CHAPTER 8

Disclaimer: I really wish I owned Harry Potter.

Everything was going relatively well on everyone's part but Hermione's. Draco had a small wound on his shoulder that could be healed instantly. Blaise looked a bit more battered, but would not suffer anything long term. Harry, they weren't completely sure about since neither of them were Healers, but he seemed to just have a few scars (More to add to his collection, Blaise thought) and a cut on the back of his head. However, both Blaise and Draco knew that Harry had probably gone through the Cruciatus, so there was no real knowing how he would turn out. But the real issue - Hermione. Blaise had heard Bellatrix say, "Crucio!" many, many, many, times. And he knew what had happened to Neville's parents.

That wouldn't happen to her, right?

The Russian Minister of Magic was a tad bit angry, to say the least.

"You ran off without even informing first! And now look at what's happened!" he roared, pointing his finger at Harry and Hermione, who lay in a crumpled heap in the corner of the room.

"Well," Blaise started to say, but Draco sent him a pointed look that clearly stated Shut up.

"We're sorry," Draco said sheepishly. "We were not thinking straight and made rash decisions, but let's focus on the injured ones first, shall we?" He looked down at his shoes and prayed that the Minister would take pity on him, and not report the incident to people back in Great Britain. No doubt everyone would blame it on me. They would have my ass hauled to Azkaban for 'attempted murder' of Potter and Granger, I bet.

Abram stared at him for a moment, clearly not ready for the subject to drop yet. Draco was sure he was going to continue to reprimand him, so he was taken by surprise when Abram turned around and ordered his men to apparate all of them to the nearest hospital. If Abram saw Draco's shock, he sure didn't let it show.

The hospital they arrived at was quite similar to St. Mungo's - Pale white walls, and marbled white floors that were perfectly polished. A row of symmetrical and identical doors, each a blend of white and light yellow, like the color of a warm light. Square windows, each charmed so that the patients could see outside, but the people walking down the street couldn't just peer in.

Draco felt uncomfortable. He had never liked hospitals, mostly because they had never given him good news. Stop thinking about that, Draco chided himself, as soon as those thoughts came to his mind. They tried their best.

Hermione and Harry had already been carted away to be healed, which left Blaise and Draco to themselves.

"So," Blaise said, propping his head on his hands. "What have you been up to?"

Draco shrugged. "Well you know, just the usual Dark Lord living in my house and stuff, nothing big."

"Any hot girl I need to know about? Or guy, I guess."

Draco nodded. "Yes, tons of people are lining up at my door, just waiting to date me. The whole 'Bad boy' thing really gets them worked up you know. I think they get turned on or something every time they think about how I used to work for an evil supremacist or how I might accidentally kill them in their sleep or something."

"No need to sound so bitter. Not good then?"

"Clearly."

They fell into a thoughtful, but awkward silence.

"What about you?" Draco asked, feeling inclined to break the silence. "How's your love life?"

"It's been…" Blaise paused. "I had someone I loved, who I thought loved me back, but then I caught her cheating. That was a whole year and a half ago though. Haven't really been involved much since."

"Oh," Draco replied quietly, not sure what to say.

"So, you and Hermione are aurors now?" Blaise questioned, changing the subject.

"Well, I'm an auror. Granger's in law enforcement. She's only here because she's fluent in probably every language that ever existed, and the Russian Prime Minister gets offended when people don't speak Russian apparently. That being said, what's your job?"

"I'm a bit like an auror too, but I don't actually go out and fight that much. I'm considering quitting the job, actually."

Draco was about to ask why, but a tall woman in an completely white outfit walked in and said something in Russian. Blaise replied to her and motioned for Draco to follow them.

"You know - " Draco was just about to mention that if Blaise knew English and Russian, then there really wasn't that big of a need for Hermione, when the woman in the white coat glared at him. For not speaking Russian, I bet.

Blaise shot Draco a bemused look and tried not to laugh.

When Harry awoke, he had no idea where he was. I guess this is just a reoccurring thing now. I just woke up in some old cell in the middle of nowhere and now I'm in this white room and I can't move, again.

If he could roll his eyes, he would.

A nurse came in right about that moment, and look startled to see that he was awake. Behind her was one - no, two - more people. Is that… Malfoy? And who's behind him? Is he secretly part of the rogue Death Eaters?

Harry tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't budge. The nurse bent over him with something in her hand. He felt a sharp pain, and then everything disappeared (again).

"You're using Muggle needles now?" Draco asked, forgetting that the nurse didn't like him speaking English. Blaise quickly repeated the question in Russian to the nurse. If it were possible, she seemed to get angrier.

"What did she say?"

Blaise seemed reluctant. "She says that the Muggle way is very effective."

Draco nodded, then whispered, "Why is she so angry?"

"Take a guess."

Suddenly, Draco worked it out. "Oh. I'm an idiot aren't I? Can you tell her that I didn't mean to sound like the Muggle way was inferior…"

Blaise was just about to when the nurse started to speak rapidly to him.

Draco noticed that the nurse did not even look at him as she left the room.

"Ok," Blaise said, waving his hands in front of Draco to get his attention. "She says that our Golden Boy will be fine, he just needs to rest. They're letting us take him back tomorrow. And Hermione is in the next room over, apparently she over exhausted her magic energy with some spell - although I don't know which. They're letting her out soon, and I'm guessing we're supposed to wait."

They sat down in the waiting room again, waiting for "soon" to happen. It turns out that it was actually quite a long time, they ended up waiting for two hours.

Hermione walked in after a while, with bandages covering her left arm. The doctor handed her a bottle of a greenish-brownish liquid before walking off.

"Are you alright?" Blaise was the first to speak.

"Yeah," Hermione replied. "Where's Harry?"

Of course she would ask for him, Draco thought.

Before he could say anything, Blaise had already told Hermione and now, as they walked out of the hospital, they were engaging in some sort of conversation. He zoned out after they started to discuss the rights of goblins.

He tuned back in right about the time Hermione said, "So, if I may ask, why is there a piano in your office?"

Blaise grinned. "Piano's my life passion, I think. Unfortunately, I'm not good enough to play for a living yet, which is why I have this boring Ministry job - Not that Ministry jobs are that bad, I'm sure yours is great."

At this point, Draco intervened. "Don't let him fool you, Granger. I heard you a few times back in Hogwarts and you were amazing, even back then."

"You should play for me sometime," Hermione added. "I'd love to hear you. And - just another question. How did you manage to get permission for the piano in your room though?"

"Oh that? They don't know about it."

AN: I know, I haven't uploaded for over two weeks and I probably won't update for a long time again. I have a concert coming up, a bake sale (for Relay for Life), and I'm going out of the country for a few days in April. Sorry!