Healing // d.m.

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  "SO let me get this straight, you went down to get some thestral tears and you came back with Draco Malfoy?" Catherine could hear his voice getting louder with each word as he approached her. They were both standing at the rose garden looking at the horizon. Catherine was already there first, waiting for the sun to set.

  "Consider it a two for one special." She took a sip of her second cup of coffee.

  "The whole hospital is talking about you." He looked at Catherine like she grew another head. "You should have left him."

  "He was hurt badly Greg, I bet you saw him already. He would have-"

  "Yeah I saw him alright. I saw his..." He hesitated, "... his bloody mark too." Greg ran his hands through his hands, trying so hard to read her face. "What were you thinking Cathy?"

  "I wasn't"

  Catherine's eyes focused on the view right in front of her. Any minute now, she thought. She could already see the sky turning a pale tint of red. The sun illuminates the world like a golden ball of butterscotch. She remembered how she would draw the trees first, then the sky, followed by the sun. She would prop up the canvas on their balcony and paint until the sky turned black. Catherine never got tired watching her paint her wonders.

  'If you happen to miss me, one day, just look at the sun when it rises and sets. That's when I'll be giving you my warmest smile. So don't forget to smile back my cherry.'

  "Pye is furious at you. I told him Smethwyck was the one who admitted him, but he knew it was your doing." Greg gave her a sorry smile. Catherine already faced Pye's wrath. If looks could kill, Pye would have stabbed her twice and slit her throat for good measure. Pye made sure Catherine has the night shift for the whole week. He made it clear to everyone that he wouldn't touch Malfoy, not that Catherine cared. She was already planning to stay every night until Malfoy was sent home anyway.

  "Pye could kiss my ass." Catherine replied coldly. "What about you? Are you going to avoid him like a plague like the rest of them?"

  Greg looked at her like he was deliberating to tell the truth or lie. He sighed loudly and shook his head. "I just don't want you getting hurt. Gabby wouldn't want that either."

  "How is healing someone going to hurt me?"

  "We just worry about you."

  "Then don't." Catherine didn't mean to sound harsh, but she really didn't want to talk about Malfoy, or Pye or about anything really. She really wasn't up for company at all. Greg took the hint and shook his head.

  Greg took the empty paper cup from her hands that was absent-mindedly fisted into a small ball. "I finished my shift, I'm taking Grey home."

  Catherine's head whipped to look at him. She felt the guilt in her gut, she promised to visit him and Gavina. She started to open her mouth but Greg held his hand up.

  "It's okay Cathy. I'll tell Gabby you'll be having dinner with us sometime next week." He puts a hand on her shoulder. "Give yourself time for grief today. You need it."

  Catherine could feel his voice fading away as he began to make his way back inside.

  "You need to let someone worry about you too Cathy." Greg shouted, giving her one last smile and closing the door behind him.

  Then it happened. The sun began to dip into the trees, it's rays starting to soften.The sky now a mixture of eternal yellow-brown. She could hear the birds squawking in a distance. When the golden ball disappeared, the hues of blazing orange shifted into a much more heavenly pink and purple. Only a minute has passed by, but she already missed its glorious conflagration. The last gasp of beauty before the death of the day.