Sober Thoughts

The Space Between Us

-Zack Grey

I've never seen happiness

But I've seen your face

And I cannot find

The difference

Sober Thoughts

"Oh my god Draco. What happened? Don't move!" Hermione climbed down the steps careful not to land on the glass around him. She took out her wand and assessed what was happening. Draco had fallen down the stairs and was laying in the hallway over broken glass. She didn't dare try to vanish it all for fear that some of the shards might retract from his body and he'd bleed out. She summoned her medical bag from the lab. Draco was groaning and clutching his side.

"I'm going to levitate you very slowly to see if the glass punctured any vital organs." He only groaned in acknowledgment. "Levicorpus." She said softly as he levitated about two feet in the air, she lowered herself to inspect him. Pointing her wand at the glass around them, the glass shards on the ground vanished. Most of the glass on his right arm was small and would require a quick healing charm but there was a rather thick piece of glass in his side that was dripping blood. She summoned a bottle of dittany from within her bag. "This will only sting for a moment."

She rotated him so that his right hip was facing up. His harness was still strapped in place trapping his open shirt underneath. It was best to vanish the shirt and she carefully unstrapped the harness to give her a better view of his side. Hermione decided to pull the shard out with her hand to make sure it wasn't yanked out too quickly. She placed her wand between her teeth, one hand with the bottle of dittany the other ready to grab the glass. She was swift but he still grunted in pain in the time it took for the drops of dittany to seep into the wound. It was over in a minute. She vanished the smaller shards on his side and arm and cast a healing charm. She ran an x-ray diagnostic and saw he had sprained his wrist. He wouldn't be able to use his wand for a day or two. He raised his head slowly to her slightly dazed.

"You're ok." She reassured him.

"You're quite beautiful." He said simply keeping his gaze on her. Her jaw dropped slightly as she wasn't sure how to react to that.

"I think you have a concussion." That could be the only explanation. She waved her wand, his body levitated higher and began to move through the hallway into the gym. She laid him on a chaise against one of the mirrored walls glancing at her reflection for only a moment. She had finally mastered putting her hair into a tight bun that didn't wobble, and two perfectly coiled curls framed her face. Otherwise, she looked the same as any other day. She looked down at Draco who was staring at her again.

"What am I doing, Granger?" he drawled. She sat on the coffee table in front of him and waved her wand to cast a comprehensive diagnostic of him.

"I think you were falling down the stairs." She said, "good news though." She offered.

"I could use some of that." His grey eyes settled on her face still, it was slightly eerie because he barely blinked. She wasn't sure how to feel but she understood where his sudden need to confess came from.

"You don't have a concussion."

"Mm." his gaze hovered at her hair. His jaw flexed slightly. Hermione couldn't help but appreciate the perfect symmetry of his face. "But you are very drunk." She informed him. He smiled then turning his head to the side. Like a switch he was fast asleep.

She watched him slip into a deep sleep, it was a side effect of dittany while it cycled through his body to heal. She got to work then and wrapped his wrist and his waist as she knew he would get some nasty bruises on his sides. Hermione had healed and worked on several hundred patients in her life, but this was certainly a different experience. Sure, he had called her beautiful, Dr. Caldmen reminded her of the same just a few hours ago, even though she had never particularly considered herself so. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't think the Draco was attractive also.

As if something suddenly clicked, several memories played at the forefront of her mind. First was the day she arrived to Grimmauld and he was exiting the kitchen without a shirt on. Yes, his body was certainly built, he was an auror after all. Then another memory from later that day when he helped her after she had fallen in the lab. Yes, she was hurt, and he did what any person would do, but her mind lingered on how his hands took hold of her shoulders to secure her on the seat. Then there was the day that he interrogated Haze. She watched him in his element, seeing bits and pieces of the boy she once recognized in the halls of Hogwarts. She did despise him then, but those were parts of him she knew. Connecting those two parts of him felt wrong now, he wasn't the same person.

The one memory she thought of more often was one born from terror and shock. The memory always started that way, first the fear of the hippogriff towering above her, then she was swept into the air on a broom, a new fear causing adrenaline to really kick in. Then she was clutching onto this man, this man who had saved her from one terror only to expose her to another. He saved her from Clicker. Then she was touching more of him than she ever had before, her neck against his as their pulses beat frantically separated by layers of skin. Hermione massaged the place on her neck anytime she thought of it. She knew it was a physical response to being in such a dangerous situation, but she couldn't help but swim in the thought of his pulse beating frantically. Yes she was scared, but for reasons beyond her comprehension, she sought to experience it again.

As she secured the last bandage, she straightened his body flat onto the chaise. His features were relaxed, the tension on his brow gone. Hermione thought then about his expression when he walked in on Neville kissing her only yesterday. She hadn't been able to identify an emotion, but now she couldn't help but wonder if he was surprised. Draco must have thought that she was involved with Neville now. She reminded herself that she needed to clear things up with her old friend. She probably should explain herself to Draco, if only to make sure there were no other misunderstandings. The voice of Dr. Caldmen echoed in her mind, 'You get to enjoy this world you fight for also.' Yes, Draco was her partner now, but that was a far cry from… other things.

After making sure Draco was settled into bed, Hermione returned to the lab to continue her work on the samples they had collected from Teddy and Victoire. Taffy had arrived shortly after to get some work done. Hermione greeted her turning off the centrifuge.

"Miss Winterof, could you start storing the herbs and clippings from yesterday's collection? You're familiar with their placements?" she waved a hand toward the ingredients lining one of the walls.

"Yes." Taffy walked over to the marble table at the center of the lab, opening the travel bag. She summoned the case they used to store everything, and she wondered if she could ask for a lesson on undetectable extension charms for her own bag. Putting on some gloves and getting her label maker ready, she began to sort and organize the ingredients into the many vials and jars on the shelves. They worked in relative silence for 2 or 3 hours. When she was finally done, she turned to Hermione trying to muster up the courage to tell her about what happened with Haze last night. She had avoided thinking about it too much.

"Miss Granger?" Taffy took a seat on a stool next to where Hermione was now peering through a microscope.

"Mm?"

"I was wondering if we could review some of your findings on the behaviors of werewolves."

"Certainly, what types of behaviors did you have in mind?" she said making a note on a chart nearby.

"I know that you said werewolves really don't behave much more differently than who they originally were before being infected right?"

"Well, yes, but we must consider that any illness is likely to change a person in different ways. Some people could experience feelings of depression or hopelessness. These emotions can have lasting effects on anyone. If we are talking about werewolves specifically, there is currently no proof of the infection changing the core of the person's personality. Which is what I assume you are eluding to?"

"Yes, I know this is the case with people infected by way of an attack from another werewolf." Taffy thought carefully about how to phrase her next question. She didn't want Hermione to know about her suspicions just yet. "If what Haze said is true, that he wasn't attacked, that he was born a werewolf," Hermione turned to face her with a pensive expression. "Couldn't that mean that he is more in tuned with his wolf nature? Couldn't that be a source of behaviors more attributed to being a wolf? Like when he howled in the atrium, or is," she wanted to say playful, but felt like that was too juvenile, "or has bursts of energy?" Taffy watched Hermione consider this for a few minutes.

"I think that is certainly plausible Miss Winterof, and an excellent observation. His blood samples were split and could very well explain the theory that he is more of a hybrid then what we consider to be a werewolf. Which arguably, could be considered the same, however it's important we document these differences." Hermione seemed impressed and Taffy wanted to take advantage of the moment to try and ask another question.

"Are there magical creatures that have abilities that can affect other beings?"

"In what way?"

"I was thinking about some muggle fairytales the other day and happened by the mythos of sirens, or mermaids. Some stories describe an ability to lure fishermen into water for the purposed of drowning them. They lure them by singing to them, a sort of enchantment. Is there anything like that in the wizarding world?" she hoped that by describing a completely different creature it might sound like a general curiosity.

"Well, it's great question, but you have to remember, that most muggle stories about magical creatures, even wizards, are written from a perspective of cautionary tales. The purpose of which is to control through fear. If we learned anything from our lessons in care of magical creatures, we learn that most magical creatures, while teaming with magical properties that are quite useful in countless potions and remedies, are beings just like you and me. They usually only pose a threat to us when we threaten them or approach their territory. Some creatures can be used by dark wizard to harm us, but usually they do not have a specific intent to harm us overall. There are dark creatures, like dementors, basilisks, and transformed werewolves that will seek to harm us if we are near them. Did that answer your question?" she finished leaving Taffy with a lot to think of.

"Yes, thank you." Taffy had no other work to complete for the day, so Hermione sent her home. They would begin the interviews for the ministry employees tomorrow, so she was expected in the office in the morning to help set up. Hermione stayed behind knowing she had to check in on Draco soon.

*A thank you would have been enough!*

In the next episode, we check in on our wounded auror and discover some dark truths. Maybe the past isn't that far behind us.