Mending Hatred (english)

I söndags fick jag för mig att jag skulle skriva en Dramione-fanfiction på engelska och har sen dess fått ner tretton kapitel allt som allt. Tänkte därför dela med mig av den och se ifall det finns något intresse för den!


Titel: Mending Hatred
Språk: Engelska
Rating: PG-13, minst.
Genre: Kärlek, humor, komfort.
Kapitel: 13 än så länge.
Färdigskriven?: Nej.
Handling: Sex år efter kriget. Draco jobbar som botare på St Mungo's som någon slags botgörelse för hans tidigare synder. En dag får han en oväntad patient som fångar hans intresse lite mer än vad han skulle anse vara professionellt. Ett brev som säger till honom att satsa på att ta ett extra steg istället för att stå kvar där det är säkert slänger in honom på en väg han inte visste existerade. Våga satsa allt eller ta ett steg tillbaka?

Så, jag ger er ett kapitel direkt, fanficen finns även på fanfiction.net om ni skulle vilja läsa där, glöm inte att kommentera/reviewa om ni tycker om det - sådant betyder riktigt mycket!

Chapter 1

With confidence Draco stepped out of the elevator on St Mungo’s third floor, where he worked as a healer. A nurse greeted him and he smiled politely.

“Good morning,” was all he said as he made his way to his office after he’d heard her reply the same. His guess was that she’d been working the nightshift and was now heading home. That was not, however, the case for him. He had a lot of patients to meet today, he noticed as he sat down by his desk and rifled through his neatly sorted files and paperwork. Another paper had been left there in addition to his already assigned daily duties and patients.

Seven more? He thought to himself as he noticed the amount of patients today had been duplicated. He shot a gaze at the frame on his desk where he had his arm around the beautiful girl he was living with. She looked just as fashionable as himself. They looked quite perfect together, if his opinions mattered. Draco got up from the chair again after checking the time, deciding now was a good time for tea before patients started arriving or needed tending. As usual he changed from his expensive dark-grey trench coat to his healer robe. The robe had a fresh looking lime green colour that he liked. The fact that he was a Slytherin at school for many years had adjusted him to liking the colour in all its shades.
“Mr Malfoy?” said a voice from his door. The receptionist, a middle-aged woman with curled red hair, shot him a disapproving look.
“Yes, Mrs Parker?”
“You have a guest, I’d have thought it suited not to have personal types of those here if you please,” she said, explaining her disapproval.
“My father? I’ve tried to…” She had left the room before he was able to explain himself. Lucius would often pass by at the hospital on his way to the ministry or what other business he had, despite Draco’s attempts to have him send an owl or something so that his father would stop embarrassing him in front of his co-workers. Just as he was about to step outside his father stepped in.
“Don’t worry, I won’t stay for long. I made sure I was here early this time,” the man clad in black said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if you drank a malicious potion to be able to come here while I work,” Draco answered.
“Oh I think Mrs Parker would like that, she finds me very handsome.”
“Very bothersome you mean, do you have anything special to share with me or did you just want to annoy my receptionist?” he asked and gave his father a questioning look.
“Yes, Draco, your mother and I have decided that we’re giving you a younger sibling.”
“What?” Draco’s jaw was about to hit the ground as Lucius spoke again.
“No, that was a joke, here.”
He stuck a hand inside his black robe and gracefully withdrew an envelope marked with a red stamp and the Malfoy family seal.
“What’s this?”
“You could read it with your morning tea, I have other things to attend to so I won’t be bothering you any longer. We’ll still have dinner later this week?”
“Yes, of course father.”

A few minutes later Draco sat down in the third floor cafeteria with his morning tea, non-sugar but with some cream, and was carefully opening the envelope by breaking the seal with the other end of his spoon. Inside there was a letter and, not too surprising, it was from his father. Why he wouldn’t tell him this face to face? Draco could not understand. He did, after all, deliver it himself.

“Dearest Draco,

I’m going to tell you about a girl I met when I was young, with whom I planned to stay and have a happy life with. She was beautiful, kind and pureblooded. My family approved of her and hers approved of me. But it wasn’t until I met your mother that I understood what was important about having a relationship with someone. You were supposed to feel things, struggle and after a fight you would fight even more to get back to a person you loved. Your mother made me want to fight for her, over her, with her. But this girl did not. This girl gave me only safety and it was boring, even though we had a great deal of fun together and were respectable in the eyes of our society, I’d rather have your mother. Which was very much not acceptable, seeing that I broke up my engagement to be with her. Your mother was a Black, this you know, so while it was technically acceptable, the circumstances meant that social events were strange for a while after that. I held my back straight and I was with the woman I loved, the one who made me feel alive. And the rest you know”

Draco finished reading the first page of the letter and raised his eyebrow, where was his father going with this? He took two sips of his tea and turned the letter to continue reading.

“I am trying to make you understand that any rash decisions you would make at this point will be accepted, our weekly dinners have brought me into thinking that maybe the only thing you’re getting out of your relationship is safety and I want to tell you that it’s okay to be impulsive. I’m not trying to encourage you if you do not feel how I think you do, but if you do… Your mother also accepts it.

Love,
Your father.”

Draco rubbed his chin and snickered quietly, so he guessed that his parents didn’t like his girlfriend after all. What a polite way to tell him, he thought.

“Astoria?” he shouted into the apartment as he closed the door after him and started taking his trench coat off. All day he had been thinking about this moment, between patients that had been poisoned or overdosed on potions.
“Yes darling?” The girl answered, coming out from their living room clad in short shorts and a tight t-shirt. She was so pretty, maybe he should wait a few hours to talk with her. He shook his head internally and gave her a concerning look, he didn’t want to hurt her and yet he didn’t really care. First of all she was some years younger than he, both body wise and in regards to maturity.
“I think we should break up,” he said. She didn’t seem surprised and he wanted to smash his head into a wall. Perfect way to drop the bomb Draco. PERFECT.
“Yeah me too, it’s just… It’s not any fun or anything you know.”
“Precisely, but some things are just great. I guess that’s why we worked for so long.” He smirked at her, she crossed her arms and replied with a smirk of her own.
“Break-up sex?” she asked and he raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you want me to move out right away?”
He replied by walking up, taking a firm hold of her hands and pressing his lips to hers.
“You can do that tomorrow when I’m at work”, he mumbled.

Dramione är väl inte direkt några jag shippar, men jag gillar hur du skriver, så tänker ge den en chans ändå! För du skriver verkligen riktigt bra! ^^

Älskar redan Lucius: "we're giving you a younger sibling. No, that was a joke. Here". Dog lite, haha. Så himla bra!

Ser fram emot nästa del!

Åh tack, AuroraAlexius! Du blir säkert min enda läsare men det gör inget, du får fortsättningen ändå! Tyckte inte om Dramione först heller så förstår dig helt och hållet. Tack så mycket för komplimangen haha.



Chapter 2

Arriving at work after some mind-blowing morning exercises with the same confident walk out of the elevator, he smiled at his receptionist and at the night nurse who was on her way to leave. As he stepped into his office he heard Mrs Parker answering a call on the floo network. He got curious but decided that he would find out if any plans were to be changed as the day progressed.

He decided to change robes before overlooking his workday and as he straightened out the sleeves on his lime green healer outfit he decided that he could throw away the photo on his desk now, if he ever were to look back on his relationship with Astoria he would be satisfied if not surprised over how easy it could be to break up with a girl. He sat down in his chair after the task was completed and lay down his wand on his desk while reading through the paper regarding his tasks for the day, compared to the day before there was hardly any work and he thought about owling his mother out for lunch as he saw that he had a gap around that time when a knock on the door disturbed him.

“Come in,” he responded and the day nurse, Miss Jones, slowly opened the door and peaked in. Her gaze quickly moved from the desk where the photo had been, to the trash bin and back towards Draco.

“Mrs Parker told me that she had a last minute patient for you right before lunch seeing as you were the only healer who didn’t have anything on your schedule,” she told him with an American accent.

“Thank you”, he said and smiled at her. She blushed and closed the door after her when she left, just about the time it took for Draco to roll his eyes at the intern, he then rose from his office chair, tucked his wand into his robe and left for morning tea and his first patient for the day, a permanent resident at the third floor department for Potions Poisoning.

“Oh Healer Malfoy, did you find another set of bottles for me?” the man on the bed asked Draco as he poured the right amount of antidote into a vial for the man to drink. He had happened upon an insanity potion many years ago during the second wizarding war and hadn’t gotten an antidote fast enough for the effects not to be semi-permanent. Some days were better than others for the man but he was unreliable enough for them not to be able to have home care handle him.

“I’m sorry I did not, if I do I will bring you some. They are very hard to come by. I could ask a nurse to check more thoroughly?” Draco suggested.

“No, those nurses are so rude,” the man replied.

“Alright mister, I’ll see what I can do. Now drink up,” he ordered and handed over the vial and the man did as he was ordered.

“Thank you, and before you ask. Today is better, I haven’t felt weird since the last antidote. You said it was a new one, did you not?”

“Yes, the other healers and I have been conducting it, most others antidotes and potions are handled by the ministry.”
“Do you think it will work?” the man beamed, clearly a bit over enthusiastic, Draco couldn’t blame him, he did the opposite, he understood him.

“I have no idea, we’ll hope for the best won’t we?”

“At this rate I will do anything to get away from here! No offense healer, but it’s boring,” Draco almost snickered but kept quiet at the chosen words from the man.

“Any other things you think I should document, are you feeling worse in any way?” Draco questioned.

“No, apart from not having my bottles.” Draco scribbled words down and checked some boxes on the parchment that was clasped onto a wooden board with a metal clam. His condition was good and the antidote wasn’t to be administered again before thirty-six hours had passed barring if something drastic were to happen. Which he doubted considering that the man had just been able to go twenty-four hours without the antidote that he himself had put a stamp on.

“Good, I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

Draco almost forgot about the patient that had been scheduled into the empty space before lunch until he had taken off his robe. He had changed back quickly and went to the waiting room with the patient’s journal in hand, there had been no one there so he went to his receptionist and asked.

“Nurse Jones sent her into room number four, she needed to lie down.”

“Did nurse check for any symptoms?” Draco asked. Mrs Parker raised an eyebrow, which made Draco turn his heel and move his feet towards room number four. Mrs Parker thought he was a moron, she just didn’t say it right-out.

“Why would nurse check for symptoms, she has better things to do than run your errands you blonde brat,” Mrs Parker muttered under her breath.

He shoved the door open with his shoulder at the same time as he opened the journal in his hand.

“Ah Miss ...” he was about to say but he was interrupted.

“Oh hell no!” a sharp voice stabbed him right through air, the woman in front of him got up from the hospital bed quicker than he’d thought possible and darted through the door. He stumbled after, muffled.

“I demand another healer!” The woman cried to the receptionist who shot her a sympathetic look, of course you didn’t want that healer. Draco wasn’t exactly surprised, some patients knew that he had been a death eater and had reacted in the same way earlier, some were too polite and figured out that he was kinder than his reputation and some, like the insanity resident that he’d have to win over from his opinions at first.

“I DEMAND IT!” the woman rapidly repeated. Mrs Parker shot a glance in Draco’s direction and sighed.

Du ska se att det nog ramlar in några fler läsare! Men tills vidare kommer jag iaf fortsätta att läsa ^^
Ja, vi får väl se om du lyckas övertyga mig om Dramione (Annars är Drarry mitt OTP, så har svårt att se Draco med nån annan, haha)

Och är det där Hermione? Jag misstänker att det är hon, känns som om hon skulle kunna reagera så där, haha. Jättebra kapitel iaf! Gillar Mrs Parker, hon är sådär härligt osympatisk, haha

AuroraAlexius Ja det gör nog det, tycker dock Mugglis har dött lite det senaste. Tyckte iallafall att det sprudlade mer av glädje förr.
Drarry? Aldrig förstått det, förlåt haha, för det känns så udda. Kan inte se Hermione med någon annan än Draco.
Du får väl se.

Chapter 3

“I’m sorry dear, there is no other healer available and according to the symptoms you spoke of earlier, you need medical care right away,” Mrs Parker, Draco’s receptionist, told the woman in front of her.

“Do you realise who I am?” the woman demanded her to answer with a venomous voice.

“Yes Miss Granger I do. I’m sorry, it doesn’t change anything. We believe in equality here at St. Mungo’s.”

“Clearly,” the brunette spat out and shot a rude look in Draco’s direction.

“Please follow Healer Malfoy into room number four, otherwise we’ll have to force you,” Mrs Parker said calmly but the wand she grasped in her right hand revealed the seriousness of the threat.
Hermione spun around on the place and started walking towards Draco and passed him quickly and as he turned to close the door she had sat down on the hospital bed again.

“So, Miss Granger,” he started politely, yet a bit uncertain, “how are you feeling, any particular places it hurts more?”

“Stomach,” she replied coldly yet somewhat nervous.

“Does the pain increase?”

“Not at the moment no.”

“Then I must ask what happened?”

“I was going to drink my daily potion of caffeine but I grabbed the wrong one and being tired and, I drank it without noticing. It was only after I drank it that I realised it tasted different and that it was another bottle. Then I started panicking and I accidently made all of these potion bottles fall down in the sink,” she paused and looked kind of ashamed but too mad at being stuck with Draco and him being the one hearing about this. He must have thought she was so dumb.

“I assume they exploded and you breathed in the fumes?”

“Yes, unfortunately,” she admitted and their eyes met for a moment before she looked down at her hands again.

“Do you have a list of the potions you kept?” Draco inquired but all he got was a shrug from Hermione.

“It kind of wasn’t my collection of potions”, she said, and shuffled on the bed while Draco took notes.

“Well one of the symptoms I’ve noticed is hysteria so I’ll get the antidote for that right away. I’m afraid the rest will require testing,” he said and put the folder with her name on it down.

“Hysteria? I’m not hysterical?!” she exclaimed.

He didn’t want to offend her so he just opened the door, preparing to leave.

“Please wait here Miss Granger, while I get the supplies.”
…
The potions room was guarded with two spells and a charmed key, so that the potion addicts wouldn’t stumble upon them. Draco grabbed two different bottles, one containing an antidote to common poisons and the other containing an antidote to uncommon poisons. He then relocked the potions room with both spells and the key that only the nurses and healers had. On his way back to the room number four he also grabbed a set of needles and blood bags so that he could run tests after she had drunk the potions he had gathered for his patient. Once again he shoved the door open and walked back into the room.

“That took enough time,” she muttered as she sat up again. “It hurts more now.”

“Stomach still?” Draco quickly asked.

“Yes,” she replied and took the potions he offered. He put the needle table down on the instrument bench and waited for her to drink the potions, he wrote down notes in her file about what potions she had received from said healer and what symptoms she had shown at arrival.

“Do the potions help anything?”

“My head feels lighter and clearer now.”

“That’s good, better than I had expected,” Hermione arched her eyebrow at him being slightly concerned about her health condition.

“Stomach still hurts, though, a lot more now,” he put down the folder again and walked across the floor to her as she lay down in an attempt to resist the pain.

“May I?” Draco asked as he approached her stomach with his hands. She nodded and he pulled her shirt up so that he could touch her skin. As he did he couldn’t help but notice how good her skin felt against his hands, she shivered and he started putting pressure on the stomach.

“Does this feel alright?” he questioned as he put pressure on different parts of her stomach, all of them hurt; none more, none less. They all hurt majorly.

“Can you give me anything to help or not?” she finally spat out as he started to feel how unnatural warm her stomach was starting to become.

“I’ll be right back, I’ll hurry,” he said and pulled her shirt down, quickly disappeared behind the closed door and was back in mere moments.

“The antidote against common poisons didn’t work, but you should eat this,” he said and handed her an insect.
“Are you serious?”

“Only if you despise being in that much pain Miss Granger.”

She threw him a dirty look and swallowed the insect whole. Draco had actually lied, it was to combat her hysteria but she would never have eaten it otherwise. As she seemed to be very much certain that she wasn’t being hysterical.

“And exactly what is that?” she asked as he started pouring a thickened potion onto a plate.

“It’s Burning Bitterroot Balm, I’m going to smear it over your stomach as a second part of the treatment,” Hermione gave him an uncertain nod and pulled her shirt up knowingly. A red rash had started appearing across her belly and Draco tried to hurry with getting the balm out of the potion bottle. He put the plate down next to her and dug plenty of it up with his hand before carefully placing it on her stomach. A satisfied noise escaped her mouth, Draco stopped for but a second in his movement. That sound was very satisfying. He continued placing all of the balm on her almost boiling stomach until it was clad in a thick layer. He really shouldn’t be thinking like that about any patient, especially not her, the girl he had bullied during all of his school years.

“The instructions now are to stay like this for an hour, preferably lying down but if you have to move you can.”

“So I can’t leave?”

“No, you have shown very nasty symptoms. I think you might even have to stay the night.”

“But I need to feed my cat!”

“You have a cat?” He let slip out as he was scribbling in the journal wearing her name again.

He regretted the words as quickly as he had said them.

“Oh shut up Malfoy, am I not allowed a pet or what?”

“Please, Granger, I’m sorry,” he said as he placed her file neatly in the box on the wall.

“Sorry for what exactly?” was this Hermione Granger demanding an excuse for being treated like shit by teenage Draco?

“For being rude, of course you can have a pet, it’s just… A cat? They’re a bit prejudicial aren’t they, lonely cat women and all?”

“For your information, no I’m not a lonely cat woman. I’m not even surprised you’re being prejudicial to be honest,” she sneered, Draco not wanting to throw an argument with his patient, left it at those words, managing at being hit by the hurtful words, he wasn’t like that anymore.

“I’ll be back in an hour for the tests Miss Granger, you can call on the nurses if you need anything,” he said to end the conversation and then he opened the door and left her there. Before he left for lunch he told Mrs Parker about Hermione’s situation and assigned her to write her into St Mungo’s night care. She would be staying.

Ja, det känns iaf som om fanfiction-forumet är lite dött. Eller så är det bara för att jag så sällan är inne där nu för tiden (vill inte påminnas om att jag borde ta tag i mina egna ff:s haha).

Drarry is life De är så gjorda för varandra! ♥

Väldigt bra kapitel iaf! Sorry för sen kommentar, lovar att jag inte tröttnat och sluta läsa än! Om jag får komma med något konstruktivt, så skulle det vara kul att få lite mer av Dracos tankar - vad tänkte han egentligen när han såg Hermione? Ångrar han det han gjorde mot henne osv.

Ser fram emot fortsättningen! ^^

Sorry för jag var lite seg själv nu haha, har inte orkat lägga upp bara, skolan tar all tid och energi! :I Vet inte om det är mer tankar från Dracos sida i detta kapitel men det får du säga själv vad du tycker. (Lite svårt att börja skriva in massa tankar eftersom jag har 10 till kapitel som är klara. :p (men tänker såklart på det i fortsättningen))

Chapter 4

Even though Draco hadn’t informed his mother about having a longer lunch than usual, he was surprised to meet her down in St Mungo’s lobby. She wore a black coat, high heels and didn’t quite seem to fit into the environment.

“You thought you could avoid lunch with me when you were having a longer one now didn’t you?” she said as he embraced her.

“I was going to owl you mum, but I do have a patient now, came in forty five minutes ago with all sorts of symptoms,” Draco explained as they left the hospital building and started strolling down the pavement to the lunch place they always shared.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know, but never mind it, we can still enjoy a short lunch,” Narcissa assured with a smile.

Disregarding the fact that Narcissa had questioned Draco about his thoughts on his father’s letter and had subsequently drilled him for all the details regarding why he actually broke up with “that Greengrass girl”, the lunch was actually pretty satisfying. That he now was heading into Hermione Grangers room again concerned him. She hated him, and for justifiable reasons too. He didn’t criticize her, and what truly concerned him was that he might fail at being professional just because she wouldn’t cooperate. So far, so good though, so maybe he was just being silly. He shoved the door open again like he had done the other times and walked in, a bit mad about the fact that this woman whom he had not been very fond of – ever, was taking up his “free” time.

“Is it better?” he asked as she sat up.

“Yes, very, do you think I’ll be able to go home today then?” she demanded to know.

“No, you should be feeling better but there will be side-effects later, I’ll have to stay past my working hours so that I can see to your needs and medical care,” Draco explained and Hermione raised and eyebrow questioningly at him.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake, I’m doing my job! Don’t glare at me like I’m fourteen, please.”

“I can’t help it, you just don’t seem like the Malfoy I’ve had the unfortunate luck to run into in my younger years,” she said with a nasty undertone.

“I grew up,” Draco replied and plucked up the file regarding Hermione, just to add a few details concerning her health and information about what potions she had gotten.

“Clearly. So, about my cat? I kind of panicked this morning so he has no food, would you mind getting me a owl or something so I could write Ginny?” Hermione snapped, obviously unhappy about the situation.

“I could apparate there now and do it if you’d allow me, just so you will stop complaining about it.” Draco had reached his limit. Could she stop acting like such a know-it-all?

“You don’t know where I live.”
“I have your address right here in your file you know.”

“Oh.”

“But if it feels strange I can arrange a nurse to help you owl your friend,” he assured her.

“I would prefer that,” she responded offensively.

“We’re going to do some tests now, please pull your left sleeve up,” he said calmly but with an edge to his voice, telling her he was getting tired of her rudeness. Act professional, he thought.

“Are you serious, my left arm? Are you trying to mock me?” she questioned harshly.

“It’s the closest to the heart, I’m afraid, why are you being so hostile?” But she didn’t have to respond when he closed up on her lying on the bed, left arm visible. He didn’t notice at first as he searched her arm for a good vein to take the blood test from.

“Oh,” his movement had stopped and he was staring down on her arm, the word ‘mudblood’ carved into her arm.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said.

“It wasn’t you who carved it into me.”

“No but I called you those names many years ago, so I’m sorry.”

She glared at him but looked away as he had now pulled forth a needle and some vials to store the blood in. A minute later he declared it done. He soared his wand over the arm and it stopped bleeding on command.

“Is it done?” she asked.

“Yes, but I’ll have to see if the potions damaged your body in any other way,” he said and waited a few moments.

“Well are you going to?”

“Yes, could I ask you to remove your clothing?” he requested. “I could have a nurse do it but I don’t really trust anyone on doing that spell except for one of the healers.”

“No it’s okay I guess,” she said, unmistakably not liking the idea of being in her underwear while being examined by Draco Malfoy.

“I could leave the room if it would make it easier,” he told her.

“No it’s… It’s okay, you’ll see me just the same anyway.”

Probably not, he thought but kept his mouth shut. Moments later she lay down on her back again in a darkened room while Draco slowly started hovering his wand over her foot, slowly taking it upwards her body, examining what he saw through the spell’s blue light. Nothing had happened to her left side with the exception of her stomach that was filled with now dying infections and inflammations caused by some sort of potion. When he hovered the wand over the right side of her body though, he found something just above her right leg that concerned him, a large inflammation that certainly wasn’t caused by anything magical.

“Miss Granger, I think we should do some more tests,” was all he said. Hermione gave him a worried look but nodded.

Draco sent for a nurse to do the ovarian tests as he didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable than she already was, being her school bully’s patient and all. Draco took care of the rest of his patients for the day and went to check on Hermione again when he was going to end his working day, as it seemed she had been moved to the common room for guests at the potion department.

He casually walked through the corridors and past his office door until he arrived where the residents were enjoying their afternoon together. Hermione was talking to one of his patients and it seemed rather intense so he left it to the nurses to look after the woman. A woman who had grown up to be quite beautiful. She might despise him but at least she knew that he was another man now. He smiled at the view, changed the direction of his feet and went home.

Förstår, så du behöver inte stressa för min skull!

Jodå, tyckte det var lite mer! Bra kapitel iaf ^^ Gillar Draco, gillar att han är mer mogen, och ändå villig att erkänna att han gjorde fel i sin ungdom. Men utan att han tappar all kraft (?) och sassyness (kommer inte på något bra ord, haha, men du kanske fattar ändå)

Ser fram emot fortsättningen!

Äsch, jag är nog bara lat - egentligen. Ja men precis, tror att om Draco skulle vara en botare så bör han ju genomgått en utbildning där han måste lära sig att slå bort sina fördomar. Ju mer utbildad folk är idag till exempel desto mer accepterande är dem. ^^ Btw så är detta kapitlet lite mer ihoptryckt - vet inte riktigt varför.

Chapter 5

When Draco arrived home though, he was surprised because Astoria greeted him with a hug when he stepped into the door. Nothing seemed out of place and she seemed as happy as always.
“Hi darling,” she said and kissed him on the cheek, “had a good day?”
“Listen Astoria, I was serious yesterday,” was all he could muster letting out of his tired vocabulary. She shook her head.
“Don’t be silly!” she laughed dismissively, “We’ve been together for three years. Our families love each other.”
“Well I don’t love you and that’s the truth,” Draco told her harshly. Maybe he shouldn’t have bought the distraction she had offered the day before, being dressed like that and all, it was better today because now she was wearing a hoodie and jeans.
“You don’t mean that, don’t be silly,” she repeated.
“I do mean that, you have to move out Astoria.”
“If you were serious yesterday then why did you take advantage of me like that?”
“Because you were smoking hot, you knew that.” Astoria’s smile fainted and she started glaring at him instead. She seemed to consider what to say and took a deep breath. Maybe she was considering hexing him.
“I’m not joking.” He assured her, not losing eye-contact even though he showed no emotion.
“I just couldn’t believe you were being serious, but have it your way you moron, I’m leaving,” she said, darted past him and slammed the door in his face when she was on the other side. He could hear an angry scream on the other side of the door and decided that he would apparate to Pansy’s. She would be reasonable, being officially off the market since he considered her his sister. They had pulled each other’s hair growing up, you couldn’t act more like siblings than that. Just as he heard Astoria coming back into the hallway outside the apartment he thought it was a good time to flee the scene and apparated to Pansy’s garden.
...
“Draco!” the page-cut girl squealed and hugged him, clearly excited to see him, “You never visit anymore!”
“Sorry Pansy, I work all the time, but now I just dumped Astoria so I need to get out of the apartment for a few hours while she disappears,” he said and walked into Pansy’s hallway.
“You finally did it? Oh merlin, I’ve been hoping and praying for it, she’s like twelve and she’s no fun. Now you and I can party like hell Draco.”
“Did everyone hate our relationship?” he asked her as he hung his robes off the back of a chair standing there.
“Well when I talked to your mother about it…”
Draco started snickering.
“You talked to my mother about it? No wonder she supported my father when he sent me that letter with the hidden meaning of ‘you should dump your girlfriend’ in it.”
“Yeah, and Daphne and I had this bet on whether you would dump Astoria or if she would dump you,” she told him and grinned. “She owes me one-hundred galleons.”
“She seemed pretty upset, Astoria I mean. Daphne’ll probably be super mad at me for a while.”
“I don’t think Astoria even liked you that much Draco,” Pansy declared.
“What? Well I wouldn’t have thought so yesterday when she asked for break-up sex in the most stunning tiny outfit,” he paused, “but she thought I was joking and got really pissed about it today.”
“You didn’t go through the dumping yesterday because she was hot then? What are you Draco, fifteen?” Draco sat down on a chair by the kitchen island’s dinner section and kept his eyes on Pansy while she started cooking. He chose to ignore her rude question.
“So, since when do you cook?”
“Since I met this guy.”
“You’re interested in boys, seriously? Wow,” Draco mocked and Pansy looked like she was about to throw her spatula at him before she restrained herself.
“Oh shut up,” she ended up saying.
“Who’s the lucky guy I’m going to hit if he ever hurts you?” Draco seriously asked this time around.
“He’s Italian,” she said dreamily and it was only then that Draco noticed her sun kissed skin.
“When were you in Italy?”
“Last week actually.”
“We should probably meet more often so that I know about things like this,” Draco told her.
“Well I’m going there in two weeks, at the end of that week. You can come if you want to meet Mr Italy. He has dolphins.”
Draco let out a loud laugh.
“You’re telling me you’re going to date a guy with dolphins, wow.”
“Your father has white peacocks in his yard, never forget that Draco.”
“There’s a difference”, Draco pointed out.
“No, there’s really not.”
“Sure, I’ll accompany you to Italy, but I’ll have to check that there’s nothing coming up at work, and you’ll have to promise help me stay away from that bloody ministry event in three weeks. I might puke on someone this year,” Draco insisted.
“I’ll do my best Drakie.”
...
When Draco got back home the place was empty, none of Astoria’s things to be found anywhere around the apartment. She had even taken the opportunity to snatch both tables so that Draco had to eat on his lap until he could be bothered to go out shopping for furniture. The table, both the one in the kitchen and the one in the living room had been Astoria’s ideas, she had bought them with her own money and surprised Draco with a wonderful dinner as a plus package the same evening, so Draco supposed that she deserved to keep those darn tables. He threw himself onto the couch, pulled a blanket over his body and thought about that one annoying and persistent patient he’d stumbled onto today, she’d made it very hard for him to handle it professionally. Some hatred just never cooled down, he assumed and he drifted into an uneasy sleep. It was usually like that, nightmares about his past that never seemed to stay away, no matter what potions he took. It was his reason for becoming a healer, he had wanted to know if he could get rid of all that which still haunted him. He had realised he was going to have to live with it. And somehow, he managed.
…
When he woke early next morning, sweat rolling off his forehead, he could hear someone wearing high-heels, walking into the apartment with steady steps. He reached for his wand and quickly rose from the couch but let down his arms when he saw that it was his former girlfriend.
“You’re a swine Draco Malfoy,” she declared as she picked up a lamp from the corner of the room, Draco didn’t reply because he knew that he had been just what she claimed him for. A swine. She shot him a look, turned around and slammed the door after her. He fell down onto the couch again and sighed deeply, he could just wish about getting more sleep at the moment so he stood up, quickly undressed himself, went to lock the apartment door with his wand and then danced into the shower. The mirror showed him a torn and tired version of himself and the black mark on his arm stood out even more, just like it usually did in the morning, he looked away, wanting to smash the mirror like always and put the water in the shower on. Maybe he could wash away how dirty he felt.