A/N: Hey, everyone! Thanks for reading. This is just a little fic about Healer Hannah Abbott and a patient who flirts with her.
If You Dare Challenge - #84 (An arm and a leg)
Build A Zoo Challenge - Leopard Enclosure (St. Mungo's)
Conversation Starter Prompt Challenge - #23 (Have a character tell another character they're beautiful)
Board Game Challenge - #32 (Write about an experiment)
Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #371 (can't use the word 'said')
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"I remember you," croaks Hannah Abbott's first patient of the day. "You're a Hufflepuff." He has dark, spotty skin and a crooked smile. He is also missing his right leg and arm.
"Yeah, I'm a Hufflepuff," she replies, smiling slightly. She always likes it when she meets patients or staff who know her from Hogwarts. She likes things that are familiar to her. "Did you go to Hogwarts?" She's scribbling down on her clipboard now. It looks like he was attacked by a Venomous Tentacula. Multiple, actually.
"Nope," is his reply. He seems pretty calm for a person missing two limbs. "My sister did, though."
"Where'd you go?" she asks. There are balloons lining his entire room in yellow and green. She had to duck under a few of them.
"Muggle school," he declares, as if it's not a problem.
Hannah frowns. "Why didn't you—"
"Squib," he interrupts. "I'm a Squib. Didn't you read my chart?"
Hannah blushes fiercely and glances back down at her clipboard. "Right. Chart. Squib. Yeah."
He gives her that same crooked smile. "No need to be embarrassed about it. I know what I am."
He's still staring at her when she comes over to the right side of his bed. "Your name?"
"Charlie," he replies.
She smiles. "Full name," she corrects.
"Ah. Charles Cheshire. It's a mouthful, I know. Want me to spell it for you?"
She shakes her head, checking her chart. "No. That should be good. Can you tell me what happened?"
He gives a great, heaving sigh. "It was my bloody sister." Hannah's eyebrows shoot up. "No, no," he assures her. "She didn't take my limbs off. It was that bloody plant."
"What kind?" asks Hannah. She is interested now. She'd always had a liking for Herbology.
"A bunch of Venomous Tentacula she kept in her basement. She likes plants, my sister. She'd been trying to breed 'em so that she could… I dunno. Do something crazy with 'em. Experiment. Break some sort of record. I was staying at her house, and I guess she just forgot to tell me about the man-eating plants in her basement, and now here I am. Alive. Bloody plant couldn't kill me. Yep. Any questions?"
"Er," begins Hannah. "Why didn't you just immobilize the—"
"Squib. Remember?"
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
"It's fine. Happens all the time."
Hannah doesn't know why this patient was making her forget all of her medical experience. She is a professional… she is a Healer. She is here to do her job. She straightens her lime-green Healer robes and her glasses and then asks Charles Cheshire whether or not he was in pain. After the original Healing, he should be on loads of painkilling potions.
"Yeah," he sighs, looking to his right side. "My arm and leg both hurt." He continues to stare at them. "I know they're not there, but… You can grow them back, can't you?"
Hannah nods solemnly. "It's not a dangerous procedure, but it is rather painful. Are you familiar with Skele-Gro?"
"I don't think so."
Hannah announces, "Accio Skele-Gro," and Summons out the green bottle from the shelves lining the walls. She shows it to her patient. "It grows your bones back, but it's very painful. With the extent of your injuries, it might be easier if we put you to sleep for the—"
"Nope," interrupts Charlie. "Not being put to sleep. I've got the prettiest Healer at St. Mungo's" —Hannah blushes— "so why would I want to be asleep? I do get to keep you, right? You're not leaving?"
She suppresses a smile. "No," she responds. "I'm not leaving."
An awkward silence follows. Hannah doesn't know what to do, so eventually she just checks her chart for the next round of questions. "Would you mind if I checked your… er… injury?"
"You mean my lopped off arm and leg? Sure thing, sure thing. I don't think they'd mind at all. They're survivors, they are. Bloody plant couldn't kill me, no ma'am."
Hannah has taken a liking to this patient. He is always smiling, and he makes her laugh. She kneels down beside his bed and pulls back the hospital sheets. She can't see the wound properly, so she asks him if she can remove his shirt.
"We've only just met, darlin'," is his witty response, "and already you wanna take my clothes off?" Hannah can't seem to find the words to respond to him, so she just sits there awkwardly with her mouth opening and closing like a fish. "It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it."
Hannah tries to hide her pink cheeks but fails. She peels off Charlie's shirt and attempts to not look at his chest. She keeps her eyes focused on the missing arm. Examining the wound, she concludes that the pain he is feeling must be— "Phantom pain," she explains. "Your brain thinks that your arm is there, but it isn't. The same with your leg." She checks the leg wound as well and tries not to blush again while she is touching his thigh. "We can give you some potion, but for phantom pain, I doubt it will—"
"It's fine," he assures her.
"Is there anything else you need?" she asks.
"Some water would be nice."
She nods. "I'm on it. I'll come check on you in about an hour, alright?"
So she does. She brings him back some water and checks on him around the clock. Her only other patient is a little boy who swallowed some Knuts, Sickles, and a Galleon. The only thing for her to do with him was search through his stool (disgusting, it was) whenever he went to the bathroom. She visits Charles every day and brings him whatever he asks for. Hannah sacrifices many breaks to visit the patient. During many of them, he is fast asleep, but she stays to make sure his healing process does not falter. If it did, the outcome would not be good.
When she comes back to Charles Cheshire a few days later, he is grinning his head off. "I've got it, Hannah," he declares as she dodges a bright yellow balloon with a large smiley face on it. The bones in his arm and leg are growing back nicely. "I've got it."
She rolls her eyes playfully. "What is it, Charlie?"
"I now know the perfect way to ask a girl out," he tells her. "Wanna hear it?"
"Sure," she replies as she checks his new bones.
"Alright, alright. Here it is." He clears his throat meaningfully. "I traded an arm and a leg to go on a date with you." He raises his eyebrows. "How was that?"
Hannah applauds him. "Very nice, very nice. You got a girl you're gonna tell that to?"
Charlie only laughs. "Have you seen a girl visit me in this room, Hannah? Other than you and my sister, the only girl visiting me is that old lady down the hall who thinks I'm her husband."
Hannah's smile falters. According to him, she's in the same league as his sister and old, senile Mrs. Ferris from Room 373. She tries to busy herself with Summoning potions and putting them in there rightful places to hide her melancholy. She knew she didn't have a chance…
"Hannah." She can't help but smile just at the sound of him. "Hannah, look at me."
He's a patient, Hannah thinks fiercely. He's a patient. It's against hospital policy to—
"Hannah, would you please turn around?"
I'm not allowed to be in a relationship with my—
"Hannah, I'd give a bloody arm and a leg for you to just turn around and lemme speak!"
She spins around, facing him. "Does anything hurt?" she asks simply, taking out her wand.
"I don't want to talk about my injury, Hannah."
"Are you in pain?" she rephrases, turning her wand over in her hands.
Charlie sighs. "Yes."
Hannah jerks her head up, lifting her wand. "Where does it—"
"Emotional pain, Hannah. I like you."
She freezes. What? Did he just—
"You heard me. I like you. I want to go on a date with you. I'd give an arm and a leg to go on a date with you. You're beautiful and smart and kind and I want to go on a date with you."
Hannah's face is bright red. She tries to cover it up with her lime-green sleeves, but—
"You look pretty when you blush, darlin'. Don't hide it."
She looks up at him. "It's against hospital policy—"
"—to have a relationship with a patient, I know," he finishes. "How long do I have to wait, then?"
"Five weeks," mutters Hannah quietly.
"What?"
"Five weeks," she repeats louder.
Charlie groans. "That long? I don't think I can make it… C'mere. Just one kiss is all I ask."
Hannah beams. The door is closed, after all.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review!