Chapter 1
There was always at least one rather chaotic moment at St. Mungos throughout the day, Hermione observed. As a mediwitch it was her job to rush into the lobby and assist whomever it was that needed her help. Today, it was several men holding up something under the arms. Everyone looked, and smelled, sweaty while one was holding a broomstick. It was obvious that they had been playing Quidditch. In the mid-July weather all of them seemed soaked to the bone and muddy to boot.
"What happened here?" Julia, one of the other mediwitches asked as she and Hermione rushed out and levitated the injured man.
"We were practicing for a big game this weekend and one of the bludgers went ballistic and smacked him in the knee. He went flying off his broom and fell. Luckily, the coach stopped him mid fall and set him on the ground easy."
The witches started moving the injured player towards the back. "We're going to need you to fill out some paper work, whatever you can fill in. We'll let you know how he is in a little bit."
The pristine rooms held two to three occupants depending on the floor, this particular room held only two people at a time. The injured quidditch player was laid onto the bed to an already drawn curtain as he shared a room with a young boy who had a very rare disease.
"His clothes need to come off Hermione, we need to make sure there's no more hurt areas." Their wands sliced at the man's clothes cutting them off without ever touching his skin which was soft and tight under his rippling muscles. "Merlin look at those abs. They should be illegal!" Julia had always been a sucker for a man with a six-pack.
The doctor eventually arrived into the room and looked over the man, he had sandy brown hair and a kind face. But that wasn't what Doctor Tygul was looking at.
"Seems this young man has a mild concussion and a shattered knee cap, we can fix it right up with a few potions but it might still be stiff when he wakes up. He'll need to walk around the corridors for some physical therapy after everything is healed." The mediwitches nodded and wrote down the orders on the chart.
"I'll go let his team know." Hermione wandered out into the lobby not prepared for the tall men rushing at her for news. "Calm down, all of you. Your friend is fine. He has a mild concussion and a shattered knee cap which is all fixable. Right now we're giving him potions to mend his knee but it's still going to be a little stiff when he wakes so he'll be here for a few days. He might miss your game."
The men's faces fell. From everything Ron and Harry had told her, Quidditch was one of the most intense games to play and it wasn't just something you enjoyed doing.
"Wood always said that you had to be in the game 100% or you weren't in it at all." Harry would say recounting his Hogwarts days.
"How are we going to play without our captain?" One of the smaller blonde men asked.
"And our best keeper?" Another added. The list of what the team would have to go without kept growing.
"What is your friend's name?" All eyes were back on Hermione. Suddenly she felt sheepish, the men all stared at her with mouths agape and eyes wide. "I'm afraid I don't know many famous wizards, I can really only say I know a handful."
"You're Hermione Granger!" A taller player from the back suddenly shouted.
"If you're the real Hermione Granger then you were in Gryffindor when you attended Hogwarts."
The bushy hair and buck teeth had gone while she was at school, now her hair was kept up in a low bun. "I was."
"Then you must remember Oliver Wood!"
Ahh, who else would be such an inspiration to his team?
"Of course I do." Smiling Hermione looked at the faces of Oliver's teammates. "We have both changed since school and the war, and I'm afraid I don't keep up with sports these days. I will however tell Mr. Wood that you were all very worried about him when he wakes up. Visiting hours are between seven in the morning and eight in the evening."
A chorus of thank you's followed Hermione into the corridor. This was not going to end well for her.
Rounds had been especially easy for Hermione that night; Oliver was still asleep and wasn't expected to wake up until around dawn. The only real problem she had was with the boy Oliver shared a room with. His name was Craig Jones and at nine years old, he was dying.
It was the saddest thing Hermione had ever seen. The disease Craig had was virtually impossible to have and only two other cases in the world had been reported; only one had any type of record and it wasn't pleasant. Several nights Hermione and Julia had snuck away to an abandoned room to have a good cry while they watched the young boy deteriorate.
The disease, called Jelly-Limb disease was true to its name. The patient's bones deteriorated into a jelly like substance which would eventually exit through the pores and other available orifices. Not a sight you want a nine year old to see coming from his own body, but even more so his parents.
Some nights, they couldn't handle it. Craig was the sweetest boy they had ever met and the mediwitches always took the best of care to him, but this time was different.
Sitting in the nurses station a low buzzing came from Hermione's wand. Oliver had woken up. Grabbing the tray of potions Dr. Tygul had prescribed the brunette made her way to her old colleague's bed.
"Good morning Mr. Wood, how are you feeling?"
The Scot groaned. "I feel like I've been broken."
"A very astute observation." Chuckling at the sarcasm Oliver opened his eyes and looked at Hermione. "I have some potions that I need you to drink. One is for your head to fix the concussion; you don't need many more of those. The green one is to mend your knee which might hurt for a little while. And the yellow potion is to help you sleep through it all so you won't feel much of it."
"What do you mean 'much of it' lass?" Suddenly he was very wary about drinking any of the offered potions.
"Some patients say that the mending bone itches and burns throughout the process of healing with very little pain associated with it. Even if we were to give you a sleepless dream potion you would still feel the effects of the mending, but we try to help you sleep through it none the less."
The silence in the room was cut with Craig's coughing. Hermione lowered her eyes to the floor. "Please drink these Mr. Wood." The woman standing before Oliver in the white dress nodded, suddenly looking distraught. "Hogwarts, right? You were friends with Harry Potter."
"And I still am," In truth she hadn't been able to see Harry or Ron this past week but the trip still met up for dinner as often as they could.
"How's the boy savior doing for himself?" Oliver drank down the concussion potion.
"Very well, he is head of the department of magical law enforcement which Ron is also a part of. The two of them could never get away from the fighting and catching the war criminals."
The second potion was gone. "And what about you? Why didn't you join them?" As he finished the question Oliver drank the sleep potion.
"I'll tell you all about that when you wake up." Hermione promised watching as his eyes fluttered closed. Poking her head around the curtain she managed a smile for Craig and his parents. "Do you need anything?"
"Can I get some juice please Hermione?" The boy's voice had never faltered through his illness. It was something Hermione admired.
"Of course sweetie, I'll be right back with it."
The rest of the night went on for Hermione without disturbance, something she wasn't used to.
A/N: Yay! Another Hermione/Oliver story has begun! I can't tell you all how excited I am to write this story!