Hey Lady

Chapter 3:

She’s bored in a week, big dreams but nothing material

Hermione dragged herself out of bed for the umpteenth time, shuffling to the bathroom for the daily ritual of getting things together. While she brushed her teeth, she opened her eyes and almost gasped at the mess that was her hair.

Where was her wand, she really needed to take care of this. She tripped over an orange lump on the floor and landed on her wrist, snapping it almost clean in two. Hermione cried out in agony. Sure, she had been through worse, but that didn’t mean the pain wasn’t real and excruciating.

“Crookshanks.” Hermione groaned as her cat sidled up beside her, nuzzling her side. “Not now, Crooks. I need to take care of this.” She climbed up, keeping her broken wrist close to her. She grabbed her wand from the desk and tapped her head to make her hair a little less unruly.

“I have to go to work early, Crooks, I’m sorry.” She was thankful it wasn’t her wand arm that was busted, as she used magic to pour her cat his breakfast.

Within a second, she disapparated out of her apartment and into St. Mungo’s, and headed straight for the first floor.

“Hermione, what are you doing here?” A familiar voice from behind her asked. She turned around and saw past the many busy Healers walking back and forth through the hall that Ron Weasley was walking her way.

“Ron?” Hermione winced in pain, holding her wrist tighter against her. “I work here, Ron. I thought you knew.” She added bitterly. She should have known that Ron wasn’t paying attention during one of the rare meetings they had.

“Yeah, but you work on the Fourth Floor, you said.” Ron stated. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

“Broken wrist.” Hermione shrugged and looked closer at Ron. His freckles were beginning to blend in with his skin and his eyes were the same dull blue as ever.

What had she been thinking by kissing him? They hadn’t spoken about it ever since, silently deciding to go about their normal lives. At least, Hermione’s life seemed normal. Ron didn’t go back to Hogwarts for his final year and took the Ministry’s offer by working for them.

“Oh, I see.” Ron replied awkwardly. It was only then that she noticed the gash in his neck. It looked horrible, gushing ever so slightly with blood. Hermione turned her head. This is the kind of thing she wanted to help with, among more serious injuries, seeing as Ron could still function.
“What happened to you?” She asked, as they walked together down the hall in search of Healers. Hermione had gotten used to the busy schedule of Healers early in the morning, having to work a few early morning shifts herself.

“Oh, can’t really say officially, but it looked like a pre-pubescent dragon that a certain someone’s been hiding.”

“Oh, no! Is Hagrid really trying to raise a dragon again?” Hermione shook her head. It was sad, really. Hagrid didn’t get to see the trio as much anymore, making him a bit lonely. That and his fascination with dragons and all sorts of dangerous beasts made it a bit difficult to keep him out of trouble, but Ron and Harry tried their best.

“Hermione, I honestly don’t know how much longer Harry and I can do this. Charlie makes trips almost monthly because of Hagrid.” Ron sighed, but then stopped dead in his tracks. “Is that Malfoy?” Hermione perked up, wincing in pain, and looked all around.

Sure enough, not ten feet from them was Draco Malfoy talking to the very man Hermione had been trying to contact about getting a transfer into the Dai Llewellyn ward. There was something about the young man that was different. Malfoy looked more tired and angry than ever. Hermione suspected that must have had something to do with having to take care of the family affairs by himself, not to mention his poor daddy being in prison.

“Who’s that talking to him?” Ron asked.

“Hippocrates Smethwyk. He’s the Healer-In-Charge of this ward.” Hermione rounded the corner, so she wouldn’t be seen by them. She was just as curious about Malfoy being at St. Mungo’s as Ron was, if not more.

“Hermione, are you spying on Malfoy?” Hermione narrowed her eyes at Ron. He shrugged. “Bit of déjà vu is all. Anyway, I need to see someone about this before it gets infected. I’d suggest you do the same, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

Hermione ignored him and listened as hard as she could to the two conversing around the corner. She desperately hoped no one would notice her in the state that she was.

“What do you mean, ‘bring her in’?” Draco sounded angry and scared. “I’m not going to tarnish her reputation by having the world see her in this state.” Who was Draco talking about? Who did he care so much about that he would want to protect her from the world?

“Then there’s nothing I can do, Mr. Malfoy.” Healer Smethwyk replied. “There’s only so much to be done in the privacy of one’s own home. We have better ways of finding what’s wrong with her here at the hospital.” The old man moved forward so Hermione could see him. He was so close, Hermione could touch him. She prayed she wouldn’t be seen eavesdropping. Luckily, Malfoy was on the other side, invisible to her.

“You said you would try. In your letter, you said you could help her-” Malfoy persisted.

“-If you brought her to me.” Smethwyk sounded like he was losing patience. He looked down at the clipboard he was holding. “Mr. Malfoy, I have an Auror who was just bitten by a dragon. I can’t wait around for you all day.”

“Remember who signs your paychecks, Smethwyk. If you don’t do this, you might find yourself out of a job. Think about that.” Malfoy sounded just as bad as his father.

“I don’t have time for this.” With that, the Healer-In-Charge turned on his heel and headed down the hall. Hermione was quick to follow him.

“Excuse me, Healer Smethwyk.” Hermione struggled to keep up with the man, despite his having a slight limp and being much older than her. He didn’t seem to hear her, however, so it took her several more tries at his name before he spun around.

“Yes, I’m very busy at the moment. The visitor’s lounge is on the top floor. There’s a map at every entrance.” He turned once more, but Hermione kept pace with him.

“You don’t understand. I’ve broken my wrist almost clean in two.” Hermione almost bumped into the Healer as he stopped in his tracks and spun around. She was beginning to wonder if he was getting dizzy from going back and forth.

“Why didn’t you say so?” He said, and Hermione noticed he looked a little embarrassed. “Episky.” He said pointing his wand at her wrist. There was a momentary pain of her bones forming together and once more her wrist was whole again.

“Thank you, sir.” Hermione said looking down at her wrist. When she looked up again, Smethwyk was far ahead of her. “Wait, sir!” Hermione chased him down the hall, finally catching up with the old man when he was turning a corner.

“Perhaps I should properly introduce myself.” Hermione stated, holding out her hand.

“I know who you are, Miss Granger.” Smethwyk said with a sigh. Hermione retracted her hand. “And I know why you have come to me. Word gets around.” He added with a wink, when he saw the confused look on the witch’s face. “Unfortunately, it’s not my place to transfer you to a different ward. You haven’t finished your training yet. Only then can you transfer into the ward of your choice.” He turned into the room closest to him and Hermione wanted to follow but he shut the door before she could, with a “Good day, Miss Granger.”

Hermione sighed. So she would have to endure another several months before she could become a full-fledged Healer. She wondered how much clinic duty that would mean. She was fairly good at healing cuts and bruises, but clinic duty was always such a bore.

She made her way to her own ward, dragging her feet, before putting on the proper attire and getting to work. It would be another long, dismal day for Hermione Granger.

Back in the Dai Llewellyn ward, Draco stood in the Hall thinking. He had noticed the Granger twit eavesdropping on them and decided to do his own bit of it, listening to her whine for Smethwyk’s attention.

When he realized she worked there, his brows furrowed. He wasn’t going to admit it aloud, but he knew damn well that Granger was the brightest witch of her age. He was going to do his own bit of research, he decided, removing the Disillusionment charm.

When he entered the ward Granger worked in, he realized why she would want to transfer. He felt more than uncomfortable around a bunch of crazies. He pulled his coat close around him and stuck up his nose as a barking, hairy-faced witch passed by him.

He walked up to the receptionist who had a flurry of envelopes flying in circles around her head. She didn’t even care to notice him, just kept to filing things away.

“I need Healer Granger’s file.” He said with an air of pretentiousness.

“And I need a man who knows how to charm me.” The witch took one of the flying papers from the flurry and read it, before looking around. “Hackly, your mother wants a word.” She shouted out at a Healer chasing after a man with a pilot’s cap on.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Draco asked, disgusted with the treatment. “I own most of this hospital, including this ward, so you would do well to give me what I ask for.”

“If only you had asked.” The witch replied sarcastically. She continued to shuffle through many of the files, her back to Draco.

“What’s your name, witch? I’ll have you sacked before you can say-” But she spun around before he could finish, tossing a manila envelope at his chest.

“Hermione Granger’s work file. If you don’t mind, I have real work to do. I can’t be searching for trivial things.” The witch said her voice trailing as she left the vicinity, the pieces of parchment still buzzing around her head.

Draco stared down at the file. This was all he needed… Though, he would make sure to punish that witch for her cheek. The nerve she had to treat him like a patient.

Without another look around him, he disapparated out of there, intending to look over Granger’s file until he had it memorized.

“What was that?” Hermione asked having heard a slight pop from the front desk. She had her arm around Murdock’s so he wouldn’t escape and she could return him to Hackly, for it was his shift with Murdock.

“Looked like Mr. Malfoy was leaving.” Murdock said, tapping his feet on the ground. Hermione’s curiosity peaked again. First, he was speaking with Smethwyk, and then he was spotted in her ward.

She shook her head. It couldn’t be. Malfoy had no reason to be in her ward. Why would he waste his time with any of the crazies? She looked at Murdock. Unless, whoever the girl he was talking about was one of them.

Just at that moment, a young, portly Healer was huffing his way up to Hermione. “There he is!” Hackly spoke with his Irish accent, his forehead drenched in sweat. “You’ve got to look out for this one, Miss Hermione. He’s a runner.”

“Thank you, Basil.” She nodded, as Hackly took Murdock by the arm, dragging him away. He struggled to leave though, yelling back at Hermione.

“Herman, do you want to ride with me in my helicopter?”


A/N: Thank you catysmom for your review :) I'm updating as much as I can... Anyway hope you've all enjoyed.