Surviving St Mungo's
Chapter One
In which Draco is callous, Ginny has a run-in with the Director and a new nurse gets her feet wet
23rd November 2008
XxX
On the twenty-third 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 sheets of ice blanketing the pavements.
When morning came, a coating of snow had covered the thin sheets of ice, creating a winter wonderland. As people ambled outside their houses that morning, smiling at the sight of the scenery, they had no idea that beneath the beautiful, powdery snow hid a slippery danger.
Fortunately, only six people were sent to St. Mungo's, though many suffered from bruised and sore bottoms.
However, there was one man who was blissfully unaware of the weather, fortunate enough to have permission to use one of the few staff only fireplaces at St. Mungo's. He Flooed in that morning without having to leave his house and suffer the unfortunate fate of the six people in the waiting room. 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!" A 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. The increased friction caused a worrying heat to blossom between her legs as they 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 he was caught. So he paused, a frown gracing his narrow features as he turned on his heel to face her. "Yes, Healer Caul?"
She stopped in front of 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 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 deal with a lot of difficult and complex cases, which demand all my attention. I simply do not have the time to go down to the clinic." Considering the conversation over, he gave her 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, Malfoy? You look like someone just doubled your clinic hours." Ginny Weasley stood in front of Draco, indifferent to the annoyed glare he 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, doesn't mean we all should. I spend my time with patients who require my intellect and attention, not some idiot who has a rash on his back, thinks it's terminal and forgot about last night's sex on the living room carpet."
"That only happened once," Ginny noted with amusement.
"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?"
"That's a horrible thing to say."
"Come on, Weasley. You can't tell me you haven't wished it every so often. That waiting room is probably teeming with old people who should have given up and died already."
"I seriously can't believe you just said that," Ginny said, genuine shock and disgust on her face.
"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, then why do they come?"
"To socialise!" Draco exclaimed, his tone suggesting he was outraged at the idea.
"Socialise?"
"Yes! The biddies can't organise a tête a tête at their homes, so they have to come here. It's an endless cycle of old people, who come here out of loneliness rather than illness."
"Why don't you set aside a room for them?" Ginny grinned at him, her eyes dancing with humor. "Use your sway on the board."
Draco arched an eyebrow at the redhead. "Do I look like I care?"
"You sound like you do," she said idly.
"I'll rephrase: do I look like I care about them?" Draco emphasized the 'them,' smirking at Ginny.
After a pregnant pause, in which she had to question her hearing, she replied with the first thing that came to mind, "You are an appalling healer."
"Correction, I'm a brilliant Healer. I have shockingly appalling bedside manner, and I don't care. 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 gotten used to the casual indifference with which he treated his patients. She didn't like it but knew berating him wouldn't change anything; he hardly listened when people spoke to him, and he never listened when they were telling him off.
Draco looked down at her 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 in a clipped tone.
"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 at the third page, which Ginny could see was covered in the results from the patient's blood work-up.
"That's why it was passed on," she commented, not even bothering to reply to the insult which flowed from his lips. It was almost as if insulting her had become a habit rather than a fun pastime.
"Yes, yes," Draco said dismissively, still studying the results. "Have him transferred to my department, will you?"
Before Ginny could respond, he was already halfway down the hallway. She clenched her fists and yelled, "I'm not your bloody secretary Malfoy!"
Huffing she spun around and smacked straight into the director of St. Mungo's, Director Parkinson.
Malfrida Parkinson, the spinster, great aunt of former Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson, was a stern woman and unlike her great niece in almost every aspect of her life. Pansy had left Hogwarts and jumped into a job at the Ministry, working there until marrying the former ambassador to France. Malfrida, on the other hand, was career oriented. She graduated from Hogwarts, top of her year, and accepted a position at St. Mungo's. She stayed there for six years before taking off and travelling the world, intent on learning about the illnesses that plagued the Wizarding world. After twenty years of travelling and building a reputation as a brilliant, ruthless Healer, she returned to Britain. With her background and the power her family name wielded, she became Head Healer and then Director of St. Mungo's, supposedly so dedicated to her job that she had no time for the nuisance of a relationship.
The Director peered down at Ginny, one carefully drawn on black eyebrow raised questioningly at her. "Is there a reason for your language Miss Weasley?"
"No ma'am," Ginny quietly replied.
"Reason for your raised voice?"
"N-no."
Malfrida's lips pursed as she gazed at Ginny. The woman had the capability to make Ginny, and any other person for that matter, feel like she was a child who had just broken a priceless antique. Ginny never stuttered; she found herself to be too strong for such a trait. Whenever Malfrida was around, however, Ginny could never seem to articulate well enough.
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."
Ginny was just digesting her message when she disappeared, leaving Ginny flustered in the hallway, several members of the staff and a few patients staring at her.
"Oh bugger off," she murmured underneath her breath.
Ginny mustered what little confidence remained and retreated back to her ward. She had patients to treat.
XxX
Despite her protest of not being Draco Malfoy's secretary, Ginny 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 and down the corridor, Draco watched as the lift doors opened and a team of nurses and porters rushed out of it, a bed in the middle of all the chaos. From his point, Draco could see a mass of flailing arms and a writhing body, which was becoming tangled and wrapped up in the blanket that had once rested peacefully on the patient.
The staff looked both stunned and surprised at the man's behaviour, trying their best to get him under control. Eventually, two porters clamped down on his arms and torso while two nurses battled with his legs, effectively pinning him to the bed. Another nurse hastily pulled out a syringe and a small, glass container of liquid, her fingers working quickly. Sensing her intention to immobilize his patient, Draco jumped up and stuck his head out of the office.
"Nurse!" he called tersely.
She responded immediately, a filled syringe held between two fingers and a look of exasperation on her face. "Healer?"
"Put that away," Draco commanded. "I don't know why I keep getting sent imbeciles. We do not, under any circumstance, use drugs to render our patients calm or unconscious in my department."
She spluttered indignantly, readying herself to reply. But she was abruptly cut off by Draco as he cuttingly said, "You're a nurse, not a Healer: don't question me."
The nurses and porters watched the exchange silently, a small amount of pity for the new girl. But no one joined in as she began to rant about Draco, one of the nurses pursing her lip in distaste at the girl's ardour. One of the porters cut into her rant, his face calm as he told her that was how they did things. Before she could offend anyone else, one of the nurses directed them to transport the patient to his room, the team doing their best to keep his screaming and flailing under control.
A Healer awaited them in the room, swiftly whispering a spell directed at the patient, which caused him to fall silent instantly.
When the Healer abruptly left, one of the nurses, upon seeing the new girl's confused face, explained, "Potions and drugs mess with the patients' system, making it harder for the Healers to diagnose the problem. So they freeze patients instead, which doesn't entirely remove the pain."
"It sounds barbaric!" the new girl replied in shock as she gazed down at the frozen man in 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 our job now?"
"I-" she began.
"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," the impatient nurse said.
"Thank you for that Marie. Can you set up the monitoring spells? I'm going to show the new girl-"
"Hope," the new girl supplied.
"-around the place so she knows where to go," the older nurse continued.
"Sure thing Ada," Marie said with a grin, turning her back on her colleagues and withdrawing her wand.
"Follow me Hope," Ada directed.
A second later, Hope began her tour of St Mungo's Sixth Floor: the Diagnostic Department, run by Healer Lancelot and home of Draco Malfoy.
XxX
"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 halfway into the tour. "Go see Cynthia, 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-"
Ada stopped and grabbed hold of Hope, stopping cutting off her ramble.
"You have a job in this department because you did well in training. But that won't be enough to ensure that you keep your job. Nursing's hard in every department, but here we tend to get the difficult patients, the ones who die without us knowing why. 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 that 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, trying to process all she had been told.
XxX
A/N: Please favourite/follow…and most importantly, review! This story will revolve around Draco and Ginny but will feature different staff members too – don't worry, most screen time will be giving over to DG. :D
At the moment this might end with just a friendship not a relationship but let me know what you think!