Body And Soul

one

Potter stared at him, took a slow breath and nodded.

"Yes," he agreed. "I am a healer and I ask all of my clients that. Like you said, I assume you came here for a reason. You have something bothering you, or something difficult to heal that your average potion or spell isn't working for? Something you feel needs a more therapeutic touch?"

Draco's cheeks heated as Potter spoke and he swallowed down any and all snide comments that were aching to burst from his lips.

He was here for a reason and he had already come this far and, truth be told, he couldn't keep on like this. The pain was too much. It was interfering with his life.

"Why don't you have a seat and we can talk?" Potter suggested.

Draco perched uneasily on the edge of the bed and waited.

"So what does bring you here today?" Potter asked and this time he sounded genuinely curious.

Draco supposed Potter must know that only something big would bring him into this particular clinic.

"I've been having a few chronic issues," Draco finally mustered the nerve to say, choosing not to look at Potter as he did. "Sleep deprivation, tension..."

He wanted to add anxiety but it already felt like he was saying too much, putting too much on display.

"I'd like to get off the sleep potions." And calming draughts. And pain potions.

Potter nodded, like that would be no problem and Draco forced himself to go on.

"And a few months back," he added, attempting nonchalance, "I was in an accident... I received blunt force trauma to the right side of my body. Fractured the skull, collar bone, shoulder, hip."

Again, he wanted to add more and also suck the words right back in at the same time. He wanted to fix everything, he did, but... why Harry Potter? Why was he the only magic therapy healer willing to take Draco? Why was he the only one not to give him the run around? More importantly, why did he have to be the only one that Draco believed would keep all of this quiet?

Finally, he looked at Potter, who still hadn't responded.

He was frowning at Draco thoughtfully.

"I didn't hear about that."

Draco shrugged.

"It happened at home," he said. "We managed to keep it quiet."

"What kind of treatment did you undergo at St. Mungo's?" Potter asked.

"We had a private healer come to the house," Draco admitted. "I didn't want to be seen at the hospital."

Potter nodded his understanding and Draco went on.

"He did brackium emendo for the bone that could be repaired and skelegrow for what couldn't."

Potter winced.

"Both unpleasant, but normally without side effects if they're done and used properly. I take it you still have problems with the areas?"

Draco nodded.

"A lot of pain," he admitted. And moments of fogginess, disorientation, mood swings that he had no control over whatsoever, not that he had admitted that to anyone.

"May I?" Potter asked approaching him.

Draco felt like an animal caught in a trap as Potter neared.

He wanted to lash out as Potter reached for him but forced every muscle in him to remain still as the other man gently touched Draco's right temple.