Hey Lady

Chapter 2:

“And the hospital’s not far if anything should happen here.”


A middle-aged witch was being held captive in a cell across the country. Her light hair looked brown and dirtier than she would have ever let it become if it had been up to her. It matted around her face horribly.

No light could be seen in the cell, making it impossible to conclude where she was. She struggled in her shackles, but that only made her wince in pain. She looked up at her wrists above her head. They were bleeding again.

“Please, stop this.” She begged to the shadows that wrapped around her. “Just let me go.” Hot tears fell down her cheeks. She felt weak. All she could do was beg to be set free from this misery. What else was she to do?

“No.” A voice snarled from out of nowhere. “You’ll never break free from me, witch.” The witch twisted and turned from her spot trying to see the monster that kept her wherever she was.

“Why are you doing this to me?!” She demanded to know. She kept twisting and turning until a light out of nowhere blinded her. She squinted until the image in the light became clear. It was a baby boy… but he was growing rapidly. In seconds he turned into the familiar young man she knew and loved.

“Hello, mother.” He spoke, his hands behind his back. He looked at her as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Darling, what are you doing here?” She asked, looking around her desperately, trying to find an escape for them both.

“You asked me to come, mum.” Her son replied. He looked at her oddly. “Are you ok? You look a bit under the weather.” As the young man took a step closer a thunderclap erupted around them and rain fell down upon the woman. It seemed her son wasn’t affected by the dampness however, as there was an invisible shield around him.

“Darling, listen to me.” The witch spoke desperately. “You must get out of here. It’s dangerous. You must leave!” The wizard took a step back and drew his hands from behind his back.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that.” He held a dagger in one of his hands and before the witch could stop him, he drove it through his own chest. “I’m sorry, mother.” The woman made a shrill cry as her son collapsed in a pool of blood around her.

“Draco!” The blonde heard his mother call out to him. He rushed to his mother’s side. He took her cold, fragile hand in his.

“It’s ok, mother, I’m here.” Draco assured his mother. Narcissa’s eyes were still closed, but her eyebrows were furrowed now. Just another dream, Draco suspected with a sigh. She looked thinner now after the war, having been unconscious a lot of the time in recent days.

Her health had been on the fritz ever since the end of the war. Draco didn’t know why. He thought she would have been relieved since her husband was away in Azkaban and the war was over. There was no need for her to stress out so much.

Draco left his mother’s side unwillingly and walked to the fireplace. It was interesting how fire could be so beautiful, yet so destructive. The flames licked the logs seductively. The young man closed his eyes and shook his head.

“I have to get out.” Draco muttered to himself. It hurt him to see his mother in such poor condition. She used to be so strong, he remembered. She used to take the beatings from his father and keep smiling, telling her son that nothing was wrong.

The only reason he didn’t go back to school was because he wanted to care for his mother. He did just that. He poured over books trying to figure out what was wrong with her, why she would hardly stay conscious. There had to be some sort of explanation. Out of the hundreds of books he looked into and all the research he did, he found nothing that would account for her behavior.

The only times Narcissa managed to stay conscious, she acted so out of sorts. It was as if she were in a constant daze. She couldn’t tell reality from fantasy. Draco wasn’t sure if he preferred his mother conscious or asleep. It was all so confusing and frustrating for him.
There was one point where he called in St. Mungo’s to make a house call. He had been desperate and needed to find answers. He paid the best Medi-Wizard extra to keep his mouth shut about the entire visit, because in the end, he couldn’t even figure out what was wrong with her.

Draco fell in the nearest chair, his head in his hands. There was nothing left to do, but sob. He felt weak, helpless and pathetic.

At that moment there was a sizzle from the fireplace. Draco looked up, his eyes angry from the interruption of his thoughts. Who had the nerve-

“Hello, Draco. Thought you’d be here.” There standing on the hearth was none other than Pansy Parkinson, his former flame. Draco couldn’t help himself, as he eyed the young woman up and down. She was dressed in a black tight-fitting dress that reached her ankles, making her look like a curvaceous black mermaid. Her hair was made up in a pony-tail with tendrils of hair outlining her jaw-line.

Draco’s eyes lingered on her stomach, noticing the smallest of bumps bulging out of her. He smirked, but it was lost upon her.

“Draco, what’s the matter with you?” Pansy demanded to know. “Have you been crying again?” She sounded appalled.

He wiped his tear-streaked face and stood up, turning his back to her and staring at his mother’s bed. It might as well have been empty.

“What’s it to you?” Draco sneered. He was angry at himself for letting anyone see him like that. Pansy rolled her eyes.

“Draco, honestly, hire someone to take care of her. You need a social life, not to mention a sex life.” Pansy pleaded with her old love. “Your reputation is in tatters right now and you need to fix it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to come up with excuses as to why you’re not at all the parties.” She sounded bitter.

Draco didn’t care. Sure, he missed being able to have fun with his friends, but that wasn’t important anymore. The only thing that mattered was keeping his mother safe.

“I need to stay here.” He strode to his mother’s side and wiped the hair out of her eyes.

“No, Draco, you need a life. You look like shit!” Pansy was right. Draco’s usually tamed blonde hair was unruly and greasy. It looked as though he hadn’t shaved in days. “Why is it so important for you to stay here?” Draco had never explained it to anyone else before, other than saying, he needed to take care of his mother.

“Because if she wakes up, I don’t want her to see some stranger and become scared. I want her to see a familiar face. You don’t know how comforting that is, do you?” Draco looked up at the woman now standing at the foot of his mother’s bed, her hands on her hips.

“Have it your own way.” With that, she left the manor by Floo. Draco was glad to be rid of her, but he was also a bit lonely now. She was the only one of his friends who came to visit. Anyone else who came over usually had business to talk about. Draco had to take care of finances after his mother’s behavior changed. It was hard at first, but he picked it up quickly.

Draco stared at his mother. “Where are you, Mum?”

Hermione’s first day of work, and she was stuck in Ward 49, where all the long-term residents stayed. She was assigned to Lockhart and two others, a wizard named Murdock who thought he was a pilot for the military, and a witch named Agnes, whose head was covered in fur and barked like a dog.

She felt as if she were a joke at St. Mungo’s. Her talents were being wasted on taking care of the incurable, whereas others were getting the opportunity to save lives. It wasn’t fair.

“Augustus?” Hermione looked over at the Healer next to her, as they both walked their respective patients. “Why did you transfer to this ward?”

“Ahh,” the Healer scratched his head, as if embarrassed. Augustus was only five years older than Hermione, he had told her when she came in for her orientation. “I actually was transferred after the incident with Mr. Weasley. I’m not really allowed in any other part of the hospital besides this one.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Hermione shrugged it off and continued to walk Murdock throughout the ward for his daily exercise.

“Hey, Hermes,” Murdock said, taking off his pilot hat. “Have you ever flown in a helicopter before?” Hermione smiled awkwardly at him before turning to Augustus. He nodded, with a teasing face.

“No, Mr. Murdock. And remember, it’s Her-my-own-y.” She patted his shoulder gently, and guided him back to his bedside. “Now, make sure to get some rest, ok?”

“Will do, Commander Henry!” Murdock saluted to her, before robotically climbing into bed and lifting the covers over his head. Hermione shook her head. She wasn’t sure how much of this she would be able to take.

Hermione bumped into Augustus while walking out of Murdock’s room. She apologized but he shook it off and offered to walk her to the break room.

“Say, Hermione…” Augustus piped up. “Why are you in the Janus Thickey ward anyway? I thought a woman of your skill would want to be somewhere Dai Llewellyn ward, or out in the field saving lives.”

“I did want that. But they placed me here, instead.” Hermione smiled at him weakly. It was nice to hear someone had as much faith in her as she herself did.

“You should talk to Smethwyk. He’s the Healer-in-charge of the Dai Llewellyn ward.” Hermione nodded. She intended to do so as soon as she was off of work.

The day was extremely long, as she filled in paperwork for new residents and got assigned Child duty, because the Healer in charge of baby-sitting the patients’ children was hit by a charm that a three-year-old fired at him, causing his skin to itch unbearably.

At the end of the day, Hermione just wanted to go home, deciding that tomorrow would be a better day to talk to Healer Smethwyk.

Hermione unlocked the keys to her small apartment and made her way directly to the bathroom, turning on the taps to the bathtub. When she was satisfied, she turned off the taps and climbed inside of the tub. She gasped at first at the heat, but soon sighed at the relieving feeling it gave to her aching limbs. Who knew taking care of the long-term patients would leave her so tired at the end of the day?

Hermione leaned her head back and almost drifted off to sleep in the tub. She shook herself to consciousness and got out of the tub. She dried her body off and shook her unruly hair dry. It was frizzier than ever, she noticed as she looked into the mirror. She vowed to make her way to Diagon Alley, the first chance she got. She needed to keep up her appearance, after all. Not to say she was ugly, because she knew she was far from it, but the circles under her eyes and the frown lines around her mouth made it hard for her to see her own beauty.

Hermione sighed, making her way to her bed. Before she knew it, she was past out, still wrapped in her towel.


A/N: Thank you to my first reviewer: starlight-x-A-x I completely agree! Thriving Ivory is an amazing band!!