XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Chapter 25 –
Draco pointed at the inside of the closet door and said, "What is that thing doing here! I thought I destroyed one copy and you destroyed the other!"
"Silly, Malfoy," she said, approaching him slowly. She put her hand on his cheek and patted it lightly. "It's a funny little thing called Magic, being a pureblood, I thought perhaps you had heard of it. Anyway, I placed it here yesterday when you went downstairs with your mum and I stayed up here to check on the pregnancy test. Besides, you fixed it for me, remember?"
"Take it down right now!" he said.
"Gags, Malfoy, if it means so much to you, you take it down. I have to go to the toilet." She walked away from him.
He looked at the poster and said, "This house, big as it may seem, Mister, is only big enough for one good looking blond!" He ripped the poster off the door, to find another one. He ripped it off as well, and yet another appeared! He did it several more times, and each time, another took the previous ones place! He was quickly becoming frustrated. He still couldn't find his wand, (after all, who looks in the pockets of the slacks he wore the night before, correct?) so he took her wand from his nightstand and pointed it toward the offensive poster!
He tried every single spell, hex and charm he knew, and the damn thing kept reappearing. Soon, he had discarded, shreds of posters, all around him, and yet, there was still one on the door. She came out of the bathroom, after having washed her face, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair. She said, "Excuse me, gentlemen." She reached in the closet, took out a white, short sleeve blouse, stepped back into the room, leaned forward, kissed the poster, and said, "I love you, Justin!"
"Excuse me, Granger!" he yelled.
She leaned over, kissed his cheek, and said, "I love you, too!"
She opened the dresser drawer, retrieved her knickers, bra and a pair of red shorts, and stepped back into the bathroom, laughing the whole way.
He looked back at the poster and said, "You haven't won yet, pretty boy!"
Hermione stepped back out of the bathroom, and slipped some sandals on her feet. Draco was fully dressed, in his jeans, white shirt, grey t-shirt, and was leaning against the door jam of the closet. The closet was sans a door.
"Where is the closet door, Malfoy?" she asked, her hands on her hips.
"What closet door, Muggle Muffin?" he asked.
She pointed and said, "The one that used to hang right there."
"Oh," he said. "I was tired of that old thing. I decided to vanquish it. I believe it's somewhere in the bottom of the pond. We can look for it later, when we take our walk of the property."
She shook her head and said, "That wasn't nice."
He stepped up to her and said, "No, I will tell you what isn't nice, my little woman. It isn't nice to flaunt your ex loves to your current love."
"But he's Justin!" she said, with a fake frown. "You can't deny me Justin. If you even want me to consider living here someday, I have to be free to redecorate."
"I will burn the whole wing down, before I let you do that, my cherished little Mudblood," he said.
She narrowed her gaze and said, "That one was below the belt, you pureblooded bully. Calling your wife, the supposed love of your life, a Muggle Muffin, and then picking on poor, little, defenseless boy band posters are one thing, but calling me that other name is unacceptable, by far." She wasn't going to ignore the 'Mudblood' comment, even though she knew he didn't really mean it.
She made to walk past him and he grabbed her waist. He stood behind her and nibbled on her neck. "I'm jealous, and you know it." He continued to kiss her neck. He reached down for her hand, and she hissed. He turned her in his arms and said, "That's it, we're going to St. Mungo's before we even go down for breakfast. It's still early, and my parents are probably still in bed."
"No, I'll see someone about it tomorrow," she promised.
"No, we will see someone about it right now and preferable not some stupid, former Ravenclaw," he said.
"You can't blame Terry!" she said.
"No, but I can blame myself," he said. "Please, for my own peace of mind, let's go see why it isn't healing properly."
She sighed and leaned against his chest. "I might not like what they tell me."
"I might not like Harry Potter, but that doesn't mean I can avoid him," Draco said. She pushed from his chest and hit him on the arm. "Come on; humour me, if for no other reason than the fact that you love me. You actually owe me one, since I almost had a heart attack when I saw your old boyfriend's picture on the closet door. I seriously thought for the briefest moments that a man was in the closet."
She laughed and said, "And this man in the closet was one dimensional and hanging from the closet door?"
He laughed too and said, "I'm being quite serious. I really thought it was an intruder. In the dim light, I thought it was real. The sky outside was still mostly dark, and I didn't want to turn on the overhead light and wake you,"
"So you screamed like a five-year-old girl to wake me up, instead?" she asked.
"Enough questioning my manhood, it is getting old, and I think we have already established my masculinity is my best quality. We're going to St. Mungo's right now." He took her arm and apparated her to the lobby of the Wizarding Hospital.
She hit his arm again and said, "I hate side-along apparating!"
"Yes, well, I do too, but you do it to me enough," he said with a whine. He walked up to the reception area and said, "I'm Mister Malfoy and I need to see your best Healer, and I will spare no expense. I'm not above giving you money. My wife, who is employed here, and is a Malfoy, also, by the way, is the patient, so spare no expense, and call your best Healer now."
Hermione shook her head in embarrassment and said, "Hi, Mindy."
"Hi, Hermione," she said, slightly dazed. "So the rumours are true, you married Draco Malfoy?"
"Yes, that would be the git right beside me," Hermione said. "Could you perhaps call Joseph Carlisle for me?" She turned to Draco and explained, "He's the head Healer here, and a very gifted one at that. He's highly respected."
"Get him immediately, then," Draco said, leaning back toward the girl. He reached in his pocket and threw several gold coins on her desk.
"Draco, let's go sit down," Hermione said, still shaking her head. She looked back at Mindy and smiled apologetically. She motioned toward the chairs to Draco.
Healer Carlisle came walking toward them a few moments later. He smiled at Hermione and shook her hand. Next, Draco stood and shook his hand. He said, "What's going on, Hermione?"
She explained about the laceration yesterday, and how Terry Boot healed it, but said there might be some tendon damage. She told him about the infection, and how it wouldn't heal, and was still causing her pain. He took her to an examination room. Draco didn't know if he should follow or remain. He decided to follow, but she motioned for him to remain, by lifting her hand. He sat back down. He would do as she wished, for now.
Joseph looked at her hand, as he slowly unwrapped the bandage. "So, the hand is infected, and it won't seem to heal, correct?" She nodded. "Tell me, any other symptoms?"
"I have been very tired, but it's been a hell of a couple of weeks, since I just married two weekends ago, and this weekend has been so busy, I can't even explain to you. I had some nausea and vomiting. To be truthful, I have noticed an increase in my urine outtake, and I have been very thirsty."
He nodded and looked at her carefully and said, "Any vision changes, tingling in your hands and feet?"
"Oh, Joseph, you don't think what I think you think, do you?" she said.
"Hermione, you're a bright woman and an excellent Healer, one of the best at diagnosing and an expert on Muggle-born illnesses. You know exactly what I'm thinking, but a simple test will either confirm or deny our suspicions, and then we can go from there."
A short while later, Healer Carlisle walked out to Draco with a smile. Draco saw that as a good sign. He stood up and said, "So, will she keep the hand?" and he laughed.
The older man looked pensive for a moment and said, "I hope so." He smiled at Draco, who didn't understand. He motioned for Draco to sit back down. "Hermione has a disease that affects mainly Muggles, and Muggle-borns. Most Wizards don't suffer from this disease, because it has a genetic link usually, and fortunately, most Wizards are immune to this link."
Draco almost felt like growling, but he said, "Continue." Already, he was unhappy. His wife had a DISEASE!
The Healer said, "She has an illness called type one diabetes. It's a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose, or sugar, to help our bodies run, and give us energy. The pancreas, which is an organ near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin, which helps the glucose get into the cells of our body, to help us live, basically. When someone has diabetes, their body either doesn't make enough insulin, or can't properly use the insulin as well as it should, which causes the sugar to build up in their blood."
"What does that mean?" Draco asked.
"It means she's very sick right now, but it's something that can be managed."
"You mean healed," Draco urged.
"I mean managed. She has type one diabetes, which used to be called insulin dependent diabetes. It's suspected that this disease follows exposure to some environmental trigger, such as an unidentified virus, which stimulates an immune attack against the cells in the pancreas, which produced insulin, to people who are genetically predisposed to diabetes. Hermione is predisposed. Her grandfather had type one diabetes."
"But she won't die, right?" Draco said.
"Many people do die every year from the disease, but if she continues to live a health lifestyle, and she checks her sugar levels everyday, and takes her medication, she should manage her illness fine," he said. He stood up and said, "She's not taking the news very well. For some reason, she thinks this illness makes her weak. She's funny like that. I've known her a long time, and she finds illness a sign of weakness, but only when it comes to herself, not to others. Silly, right?" He shook Draco's hand and Draco understood what the man was trying to say.
He needed to be strong for his wife. He couldn't faint any more at silly things like blood. He couldn't scream at the appearance of a poster. In addition, he really couldn't threaten to kill a man because the man said mean things about her. In a mere second, Draco Malfoy finally became an adult. A man. Thanks to Hermione Granger Malfoy, no hyphen.
Hermione walked out of the room, carrying a small bag.
He said, "What's that, a present for me?"
"No, its things I need for my illness," she said slowly.
"Well, that's not fair. They give you a present, and not me? Do they know I'm the husband of Hermione Granger Malfoy? Perhaps we should tell them, right away."
She had to smile, and she said, "I think they're all aware of that little fact."
He took her hand and said, "We have a big day planned."
"Did Joseph tell you everything?" she asked.
"He certainly did," he said. He took the bag from her other hand. He said, "Why don't you apparate us back. I feel a bit tired, and you're the stronger one of us two, aren't you?" Draco knew no better way to be strong, than to admit that he was weak. Crazy, but true.
She gave him a small smiled and said, "Well, let's go back to the Manor. I for one can't miss breakfast any longer. I have to start watching what I eat from now on, and take proper care of myself."
"I'll take care of you and me, right old girl, and by the way, if you have to eat better, that means you might need to learn to cook a bit better," he said.
She frowned and said, "I'm a good cook."
"HA!" he said. "You're so delusional. You don't even know the difference between Eggs florentine and Eggs Benedict, sweetie. No, I think I'll ask your father for some cooking lessons. Best leave that to me. I don't even think you should be trusted with a knife again." He smiled and kissed her cheek. He pulled her tightly into his arms and said quietly in her ear, "I am really so, so, sorry about causing you this injury, Hermione, can you ever forgive me?"
She pushed away from him, as she did earlier when they were fighting about the poster, and she said, "You stupid man! If you hadn't caused me to cut my hand, we might not have learned about my disease until it was too late. You saved my life, Draco." Tears welled up in her eyes. "You saved my life in so many, many ways, my little, pureblood bully."
"Let me continue to make up the nicknames, Granger." He hugged her again and smiled because he saved her life, and she saved his, so perhaps they were meant to be together after all.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX