Chapter 6
Slow progress was still progress, at least Draco told himself that as he exited Granger’s office building to regroup and plan his next steps. It couldn’t be too hard to find a muggle hospital. After all, muggles were fragile and had no magic to heal themselves so there must be hospitals on every corner. Thinking quickly, he fished the bloody scarf out of his pocket and held it to his nose again while approaching a middle aged man walking toward him on the sidewalk. The man looked a bit surprised at the sight of Draco but he was pleasant and helpful and directed Draco to the hospital which was, as luck would ironically have it, just down the street and around the corner.
It was quite an impressive building Draco had to admit to himself as he stood across the street. It towered above him with paneled glass windows across the front. The place was crawling with muggles, many of them were wearing plain short sleeved shirts and matching cotton trousers. They all had those same badges clipped to their collars and ultimately looked quite ridiculous. Their attire looked a bit like the uniforms he’d seen on inmates of prisons in the muggle culture books he’d read in school. He chuckled at the thought of Granger working in a prison, he’d rather picture her IN a prison for what she’d done to his life. He mentally chastised himself for that thought. Many years of self development had made him a better and more gracious person. Something about proximity to Granger was already bringing out a childish petty nature that he’d left at Hogwarts over a decade ago. There were glass doors that would slide open as muggles approached, more electricity no doubt. He was beginning to feel quite impressed at the strides muggles had taken in channeling electricity into innovation. It wasn’t anything like magic of course, but still impressive what they had been able to come up with in the absence of it. He could see through the glass doors that there was another desk with a secretary guarding the hospital. He knew better than to approach this one without a better plan, after all even he couldn’t obliviate every muggle in the vicinity after a hiccup like the one at her medical office. A smirk crept across his face as his eyes fell to the bloody scarf still in his hand. He held the woven fabric up to the light and ran his fingers across the edges of the wool. Just as he hoped, there were several stark black hairs stuck on the edge of it. “Many thanks Dean” he sneered to himself before stepping behind a large parked vehicle and retrieving a small case from his pocket. It grew from the size of a tin of mints to that of a thick novel as he popped it open and had several sleek potion vials inside. There was an empty space where a healing potion should have been and he chuckled at the irony of a potions master leaving home without a healing potion. There was however, the purple tinted liquid of a polyjuice potion. He uncapped it and dropped the hair into the elixir. After glancing around and ensuring he was out of the eyesight of any curious muggles, he swiftly downed the potion and waited for the pins and needles feeling to start in his fingers and toes to indicate that it was working. Something he was very proud of was the fact that his potion formula made the transformation almost painless. There was a slight tingling feeling in his limbs that traveled into his midsection and all the way up his neck to the top of his head. He had worked for months on adjusting the formula just enough that it didn’t lose all of its efficacy in exchange for its painless nature. The result was a potion that worked almost exactly the same as a traditional polyjuice potion, though it did work for a shorter amount of time. He’d found over time that the shorter half life of his potion was preferable for most of his purposes and he preferred it in favor of the symptoms that accompanied the administration of the original recipe.
The prickly feeling faded quickly and when Draco peered into the window of the vehicle he was hiding behind he saw the eyes of a dark eyed muggle staring back at him. Draco thought he would be remiss not to notice that the tall frame and swept hairstyle were actually almost identical to Dracos apart from the color. He was grateful for the similarities as he didn’t have to adjust to the proportion of a new frame given the time sensitive nature of his impersonation. He needed to move quickly so he made his way across the street and through the sliding doors. Confidently approaching the secretary guarding the desk he kept his face deliberately neutral. This time opting for assertiveness over charm to win over the worker. He cleared his throat aggressively to gain her attention before speaking.
“Is Mrs. Granger available?” It was quite a large hospital but he had no doubt Granger would have made quite a name for herself there.
The secretary glanced at the badge that read “Dean” before responding. “She should be in tower four on General Med.”
Draco blinked but kept his face neutral as his mind searched for the meaning of those words.
“Tower four on General Med” He repeated with a nod. The secretary looked toward a long hallway with a sign above it labeled “Tower Four” and Draco nodded back in thanks while making his way toward it. There was a large silver door at the end of the hall with a small button next to it. Draco stared at it for a moment before impulsively mashing it. The button lit up and he heard a faint whirring sound before a bell sounded and the silver door slid open to reveal a tiny room behind it. A short female muggle wearing the inmates uniform slid past him into the room and he followed her into it. She pushed a button on the panel next to the sliding door and turned to him “What floor?” she asked while motioning to the panel. “General Med” he answered decisively hoping she would understand what the words meant. She nodded and pushed another button on the panel. He felt a slight dip in his stomach as the tiny room moved. It was only then that Draco realized the tiny room was a lift. He blamed the cluster of events of the afternoon on his density and pieced together his surroundings. This was a lift, he was in tower four, and he was traveling to the general medicine floor. He was incredibly close to confronting the witch who had driven his life into shambles. He felt his pulse start to race at the thought of seeing her. He wasn’t ready for the lift to reach its destination, the bell chimed and the doors slid open anyway. He stepped out and saw a plaque on the wall with two arrows pointing in opposite directions. One was labeled “Rooms 400-420” the other was labeled “Physician work area”
He decided to try his luck in the physician work area. She was a physician after all and she fucking loved work didn’t she. There was a set of double doors blocking the hall to the work area and a small black box labeled “Badge entry” he grabbed the badge and noticed it was on a string that snapped it back into place when he let go of it. More muggle innovation. On a whim he tapped the badge to the black box and heard a click from the handle to the doors. He gave the handle a hopeful turn and felt a rush of relief when it turned and he was able to push it open. There was another fucking long hallway but this one had several doors on either side of it. Thankfully there were nameplates beside each one labeling the physician to which each one was designated. Draco took slow calming breaths as he made his way down the hall reading each nameplate. They were in alphabetical order it seemed. Despite his efforts, his calm breaths quickened as he walked. He passed Allen, then Briggs and Collins. Would he yell at her? Would he make her cry? No, he wouldn’t, he felt a tinge of shame that he even had the impulse. Darling, Evans, Franklin.. Ferguson, Gladhill. He froze, he knew what the next plate would read. The pounding of his heart reached a crescendo in his ears and he turned his body to face the door with the nameplate beside it labeled “Mrs. Granger”. Before he could talk himself out of it he placed a hand on the doorknob and wrenched it open.