The stuns keep coming and coming
He felt like he had just fallen asleep when his alarm went off. He got up, got dressed, and woke Theo up by bouncing a hangover potion off his head. Theo groaned.
They had just made it to the staff lounge at St. Mungo’s when the code alarm started blaring.
“Bollocks!” Theo yelled before taking off for the patient. Draco didn’t even need to see them to know it was another merperson attack victim. At this rate, Theo was going to have to admit every victim that came in, just to give them a fighting chance.
Draco couldn’t help this morning. He had to tend to Mrs. Watkins. He made his coffee, grabbed his stethoscope, and assigned all walk-in patients to his assistant.
The lights were dimmed in her room, so he softly incase she was still asleep. “Mrs. Watkins? Good morning, it’s Healer Malfoy.”
“I’m awake,” she whispered. Her face was drawn with pain. “The migraine is here earlier than usual. I thought I had one day.”
“I’m going to cast my diagnostic spell again. I think now that your headache is here, we may be able to get a final diagnosis.”
She nodded, and he cast the charm. Fuck.
Immediately, the spot on her liver that glowed faintly yesterday had solidified into what could only be a tumor. More concerning, the spot on her brain. It looked to be the right temporal lobe.
His face must have shown his concern. “Just tell me Healer Malfoy. I know this can’t just be exhaustion.”
He nodded slowly. “Mrs. Watk-.” He was cut off. “Amy. Just call me Amy. I feel like we’re about to get to know each other very well.”
“Alright, Amy. I’m going to have to do more blood work, but I have reason to believe you have cancer. Do you know what that is?”
Her face went flat, and then she winced in pain. “I actually do. My grandfather is a muggle, and he died from it. How bad is it?”
“It’s pretty advanced. It appears to have started in your liver and metastasized to your brain. The strain on your body has also put you into kidney failure. No one’s found it before because your magic has been actively suppressing it. However, every time your reserves run out, it runs rampant. It only shows on diagnostic when your magic is depleted.”
“Well, I guess I’ll ask the million dollar question. How long do I have?”
“That depends Mrs. W- Amy. If we do absolutely nothing. A month tops. Your body won’t be able to process or filter toxins without your liver or kidneys. I could just take the tumor out, but I won’t be able to remove the one on your brain, so your cancer would still spread. There are muggle tre-.”
She cut him off again. “No, absolutely not. I saw what that did to my grandfather, and I don’t want my son to see me like that.”
“There is an… experimental treatment I'm not too sure about. I don’t want to give you false hope because I haven’t even begun the research, but I believe it’s our only option if you don’t want chemo and radiation.”
“You better get to reading then, but in the meantime, I’m not going to just lay here and die.” She stood up out of bed and tried to pack her things, but almost doubled over in pain.
Draco stood up quickly so he could catch her if she fell. “Hey slow down. Let me get you a pain potion, and send you home with regimen. My assistant will draw a final set of labs from you, and you can go home to your family. After that I can make home visits until we get this figured out, okay?”
She smiled at him. “I know I’ve said it before, but I know you’ll always take care of me, Healer Malfoy.”
“If I’m calling you Amy, you have to call me Draco. Deal?”
“Deal. You’ll always take care of me, Draco.”
…………
“FUCK!” Theo had punched the wall so hard Draco heard a small crunch. The angle of his pinky finger told him it was broken.
“Sit down before you break my wall like your hand,” Draco ordered. He cast a quick episky before the bone could set wrong, and saw the finger straighten as Theo moaned.
The coding patient died. Draco knew they would. Something in the saliva of the infected merpeople was toxic to humans 100% of the time. By the time they got to St. Mungo’s they were already too far gone for treatment. Theo had decided to request the surviving victims be moved to the inpatient ward. There were only 3 left. Every study possible was being done to try and get a handle on the situation.
The ministry, of course, had gotten involved. They had put out an article in the profit advising people to stay out of bodies of water possibly containing merfolk until the situation was resolved. To not induce panic, it was being played off as a contagious disease, not death immediately following a brutal attack.
Draco had taken them home early to regroup before going to meet Hermione. He knew Theo wasn’t handling this well, and he didn’t want his behavior to change Hermione’s mind about them.
Draco could sit and think about her all day. It was impressive since he hadn’t daydreamed about her since 6th year. In between the tasks the Dark Lord had given him, Draco would enjoy imagining himself saving Hermione from perilous situations. She would always look at him with such admiration, thank him for saving her life, and then they would kiss. His dream version of her never cared he was a death eater. In some daydreams, they would team up and defeat Voldemort so he could be free.
After Theo calmed down (he had to use a calming draught) they apparated to the coordinates Hermione had given them. They landed in front of a quaint cottage, with ivy growing up the walls. Before Draco could knock, Hermione opened the door.
“I heard you guys crack in. Are you ready to go?”
“Yep, we’re all set. Let’s do it Granger,” Draco replied, leaning casually (and super cool) on the door frame.
Hermione linked arms with them, and they apparated once more. They landed on a metal floor, in a room with no windows. The air smelled recycled, like it was being pumped in.
“I hope you’re not claustrophobic,” Hermione said as she opened the door in front of them. “Welcome to my lab!”
The next room had windows, but they didn’t matter. There was no light other than the spotlights coming off the external walls. Draco saw some kind of creature fly by. No, not fly, swim.
“Are we…. Are we underwater?”
“Yep. The safest place you can be from prying eyes. 300 meters deep in the Atlantic Ocean.”