Fifthteen minutes. That's how long of a lunch break Draco Malfoy got when he was working the mid-day shift at St. Mungo's. Just the perfect amount of time for him to eat his lunch, use the restroom, and walk to and from the cafeteria. Things did not go as planned when Draco's dear friend Theo showed up eight minutes into his break time.
Theodore Nott waltzed straight through the hospital cafeteria door, and made his way over to his friend. A strangely creepy smile was on his face. He had to be up to something.
Draco looked up from his sandwich just in time to see him plop down in the chair in front of him. "Theo, what are you doing here?"
He leaned back in his chair and explained, "Nothin'. Just chillin' with my best mate."
"What?" He asked a little confused, "You're starting to scare me, Theo... Oh, and do the whole world a favor, never use the word 'chill in' ever again."
Ignoring Draco's comment he continued, "Life is like a learning to ride a broom, you fall down every once in a while, but you always get back up. There's high's and low's. Unexpected gusts of wind. Especially gusts of wind that have messy brown hair, blue eyes, and a super old suitcase that contains magical beasts."
A light bulb went off in Draco's head, and he felt a little bad for his friend. "Oh, I see... Luna found someone else?"
"Yeah," mumbled Theo, "We were never anything serious. Just 'friends with benefits' really, but it still kinda hurts."
"Sorry, mate." Consoled Draco.
"It's all right," he muttered, "I should get going, you probably need to get back to work."
Draco glanced down at his watch, "Oh yeah, I was supposed to be done with my break three minutes ago."
The two of them got up in a hurry and walked together out of the cafeteria. St. Mungo's was having a particularly slow day, so Draco convinced himself that he didn't need to rush back to his post.
"You know what, I don't need a woman." Stated Theo.
"Really?"
"I'm a strong independent man."
"Is that what you're telling yourself these days?"
"I have tons of great qualities."
"Like your ability to burp the ABC's."
"No, like my sword fighting skills." He added, "but yeah that too."
Draco asked, "Can you tell me how sword fighting can be in any way beneficial to wizards? We have wands which project magic."
Theo was about to respond, but a nurse at the end of the hall started yelling at the healer next to him.
"Dr. Malfoy! I have been looking all over for you. There is a patient with a broken arm waiting in the lounge room, I suggest you go fix it." With that the nurse turned around and stomped off in the other direction.
"She seems nice," muttered Theo as he quickened his pace to catch up with Draco.
The waiting room looked like a ghost town. No body was in there but one person. An Auror with black circular glasses, disheveled black hair, and a broken arm he kept held close to his body.
"Potter," called Malfoy.
Harry looked up and meet his gaze, "Just my luck," he muttered.
"This just got interesting." Said Theo to himself.
"Follow me," Instructed Draco.
Harry took a deep breath and followed Draco and Theo. Even though Theo didn't look like he belonged there poking around at everything and playing with stethoscopes, Harry didn't question it. After a short walk Harry found himself in a hospital room with the two of them.
He sat down on the edge of the hospital bed and let out a long sigh. He has been put under a lot of stress lately. Sometimes he felt like he could just give in at any moment.
Draco pulled out a clip board and started to ask Harry questions, "So how did you hurt your arm?"
Harry mumbled something, but Draco could not quite catch it. "Sorry, what did you say?"
"I fell down a set of stairs." Said Harry, a lot louder.
Theo snorted with laughter on the other side of the room.
The healer paused for a moment and laughed to himself. "Let me get this straight you defeated Voldemort, but you can't walk down a set of stairs correctly? Wow."
"Shut up, Malfoy." Barked Harry, "It happened to be a steep set of steps."
"Why didn't you get someone to fix it for you? It's an easy fix. You don't usually even have to go to a Healer." Questioned Draco.
"All on the job injuries are required to be healed by a Healer." Informed Harry. "It's regulation."
On the other side of the room Draco flicked his wand and Harry's arm snapped back into place.
"Ahh, damn it," Cursed Harry, wincing in pain, "I wasn't expecting that."
A few moments later Theo stretched out across the hospital bed behind Harry. He made himself comfortable then announced, "These beds are surprisingly comfortable... I'm going to take a nap."
Harry laughed to himself while Draco barked off at Theo, "Get out of that bed!"
"Fine," he huffed. Theo found a straight back chair in the corner of the room and sat down in it. "Luna loved chairs... especially straight back chairs." Theo muttered with a little sadness in his voice.
Curiosity got the best of Harry, "What happened with Lun-"
"Rolf Scamander, that's what happened. Some bloke with a fancy second hand suitcase and a famous grandpa." Blurted out Theo.
"Oh, sorry mate." Said Harry.
"Enough about me, what's going on with you?" Asked Theo.
The boy who lived chuckled to himself, "A lot of work and stress."He paused for a couple of moments before continuing, "Guess what our old pal Dumbledore did? He is rumored to have left behind a very powerful magical object. Something so powerful it can supposedly bring the wizarding world to its knees and crumble it to dust. And guess who's in charge of the quest to find this thing? Me. Nobody back at headquarters wants to go search for it with me, and since Hermione got her new promotion, she can't come. Even if she did come I would be required to bring one more. It is regulation that you have to have three people. My life is a total wreck right now... so yeah that's how I'm doing." Harry paused for a moment and he realized what he just said. That was all classified information he was not supposed to share. Why would he say that out loud? Then it clicked in his mind. "Malfoy, did you drug me?"
"I casted an anti-pain charm on you so when I mended your arm so it wouldn't hurt as bad. Sometimes it can cause people to kinda 'let loose.' " Replied Draco.
Harry put his hands on his face, "This is just great."
Across the room Theo blurted out his genius idea, "We'll go with you on your little search, Harry. I need to get my mind off things, this can be good for me."
"I can't ask you to do that." Said Harry solemnly, even though he was desperate for volunteers.
"No, really I want too. Draco will come too, so we would have all three." Reasoned Theo.
"I will?" Asked Draco.
"Yes, you will." Stated Theo.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Because, if this whole thing isn't really a rumor and this 'magical object' gets into the wrong hands everything around you will fall apart. You'll have to live knowing that you could've changed all of that if only you went on a little adventure with Harry and me." Explained Theo.
"That's a very convincing argument," He admitted. All his life he has been too scared to take risks. To step out and do something for someone for other than himself. He wanted to change that. "I guess I will."
Author's Note:
Hey, y'all it's good to be back. I have had quite an amazing summer so far, and it's been pretty busy. The updating for this story might be a little slow, but I'm not totally sure yet. Thanks for sticking with this story for so long!
- MC