Hand That Binds

9

Lucius had not been in the Hospital Wing since he was in Third Year. Even then, the cots were too short. The barrel vaulted ceiling was the same, the light from the night sky dim in the same windows. It even smelled the same. That last time, it had only been a short while after Euphemia Malfoy had died, and he had gotten into a duel with a boy from Gryffindor. Lucius could not remember the boy's name.

"Lord Malfoy?"

He took a breath, far too deeply, and winced. A cool hand pressed his forehead and everything started coming back.

Lucius was in Scotland. It was two days before Christmas, it had snowed in Hogsmeade, and he had been enjoying an evening of lights, smells, and sounds with his wife.

His wife.

"Where is my wife?" he rasped. Somehow he could not move his body, only look up at the ceiling.

"Speaking to the Aurors."

Lucius tried to lift his shoulders off the cot, but could not. Even straining his neck sent pain coursing through his body. He could only tilt his chin down and see that his cloak was gone, his coat, his vest, his shirt, his tie, his gloves...and that he had a bandage around his chest all the way to his hips.

"She was wounded," he whispered.

Poppy Pomfrey was running yellow magic from her wand over his chest, frowning. "She was seen and released, Lord Malfoy. And you've been unconscious for several hours."

He did not recall that.

"Why can't I move?"

"The blade was poisoned with curare, and had it not been for your wife's quick thinking, I would not have been able to administer the antidote."

Curare? That was not something he found in Zabini's townhouse. No, this was not Zabini, the woman who had stabbed him had been...

"You will begin to feel more shortly, and for that, I apologize, Lord Malfoy. I was able to repair the damage to your lung and liver, but you will have a scar..."

"To join the others," he scoffed. "I'll live then?"

Pomfrey finished her Charm, he thought it was a Charm, and sat down on a stool next to the cot. The matron looked tired, but as he could not move, he could not see more than her face where she leaned forward.

"You'll live."

"And Granger?"

Pomfrey sighed. "I healed the cut on her face, but she did more damage than what was done to her....as expected," she chuckled darkly.

Lucius swallowed, his mouth very dry.

"The woman...I...think Granger killed her."

"Almost. The Aurors took the woman straight to St. Mungo's under guard, I'm told. The other man, the one who I...he is dead."

Merlin. "And the Aurors know...?"

"That it was self-defense? Yes, Lord Malfoy. You did not use an Unforgivable."

Lucius closed his eyes. He thought he had slipped into a dreamless sleep because when he woke, it was day. Granger was sitting next to him, whispering to Potter and Longbottom, but they were all behind screens.

"What's this then?" he wheezed, and immediately closed his eyes again. The pain was bad, but it was more of an extreme soreness in his left side, just between the bottom two ribs of the rib cage. "Fucking hell..." he ground out.

Granger was on her feet as Lucius pushed up with his hands on either side of the narrow cot to somehow appear as though he were not completely beaten. Pillows were moved behind his back, and he immediately pressed a hand to the bandages.