Scorched and Bruised ; Draco Malfoy

☾｡✩˚𝓒𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓲𝓮 𝓒𝓪𝓽𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓱𝓮˚✩｡☽

As the final whispers of summer gave way to October's cool embrace, the world outside transformed into a mosaic of reds, oranges, and browns. With the transition of the seasons, Star had finally opened her eyes after two weeks spent in a medically induced coma.

The surgery had been gruelling; the potion that was meant to keep Star under wore off within an hour and a half. Her body had absorbed the potion and converted it into magical energy in a desperate bid for healing itself. When her eyes had fluttered open, she screamed and thrashed; Madam Pomfrey and the St. Mungo's healer had to resort to restraints which worsened her condition.

Sedating Star proved to be a challenge, but in those agonizing moments of semi-consciousness, Star faintly discerned the worried tones of her friends. Amidst their collective anxiety, Cas' voice thundered with drunken fury, while Draco's hollow timbre struggled to respond to the questions directed towards him.

She'd sworn she heard a flicker of shame, or perhaps even guilt, in his tone.

During those weeks of recovery: her bones regrew, her skin rewove, and her body fought off the effects of the venom.  Despite being completely mended internally, the scars etched upon her skin resembled jagged lightning bolts in a stormy sky. This outcome was a consequence of the healers' primary focus on her internal injuries, leaving the external wounds with scarring that would prove increasingly difficult to remedy throughout the procedure.

Nevertheless, Dittany worked its magic as best as it could. It prevented tissue loss and indentations that would have otherwise been inevitable.

According to Madam Pomfrey, Star narrowly avoided losing her leg entirely. The frantic rush to heal her led Madam Pomfrey to inadvertently overlook traces of venom near Star's superior vena cava in the heart, prioritizing concerns over her lungs. Consequently, it infiltrated her heart during the thoracotomy procedure, overshadowing the severity of her mauling injury.

Once she regained consciousness, Star learned a few things. Firstly, when her friends and Cas discovered the oversight regarding Madam Pomfrey, they collectively attempted to have her sacked for her "lack of medical knowledge." Secondly, she discovered that her friends—including Draco—took shifts to watch over her during her recovery. Lastly, the Aurors stationed around Hogwarts for protection faced severe reprimands for allowing a student to slip past the castle walls and become injured.

Star limped angrily into the common room.

"You still need a couple more days to rest," Theo said. "Your leg—"

"If Pomfrey didn't want me out, she shouldn't have woken me up from that coma," Star spat back.

For the three days she'd been awake, she'd been coddled, and she loathed it with all her being. The frustration became endless once she found out that even though Draco had stayed beside her throughout everyone's turns, she hadn't seen him.

"Can you think logically for once in your life!?" Pansy yelled, slightly stomping her foot.

"I'm fine!" Star exclaimed.

"You don't look fine," Blaise said.

"Then stop looking."

Oceana snickered from the couch. "Stubborn as a mule, that one. You lot know better than to try and change her mind."

Star felt herself being lifted into strong arms.

"No, I'm not putting you down," Cas said as he walked toward her room. "You don't want to waste another second not seeing your boys, right?"

Star groaned, "Por el amor de Dios—"

Cas interrupted her with a kiss as he set her down in front of her bedroom door.