Chapter 3
Published 9/17/20
It had been a week since he got Draco, and he had finally finished his right arm. He just needed to work on the neck and shoulders, and he could remove the charm on his arms. He didn't want him to experience any pain, so he wasn't going to free anything besides his hands.
Harry rolled next to him and said, "Draco? I need to work on your neck and your shoulders."
Draco still didn't answer.
Harry didn't let it frustrate him too much. "I will have to touch your skin directly."
That made Draco turn his head to look at him indirectly.
"I'm sorry. The magic I do... I must have contact to heal it. I'll have my eyes closed, okay?"
Draco turned back away.
Harry was going to put his foot down. He wanted Draco to be okay with it, to have a choice, to have some control. Harry knew that Draco hadn't had any in a long time.
"Draco... I'm not going to touch you there without your approval. So, if you don't answer, I'll start on your legs and leave it for later... if that's what you prefer. You don't have to talk, just nod, okay? So, do you want me to heal your shoulders and neck? I promise I will be very professional and won't take advantage of you."
Draco looked at him, analyzing him. He nodded.
"Thank you, Draco. I want you to be okay with this. I'm going to pull the bed out, and I'll work from the top of the bed, alright?"
Draco nodded. Harry was happy about that. He lowered the bed and slowly quested his hands under Draco's hospital gown. He repaired the remaining damage from the fall and several other cracks in the blades, though there was a larger one he'll have to wait for. Harry could tell that there were stress factors from being held down and worse, abnormal wear signs that his shoulders had been forced to be extended up and over his head for long periods. If he had to guess, Draco was chained spread-eagled. He almost hated how he learned more of what Draco went through every time he healed him. It just kept getting worse.
When Harry got to the soft part of his shoulder and started massaging the muscle damage. Draco gasped audibly, and Harry stopped immediately and opened his eyes. Draco was right below, staring at him.
"Is everything okay?"
Draco nodded. "Please...."
"Oh, yeah," Harry said, stupidly. "You're going to feel a lot better after this. It might hurt a little, but it should go away immediately."
He closed his eyes and started in on an intense deep-tissue massage, but he was also healing it. Draco made more noises, but Harry didn't stop, again. He got to his C-spine and was glad it was just cartilage damage. He rebuilt it slowly and healed the pinched nerve damage. Draco's head had been forced back to the base of his thoracic spine. Harry didn't want to think of a scenario that caused that. He worked out the inflammation, bone damage and muscle tears from the back of his head down to the bottom of his neck.
When he was done, he went over Draco's upper shoulders with another moan inducing massage, making both him and Malfoy feel very happy.
"Sir... your appointment?"
Harry wrenched his eyes open to look at the door. Joel, again. "Yes, please tell them I'll be another 15 minutes. And Joel?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Never walk into a patient room without knocking first and announcing who you are, especially if I'm in here."
"Yes, Healer Potter!" he said and ran away.
Harry sighed. "He's the slowest intern ever," he told Draco, who was looking at him, until Harry looked down. "Alright, I feel that you can sit up slightly. I'm just going to add some pillows."
He used his magic to lift Draco's upper body and slipped two magical pillows under it. He leaned Draco back, slowly and Draco let out another groan, enjoying the relief on his back, no doubt. He rotated his head back and forth to check his limits.
"Bet that felt awesome. So, these are adjustable. They get softer and harder, as well as bigger. Here's the remote." Harry put it in Draco's right hand. He guided him through the buttons, and Draco got it to where he wanted.
"Good? Alright... the charm. I'm going to remove it from your arms, but you have to do small movements, okay?"
Draco glanced at him.
"Your lower spine is severely damaged. You can't move your rib cage or your back. So, you can't reach far across your body or wave your arms dramatically or brace your weight on your arms or try to get out of bed. Stuff that will hurt you a lot if you try. I'm going to need an answer, which I'll consider a promise not to try anything. Because understand this, if you try it, I will have to put it back on, and I don't want to have to do that."
Draco seemed to be considering it.
"Draco?"
He nodded.
"Okay. Please... please... take it slow, your muscles will be weak, too."
Harry lifted the charms on his arms. Draco moved them experimentally and slowly, as if trying to prove to Harry he understood his orders, brought them to his chest, crossing them. He cinched them as close as possible, almost protectively. It made Harry sad to see how relieved he was to be reconnected with his limbs. Draco's eyes watered as his arms folded across his chest, and hands went tucked under his chin. A clearly defensive position. If the eye contact thing wasn't a big enough indicator of Draco's mindset, this was a bigger sign. He was in survival mode.
There was a knock on the door and Joel, popped his head in. "It's me, sir."
"Yes, Joel?" he said, exasperated.
"She's furious. Her appointment was an hour ago, and she said that she'll have me fired if I don't get you! I'm sorry... I don't know what to do!"
Harry took a deep breath. "I'll be there presently. Isn't Natalie here?" He sent a Patronus. "Go on."
Joel amscrayed. Not a minute later, Natalie came. "What do you need?"
"Who is training Joel? I mean... if it's not you. I don't have time to deal with fresh trainees who still have pimples."
Natalie laughed. "Umm... he's yours, Healer Potter. He's on your rotation. You're supposed to be training him."
"I am?"
"Yeah... he's actually in healer training. He's not a warden."
"Oh..." Harry said, confused. Draco was looking at him with a smirk. "Shut up, Malfoy."
Natalie's eyes went wide, but Draco didn't flinch. "Sir?"
Harry just waved his hand. "We know each other from school."
"Yeah... we all know. I'm only three years below you two. It's bloody weird."
Harry picked up his head at her tone. "It is not. Can you figure out who the hell is running the healer training program and ask them to report to my office in an hour with an explanation as to why I have a trainee."
"I will give him your express order, Harry," she said, with an astonished laugh.
"Well, they should have let me know, and I would have explained that I'm not training pups in magic that they can't do."
"I'm sure the notice is somewhere on your desk, Harry," she said.
He scowled and she shrugged. "Anything else?"
"Add a half-goblet of Restorative Draught to his potion regimen tonight and increase the Regenerative Potion to morning and night until I say otherwise."
"Righto," she said and left.
Draco was still smirking, but looked away.
"I'm blaming you for that. Somehow."
Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. Harry's heart fluttered seeing him react to his words.
"Alright, Draco. I'll be back in a few hours, okay?"
Draco turned his head to watch him leave.
Harry scolded his patient for daring to threaten his staff members and threatened to deny her further treatment if she ever did it, again. He then met Healer Pratt argued with him for five minutes about summoning him to his office and then another twenty about that he can't refuse trainees. When Harry said that there was nothing that he could teach them, Pratt blew up and accused him of trying to prevent others from learning his skills and monopolizing it. Harry said that this wasn't over as he left the office.
Harry nearly slammed the door when he went to Draco's room but caught himself. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to calm down. He hadn't had an anxiety attack in a while. When he opened them, Draco was staring at him, almost worried.
"Sorry. I don't handle stress very well anymore."
Draco didn't look away when he came over. He seemed interested... concerned.
"Yeah... there was more than one reason why I quit the Aurors. I had a... bad... incident... happen, and not too long after that, I had a complete breakdown in the middle of a training exercise. They wanted me to just get some help and come back. I left. I didn't want that anymore. That fear... that danger... I wanted to help people... without being attacked," he confessed.
Draco still stared at him and nodded, like he understood.
"Thanks... I'm not the most mentally stable healer here... but I'm the best at healing in the whole hospital. Can I check how your back and shoulders are doing?"
He nodded but didn't look at him. Harry checked all his muscles and healed the few aches he found and gave Draco another massage since he liked it so much. Another knock on the door. Harry swore under his breath.
"Harry?"
Harry swore, again and Draco looked up at him. "Yes, ma'am. I'm in here."
Head Healer Convaba came in. A nice woman in her sixties, who had been at the hospital for over forty years. "I went to your office, but the floor warden said you were probably here."
Harry nodded.
"I don't know why I even bothered giving you an office. Shall we go there?"
"No, ma'am. Here is fine."
Draco gave him a look, and so did his boss.
"You always did like company. I wish you would make an appointment, Harry."
"I'm fine," he said, knowing she meant a mind healer. She had been fighting him for five years to go to one, just like Hermione, but she still let him into the program.
"Alright, I don't usually get complaints about you, but two in one day? I was concerned... so is your warden. Do you need time off?"
"No. That patient threatened to get staff member fired."
"She did wait an hour. She was upset," she said, softly.
Harry lowered his head. "I have other responsibilities. I can't just drop whatever I'm doing."
"You accepted her appointment for that time. It wasn't her fault that you failed to be there. Instead of apologizing for the delay... what did you do?"
Harry went red. "Might have yelled at her."
"And threatened to deny treatment. She had back pain for decades, Harry. She was a little distressed that you might deny her."
"I wouldn't. She just... she was acting like a...."
"Bitch?" his boss offered, and Harry looked at her. "Yes, I agree. But try not to threaten patients who are married to board members, please. They make a stink over nothing."
"I can leave, you know?" Harry said.
"You can, and it would be a loss to the hospital... and our patients, even if you move across the street. We won't be able to send you patients like Mr. Malfoy here. But we all have someone to answer to... so before you go all half-cocked on people... and staff members."
"Pratt was a...."
"I know. I talked with him. I explained it to him, but that doesn't mean I don't need to explain it to you. No healer reports to you, and you only report to me, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said, like a misbehaving teenager.
"And you still have a duty to train new hires."
"But...."
"No buts! I didn't say teach him how to heal like you do. He needs to learn how to see what is wrong, provide empathy and compassion, why you give certain potions over others and know how to refer to you or someone else. You know how to be a healer beyond your impressive ability to heal physical injuries."
Harry grimaced. "I'm busy."
"All healers are busy, especially good ones, Harry. Your trainee could assist you... in things like your paperwork? That is piling up on your desk?"
"I'll get caught up."
"Don't misunderstand me. You need to take care of yourself, too. I will firecall Hermione if you don't start leaving at a proper time."
"That's a little under the belt."
"It's that or mandatory leave with a mind healer's permission to return," she said.
Harry lifted his head. "I'll never see a mind healer, don't go there."
"Harry, I wish you would...."
"No. I had enough people in my head. Never again."
"Harry...."
"No. You make me and I'll leave. I told you that when I started here."
"Very well. But I will sic your friends on you if it comes to it."
"I understand," Harry said, his head bowed.
"Alright, take care of yourself," she said and gave Draco a glance that he avoided as she left.
He dropped his shoulders and checked the time.
Harry turned toward him, a little red in the face. "Sorry. I figured she'd restrain herself more if you were here." He took the seat and wheeled it around to look at Draco, properly. "So, thanks. I can't handle too much yelling. It sends me back."
Harry stayed there for a long time, just breathing in and out, getting calmed down. Draco just stared. His hand ticked a few times. Like he wanted to reach out to him. It made him feel a lot better that Draco cared enough to try.
An otter Patronus suddenly came in, and Hermione said, "You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. Your nephew and niece are hungry!"
He sighed. "I got to go. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Okay?"
Draco raised his eyebrows, confused, but didn't say anything. Today was a good day. Draco spoke to him, even if it was just a word. Harry was looking forward to when Draco would talk to him, again.