Healing // d.m.

| 13 |

  THE scent of perfume on his scarf overpowered her senses. Catherine could smell hints of bergamot and notes of lavender mixed with wisps of after shave and mint. His scarf warmed not just her neck but her whole body. She felt like someone lit her on fire when he casually draped the scarf around her neck. She swore Malfoy held his breath too when he touched the sides of her cheek, fixing the scarf up her face. She had stupidly dressed too light today because she was late. She even left a confused Smalls without a goodbye rub this morning.

  Malfoy was staring at her with his usual annoyed stance. She sometimes wondered if it was tiring for him to keep that uptight face all the time. It wasn't going to do him any good with the wrinkles if he keeps frowning like that. He raised an eyebrow at her getting impatient. Right he said something, she was supposed to give him an answer.

  "Did something happen to your mother?" She asked.

  "Yeah... she's ill." His voice wavered a little, she knew it wasn't easy for him to ask for help so he must be desperate.

  "What are her symptoms?"

  He ran his fingers through his already messy hair. The blonde curls softly blown by the wind. "She's umm... she's weak, her face is pale and her lips are blue. She could barely get out of the bed. She coughs a lot... Yesterday she coughed up clots of blood."

  "How long has she been this way?"

  "She said it's been a month, but I'm not sure."

  Catharine nodded, "Did something happen?"

  He shook his head and looked away, staring far into the horizon. "I don't know, she won't tell me"

  It was evidently clear how he cared about his mother. The worried look in his eyes made her heart melt. She needed more information and she needed to see the patient to formulate any sort of plan.

  "All right, I can help schedule her appointment for tomorrow with Healer-"

  "No," He jumped. "No, she doesn't want to come here."

  "Malfoy, she needs to come to the hospital for treatment. We need to see the patient-"

  "I know." He interrupted again. "Don't you think I know that?"

  The curtness in his voice was exasperating, but she knows that he was just desperate.

  "So how can I help?" She tried to reason with him.

  He hesitated again, taking a few seconds to formulate his answer. She could see the gears of doubt turning in his head.

  "Can you come see her?" He asked, tilting her head like a little kid asking for help to cover up his mistakes.

  "You want me," she pointed to herself, "to go to Malfoy Manor?" she made sure to emphasise the location.

  "She's not in the house, she's somewhere else."

  "Oh right... '' Catherine acknowledged, she just remembered the conversation he had with Professor Smethwyck the other day.

  Malfoy was severely irritated now. "Do you want to help me or not?"

  Either Catherine was stupid or her brain suddenly transported to her patella but she really wanted to help him. Call it her Healer instinct, maybe pity but if it were her mother needing help, she would want someone to give her a chance. Still, she could get in major trouble healing someone outside the hospital with no senior supervision and frankly, she wasn't very confident in healing injuries non creature related.