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CHAPTER 6.

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"Good morning Healer Weasley. My name is Katherine. And I'm a new intern here. Healer Westin asked me to come to you." Katherine said smiling brightly.

Hermione smiled at the fresh intern.

She seemed confident and happy on her first day of work at the hospital.

"Hello Katherine. Welcome to Jades Arden Hospital. We are one of the two wizarding hospitals in Sydney. The other as you must be knowing is Jades Raven. It's called JRH and here it's called JAH. I hope you have a good internship." Hermione smiled.

Katherine smiled back. "I'm starting a month early than the other interns. Like an observation. I couldn't wait to start learning. And Healer Westin said that you could help me out with that."

Hermione had taken quite a liking to this young witch here. She was only a few years younger than her and she seemed to have a yearning for healing. She reminded Hermione of her own younger self.

Hermione nodded. "I am aware of that. I appreciate your enthusiasm. Look, officially you don't start until next month. So I can't let you really do anything except follow me. In a few days time you'll learn the ropes and pave way for when you really start."

Katherine nodded eagerly. "Anything you say Healer Weasley."

Hermione smiled again and said, "Good then. We have rounds first thing in the morning. I'll brief you in on the patients. Come along."

"Draco! Draco? Draco?" Hermione sang about as she barged into his house with a letter in her hand.

"Wake up you sleepyhead! I have news!" Hermione yelled.

She looked in the kitchen and bathroom before going into the bedroom.

His room was neat enough but his bed looked like he had survived a hurricane.

His sheets were barely covering the bed and his duvet was on the floor along with a pillow.

His night shirt was open and it looked like he had ripped his buttons off.

His hair was a mess and it was sticking up in all directions.

"Oh no. Draco!" Hermione said as she put the letter on his side table and tried to wake him up.
"Draco sweetie, wake up." She whispered as she ran her hand through his hair.

This always soothed him but he seemed too deep in sleep today.

She ran her hands down his arms protectively and called his names several times before he furrowed his brow and opened his eyes just a little bit.

"Sshh. It's ok. You were sleeping. Nothing happened." Hermione said softly.

"Hermione? Is that you?" Draco said in a dry hoarse voice.

"Yes dear. It's me. Are you better now?" She asked, looking concerned.

He didn't answer. He sat straight up and hugged her tight.

She hugged him back and patted his back soothingly till he decided it really was her.

"Another one?" Hermione asked as he sat up straighter and accepted the glass of water she offered him.

He nodded.

"Was it very bad?" She asked.

Draco wanted to tell her that it was horrible.

It was the cold floor of Malfoy Manor again and his deranged aunt was towering over a tortured Hermione with the knife in her hand.

And he was right there and unable to do anything.

Her screams were piercing his ears and he could almost feel the knife carving his flesh in tandem with its journey across her arm.

But he couldn't tell her that this time the nightmare was about that.

He didn't want to worry her.

She would only tell him that it was not his fault and make him feel better.

She thought that he was having dreams about the fiendfyre in the room of requirement and the fight that followed between Voldemort and his mother when he found out that Narcissa had lied about Harry's death.

"Not very. I've had one after ages." He replied.

"I'm making you a calming drought and a sleeping drought. Don't even say no. I'll shove it down your throat if I have to every night." She threatened.

"Ooh Granger. Are you saying you're going to be at my house every night? I'll have you know that I won't tolerate my virtue being compromised in such a manner." Draco said feigning horror and sincerity.

"You arse. If anything, it's my honour that I should be worried about." She retorted.

"Please." Draco scoffed. "You're more than capable of defending yourself. I pity the poor bloke who ever tries anything with you. Between you and Weaselette there are probably a thousand hexes you'll must've invented to target the male species in unmentionable areas."

Hermione chuckled. "You may be right."

"I know I am." He said as he got up and discarded his shirt and headed toward the bathroom.

"Draco!" Hermione yelled as he proceeded to pull his pyjamas down and grab a towel.

"What? Can't a bloke even go to bathe in peace?" He asked innocently.

"He can. But at least he can wait to undress until he's IN the bathroom when he has company." Hermione puffed, with arms crossed across her chest, glaring at her offender.

Draco sighed. "I have boxers on. Relax."

"I can see that. And trust me, I shouldn't have had to." She retorted.

"Yup. So come on now. Make me some breakfast as an apology." Draco yelled from the bathroom.

"Wha? Apology? Malfoy!" Hermione bellowed but her voice was drowned by the sound from the shower.

"I'm going to poison his breakfast. Then he can be my first patient. It will be so fitting." Hermione said to herself as she made her way down to the kitchen.

"Hmmm. smells good. Should I be worried about food poisoning?" Draco said, as he approached shirtless with wet hair dripping all over the tiles.
He nudged Hermione at the hip and she almost sloshed the milk on the platform instead of the batter.

"Draco! You arse. You seriously should worry about food poisoning." Hermione hissed as she vanished the mess away.

She turned around to glare at him, her ladle pointing at him like a sword.

She saw that he was shirtless and had no chest hair. His chest was smooth.

Not that she was ogling. But appreciating was more like it.

Muscular, but lean. Not too much. She thought.

Hermione! Snap out of it.

"Really Draco? What's with all the exhibitionism?" Hermione asked.

"Huh? Oh this? I just came to ask you to pick a shirt for me." Draco said.

"You're not wearing robes today?" Hermione asked as she eased a tasty looking piece of French toast into a plate.

"Nah. I'll change into Quidditch robes once I get there. Thought I'd wear muggle today."

"You're always wearing muggle clothing these days." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well yeah. Jeans are a blessing." He said matter of factly. "And the look on my father's face when he bumps into me wearing these clothes is priceless."

Hermione laughed. "That's really mean, you know."

"Oh please. You of all the people should know that mean is equivalent to almost nice in his dictionary." He said.

She shrugged. "Okay. I'll pick you a shirt later. Eat up or it'll get cold. Coffee?"

"Need you even ask?"

She poured both of them a cup.

"So what's in the envelope?" Draco asked after chewing his first bite. "Delicious, by the way. Way better than those cookies you tried to bake last week."

"Hey it's not my fault that you didn't have sugar at home and I thought that salt was powdered sugar." Hermione defended herself.

"Yeah. Keep saying that." He said, not even looking up from his plate.

"Fine. I won't tell you what's in the envelope then." Hermione pouted.

"Fine. I guess I'll cancel the congratulations night out I had planned on treating you to for getting into the St. Mungo's healing programme." Draco said flippantly, swallowing his toast and taking a large gulp of his coffee.

"What? You read my letter?"

"The envelope has a St. Mungo's stamp the size of a galleon on it. It doesn't take a genius to know what's in there."

"But how did you know it was an acceptance letter? It could very well be a rejection letter."

"Pfft. Please. Don't be patronising. There is no way St. Mungo's or any other place for that matter can reject you. If anything, you rejecting them is more believable." Draco said.

"Aww. That's so sweet Draco."

"Of course. You're Draco Malfoy's best friend. How could they reject you?"

"Urrrghhh Draco! "She yelled with a knife in her hand.

Draco put his hands up in the air, laughing and came over to hug her.

"Congratulations." He kissed her cheek. "I knew you'd do it."

"Thanks." She said softly and hugged him. "I'm so excited. I can't wait to start."

"When do you start?"

"In a fortnight."

"So what will you do till then?"

"I don't know. I wish I could start tomorrow."

"Why don't you? "

"How can I just go and start whenever I please? It's a programme, Draco. It has its own schedule."

"I know. But you can start observing or just hanging out, checking things out. Getting the feel etc. You can spend a few hours in the hospital, that way a fortnight won't seem so long."

Hermione bit her lower lip. She was thinking hard.

"You think they'll let me do that?"

"Hello! You're Hermione Granger. Sustainer of the Golden Trio and one-third saviour of our world. They'll probably make you head intern if you say so."

"Oh shut up idiot."

"You know it's true."

"No!"

"It is."

"Is not."

"So is."

"Fine." Hermione relented. "I'll go ask them."

"What? To make you head intern?" Draco asked.

"Yes Draco. That's right. I'll ask them exactly that." She said rolling her eyes.

"Healer Weasley?"

"Umm uh.. Yes dear?" Hermione asked.

"I um.. Asked if the effect of this spell is completely reversible?" Katherine said.

Hermione seemed lost. She looked down into the chart she was holding to check what spell Katherine was talking about.

Had she just spaced out thinking about Draco?

Maybe it was because it had been over 10 days since his last letter.

He never took longer than 4 days to write her a new letter. But this time it had been a week and a half and still there was no sign of Paris.

Maybe he was playing her. He probably thought that if he didn't write for a long time, she would get worried and write to him.

He was still very much a Slytherin in many ways.

It would be totally expected out of him to pull something like that.

Or maybe since this new intern had reminded her of herself, she was thinking about Draco.

It was after all Draco's idea to go join St. Mungo's early.

So it was natural to think about Draco when another young intern happened to have the same idea.

"Umm yes Katherine. This spell is totally reversible. It only takes longer than expected. That's why Mr. Greeniche is still here." Hermione answered.

Okay focus Hermione. You don't want to appear confused in front of some new intern. You can worry about Draco later. Work now. She chanted to herself as she and Katherine completed their rounds.

After 2 hours, Hermione made her way towards her cabin, hoping that she would find an angry Paris perched on her table.

But her cabin was empty. No owl. No letter.

Scowling, she washed her hands and face.

She could almost imagine Draco pointing at her and laughing and saying that, now you know what it feels like to wait endlessly for a letter.

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More flashbacks!

I like this Draco! Don't you?

What do you think is taking him so long to write back?

Most memories and flashbacks will be just snippets and not really leading into anything.

But they are an insight to the protagonists' pasts and give an idea of their lives.

I hope you'll are enjoying this form of the story!

Thank you for reading!

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