Guiding Light || OC x Draco Malfoy

Chapter 24:

If I had to wager a guess, the words that just forced their way out of Pansy's mouth would ring in my head forever. Whether I was in a coma or not, the haunting echo would tattoo itself into my very eardrums for as long as I would remain alive.

I was never going to walk again and there is nothing I can do about it.

The only thing worse than hearing those words, if such a thing could even exist, was the crushing silence that filled the room like a burst window in a submarine. That same sort of pressure was weighing down on my chest, and everyone else's if I had to take a shot in the dark. God did I hate the dark right now.

"When's the soonest you can wake her up? If..." a defeated sigh rustled through the air and I heard the sound of whispered profanities designed to be inaudible to young ears that happened to be in the room. "If there's no true point in keeping her under to resolve and delay pain, then maybe it would be better for her to wake up as soon as she can and begin whatever treatment or therapy she'll need to adjust. How soon can we do it?"

Without even seeing her face, I could sense the unease that Pansy was feeling right now. I was with her on that distaste as well. I mean I really wanted to see Scorpius and his dad again, I wanted to do that more than anything, but I was also really scared. Actually, scratch that, I was downright terrified. I agreed with my doctors that I couldn't stay trapped in my head much longer, because even though I couldn't see a quantifiable thing to represent my budding insanity, I could feel myself growing more and more restless as time went on, and there are very few good things that that can mean.

But I was terrified of waking up and having to face the reality of what was left of my body. I don't know how I was going to live without being able to move on my own. So far as I can remember, which isn't all that much if I'm being perfectly honest, I had no one. I wasn't married, I didn't even have a boyfriend if I was thinking correctly. I didn't want to be a prisoner to my own body, but if what Pansy said was right, and I had a horribly sneaking suspicion that it was, my independent life was over. No amount of time or even therapy was going to fix that fact that my legs, and who knows what other parts of me, were never going to move on their own.

" I'll talk to her doctors and see what they say. There's this muggle technology thing that may help her odds, but the main issue is that the only place that would serve her specific needs in in America. Spinal fusion surgery could give us a better idea of how severe her paralysis is, and could get her into a much more stable state than what we could ever hope for."

"What's the catch with this, Parkinson. You wouldn't phrase it like that if there wasn't a catch and I know you too well to not notice it, so don't try to play this off. I want her to thrive to the extent of her capabilities, not just live. Tell me what we need to do, and it will be done."

"Well Malfoy, it would appear that we don't know exactly what the catch is yet, we just know that there are a bunch of bumps in the road that need to be smoothed out for us before we can do anything for her, and it might take longer for it to happen than her psyche can take."

"Just tell me what's going on! Plain and straight, no sugar-coating. What is holding us back here?!" The loud smack of what I could only assume to be a hand on some table-like surface resounded around the whole room and my head, leaving an impervious silence in its wake.

"The only places that perform that sort of surgery are muggle institutes. Her attacks are known all across both worlds, and the only way that they would process her case is through a fake identity. The Ministry has been issued a high-priority task for creating her that new persona, but you know how they feel about her, and the most time she has inside of herself before the damage is irreparable is a few days at most. Even if they did decide to make her new file, it could take weeks. We simply don't have that kind of time, and I trust you know that."