Author's Note
Haha I'm back….I know not funny. It's been eons since I've last updated and the only thing I can say is sorry! I re read my last two chapters and they were a little cringey for my taste so I'll work on that. And thanks to everyone who's sticking around to see where this goes! Big Author's Note announcement at the end!
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Subjective, debatable many have their opinions. The same can be said for coma patients. When they wake up, some say they could hear every word being said around them, others say they couldn't. Then there are those who never wake up to tell the tale. Then why do people sit by their bedsides, hold their hands and speak as if they can reply? Maybe they can hear maybe not, but the truth is, we do it for ourselves. It comforts us, makes us feel as if some part of the patient is still there. But like the tree all alone in the woods, do our voices make any difference?
"I don't think it's a smart idea." Alec said angrily pulling on his shirt.
"Why not?" Leila said roughly fixing the unmade bed. "He's your father and he wants to meet you! Why are you so against this?"
Alec yanked the other side of the bedspread trying to help Leila fix it. "I was raised as a muggleborn, and he didn't like the idea of having this unique kind of son."
"Well he's your father and he sounds like he wants to make amends." Leila said pulling even harder on the bedspread. "Give him a chance, you stubborn git."
"I said no!" Alec said his voice raising. "Drop it Leila."
"Just let me do it!" Leila exclaimed pulling the bedspread out of Alec's hands, glaring at him as he stalked out of the room.
"Morning," Thomas said rolling onto his side to face Aaron. He reached a hand out to tuck the stray hair behind his ear. "Sleep well?"
Aaron smiled, his eyes still shut as he stretched his arms above his head. "Amazingly well." he opened his eyes and grinned at Thomas.
"Wanna go again?" Thomas said already moving to hover over him. Aaron leaned up to kiss him, running his hands down his back. He suddenly paused pushing Thomas off as he sat up urgently.
"What? You wanna take it to the shower?" Thomas asked already moving to get up.
"No!" Aaron said wildly glancing at the clock. "I have my first knee osteotomy today! Merlin I haven't even prepped or practiced yet! I gotta run to the skills lab!" With that Aaron was out of bed, dashing to get dressed and out the door.
Thomas groaned flopping back onto the bed. "I regret giving the surgery to you!" he called, lazily draping his forearm over his eyes.
"No refunds!" Aaron called, closing the door behind him.
"Alec's being a dumbass." Leila said marching into Draco's flat. She began brewing coffee and making toast as she pulled out plates. "It's this thing with his father, he won't agree to meet him and I don't understand why."
Draco's flat was right next door to Leila and Alec's flat. Across from them was Hermione and Aaron's flat. This building was the most convenient and favoured one in the area for healers because it was down the street from Hogsmeade General. Healers who couldn't bare to see more of their co-workers than they had to, had to tough it out somewhere further.
Draco groaned as he flopped onto his stomach, jamming a pillow over his head.
"I mean, there is no child who doesn't want to know their parents." Leila said continuing to prepare breakfast. She slammed some mugs down harder than necessary and in her mood, sloshed half the coffee onto the counter instead of the cup, cussing as she wiped it up.
Draco sighed as he sat up groggily. He pulled a shirt over himself as he yawned tiredly. "Not that I don't love the sudden room service, does it have to come attached with all your problems?" he asked moving to inspect her food. "And thank Merlin you became a healer instead of a chef, this toast is crap."
Leila glared at him as she transferred her coffee into a mug to take with her. "What is the matter with the pair of you? You've been acting strange all week."
"You know for such a petite little redhead you are incredibly loud." Draco remarked idly sipping his coffee.
"Useless!" Leila huffed angrily moving towards the door. "All of you are useless!"
The hard chair in Harry's room was incredibly uncomfortable and did a number on her back. Hermione had been squatting in his room for the past few days, scaring nurses and yelling at people who walked by to stare. Because Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived was in a coma.
"He suffered severe internal injuries, serious brain bleeding and skull fractures. The trauma to his body was very harsh and with these kinds of conditions, it is not unusual for him to be in a coma. He could wake up any day now, it's just a waiting game." the chief of surgery, Kendra Kapoor said pressing her finger pads together as she often did when talking.
"But there's a chance he won't wake up." Hermione interjected crossing her arms. "There's no guarantee he'll wake up and even if he did, he could have memory loss or many other life altering symptoms."
"Yes, but there's no way to be certain of any of this until we wait, and see if Mr. Potter can pull through. There's a chance he will wake up." the chief said not unkindly.
Ginny was cradling a sleeping baby James as she watched Harry lay in the hospital bed. It was terribly painful for Hermione to watch them visit Harry and say "Daddy's just sleeping."
"He's going to pull through this." Ron said leaning against the door frame. He hadn't stepped into the room since they arrived. "He's survived a number of attempts on his life and this is just another. Harry's bloody immortal."
Hermione and Ginny remained silent as they sat around his bed. Voldemort seemed immortal too and yet he still died.
"Draco so considerate of you to show up." Aaron said without looking up from his clipboard. "You and Kravic are in the pit today."
"Come on." Draco grumbled fixing the stethoscope around his neck.
"You snooze, you lose moron." Leila snarked still bitter about his lack of interest in the morning.
"Alec you have a solo vasectomy today and Leila your with Dr. Margaret Mallucci in peds today." Aaron said hurriedly before rushing off in the opposite direction.
Without a word to either Draco or Alec, she marched off in search of Margaret Mallucci. After a while in the pediatric wing of the hospital, she found Margaret in deep conversation with her husband Scott. She awkwardly sidled up next to them and fiddled with her stethoscope uncomfortably.
"I'm just saying you could treat him with a little more respect at work." Margaret said reaching for a chart. "You were once inseparable."
"That was before - " Scott said loudly before glancing around at the stares and lowered his tone. "That was before he became a man I didn't recognize."
"Well you need to show a little more professionalism while your working." Margaret snapped irritably as she closed the chart. "I'm done with this conversation."
"Dr. Scott Mallucci? They need you down in the pit." a nurse said crumpling up a paper airplane message. Scott gave his wife one last withering look before walking off.
"Sorry about that." Margaret said already walking off towards the patients room. "Your going to pretend you didn't hear any of that."
"Of course," Leila said as they entered the patient's room. Inside the first thing immediately noticeable and quite impossible to miss was the tension and heat in the room. It was as if the room were divided into two countries. On one side was a teenage girl with blond hair laying flat on her stomach as she massaged her temples slowly. Her parents were on that side too looking across disapprovingly.
On the other side was a tall boy about the same age holding the girl's hand as his parents glared back.
"Present the case Dr. Bellsan." Margaret said shoving her hands in her pocket.
"Blake Hoover, 17 was admitted early this morning for…" Leila said her eyes widening.
"Sticking a sneakoscope up her anus." her mother said, her voice dripping with anger. "Of course she would have never done it herself, no, she had help. Another pair of hands - "
"Oh lay off Mary!" the boy's mother cawed. "If your girl hadn't gone wagging her buttocks off to every boy she met, she wouldn't be in this ghastly situation."
"Don't even get me started on ghastly - "
"Dr. Bellsan, please continue." Margaret said restoring uncomfortable silence in the room.
"In the past few hours she has begun experiencing severe abdominal pain and was taken for an X-Ray. Scans showed that the...device has clogged the intestines and prevented stool from coming out. Blake now has a rectal perforation and will need surgery to repair the damage." Leila said feeling the tension in the room close in from all four sides.
"We'll be inserting a foley catheter to release pressure that has formed a vacuum on the object. Dr. Bellsan is going to prep you for surgery." Margaret said smiling weakly at the two families before curtly exiting.
Leila pulled on a pair of gloves as she levitated Blake's skirt up to briefly inspect it.
"Blake let me know if your abdomen pain becomes more severe."
"Justin honey, we should go. You can visit this girl afterwards." his father said eyeing their joint hands with disdain.
"You can leave. But I'm not leaving my fiance. I'm waiting during her surgery and I'll be there right after." Justin said smiling warmly at Blake.
"Fiance?" Blake said writing notes down in the charts.
"She said yes last week." Justin said smoothing Blake's hair affectionately.
"After you coerced her into it." her father hissed, his face turning pink with rage. "You're 17 and you're still in Hogwarts. You are much too young to be making such life altering decisions on your own. You both think you're ready but you're only fooling yourselves."
"Dad!" Blake exclaimed.
"In fact only family is supposed to be here. So the whole lot of you can leave." her father said opening the door for them.
"Dad, Justin is my family!" Blake said grasping Justin's hand tighter. "And despite how his parents feel, we will be family too. And you know what if you want some sort of biological relation, I'm pregnant! So technically a biological relation is inside me joining us all together, so there!"
Leila gawked at her patient almost dropping the chart. If tension were enough to suffocate, she would be dead on the floor.
"Is this where you've been all day?" Alec asked shoveling down some casserole as he leaned back in his chair. "Practicing in the skills lab?"
"I have my first knee osteotomy today and I can not screw it up." Aaron said without looking up from his work.
"Why cause your boyfriend's gonna be watching?" Alec snorted dodging Aaron's attempt to hit him with a clamp. "Don't worry. If anything he'll swoop in to save you if you do screw up. I mean I'm sure he won't think of that one moment in the OR where you screwed up, every single time you guys are doing it."
"How did you even find out about us?" Aaron said his cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. "I don't flaunt my personal relationships around the hospital like the rest of you."
At this Alec moved the casserole on his plate around. "Hermione told me she walked in on you guys when she went back to your flat for a shower."
"How's she doing anyways?" Aaron asked reaching for a practice bone saw. "Imagine going to school with the Harry Potter? I mean he was a hero even at my school in Russia and he didn't even go there."
"She's doing fine." Leila said opening the door with her back to allow Hermione to enter rather resentfully. "I thought she should get out of that hard chair for a while."
"I told you I'm fine." Hermione said irritably as she sank down into a chair next to Alec. She turned to Aaron and shot him an annoyed look. "Chief resident here refused to assign me to a case so it's really his fault I was sitting on that hard chair all day."
"Guess what I have." Leila said changing the subject quickly. "A sneakoscope up the anus. Caused a rectal perforation." she said smirking at their gaping faces.
"Kinky." Aaron said stretching his neck.
"You'd know all about kinky." Hermione said stirring her soup idly.
Just then one of Alec's interns entered timidly and stuttered before getting his words to form a coherent sentence. "Er...Dr. Stanforth Lydia Emerson, the guard from Azkaban's wife who you operated on is here and she's asking for you."
"Can't you handle this?" he asked eyeing the intern with exasperation.
"She said it's important." he said a line of sweat forming on his upper lip.
"Maybe she's here to attack you like she attacked Lestrange." Aaron suggested.
Alec stood up with annoyance and trailed after the intern, giving Aaron a very rude gesture before letting the door shut. Arriving in the main atrium, Lydia Emerson clutched her purse looking around anxiously. A sudden jolt of pity shot through Alec as he remembered her husband died here less than a week ago.
"Mrs. Emerson what can I do for you?" Alec asked clasping his hands behind his back.
"I seem to have left my wand here. Did you find it by any chance?" she asked biting her already raw lip.
"That's strange, you must have misplaced it. We didn't find any undeclared wands. Dr. Lou here can help you sort it out." Alec said leaving the intern with poor widow Lydia Emerson.
"Thank you residents for joining us. We understand you have busy schedules so we'll make this as quick and concise as possible." Xander Reynolds the head of General surgery said. "Dr. Kimberly Wellington, the head of neuro for those of you who don't know her, and I are beginning a clinical trial. A clinical trial that will forever change medical history in the wizarding world."
"Dr. Reynolds is right. We've been working at this for a long while trying to figure out all the how's and why's science fails to provide us. In order for this trial to be a success we need the 2 strongest residents that are suited to this trial. Not the two strongest residents." Kimberly Wellington said from where she stood at the head of the table next to Dr. Reynolds. All the residents sat in the chairs surrounding them. "The two strongest for this trial specifically. Something you have to understand is that each surgeon can be successful in each specialty but there will always be one that feels like home to them. A specialty that they can foresee themselves practicing every day. The same remains true for this trial."
"Dr. Wellington and I will be observing each and every one of you for the next little while and we will determine the two residents we believe best suits the trial and will contribute to the success of the trial." Dr. Reynolds said his voice booming around the room. "Yes Dr. Kravic?"
"When are you going to tell us what the trial is?" Brittany Kravic asked crossing her arms skeptically.
"You won't find out till we choose two residents." Dr. Reynolds replied. "We want to see unbiased work ethic from all of you regardless of whether this is your specialty of interest. You may think you've found your specialty but you won't know for sure until you've exhausted every other specialty and always go back to that one."
"How do we know it lives up to all this hype?" Draco asked rubbing his face tiredly.
"Trust me Dr. Malfoy," Dr. Wellington said a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "You want in on this trial."
Leila felt a major headache begin to form from her hairline downwards. Blake and Justin's parents were having a screaming match in the patient's room, each trying to make themselves heard.
"There is nothing to discuss, our daughter is having an abortion as soon as she recovers from getting the damn sneakoscope pulled out from her anus!" Blake's mother shrieked, her shrill voice making Leila's head pound.
"She is not!" Justin's mother screamed back. "There is a life living inside of your daughter. And your lot may not have much respect for the gift of life but - "
"Mother!" Jake yelled.
"How dare you!" Blake's father bellowed. "How dare you accuse us of showing little respect for life. Our daughter is too young to become a mother!"
"Dr. Bellsan!" Margaret Mallucci said frowning from the door. She had to call her name several times before Leila heard her over the screaming and moved to join her at the door.
"She's almost prepped, Dr. Mallucci." Leila said warily.
"Control your patients." Margaret said crossing her arms. "You are the doctor here and you need to handle your patients and their family professionally. The whole floor can hear this telenovela and trust me, no one's interested." Margaret's face showed little patience as she closed the door after her.
Leila sighed turning to face the warring families. Her eyes widened as Blake's father fired a stinging jinx towards Justin's father. It was not long before both parents were dueling each other all the while screaming insults at each other. Just as Leila managed to disarm all of them, Justin had jumped in front of an incendio curse about to hit Blake's mother and fell crashing to the ground.
His parents and Blake began screaming even more as Justin's shirt burned and the scent of his charring flesh rose into the air. Leila shouldered Blake's fretful parents out of the way and extinguished the fire summoning a wheelchair over.
"Now look what you've done." Justin's mother said coldly to Blake's parents. "You set my son on fire!"
"Well did you expect us to stand there while you fired hexes - "
"That's enough!" Leila shouted above their cries. "This is a hospital where there are severely ill people who are trying to rest. People who are fighting to stay alive through the night and all of your bickering and screaming impedes that. If you must go at each other's throats you need to take it outside because now, you've hurt both your children."
Both sets of parents were silent for the first time since Leila arrived. Blake was weeping softly reaching as far as she could to touch Justin who's breathing was harsh as he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Now as their doctor, I'm going to have to ask you all to leave." Leila said watching as they filed out like scolded first years.
"Am I the only one who has a headache?" Blake sniffled.
"No change?" Mrs. Weasley asked moving to sit in Ginny's empty seat. "I made her go home to change and bathe." she said answering Hermione's unsaid question.
"His vitals have stayed the same and he's showed no verbal, eye movement or motor response." Hermione said her voice hoarse.
"Oh my dear boy." Mrs. Weasley said reaching over to clasp one of his limp hands. "Seeing him like this reminds me of Hagrid carrying him out of the Forbidden Forest and He Who Must Not Be Named declaring him dead." she blew her nose loudly, her eyes burning with tears.
"I can't believe how science, medicine and magic have failed to discover a treatment for comas." Hermione said closing the book on her lap. "Hogsmeade General has an expansive collection of books throughout muggle and wizarding history and I've read dozens of them, none of which have a solid cure."
"Harry will pull through. He always has. He's never lost a battle with death yet." Mrs. Weasley said stroking Harry's dark hair fondly.
Hermione felt something catch in her throat as she inhaled sharply. Mrs. Weasley was forgetting that she was inside a hospital, where battles with death were lost every single day.
"Make sure you only cut ¾ ways across the bone." Thomas Sharman said standing opposite Aaron as he worked. "Very nice. Practice makes perfect doesn't it?" he said grinning widely, reminding Aaron of a cat.
"Autograft please?" Aaron said receiving the graft on his right. He inched it slowly towards the cut and carefully inserted it inside the cut. "Like a missing piece to the puzzle." he breathed.
"Like a missing piece to the puzzle." Thomas repeated. Aaron looked up smiling broadly beneath his scrub mask meeting Thomas' eyes. He could tell just by looking, he was smiling just as widely too.
Aaron reached for his wand casting a charm to gently tap it into place, so it fit nicely. He was handed the plate and metal screws and used his wand to fit them into place.
"So I was thinking about going out on a date tonight. To celebrate your successful knee osteotomy." Thomas said suctioning with his wand.
Aaron paused his work to look up with surprise. His wand paused mid charm, his eyes widened so much his glasses slipped down his nose.
"Is it that bad of an idea?" Thomas asked sounding slightly insulted.
"No, no it's not that." Aaron said shaking his head. "Why would you say the surgery was successful if it's not even over? There's time to screw up and what happens if the patient wakes up and finds she can't walk?"
"I have full confidence that this is a success." Thomas said brightly. "You were outstanding Dr. Mathews. Afterall, I was your attending and there's no other possible outcome."
"You know, despite what everyone else thinks, we really do love each other." Blake said as they wheeled her to the OR after Leila had quickly and neatly relieved Justin of his painful burns. "Trust me, we know how young we are. But when you know, you know."
"You don't have to explain it me." Leila said waiting for the lift.
"I saw the look on your face when you heard I was engaged and pregnant. It's on everyone's face. But we didn't get engaged because I was knocked up, he proposed before we even knew." Blake said smiling fondly.
"I think it's very brave for you guys to stand up to your parents and for what you believe in. And you don't have it easy with both of your parents." Leila smiled.
Blake laughed as they entered the lift. "I would never have made it if it weren't for Justin. We hold each other up. It's like when you stand on one foot too long and you need the other to relieve you of the pressure. We have that and that's how I know he's the only one for me."
Blake said this with so much confidence, Leila had no doubts that every word was true. They reached OR 4 and wheeled her in, transferring her to the surgical table.
"Okay Blake, we're going to get this sneakoscope outside of you. I'm rooting for you and Justin, but next time, try other methods of having fun." Leila said squeezing her shoulder.
"Dr. Stanforth have you ever performed an angioplasty?" Elizabeth Putton asked watching the monitor carefully. Persephone Foster stood next to her looking as she usually did lately. Persephone Foster was the attending all the residents avoided lately. Ever since she called out Leila for a small spelling error on a chart and forced her to redo every single one just to be sure, residents avoided her like the plague.
"No I haven't." he said hopefully, beginning to set down his surgical instruments.
"Good. Then you can pay attention to this one and perform the next." Elizabeth said moving the catheter lower.
"That was mean." Alec said grumpily, picking up his instruments again.
"I'm sorry Dr. Stanforth can you perform an angioplasty all by yourself? Are you the head of cardio? No. So close your mouth before I kick you out of the OR." Persephone said her tone icy.
"Dr. Foster," Elizabeth said raising her head to stare at Persephone. "God, I've heard that the residents are terrified of you lately, but I couldn't imagine why. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing." Persephone grumbled glaring at the monitor.
"Sleeping with a resident doesn't meet your standards any more?" Elizabeth said dryly watching as Persephone continued starting unblinking at the monitor.
"No, actually. Malfoy broke up with me weeks ago. We had meaningless shags but I haven't been seeing him in weeks." Persephone huffed.
"There's no need to lie." Alec said before he could stop himself. The OR went silent as Elizabeth and Persephone looked up at him.
"Excuse me?" Persephone said her nicely shaped eyebrows raising inches higher than her surgical mask.
"Malfoy told me he'd slept with you last week." Alec protested, meeting her stare head on.
"No...we broke up weeks ago and like I said, I haven't seen him in weeks. Dr. Stanforth I think I'd know if I shagged someone." Persephone said her eyes fiery, as if daring him to counter her again.
Alec felt his heart rate jump as he dropped his surgical instruments. "Oh, fuck."
"Dr. Stanforth!" Elizabeth called looking astounded as he sprinted out of the operating room, yanking his scrubs off as he bolted out the door. He paged his intern multiple times before darting up the stairs.
His legs burned as he raced down the corridor. Fortunately this was a hospital and running doctors were not uncommon. He knocked over several trays as he skidded to a stop outside Lestrange's room. Both his guards were unconscious on the floor and the patient was missing from the bed.
"Where is Lestrange?" Alec demanded whipping around to face a sea of confused and slightly frightened eyes. Chaos began to ensue as nurses ran amuck searching the rooms for him. "Lock all exits and fireplaces. Nobody comes in or out!"
Alec knew by the time they'd searched all the rooms, Lestrange could be long gone. Where would Lestrange go if he were in the hospital? Alec paced back and forth, trying to block out all the havoc breaking loose around him. Then, he knew and before he could shout out his thought he sprinted in the direction of Harry's room.
Reaching there, lungs burning, Hermione and Ginny Weasley were bound to the chair and disarmed. Lestrange was circling Harry's bed like a predator stalking its prey. Alec cautiously stepped into the room, making no sound as he raised his wand and disarmed Lestrange, binding him to his wheelchair. He flicked his wand releasing Ginny and Hermione before turning back to face Lestrange.
"Is this or is this not Lydia Emerson's wand?" he asked watching as Lestrange struggled in his binds cursing the lot of them. He held up the wand Lestrange dropped for him to see.
He looked up giving a maniac, toothy grin. "After the poor old widow violently attacked me, she started crying like a little bitch and left her wand on my bed. I slid it under the covers all the while, the whole lot of you are morons and didn't even notice."
"Why didn't you try to escape once you had the wand?" Alec asked watching with disgust as Lestrange leaned back in his chair comfortably.
"I'm not a half wit, I knew the extent of my injuries were severe and I wouldn't make it very far until I healed." Lestrange said setting his beady eyes on Hermione and Ginny.
"And what spell did you place on your nephew Draco Malfoy?" Alec asked making Ginny and Hermione turn to face him in confusion.
Lestrange glanced up at Alec and smiled crookedly. "You're not as retarded as you look are you? Quite clever, quite observant. I placed a false memory charm on him to make him believe he slept with that Persephone woman. I knew he fancied this mudblood over here, and when he told her the false memory I knew their relationship would be nonexistent."
"You cold, heartless bastard." Hermione breathed glaring at Lestrange as he smiled sweetly back.
Alec turned to his intern who'd finally found him. "Return this wand back to Lydia Emerson, find the chief of surgery for me and page Dr. Malfoy."
"Foley catheter?" Margaret asked receiving it on her left as she carefully inserted it into the anus.
"Imagine living with parents like that?" Leila said moving her wand in small circles to provide suction.
"I had tiger parents." Margaret said lightly. "My mother was An Chang and my father - "
"An Chang?" Leila said her mouth gaping although Margaret couldn't see through her scrub mask. "You're An Chang's daughter?" she said in disbelief.
"Why the tone of surprise?" Margaret asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well you never use any of her techniques which are flawless and absolutely brilliant, I mean you'd think her own daughter would perfect them." Leila said in awe.
"I use my own techniques." Margaret said simply. "I am not a strong surgeon because my mother is brilliant, I have my own techniques that are just as flawless."
Leila glanced up from her work watching as Margaret scrutinized the monitor, adjusting her wrist so that the foley catheter was able to release the pressure on the sneakoscope.
"Was it hard becoming a surgeon with your mother's reputation?" Leila asked wondering if she was entering dangerous waters.
"Not just my mother's reputation but my father's too. He…" Margaret said her voice catching as she squinted at the monitor. "He was the former chief of surgery at St. Mungos."
"Holy crap, you're Surgical Jesus!" Leila said laughing. "Born of two brilliant, ground breaking surgeons. I pity and envy you. I suppose it's understandable why you wouldn't want to work under your father."
"He's dead." Margaret said flatly. "He died as a trauma surgeon in the final war against Voldemort."
Before Leila could respond the monitor began beeping as her vitals dipped drastically.
"Damn it, we're going to have to open her up, the rectal perforation has a bleed." she said pulling out the catheter. "Scalpel?"
"That was amazing." Aaron said leaning against the sinks as he surveyed the other healers clearing up the operating room and wheeling the patient out.
"You were amazing," Thomas said resting his chin on Aaron's shoulder. "Let's talk to the parents quickly, I'm starving and I know the perfect restaurant for that date."
"I haven't even said yes yet." Aaron grinned taking off his scrub cap. He turned so that they were chest to chest.
"I'm as confident that you'll say yes as I was during the surgery." Thomas smirked pecking him on the lips before exiting the room.
Draco had walked through the first floor which treated creature induced injuries, the second floor which treated magical bugs and diseases, the third floor which treated potions and plant poisoning, the fourth floor which treated long term residents from spell damage and was finishing up the fifth floor which was the visitors room. And Hermione was nowhere to be found.
He raked a tired hand through his hair as he watched a group of old witches stroll out of the gift shop comparing presents. Draco had checked the courtyard, several on call rooms and the residents lounge but there was no Hermione.
On a whim, he jogged up the staircase to the roof of the hospital and sure enough Hermione was sitting on the edge with her legs dangling off. Feeling as guilty as he did when he'd stood and watched her tortured, he walked over and sat down next to her.
"Did you hear?" he asked quietly staring out at the bustling street. People were closing up their shops, strolling down the street some entering the Three Broomsticks for a drink.
"Yeah," she said softly unblinking as she continued staring. "I'm sorry for the things I said."
"I'm sorry about Harry." he said watching as she took a shaky breath before turning to face him. Her eyes were filled with tears as she weakly laughed and turned back to face the street.
"I'm sorry about Harry too." she said resting her head on his shoulder. For the longest time, they stayed like that watching the street below. Draco felt more at ease than he had in a very long time. Hermione was his best friend and he knew he there was something within that kiss they shared, but he also knew pursuing something more than friendship could be detrimental.
For now, he was sated with having his person back.
There are a number of things we do everyday that change nothing but we do anyways for our own sake.
"Leila I swear to God if you don't drop the subject right now - " Alec said losing his normally calm composure as he spun around to glare at her outside the hospital.
"You'll what? Break up with me? Your relationship with your father is equally important as ours!" Leila exclaimed. "I just don't understand why you would want to lose the chance to repair your relationship with your father!"
"God Leila you don't have to get involved in every little part of my life!" Alec fired back seeing the slight hurt flash across her face.
"He's your father Alec! And whatever mistakes he's made in the past, he wants to talk and repair them now. Why don't you just hear him out and see what he has to say?" Leila said grasping his hand and staring hard at him.
Alec pulled his hand from hers angrily. "He abandoned me! As soon as he discovered he had a wizard for a son, he bolted. The day my Hogwarts letter came and Professor Flitwick showed up, I'd never seen him more ashamed or disgusted. He left my mom and me and my two younger sisters. If he couldn't accept me then, he can't accept me now."
Talking to a patient in a coma, voicing our desires to a shooting star hoping for a wish to come true, comforts nobody except ourselves.
"I'm thinking Felicia's. They're just down the street and their food is delicious." Thomas said linking arms with Aaron as they walked through the atrium and towards the main entrance.
"I'll eat anything you put in front of me." Aaron grinned fixing the strap on his messenger bag. "I'm on call though, so I should warn you dinner may be cut short."
"Let's hope a group of people don't decide to die tonight." Thomas quipped as they exited the hospital. There they were met with a sea of photographers and news reporters chanting Thomas' name.
"Thomas is this your new boyfriend?"
"Can you tell us more about him?"
"What's his name? Is he a co-worker?"
Thomas beamed at the cameras and raised a hand placatingly. "This is my boyfriend Aaron Mathews a third year resident here at Hogsmeade General. We're about to go for dinner so feel free to tune in to Late Night with Longihan tomorrow night! Yours truly will be there!"
Aaron felt uncomfortable as Thomas led them past the press and towards the bustling street. He knew Thomas Sharman was a world class healer and being one of the youngest in the field was quite the celebrity. However he never expected being involved with him would come with so much publicity. He thought he knew Thomas better but by the looks of it, it seemed he knew nothing about him at all.
It becomes clear that in this god forsaken world, we rely on the pettiest of things to comfort us and put our minds to ease.
"You okay?" a voice asked. Margaret turned around to see Dan Wegener standing behind her, his hands in his pocket.
Margaret leaned against the banister that looked out over the entire atrium of the hospital. This was the heart of the hospital. "I'm fine."
"Wanna grab a bite?" Dan asked. Margaret could feel his eyes on her as she surveyed the busy body healers bustling around the atrium. Against her better judgement and resentment from their last outing together she turned to face him.
"Lead the way," Margaret said before she could change her mind. Smiling lightly up at Dan, she followed him down the stairs and out the doors of the hospital.
"I'm sorry are you threatening me?" Kendra Kapoor asked crossing her arms as she eyed the man before her daringly. "This is my hospital and I am the chief of surgery."
"You are also a mother of four. One of your children I believe requires...special attention? This distracts you at work and the board would like to give you some room to spend more time with your family by appointing a new chief of surgery." the pale man said crossing his legs patiently. "This is not a punishment Dr. Kapoor."
"Mixing my personal life with work feels rather personal to me Mr. Malfoy. I am the chief of surgery and nothing is going to change that. Your son chose me to lead this hospital and when he asks me to step down, I will." Kendra said indicating for Mr. Malfoy to leave.
"We'll have to see about that then won't we?"
Useless and silly as wishes seem when we're on top of the world, it's one of the only things that keeps us sane when we're struggling to hang on at the bottom.
Draco flicked his wand and a beautiful white water lily lowered itself into the fountain. The Memorial Fountain was built in the centre of courtyard to honour lives lost or severely ill patients. Instead of galleons being thrown into the water, flowers were transfigured to honour the most beautiful lives being plucked and taken by death.
"For Harry," Hermione murmured watching as it floated on the water. She felt Draco's arm wrap around her as she watched the water lily join the sea of flowers.
And even the best of us need those silly little wishes to keep us moving, keep us waking up every morning, keep us living.
Author's Note
Okay so I have to admit I am much prouder of this chapter and rather annoyed by my last two. I wrote the other two in a rush during busy parts of my semester and this one was written without rush during summer break.
*Feel free to check out my google website for this story. THe link is IN MY BIO. There is a new section called Reader's Take with a survey to complete if you have time :)
Let me know your thoughts on this chapter!