A/N: My QLFC Team last season decided to continue on our own with fun bonus rounds we came up with. So here's round 3! The theme this month is Magical Illnesses! We were each assigned an illness, mine was Vanishing Sickness. My optional prompts were: (dialogue) "You sure you can help me?"; (profession) Medi-witch/wizard; (word) help.

W/C: 1,084

No beta's this time around.

Summary: Mediwitch Hermione Granger is inundated with several cases of Vanishing Sickness.

Into the Fray

"Get over here," Hermione snapped, snagging the first trainee in lime-green robes she came across. She pulled him across the ward where a male patient was currently attempting to escape his bed. One leg was gone entirely, the other one had gone quite ghostly.

"Yes, ma'am, Healer Granger," the trainee half-shouted, eager to help, but when Hermione got a good look at him, he looked as if he were about to keel over.

"You sure you can help me?" Hermione asked as he swayed on his feet. "How long have you been awake?"

"Almost forty hours, Healer Granger." The grin he gave her was dopey. Hermione sighed and reached into her robes for yet another bottle of Pepper-Up.

"Take this, then help," Hermione said, shoving the vial in his hands.

The trainee was bending over to help drag the patient back to bed before all of the smoke had left his ears.

"Got it!" the trainee said, grabbing the wizard's half-missing leg and helping to carry him back to his bed. "Do we tie him down?"

"We can," Hermione said, "but more of his limbs could vanish before the full antidote can take effect. Look at his chart, what round is he on?"

"Er…" the trainee paused as his eyes darted over the chart. "Looks like he was just given the third round. Fourth round due to be administered in three hours."

"Right, so he has three more rounds to go. Realistically, his symptoms won't stop until after round 5 of the antidote. So we have ten more hours before he stops being symptomatic. Tying him down at this point would probably be a waste of time. Sticking charm is a better option. Get to it. Then go get some rest."

"Aye-aye, captain!" The trainee looked quite a bit more chipper now, but Hermione could see past the effect of the Pepper-Up. St Mungo's was overrun at the moment. A terrible case of Vanishing Sickness had broken out and Hermione, along with the rest of her Medi-witch and Medi-wizard colleagues, was pulling a thirty-six-hour shift. At least with Invigoration Draughts and Pepper-Up Potions, Hermione didn't feel as exhausted as she knew she ought to feel. A glance at her watch told her she still had another six hours to go before she could leave and catch a couple of hours of sleep.

She left the trainee and went to check on the antidote's progress. Half the reason the Vanishing Sickness had gotten so bad was that the vaccination for this disease had just come out. Hermione and the rest of the staff were immune, thank goodness, but it meant that the rest of the population was as yet unvaccinated. So when the ICW met in London last week, and someone from Belarus attended with the very beginning stages of Vanishing Sickness, well, it had spread across the British wizarding community like wildfire.

There were six doses of antidote to be given to each patient and each dose was slightly different than the last, which meant that there were six different potions that had to be brewed for each stage. Then each dose had to be given at slightly different intervals. It was an administrative nightmare, with proper notation on each patient's chart vital to eradicating the disease entirely from the British Isles.

"Hey," Hermoine said, leaning against the door to Severus's lab. He was busy directing half a dozen potioneers, each with three cauldrons in front of them. He didn't look anything like he had when he'd been her teacher all those years ago. His hair was longer, tied back in a queue when he was working. Although his personality was the same, he was still considered the premier Potions Master to work for in the country. He had no shortage of apprentices wanting to fill his lab and work for the best.

Severus looked up and nodded at Hermione, before turning back to his underlings. He snapped several more orders at them, before heading toward the exit. Hermione backed out of the doorway to allow him room to exit and he stalked off down the corridor and to his office, Hermione at his heels.

The moment they were inside his office, he pushed her up against the door.

"Hello," he murmured in his deep, rumbling bass, his lips next to Hermione's ear, causing her to shiver. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "Missed you," he murmured against her neck, planting kisses there.

"Missed you too," Hermione murmured, her own arms wrapped around his neck, holding him close.

"When can you leave?"

"If we don't get any more cases, I'll be able to get out of here in about five hours. I'll get ten hours off before I'm expected back."

"Ten? That's it?" Severus pulled back and frowned at her. Hermione smiled at him and cupped both of his cheeks in her hands.

"I only need to sleep for eight of those hours," she murmured, pressing her lips to his.

Severus returned the kiss passionately, slipping his tongue inside her mouth before pulling away and pressing his forehead against hers. "You should sleep for all ten. They want you to do another thirty-six after this, don't they?"

Hermione nodded. "But it's your birthday…"

"Bugger my birthday. You need your sleep, Healer Granger," Severus said. His voice an almost growling menace that never failed to make Hermione's heart beat just a bit faster.

"Healer Granger! You're needed on the magical bugs ward. Paging Healer Granger. Please go to the magical bugs ward." An announcement throughout the hospital blared in their ears.

"Bugger," Hermione murmured, giving Severus one last kiss. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"I know you will," he replied, kissing her again before letting her go.

She gave him a little wave as she rushed out of his office and up to the fourth floor. Magical bugs was where all of the Vanishing Sickness patients were. She hoped that there wasn't a new influx of patients, but as she climbed the stairs two at a time, she could hear shouting.

Hermione sighed as she took in the ward before her. It was times like this that she truly hated her job. Fifteen new patients were being placed in beds. It looked like she would be working through her ten-hour break instead of getting to go home to Severus and to sleep. She downed another bottle of Invigoration Draught as she jumped back into the fray to help.

~Fin~