Hi there! Going to power through and finish this fanfic after a long hiatus. I have gotten some original writing published elsewhere, so have been concentrating on that, and have decided to finish this before starting my next project. I hope you are enjoying the story, my love for J.K.'s characters makes it a joy to write and imagine how they could interact as time went on...
Draco took a deep breath before stepping forward to greet the Mediwitch behind the table. There were several leaflets and a display of posters showing various magical ailments on a big noticeboard to one side.
"Hello!" the mediwitch greeted him, her brisk manner strangely reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. "Interested in becoming a healer?"
"Yes," said Draco, pleased he sounded confident. "I have been thinking about it for a while now."
"That's good to hear. Are you taking the appropriate subjects?" She slid a checklist towards him, detailing the minimum requirements to be accepted onto the training. He quickly scanned it in case they had changed since he had read them in OWL year.
"Yes, at Owl I got an O in Potions, Charms and Transfiguration, and E in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology. I have also been offered the additional Alchemy classes with Professor McGonagall, which has been very interesting." Draco hoped that he was coming across well; he didn't want to sound like he was bragging, but desperately wanted her to think well of him.
"That all sounds good." She said with a nod. Draco was unsure whether the witch knew who he was or if she would be as friendly if she did. Should he introduce himself or would it seem like he was trying to name-drop?
"Of course," she continued. "It's important that healers are magically competent, but there are other important qualities too. Knowing how to deal with frightened and angry people, staying calm in difficult situations, having empathy and compassion."
Salazar's saggy ballsack, she was going to give him the brush off, just like the Apparition instructor. Draco braced himself for the crushing blow of her turning him away, wanting to rail against the unfairness of his stupid choices in the past ruining his future.
"This is why we require healer candidates to complete three years training, with a further two years supervised practice before they are given the title of Healer and allowed to run their own wards." The witch was still saying her spiel, seemingly oblivious to Draco's inner turmoil. "Is that something you feel you could commit to?"
"Yes," said Draco quickly. "I could commit to that. Would there be a chance to specialise after that time as well?"
"Yes, once qualified, you could then study further in whatever field of healing you chose provided you showed aptitude for it." The Mediwitch looked at him and nodded, her face impassive.
Draco had to know for sure if he had a chance at this, he couldn't bear the uncertainty of not knowing if his name would stop him being considered for this. He leant in closer to the witch to speak confidentially;
"Will it make a difference to my application? My actions in the war, will they stop me being considered?" He asked her, hoping he didn't sound too desperate.
"You were tried by the ministry and have served your sentence if I remember rightly?" said the nurse coolly. "You have just as much of a chance to train as anyone else; if you show promise as a healer you will progress. I resent the insinuation that we would judge on anything other than ability, either favourably of unfavourably."
Draco could have kissed her! She knew who he was, and still thought that he should get a chance to prove himself. His future may not be so bleak after all!
"Thank you." He said sincerely. "I really appreciate your integrity." He didn't want to gush, but genuinely wanted her to know how much it meant to him.
"Of course," she added, "you may find that the patient's may not be so happy for you to treat them…"
That didn't matter to Draco, sod the patients! He realised that to say this out loud may not be the most sensible thing to do at this moment in time, so just thanked her again whilst she handed him the relevant forms to fill in and start his application.
He turned away from the booth, tempted to just leave the fair and use the rest of the morning to finish his Arithmancy homework now that he had the applications for the jobs that he wanted, but then remembered Granger's excitement of how there might be roles on offer that they hadn't even known existed and decided to continue on round the room.
He was only a few booths further along (Department of Magical Games and Sports, Twillfit and Tattings, and Comet Trading Co, which made broomsticks) when he met Hermione coming the other way.
"How's it going?" she asked him with a smile, and for a moment it felt like it had before the fateful letter from his mother had ruined it all.
"Great." He said, unable to hide his smile. "How about you? Interested in anything here?"
"I didn't realise that the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of magical creatures is retiring, so they are looking to re-structure." Hermione said, her eyes shining with enthusiasm. "I was telling him about S.P.E.W. and he seemed quite impressed; they definitely need to examine some policies…"
She had lost him completely. "Spew?" he asked. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare!" she told him impatiently. "I started it when we were in our fourth year after seeing how house elves were being exploited!"
He looked at her incredulously, not sure if she was joking with him; Exploited? Serving wizards is what house elves did! Her face however, showed that she was deadly serious.
"Ok, well it's good that he seemed positive about it," Draco hedged. He now understood the look he had seen on the department representative's face; Hermione in full flow was a force to be reckoned with!
"I saw you over at the St Mungo's stand." She told him. "Did you get what information you wanted?"
"Yes." He told her with a smile. "I got a much better response than I could have hoped for."
"That's great!" she told him, her face lighting up with genuine delight for him. He couldn't help but think about how beautiful she was; Merlin's beard, he missed her! He almost reached out to stroke the soft skin of her wrist that he could see where the sleeve of her robe had rolled back, but stopped himself. He couldn't be certain that she would welcome his touch, and he didn't want to ruin any progress he had made with the "concentrating on our NEWT's" plan.
"How about you?" he asked, eager to further their conversation. "Found anything interesting that you hadn't expected?"
"Not really," she said. "I think the Ministry is probably where I'm going to head for."
"You don't fancy being an Auror?" he asked, nodding towards the Auror booth, which was by far the busiest.
"Not really." She said, wrinkling her nose. "I mean, I have thought about it, but it's really only dealing with problems on a small scale, case by case. I want to enact changes that will make things better at a government level, which will benefit everyone!"
His witch was nothing if not ambitious! And more pertinently, it was likely she had the vision, intelligence and influence to do it too. He looked over at the mass of students crowding round the Aurors, spotting Potter, Weasley and Longbottom all vying for attention.
"Also," continued Hermione. "Being an auror would mean shift work and travel, and I want to have a family at some point so I want a career that would be conducive to that long-term."
Family!? That got Draco's attention. Was she subtly hinting that she wanted a more serious relationship with him? Or was she just trying to be sensible about the future, imagining a faceless, idealised man as her husband?
He stopped this line of thought with a scowl; he was doing it again! Obsessing over Granger instead of concentrating on getting the best NEWT's he could.
"What?" asked Hermione, obviously noticing the sudden change in his countenance. She followed his gaze over to the Auror booth again. "I know it's busy, but if you want to go and speak to them…"
"No!" said Draco quickly, realising that she thought he was annoyed because he wanted to go and find out about Auror training. "Even before I had a criminal record I didn't feel like I would suit being an auror. I'll leave that to Potter." He nearly said "Saint Potter" out of habit, but luckily remembered who he was speaking to. Not that he felt particularly bitter towards Potter now anyway, in fact, he might even call him Saint Potter to his face to see what happened…
"That's the only career that Harry has considered since fifth year; they've basically already signed him up, his NEWT's are just a formality." Hermione told him, voice carefully neutral. Clearly, she didn't approve of exams being treated with such little respect!
"I'm not surprised." Said Draco, feeling only slightly jealous that Potter was guaranteed a place in his career of choice. Ok, maybe a little more than slightly but not as much as he would have been before, he told himself.
They looked at each other for a moment, sudden awkwardness descending. This was the point that they would usually say something more intimate, or touch one another in some way, and the void was obvious.
"I'm going to carry on round," he said, wanting to break the silence. "Will you be in the library later? We can discuss our findings…"
"Yes, of course!" she said, like the idea of her not being in the library was unthinkable. "See you later…"
Draco moved off towards the other booths, feeling like for once, everything was going well.
Once he had seen the other stalls with, avoiding the Auror stand and not finding anything else of real interest, he left the hall, going to the dormitory to put his application forms away safely in his trunk. He had just re-entered the common room when he noticed a familiar figure, hunched in one of the chairs near the fire.
"Done at the fair already?" he asked, as he went and sat in the opposite chair.
"I'll be lucky getting a job training security trolls…" Theo muttered, carefully not looking at Draco. Rather disturbingly, his eyes looked bloodshot and there was a suggestion of tear tracks on his cheeks.
"What's going on Theo?" Asked Draco, not sure if he really wanted an answer. He couldn't just leave him like this though.
"I can't do it!" Theo said, sounding on the verge of tears. "I can't remember anything. The more I try to study the less I can remember. I don't know what to do Malfoy, I can't go back!"
Draco didn't reply for a moment, unsure what part of this he should address first; Theo wasn't making a huge amount of sense.
"Ok." Said Draco, after he had thought for a second. "Firstly, you need to go to Pomfrey and get a calming draught. I'll come with you for a dreamless sleep potion too, because I'm not sleeping well."
"I'm not some fucking nancy who needs to be sedated!" started Theo, his upset quickly turning to anger, but Draco cut him off.
"You're not a fucking nancy for using the help that is available!" he bit out, trying to keep his own temper. "We have both got to do as well as possible in our NEWT's, and I'm not too proud to ask for help!"
Theo looked at him like he was about to argue again, so Draco quickly went on.
"And what do you mean you can't go back? Go back where, to your aunt's?"
"Yes. I can't go back to my aunt's. I will need to find somewhere new to live once I have finished my exams. I might be able to stay with her until my results come through, but now I'm of age she wants me out. She doesn't want to be associated with criminals." Theo told him, his voice hard.
"That is more of an issue. Have you got any money at all?" asked Draco. He wasn't going to offer empty platitudes, Theo needed practical solutions.
"Nothing." He said flippantly. "Everything from mum and dad's was seized, and Aunt Jocasta won't give me anything she doesn't have to."
"I'm sure we can think of something. The most important thing is to get through the NEWT's as best you can." Draco wasn't used to trying to comfort other people, especially his usually acerbic and petulant classmate.
Draco glanced up at the clock on the mantle of the fireplace seeing that they had a good hour until lunch, which was enough time to go to see Madam Pomfrey.
"Come on," he said to Theo. "Let's go see Pomfrey now."
To Draco's surprise, Theo got off the armchair to follow without complaint, remaining silent as they left the dungeon and headed up to the hospital wing. He must really be struggling, thought Draco, if he can't even find the energy to complain.
All was quiet when they got there, after all most of the students were in lessons, and Draco had to go and knock on the Matron's office door to get her attention.
"Mr Malfoy? And Mr Nott? What can I do for you both?" As usual, her direct manner didn't feel welcoming, but Draco wasn't going to let that faze him.
"I have been having difficulty sleeping." He started, ignoring the pursing of her lips as if to say 'serves you right!'
"As we are getting closer to NEWT's I don't want it to affect my performance, so I have come to ask you for a dreamless sleep potion." He felt a little relieved at having said it, and strangely proud of himself; he knew Granger would approve of him taking action.
"That's not a problem." Madam Pomfrey told him, before turning to Theo. "Do you want the same, Mr Nott?"
"No." said Theo, glancing at Draco. "I think I need a calming draught, I can't seem to concentrate…" he tailed off, looking a little sullen again.
"Alright." She said, getting up to go over to her store cupboard. "Career's fair day always puts a little more pressure on," she told them over her shoulder. "Students suddenly realise the NEWT's will impact their futures and it gets a bit much for some…"
She found what she was looking for and turned back to them with two bottles in her hands. She handed one to Draco, and set the other on the table.
"Take one spoonful just before bed," she told him sternly. "I will let you take the rest of that bottle to last you the next couple of weeks; make sure you take care of it, you shan't get any more."
She then pulled out a spoon and started to tip the Calming Draught into it. "Open up, Mr Nott!" she barked.
With a look of distaste at being spoon-fed like a toddler, Theo allowed her to tip the spoon into his mouth, swallowing down the red-brown mixture.
"Thank you," said Draco determined to try and keep the matron on side. Theo muttered something that echoed this sentiment.
"Off you go," Madam Pomfrey replied. "Come back again if you need to." She told Theo as they made their way to the door.
By the time they got back to the common room, he could already see the difference in Theo. Had lost the tense, hunched posture and his face was looking more normal, less pinched, which was a relief for Draco. He wasn't sure if it was because he wanted Theo to feel better, or if it was just that he didn't know how else to help him but felt like he should be doing something!
"Shall we head up to lunch?" said Draco, after depositing his dreamless sleep potion in the dormitory.
"Yeah," said Theo. "I'm starving."
Draco grinned at this; his friend was definitely feeling better.
