Hermione was surprised that is had only taken three days for Malfoy
to wake up. It had to be some sort of a miracle. Never had she seen such a
bad Cruciatis related case-never. She wondered fleetingly why anyone would
do such a thing to another human being, but pushed the thought to the back
of her mind for the time being. They would have to see if they could
extract any information about the Curse from Malfoy-providing that he was
still sane enough to do so. Sure, she had seen Cruciatis-induced cases like
this before but if the patients even woke up, they were never able to make
sense of anything again and had to be kept in a special ward on one of the
upper levels in the hospital. While in Medi-wizard school she had read
about Neville's parents. The Longbottoms' had been the worst case ever
recorded that had lived. If Malfoy were sane. this case would make history.
Still pondering the case, Hermione hardly noticed the nurses rushing all around her. Finally, one petite nurse caught her attention. "Dr. Granger," she said in a high pitched voice, "it doesn't seem as though Mr. Malfoy is going to make it out of this and still be able to comprehend the world around him. It seems we're going to have to put him in the mental ward." Hermione flinched at the thought. Sure, she had hated him in school, but she wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, not even him. Hermione nodded but didn't say anything, motioning that she comprehended what the nurse was saying. The nurse continued. "Dr. Granger, I don't think you realize how dire his situation is. He hasn't said anything since he woke up and he's been up for well over an hour. He's going to have to go to the mental ward and I recommend taking him straight there." Hermione's anger go the better of her. "Miss." she glanced at the nurse's name-tag, " Talon. Am I or am I not one of the head Medi-witches of this facility?" Miss Talon opened her mouth to reply but was cut off. "I have not seen the patient since he woke up. If I wanted your recommendations about my patient I would ask for them, would I not?" Again the nurse tried to answer the rhetorical question but was again cut off. "I will examine the patient and I will make my own diagnosis. You are dismissed for the remainder of the evening." The nurse huffed and stormed off in the opposite direction. It had been awhile since Hermione had had to yell at an incompetent nurse. Hermione turned to the rest of the staff gathering around her, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "Would anybody else like to give me their diagnosis?" Not seeing any other takers, she turned and walked into Malfoy's room.
~ * ~
Hermione was somewhat surprised to see that Malfoy was sitting up in bed. Lighting the tip of her wand, Hermione shown the light into each of Malfoy's pupils. Clear. "All right Malfoy.Let's just do a quick review of your general health, eh?" Malfoy didn't respond, just looked at her inquisitively, as though trying to place together a thought. It wasn't very promising; most of the patients walking about upstairs had the same look on their faces all the time. Hermione also checked Malfoy's ears and tonsils. Pushing him gently back onto the bed so that he was lying flat again, she scanned her wand over the length of his body to be sure that all of the internal wounds had clotted correctly and were no longer bleeding. There were still minor bruises on some of his organs, but nothing major. She would keep him on a fibrin-production potion so that the rest of the blood vessels and cuts could heal. Luckily, no damage had been done to the major organs like the heart, lungs or kidneys. Now if he had had a collapsed lung, that would have been an entirely different story. The internal checkup done, Hermione told the day staff to call it a night. They would check his appendages in the morning to make sure that no joints, ligaments, or tendons had sustained critical injuries.
~ * ~
Hermione finally went home that night, seeing as Malfoy was awake. Although still on call, she hoped to get a few decent hours of sleep at the very least. Putting the water on to boil, she removed a mug and a tea bag from the cupboards over the stove. Going to her bedroom, she undressed and wrapped herself in her favorite pink bathrobe, one she had had since her Hogwarts' day, and came back out of her room just in time to pour the steaming liquid into her mug. With a satisfied sigh she went to check her messages. Since she used both methods of contacting friends and family (and bills, although she wasn't as fond of those as the others), Hermione had a whopping number of seventeen messages on her answering machine and a stack of owl deliveries about four inches high. Most of the messages on the answering machine were from Ginny; actually, all of the messages were from Ginny. Hermione smiled and chuckled to herself as she listened to her best friend's voice get more and more exasperated with each message- "I swear Hermione, all you do is work these days"- "Why don't you go out and date anymore?"-"Geez Hermione, get home and pick up the god damned phone.- Ginny wasn't one for patience. The owl deliveries were mostly bills. Daily Prophet subscription, dentist bill, the birthday presents for Ron's twin girls that she had charged on her Wizard's Gold Card. The list went on. There were also a few messages from Ginny in this stack as well-'Since you're not answering your telephone."- There were also some letters from Molly Weasley, Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown (there was a surprise, Hermione hadn't heard from her since she had found the blonde girl in the same bed with Seamus), and Harry. Molly's letter was about Christmas, which was still three months away. Ron's was just an update on how the family was doing and asking how work was. Hermione noticed with some disdain that no one ever asked how her significant other was. Harry's letter was much the same except he was letting her know that he had been promoted at work. Hermione smiled. Harry was on the fast track to becoming the Minister of Magic. Lavender's letter. Hermione sat and thought for a couple moments, wondering if she wanted to open it or not. Taking a deep breath and hoping it wasn't a wedding invitation, she opened it. It was an invitation all right, but not to Lavender and Seamus' wedding. It was an invitation to the Hogwarts' class reunion. She'd think about that later. Finishing her tea and leaving the mug to scrub itself, Hermione finally went back up to her room and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~ * ~
The next morning, Hermione awoke with a yawn and glanced at her nightstand. It was already seven-thirty in the morning! If she didn't hurry she was going to be late for work. She was never late for work! Jumping out of bed Hermione ran a comb through her hair and got dressed. Quickly grabbing her bracelet and wand, she apparated herself to the lobby of the hospital. She punched in just as the clock struck eight o'clock.
Rushing up to her office, Hermione just dropped off her belongings and headed straight for Malfoy's room. Again he was sitting up and glancing curiously around the room. When Hermione came in, he looked to her and smiled a friendly smile. It was so odd not seeing his familiar smirk on his face. A look of recognition crossed his face at the same time a look of confusion did. It seemed that he knew who she was but couldn't place how he knew her. "How are you today Malfoy? Feeling any better?" she asked in an upbeat tone, trying to get him to speak to her. His hair was tousled messily from having not been brushed in a week. Quickly reaching to his bedside table, she grabbed a brush from the drawer and began brushing the silky strands into place. She couldn't help but take a little extra time running her hands through his hair, gently placing each thread back in place. His hair was different. It had always been gelled back during school, giving it a greasy, unwashed look. With his hair free of the gel, it was soft and fell becomingly over his eyes so that he had to shake it out of the way every so often. Hermione shook her head and removed her hands from his head. What was she doing? First of all, this was her patient and she was his doctor, she shouldn't be thinking about how soft his hair was. Also, this was Malfoy. He had made her life a living hell for seven long years. Hermione put the brush back in the drawer. "So, are you hungry? Do you want breakfast?" He seemed to have a handle on what she'd said because he nodded. "All right, I'll be right back."
Hermione returned fifteen minutes later with a bowl of oatmeal in her hands. It was hospital oatmeal, so it was a little goopy, but it was nutritious and would help him recover faster. Malfoy took the bowl from her and started shoveling the food into his mouth hungrily. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Malfoy slow down or you're going to make yourself sick." Malfoy glared at her defiantly and placed one more spoonful in his mouth before swallowing. Hermione shook her head and smirked a little. "Still the same old Malfoy, has to prove that he doesn't take orders from anyone, not even his doctor." Although he had placed that one last defiant spoonful in his mouth, Malfoy ate slower after that. It was a good sign.
About three hours later, Hermione returned from checking on her other patients. Malfoy, surprisingly, was reading a book. "How long has he been reading?" Hermione asked the nurse who was sitting with him. "About ten minutes," the nurse replied. Malfoy dropped the book then, as though tired from the exertion of holding it up. Hermione brought the copy of the Daily Prophet out from under her arm where she'd been holding it. "Would you like me to read a bit to you from today's paper?" she asked, not sure if he was up to it. His face brightened and he nodded, lying back against his pillows to listen to her soothing voice read of the latest mishaps of the Ministry and the goings on of the wizarding world outside of England.
Still pondering the case, Hermione hardly noticed the nurses rushing all around her. Finally, one petite nurse caught her attention. "Dr. Granger," she said in a high pitched voice, "it doesn't seem as though Mr. Malfoy is going to make it out of this and still be able to comprehend the world around him. It seems we're going to have to put him in the mental ward." Hermione flinched at the thought. Sure, she had hated him in school, but she wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, not even him. Hermione nodded but didn't say anything, motioning that she comprehended what the nurse was saying. The nurse continued. "Dr. Granger, I don't think you realize how dire his situation is. He hasn't said anything since he woke up and he's been up for well over an hour. He's going to have to go to the mental ward and I recommend taking him straight there." Hermione's anger go the better of her. "Miss." she glanced at the nurse's name-tag, " Talon. Am I or am I not one of the head Medi-witches of this facility?" Miss Talon opened her mouth to reply but was cut off. "I have not seen the patient since he woke up. If I wanted your recommendations about my patient I would ask for them, would I not?" Again the nurse tried to answer the rhetorical question but was again cut off. "I will examine the patient and I will make my own diagnosis. You are dismissed for the remainder of the evening." The nurse huffed and stormed off in the opposite direction. It had been awhile since Hermione had had to yell at an incompetent nurse. Hermione turned to the rest of the staff gathering around her, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "Would anybody else like to give me their diagnosis?" Not seeing any other takers, she turned and walked into Malfoy's room.
~ * ~
Hermione was somewhat surprised to see that Malfoy was sitting up in bed. Lighting the tip of her wand, Hermione shown the light into each of Malfoy's pupils. Clear. "All right Malfoy.Let's just do a quick review of your general health, eh?" Malfoy didn't respond, just looked at her inquisitively, as though trying to place together a thought. It wasn't very promising; most of the patients walking about upstairs had the same look on their faces all the time. Hermione also checked Malfoy's ears and tonsils. Pushing him gently back onto the bed so that he was lying flat again, she scanned her wand over the length of his body to be sure that all of the internal wounds had clotted correctly and were no longer bleeding. There were still minor bruises on some of his organs, but nothing major. She would keep him on a fibrin-production potion so that the rest of the blood vessels and cuts could heal. Luckily, no damage had been done to the major organs like the heart, lungs or kidneys. Now if he had had a collapsed lung, that would have been an entirely different story. The internal checkup done, Hermione told the day staff to call it a night. They would check his appendages in the morning to make sure that no joints, ligaments, or tendons had sustained critical injuries.
~ * ~
Hermione finally went home that night, seeing as Malfoy was awake. Although still on call, she hoped to get a few decent hours of sleep at the very least. Putting the water on to boil, she removed a mug and a tea bag from the cupboards over the stove. Going to her bedroom, she undressed and wrapped herself in her favorite pink bathrobe, one she had had since her Hogwarts' day, and came back out of her room just in time to pour the steaming liquid into her mug. With a satisfied sigh she went to check her messages. Since she used both methods of contacting friends and family (and bills, although she wasn't as fond of those as the others), Hermione had a whopping number of seventeen messages on her answering machine and a stack of owl deliveries about four inches high. Most of the messages on the answering machine were from Ginny; actually, all of the messages were from Ginny. Hermione smiled and chuckled to herself as she listened to her best friend's voice get more and more exasperated with each message- "I swear Hermione, all you do is work these days"- "Why don't you go out and date anymore?"-"Geez Hermione, get home and pick up the god damned phone.- Ginny wasn't one for patience. The owl deliveries were mostly bills. Daily Prophet subscription, dentist bill, the birthday presents for Ron's twin girls that she had charged on her Wizard's Gold Card. The list went on. There were also a few messages from Ginny in this stack as well-'Since you're not answering your telephone."- There were also some letters from Molly Weasley, Ron Weasley, Lavender Brown (there was a surprise, Hermione hadn't heard from her since she had found the blonde girl in the same bed with Seamus), and Harry. Molly's letter was about Christmas, which was still three months away. Ron's was just an update on how the family was doing and asking how work was. Hermione noticed with some disdain that no one ever asked how her significant other was. Harry's letter was much the same except he was letting her know that he had been promoted at work. Hermione smiled. Harry was on the fast track to becoming the Minister of Magic. Lavender's letter. Hermione sat and thought for a couple moments, wondering if she wanted to open it or not. Taking a deep breath and hoping it wasn't a wedding invitation, she opened it. It was an invitation all right, but not to Lavender and Seamus' wedding. It was an invitation to the Hogwarts' class reunion. She'd think about that later. Finishing her tea and leaving the mug to scrub itself, Hermione finally went back up to her room and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
~ * ~
The next morning, Hermione awoke with a yawn and glanced at her nightstand. It was already seven-thirty in the morning! If she didn't hurry she was going to be late for work. She was never late for work! Jumping out of bed Hermione ran a comb through her hair and got dressed. Quickly grabbing her bracelet and wand, she apparated herself to the lobby of the hospital. She punched in just as the clock struck eight o'clock.
Rushing up to her office, Hermione just dropped off her belongings and headed straight for Malfoy's room. Again he was sitting up and glancing curiously around the room. When Hermione came in, he looked to her and smiled a friendly smile. It was so odd not seeing his familiar smirk on his face. A look of recognition crossed his face at the same time a look of confusion did. It seemed that he knew who she was but couldn't place how he knew her. "How are you today Malfoy? Feeling any better?" she asked in an upbeat tone, trying to get him to speak to her. His hair was tousled messily from having not been brushed in a week. Quickly reaching to his bedside table, she grabbed a brush from the drawer and began brushing the silky strands into place. She couldn't help but take a little extra time running her hands through his hair, gently placing each thread back in place. His hair was different. It had always been gelled back during school, giving it a greasy, unwashed look. With his hair free of the gel, it was soft and fell becomingly over his eyes so that he had to shake it out of the way every so often. Hermione shook her head and removed her hands from his head. What was she doing? First of all, this was her patient and she was his doctor, she shouldn't be thinking about how soft his hair was. Also, this was Malfoy. He had made her life a living hell for seven long years. Hermione put the brush back in the drawer. "So, are you hungry? Do you want breakfast?" He seemed to have a handle on what she'd said because he nodded. "All right, I'll be right back."
Hermione returned fifteen minutes later with a bowl of oatmeal in her hands. It was hospital oatmeal, so it was a little goopy, but it was nutritious and would help him recover faster. Malfoy took the bowl from her and started shoveling the food into his mouth hungrily. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Malfoy slow down or you're going to make yourself sick." Malfoy glared at her defiantly and placed one more spoonful in his mouth before swallowing. Hermione shook her head and smirked a little. "Still the same old Malfoy, has to prove that he doesn't take orders from anyone, not even his doctor." Although he had placed that one last defiant spoonful in his mouth, Malfoy ate slower after that. It was a good sign.
About three hours later, Hermione returned from checking on her other patients. Malfoy, surprisingly, was reading a book. "How long has he been reading?" Hermione asked the nurse who was sitting with him. "About ten minutes," the nurse replied. Malfoy dropped the book then, as though tired from the exertion of holding it up. Hermione brought the copy of the Daily Prophet out from under her arm where she'd been holding it. "Would you like me to read a bit to you from today's paper?" she asked, not sure if he was up to it. His face brightened and he nodded, lying back against his pillows to listen to her soothing voice read of the latest mishaps of the Ministry and the goings on of the wizarding world outside of England.
