Draco Malfoy and the Seven

Karma

February 4th, 2003

Draco's POV

Malfoy watches in irritation as Granger holds the hand of an unconscious Weasley from his corner in the drab hospital room at St. Mungos. The healers had cleared Weasley for visitors, but they were still making frequent trips in and out of the room, providing updates and running further tests. Granger seemed surprised to learn that Weasley still had her as an emergency contact and was therefore allowed to receive updates on his results and progress thus far.

Malfoy tries to ignore the slight twinge in his chest watching Granger hold the other wizard's hand so tightly. Logically he knew that Granger only saw Weasley as a friend, she'd moved on from the feelings she once held, but the other, more primal part of himself found he didn't much like the idea of her holding any other man's hand. Even if he had no right to stake any sort of claim over here. Their friendship was still in its fledgling stages, but he couldn't deny that his admiration for the curly-haired witch had grown over the years, just watching from a distance. After talking to her regularly, hearing her laugh, learning of her wicked sense of humor, her penchant for sweets, and cheesy muggle movies, he could easily see that admiration growing into something deeper given the opportunity.

A burly, dark-haired wizard wearing blue healer robes makes his way into the room, sending Hermione quickly to her feet.

"Ms. Granger. I'm healer Andrews. I wish I could say I was meeting you under better circumstances but here we are." He pauses to flip through his notebook. "Ah, here we are. We've run quite an extensive list of tests on Mr. Weasley and I'd like to discuss what we've found thus far." Hermione nods her head in encouragement to proceed. "You see, it's quite disturbing to say the least." With a circular wave of his wand, unfamiliar diagnostics began to shimmer above Weasley's body. Draco couldn't make heads or tails of what he was reading but Hermione seemed to be able to decipher something from it. "These are Mr. Weasley's most recent test results."

"This line here registers his magical core, correct?" Her voice quivered.

"Yes ma'am. At this time Mr. Weasley's magical core has been completely drained, to the point that there we are unable to detect a magical signature in his body. At this time, we are attempting different remedies to see what, if anything will affect his core positively. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be taking. There have been countless studies performed on magical persons who've depleted their magical cores and made full recoveries with rest and a prescribed potion regime." He pauses, choosing his next words carefully. "Mr. Weasley's case seems to be something else altogether. It's almost as if the essence of his core was ripped from his body by force. There are signs of intense trauma surrounding his core that support this theory."

"Thank you, healer Andrews. I appreciate all you and your team are doing. I also appreciate your honesty." Draco struggled again to contain his slight jealousy when an unwanted thought took hold. Maybe this traumatic experience changed things for her, she could be reconsidering her previous stance on her relationship with the redhead. The thought sent a pinching sensation right to Draco's chest.

Shaking off the intrusive thought, Draco approaches Granger from behind, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "Granger, I think you should get some rest. You've not left Weasley's side for two days now and exhausting yourself isn't going to help him right now. I'll stay and make sure someone is here in case he wakes up. Go home, take a shower, eat something that isn't flavorless cafeteria food, and get some sleep. I'll send a Patronus if he wakes." He squeezes her shoulder in reassurance, gray eyes warm.

"We both know the flavorless cafeteria food is a weak excuse to get me to leave Malfoy, you've kept me stocked up on delicious food since I've been here. But your other reasons are sound. I think I do need to get away for a bit. Ron won't be too happy to see you if he does wake but there isn't much he can do about it right now. Let me grab my things first. I'll be back by three o'clock. Does that work for you?" She asks while reaching for her bag.