The Healer II- The Patient (Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

Chapter 16- Healing Draco

"Undress from the waist up, please."

Draco glowered at me from his green upholstered sofa, not letting the pain stop him from expressing his disapproval with the situation.

I crossed my arms. "Take your clothes off or I'll take them off for you."

Without removing his sour expression, Draco slowly began to undo the silver fastenings on his coat. Outside the office window the storm still raged- and inside, we had made quite a mess. There were muddy footprints on the polished wood floor, and smeared blood on the walls. It was the same blood that Draco left on my coat and in my hair.

Draco shed his overcoat, making a pained face as he did so. Underneath, the front of his button-up shirt was covered in more of that same blood, but fresh and red.

I didn't want to make him undo another row of buttons, and I was anxious to get a better look at the wound. "May I cut your shirt off?" I asked impatiently.

Draco looked at me with raised eyebrows. I already had scissors in hand. "Fine. But the cost of this shirt is coming out of your daily pay."

"No problem," I muttered, immediately snipping the fabric of his expensive shirt to pieces so I could get a full view of the wound.

The wound was a long, straight gash that ran from the tip of Draco's right shoulder to just below the crook of his right collarbone, reaching almost to the middle of his chest. At a glance, it didn't look deep- but I had seen enough werewolf related wounds to know that the hook in their claws allows them to tear deep into flesh, and that the wound went deeper than it appeared. Draco was likely in a lot of pain. No wonder he nearly collapsed.

"I'll begin with disinfecting it. This may be painful. Do you want me to give you a painkiller-"

Before I finished my sentence, Draco picked up a nearby bottle of firewhiskey and took a deep, prolonged drink.

I gawked as he set down the bottle. "...I suppose that works, too."

He extended the bottle towards me, licking stray drops from his lips. "Would you like some?"

I shook my head. "I don't drink. Especially when I'm working," I said, appalled that he would even offer it to me while I was responsible for taking care of his chest wound. I tore off a ribbon of gauze and doused it generously with essence of dittany.

Draco's fingertips dug into the armchair as I applied it to his wound as a disinfectant. "Damnit," he cursed, sucking in air through his teeth. I was close enough to smell the alcohol on his lips, and it tickled my nose.

"Did you have a run in with a werewolf?" I asked, attempting to distract him from the pain.

Draco's eyes narrowed. "Are you asking to hear the story?" His voice was raw and breathy from the sting of the disinfectant.

"No," I answered quickly. "Well... I don't want to hear it if... if it ends badly."

"You want to know if I killed it or not."

I finished applying the dittany all around his wound and turned to grab my wand for the next step. "Obviously you did," I muttered. "If it did this to you."

My wand in hand, I turned back to Draco, and was caught in his quicksilver stare.

"I didn't," he stated. "I didn't kill it."

I was at a loss for how to react. A smile didn't feel right; but neither did a frown. "I'm going to begin closing the wound," I said to Draco, breaking eye contact. "You might want to brace yourself."