Disclaimer: I don't own them, but you can pretend I do if you want.
Chapter 7: Dr. Braddock
Quidditch was not cancelled the next morning, or the morning after that, even though Katie Bell was not coming out of the Infirmary any time soon. Neither was Carmen Lowery. Madame Pomfrey hadn't disclosed any information, but it soon becoming evident that she wasn't quite sure how to treat the two Gryffindors. She was thus far adamant about keeping the two girls out of St. Mungos and therefore made a plea to have one of their doctors come to Hogwarts.
He came.
Dr. Braddock was a tall, spindly looking man with wire-rimmed glasses. Hidden behind those rounded glasses were eyes of piercing, almost spooky, gray. Harry purposefully avoided the man whenever he could; the doctor seemed to have a fascination with Harry that he didn't quite understand, but Ron ran into him more times than he would have liked to.
Ron probably would have stayed as far away from the man as possible too except fate had a certain way of getting in the way at first, Ginny had banged up her wrist quite bad doing who-knows-what and Ron had to visit her. Then, George was trying out one of his and Fred's latest inventions, and the thing shrunk his head to the size of a galleon (and therefore, you couldn't even tell he had a head) and Ron, upon hearing about this had to go to the Infirmary and check it out for himself. He had emerged from the hospital wing laughing hysterically. Then, in Potions the same afternoon the trio had first run into Dr. Braddock, on their way to the Great Hall, a potion they were brewing exploded in Ron's face and temporarily blinded him. Thus, he had to make his way to the Infirmary and as bad as Harry felt for his friend, he absolutely would not go down there with him for fear of running into the batty old man and so Dean went.
"Honestly Harry, it's your fault the stupid thing blew up in his face, the least you could do is go down to the Infirmary with him!" Hermione snapped as soon as they walked out of the Potions' dungeon.
Harry nearly scoffed at her.
"You are the one who added Eye of Newt and not the sheep's bladder. Dean had nothing to do with it," she pointed out as if Harry didn't already know that. "And," she continued righteously, "he's just some old man. It's not like he's going to hurt you Harry. Madame Pomfrey would protect you."
"Yes, I know Hermione," he said, exasperated and already wishing he had gone down to the Infirmary with Ron.
She opened her mouth to say something more, but Harry interrupted with something he knew would get her to shut up. "So, you like Ron do you?" he asked with a smirk.
Hermione's mouth fell open like lead weights were attached to her lower lip. She promptly closed her mouth then, just to open it again. "I don't know what you're talking about, Harry."
"Liar!" he said, calling her bluff.
Hearing no protests from her, Harry continued. "You've always been a horrible liar Hermione."
Her brows came together with worry. "Just don't say anything to him, OK?" she requested anxiously.
"I won't, but why don't you?" he asked curiously.
"Because he doesn't see me as anything more than a mousy, know-it-all bookworm," she replied bitterly. She brought her chin up. "And I'm alright with that."
He wanted to make some comment about how ridiculous they were, but Ron chose that moment to come up from behind them. The look on his face told Harry he hadn't heard anything. Or, at least he wasn't red in the face.
"Thanks a lot for your help mate," Ron said sarcastically.
Harry mock bowed. "Any time," he replied with a laugh.
"Any time my arse," Ron muttered.
"Ron! Don't swear!" Hermione rebuked and Ron grinned cockily.
"Anyhow," the tall redhead began, "that Braddock fellow is a lot weirder than we originally thought guys. "He doesn't chant or anything when he's taking care of sick patients. Instead, he's been giving Katie and Carmen these things called shots. I watched him give them and it looks like they hurt." He shivered after saying this.
Hermione's brows drew together in thought. She looked at Ron. "Are you sure he was giving them shots?" she asked curiously.
Ron nodded his head violently. "Yep. I'm sure. I watched. There was this whatchmacallit thinger—platick—and it had a long needly-looking thing coming from one end. He stuck that end into their arms."
"Hmm," Hermione thought. "That's really odd. It's almost like he's a muggle doctor…"
"What? Why?" a confused Ron asked.
Hermione looked up at him. "Well, it's like this Ron: those things called shots, well they're a muggle thing. You see, the long plastic part holds liquid medicine and when you put the needle into a patient's arm, usually into one's tissue, then the medicine gets absorbed by the body and voila, you're healthy again. Or at least that's the short explanation as to what happens.
She began pacing around the empty hallway. "But why would he be administering muggle medicine to them? It's not a muggle illness!"
The few people who were now walking past looked at her, surprised. "Um, Hermione," Harry broke in, "maybe we better just go to dinner. I am kind of hungry."
Ron nodded. "Yeah Hermione." He looked to Harry apologetically, but Harry wasn't so sure what Ron had to apologize for. He found out in two seconds flat. "Harry and I promise to go to the library and help you search for clues after we eat Hermione."
Hermione smiled gratefully but Harry was plotting Ron's untimely death.
The trio was walking toward the Great Hall when the screaming began. They stopped dead in their tracks. Hermione's eyes widened terrifically and Ron, subconsciously put a protective arm around her shoulders.
"Maybe we should just turn around…?" Ron suggested weakly.
Harry shook his head. "No, no we can't. Someone might be hurt."
"And what are we going to be able to do?" Ron asked more loudly, as the screams were growing louder.
Hermione took a deep breath and felt safe with Ron next to her…and his arms around her.
Dr. Braddock was the first one they saw coming from in front of them, and he was carrying…Lavender Brown.
Hermione's eyes welled up as she watched Braddock, cursing softly to himself, fairly running down the hall with a quite limp Lavender. McGonagall was hurrying behind, with Snape following. Unlike normal, Snape had no rude comment to say to either of the three nor did McGonagall deem fit to reprimand them for not being at supper. In fact, it seemed as if they hadn't noticed them at all.
"This isn't funny anymore," Ron muttered, which was the understatement of the year.
Harry silently agreed. It was indeed, quite seriously scary.
Just as they thought the teachers were gone, Dr. Braddock reappeared, with no Lavender Brown in his arms and shook his head sadly upon seeing the threesome, standing there in the hall, gaping at the older man.
Thanks for reading! I hope ya'll are enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing this. It really is a wonderful creative outlet and I encourage all of you to write something of your own…it doesn't matter what it is, just get your creative juices flowing! Thanks again, REVIEW!!!
