The Healer- A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 45: Finale

I stood next to my trunk in the Entrance Hall, waiting for Snape to return to deliver me to my uncle. A student couldn't pass through the gates without a professor's presence.

I'm ready to leave, I thought. I've said my goodbyes to everyone. Well, everyone, except for Madam Pomfrey...

I realized that she would likely be extremely sad if I left without saying goodbye. I owed it to her to tell her exactly how much she meant to me, and that she helped me realize my destiny was to become a Healer.

I left my trunk in the Entrance Hall and ran to the Hospital Wing. I had to be quick, because Snape may return soon from wherever he was to escort me to the gates.

When I entered the Hospital Wing I was greeted by the sounds of someone caterwauling horribly. To my surprise, Professor Snape was there, hunched over a hospital bed with Madam Pomfrey on the other side. The sounds of the patient's blood curdling screams drowned out the droning sounds of Snape's Vulnera Sanentur spell. I had heard awful screams from students before, but these were unquestionably the worst.

"LET ME DIE! PLEASE, JUST LET ME DIE!"

The patient yelled that sentence over and over, and then collapsed into broken howls of agony. I clapped a hand to my mouth when I realized I recognized the voice. "Draco?"

I rushed to the bed, and thought I was looking at a nightmare. Even though his face was twisted in pain and the tips of his platinum hair were coated in blood, there was no doubt that it was Draco. He was lying on his back, his white shirt ripped to shreds and stained with gruesome red streaks. He looked like he had been tortured. Half-healed lacerations were all over his chest and arms, and bleeding profusely. There were too many to count.

"Oh, god," I gasped and clutched my chest.

"Erica, you shouldn't have to see this!" Madam Pomfrey shouted, frantically covering Draco's wounds with saturated patches of Murtlap Essence. Draco's eyes fluttered open at the mention of my name, and our gazes locked for one heated second.

"Erica." He said my name as if I were a holy apparition- but then dissolved back into agonized screams.

"Silence him!" Snape hissed. Madam Pomfrey cast a gentle "Stupefy" upon Draco, and he fell immediately silent and stiff. Snape continued reciting the healing spell, fighting against the wounds as they attempted to reopen themselves.

Without giving Madam Pomfrey or Snape a chance to tell me no, I took out my wand and joined Snape in chanting the spell. My hands were shaking so badly I thought I might snap my wand.

"Vulnera Sanentur," I said through trembling lips. "Vulnera Sanentur." I said it over and over, until the incantation began to sound like gibberish. There were so many cuts- and they just kept bleeding. As Snape and I healed, Madam Pomfrey applied the bandages and Murtlap essence, covering nearly every inch of Draco's white skin with oily, fragrant gauze. Snape kept one hand protectively on Draco's left forearm, covering the Dark Mark from Madam Pomfrey's eyes.

How could this happen, I thought to myself. Am I to blame for this? Did Draco do this to himself because I left, or did someone attack him? God, I hate this- I hate seeing him in pain. It makes me feel so damned depressed when he gets injured. I feel like I myself am hurting, too.

"Vulnera Sanentur," I repeated. "Vulnera Sanentur."

How on earth was Draco going to survive without me? I hadn't even left the castle yet, and he got injured again.

"Vulnera Sanentur."

This boy was like a walking accident; he attracted pain and injury everywhere he went.