Healing // d.m.

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  THE murmurs from the healers around Catherine seemed to have died down a bit. She felt her as if her feet were rooted to the wooden floors and her muscles paralysed. Her eyes darted between the emerald ring on his left hand and the nasty cut on his forehead. She savoured the opportunity of being able to see him again after all these years. She thought she had bottled up her memories of him and who he was in alliance with.

  The family everyone loathed. The boy everyone misunderstood.

  She didn't see who the healer was, but she heard him announce, "Absolutely not! I am not healing a Malfoy." His voice dripping with disgust. Malfoy must have heard him too and he flinched. He moved his left arm, covering his eyes with the back of his hand, exposing the black imprint of a snake crawling out of a skull on his left lower arm.

  Knowing that nothing good would come out with his Dark Mark on display for practically the whole hospital to see and ogle at, Catherine snapped out of her trance. She finally moved her feet practically sprinting towards his bed and pulled the curtains shut. Making sure his whole bed was no longer visible for anyone to see. She could feel the blood rushing through her head and hear her pulse beating loudly. Suddenly it was difficult for her to breath. What have I done?

  "Who the hell are you?" She heard him speak, realising her back was facing him. She slowly turned around and found him half sitting up on the bed. She noticed that a few top buttons of his blouse were loose exposing a bruised and battered collarbone. Her eyes darted to his lips .... she forgot how pale they were but now he sported a bloody cut on the right side. His nose crooked to the side covered in a shade of purple. The gash on his forehead needed fixing three days ago. She noticed too how he was holding onto his left side, almost hunching over.

  She could see him hiding so much pain as he tried to sit up even further, which made Catherine jump and touch his shoulders trying to get him to lay back down but he caught her wrist midair.

  "I said who the hell are you?" he seethed. "Do you even work here?"

  He began eyeing her from top to toe. Her black hair was tied up in a very messy bun. Her eye-bags that she forgot to cover up this morning would make a panda cry in shame. She was suddenly thankful for applying some of her soft pink chapstick before coming down. Her cream coloured ruffled blouse has a few blood stains on the edges of the sleeves from today's patient. Her khaki work pants that were practically too long for her petite figure reached the bottom of her heels. She didn't change much from the girl with the Hufflepuff robes. It was then she realised she left behind her Healer's robe on the first floor.

  "You have to lay back down Malfoy, or you'll end up getting hurt again." With her words Malfoy's face softened a little and she searched her face. Catherine tried to pull her hand away from his grasp but he held it tighter. He looked at her hand and back up to her face. She could see the gears turning in head, no doubt trying to figure out who she was. The tension between them was insurmountable and the silence suddenly made Catherine even more anxious.

  "I'm only trying to help you, I'm a Healer" Catherine tried again "Let go of my hand Malfoy." He finally let go of her hand and slowly lay back down on the bed. Catherine pulled the blanket to cover his legs. She grabbed the piece of cloth on the table stand and moved to touch his forehead. She wanted to get a better angle to assess the gash, it was her main concern out of all his injuries and she needed to check his pupil to see any signs of internal head injuries. Her hand barely grazed his cheek when Malfoy swat her arm away making her reel back.

  "Did I say you could touch me? I don't even know if you are a real healer or not. Where is your robe?" Catherine made another attempt to reach out to him but someone was opening the curtains behind her.