Chapter 8

A woman was sat in the waiting room of St. Mungo's, watching the scene before her in interest. Did anyone know that Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were even together? That they had a child? Oh, this was going to be the best gossip anyone had heard since the lead singer of the Weird Sisters was arrested for smuggling magic carpets into England.

She eyed the interaction between the little family, the Granger girl in tears as she held her one arm awkwardly, the Malfoy heir looking angry, and the tiny baby blinking owlishly around the room.

The vile Malfoy boy leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on top of the girls head before he hitched the baby higher into his arms. He whispered something and got to his feet, swaying the baby with practiced ease to keep him calm.

"Draco," the war heroine all but cried, "Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to take Scorpius to a babysitter."

"Do not take him to Harry, do you hear me?! I'm mad at him!"

Draco took a breath, backing away from the angry witch. "I'll take him to Pansy. I'll be back right away."

Then, most shocking of all, Draco Malfoy leant forward and kissed Hermione Granger square on the mouth.

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the waiting area and the old witch looked around in interest. She'd better get to Witch Weekly quickly so she could spread the news before any of the busybodies in the waiting area could beat her to it.

/

Draco was back in mere minutes, but this time when he stepped from the Floo there were reporters everywhere.

He groaned. He had done so well staying out of the press the last couple years. He was glad that he had taken Scorpius somewhere safe, though. You could never be too sure about the fanatics out there, and having pictures of his son all over the newspapers didn't sound like a good idea.

"Mr. Malfoy," they were calling in unison, each vying for his attention. He ignored them and looked around for Hermione, but she wasn't where he had left her.

"What is going on between you and Miss Granger? Is it true that you have a love child with the heroic witch?!"

"What do her friends think about your relationship?"

"Is it your fault she needs to be hospitalized?"

"This way, Mr. Malfoy. We've taken Miss Granger to a private room to wait for the next available Healer."

Draco hurried after the Healer speaking to him, trying to get away from the press as quickly as he could. What a nightmare.

The healer led him a short way down the corridor to a private room and he entered quickly, slamming the door behind him. Hermione was sitting on an exam table, tears still falling steadily from her eyes.

"They haven't even given you a potion for the pain yet?" he asked angrily upon seeing her crying.

"No," Hermione answered, her nose running.

Draco hovered around her while they waited another few minutes for a healer, and once the man was finally in the room Draco stayed close to her side.

"What happened, Miss Granger?"

"I was at my friend's house earlier and I was startled and tripped into the wall. I was carrying Scorpius and turned on instinct to protect him from the corner and hit my shoulder into it harder than I expected. I must have caught it at a strange angle and had this instant tearing feeling, then my arm started to tingle and go numb."

"So you tripped into a wall? Is that what you're saying?" the healer asked, turning his eyes to Draco for a split second.

Draco tensed immediately, understanding exactly what the healer was trying to get at.

"Basically, yes," Hermione answered, missing the look on the Healer's face as she wiped at her eyes with her good arm.

"Okay," the healer answered in a tone that said he clearly didn't believe the story he had heard so many times before. "Let's take a look then."

The healer inspected Hermione's shoulder and let out a tiny hiss. "It seems as though you've managed to dislocate the glenohumeral joint in your arm, Miss Granger. Not an easy feat. It won't take much to heal, although popping it back into place is going to be extremely painful. We can put you under for the procedure while we get it back into place so you don't vomit or faint."

"No, no," Hermione demurred. "I couldn't possibly be sedated. Not with a one-month-old child."

"Hermione, take the sedation. I'm home all day today so Scorpius won't be left unattended."

"No thank you, I would really rather not."

"Well, I can't force you. You do have to understand that dislocations such as the one you've attained can repeat themselves in the future, so you will need to be a little more careful."

The healer's eyes flicked to Draco again and this time Hermione caught it.

"What exactly are you trying to insinuate here?" Draco asked through clenched teeth.

"I hear this story all the time, Mr. Malfoy. It's very common from abused wives."

Hermione grunted as she sat up straighter, offended.

"Excuse me, Healer Johnson, is it? I've told you the truth about what happened and Draco wasn't even with me at the time. You're here to heal my shoulder and if you don't do exactly what you should be doing and stop trying to make me sound abused, I will have no problem going to the board."

"Well, it's just with Mr. Malfoy's past, it isn't that hard to believe-"

"That's enough," Hermione hissed, scooting forward on the table so she could step down.

"Hermione, calm down. Just let him fix your arm and we can get out of here."

"No," she snarled. "He can't just stand here and talk about you that way right to our faces. This is completely unacceptable!" Hermione was losing her cool, her voice rising louder and louder as she spoke. She was so absolutely offended about what the healer was trying to say that she wanted to puke. "I want a new healer and I want a new healer right now!" She screamed, losing control.

Draco flinched and backed away slightly, watching Healer Johnson, who seemed to realize much too late that his opinion was not wanted.

"Get out of here!" She yelled at the man, but he refused. He grabbed Hermione by the hurt arm and pulled, causing her to scream out in agony as he forced her arm joint back into place.

Draco watched as her face paled before turning a sickly shade of green. Another healer must have heard Hermione yelling at Johnson, and just before he forced her arm joint back into place the door opened. The agonized scream tearing from Hermione's throat echoed out into the hallways as Draco rushed forward. He gripped Hermione around the waist as she lost consciousness, going limp in his arms, her face deathly white, the open door allowing everyone else a view into the room.

Draco thought he saw a light bulb flash from the corridor.

"How dare you?" He thundered, turning his head toward the healer. Hate was radiating from his mercurial eyes as he lifted Hermione more securely into his arms. "How fucking dare you do that to her?! I want you fired!"

"No one takes orders from a Malfoy, anymore," the healer replied, but he wasn't looking so sure of himself now that the deed was done.

"You just physically attacked my girlfriend!" There was an intake of breath from the hallway and the healer that had entered the room looked horrified about what she had seen. "She fainted, for fuck sakes! I want you gone, I want him gone!" Draco roared, and Healer Johnson was pulled from the room.

Draco pulled Hermione into his chest, carrying her bridal style. She was clammy and pale and everyone in the hallway, including the reporters, stayed silent as they passed. Draco could hear the scratching of their quills on parchment, but he was glad they didn't open their mouths and try to ask him any questions.

Draco took Hermione home and got her into bed, putting his house elf on watch while he went to run a few errands.

His first stop was the Potter household.

The family was sitting at the breakfast table, and Ginny smiled when Draco came through the Floo. Harry took one look at his face and knew the Malfoy heir was angry.

"I didn't mean to kick her out," Harry said at once. "I was annoyed since I was finally getting an opportunity to shag my wife and she interrupted it."

"I don't care about your stupid excuses, Potter. Hermione floo'd into our home crying her eyes out and her shoulder looked completely broken, it wasn't, apparently it was just a bad dislocation, but still!"

Harry looked horrified and Ginny turned to her husband, glaring.

"I didn't know," he began to defend himself, but Draco didn't want to hear it.

"I know you didn't know!" Draco all but yelled. "You were so upset about not being able to shag that you didn't care to see if anything had happened to her while she tripped into the wall. You didn't actually think she was crying because you were upset with her, did you?"

"I… well… yeah, kind of."

"Oh my Merlin, Harry."

"I expect you there tonight for dinner with apologies on hand."

"Of course, Draco," Ginny replied in a placating manner. "We will bring dessert."

"Excellent."

Draco's next stop was Pansy's house to pick up his son.

"Draco," she greeted from the kitchen. Scorpius was tucked into a transfigured bassinet beside the table as Pansy sipped from a teacup. "He's such a little darling, went right to sleep when you left and has been there since."

"Good," Draco said, dropping into a chair and sighing.

"Care to tell me what happened, now? Since you all but threw your child at me and ran?"

Draco huffed a laugh but sobered as he explained what had happened to Hermione. Pansy looked downright vicious as he told her about how the Healer had treated her.

"Is it going to always be like this, Pansy? Will she be mistreated and alienated because of the fact that she's with me?"

Pansy stared at him for a moment before shrugging a shoulder daintily. "I can't say, Draco, but you know as well as I do that she isn't going to turn away from you based on what other people think. As far as I can remember she's always done what she wanted, despite what other people would think about her."

Draco agreed, knowing his friend was right. He was angry about what had occured that morning, but he was sure Hermione would be too, and he thought they would be able to tackle the problem together.

"Well I should get back. I want to be there when she wakes up."

Pansy nodded and watched as Draco carefully lifted Scorpius from the bassinet. "If you and Blaise want to come by for dinner later, feel free. Potter and his wife are going to join us as well. It might be a good opportunity to spend a little time together, Hermione was making noise about doing weekly dinners, and I dare you to turn her down."

Pansy laughed and said she would see if Blaise was up for it when he returned from France, but not to get his hopes up. She figured her husband would be tired by the time he finished packing the rest of their things and bringing them back to England.

After their group dinner Pansy had declared that she missed her friends and would need to be there to be the best aunt ever to Scorpius, and Pansy often got what she wanted.

Hermione awoke in her bedroom alone. Her arm was stinging painfully but she pushed herself up and rolled out of bed. She had no idea how she had gotten there, had no idea what time it was, and didn't know where Draco or Scorpius were.

She shuffled down the hallway, her arm held against her stomach as she searched for her boys. Then she heard it. It sounded like they were in the sitting area, and Draco seemed to be talking to his son.

"You love her, don't you buddy? She's a great mother to you, that's for sure. I often wonder how it would be if you were her biological son. I don't think she could love you more, to be honest. She protected you today at Potter's house and she protected me at the hospital. It's nice when someone cares, huh buddy?"

"You're ridiculous," she said, moving in to the room. Draco jumped and reddened, realizing Hermione had heard everything he had said to his son. They made quite the little scene, Draco was laying on his back and had Scorpius balanced on his stomach, the baby blinking his big eyes at the ceiling as Draco held onto his hands.

"I wouldn't love you anymore if you were biologically mine, mister," she cooed, carefully getting onto the floor in front of Draco's legs and lifting the baby into her lap. Her arm twinged when she started lifting and she grunted a bit, but ignored it. "I care about you more than you know, Draco, despite the fact that you snore, fart, and hog all the blankets."

Draco looked so offended in that moment that Hermione couldn't help the peal of laughter that tore from her throat. She was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face, and that was the moment Harry stepped from the Floo with an armload of bags. Ginny followed soon after with James on her hip, but the toddler was antsy and wanted down almost immediately.

"Auntie Herminy!" he squealed, rushing toward her in nothing but a diaper.

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"James has decided that he no longer wants to wear clothes and I am tired of fighting him about it," Ginny said with a shrug.

"What happened to your hair?" Harry asked, staring straight at Hermione in concern. She looked at him in confusion for a moment before reaching up with her good arm and feeling the nest atop her head.

"She just woke up," Draco explained, passing her a hair tie from the side table.

Hermione sighed and reached up to put her hair in a bun, but her arm twinged painfully and she groaned again, dropping the hair tie on Scorpius' leg. Draco sighed and picked the hair tie up before beginning to gather Hermione's huge amount of hair into a bun atop her head.

"He must really love you if he's able to put up with that hair every morning," Ginny said, laughter dancing in her eyes.

Both Draco and Hermione blushed, unwilling to comment on that.

"I'm really sorry about earlier, Hermione," Harry said once he was settled onto a couch. "But I come bearing gifts!"

Hermione's eyes lit up, and she bounced a few times on the floor, careful to not wake Scorpius, who had drifted back to sleep in her arms. Draco finished with her hair and pulled the baby from her arms and placed him in a cot beside the couch so she could focus on the bags Harry had brought into the sitting room with him.

"Can I help open them?" James asked in excitement.

"Of course," Hermione answered. They were just regular bags so there was really no way the toddler could make a huge mess. She opened the first bag and was confused as she pulled out a toy-sized television.

"Harry? What are you playing at?"

Her friend grinned as he plucked it from her hand and set it on the table before he aimed his wand at the tiny television, causing it to expand to its regular size.

"You bought me a TV?"

"An entire entertainment system, actually. I noticed the last, and only, time I was here that this house is boring and there's nothing to do. I figured we could liven the place up a bit!"

"Oi!" Draco called. "There's plenty to do! We have a small library!"

"Joy," Harry answered, in a way that clearly said he didn't find that acceptable at all. "Anyway, I've learned to make them play by the magic particles in the air, so now you can show Draco how the other half lives."

"What is it?" Draco asked in confusion, reaching forward to knock on the glass front.

"A telly. It has moving pictures on it that make up stories, called television shows. Thank you, Harry, but you have to set it up."

"I expected no less," He said with a nod.

"Let the men deal with this, Hermione," Ginny said. "I need tea."

Hermione nodded and grimaced as she tried to get up without pushing too hard on her arm.

"I thought they fixed it?" Ginny asked in confusion as Draco helped her to her feet.

"Not really," Draco growled, anger evident. He then explained what had happened and how he had ended up just hauling Hermione into his arms and leaving the place without the proper aid.

"You have got to be joking me," Harry replied. "That is not okay."

"He also thought that because I went in there with a hurt shoulder that Draco was abusing me! Because "It's not hard to come to that conclusion with Mr. Malfoy's past.""

Harry turned around quickly and looked at both Hermione and Draco. She seemed upset, and it was clear she was still in pain. Draco was obviously embarrassed that being associated with him was causing Hermione issues. He knew the healer had hurt her the way he had because she was there with Draco Malfoy and defending him.

"Let's go," Harry said, looking at Draco seriously.

"Where?" Hermione asked from the kitchen.

"We have a few things to straighten out."

"They won't listen, Potter. No one cares about us Malfoy's."

"It is completely unacceptable, and I'm not going to fight your battles for you, but I think I could help persuade the hospital that they need to reevaluate their staffing."

Draco looked like he was going to argue, but Hermione suddenly sniffled from beside him and he looked at her in alarm.

"What if something happened to Scorp, Draco? Would they hurt him, too?"

And that was food for thought, wasn't it?