was the only person she had ever stuttered around.
After an age, Malfrida spoke again. "If you are going to look foolish to those around you, have it be because of something you cannot control, not because of something you can, like personal feelings."
Ginny was just digesting her message when she disappeared, leaving Ginny flustered in the hallway being subtly stared at by staff and patients alike.
"Oh bugger off," she murmured underneath her breath before gathering her confidence and striding back to her ward. She had patients to treat.
-XxX-
Despite her protest of not, in fact, being Draco Malfoy's secretary, Ginny nonetheless arranged for his latest patient to be sent up the Diagnostic department on the sixth floor.
Draco was in his office when the patient arrived, announcing his presence with screaming and shouting. Looking out of his office window down the corridor, Draco watched as the elevator doors opened and a team of nurses and porters rushed out of it, a bed in the middle of it all.
From his point, all Draco could see was a mass of flailing arms and a whithering body which was becoming tangled and wrapped up in the blanket that had once rested peacefully on the patient.
The nurses and porters looked stunned and surprised as they tried to calm the man down and get him back under control, but whatever was causing his actions wasn't making it easy for them. Eventually a porter on either side clamped down on his arms and torso while two nurses battled with his legs. The last nurse hastily pulled out a syringe and a small glass container of liquid. Sensing her intent - to knock his patient out - Draco jumped up and stuck his head out of the office.
"Nurse!" he tersely called and immediately she responded by looking his way.
With the hand holding the now filled syringe hovering over the patient, the nurse looked over to him exasperatedly. "Healer?"
"Put that away," Draco commanded. "You must be new, otherwise you would know that in this department we don't use that drug."
She spluttered and was about to reply when Draco cut her off.
"You're a nurse, not a Healer: don't question me," he cuttingly remarked before heading back into his office.
The other nurses and porters who had watched the exchange had sympathy for the new girl but didn't share in her bitching about Draco. Instead, one of the porters merely noted "It's how we do things here," as they transferred the still screaming patient into a private bay.
Albeit with some difficulty.
There a waiting Healer silently stepped up and jabbed her wand at him, causing his to fall silent too and lie on the bed motionless. When she swiftly departed after that, a fellow nurse explained to the new girl: "Potions and drugs, they all mess with the patients system making it harder for the healers here to diagnose what's wrong with them. They only freeze patients, they don't entirely remove the pain."
"It sounds barbaric!" the other replied, shocked and gazing down at the frozen man with horror.
"Eh," the porter chimed in, "s'not like they can feel it. C'mon John," he nodded to his fellow porter, "we're need downstairs.
They left, leaving the three nurses behind.
"Wait," the new girl said, confusion colouring her voice, "you said it doesn't remove the pain but he just said-"
One of the other nurses waved a hand at her, cutting her off. "Don't they teach you anything anymore? Is that now our job?" Expecting no answer she continued, "it dulls the pain so they can still feel it and tell the Healers about it, but it's a pain they can easily ignore."
"Thank you for that Marie. Can you set up the monitoring spells? I'm going to show the new girl-"
"Hope," said new girl butted in.
"-around the place so she knows where to go," the older nurse continued, ignoring the outburst.
"Sure thing Ada," Marie said with a grin, turning her back on her colleagues and withdrawing her wand.
"Follow me Hope," Ada directed and a second later began her tour of St Mungo's Sixth Floor: the Diagnostic Department, run by Healer Lancelot and home of Draco Malfoy.
-XxX-
"By the way, you better get yourself up to the top floor as soon as you can and bone up on nursing in Diagnostics, it's different than other places and if you're no good you get reassigned quickly," Ada suggested when Hope caught up with her. "Go see Ann, she's the librarian there, she'll sort you out."
"I'm so sorry about the patient," Hope blurted out. "I was top of my class, I don't know how I forgot, I can't remember being taught about that, I can't," Hope rambled on, oblivious to Ada's knowing look.
Ada stopped and grabbed hold of Hope, stopping her too in her tracks.
"The only reason you have a job here, in this department, is because you were so good in training, but that's not enough. Nursing's hard in every department but here we tend to get the difficult patients, the ones who die without us knowing why, sometimes in great deals of pain. Knowing your stuff isn't enough; you need to be able to cope with the desperate and futile situations with one patient and when they're gone you need to be able to care for another patient almost immediately. It's an emotional ride Hope, and you can't let it get to you. Now, I don't know you but your teachers did and they think you can handle this. That means until I don't think you can, you're going to be here dealing with it all."
Hope stood stunned, unable to say anything and not knowing what she would say if she could.
"So, here we have the potions store," Ada continued, acting as if she had said nothing.
For the rest of the tour, Hope followed Ada mutely.
XxX
A/N: I don't actually have anything to say at this stage other than please leave a review and I hope you enjoyed it.