Lies, Buried and Bound - A Dramione Story

Part Six

Draco was not happy. He'd been sitting with a comatose patient all afternoon and waiting for Dr. MacMillan to return from his lunch break so he could go on his.

This particular patient had slipped and hit his head, resulting in a loss of consciousness and a possibly severe concussion. That was the only reason Draco thought it was safe to take on this case. He wasn't sure what the patient would remember.

The advanced neurological spell he'd so meticulously developed over the past three years to show neural activity of his patients had never been wrong so far. This patient should wake up at any moment.

He glanced at his watch - a gift given to him from Pansy.

Slowly the patient's eyes fluttered open.

Thank Merlin.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Diggory. Can you please look into my eyes?" Draco held the elderly man's face in his hand and examined his retinas. Although the man responded normally, there was another signal in his eyes; one of recognition. "Alright, you are looking excellent!" He scribbled into his parchment with a quill. "Now, can you tell me what day it is, sir?"

"Now wait... just wait a damn minute." Draco's jaw clenched and he tried to swallow. "I know you..." The old man sat up and looked around. "W-where's my healer? Well, where is he, dammit?"

"Mr. Diggory, I will be your healer for today. Dr. MacMillan's not here - "

" - Then get me another bloody healer!" Amos Diggory shot upright and landed a right hook on Draco's face. "Don't you fucking touch me, you loathsome snake!"

Draco stumbled back but did not escape the man's grasp quite yet.

Amos Diggory curled his fingers around Malfoy's neck and pressed down hard on his jugular vein. "You need to pay for all the hurt you've caused in this world!"

Tears involuntarily pooled in his eyes and blood dribbled from the cut under his brow where Diggory's ring had struck him.

It stunned him how this much havoc could be wrecked by one man in ten seconds.

Hearing a loud struggle from inside the patient's chamber, one of the nurses rushed in and grabbed a pair of manacles. "Sir! Sir! You need to let go!" She pried Diggory's hands off of his neck.

Draco collapsed to the floor and scrambled away from the hysterical man. He applied lots of pressure to his eye to stanch the bleeding and licked the blood from his lower lip.

"Dr. Malfoy, I'll handle this! Mr. Diggory! You need to calm - "

" - Get off of me! I need to hurt this man - "

"Mr. Diggory - "

" - People like you are the reason my son is dead!"

Draco stood sadly and turned. That way maybe Mr. Diggory wouldn't see the blood rush into his cheeks and the tears of shock and hurt spill from his eyes.

"Don't you walk away from me, young Malfoy!"

Why did MacMillan have to take so long?

"You deserve every horrible thing that comes your way!"

The nurse scampered up to him. "Doctor, I've manacled him to the bed posts, but I don't think he'll calm down. Should I knock him out with a sleeping draught?"

"No. When he wakes, he'll just get upset again."

"We could maybe remove this event from his memory?"

"As tempted as I am, Susan, I've sworn to do no harm. What we need is to get him to talk to someone."