Disclaimer: Anything HP is not mine.
Changing Leaves (3?)
Draco immediately went to the house that Harry and Hermione shared, the very same house he went to the previous night to find Harry, only now there was a "For Sale" sign out front. Looking in a window, he saw that it had been completely cleaned out. 'Maybe they are looking for a new place, and maybe she really was getting her ring cleaned,' Draco thought. "Yeah right," he scoffed, "and maybe I really should've been sorted into Gryffindor." No, that wasn't right, because if all was well between the couple, right now he should've been bouncing around as a ferret for what he said to Hermione. But all she did was walk away.
Having no idea where else he would be, Draco apparated to see the one other person who would know where to find Harry. And with a crack, he was gone and at Grimmauld Place, looking for Ron Weasley.
"Draco, how lovely of you to visit," Luna Weasley beamed as she opened the door. She gave him a hug, not aware that she wasn't really supposed to be treating him as a visiting friend.
Draco pried Luna off of him. "Alright, enough, Lovegood. Where's your husband?"
"Oh, I'm a Weasley now," Luna replied airily as they moved into the sitting room.
Draco followed, shaking his head. "I know, I was at the wedding," he grumbled.
"Oh, speaking of the wedding, how do you like our wedding gift from Harry?" she asked, gesturing to the redecorated Grimmauld Place. "It was so generous and kind of him."
"Yeah, Saint Potter. Ah, and here we find the trusty sidekick, Weasel-bee."
Ron shot out of his seat. "Malfoy! What the hell are you doing here?"
"Calm yourself, Weasley. I don't have the time, or the patience, so I'll leave the pleasantries for another occasion. Just tell me where Potter is."
Ron's ears went red and he motioned for Luna to leave the room before he looked down at his shoes. "Er, I take it that you've spoken to Hermione?" He glanced up cautiously. The glare that Ron received gave him his answer. "But, look, before you get all Malfoy on me, or Harry, (but me most of all), you have to understand what happened. No one did anything wrong, it just happened. You understand that, don't you? I mean, you go through women like I do with chocolate frogs. And the Hermione we get isn't at all like the Hermione you get; she's always yelling at you and she's just, Hermione with us. And really, her and Harry were more like brother and sister; Harry just realized it before she –"
Ron was speaking so quickly that it took a moment before Draco realized that he didn't give a damn about what Ron had to say. So before Ron could finish the long-winded explanation of his best friend's actions, Draco grabbed him by the shoulders, pushed him up against the wall, and pinned him there with his right hand around the shocked redhead's neck.
"Listen here, Weasley," Draco whispered threateningly while Ron gasped for air, "I don't give a fuck about what you have to say. All I want from you is to tell me where the fuck I can find Potter."
"Oh, Harry!" came Luna's voice from the doorway. "You should've just said you were looking for Harry. He's at Ginny's. But really, this is all good news," she continued as she sat down with a cup of tea, "because this means that you can finally stop masking your feelings; both you and Hermione."
Draco whipped his head around. "What are you on about?" he asked accusingly.
"Oh, come now, Draco," Luna sighed, seemingly oblivious to her husband's discomfort. "It's clearly obvious that there's that certain spark between the two of you. And now with Harry out of the picture, the both of you can stop being so stubborn and just admit to the passion that exists between you."
"What!" Draco and Ron cried in unison, with Draco completely releasing his grip on Ron.
"Oh, stop it, both of you. Now, I'm not saying that this condones the fact that Harry conducted an affair behind Hermione's back, but –"
"An affair?" Draco asked incredulously. "He cheated on her? When they were engaged? Oh no, this calls for more than a black eye, a fat lip, and maybe even a couple of broken ribs. No, I think I know exactly what I can do."
"Malfoy, what are you talking about?" Ron asked as he gingerly rubbed his neck. "I mean, we're all supposed to be mates now, you know, the whole 'the-past-is-behind-us, we-were-all-on-the-same-side' deal."
But Draco ignored him as he was deep in thought. Yes, he had a better way to teach Harry a lesson that would also give Hermione the opportunity to retaliate against him as well.
Hermione sat on the floor, in the middle of her newly acquired loft-style flat in Muggle London.
"Damn Malfoy and all his Pureblooded nonsense," she gritted out angrily as she tossed out what she supposed was the closest to an apology card as she would ever receive from Draco. It said, 'I didn't really mean what I said.' The note had accompanied a beautiful white, trumpet lily, which for some reason, Hermione couldn't bring herself to throw away.
She had been upset at first, she even cried. But now she was furious; both at Draco and Harry. And as she sat on the floor with a box of photographs, every time she came across a photo of Harry, she would gaze at it almost lovingly for a moment before lashing out and ripping it to shreds, relishing in the feeling of taking her aggression out physically. It felt glorious to be angry again, even if it was directed toward Harry. 'But he most definitely deserves it,' she thought.
At the bottom of the stack, she found a photo that had been taken at the last St. Mungo's Christmas Party for all of the staff. Hermione watched as the photo-Hermione talked animatedly with a Healer she had just finished a case with. As a researcher, it was her job to work closely with Healers and Medi-witches when patients came in with ailments that were difficult to diagnose or for which there were no known cures as of yet. Many cases involved either poisons or venoms, so she was very familiar with the staff of the first and third floors of St. Mungo's. In the background of the photograph, Draco stood by himself surveying the room. Hermione noticed how he didn't have a sneer, a smirk, or a scowl on his face. For a moment she just watched him as he watched the room. But one look at a pleasant expression on the ex-Slytherin's face didn't forgive him of his taunts and insults, especially the last one (even after receiving a beautiful flower and a quasi-apology). Almost gracefully, she reached for her wand and touched the tip to the chest of photo-Draco. She watched as flames curled and singed the edges of the photograph before consuming it entirely
"Healer Mills, back so soon?" Hermione asked a week later as a portly, middle-aged wizard knocked on the open door to her small office.
"Yes, well, this is a particularly difficult case. And you and Draco are the best researchers in this entire lab, and under the circumstances, I would've gone to him. However, under the same circumstances, I thought it was really best to come to you," he explained cautiously.
"Circumstances?" Hermione asked curiously. "What sort of circumstances?"
Healer Mills was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Er, perhaps it's really best if you just come see the patient for yourself."
Hermione grew suspicious. Researchers rarely ever saw patients, only receiving any needed information from the Healers and Medi-witches.
"What sort of poison are we dealing with this time? Or is it a venom? A hex or a curse perhaps?" Hermione asked as she immediately began pulling reference books down from her ceiling-high shelves.
"I think it might be a bit of everything," the Healer said gravely. "It's really too difficult to tell what kind of combination of any of those we are dealing with. Either way, the witch or wizard who inflicted this definitely wanted to cause pain and humiliation."
Setting her books down, Hermione agreed to leave the confines of the Research Department to meet the patient face-to-face.
Together, they traveled up to the third floor, Potion and Plant Poisonings, where Healer Mills was Healer-in-Charge.
"The first floor (Creature-Induced Injuries) is really swamped today, so I decided to come straight to you since I only suspect venom as part of the cause," said Healer Mills as he further explained the case to Hermione as she took notes in her notebook.
When they reached the room, Healer Mills gave a courtesy knock before entering, with Hermione following. When she looked up from her notes, there was shock written on her face.
"H – Harry?"
"Merlin – you – it's – oh – Hermione – thank!" Harry struggled to yell out. "I'm a wanker!" he yelled even louder afterwards.
"As I explained before," the Healer began as Harry began to scratch at large boils on his arm, "his speech is not coherent. The words come out in the incorrect order. And that last bit comes out at the end of each sentence, and it's the only thing that actually makes sense," he finished with a slight grin. "Dear boy! Don't scratch at those! We've already established the fact that they're filled with Exploding Fluid!" he yelled when he noticed Harry's desperate scratching.
"Stop – so – itchy – can't! I'm a wanker!"
Healer Mills sighed. "And as you can see, the apparent Swelling Solution used has caused the boils to become enlarged. But using a Deflating Draught only causes them to burst, expelling the enclosed Exploding Fluid. The boils only seem to be increasing with size, as they are also impervious to the Boil Cure Potion. Areas of his body also appear to have been affected by Wartcap Powder, while others appear to have been affected by some venom, of which has not yet been identified. Oh yes, and he seems to have suffered a rather badly broken nose."
Hermione went over her notes, making sure she had everything written down. When she looked up, it was obvious to her that Harry was in a great amount of pain. His hair was finally laying flat on his head, but only because he had been sweating profusely. His glasses lay on the table next to the bed, probably because the broken nose made them too painful to wear. His nose was bruised, as were his eyes from the impact of the broken nose. Blood from the broken nose now lay dried to his skin and his shirt. His hands were covered with a thick crust from the Wartcap Powder, and his neck had turned to a sickly green color. Areas of his clothing had been singed from the Exploding Fluid, and there were great, ugly boils all over his body.
Hermione glared at Harry, not offering any sympathy. It was obvious that he must have done something to get into his current state. He did have a knack for getting into trouble, after all. And, it was good to see him in some state of pain.
"Harry, I don't know what the hell you did," she mumbled before turning to speak to the Healer at her side. "I suggest a cooling salve to soothe the itching temporarily so that he can at least stop blowing things up, and a Sleeping Draught so he can at least get some rest while I go back and try identify the venom and come up with an antidote for this, whatever this is."
Healer Mills nodded and called for a Medi-witch to attend to Harry with some cooling salve and a Sleeping Draught before he and Hermione went out into the hall.
"Now I know why you didn't go to Malfoy," Hermione said in understanding.
"Yes, although the claim is that they are on friendly terms now, I have a suspicion that his suggested treatment would probably have been to send him home with some Sleekeasy's Hair Potion. But I want to thank you; I know it must be difficult given your current situation."
Hermione scoffed. "Please, Healer Mills. There is no situation." And with that she left to return to her office to do the required research.
"Heard about your latest case, Granger," Draco said as he leaned against the doorway of Hermione's office.
Hermione ignored him. She was surrounded by open books and sheets of parchment with notes and possible antidotes written on them.
"It is strange, though. Isn't it?" Draco continued. "Here it is, a mere week after his confessed adulterous relationship and Potter ends up here with some mysterious ailment with who else but you as the one in charge of finding an antidote."
"If you're insinuating that I had anything to do with this –"
"No, not at all," Draco said passively as he examined his manicured nails. "I was here to simply offer you my professional opinion, as one Researcher to another."
"And what would you know about this, Malfoy?" Hermione asked skeptically and irritably. This was the first time she had to speak with Draco since his scathing remark in Diagon Alley.
"Just that I might've had a similar case a few months back that might prove to be a good starting point for you. Of course the whole 'I'm a wanker' deal and the broken nose might've been my own personal touches."
Before Hermione could register what Draco had said, he was gone and nowhere in their laboratory.
