Whatever You Want, Draco Malfoy || Drarry

Chapter Eleven

Draco's feet had barely touched the tiles of the St Mungo's before he was hurrying towards the mind-healing ward, trying to put as much distance between him and Potter as physically possible.

The mind-healing ward was empty when he got there, as per usual, but it didn't take long for him to find a mediwitch who knew where Iris was.

The mediwitch had to unlock the doors to the Janus Thickly ward, always kept heavily warded so the patients couldn't wander off. It was for the patient's safety, the man told him. But it felt uncomfortable to Draco.

The Janus Thickly ward was a single large room with beds lined along the sides of the walls. Some of the beds had screens between them to add the slightest touch of privacy, but that was it. The beds had little personal touches, art over the headboards, plants on the small scuffed bedside tables, and various mismatched chairs set beside the beds or over the windows on the far wall. The centre of the room had a few tables and chairs, puzzles and simple game boxes were scattered across the tops.

He spotted Iris in the corner. She was sitting on top of someone's bed; the woman it belonged to was curled up in an oversized armchair nearby. Iris was casting diagnostic spells as she talked avidly to the patient.

Draco didn't want to interrupt, so he wandered along the opposite wall. He paused where two people were sitting by the windows. The woman had a handful of candy wrappers in her hand that she rubbed between her fingers as she stared outside. The man had a puzzle in front of him, the large pieces meant for a small child. He had managed to put a few of them together. Both of their hair had gone white and brittle.

The woman looked away from the window, spotting Draco and smiling faintly like a reflex. She opened her hand and took out a single candy wrapper, giving it to Draco like an offering.

Draco shivered. But once it passed, he sat down at the table with them.

"I know a way of folding these up, you know," Draco said, keeping his voice soft in the quiet room. "You fold them like this..." He used the edge of the table and his fingernail to crease the wrapper and fold it into one long piece that he folded in on itself.

"I know it doesn't look like much now," Draco said, "but if you have more of them, then you can put them together." He tried to mime what he meant, but the woman only continued to look pleasantly confused.

Draco held out his hand, "Can I have a few more? I'll show you."

The woman hesitated, her mouth twitching down.

"I promise I will give them back," Draco said.

Very slowly, she slid her handful of wrappers onto the surface of the table and left them between the two of them.

Draco took another and folded it slowly, showing each step and then slotting the two folded pieces together. "Do the next one with me?" he asked, pushing a wrapper toward her.

The woman took a wrapper with a confused furrow to her eyebrows. Draco moved his chair closer and walked through each step with her. He noticed that the woman's hands shook with a noticeable tremor and her motor skills were wobbly at best.

The mediwitch had said that this ward was St. Mungo long-term spell damage ward. Draco had seen side-effects like this before, from the long term use of the cruciatus curse. Voldemort hadn't only used it against his enemies or the muggles he kidnapped; it was also inflicted upon his followers who displeased him. Except they didn't get to die afterwards.

Draco showed her how to thread the folded wrappers together. They were actually starting to look like a chain or a set of small paper stairs with three pieces.