Author's note: Yes, I'm tired of this global panorama. Yes, I'm going to make it the problem of fictional characters. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Hogwarts: Ravenclaw, Assignment #6, Healer Studies Task #13 Write a Healer!AU

Content Warnings: Pandemic themes; exhaustion

In Here With Me

He must have looked about as horrible as he felt for Head Healer Turnipsmund to send him to rest.

"We're swamped," Teddy argued. That had been true for days now, of course.

"I need you lucid enough to treat patients if I want to put a dent in this absolute mess, Lupin," Turnipsmund added as he scrawled something on a patient's file. His robes shimmered with all the enchantments that the Healers were wrapped in to cope with the outbreak of—well, it wasn't quite Dragonpox, because Dragonpox was bad but not usually this bad. If this plague had anything to do with dragons, those dragons were Hungarian Horntails. One of the Healers Teddy had graduated with had caught a snippet of conversation between Turnipsmund and some Aurors about how this might be a wizard-made illness, but that was just gossip for now so Teddy didn't have time to entertain the notion. Until they figured out what exactly they were dealing with, the Healers were wearing good old-fashioned masks, gloves, hair caps, and face shields too.

He looked up from his writing and arched an eyebrow when he realized that Teddy hadn't moved.

"Seriously, Lupin," he said. "They're putting our ward on lockdown—they'll be sending food and supplies up through empty elevators, and patients if we get more. I don't know how many other Healers are going to be able to make it in, so we're in it for the long run. Go. Sleep. I promise to wake you up if I need you."

Teddy couldn't disagree with a direct order, nor could he pretend that he hadn't been at work and on his poor feet for the last 22 hours. So, he made his way out of the ward and past a magical barrier that had been erected at one end, towards the elevator. He peeled off his robes and protective equipment until he was just wearing a ratty Weird Sisters t-shirt and a pair of Muggle nursing scrub pants—the most washable and least attaching clothes in the world.

A hospital security wizard who'd been stationed in their magical decontamination room doused him in cleansing charms and took his pulse before letting him pass through the second barrier. He turned right and marched into the on-call room, which was far more empty than usual. Teddy realized that the bunks had been dragged into hospital rooms to accomodate the flood of patients. Still, there was one cot there but somebody was already sleeping on it—someone Teddy accidentally woke up when he walked in.

Victoire sat up, her blue eyes sleepy and hazy. The champagne blond bun in which she always wore her hair at work was falling apart and hanging loose and low. She'd fallen asleep wearing her shoes and one of her tank-top sleeves was sliding down her shoulder.

"Teddy?" she asked.

"Victo? I didn't know you were here," he said—which felt impossible since they'd been on the same floor this whole time.

"I didn't know you were here either," Victoire said. "Merlin, what a madhouse out there…"

"And it's hard to recognize anyone with all that equipment on," Teddy said. "How long have you been here?"

"I started Wednesday for the overnight shift, just when it started," Victoire said. She stifled a yawn. "I've been here ever since, but Turnipsmund told me to come get some sleep."

"Yeah, me too," Teddy said. He looked around the otherwise empty on-call room. "I mean… I can go somewhere else, I just…"

"There's nowhere else to go," Victoire said plainly. Always practical, that one.

"That's…" Teddy sighed. Maybe Turnipsmund was right. They were going to be here for a while, Teddy better get some decent sleep if nothing else. But where…

"I'll scootch over," Victoire told him, her head crashing right back down on her pillow as she said it. Teddy blushed as she pressed herself against the wall.

"Oh, no, Victo, you don't have to…"

"Where else are you going to sleep?" Victoire asked. "Besides, it's not like we haven't done it before. It'll be like having sleepovers again."

Teddy could think of a few reasons why it wouldn't be just like having sleepovers again—namely that they hadn't had sleepovers since they were very little, before he'd gone off to Hogwarts and they'd drifted apart no matter what they'd tried to do to stop it. Because his Gran or her dad wouldn't be making them pancakes in the morning when they woke up and asking about their dreams and scolding them for trying to steal the whipped cream. Because they were older now and he had not been this acutely aware that she was pretty when they'd been seven years old and mostly focused on how fast the other person could run and whether or not they were good at naming the fairies and merfolk that appeared in the fantasy worlds they'd built together. But even if they were all true, these weren't things that he wanted to say out loud. Plus Victoire had always been the pushier one of the two—the friendlier, bolder, more adventurous one—and he'd never been able to say no to her verdicts. If he spent an extra second thinking about this, he was going to collapse on the floor in a pile of bones and possibly never get up again. So, Teddy crawled into the cot with her, hyperconscious of the way the springs shifted as he added his weight to hers.

There was only one pillow, so there was only that far they could go from each other. He was sure that Victoire felt every breath she took on the back of her neck just as much as Victoire must be able to feel his gigantic, lanky legs knocking against hers. He was so tired too, he wasn't sure he'd be able to morph properly if he tried to make himself smaller. He might turn himself lime green instead.

"This okay?" Teddy asked.

"Mmm-hmm," Victoire said, already dozing off again by the sounds of it. "Can you get the blanket? We're right under a vent, but I rather kiss a ghoul than get up to move."

"Right," Teddy said, clearing his throat. He pulled the blanket over them, trapping his heat and her heat against them. It was a shitty, thin sheet to be sure, but Teddy felt strangely comfortable. Merlin, he really was exhausted.

"Do you have enough room?" Victoire asked. "I forgot how much bigger than me you always were."

"If I take up any more room, I'll smoosh you against the wall," Teddy said.

"I'm too exhausted to care," Victoire confessed. "Besides, it might be a mercy. Turnipsmund can't wake me up if I've become a pancake."

Teddy wanted to laugh but he was so tired that the sound seemed a little short and huffy and unpleasant, frankly. Still, he couldn't fall asleep because the smell of vanilla and brown sugar was filling his nostrils.

"How in Merlin's name do you still smell so good?" Teddy asked Victoire. "I'm a nightmare. Did you manage to shower before crashing?"

"Absolutely not," Victoire muttered into her arm. "The thought didn't even cross my mind, nor would I have entertained it if it had. It's a Veela thing."

"Huh," Teddy said. Another thing he hadn't noticed when they'd been kids, because it hadn't mattered. "It doesn't seem fair that you get that for being a quarter Veela and I can nothing for being half werewolf."

Victoire laughed at that—a real laugh, not the demented sound Teddy had attempted earlier.

"Remember when we were little and we were so sure that you'd be able to talk to the moon when you grew up?" Victoire asked.

"I do," Teddy said. "I have no idea where we got that idea from."

"From howling wolves," Victoire said. "We agreed it sounded very purposeful."

"That sounds like us. I remember that we were going to ask the moon if she could get you in touch with the sun. Or one of the stars at least."

"I remember that too," Victoire said quietly. "We were so excited to grow up because of that."

"It was a trap," Teddy said. "It was much better to just be wild children running along the beach and digging for treasure, or hiding our own to rediscover the next summer."

"It's true," Victoire said. Then she was quiet for some time. "It's… it's bad out there, Teddy. It's scary. Really scary. I know it's selfish, because it'd be better if you were literally anywhere else in the world, but I'm glad you're in here with me."

Teddy's stomach twisted. He hadn't been at St. Mungo's long and felt overwhelmed with the responsibility and pressure of this nightmare, but Victoire? Well, Victoire had always been a year behind him in school. She'd just graduated from the Healer Institute and been hired by the hospital last year.

"I'm glad you're in here with me," Teddy said simply. He hesitated for a moment before wrapping an arm around Victoire. She snuggled back against him, which had the effect of bringing them closer together and making the bed both bigger, warmer, and more comfortable. Teddy must have fallen asleep shortly after that because he was awakened by Turnipsmund's voice.

"You two are so cute. It makes me sick."

He managed not to kick Victoire as he whirled around to face his boss, who'd also peeled down to a simple set of scrubs he wore under his more elaborate Healer's robes.

"Is that contagious too?" Victoire asked, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Doesn't matter, time's become meaningless here" Turnipsmund. He tossed Victoire something wrapped in greasy brown paper which looked, and smelled, enough like a cafeteria breakfast sandwich for Teddy to bother opening his eyes. Turnipsmund tossed him one too and it landed on his chest. Teddy would kill for some coffee but he didn't want that to land in his lap, so he focused instead on tearing open the paper and sinking his teeth into the sandwich. "Listen up while you eat. I'm briefing you too so I can steal that cot and get some damned sleep myself."

"It's far more comfortable with a partner, let me tell you," Victoire said with a mouthful of bacon, egg, cheese, and English muffin—in that bold way of hers that only made Teddy blush more.

"I'm sure I'll live," Turnipsmund said. "Sit up Lupin, look alive."

Teddy sat up and ran a hand through his hair to assess how wild it looked after such a night of sleep as Turnipsmund spoke. But he didn't move away from Victoire as he did.

WC: 1774