"It wasn't a high-energy wound," Neville drones on as Harry paces back and forward outside Draco's room. "The stab wound penetrated the abdominal wall so it was difficult to assess. We are watching out for occult injuries because we don't want to miss those."
"Thanks, Neville." Harry braces himself for what he will find.
"Hey," Neville says before Harry enters. "I am sorry."
"Thank you." Harry never knows how to deal when colleagues treat him with kindness or empathy.
"How did I do?" Neville whispers to Harry just as he starts to enter Draco's hospital room.
"Neville," Harry knows better than to get personal with a fellow doctor, but sighs. "You are a great doctor. Please trust yourself."
"Did I miss anything?" Neville seems eager for Harry's approval.
"Please order a CT scan." Harry knows there is nothing to worry about, but he would like to be careful because it's Draco.
"That's a lot of radiation," Neville scratches his head.
"So?" Harry asks, annoyed.
"Well," Neville shifts from foot to his other foot, nervously. "We don't give omegas that much radiation. He is child-bearing age and at his most fertile." At Harry's blush, Neville stammers. "I don't know when you two are planning children. Which is not a good idea right now because he is not well. And his mum's a psycho. Not that your children are not going to be worth it because you are both so good-looking, your children will be so cute. Are you guys having sex? Because the…"
"Shut up." Harry finds that when Neville gets like this, it's best to interrupt him or he will just keep ranting uncontrollably.
"Thank you," Neville says, relieved. "Thank you, Harry."
"Order the scan," Harry says, "We need to rule out internal bleeding before we can plan children." Harry doesn't give a fuck about anything except Draco's safety. He would do anything to switch places with him right now.
When Harry enters the room, Draco is stable but asleep. Remus has been crying judging from his swollen red eyes, and Sirius is trying to console him. Harry notices Severus sitting on Draco's other side, and his blood boils. "Get the fuck out of this room, this instant." He approaches the older alpha.
"Harry," Severus isn't phased by Harry's furious look. "Is Draco going to be okay?"
"I can't believe I looked up to you all these years," Harry says as Sirius stands up, ready to intervene. The last thing they need is to be thrown out of this hospital, especially since Harry just got hired and doesn't need a blemish on his career record. "I can't believe that all these years, I told myself that I wanted to be you."
Severus' face is expressionless, but his eyes narrow. "Stop it."
"Every hard day I had," Harry thinks back to all the hoops he had to jump through to get hired as a surgeon. "Every hard patient, every obstacle thrown at me, I asked myself, what would Severus Snape do? Oh yes, he would compartmentalize and fucking deal with it. He would be a genius. He wouldn't be bothered by any of it. Do you know why? Because I don't have my father around to look up to," Harry looks at Severus with tear-filled eyes. "You are the only academic in my life and I thought you were a good role model despite your bad behaviour. You are a bastard."
"Harry," Sirius knows how supportive Severus has been to his godson's career, and this has come as a big emotional blow. "Breathe." He tells the sobbing alpha.
"Why wouldn't you get him out of there?" Harry takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself. "I thought you loved him."
"I do," Severus assures Harry.
"It's not that easy to remove an omega from their guardian's care, Harry." Remus wipes another tear. He completely blames himself for this. He saw Narcissa behave erratically. And he didn't do anything about it. He thought it was just Narcissa being her usual broken self. The behaviour has escalated and Draco paid for it.
"I am not even a blood relative. What do you think," Severus cocks his head to the side, "I can just take him from his parents' house and walk out the front door? I needed to find you first."
"I thought Lucius found me," Harry sniffles as Sirius takes a tissue and starts wiping his face in a true paternal fashion.
"I found you," Severus had been pestering Lucius for years before "And constantly reminded Lucius that his son would die if we didn't find you. Then I led him to you."
"And you didn't tell me?" Harry gestures to Draco who looks pale from all the blood loss. "He could have died."
"I was hoping," Severus looks sheepish all of a sudden, "That you two would get closer before I revealed the truth. I didn't need your god complex kicking in. I wanted you to love Draco for him and not because you wanted to save him." Above all, Severus wants his godson to be happy. He would die for Draco.
"My god complex?" Harry cannot believe his ears. "You put Draco in danger because you don't like what you turned me into?"
"You don't get to blame your issues on me," Severus says, a little intimidated by Harry's rage, not that he would ever show it, or even admit it to himself.
"I became a perfectionist to please you," Harry reminds Severus. "All I ever wanted was for you to be proud of me. I thought that if I got the perfect grade if I wrote the best paper if I…"
"You did all that to get into medical school." Severus doesn't like how bad he feels. This is guilt. Severus doesn't do guilt unless Lily's memories are involved. Except this is Lily's son, confessing to Severus that he did everything he did career-wise, to please Severus. He never did have children with Lily but somehow, he has managed to influence her son into the neurotic, maladjusted mess that he is. A sudden kernel of pride mars his disgust.
"No," Harry suddenly feels so angry, he could kill someone. After years of having repressed his emotions, it is almost a relief to be so mad. "I did it so you would acknowledge me. It helped me get into med school but you were the reason I tried so hard, Severus. But you don't give a fuck about me, and you don't give a fuck about Draco."
"Careful," Severus warns. He doesn't want his love for Draco to be questioned by anyone, Let alone the boy with James' face and Lily's eyes.
"What are you going to do?" Harry narrows his eyes, cocking his head just as Severus did. He certainly did learn how to threaten people from Severus. "Stab me?" With a look of disgust that would put ordinarily make Severus proud, Harry pushes past them and makes his way for the door.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asks in a low voice, stopping Harry from slamming the door because Draco is in fitful sleep, recovering from his injuries.
"I am going to get a marriage license." Harry wipes away the remaining tears. "Draco is not going back there. He's coming home with us."
"Oh thank god," Remus makes a relieved sound. He wants to kill Narcissa. Too bad, she has been carted off to jail already. He blames himself for letting something bad happen to Draco, and will never be able to forgive himself. The best he can do is to atone for his sins. The only way to do that is by loving and nurturing Draco for the rest of his life. Just as he has never been able to forgive himself for James and Lily's deaths and must love and care for Harry forever.
"Draco is coming to live with me." Severus rolls his eyes at Harry's threatening look.
"The hell he is!" Harry approaches Severus again. "He is going to be my spouse. He belongs with me." Whatever happened in the past stays in the past. Harry is not letting Draco go back to that hellhole.
"Why don't we let the boy decide for himself?" Sirius pulls Harry back, pushing him toward the door again. "Go get the license before Lucius returns, please. It's the one good idea you have had."
Harry lets Sirius push him out of the hospital room and is startled to find Ron and Hermione waiting for him outside. "Hey," Harry says, startled. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We came as soon as we heard." Hermione places a comforting hand on Harry's elbow. "I am so sorry."
"Is Malfoy okay?" Ron asks, concern on his face.
"His mother stabbed him," Harry feels tears coming on again.
"We all think about it, but to do it…" Ron shakes his head and at Hermione's lethal look, apologizes. "Harry, I am so sorry. I didn't mean anything I said. Any of it, especially not the crap about wanting money or whatever." He says after Harry gives up putting on his glasses again because they keep getting smudged. "If you want to marry…" Ron makes a face, "Malfoy, then I am all for it."
"Oh, my," Hermione places a hand on her face in shock as Harry steps closer to Ron, placing his head on Ron's chest.
"Hey," Ron wraps his arms around Harry. "Buddy. He will be fine. Malfoy's a monster. It will take more than a knife to kill him. More like a stake to the heart, mate, or a silver bullet." Ron is a big horror movie fan. "Or if he's a zombie…" At Hermione's glare, he stops listing his favourite creatures.
"I missed you," Harry mumbles, feeling safe in Ron's arms.
"I didn't go anywhere," Ron shushes Harry as the alpha cries and strokes his hair. "I needed to cool off, Haz. You dumped my sister."
"Oh yeah," Harry looks up at Ron, "How is she?"
"She is dating…" Ron notices Hermione shaking her head behind Harry's back. "Nevermind. Point is, she is fine." Betas tend to be more emotionally stable than alphas and omegas. They don't mope over their relationships as much as the other genders.
"Good for her," Harry lets Ron's comforting scent calm him down. "Are we fine?"
"Sure we are." Ron wipes Harry's tears with his thumb. "Look, Harry. I was mad because I wanted you to be my brother-in-law."
"I am sorry." Harry apologizes. "I let you down."
"You didn't let me down, Harry." Ron has alpha brothers. He knows how important the bond is. "I don't want you turning into a psycho like Snape."
"Oh yeah," Harry knows there is an omega out there that turned Snape down. The rumours fly about the professor's life and everyone talks about the mysterious woman who famously rejected him and chose death instead. Harry always thought it was because of Snape's personality, having personally known and having been mentored by the man himself. Now, after having experienced what it's like to have an omega, even without the sexual intimacy, Harry suspects that Snape is the horrifying person that he is because of the pain.
"And if I have to learn to tolerate Malfoy for you," Ron looks as if he is swallowing poison. "Then so be it. You are my brother and I would do anything for you."
Hermione smiles. She married a kind, compassionate man. Ron has proven himself to be a decent person, every single time and in every single situation. It's what made her fall in love with him. Harry was too intense and too stressed. He would have compounded all of Hermione's issues. Ron calms her down and brings stability to her otherwise professional and chaotic life.
"I even started looking into strip clubs," Ron adds, and at Harry's confused look, and Hermione's annoyed one, he explains. "For the bachelor party. I found the perfect one. There is a girl who works there, and she shoots ping pong balls out of her…"
"I am afraid that's not happening, bud." Harry doesn't want to pull away from Ron's safe embrace, but he has to, unfortunately. It's mid-afternoon already, and the family court will be closed soon. "I have to go get a marriage license before Lucius and Narcissa come back."
"Oh, Harry, honey," Hermione is no lawyer, but she knows stabbing an omega doesn't end well. Even if the perpetrator is another omega. "She is not coming back." Lucius is too busy somewhere getting a lawyer for his crazy wife to care what happens to Draco right now.
"So," Ron follows Harry to the elevator. "This is happening, huh?"
"Yes," Harry says, pleased as Hermione and Ron get in the elevator with him. "Sorry, you didn't get your bachelor party, big guy."
"Oh I am getting my party," Ron says as the elevator doors close. "As god is my witness, there will be a bachelor party."