"Hey, Lovegood!" Draco plopped his tray in front of Luna at the hospital food court. "I need you to do me a favor."
Luna looked up from the stack of paperwork she was filling out. "Sure, Draco. What do you—"
"Can you ask my father to give you copies of Tom Riddle's biography written in Organink Potion?" Draco cut her off and spoke quickly. "I need to see what exactly Tom is destined for, and the only way I can do that is to look at what my father wrote about him in Organink Potion."
Luna blinked. "Why don't you ask Lucius Malfoy yourself?" She inquired. "He is your father."
Draco rolled his eyes and abruptly tore the wrapper off his sandwich. "Ever since that bastard used the Organink Wand to bring back Voldemort and former Death Eaters back into this world by writing about their biographies and character descriptions with Organink Potion, I have had no father."
"Well…Lucius was just following orders from Umbridge," Luna reminded him calmly. "She freed him from Azkaban, and it was either his death or his loyalty to her."
Draco snorted. He didn't want to be reminded of the past. "Ask him to hand you over the copy he had written about Tom Riddle. Anything he wrote in Organink Potion about Tom will be destined to happen to Tom. So if he wrote that Tom will be the Dark Lord who will take over the Wizarding World with the same ambitions, ideologies, and goals as Voldemort, then we're in shit trouble."
"Hermione says Tom doesn't believe that the Organink Potion is all that powerful," said Luna. "According to her, Tom believes strongly in free will, so regardless of what was written about him, he believes he can overcome that and live his life the way he wants to."
Draco sighed. He got up and took his tray, completely losing his appetite. "I didn't join you to be reminded of the wistful things Granger has said about that prat. I came to request for something important from my father since he's your patient, but if you're not going to help, then I'm wasting my time." He turned and made his way to trash can. As he dumped everything on his tray, he heard a soft call from Luna.
"Draco?" The former Ravenclaw was watching him. When Draco looked over his shoulder to meet her gaze, she stared at him for an awkward few seconds, and then spoke. "I'll go talk to Lucius. I'll try my best."
Draco gave a curt nod. "Great. Thank you." He turned to head over to see his next patient, but bumped into someone.
"Oof!" The person nearly stumbled over, even though the collision wasn't that harsh.
"Astoria?" Draco flinched at the sight of the tall, raven-haired lady who was one of his other patients. "What are you doing here? You should be resting in the ICU!"
Astoria met his gaze and gave a small, sideways smile. "Galvin said I was getting better, so I thought I'd venture down here for some tea," she spoke in her smooth, murmuring voice.
Draco blinked. Since Galvin Barkson was his Healer mentor, Galvin was also responsible for the same patients Draco was responsible for. He kept forgetting that he wasn't the only Healer his patients were seeing. "Right. Well, that's great. Stay healthy." He stepped around her and walked away, but she called after him.
"Draco?"
Draco rolled his eyes and stopped. How many more times will he delay seeing his next patient? He was itching to see Blaise Zabini for a follow-up on his Zenox infection recovery, as well as any updates about the Auror Department. They were currently investigating the new thief who had stolen the Organink Wand and Organink Potion.
When Draco met Astoria's faded green eyes, he suddenly felt a pang of pity. She was his frailest and sickest patient, and he was reminded of how much he had been fearing for her life as she stayed in the ICU. He feared the day when the Zenox viruses in her bloodstream would teleport her to Barren Island, where she would never be seen again. Luckily, her viral load hadn't reached 500ul/ml, which seemed to be the load that most of the infected wizards had before they had disappeared.
"Yes, Astoria?" He didn't even notice how soft his voice had gotten as he spoke.
"Promise me you'll make an extra visit tonight before you leave the hospital?" She murmured. "There's…there's something I need to talk to you about."
A million thoughts raced through Draco's head. He had a hunch she wanted to talk about the status of their relationship, which had been unclear for both of them. He had been rather touchy and flirty with her, lightening her up from her typical gloomy mood whenever he came to check on her in the ICU. But he never considered her as an official girlfriend. Even before her illness, Astoria had always been a detached, lonely woman who always kept to herself, but she would always lighten up a bit whenever Draco was around. And Draco loved the idea of being the only person who was the source of her happiness. But deep down, Draco knew he wasn't in love with her.
Deep down, he knew he was just extracting pleasure from Astoria's fondness for him, just to distract himself from Granger. Aside from Blaise, Galvin, and Snape, all his friends and hospital colleagues thought he hated Hermione after what they had been through several years ago, before their Healer training. But that's what he wanted them to think. And that was what he wanted himself to think. But eventually, he would have to stop using Astoria as a distraction. It wasn't fair to her, and it wasn't healthy for him either.
"Draco?" Astoria's smooth voice interrupted him from his thoughts. "Did—did you hear me?"
He realized he had just been standing there, lost in thought, after she had asked him to visit her. He blinked a couple times and looked to the floor, scratching the back of his head. "Oh, yeah, of course, Astoria. I'd be happy to talk to you." He met her gaze, and felt relieved when she was slightly smiling.
"Thank you….I'll see you later then…" she looked down for a few seconds, and then turned to walk away.
Draco watched her leave, and then sighed. He turned to walk toward the hallway, only to step on something shiny. Frowning, Draco saw that it was a ring. A silver ring. He bent down to pick it up. But as soon as his fingers came into contact with it, a bunch of images suddenly flashed through his mind. He saw a flat, snowy landscape in the midst of an intense blizzard.
Then the images disappeared as soon as he jerked his hand back from the ring.
Draco panted, staring down at the ring with wide eyes. He slowly reached for it again, only to get another flash of images in his mind. He saw a twister of snow form in a dark sky. Three wizards were running away, screaming as the blizzard worsened and blew their bodies toward the twister.
The images disappeared as Draco jerked away from the ring again.
"What in the name of Merlin…" Draco's heart was racing. "Did I…did I just envision Barren Island?" Those wizards must be only a handful of the infected wizards who had been unexpectedly teleported to the island. Draco had to discuss this with someone. He looked around, grabbed a napkin atop the trash can, and picked up the ring in the napkin. He slipped it into the pocket of his white coat, and then fast-walked to see his next patient. Good thing I'm seeing Blaise right now. This will surely be something useful to discuss.