Head slumped against the toilet seat and kneeling on the black and white tiled floor, Hermione rubbed her weary eyes in the hope of clearing the blurriness that descended over them from severe lack of sleep. Her eyelids, growing heavier by the second, began to slowly creep shut. After a silent battle with herself to stay awake and get back to work, Hermione finally succumbed to a long awaited slumber, reasoning with herself that she would just rest her eyes for a few moments. What seemed like mere seconds later, a loud impatient banging on the toilet door roused her from her sleep. Stumbling to get up, she opened the cubicle door to find her less than happy boss glowering at her.
"So this is where you've been hiding?" Senior Healer Montgomery asked, with a look of disappointment and pity all rolled into one. Senior Healer Montgomery had anyone's instant attention; a portly woman with a stern face indicated she was not a woman to mess with.
"I-I-I-I-I'm so sorry, I m-m-m-m-must have lost track of time and then…," Hermione tried to explain her way out of trouble and instead succeeded in becoming a stuttering wreck, similar to how Neville Longbottom would carry on when attempting to talk to Professor Snape.
"While I understand that final year Healer apprenticeships are extremely tough, there are patients who need help and care. You are meant to be caring for them, not falling asleep with your head in a toilet like a Knockturn Alley drunk. Now, I expect you at the front help desk in five minutes time please. Alert and ready for work," With a final stare, Senior Healer Montgomery turned on her heels and walked out of the staff toilet, closing the door behind her.
Hermione walked towards the sinks, turned on the cold-water tap and splashed her face with the refreshing water in an attempt to wake up. Pulling her hair into a messy bun high up on her head, Hermione looked in the mirror at her reflection and was drawn to the predominant bags that nestled underneath her eyes. She was instantly reminded of a time during her third year at Hogwarts when she had taken on too many lessons and had to use a Time-Turner just to get through each day. She remembered how worried Harry and Ron had been about her, and the breakdown that she nearly had due to overwork and exhaustion.
Thinking about Ron and Harry caused a sharp pang in her heart as she struggled to remember the last time she had seen them both for longer than a couple of minutes. Harry and Ron were Aurors for the Ministry of Magic, with Harry specialising in the Dark Arts, Concealment and Disguises department, and Ron specialising in the Trading of Illegal and Unlawful Goods Division.
None of the trio had much time for each other any more, what with their busy lives getting in the way. Harry spent most of his time at work and then at home with his heavily pregnant wife. Ron spent all his time at work, as he was trying to get a promotion that would mean a lot more money and respect. The only time Hermione really saw them was when they were escorting someone to the hospital, whether it be a victim or villain of some crime. Hermione would patch the patient up and send them on their way as quick as possible. During a Healer Apprenticeship, apprentices are marked on how many patients they see and how quickly they heal them. Hermione had just two more weeks of the apprenticeship left, when she could then try for a job that had a research aspect to it. With one last look in the mirror, she set off for the front help desk.
Hermione knew there had been some sort of large-scale accident the second she entered the Creature Induced Injuries department, the last department on her rotation. Pandemonium attacked her eyes; healers ran from room to room carrying pots and potions, and there were people screaming in pain, mirrored with the constant flickering flashes of light from wands that were healing wounds.
Senior Healer Montgomery ran to Hermione, thrust an industrial sized bottle of Fred Firecracker Burn Salve into her hands, and gestured for her to follow.
"There's been a large scale accident at a dragon reserve in central Romania with injuries ranging from minor to fatal. Two nesting Hebridean Black dragons were being transported to Lithuania, and broke free, attacking everyone and everything in sight for a six mile radius"
"Oh goodness…Hebridean Blacks? They're meant to be worse than Norwegian Ridgebacks aren't they?" Hermione asked, wanting to have as much information as she could to begin healing.
"Yes, the fire that they breathe is approximately 60 degrees hotter than the Ridgebacks. Usually, they have a much better temperament than the Ridgebacks, so they're not as universally feared. They're still a force to be reckoned with though".
After a short pause, Senior Healer Montgomery stopped outside Room 42 and turned towards Hermione.
"As you know, it's your last couple of weeks on the apprenticeship program. You've done excellently, maintaining more than the required work load. However, your patient care isn't up to the standard I know you're capable of. That's why I'm giving you a patient with a relatively minor injury. He should be out of here within a week or two if you're lucky. This patient will require you to be tactful, caring and sympathetic at the same time. No laughing, however much you want to."
Hermione looked at her mentor with sheer bewilderment. "Senior Healer, I can assure you I am professional at all times, and I know I can do all those things. What exactly is wrong with this patient?"
"Well, he was not on the reserve when the dragons broke free. He was quite a distance away, erm…shall we say, putting his dragon in a girl's reserve?"
"By that do you mean sex?" Hermione mumbled, blushing slightly.
"Well, yes. He happened to be bent over a desk at the time, and when the dragons began their attack, their fire managed to travel to where he was….entertaining. He managed to get away with second degree burns to his buttocks and testicles."
Hermione nodded and took the patient's chart out of her mentor's hand. Preparing herself, she opened the door to the patient's room. The patient was laid in bed on his left hand side facing the window on the right hand wall. This was one of the nicer rooms as it had a pretty decent view of the London Eye, and was painted a subtle lemon colour, instead of the usual beige. Walking around the bed, she began to greet her patient.
"Good afternoon, my name is Apprentice Healer Granger and I'll be looking after you during your time here," she recited as professionally as possible.
The patient began to stir, and turned his head towards her. Hermione put a big friendly smile on her face as the familiar face of Ron's older brother Charlie looked up at her from the bed.
"Charlie!" Hermione shrieked, nearly choking on her own tongue in shock.
Charlie looked up at Hermione bewildered. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
Hermione was surprised to feel a sinking feeling in her stomach when she realised that he didn't have a clue who she was, despite the fact they'd practically spent a whole summer together during the summer holidays before her fourth year at Hogwarts. She had shared countless Christmases with him at The Burrow. She had also engaged in long debates with him many a time on various subjects, and had even shared a few dances with him at Bill and Fleur's wedding. "I bet he'd remember Harry," she thought bitterly. I'd bet he'd remember Harry
"I'm Hermione Granger; I went to school with your brother Ron. Actually, I was one of his best friends. I spent a lot of time at your parent's house during the holidays. I went to the Quidditch World Cup with you", Hermione said all this very quickly, slightly ashamed that she was too insignificant to be remembered. She looked at Charlie, internally begging him to remember her.
Charlie still lying on his left side, looked Hermione up, down and then back up again. A hint of redness appeared on his face momentarily, before being replaced with a large cheeky grin.
"I'd never have guessed it was you! Of course I remember you, but I remember you as a 16 year old. I never imagined you all grown up", Charlie said, giving Hermione a wink. "You must be about err…22 now then?"
Hermione nodded once, and walked towards him whilst looking at his chart. "Your blood pressure is ok, as is your blood count and everything. You look to be in perfect health."
"Fantastic, apart from the second degree burns on my bollocks and arse you mean? I mean really, my balls feel as if they're on fire," He laughed as he spoke, and rolled slightly backwards. Wincing, he gingerly rolled back onto his left side. "That wasn't a good idea. What's the plan of action then? And please tell me it involves some sort of pain relief."
"I'll get you some pain relief in a moment. Like you just said, apart from the second degree burns you're fine. Now second degree burns aren't that serious really. In fact, if the burns were on a different part of your body, we'd just simply send you home with a bottle of Fred Firecracker Burn Salve, and tell you to apply it on the affected area every 4-6 hours." Hermione went and sat on the brown armchair that was at the side of Charlie's bed, placing the burn salve that was in her hand onto his bedside cabinet.
"Well that's what we usually do at the reserve. We have our own supply, because fire burns surprisingly enough are an occupational hazard". He winked at Hermione again, and Hermione had a sudden urge to giggle in a way not so different from Lavender Brown, during her Won-Won stage back at Hogwarts.
"As the burns are…where they are we need to follow a different care plan. We still need to apply the Fred Firecracker Burn Salve, but it needs to be much more regular, and in a much higher concentration than the one that I'm sure you have at the ranch."
"Great, well just give me a prescription of it. I can go home then?" Charlie said, looking at Hermione hopefully.
"Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. First the wound needs to be cleansed thoroughly to make sure there's no chance of infection. Second, like I said, we need to apply the Burn Salve, but much more regularly, and in a much higher dose. Now, St Mungo's is the only health care facility in the world that has been entrusted with the concentration of the Burn Salve that you actually need. That's why everyone who was hurt was brought here all the way from Romania."
"Oh, I just thought it was because the local hospital was damaged during the attack, and as the majority of dragon keepers at the reserve are English, it made sense to fetch them here. Why is this the only hospital that has it?"
"It's because of the effects this salve can have on the patient. It can cause the patient to have a very high fever at first, and also some people can become slightly delirious on it. The main side effect when using it on the genital region is sexual arousal. This salve is also very popular with drug abusers and impotent men due to its effects, and it can't be widely available as it is very addictive, and prolonged use can result in death. St Mungo's is the only one trusted with it as we are the best health care facility. That and the Vice Chairman of the hospital is married to Fred Firecracker."
Charlie closed his eyes and was silent for a moment. Hermione gave Charlie time to take all the information in; she didn't want to overwhelm him with everything she had to say.
While there was silence in the room, Hermione looked at Charlie's face. He hadn't changed at all since she had last seen him even though it had been about four years. He still had a broad, friendly face and it showed no signs of ageing despite him spending a lot of his time in the sun. He had a dark tan, but Hermione had never seen him without one so this was normal to her. She tried to imagine him pale like his brothers, but it was impossible- like trying to imagine Bill with short hair, or Fred and George behaving themselves. For the first time, she saw that Charlie had three tattoos, well that she could see anyway. On his right bicep, the top part hidden by the sleeve of his gown, was the bottom half of a Norwegian Ridgeback. On his left forearm there was what looked like the England Quidditch team's logo. Both of his arms were muscled and well sculpted. She could see a hint of some black tribal art on the top of his chest; again most of her view was obscured by his gown.
Charlie coughed and disturbed Hermione's ogling of his body.
"Appreciating the artwork are we?" He smirked, inwardly enjoying the crimson flush that swept across her face. Trying to appear unperturbed by his comment, Hermione began to explain more about his treatment.
"As I was saying, it needs to be applied more frequently than usual. It also needs to be done by a trained Healer as the Burn Salve works best when applied using a certain massage technique that has been proven to enhance the results when using the salve. The burns also need to be bandaged to minimise infection, but equally important the burns need to be allowed to breathe. At first, a bandage containing a topical pain relief will be applied to each affected area for a period of one hour. Then, the bandages will be removed and the burns will be treated with the Burn Salve. The burns must not come into contact with anything for half an hour. This includes skin other than your own, clothing, bedding and toilet roll. So I suggest you relieve yourself before it is applied. After half an hour, a clean set of bandages will be applied. This will continue twenty four hours a day for around five days."
"Twenty four hours a day? When am I meant to sleep? I mean, I know I'm gorgeous but even I need beauty sleep," Charlie joked giving Hermione yet another wink.
"I'd suggest sleeping during the hour the bandages are on. All being well, you should be out of here in around two weeks time. Now, I'll be your Healer during this time. Is that a problem?"
"Why would it be a problem?"
"Because you know me through Ron. Because you're going to have to get naked in front of me. Because I'm going to have to touch your genitals when I apply the salve. Due to the side effects, it's pretty likely you will be aroused at some point during the treatment, and you will be that desperate enough to want to hump my left leg off".
"Only your left leg? No love, I'm sure that I'd try for both of them, although your left one is a lot cuter than your right"
Hermione unconsciously rubbed her right leg behind her left one, so that her left leg was the main leg in sight. Charlie noticing this, laughed quietly, aware she was embarrassed by the fact she was going to have to touch him. A lot. And he was quite pleased about that fact.