Wild Magic (Sequel)

Chapter 15: Tattoo

Song: Adore You by Harry Styles 

The night sky poured into the room casting shadows on a couple tangled in bedsheets. A solemn  look of contentment rested on both of their faces. Draco lazily traced lines up and down Hermione's bare back, making her breathing calm and at ease. 

After a couple minutes of comfortable silence Hermione spoke, "Draco?"

"Mhmm."

She sighed to herself and continued, "Tell me something I don't know about you."

"Uhh." He thought for a moment, "Well, two things do come to mind."

She mumbled into her pillow, "And what is that?" 

Draco shifted in the bed and began, "St. Mungo's has a program that allows Healers in training to    go to med school at night on top of the regular Healer classes and clinical's. It's a very rigorous four year program that only a few people a year take. After the war I jumped straight into it. The program kept me very busy, but I made myself push through."

Hermione turned around to face him. "You don't just call yourself that? You actually are a Doctor?"

A gentle laugh escaped his lips, "Yeah I am."

"Why haven't you  said anything before?" She asked, as she propped her head up. "That sounds like the kind of thing you would boast about." 

"Cause then I would have to explain my reasoning as to why I wanted to do it" He paused for a moment, searching his head for the right words. "And that isn't something I'm very open about."

"Draco-" Started Hermione.

He cut her off and quickly interjected, "You already know a part of it I guess, I just never explained myself... When Goyle took my Mums voice I became obsessed with finding a way to fix it. It was the main reason why I wanted to become a Healer. I did med school on top of it all just so I could learn about medicine from a muggle perspective. Just to make sure that there wasn't some way I could help my Mother that didn't pertain to magic. Plus, after everything I went through in my teenage years and the war, I realized that didn't want to be apart of the problem. I didn't want to see others get hurt. I guess going into medicine was my own way of telling the world that I do care and I'm not the same person I used to be."

Closing the distance between them, Hermione kissed him softly on the lips. "That's very noble of you." 

He brushed a stray curl away from her face and then brought his arm back towards himself. He stared at the dark mark on his arm for a moment before carrying on. "And then there's this," he muttered looking at his mark, what once defined him. "I hate it. I hate looking at it. I hate that you have to look at it. I hate the way other wizards and witches look at it."

Hermione reached out and placed one of her hands over his dark mark, so he didn't have to look at it for a minute. "You know I don't hold your past against you. You made some bad choices in the past, but the important thing is that you recognized it and changed. You are the person you are because of the choices you made, and the person I'm laying next to right now is the love of my life and I wouldn't have him any other way."  She looked up and caught his gaze, "All the wrong choices led to you choosing to make all the right ones and that is what really counts."

Draco couldn't help himself, he kissed her again. He loved the way that he could be vulnerable with her and not feel exposed or humiliated.  "I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Let me heal your scar."

Hermione looked down at her mudblood scar on her left arm, Draco did too, and it pained him.