I'm sorry for uploading this late, I really want to quicken things up here. Hope everyone like this one, cuz the next one's going to be full of wonders! Happy Reading!
The days were monotonous; someone always came in to check Narcissa's vitals, to give her the medication. Allison was very formal and Draco did not mind at all. The less he mixed up with the muggles, the better. Narcissa was getting better day by day, thanks to the muggle treatment and some potions provided by St Mungo. Draco doubted they would stay long at the hospital, as his mother had already started to walk around and practice easy first year spells at night along with Draco. Draco could not remember when the last time his mother and he himself had experienced such untarnished joy. However Draco was absent most of the mornings either for work or to simply avoid Allison. It seemed as if Allison had picked up his behavior, as she too went on ignoring Draco whenever they were in the same room. Their conversations were purely professional and all about Narcissa. All seemed to go well and Draco could not wait for this routine to end and to finally get back to normal.
It was late at night, Allison was doing the last rounds making sure every patient was stable and comfortable. She hesitated before going into Mrs Malfoy's room as she knew Draco always stayed the nights and being around him had started to make Allison a little uncomfortable. She had realized his purposeful ignoring towards her and she had reciprocated the same behavior. Nevertheless one was bound by their duties and one had to do what they had to do. She walked in to find Narcissa laying on her bed already asleep and Draco sitting in his usual chair. she merely nodded towards Draco who nodded back at her and started to check the vitals. She was rummaging through the drawers when Draco asked her "what's the matter?"
"I am looking for her previous files, I have to complete her paperwork , Mrs Malfoy may be getting discharged soon. Also I need to add a few notes on them."
"The nurse took them back today, I can ask her if you'd like" Draco offered.
"Oh no need, she must have put those in the file storage by mistake. I'll go and check. It'll only take 5 minutes or so" with this she turned around and went out of the room.
Allison went a floor down. The corridors were deserted. She was tired. It had been a long day for her, she just needed to finish her rounds and crash on her bed. Allison picked up her pace and came face to face with a door. She pushed the handle down and went in to look for the files. When she finally got it, she made sure to ask the nurse about her negligent behavior. With the files in her hand she pushed the door's handle down. She pushed it once, twice, multiple times. "No, no. This can't be happening", Allison muttered. She pushed the handle again and stated to pull the door towards her, but it was of no use. She suddenly remembered about the new IDs the hospital had issued the staff for entry and exit purposes. She ran her hands through every pocket she could find on herself, still that retched ID wasn't anywhere to be found. How could she forget that! Idiot! "Damn it!"she yelled. It was already getting late, Allison could not afford to be locked in the storage. She had no cell phone or pager on her, so she started to bang on the door and yelling for help. "Anybody out there? Anyone!" she kept yelling and banging.
Around 40 minutes had passed and Draco paced around the room. He checked his watch again. How could it take so long. Allison told him she'd be back in five minutes. Maybe there was an emergency or something important came up. Maybe she forgot it altogether. But that seemed unlikely to him. Draco walked outside the room. The corridor was deserted. Draco decided to go look for her.
Allison had been banging for what felt like an hour. She sat beside the door waiting for any sound to ring her ears, any sign that someone was passing by. But it was unlikely for anyone to pass at this hour. She closed her eyes and rested her head with the wall. It seemed like she would have to wait till morning to get out. Allison didn't realize when she drifted to sleep. She could see Draco, his hands on the steering wheel, driving a car. Headlights of other cars passing them, making his hair shine, flashing on his skin in the dark of the night, giving him a strange luminance. She could feel something on her lap. A hand. A hand traveling up her thigh. She could feel her heart rate getting fast, her head turning towards him. Draco smiling coyly, eyes still on the road. His hand grazing her inner thigh under her skirt. Traveling up. Higher up. Draco looking at her and saying her name "Allison". "Draco" Allison murmuring. Draco shouting her name. "Allison!"
"ALLISON!" Allison woke up with a jolt. "Allison!" she heard Draco. She heard footsteps coming close, a thump on the door and Draco turned away, and thumped on the opposite room's door. She stood up finding her voice, she called back "Draco! Draco I'm here!" Suddenly Draco turned and saw her through the small glass hole. He banged her door hard. He tried to open the door but it wouldn't move. "It won't open without my ID card!" Allison shouted from the other side. "Well then, where is your card?" Draco called out.
"It's in my locker and the locker's key is with me" Allison shouted back.
"Try to slide the key under the door" Draco called.
"Okay" Allison shouted back. She took the key out and bent down only to find there was no space.
"There is no space. The door is sealed!" Allison called back standing up.
"By Salazar!" Draco exhaled.
He rammed into the door, once, twice. But it was of no use. He rolled his eyes. Why did he come looking for this girl. He shook the handle. Still of no use. He had to do something now.
"I think I got it" he said to Allison. "just give me a second. Stand back".
Allison nodded from the other side of the door.
Draco looked down at the locked door and shook his head. He so NOT wanted to do this. He shook his head and took out his wand, only the tip visible under his coat and whispered "Alohomora".
There was a soft click. He quickly put the wand back in his pocket and turned the door's handle.
"There you go". He told Allison as he opened the door.
"How on earth did you do that!" Allison said completely astonished.
"There was just a glitch and I have a few tricks up my sleeve" Draco smiled, his coy smile back on his lips. Suddenly Allison remembered what she had just dreamed. Of course she had dreamt about Draco many times but nothing of this sort and it had felt very real. She suddenly felt heat coming off her.
"Are you okay? You seem a bit flushed. Let's get you out in fresh air" Draco said. His hand on her lower back, as he steered Allison out of the room and closed the door.
Allison had replayed the events of last day over and over again in her mind. Her dream, her escape, her being deserted by Draco on the rooftop, her not seeing Draco since then. Allison came back to her shift at the hospital the other night, only to find Narcissa alone. The lady had been doing more than well and Allison suspected she would be discharged in a day or two. She had grown rather fond of the lady and not to admit much fonder of her son. Allison had so much wanted to have a word with Draco before they finally left, but it looked as if she wouldn't have her way. Allison had been nothing but irritated that night. And the other night. She had hardly seen any of him. It seemed like Draco was adamant on avoiding her. 2 days passed and Allison was going through Narcissa's discharge documents. She could not believe that things were coming to an end like this. She knew that Draco had been avoiding her, but she didn't see couldn't find a reason why. Maybe he didn't want her. Her brain believed this very readily, but her heart which always fluttered when he was around, her gut which always had those stupid butterflies when she was with him made her believe the opposite. If only she could know for sure. This was the reason why Allison stayed away from these horrid affairs. She had always managed to escape these unwanted feelings. She had never let anything or anyone meddle with her thoughts and cloud her mind. She had steered every person away with utmost ease. Everyone but Draco Malfoy. He had entered her life a few weeks ago, and suddenly her brain, her sanity and her reasoning had thrown themselves straight out of the window. Allison knew she had to put things into perspective now. She needed to talk to Draco, not caring what he did or said. If Draco Malfoy was so set on shunning her, he needed to provide her a solid reason and she would not rest until she got it.
When Allison got back, she found the room filled with people. They were same ones, who had been present at the day of Narcissa's surgery. Draco's friends. Or at least they seemed too. Draco wore a continued pained expression, seemingly annoyed somehow with his friends, while the people who came to visit were seemed nothing but gleeful. It looked like their presence did annoy Narcissa and Draco but the scene was nothing less than funny. Although they seemed quite normal to look at but Allison did heard them using weird words, which she couldn't make any sense of, all of which she noticed they didn't use when she or the staff were around. Allison decided to give the lot some privacy and quietly left after quite some time. Or one can say Draco kicked them out. Still wearing that funny pained expression.
"All set Mrs Malfoy?" cheered Allison walking into the room.
"Yes Dear, I am ready to go home" Narcissa smiled back, looking radiant. All those days with the hospital clothes, Allison had failed to appreciate the beauty of Mrs Malfoy. Of course she knew the lady was blessed with good skin and exquisite features, but now when she saw Mrs Malfoy dressed in her normal attire, she had to say the lady was an ensemble of beauty and elegance.
"Wow Mrs Malfoy, you look absolutely stunning." breathed Allison.
"Thank you Allison. And it's just Narcissa for you dear". Narcissa walked towards Allison and took her hand. "Thank you for your services and your company. I cannot thank you enough." Narcissa's eyes were filled with genuine gratitude.
"There's no need to thank, Narcissa. I am glad that you are going back happy" Allison smiled back.
"Yes my dear, I have found new joy and new hope. I wish my son has too" Narcissa tilted her head and smiled at Allison.
"umm yes. About your son, where is Draco? I need these papers to be signed by him" Allison said awkwardly.
"He's with Dr. Williams, I thought Dr. Williams had all the documents to be signed" inquired Narcissa, a glint of mock in her eyes.
" Yes! Yes he had them. But he forgot this one" Allison said waving the paper in her hands.
"I'm sure he did dear. I'm sure he did" Narcissa pressed her lips into a line.
That was Allison's cue to get the out of the room. What a disaster. She scurried away saying goodbye to Narcissa feeling like a total fool.
On the way back Allison smashed into someone. "This sure is nostalgic" she heard Draco say, who looked down at her with a shadow of smile on his face.
"I'm so sorry! I was looking for you actually. You forgot these to sign" Allison hurriedly put the papers on the nearby desk.
Draco looked at her and without saying anything else, took out a pen and signed the papers.
"Anything else Dr Allison?" he cocked his eyebrow up at her.
"Don't you think you should say something" Allison said plainly irritated.
"I don't suppose I have anything to say" Draco said coolly.
"Of course you don't or you wouldn't be acting as such an ar-
"Let me clear something here, Dr Allison, I'm sorry if you had the wrong idea, but I wish to tell you that whatever you are thinking you should put it to a rest as there's no chance for us cross paths anywhere , anytime and believe me when I say it's for your own good." Draco said these words so smoothly that all could Allison do was to gape at him. She was completely dumbstruck. This was surely not how Allison had planned things to go. Her mind shut down and her body froze, she saw Draco turn and walk away.
Draco had done it. It was over. He would have been kidding himself if he thought they had a shot at it. It was just a fleeting fling, or so he tried to make himself believe. He could not let a muggle walk into his life. He wasn't exactly proud of how he had just behaved, but a sweet goodbye with flowers and letter wouldn't have helped either. If he had to be crude and break a heart to save himself from a future controversy then so be it. He could not put his hard earned social standing in line just to experiment his new feelings, that too for a muggle. He had done the right thing walking away, then why did his heart felt like fucking 1000 tons ready to fall into his gut.
Allison stood in front of the mirror, pressing her already creaseless dress. It was a plain black dress, reaching to the floor, hugging every curve of her body. She half turned in front of the mirror, examining herself, then half turned to the other direction. She could see her back, where the dress plunged deep exposing most of her back, she then touched her pearls that lay elegantly around her neck, just around the high rising neckline of the dress. She inspected her hair, pressing down the stray stand of her hair, sprouting from her chignon. She eyed herself again for the last time, professional yet elegant, exactly the look she was going for. Everything had to be perfect this evening. Allison had orchestrated a charitable dinner this evening for the hospital. She felt confident about the dinner, Allison made sure there was nothing astray and that everything fell into line. It had to. It was the evening to celebrate and honor the generous donations given by wealthy and affluent dwellers of the country to the hospital. This evening would turn out to be excellent, she was sure of it. The only thing she was anxious about was the guest list with the names of the people who had generously donated to the hospital which lay on her study, with one name flashing at her and bothering her. Draco Malfoy.
Everyone was seated, the evening had started, the crowd had been addressed and still there was no sign of Draco Malfoy. Maybe he wasn't coming at all. Allison sighed in relief. 3 months had passed since that awful morning when Draco had dismissed her. Allison had no reason to care about the man, but his absence from the event bringing her a sense of ease, bothered her and proved that he still had some power on her. Her mind had been reeling with the images of what would happen if she came face to face with him. Would she run away like a creature shooed away? Would she pour her anger and resentment towards him and make him feel sorry about what he said, or would she just act as if she couldn't see him and get on with the night? It looked like any of that wouldn't be necessary as the man simply didn't show his face. She sat beside Beth and sighed again. Good thing he wasn't coming, she could relax now.
"You seemed pretty uptight tonight Al" joked Beth. "Well good for that piece of shit not to turn up for this event, he would have gone with a black eye for sure" said Beth.
Allison laughed, her friend had been quite bothered when Allison told her about what had happened with Draco. She had demanded to see the man right away and give him a piece of her mind and had scolded Allison for not doing the same. Beth had been preparing Allison for days, making Allison cram up all the things she had written for her to say to Draco.
"You need to keep that anger of yours in check Beth" mocked Allison.
"And you need to get angry once in a while Allison!" yelled Beth.
"Atleast we can enjoy ourselves now, let's go to the bar" Allison smiled as she rose from her chair.
"Too bad he missed the night though, he would have felt sorry after seeing you in this dress. Well, his loss another's gain. There are many men eyeing you this evening" Beth smirked.
Allison rolled her eyes "Weird! I didn't notice such thing" mocked Allison.
"Fixing your eyes on someone instead of rolling them may help" laughed Beth.
"You can make better jokes, you know? Cheers to a very bad sense of humor" Allison raised her glass.
Beth laughed and clunked her glass to Allison's. Her laugh died away "Oh god that asshole is here"
"You really need to crack better jokes Beth" Allison shook her head still laughing.
"No Allie! He is actually here! Look!" she shook Allison and turned her head sideways.
And there he was, walking in like he owned the whole place, looking mean in his black tux and sleek silvery blond hair swept back. He was quite far, but Allison could still make out his icy silvery eyes which were sweeping around, drinking in the crowd. Suddenly his eyes fixated on her and without even a single flicker of expression drifted away.
"Fuck." Allison turned around towards the bar and threw the whole drink down her throat.
Allison's heart hammered inside her chest. She was still sitting on the bar stool, frozen. She sensed that Beth was saying something but she couldn't hear it. His face had triggered such real images of the things that had happened last time, Allison felt ashamed and embarrassed. She ordered another drink and gulped it down her throat. Followed by another one.
"That's it! You're not having any more drinks" Beth was pulling from her arm.
"I need to talk to that arse" Allison heard herself say.
"No absolutely not. Not like this." said Beth. Allison threw her a dirty look.
"You were the one who told me to do it! Why back out now? He's standing just there!" Allison shouted.
Beth rolled her eyes "I know, I know. But do really want to make a scene at a dinner for which you worked so hard? I'm not stopping you but I say you wait till the end of the night and then do it. Okay ?!"
Allison narrowed her eyes at Beth. She half nodded. "Alright"
Allison sent the next 2 hours completely ignoring Draco and letting Beth keep an eye on him.
"Okay he's standing up from the table" Beth told Allison as both of them were having their dinner 3 tables away from that of Malfoy's.
"He's shaking Dr Williams hand now. They are both laughing. If only he wasn't such an asshole, the man is so fucking hot!"
"Beth !"
"Sorry love, couldn't help!" Beth laughed.
"Oh he's leaving! He's leaving!" Beth started to jump on her seat. "Why is he leaving so early?" asked Beth.
"Okay, that's my cue" Allison rose from her seat.
"But the dessert!"
"Really Beth?" Allison rolled her eyes.
"Just a joke! Be careful! Remember whatever he says you are beautiful and strong and fabulous! He doesn't deserve you".
"I know! Now let me go otherwise I'll miss him!" said Allison.
Beth let go of her arm. "You've got this!"
Allison waved her hand to Beth as she had already turned and now hurried towards the exit. She saw Draco getting in his car. She barely made it out when she saw the car drive off.
Draco had done his best to get out of that damned dinner as soon as possible. He had been surprised by the hospital's invitation and had first decided not to go at all. Only after putting his best men to look into the guest list he had agreed to go. He wasn't notified that the hospital residents would be present. He wouldn't have shown his face if he knew that Allison was there. He kept his best to mind his own business the whole evening, but the whole time his mind had debated whether to apologize or let it be. It didn't matter how much he tried to steer the thoughts of that muggle away , Draco always found himself pondering about Allison. He was sure tonight would have made Allison made him hate more. This was for the best he told himself. He told his driver to take him to The Leaky Cauldron. He was in dire need of firewhisky tonight. The Driver turned and picked up the car's pace. Draco closed his eyes and sighed in relief. But little did he know his relief won't last long as someone was chasing him.
Allison saw Draco's car drift away. She found herself a cab and made the driver chase his Bentley Continental. It was easier to follow a car that stood out from the traffic, Allison catched up to Draco easily. She had pictured Draco Malfoy living in the posh area of London, instead they were heading towards the dingier part of the town. Allison wondered why.
The car stopped way before a narrow street, and Draco got out. Allison paid the cab driver and moved with haste after Draco. She was astonished as she saw him go into even more dingier place that looked ancient and stood tattered as if time had snatched away its exterior bit by bit. She looked up, the place was called The Leaky Cauldron. What an unusual name, Allison thought. She went in careful enough for Draco not to see her. If the exterior was ancient, the interior was absolutely primordial. It was so dark and glum, only candles were lit, that stood up over heaps of melted wax, like they have been lit forever never to run out. Massive cauldrons were boiling on one side while peculiar vials and bottles were standing on the shelves on the other side. They must have wired them or something because Allison could swear she saw some bottles illuminating and some with massive bubbles rise up and a few with tiny things swarming inside. What a strange place indeed. Allison looked around for Draco who was sitting on the bar stool now, with glass of what looked like whiskey in his hand which illuminated every now and then. Must have been from one of those bottles. Allison looked for a place to sit, but the whole place was filled with strange people wearing even stranger clothes, cloaks to be exact. It was like Allison had stepped a century back. She suddenly felt a little naked in her backless gown and to be honest a little chilly too. As she was looking for a seat, she swore she saw a picture moving on the newspaper. She must have had too much to drink at the party. Her mind was surely playing tricks on her. Allison went to stand by the fire, to warm her up. She barely had started to get warm, when she saw Draco stand up, a bottle of the fire liquid in his hands as he paid the barman in coins. He started to go to the opposite direction of the exit and Allison followed.
Allison pulled out her cell phone and texted Beth "don't wait up, I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Dr Williams I didn't feel well and that I'm sorry for leaving early." She put her cell phone in her clutch and marched after Draco. Allison was confused, she still was hiding in the shadows but Draco seemed to stand in front of a brick wall. It was a dead end. Did he know, she was following him? Was he about to corner her? Suddenly Allison felt very scared. But if this was scary, then Allison didn't know what was in the store for her, because Draco begun to tap bricks on the wall in random fashion by what looked like a very intricate stick. This man was definitely mad. Crazy! But now Allison was questioning her own sanity as she saw the bricks begin to move away and slowly make a whole in the wall, which turned into a passage with lights, people and noises on the other side. Allison put a hand on her mouth to keep her from screaming, her wide eyes watched the scene in horror. Every fiber of Allison's body shouted to run away and never look back, but her feet moved forward and she barely managed to get through the passage Draco Malfoy had just walked in.
At last Allison gets in the magical world of Draco Malfoy! What will happen next? I wonder!
