For What May Come...
Chapter Two
Surprise, Surprise
Draco arrived at the doctor's office with the worst case of butterflies imaginable. He hadn't stepped a foot anywhere near a doctor's office, hospital, etc. since the day his mother died. His stomach turned at the thought. He wanted to turn back but it was pointless considering he was all ready there. He stood in front of the entrance, staring at his reflection in the tall glass doors. His hands twitched and shook with nervousness, and hair blew into his eyes with the gentle breeze.
"All right, there?" He heard a voice from behind. He turned around searching for the person it came from. Behind him stood a petite red head who reminded him of Ginny Weasley.
"Excuse me?" He asked softly, his brow furrowing.
"Are you all right?" She asked once more, a small grin playing on her lips.
"Yeah. I just... yeah." He chuckled nervously, hating that he was embarrassing himself.
"I know the feeling. I think everyone's afraid of the doctor at some point in their life. My mom had to drag me in here when I was a little thing!" she chuckled, "That's when I thought they were planning my death." He could help it, he had to laugh at that, and for the first time that day he found a smile on his face. She leaned in and motioned him to do the same. "Just between you and me," she whispered, "I still won't drink the water there to this very day. I advise you not to either." He chuckled at girl and wondered momentarily if she had escaped from the loony bin.
"Thanks for the tip." he answered, "Shall we?" He asked gesturing to the doors. The red head nodded before he opened the door. "After you."
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"Uh, D-Draco Malfoy." Draco said to a woman sitting behind a glass window. She glanced up from her work and stared at him in confusion for a second.
"Oh! Sorry, dear. I, uh...-" She licked the tip of her finger and thumbed through a couple of papers. She moved over to a couple of clip boards and smiled when she found what she had been looking for. "Viola! Okay, Mr. Malfoy, I need you to fill this out and bring it back when you're finished." She instructed, pushing the clipboard over the desk. Draco hesitantly grabbed the board and nodded before taking a seat.
He sat himself as far away from the others as he could not really wanting to be around anyone right now. He positioned the clip board on his lap and pulled the cap off the pen they had provided him with, before proceeding to fill out the information paper.
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Chewing his fingers nails, the blond bounced his knee as he sat, patiently waiting. Without glancing at the cloak Draco knew it was 12:34, having glanced at the clock every three minutes since he'd returned the information paper. He'd been watching for the past fifteen minutes as the same blond nurse in her late thirties come through the door and call people back. It was rather frustrating seeing people who came in after him go through that door before him.
"David Putneck." the blond woman called out, returning to the room yet again. A man who looked like he was about to croak stood up and made his way to the door.
"Ridiculous!" Draco muttered under his breath, his hand twitching with anger.
When finally ten minutes after his appointment was originally scheduled the same nurse poked her head through the door and called out, "Draco Malfoy." Draco shot up so fast his head spun. Not wanting to look like a grumpy ass, he smiled the best smile he could muster, before following the lady through the door.
The nurse brought him to a rather large room with the smallest bed he'd ever seen, a single long sheet of paper pulled over it. Two chairs sat by the window and a counter on the other side of the room where the doctor kept his things.
"If you would sit tight on the bed the doctor will be with you in a moment." The sudden voice of the nurse startled him, having forgot she was there. Draco seated himself on the bed, hearing the uncomfortable crinkle and rustle of paper. His hands fidgeted in his lap as he waited for the doctor. Meanwhile, he glanced around the room trying to keep his mind off of things. There were fun fact posters littering the wall along with diagrams of the human body. The walls were painted a dull grey and the floor looked as though it had been polished recently.
"Hello." Draco's eyes shot to the door as a dark haired man stepped through with his head down. The blond furrowed his brows and drew his lip up in disgust. The man's hair was horrible. The unruly mess could be the apocalypse in his point of view. 'How could the man go to work looking like that?' he questioned in his mind. "How are you?" The man said breaking through Draco's train of thought.
"Fine." He replied just managing to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He hadn't even found out what was wrong with him and he was already ready to leave. The doctor picked up a clipboard that had been sitting on the counter and Draco assumed it had been the information paper he'd filled out earlier. "So..." he started turning around to face him, looking at the board in his hands. "Mr..." He paused for a moment and gasped, following with his head shooting up to stare at him.
"Malfoy?!" He shouted in disbelief. Draco found himself having a similar reaction when he saw the man's face.
"Potter?!" The blonds jaw dropping uncharacteristically.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" they shouted in unison. Draco's stomach turned uncomfortably. He hadn't had contact with any wizard since he'd left the wizarding world. He knew this day was coming and he feared it, not wanting to bring up the memories he tried so hard to block out, and he sure as hell didn't think it would be Potter he'd meet!
"Well?" they asked together once again.
"Stop it, Potter!" Draco demanded.
"I'm not doing anything, Malfoy." Harry replied hotly. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife and that fact wasn't helping Draco's mood any. "I haven't seen you since Hogwarts." Harry mentioned suddenly, drawing the blonds attention.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Now you still have yet to mention why you're in this room." Draco retorted. A small smirk played on Harry's lips.
"Well, Draco, it seems as though I'm your doctor for this evening." He answered feeling as though he now held some sort of power over Malfoy.
"No." Draco said simply. "No way. I won't have this. Find me another doctor." he commanded.
"Sorry, Malfoy, but there are no other available doctors." Draco considered his options for a second before realizing that his only option was to stay and get this over with. Besides this was going to be the only time he saw him.
"Whatever, Potter. Let's just get this over with."
"Right then." Harry closed the distance between them and sat the clipboard on the bed before scratching something down at the top.
Draco watched as he did this and for the first time took in the other man's appearance. He wore a long white coat that stopped mid-calf, which he left unbuttoned. It had a small pocket on the front which Potter had stuffed full with different colored pens. Under the coat he wore a pair of light blue jeans along with a light blue tee. He wore a name tag with his picture and name around his neck along with his stethoscope. He eyes wondered over his face, which had matured a great deal since they were in school, as well as his body which was still as toned as when he was a quidditch player.
"...Height." Draco shook himself from his thoughts, hearing Potters voice in the back of his mind.
"What?"
"I'm going to need to take you weight and height." he repeated.
The blond rolled his eyes. "I bet you'll love that won't you?" He sneered, standing up.
"Malfoy, I'm just doing my job." he replied as Draco stepped onto the scale.
"Hmmm. You're a little under weight for you age," he commented to himself. "Have you been eating properly?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course I have." Harry gave him a skeptical look. "Okay, please list you symptoms." Potter commanded walking over to the counter, picking up a tympanic thermometer and a hypertension cuff, before returning to stand next to his patient.
"Sore throat, cough, nose bleeds, occasional fevers, rare chest pains, fatigue, and hoarseness in my voice, as you can tell."
"Mmhmm." Harry mumbled as he wrapped the hypertension cuff around his arm and pumped. He muttered to himself and scratched something down on the clipboard.
"Potter that's really getting annoying." Draco said curtly
"Mmhmm." Harry repeated, snickering to himself. Draco gritted his teeth and grumbled. "Relax, Malfoy."
"You wouldn't if you were in my position." Harry rolled his eyes and picked up the tympanic thermometer. He grabbed Draco's right ear. Draco, who was caught of guard, jerked his head away out of Potter's reach.
"Potter, what the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he spat rubbing his ear.
"I'm taking your temperature, Malfoy. This is a tympanic thermometer, it goes in your ear." Harry explained calmly.
"Potter...you are not...sticking anything...near my ear."
"Malfoy, I have to know your temperature."
"Potter...no." Draco seethed, getting frustrated.
"Why must you always difficult things?"
"Whatever Potter." Harry looked over at the window his eyes growing wide. "Shit!" he yelled causing Malfoy to look up at him.
"What?" The blond asked, eyes darting to the window. Harry grinned and took the opportunity to stick the thermometer in Malfoy's ear.
"Potter!" Draco shouted and jerked out of reach.
"There, that wasn't so bad." Harry snickered, "Okay, now to your symptoms. It's sounds like a common cold but it could be something more. We won't know until we test you and get the results. So how long would you say you've had this?"
"Pfffffffft...uh, it started three weeks ago." Draco estimated as Harry picked up the stethoscope.
"Mmm. Sit up straight for me." Draco did as he was told. Harry breathed on the stethoscope and lifted the blond's shirt. "Okay, breathe in...breathe out." Harry moved the scope. "Again...again...again...again."
"Potter are doing this just to piss me off?"
"No, Malfoy. Haven't you ever been to a muggle doctor before?"
"No."
"So, How long have you been living in the muggle world if you don't mind me asking?"
"Yes, actually I do mind you asking."
"Okay, your business not mine."
"...Several years." Draco mumbled.
"What?!"
"You heard me." Draco said as he moved to his front.
"Breathe in." Harry listened as Draco breathed and got the strangest look on his face. "And you say you have been having chest pains, correct?"
"Yes, Potter, have you gone deaf?"
"Have you had any blood in your sputum?"
"...Translation?"
"Have you been coughing up blood or seen any blood mixed with your saliva or mucus?"
Draco looked up as he thought. "Er..maybe once."
"All right. Follow me please."
Harry led him down the hall way and into another room. Draco glanced at him oddly when he saw the room was nearly pitch black. What were they going to do in here he asked himself.
"Okay, Malfoy. I going to take a couple pictures of you chest." Draco gave him a strange look.
"What are you Pervert Potter now? No you're not taking pictures of my chest!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Malfoy I taking a couple of X-ray's of your chest." Draco began to retort but was suddenly thrown into a rather violent coughing fit. Harry was at his side and rubbing soothing circles as the blond doubled over, one hand on his knee and the other covering his mouth.
Once the coughing subsided Draco glared at Harry and shrugged his hand off. "Take your hands off me. I'm fine."
Harry frowned. "Whatever, Malfoy. Just sit on the bed." Harry placed a screen in front of the blond's chest and commanded Draco to sit up straight. Draco was staring at the muggle machine curiously when the device flashed, sending out bright white gleam around the room.
"What the bloody-" the device flash again cutting him off.
"Ow! Potter will you stop-"
"One more time." He turned the screen to the side. "3,2,1!"
"Okay," Harry started pushing the screen away with a grin plastered on his face. "We're going back to the room to collect a sample of your sputum and we'll be done."
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"Draco Malfoy," a woman chirped as she entered the room. "Dr. Potter will see you again." She announced as he exited the waiting room. She led him to the same room as she had before. He sighed, growing tired of this place and especially this room.
"Merlin," he mutter hopping on the bed. He stretched a hand up to massage the back of his neck, as he circled it once. The door swung open but Draco didn't even bother to look up knowing it was Potter with his results. "So, Potter, what's my disease? Flu, Mono, Pneumonia?" He glanced up and letting his hand fall. Harry stared at Draco with a look he couldn't quite read.
"It...it looks like we have caught this in time." Harry answered softly.
"...Caught what, exactly, Potter?" Draco asked slowly his heart starting to pound in his chest. His head began to spin. Draco might not have been born in the muggle world but he had lived in it long enough to know exactly what those world meant.
"Draco," Harry whispered, "You have lung cancer."
AN: Dun dun dun! So we have found out the truth about Draco's illness. Unfortunately, it's anything but small. Stick around to find out what Draco's reaction is and how he handles it. Now, for future references, I have not had any experience in cancer at all but I have done some amount of research so please don't hate if a fact is wrong. I also have decided that I will be posting a new chapter every week! Okay, that's it for now. Please Review and tell me what you think. :) I love feedback.