The Healer II- The Patient (Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

Chapter 4- The New Patient

I returned to the private bedroom I was in earlier with my wand, prepared for whatever the emergency might be- I was expecting anything from blue hands to black veins, convulsions, vomiting blood-

The young woman was sitting up in bed. Drinking tea.

I blinked at the sight. "...Madame, are you alright?"

She looked at me with beautiful brown eyes. "Surprisingly, I am. Thanks to you."

I was deeply confused. "I-I was told you were having an emergency."

"Oh," she rolled her eyes. "I only said that so he would come." She looked behind me, where Draco stood, looking unamused but not surprised that his wife would do something like that.

"Where is the child, Astoria?" He asked. My mind glomped onto the name- Astoria. I had definitely heard it before.

"I'm far too weak to hold him," she replied, as if that should be obvious. "Paisley is with him in the nursery."

Draco pressed a frustrated hand to his forehead. "You cannot declare an emergency just to make me come to you."

"Excuse me, but I did almost just die giving birth to your child."

I began to feel very awkward. I inched towards the door. "As there is no one here in grave danger, I will excuse myself-"

"Wait," The woman, Astoria, commanded from her bed.

I stopped in my tracks and huffed in contempt. My god, why won't these people just let me go?

"I'm afraid I cannot let you leave just yet, Erica." There she went again, speaking like she knew me. But I still had no idea who she was.

Astoria sighed. "First, I should inform you that I am aware of your history with my husband." My eyes widened. "How could I not be? It was all anyone could talk about during my 4th year."

Her 4th year... then that means, she was at Hogwarts when Draco and I dated.

The connection was made instantly. I was looking at a grown-up Astoria Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass's younger sister, who had thick brown eyebrows and a sickly physique. She came to the hospital wing at Hogwarts on occasion for unexplained fainting spells.

I looked back at Draco, who wouldn't meet my eyes. I wanted to scream. I didn't even know that they knew each other.

Astoria took note of my shocked expression. "Oh, don't look so upset. It's uncomfortable for me, too, you know. But when you're a woman in hiding with a blood curse who just went into labor, your options for Healers are few and far between. Draco and I knew of your Dark Magic healing talents from the papers. I wrote to you for help, even though he told me not to." She shot Draco a sharp look, "And neither of us were even sure if you would come. But thank Merlin you did." She raised the teacup to her lips. "Otherwise I'd be dead."

Astoria said the last bit so casually, like she had been preparing herself for death for a long time. But despite her confident demeanor, the teacup in her hand shook against the saucer.

"Anyway, seeing as I'm unexpectedly alive now, I intend to remain that way." She looked at me with a gleam in her eye. "And it seems like you're the only Healer around here who actually knows their arse from a head wound. So, I will be requiring your medical talents for the foreseeable future."

I opened my mouth to object, but Draco beat me to it.

"Astoria, she has already declined."

Astoria's eyebrow twitched. "Well, did you offer her money?"