Blame. It's the easiest thing in the world to just look at someone and place all the responsibility for a fault on them. It makes us feel better, even if it's short lived. It gives us something to channel our anger towards. Someone to hate, someone to hold accountable for our suffering and our pain. And oftentimes, blame is the most easily cast upon those we care about. We just have to hope, that if they really cared about us, they would understand that.

"I friggin hate the night shift." Leila grumbled dragging her feet across the floor as she made her way towards the group of them finishing charts.

"You look like hell." Draco remarked idly sipping his coffee as he scrawled something down.

"I still look better than you." Leila snapped tying back her long red hair. "Nights are boring, everyone is asleep because typically at night, people sleep."

"People can also die at night, that's why we're here." Aaron pointed out writing out the surgical schedule for tomorrow.

"Let's hope, it'll give me something to do besides finishing stupid intern work." Leila muttered reaching for a chart. "You know, if they did it right the first time, we wouldn't have to check their work."

"You have to check it anyways, they're your patients too." Hermione pointed out looking up from her seat behind the desk at the healer's station.

"Whatever. Guess who managed to get in on Wellington's pro bono aneurysm surgery? I don't know how that woman has so much time to fly over so many kids from around the world to do free surgeries." Leila said flipping the page.

"She's the surgeon in the world who's done the most pro bono surgeries." Hermione quipped. "I think it's awfully nice of her."

"Says the elfish rights activist." Alec snorted stretching his arms behind his back. The group laughed watching Hermione's face grow red with anger.

"Only Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Ilvermorny and some other schools used house elves. Koldovstoretz the Russian school I went to hired actual people." Aaron said pushing up his glasses that always slid down his nose.

"I think I'd transfer there." Hermione muttered yawning.

"Hogwarts is homey though." Leila protested. "I went to Ilvermorny and it's nowhere as home like as Hogwarts. Draco and Hermione, you can't even deny it."

Hermione felt herself go still. She hadn't uttered a word to Draco since their sudden kiss in the courtyard a few weeks ago. Despite the fact he had tried to talk to her about it, she was resistant. It was a mistake, that's all. A miscall in judgement.

Before either of them had a chance to painfully respond, Dr. Persephone Foster of trauma came speeding past them.

"Major traumas, Azkaban had a fire! Meet in the emergency room!" she hollered as a stream of attending healer/surgeons stormed behind her.

Boring charts long forgotten, the five of them sped down after them, summoning surgical gowns to pull on. Aaron nearly tripped on his own two shoes in their race down to meet the emergency apparators.

"Do you still hate the night shift?" Hermione asked twisting her hair into a bun.

Leila grinned snapping on a pair of gloves. "Not in the slightest."

They reached the emergency apparating station when the fireplaces of the emergency room lit up bright green and began omitting people. Very bloody, injured people. Leila looked as if dinner had been served as Persephone Foster began barking out instructions.

Hermione reached a pair of emergency apparators levitating the gurney with a bloody man screaming on it. She began checking heart sounds and scanning his chart as they moved along quickly to an open trauma room. Sets of guards began splitting up to trail after different prisoners, their wands raised in anticipation

"What happened?" she asked counting as they levitated him onto the observation table. Right away, one of the guards bound the man's wrists and ankles to the table.

"Rodolphus Lestrange here managed to get a hold of one of the guard's wands and set fire to the place." the guard said eyeing Lestrange with disdain. It was only then that Hermione really noticed the man's face and immediately recognized the familiar features.

"Are you okay working on this case?" a voice asked softly enough so only she could hear. She turned around and was nose to nose with Draco who had either suddenly appeared or had been there all along and she had just never noticed him. She took a step away, with not much subtlety and inhaled sharply.

"I'm fine. What's going on?" she asked the emergency apparator refusing to acknowledge the grey eyes boring into her.

"We're looking at massive brain injury from hitting his head on the ground, his legs were crushed by a pillar, and severe third degree burns." the EA recited.

Kendra Kapoor, the chief of surgery at Hogsmeade General came marching over already checking his eyes with a flashlight. Kimberly Wellington was hurriedly reading his chart, her eyes moving like lasers.

Lestrange's eyes bulged with pain as he tried to sit up, the guard forcing him back down. His eyes landed on Hermione and began shouting muffled sounds.

"I don't want the mudblood doctor! Get her away from me! I don't want the mudblood healer touching my insides!" he bellowed rattling the entire table as he jerked around.

"Mr. Lestrange!" Kapoor yelleld. "Dr. Granger is one of the best surgeons here and as a murdering patient on our table, I'd be very careful who you insulted."

"Mudblood, contamination! My insides will be tainted by impurity!" Lestrange all but howled. His head suddenly whipped back to face the guard.

"Sir, I'm going to ask you not to do that!" Draco shouted, but Lestrange was deaf to warnings.

"Did I do it?" he whispered. "Did I set the world on fire?" he demanded his eyes shining with wonder. "ANSWER ME!"

The guard and Draco together forced him back down, Draco ordering a sedative. As Lestrange quickly melted into the table, light as air, his eyes found Draco's.

"Nephew, my boy, don't let the mudblood touch my insides." he murmured.

"I'm no nephew of yours, I am your doctor and that is all." Draco said stonily.

"Page ortho and plastics." Wellington ordered.

"Major hemorrhaging in the brain tissue. We're going to need to need to do a craniotomy now." Kapoor said motioning with her hand to get them moving.

"Where are my interns?" Draco shouted looking around as they ran alongside the gurney. A group of shaking interns came trotting up as Draco selected one lucky intern to scrub in.

"Tell me why don't we apparate patients to the OR even though it's faster?" he asked slamming the elevator button. He nodded at a girl standing on her tippy toes waving at him with her hand.

"There's a risk of splinching or further damage caused by the abrupt movement of magical transformation with so many people, equipment and an unstable patient-"

"Alright, thank you." Draco cut off as the elevator doors shut.

"Come on, come on, come on." Elizabeth Putton of cardio mumbled tapping her thigh as the elevator chugged it's way down. "Damn it, this punctured heart won't last much longer."

"Kravic, take the stairs with your intern and start setting up the OR, we'll meet you there." Persephone Foster instructed. The pale blonde looked very annoyed to be sent off with her lowly intern as she stalked off towards the stairs.

"We are not letting this man die." Elizabeth said very firmly as they rolled onto the elevator, the doors closing behind them. "25 guards are injured and 6 already dead. Because one man decided to set the place on fire. We're not letting the number rise to 7 dead guards."

"Robert Emerson," Persephone said leaning down. "Don't die on us."

"My son," he croaked. "And my wife, are they alright?"

"I'm sure they're just fine, right now we're only worried about you." Elizabeth assured as they reached the operating rooms.

"The shrapnel has impaled his liver." Margaret Mallucci of pediatrics said shaking her head. "This isn't good, let's get moving now!"

Leila and Aaron rolled the gurney as quickly as possible as they made their way to the OR. As soon as they reached the OR, another healer and his team was setting up for their surgery.

"Look Wegener, I have a liver impalement here, it's an emergency, you gotta move." Margaret said impatiently watching Dr. Dan Wegener pause his scrubbing.

"I've had this surgery planned for weeks, Margie, it's my OR." Wegener said as a nurse helped him pull on gloves. Margaret seemed even more enraged to hear her nickname.

"Every minute you and I fight about who gets the OR the more likely I will lose this boy's life. You will only waste the chief's time if I were to call her down to settle this." Margaret said her eyes fierce. "Now get the hell out before you can personally be held responsible for the death of a 7 year old boy."

Wegener looked absolutely and utterly pissed but proceeded to wheel his patient out. Leila and Aaron quickly began hooking Jacob Emerson up to the machines before hurrying to scrub in.

"He only has moments left." Margaret said vigorously scrubbing her hands.

"That asshole." Leila muttered watching Wegener angrily storm off. "How can someone so vile become a doctor?"

"Draco became a doctor." Aaron pointed out. "He even paid for half this hospital."

"The liver is failing!" Margaret shouted sprinting into the operating room, the other two close behind.

Hermione quickly tied her scrub cap back as she placed her wand into the sterilization slot and began scrubbing her hands. The door slid open behind her and Draco came up next to her. Hermione stared on ahead as they hooked Lestrange up to the machines. Hermione carefully washed on top of the mudblood scar still etched onto her skin.

"Your strong to do this, you know?" Draco said quietly reaching for a mask.

"Thank you." Hermione said shortly turning on the tap.

"You can't ignore me forever, no matter how hard you try." Draco said irritation tinged in his voice.

"I'm not. I just replied with my thanks." Hermione said still staring at Lestrange.

"You and I both know what I mean." Draco said his voice low. Hermione felt her spine tingle as she finished up. "It's been weeks since we've actually talked, and I'm sick of it, I'm so done with this crap!"

"Well I wonder why it's been weeks since we've talked." Hermione huffed her eyes following the nurse's hands as she moved the light above his body.

"The kiss, Hermione, the least you can do is acknowledge it even happened-"

"Oh because you've acknowledged it?" Hermione exploded. "You haven't still been seeing Persephone?"

Draco's face went blank. "We don't know what we are because we haven't talked."

She silently summoned her wand to follow her. "There is nothing of significance to talk about." Then she entered the OR.

"Now be very careful." Thomas Sharman of ortho said watching as Alec Stanforth slowly moved the drill. "Lydia Emerson, the guard's wife has a broken femur, hit anything vital and we're finished."

Alec slowly used his wand to guide the drill into the broken bone to hold them in place as they healed.

"So...you're friends with Aaron Mathews yes?" Sharman asked lightly as he applied suction. Alec paused feeling his eyebrows raise.

"Yes, it's not uncommon knowledge. Why?" he asked mirroring his light tone.

"Oh no reason, just operating room conversation." Thomas waved off taking the drill once Alec was finished. "Very neat work Dr. Sharman."

"Thank you-"

"So, what's he like? Does he have a specialty yet?" Thomas said cutting him off. "I know you have found your home at peds, has Dr. Mathews found his?"

"Uh...I don't think so, that's something you should probably ask him." Alec said watching very carefully what he said. "He's quite busy as chief resident."

"Ah yes, of course of course." Thomas said idly suturing up.

"Dr. Sharman? Dr. Kapoor is paging you. She suspects an amputation for Lestrange?" a nurse said.

"That should be a fun one." Thomas said happily handing Alec the needle. "Finish up here, will you Stanforth? I have some legs to cut."

"Damn it!" Elizabeth Putton shouted reaching for a clamp. "He's bleeding out, there's too much of it, he won't last."

"Flatline, we're losing him." Persephone warned. "Kravic?" Brittany Kravic moved to begin compressions as Elizabeth struggled to locate the bleed.

"I can't find it. There's too much blood." Elizabeth said shaking her head in despair.

"We've already replaced his blood 4 times." the nurse said checking her charts.

Then the line went dead and Elizabeth felt stones in her stomach. "Damn it!" she shouted throwing the tools onto the table. "Call it Kravic."

"Time of death, 2:03." Kravic whispered her eyes squeezed shut.

Elizabeth stormed out throwing her surgical gown into the bin before angrily removing her mask. Persephone followed after her, rubbing her neck.

"You did everything you could Eliza-"

"I swear to God, if Lestrange lives through this after Robert Emerson, an Azkaban guard died...the world is truly not worth living in." Elizabeth said sharply. "Now I don't even have to go tell the family because they're in surgery too."

Persephone moved to wrap her arm around Elizabeth as they watched the nurse place the blanket over Robert Emerson's face.

"Dr. Malfoy, apply pressure slowly, we don't want to hit any of the major parts of the brain." Kendra Kapoor said surveying his work like a hawk.

"It's so sick how one man decides he wants to set the world on fire, and everyone else around him pays the price." Kimberly Wellington, head of neuro said, glancing up from their microscopes.

"Lestrange has never operated any other way." Hermione said curtly moving her wand carefully.

"Dr. Granger is this case too much for you?" Dr. Kapoor asked not unkindly.

"I am fine." Hermione said for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Malfoy," Wellington said with astonishment. "You know family doesn't work on family right?"

"He is no family of mine." Draco said firmly looking up over his microscope catching Hermione's eyes before she quickly looked back at her work.

"We don't get to choose our family." Hermione said mildly.

"Well blood doesn't make a family, love does." Draco countered.

"Yes, because you know so much about love." Hermione drawled resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"I know enough-" Draco began angrily.

"Enough." the chief said softly. "If you can't work without bickering, the OR is not a place for you."

The pair went silent, Draco shooting Hermione nasty glares while she kept her eyes trained on her work.

"Have we never taught you to keep your personal lives out of your work?" Kimberly Wellington asked with disapproval.

Hermione had never felt more resentment towards Draco in her entire lifetime than she did right then. How could she have ever even considered the mere notion of wanting to kiss him?

Despite the fact they had been good friends since they began internship, she should have known that once an ass, always an ass.

"If you don't mind me saying, Dr. Mallucci, you and Dr. Wegener seem to have a little history." Aaron said as they hit the 3 hour mark in surgery.

Jacob Emerson, the guard's son was a fighter. His liver had begun to fail, but he managed to hold on long enough for Margaret to get in and access the damage.

"We were friends in med school. We were quite competitive and it just became too much one day." Margaret said neatly pulling out the shrapnel from his liver. "More suction, Dr. Bellsan."

"There's a lot of third degree burns all over his chest and back." Leila said her green eyes studying the injuries. "We should get plastics in here."

"Page my husband Dr. Scott Mallucci." Margaret said. "Wegener is not a bad person. He's just been an ass lately, and I don't put up with sulking asses."

"You handled him quite well earlier." Leila commented reaching for a lap pad.

"I've learned how to handle him over time. Nurse are either of the parents out of surgery? An update would be appropriate right now." Margaret said suturing up the tear.

"The father Robert, is gone Doctor." the nurse said solemnly.

Margaret paused her work. "And the mother?"

"They're still working on her." the nurse replied.

"Let's make sure the mom wakes up to find someone alive."

"Hello Lydia Emerson, I'm Dr. Putton and this is Dr. Foster and Dr. Kravic. We were the team that worked on your husband Robert. Do you remember what happened?" Elizabeth asked as the team of doctors surrounded her bed.

"We….my son and I oh Merlin, is he alive? Where's Jacob? We were...Merlin we were waiting for my husband to finish up his shift because we were leaving straight away for Brazil and then a fire came out of nowhere." Lydia said frowning.

"Your son is in surgery right now. But your husband, he had a punctured heart from all the wreckage and fire, severe third degree burns and there was just too much bleeding-" Elizabeth began.

"No!" Lydia whispered. "No...you can't say it...no Robert-" she said reeling back in her bed. Persephone placed a comforting hand on her shoulder but she jerked it off scooching as far back on the bed as she could go. As if the further she got from the doctors, the less painful the news would be.

"We performed an anterolateral thoracotomy on him but there was too much blood. Robert is dead." Elizabeth said keeping her face in check as she watched Lydia wheeze for air as she gripped the sides of her bed.

"No!" she sobbed. "No...we were going to Brazil, he was just working…we were going to Brazil! He was just doing his job! How? How did the fire start?"

"We believe the prisoner Rodolphus Lestrange was responsible for starting the fire after he got ahold of a guard's wand." Persephone said gently. "There was nothing you could have done-"

"My Rob, my Rob - " Lydia wheezed. "How...how can he be dead?" she screamed smashing her fists into the bed.

Elizabeth felt helpless as she wrapped an arm around the screaming woman, her cries filling the dark hospital.

Hermione stood at the healer's station finishing up Lestrange's charts in the emergency rooms. Lestrange had survived a fire of his own doing, massive brain hemorrhaging, third degree burns and amputation of both legs.

She'd just heard from Alec, that Lydia Emerson had survived a femur break but her husband was dead and her son in surgery. Over 50 other guards and prisoners were injured and healing here, the other half sent to St. Mungo's.

Part of herself wished him dead. He'd only caused suffering and pain in his lifetime at the expense of everyone else around him. Hermione dropped his chart into a pile before pulling back a curtain to examine the next patient.

"Hey, I'm Dr. Granger and I'll be helping you today. I see you have a nasty cut on your forehead that could do with some stitching. Let's get that started." Hermione said putting on a smile. It was a middle aged woman, her uniform badly singed and her arms covered in burns.

"How bad is the pain on your arms?" Hermione asked using her wand to carefully stitch up the cut on her forehead.

"About a 7." the woman winced. "God I was so stupid. I turned around for a second to see who was calling for help but I turned too close to the bars of a cell and then hands reached out to grab my neck. It was the night shift, you know how it is, I was so tired I - " the woman said beginning to cry.

Hermione was silent as she finished up the stitches, moving to grab some sterile dressing for the burns.

"Lestrange grabbed my neck and held it to the bars and then he got my wand. We learn how important it is to protect our wands the first day of training and after 15 years as a guard, I got careless. And now...Merlin I'm responsible for all this." the woman said her voice shaking. Hermione placed a hand on her arm firmly.

"That could have easily been anyone. Anyone could have had their wand taken. They train you for it, to prepare you. But they trained you because they expected it to happen at one point or the other. Do not blame yourself for this. It could have easily been anyone." Hermione said wordlessly urging her to believe it.

Her pager began to go off repeatedly, her hand reaching for it on an instinctive speed. "God damn." she muttered.

She tore her way up to Lestrange's room where every little bit of emotion; anger, hatred and pain she wanted to express upon him, was already being done.

A woman with dark brown hair, seated in a wheelchair was roughly smashing her fists into Lestrange's bound body. People tried to wheel her away but she had placed a strong shield around them, allowing no one within meters of her.

"Mrs. Emerson, you need to stop! He's injured...you'll kill him!" Alec shouted his hair a mess as he waved his wand trying to dismantle the shield.

"That's the freaking point!" the woman shouted. "HE KILLED MY HUSBAND! HE IS A MURDERER! I will gladly spend the rest of my life in Azkaban if it means, he doesn't get to breathe the air meant for my Rob!"

Hermione could feel every bit of broken, shattered agony tearing through the woman right now. She could relate to the painful loss and grief that weighed her down and took over her better judgement.

Draco then appeared rushing forward to help Alec dismantle the wards

Hermione took a deep breath studying the protective shield around the woman. It was a powerful one, likely fueled by the painful grief. They wouldn't likely get down in time to save Lestrange from the woman's wrath.

Hermione ran to the edge of the shield, getting as close to the woman as possible. At this point, Lestrange's lips, nose and mouth were already gushing with blood and his hands were jerking in their restraints to defend himself. Her nails scratched into his skin and he howled like a bull before slaughter. The most concerning, was his head fresh from brain surgery, thrashing around in his bed.

"Mrs. Emerson!" Hermione called. "Think of your son! Jacob! He's out of surgery now and he's waiting for you. You can't spend the rest of your life in Azkaban, you have a son waiting for you."

Mrs. Emerson slowed her swings slightly as she took in Hermione's words. "He killed my Rob!" she cried glaring at Lestrange with absolute loathing. "Rob and dozens others are dead, all because of this man. He's a murderer, and murderer's don't deserve to live."

"You will become a murderer if you don't stop!" Hermione yelled. "He just had brain surgery and you're causing him to thrash his head around. You will kill him and then what makes you better than him?" Hermione's pulse was began to race because Mrs. Emerson had the moved so her wand poised to Lestrange's temple, the deathly words of finality, on the edge of her lips.

"Think about it! If you kill him, he gets the easy way out of Azkaban and years more of painful torture. If you let him live, he will suffer for the rest of his life as he rots in a cell in Azkaban. The choice is yours." Hermione called as everyone stood in tense silence waiting for her to make her next move.

Mrs. Emerson's eyes bored into Lestrange's mangled body as she inhaled deeply, before moving her wand slowly. The wand moved away from his throat and removed the shield surrounding them.

"You're a monster. And I hope you get what you deserve." she said quietly.

She then hunched over, sobs racking her body as nurses hurried over to wheel her out.

"Crazy fucking bitch!" Lestrange hollered, thrashing around in his bed. "Almost killed me!"

"Stupefy!" Hermione called stunning him in his place. "I'm terribly sorry sir, but we can't risk more damage to your brain than already present." she said in a cool voice. "Get him another CT and MRI, in case of bleeds."

Alec was long gone with Mrs. Emerson and Draco was left standing there, glaring at his uncle with venom in his eyes. Hermione walked up to him, causing his eyes to move to her.

"Do you mind fixing up his cuts? I need a moment." Hermione whispered clenching her fists inside her lab coat. Without waiting for an answer she fled the room leaving Draco alone with his uncle.

Draco moved like molasses to Lestrange's bedside, pulling on a pair of gloves and using his wand to begin sewing up the cuts. Draco made no effort to have a conversation with his uncle dearest, and finished up his work as quick as he could.

"Your biggest mistake will be falling for that mudblood." Lestrange's voice croaked.

Draco turned around on his way to the door, his blood running cold. "Mr. Lestrange, you should get some rest before some healers take you up for another CT and MRI. You've done quite a bit today."

Draco promptly exited the room, leaving him with his guards as he made his way to where he was sure to find Hermione. Sure enough, she was perched on a bench in the courtyard, hugging herself as she stared at the fountain.

He moved silently to sit beside her, leaving enough distance between them. How did they get so distant? If this had happened even a month ago, he wouldn't even hesitate to pull her into a hug and hold her. Now...he wasn't sure whether he should even bother speaking.

After a while of painful silence, he couldn't bare it. "Look, Hermione - "

"No." Hermione said standing up abruptly. "No, don't say a word to me."

"Are we still seriously doing this?" Draco demanded standing up to meet her heated glare. "We are much more mature than this. Talk to me like a grown up Hermione."

"That's just it!" she shouted. "I don't want to talk to you because I ruined it. Kissing you was the biggest mistake of my life, but it didn't feel like a mistake at the time! And now, I can't even be in the same room as you because it hurts too much. It hurts too much to even be in the same room as you and know that what we had is gone."

"Who cares if it's gone? Why can't we start something new? I'm sorry you feel it was a mistake, but for me, it was the best thing that could have happened." Draco said coldly.

"You filthy liar." Hermione breathed. "You can't preach to me about starting something new together when your blatantly involved with Persephone! Everyone knows it and it is wrong on so many levels for you to even consider it - " Hermione raved feeling her cheeks grow red with anger. Then, in one fluid motion, he had her pressed up against him and was kissing her.

It was like she could breathe again, as his lips moved softly on top of hers, his hands running down her sides, his tongue playing with hers. She groaned into the kiss, mussing with his hair as she pulled him closer. He moved one hand to cradle her face and the other to rest on her hips, sending vibrations everywhere.

Hermione suddenly pushed him away from her, needing to not be touching him.

"You can't do that!" she exclaimed feeling as if her brain was going to explode. "You can't cheat on Persephone just because you find yourself a little infatuated. I am trying so hard to get over you. I'm trying so hard to avoid you, to give both of us the time we need to get over this." Hermione said, all of her emotions coming out in a blur. "Why are you still with Persephone if this means so much to you?"

"Because I'm an idiot!" Draco shouted. "We broke up last week but when you kept ignoring me, I took out my frustration as sex. Meaningless sex with someone I care little for compared to you."

"This isn't real, this is infatuation - "

"Why does it have to be infatuation? Why are you so resistant to the idea of us?" Draco said feeling his anger boil. "Am I that repulsive to you? The idea of us is so sickening to you, you need to segregate yourself from me?"

"Because we hated each other in school. Then suddenly as interns we were best friends. Everything was perfect and then I go and kiss you and now we're in an even worse position than where we started. We just won't work Draco. We're like fire and rain. You counter me, and I counter you. We disagree, we fight...we just don't work." Hermione said breathing heavily. "And I hate you, I hate you for making me want you, I hate you for breaking me and for shattering me into a thousand irreparable pieces I don't know how to put together. I hate you for what you've done to me."

Draco was silent. "If that's how you feel…" he said coming up blank.

"That's how I feel." Hermione confirmed turning to leave before he could see her eyes burning with unshed tears.

"How did your surgery go?" a voice asked coming up to stand beside her.

"Fine. You are damn lucky he didn't bleed out while you took your own sweet time clearing out." Margaret said typing on her computer.

"Well he didn't die. So I am quite damn lucky aren't I?" Dan Wegener asked. Margaret rolled her eyes, standing to leave when his voice called her back.

"How about a drink? To celebrate my luck and your patient's survival." Dan offered smiling his dimpled smile that always brightened her mood when they were younger.

Margaret hesitated. She missed him, he was her best friend but the last time they'd had a drink together, it didn't go so well. "I have to meet Scott. I'll see you tomorrow." she said before walking away quickly, so she wouldn't have to see his heart broken face all over again.

On call room number 5 was always the room she met Scott in. As she rounded the corner and opened the door, she found Scott was already snoring in bed. Margaret smiled crawling in next to him, wrapping her arms around her waist.

He stirred slightly moving his lips to kiss her head softly. "How was your day love?"

"Exhausting. The night shift still hasn't grown on me, the way it has on you." she replied kicking off her shoes.

He chuckled playing with her long dark hair. "It's so eerie and quiet in the hospital at night compared to the day, there's something beautiful about it. Just like there's always something beautiful about you…" he said trailing kisses down her neck.

She laughed, running her fingers through his curls, his rough beard tickling her neck. Margaret instinctively tugged her long sleeves down to hide her forearms and he paused, raising his head to survey her.

"Marge...you don't have to hide your scars from me. You know I love you, all of you." he said softly his warm honey eyes meeting hers.

"I know…" she breathed closing her eyes. "He talked to me today, Scott. And he smiled...it was like we were in med school again."

"It will never be like we were in med school again." Scott murmured pressing their foreheads together. "It will never be the same."

"Is it messed up that I miss him? I miss my best friend." Margaret whispered resting her forearm over her eyes. "He wanted to have a drink - "

"No way in hell." Scott said his voice like cutting ice. "He can't just decide to go for a drink Marge, he's an alcoholic! Last time he was drinking, he used such a dark curse on you, your body is physical proof of the damage. He almost killed you too. And despite the fact we were all best friends in med school, I will never forgive him for that."

Margaret turned so she could look up at his face. She cupped his face gently in her hand. "I know... but a part of me still misses him. My best friend is still somewhere in there."

Aaron watched before he left the hospital, as the remaining Emersons slept fitfully in one cramped hospital bed, clutching onto each other as if the other were a life line.

"It's so unjust. The way the world works." Thomas Sharman said appearing next to him. "That bad things, terrible things, happen to such good people."

"When your in a garden what flowers do you pick?" Aaron asked his eyes trained on the broken family.

"The most beautiful ones." Thomas replied softly.

"Exactly." Aaron said turning to see Thomas was already watching him. The two stared for a minute, that quickly became a moment before Aaron cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Drinks?" Thomas suggested smiling crookedly. Aaron smiled following the other man out of the hospital and into the night.

"Are you alright?" Persephone asked pulling the sheet to cover them more. "Your quiet tonight." she said resting her chin on his chest.

"It was a rough day." Draco said staring up at the ceiling.

"Was it because of your uncle?" she asked tracing circles on his chest.

"He is not my uncle." Draco said sharply and with more harshness than intended.

Persephone was silent as she looked up at him with curiosity.

"You know you can talk to me right? I'm not just in it for the sex."

"Right now, I don't want to talk." Draco said turning off the lights with his wand. I just want to sleep."

Hermione sat on the stone cold bench, where just hours ago she had gotten into an argument with Draco. She had finally figured out why she was so angry and resistant towards him. She resented him. Hermione had everything figured out, her life, her career and her future. She still had her two other best friends, her best girlfriends - Ginny and Leila - then she found another person in her life. And never would she have imagined it to be Draco. He understood her in ways no one else had. He knew what she needed before she did, and spoke up for her when she no longer could find it in her to do it.

Now, she resented him for making her love him and upturning her entire world just because of one pathetic emotion, triggered by him. Everything about him, she loved, even the parts she hated she loved. But the best thing for their future was to drop it. Any romantic connections would inevitably end in tears and heartbreak, then what was already broken between them would most definitely, never be repaired.

Sometimes making yourself believe someone else is at fault, someone else is responsible gives you the strength to open your eyes and see.

"You really can speak mermish?" Aaron laughed as they tipsily reached Thomas' loft a few blocks from the hospital.
"Fluent," Thomas grinned winking weakly as he opened the door and lead them in. "I'm very good with my tongue." he said pulling off his jacket. Aaron's eyes followed and before his mind caught up with his hands, Aaron was locking lips with Thomas, tongues dancing between them.

Thomas yanked off Aaron's shirt and began undoing his belt as they hurriedly staggered into his bed room.

See what's always been in front of you, see what you don't want to see. It gives you the strength and will to pick up and move on. Because as the story of life always goes, something unexpected this way comes.

Hermione's pager went off madly early in the morning, rousing her from her restless sleep. She reached a hand out to blindly feel for it before she squinted at it, reading the message quickly. In an instant, she was up on her feet and out the door bolting to the emergency room.

She had shoved several healers out of the way and knocked several trays over in her haste to meet the emergency apparators. Her mind was shutting down, because this simply couldn't be happening, not today, not right now.

She burst into the trauma room making the most noise and felt her knees go weak and her head faint. Harry was lying on the table, his midriff drenched in blood. His intestines were visible through the fatal trauma, blood everywhere, too much blood. Someone was ventilating for him but his chest was barely rising, his ribs clearly broken in several places and a drizzle of blood could be seen leaking out of his mouth. The chief was shaking her head with despair as she examined his eyes and removed the portable X ray from his head. His eyes were shut, his skin deathly pale, everything about him screamed 'no hope', 'gone' and then, the line went flat.

Before you know it, you have a whole different battle to fight.

Author's Note

I mentioned it in my other story, my updates are not too consistent or frequent as I am tremendously busy with school and work. Please bare with me :)

Also BIG ANNOUNCEMENT PLEASE READ: I created a google sites with information on the characters and pictures of what I imagine them to look like. There's tons of background info on them, chapter links and more! Check it out for better insight on the story and it's characters.

Note: There are some abnormal spaces just so the link would show up, delete when pasting to search bar. If link doesn't work check my bio to see!

sites. google view/ grangers- anatomy/ home

I might switch to wix if this doesn't work well. Let me know if the link works.

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