Just Breathe

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Draco put his pen down and read aloud the last sentence he'd written.

"With these changes and updates, not only to the hospital, but to this new ward as well, we'll have the resources to care for any and all patients who walk through our doors." He sighed. He'd re-written the sentence three time and it still tasted bad coming out of his mouth. It didn't seem to flow well, most likely because he didn't believe it himself.

He still couldn't believe how far they had gotten just to fail. Coming to terms with that, as well as trying to process the death of his parents and seeing their memories, it had been too much. He had spent two full days in bed, only getting up to shower and use the loo. Food had turned his stomach and the sun was too bright for his mood. Harry had been worried sick and hadn't wanted to leave his side. But the sun had come up again and they both had work because even through their grief, the world still moved on.

Harry had told him that Robards had set their case as top priority so all Aurors not otherwise engaged were sent out to search for Rabastan. But Draco worried that since he knew so many people were on his tail, he was going to disappear for a while. Which was equal parts good and bad. If he was gone, he wouldn't be using his curse, but he'd be harder to catch.

He picked up his speech papers and put them in his folder. He had come to work early to get started on it, and in the hour he'd been writing, no one had come in. He hadn't had a single patient. Which gave him plenty of time to dwell on the upcoming event Kingsley had planned for the opening of his ward. He hated the thought of it. He looked at the folder and hoped that the day would continue to be quiet and easy. He picked up his pen again and made a list of all the things he was going to need to do. He needed to finish the bloody speech, he needed to see Blaise and Neville about their findings with Janey's sample, and he needed to send an owl to Andromeda. She had been as devastated as he, but thankfully she'd had Teddy to go home with. Losing her sister after already having lost so much, they all had lost so much. And that was the biggest thing he was going to take away from this. That they all needed to hold on to the ones they still had here.

He dropped his pen again and kicked his feet up on his desk. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the chair. It wasn't 20 seconds though that his door opened. Jason was standing there shaking his head.

"Draco, there's... there's been another attack."

"Shit. Who?"

"Just come with me. He's being brought in now." Jason's tone made the blood in his body run cold. He grabbed up his wand and his stethoscope and followed him into the hall. Ron and Robards were dragging Harry in through the doors. Draco ran forward and took Harry's chin in his hand. He looked up at him, his eyes red and watery.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I wasn't fast enough," he coughed, and he closed his eyes.

"Bring him in here," he directed. He backed up and threw open the closest door and pointed to the table. They lifted him up and Draco instantly moved forward. Harry looked up at him and offered a weak smile.

"I'm so sorry. I got so close. We got a call that he was close and we went, a bunch of us, but I was the one to get in the way." He lifted his hand from his hip and Draco slowly peeled up his tattered shirt. There were the curse scars, slowly beginning to spread outwards. Draco's heart sank into his stomach.

"Don't apologize, Harry. You never need to apologize for anything... You're so brave and wonderful. You've always done what needs to be done. Now, let's get you fixed up, okay?" Harry nodded and smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. Draco gripped his hand tightly and turned to Ron. "I need you to go alert Blaise and Neville, and Jason, I need you to get word to Janey to get here with all the doses of medicines we've been using."