A/N: Sorry if the chapters seem to end abruptly, I'm not really good at deciding where to cut them off.
When Hermione woke up, a scream of pain escaped her lips. Her leg felt like it was on fire. It hurt worse than when the crup had actually bitten her. She tried to grasp her leg, to try and massage some of the pain away, but it was wrapped in a hard cast. She gasped loudly as another stab of pain went through her leg. Looking around, she saw her wand lying on the bedside table. Grabbing it, she sent a patronous message to Draco, because she didn't know how else to contact him.
Draco entered her room a few moments later. She was crying now, the pain was so bad. She looked at him pleadingly without saying anything. To be a smartass, Draco wanted to ask her how she was feeling, but he could tell she was hurting badly, so he didn't. He flicked his wand and a bottle of blue potion appeared in his hand.
"Drink this," he said, handing it to her. "It should cool your leg. Make the burning go away." Hermione downed the potion faster than anyone Draco had ever seen. She wasn't really supposed to drink the whole bottle, but judging from her expression, the pain was intense, so Draco let her. She made a soft sigh as the potion worked on her leg. After a minute, Draco asked, "How's your leg feel?"
"It still hurts. But at least it doesn't burn. It just throbs." Hermione looked at her leg and asked, "Why is it in a cast? I didn't break any bones."
Draco hesitated, and then said, "Well, it's more of a visual block. Your leg's going to be looking pretty gruesome, so we covered it." Hermione instantly tried to lift the top of the cast and view her leg, but Draco gently placed a hand on the top of the thigh and pushed it back down. "Trust me; you really don't want to see it." Hermione looked shocked at the gentleness of his touch, but stopped trying to look.
"Did you owl my parents and friends?" she asked suspiciously. "When can I see them?"
"Not for a while, Granger. Remember? No visitors. You might be contagious."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "You're in here."
"I am a healer and have cast multiple protective spells on myself. Would you rather no one came in to look after you?"
"Of course not," Hermione grumbled. "I was just wondering."
There was an awkward pause.
"So anyway, Granger, I have been given the happy task of caring for you and finding a cure for your disease."
Unexpectedly, tears leaked out of Hermione's eyes as she was reminded that Crupulus had no cure.
"I'm going to die!" she wailed as Draco stood there looking shocked. He didn't do well with crying, so he decided to act offended.
"Excuse me, Granger, but I am the best damn healer alive, and if anyone can find a cure for you, it's me. So don't write out your will just yet."
Strangely, this comforted Hermione, and she stopped sobbing, though tears still flowed down her cheeks. "I'm going to die, and Draco Malfoy is the last person I'll see." She mumbled it bitterly to herself, though she knew Draco would hear her.
"Oh, Granger, don't be silly. If your death is inevitable, visitors will be allowed."
Hermione's eyebrows lowered. "How can you be so insensitive? You don't even care if I die, do you? And to think Harry, Ron and I saved your miserable life. Remember the fiend fire, Malfoy? Remember how you and Goyle almost died in it? Remember how we pulled you and Goyle onto our brooms, risked OUR OWN LIVES to save yours?" She yelled this last part, looking murderous. Draco felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He tried not to remember the fiend fire. He turned to stride out of the room, his face flushed with anger and shame.
"By the way," he said before he closed the door, "the pain will get a lot worse." And he left.
---
Draco was right – the pain got much worse. And the only way Hermione could relieve it was to summon Draco. It made her feel ill knowing that he was in charge of her health and pain levels, and she didn't want to call him in to help, but when the pain got so bad she couldn't resist anymore, she utilized St. Mungo's calling system and pressed a red button near her bed. Apparently it alerted Draco in some way that she needed him. He strode in a few minutes later, still looking angry. He summoned another bottle of the blue potion. When she had drunk the potion and the pain lessened, she said, "I want to find the cure."
"What?" Draco had been leaving, and so he turned back around.
"I want to find the cure." She paused, and then for good measure added, "I don't trust you."
"That's sweet, Granger," he said, and turned to leave again.
"Malfoy! I'm serious. It's not like I have anything better to do."
"Granger, research to your heart's content, but I'll be doing it, too. It's my job. You may think you're smarter than I am, but I'll remind you that I'm the healer here. I know much more about healing magic than you do." He turned to leave again.
"I'll need books."
"That's right, Granger, you will." He didn't look back.
"You'll have to bring me some."
He was getting very irritated. His shoulders tensed, and he wanted so desperately to refuse her request, but he knew he would have to do what she said, or risk losing his job. "I'll do it when I get the time."
"I'd like them now, please," Hermione said sweetly. Draco still wasn't looking at her. He breathed deeply.
"Of course, Miss Granger," he said, just as sweetly, and finally exited the room.
He was going to get her a few old and moldy books to bring her, but he thought better of it. She would just request more, and refusing her requests may mean a report to Astley. He then collected a few medical dictionaries and similar books to bring her, ones that he didn't need. But then he thought about it, and figured she would need to be moved to a different room soon anyway, so bringing the books to her would be a waste of effort.
Draco thought she should just be moved to a less frequently used room. But Mr. Astley was firm that her room should be private, isolated, and comfortable, and most importantly of all, have its own private bathroom. She was being moved to a room on the top floor, which was where all the offices were. She would be much closer to Draco's office then, which was important, Astley said, given the pain she would be experiencing.
Astley also made the bizarre request that Draco turn his office into a bedroom, so that he could stay at St. Mungo's overnight during Hermione's stay. Draco had only agreed because he lived alone anyway, and it would mean better access to the potion supplies and books he would need to make a cure.
So now he was walking back to Hermione's room to move her.
When he entered her room with no books in tow, Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Draco held up a hand to silence her.
"I'm moving you to a different room. Your books are waiting there."
"Why am I being moved?" she asked.
"Because this is a temporary patient's room. You're being move to a more … comfortable room." He had been going to say permanent, but had held his tongue.
"Oh." She had known what he meant. "Okay, let's go."
He knew he shouldn't levitate her with such a heavy cast on her leg. With her floating through the air in a standing position, and the cast dragging down on her leg, it could cause the leg to pull off – it wasn't very firmly attached to her body at the moment. However, the idea of carrying her was repugnant, so he decided to levitate her anyway. If she noticed he was doing anything wrong, she didn't say. He floated her off of the bed and led her out the door in front of him. As soon as they left the room, a team of assistants went in to disinfect it. Hermione's right leg felt very heavy to her; she supposed it was because of the cast.
They went up the elevator, Hermione awkwardly hovering next to Draco, neither of them saying a word. Draco floated her down the hallway towards her new room. Unfortunately, Mr. Astley saw the way in which he was transporting Hermione. He didn't bring it up in front of her. "Miss Granger, how are you feeling?"
"Good at the moment, sir, thank you," Hermione responded, unaware of the murderous glare Astley was giving Draco.
"Good. I hope that you'll like your new room. Draco, I'd like to see you when you're done situating Miss Granger."
"Of course, sir," Draco responded quietly. Astley walked down the hall back towards his office, and Draco floated Hermione into her new room.
"Oh, this is much nicer," Hermione said, not even realizing who she was talking to. The room had a normal looking bed rather than a hospital one, and it was bigger. There was a desk in the corner and a window, which the other room had lacked. It also had a door leading to a separate bathroom and a bookshelf filled with medical books, the one thing in the room Draco had been responsible for.
Draco levitated her over the bed and dropped her down onto it unceremoniously. He then used his wand to move the blanket from under her to over her.
"As you'll see, you still have a call button," Draco pointed it out. "Your bed can be manipulated into a sitting or laying position, or somewhere in between," he demonstrated by making the bed sit straight up. It surprised Hermione, who gasped and looked at him angrily. She made it recline slightly, so she was half sitting and half lying.
"You'll notice that I requested a small medical library for your perusing," Draco said, indicating the corner. "There's a desk for you to research on, though you can't walk, so you'll need to ask me to come in and move you. If there is anything else you need," Draco added, bowing slightly, "please let me know." He said the last bit sarcastically, but Hermione was ignoring him, trying to read the titles of the books from where she sat. Draco left the room and went to Mr. Astley's office. He knocked on the door.
"Come in," Mr. Astley called. Draco entered the room and sat down without being asked. "Draco, hello. I had a matter to discuss with you."
Draco's face was already becoming bright red.
"I suppose you understand Miss Granger's condition?"
"Yes, sir," Draco mumbled.
"You understand that, at present, her leg is magically severed from her body?"
"Yes, sir."
"I trust that you understand the implications of such a thing?"
Draco took a deep breath. "Her leg is not strongly attached to her body."
"Good, good," Mr. Astley said. The calm voice was scaring Draco more than if he'd been shouting. "May I ask, then, why you chose to levitate Miss Granger, in a standing position, with her weakly attached leg hanging freely in the air with a twenty pound cast aiding gravity in pulling it down?"
Draco did not want to admit that he simply had not wanted to touch her. "I wasn't thinking, sir." A huge lie, but no way was he telling the truth.
"Draco," Mr. Astley said, leaning back in his chair. "I have come to believe that you value your job very much." He paused, and his face turned angry. "I do not like having to question my beliefs."
"Sir, I do care about my…"
"If you let your schoolboy grudge affect the way you treat a patient one. More. Time. You will no longer be employed by St. Mungo's. Her leg could have fallen off, and you bloody well knew it when you decided to levitate her." Draco was looking down, extremely ashamed. "Don't. Let it happen. Again."
"Yes, Mr. Astley."
Draco left the room feeling that he had never been more ashamed of himself.
---
Draco's research was interrupted by a crash and a scream.
He ran into Hermione's room, expecting the worst. He saw her lying on the floor between her bed and desk, crying, her leg stuck out at an odd angle. The chair to the desk had been knocked over. He rushed over to her.
"What happened?" he asked.
Hermione didn't say anything, just held up her hands for Draco to help her up. He grabbed her by the elbows and pulled until she was in a sitting position. Then he unceremoniously grabbed her beneath the armpits and lifted her effortlessly back into the bed, setting her butt down first and then lifting her legs on after her. He pulled the blankets back up over her.
"What happened?" he repeated. Her face was tear-streaked and red with embarrassment. She whispered something inaudibly, looking down. "What?"
"I tried to walk," she mumbled, not looking at him. He tried not to overreact.
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want to ask you to help me," she said. She was swirling her finger in circles on her blankets.
Draco closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Granger," he said slowly, "Get over your Gryffindor pride. You can't walk. You can't get to that desk without my help. You could have broken a bone or knocked yourself unconscious. Do you understand me? Don't do it again. I'm here to help you. If you want to get to your desk, just fucking ask me. It's my job." She didn't say anything. "Do you understand me?"
"Yes, alright? I understand." Her face was glowing bright red by this point.
"Good." He paused. "Did you hurt anything?" he asked, as he righted the knocked over chair.
"No, I don't think so."
"Then why are you crying?"
"Sod off, Malfoy. None of your business."
"As your healer, I very much think…"
"It's not because of something physical, okay?" she snapped. He backed down and turned to leave.
"Wait, you prat!" she called. "I obviously want to get to the desk." He had forgotten why she had tried to walk.
"Right." He pulled out the chair to the desk. Hermione expected him to levitate her over, so she was shocked when he pulled down her blankets and lifted her bridal style. Her robe was not very long and so he was touching a lot of bare skin.
"What are you…"
"I thought about it. It's probably best I don't let your leg just hang there while I levitate you. It's not very strongly attached to your body right now, and the cast is an added weight. It could be pulled off. So I'm carrying you," Draco lied. She was struggling. "Stop it. It's not like I'm the contagious one." She stopped moving abruptly and allowed herself to be lowered into the chair. "I assume you can get the books yourself?"
"I can do a summoning charm, thank you."
"Good. Call if you need anything." He pointed to an additional call button that he had added to her desk. "And that includes getting back into your bed." For some reason, he felt the urge to laugh. She smiled slightly.
"Yeah, okay."
