AN

I think apologies are in order for the lateness of this chapter.

I'M SORRY EVERYONE.

I'm usually such a reliable updater too, so I'm sorry again. My thanks are to my beta Gabby and those who have been reviewing. And hopefully the next chapter will come quicker.

Things Can Only Get Better

Chapter 13: Scary Healers and Hospital Visits

When Draco first woke up three days ago the first thoughts that came to mind were, "Pissin' Hell. Here, again?" and, "Ow, everything hurts," as he squinted at his new surroundings.

Any minute now the sadistic witch with more blubber than a Blue Whale, would come waddling into his room and forcefully shake him until his bones had rearranged themselves in his body, (as though they weren't screwed up enough), while she screamed at him to wake up. Then she would poke and prod the rather large lump on the back of his head and a rather tender part of his abdomen.

The first time the woman did this early morning examination she had frowned and shoved a beaker of potion, which looked like liquid vomit, under his nose. Draco had clamped his mouth shut and violently shook his head, doing that made his head hurt more and his sight became blurry. The witch gave him a stern glare that told him; If you don't drink this, I will make you. Being the stubborn git that he is Draco had glared right back; Oh yeah, I would like to see you try. Because Draco really didn't want to be in this god-forsaken place at all, if St. Mungo's smell didn't kill him, after the ordeal he had just had, the foul concoction this fat cow was waving in front of his face would.

All he wanted to do was curl up in his own bed and sleep, perhaps getting Octo to make him up a hot water bottle and a cup of tea.

The Medi-witch, who Draco now knew as Healer Aldridge, had tutted disapprovingly at his unwillingness to comply and removed the potion from in front of his face. Draco had all but two seconds to look smug before a large chubby hand clamped around his jaw, forcing him to open his mouth. The brown-greenish liquid went straight down his throat leaving an acidic taste and a slimy like walling in its wake. The hand then shut his mouth making sure he had swallowed before removing its vice like grip. Draco eyes had watered and he tried to take deep cleansing breaths, he looked up to see the violent Healer smiling and rubbing soothing circles across his exposed stomach.

Now that smile scared the shit out of him, telling him something wasn't right, and he desperately tried to get himself out of his bed but found his limbs had gone numb. He tried to shout but the potion he had taken earlier had lined his throat rendering him speechless. Draco's panicking didn't last long as the potion relaxed his muscles and he became sleepy. The last thing he saw was the psychotic bitch's twisted smile.

He was going straight to the Wizengamot as soon he woke up was his last thought, before everything went black.

After ambushing Fletcher, catching him was relatively easy. Draco had tied him up with a rope binding charm and sent him off with Carmichael to the Ministry. The hard part was catching the potentially dangerous accomplice. Draco rooted himself in the action with the other Aurors targeting the criminal.

He was fast Draco had to admit. His spell casting was impeccable, sending hexes towards the Aurors with a speed even Draco had trouble keeping up with. Two Aurors had been taken down within the space of twenty seconds.

Not stopping to help his fallen comrades Draco had run down the path after the unknown wizard, firing spells as he took chase, along with Shacklebolt and who ever else was still standing.

The wizard shot a spell behind him and it hit Auror Li, she was caught in the thigh with a slicing hex, and stumbled to the ground.

Things were not going so well he concluded.

The troop of Aurors were getting rather close to the tree Draco had jumped out of just moments before. He saw Granger and an unconscious Cadman on the ground, and his marked man running towards them. Granger looked up and the criminal made a beeline for her.

He started to panic. Shit. things were getting a lot worse. He had to get her out of there before anything happened to her. He ran harder and faster.

"GRANGER!" he had called, desperate to reach her.

With out even thinking he had waved his wand and a crack followed his departure. Draco had apparated in front of his kneeling and startled flatmate, quickly dragging her up with one arm and holding her against his back as he turned to face the criminal. The wizard was only a couple of steps away when he stopped in his tracks and came face to face with the business end of Draco's wand.

"Don't fucking move," he'd said, then fired a disarming spell. The cloaked man dodged it and smiled as he mouthed something. Draco had a second to comprehend that it was a spell.

It felt as if his was being pummelled in the stomach by a heavyweight boxer, or winded by a dozen bludgers. He doubled over, dropping his wand, but had enough sense to push Granger out of the way if anymore spells were to be aimed in their direction. He saw her land on the still form of Cadman with an 'Oomph', making sure she was okay. Before Draco could gain his composure the man before him gave a swift kick to his stomach before apparating away, leaving Draco to fall backward from the force of the attack and blacking out after whacking his head on the corner of the bench behind him.

So here he was three days later waiting for his abusive Healer to come back.

Of course he had tried to escape this horrible prison but the place had way more security since its attack fours years ago by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and Bellatrix Lestrange finished what she had set out to do to Frank and Alice Longbottom. Only Gilderoy Lockhart, three other patients and two healers had survived on the fourth floor. Nowadays, instead of Aurors patrolling the corridors and guarding the entrances and exits, the hospital had it's own troop of security guards, mostly made up of retired or failed Aurors. Draco had been caught in the act of escaping a total of sixteen times since his first encounter with Healer Aldridge, and since his admittance to the hospital had only had one visitor and one owl.

The owl was from Blaise asking him if he was okay, all that usual crap which had only taken up half an inch of parchment. Draco had rolled his eyes it seemed his best friend was really concerned about his wellbeing. The rest was about Potter. Potter! If he was going to be locked up in this place, with his perverted Healer, he did not want to hear about Harry bloody Potter.

Who cared if Ginny Weasley wasn't pregnant? (Draco soon twisted Blaise's balls though, sending back a letter saying that she hadn't out right told him she wasn't.)

Who cares that Harry Potter bought the best gift a child would want and not even glance at it?

And who cares if Potter and his mini-copy was coming to stay?

Draco Malfoy didn't that was for sure. But his one and only visitor did.

Granger.

She wasn't a visitor per say, because she worked in this hell hole, but she did buy him some grapes and thanked him for sort-of saving her life that day in the park.

Draco felt lonely and very bored most of the time lying in his bed. And if he was truthful he welcomed Granger's visits during her lunch breaks where he could amuse himself by riling her up, even if it was for just an hour.

Not even Libby had come to visit him, his own bloody girlfriend. He scowled at that thought. Perhaps it was time to throw the towel at her and tell her to bugger off, she was a good for nothing girlfriend anyway, always nagging him for something or other and parading him around her friends like he was a piece of meat.

And when he really thought about it, the only reason he dated her was because she was physically appealing and pureblooded. He really would be better off if he dated someone else, even Granger, she definitely wouldn't moan at him if he didn't pay for dinner every now and again, or wear a black robe instead of the blue one she had asked him to. Granger usually wore Muggle clothing so she wouldn't care if he wore odd socks, (not that he would), because anything she wore didn't really match either. Granger didn't leave her crap around his flat, not even her toothbrush. Everything was locked up tight in her room, like he was some perve wanting to get in her knicker draw.

He scowled again. He was not considering Granger as a potential girlfriend.

"Finally decided to wake yourself up this morning, Mr Malfoy. And you really shouldn't screw your face up like that, you're far to handsome."

Draco shivered at the sound of the voice and the way it spoke his name. He looked up to the end of his bed to find his Healer, Healer Aldridge, standing there smiling at him.

So maybe he had been wrong in thinking he was going to be raped by his carer, but she still could have told him she was administering a sleep and numbing potion because he was to have a very painfully spell cast on him to cure his injuries he had acquired during his mission the day before. It still didn't make him like her anymore after another Healer had told him that the procedure had gone fine. He sneered.

"Come now, I know you've been in a lot of pain but really," Aldridge admonished as she flipped through his chart stored at the end of his bed.

"I better be going home today, because if I don't-"

"Oh hush Mr Malfoy," she cut in, placing the chart back in it's holder. "I think you will be quite happy to know that you can leave tomorrow morning." She made her way around his bed and pushed back his fringe from his forehead to check his temperature. Draco immediately cushioned his head back further into his pillow to get away from her touch. No matter what anyone said to him about how nice she was, she most certainly had a mean streak in her and an unnatural attraction to touch him whenever she had the chance, like now for instance. Why couldn't she just use a temperature reading charm to see how he was feeling, like any normal Healer?

Because she wanted to feel him up, that's why.

The plump woman took no notice of his revulsion or grimaced expression and continued to check the back of his head, where a lump was just three days earlier.

"Good, now will you stop touching me. I'm fine," he said batting her hands away.

She smiled the smile that gave Draco the willies. "Yes, I can see that now Mr Malfoy."

"Then why am I not going home today?"

"We just want to make sure you're going to be alright." By 'we' she meant 'I', and what she was secretly implying, was that wanted to maul him as much as she could before he left the following day. "I'll be back in awhile with your breakfast," she said stroking his hair before she made her way towards the door.

Just before she left she added, "Oh, and I will be away this afternoon so Healer Granger," she said practically spitting out her colleague's name, "will be filling in after lunch." She gave a final chilling smile and closed the door behind her.

Aldridge had somehow formed a grudge against Granger since her first visit, probably assuming Granger and himself were involved. Draco snorted at the very idea, but welcomed the news of a staff change.

Granger would no doubt be less physical with him.

Hermione Granger doubted she could ever look at Draco Malfoy the same ever again, not after Sunday.

That day had felt like an apocalypse, whatever one of those felt like, but she assumed it was like the universe was being sucked into a black and empty void, only to be spat back out again with everything turned on it's arse.

Hermione tried not to think about the feelings Sunday had invoked in her, it was complicated and muddled like starting a five-thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. Hermione quite like jigsaws, it was just a question of organising chaos, finding the outer pieces first, then grouping colours and patterns together.

Hermione's feelings and outlook about one Draco Malfoy was in chaos, and wasn't positive in going about how she could sort it. There were no outer pieces that could be identified easily with their flat edge, or colours and patterns, everything looked five different shades of grey, and event those were hard to distinguish. And most importantly there was no picture on the box as a guideline. In fact there wasn't even a box, everything had materialised out of thin air or dropped from the sky like an anvil to the head. She had no idea if pieces were missing as more came raining down on her with out even realising it.

Eventually she decided to jump into the puzzle head first, picking up a piece and working around it. The most obvious would be the kiss and how she felt about that. She couldn't really call it a kiss-kiss, because the one Malfoy gave her was just like the ones she gave to her friends in greeting or to say thank you., except this one had had more body contact. A lot more body contact. She tried not to think of the feel of her body being pressed against his, because that just sprouted a whole new set of emotions she shouldn't be entertaining about her flatmate.

And to make matters worst he had tried to do it again, Hermione wasn't sure if he would have gotten away with it or not if it wasn't for Cyprian's interruption.

Thinking this just opened up a new door and she was bombarded with theories and questions. If he knew who she was after the kiss then why did he go for round two? He must have some feelings towards her if he was risking the hexing of his bits off, or maybe it was just a lapse of insanity? Why did he look so pissed off before anything else could occur? Was he angry at her for letting him kiss her the first time? Angry because she was 'dirty'? Angry because of Cyprian? Why did she feel like she was about to welcome that second kiss?

Oh, she couldn't think anymore, it was hurting her head, and wasn't about to even start on the reason for him saving her life. This was all to mind-boggling and stress inducing.

The one piece at a time idea was bad, each time she picked up one it led to another and another but had no one place to be fitted. Everything overlapped, jagged and sharp pieces clashed with round and smooth. It confused the hell out of her.

In the end she thought screw it, and threw them in the air, because not even Einstein could sort out this mess Malfoy had inflicted inside of her.

She needed a cup of coffee before she went in to see Malfoy, how he could act like nothing had happened between them was beyond her, teasing, name calling, all that usual stuff. But there was an underlying playfulness to their talks and he wouldn't look at her as though she was the scum of the earth anymore. And every time she walked though his door he would have this funny look in his eye, like he was relieved to see her or as though she was his saviour.

The first time Hermione visited him she had promptly burst out laughing when he told her he thought he was being molested by his Healer.

"Who is your Healer?" she had asked through heavy breaths.

Malfoy mumbled something she couldn't quite hear as he fiddled with his bed sheets and looked down at his lap.

"What was that?" she'd said leaning in closer.

"Healer Aldridge."

Hermione quickly sobered, Oh.

Malfoy glared at her silence, "Not laughing now, are you Granger?"

"I still could be because I'm not in your position, but from what I've heard she's a good Healer and has always gotten good reports from her patients."

"That's because they're too scared to say anything negative about her. She manhandled me Granger and I did not like it."

Hermione laughed again, "Are you just trying to find an excuse to get out of here? I've heard about your fear of hospitals."

"No, not that I wouldn't mind going home, but I wouldn't mind having a healer who doesn't touch me as much either. I would even settle for you."

"Was that a compliment? Malfoy you're too kind," she said placing a hand on her heart.

"Consider yourself lucky because you won't be getting anymore, and stop being sarcastic, it's too Slytherin for you." He popped a grape in his mouth and continued, "What's she got against you, anyway? I can see her eyeing you through the window."

Hermione turned around to see the Healer rearrange her facial features from a scowl to a very bright smile. Turning back to the patient in bed she shrugged, "I don't know. I've never spoken to her before. But I think you have an admirer there."

Malfoy visibly shivered.

"Hey, why don't you just tell her you're gay? I could get Blaise to come visit you."

"Granger that is just sick," he said scrunching up his face, "My best friend too."

Hermione laughed. "Or the easiest option would be to just get your girlfriend to fend her off."

Malfoy didn't reply because Healer Aldridge took the time to kick Hermione out, and Malfoy looked like a scared little child.

"I'll come back later."

"You bloody better Granger otherwise I'm off."

"I doubt you will get very far," she whispered and motioned to the rather large lady standing at the door.

Malfoy smiled, "I suppose you're right but that isn't going to stop me from trying."

"Well, good luck then," she said laughed, patting his hand which was resting on his blankets and left him alone.

Hermione couldn't get over that either. Malfoy had smiled at her, like they were friends. She could see that he depended on her lunch time visits to brighten up his day, even if he wouldn't let on about it, but she could see it. His face would light up and a smile would tug at his lips.

She felt sorry for him really, that's why she had recommended Healer Aldridge for the emergency operation this afternoon, so she would be able to take care of Malfoy and give him a rest, so-to-speak.

It was the least she could do really.