Worse for Wear
Chapter One: St. Mungo's
Humans are odd in the sense of love and hate. We'll spend half of our lives hating someone and then learning that the only reason we hate them is because we knew nothing about them. I feel that that is almost the story of my life. For as long as I can remember I have always hated Draco Malfoy, and he me. I felt like we had a reason to hate each other because we didn't see eye to eye. Then I began working at St. Mungo's in the children's ward as a nurse. Soon my skills brought me up to the top and I became a private secretary/nurse for the top children's doctor in London: the one and only, Draco Malfoy. This is where my story starts, where I found that I don't hate Draco, I never understood him and he never understood me. There we were at an impasse, but now I admire my boss. It just goes to show that nothing is as it seems.
"Good Morning Draco how was the meeting?" I asked as I offered my attractive boss a cup of his morning tea. Since Hogwarts Draco's boyish features have become firmer, yet in a way kinder. He smiled at me with his flawless smile and gratefully took it, enjoying the smell and the warmth of it on this cool morning.
"Good Morning to you as well Hermione, I know that I can always count on you for everything." He said warmly before he paused to take one more sip. "The meeting was long and boring like always, but it seemed even worse today. Anyhow, what's on the agenda for this morning?" Draco asked sitting down at his desk. I grabbed my clip board and began looking at what we had planned for the day. I wasn't aware of him watching me with his intense bluish grey eyes, that could melt a woman's heart.
"Vikki dropped off some case work paper work you need to look at, and Brad left a memo for you. Also we have four new patients for you to look at. All of them minor, but you have to clear them before they can go home," I replied playing with the end of my quill. Draco nodded and went to check out the new arrivals. I put the small file of paper work on his desk then went for the medicine rounds. Each of the kids greeted me as I walked by and made sure they all hade the potions and other things they might need. Once everyone was good on that I went back to the shared office and began sorting paper work from last night. The day wore on fairly slow as we went about our daily business. We even found time to talk.
"So how have things been since Ron moved out?" Draco asked as he wrote on a patient slip. I told him how things were going great and that it was nice to have the apartment clean and be able to enjoy it. We talked about why I kicked Ron out and why it was best for the both of us.
"What about Veronica, how have you been since she left?"
"Good, I don't have to listen to her complain about how I'm never home and…"
"..That work has always come first." We said together. I laughed sending Draco into a fit of laughter as well. His laugh sent chills of delight up my spine. I enjoyed the brief moment we had before getting back to work. Towards the end of the day we had a very disoriented and extremely pregnant woman wander into our ward and begin to scream rude things at the top of her lungs. I went out to try to clam her down, but nothing was working.
"That son of a…he promised he wasn't going to leave! I'll kill that….." She yelled. Recently our potions team came up with a potion that will ease a woman into a painless labor. It happens almost the instant the potion is injected and so far it has been great to use. As this woman was screaming and throwing a fit, one of the nurses walked by with the potion in the needle all ready to go. I grabbed the needle and stuck it into the screaming woman's neck. She went limp and the nurse caught her.
"Take her to the Natal Ward please," I said handing the needle off to an other nurse to be cleaned. Draco was watching from our office, a wide smirk on his face. I smiled back and took a seat at my desk. He was still smiling.
"That was impressive, I'd have to admit. One of the better ways to deal with an annoying patient: stick a needle in their neck."
"I was doing what was best for her and her baby okay? It just got a little bit rough…that's all," I replied, signing a few things and then putting them away. Draco suddenly looked about and closed the office door. I gave him a questioning look.
"I need to talk to you, and now is the only good time," Draco said. I put away everything and folded my hands on top of my desk. I waited for him to start. He blinked a couple of times and then cleared his throat. As he talked he began to pace a fidget as though someone had put a Mexican jumping bean in his drawers.
"Hermione, you're good at everything, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Why do you ask?" I replied. Draco ran a hand through his blonde hair and looked away. I didn't know where this was going, but I recognized the body language. I didn't say anything else, just listened for him to continue.
"Well, Veronica is getting married, and she's invited me to come. She wants me to look bad at her wedding, but I want to make her think that I've moved on. Will you…be my pretend girlfriend so I can get back at her?" Draco asked blushing a bit. I was awe struck, and didn't know what to say. Of course I would love to, but how long could I tell myself it would just be pretend?
"I'm not asking as your boss, but as a friend. And if you say yes, as your boss I will give you the days off," Draco told me. I nodded, because I felt as though I still could not talk. He smiled happily and told me that after this shift he would explain the rest of it to me over coffee. Just then we were interrupted by Vikki who told us that we were having a brief staff meeting and that we would both be fired if our asses weren't in the meeting within a few seconds. Draco let out a burst of energy and sprinted down the hallway, laughing as he went.
"Come one Hermione, I won't give you those days off…!" He teased as I darted to catch up with him, giggling madly. Still giggling uncontrollably we slipped in the meeting and pretended to listen. Half of the meeting Draco insisted on making faces at me, causing the giggles to find their way back.
"I wonder why they even bothered to call a meeting that late into the day. I mean no body was focusing any way," Draco said as we sat down at a muggle coffee shop to talk about our arrangements. I smirked and blew my straw wrapped at him, nailing him in the forehead.
"Yeah, especially someone I know…he couldn't focus long enough to keep his eyes crossed," I joked. Draco barked with laughter and tried to do it again sending me into an other laughing fit. An older muggle couple gave us discerning looks and moved back further into the shop.
"Okay, back to business. Veronica's wedding is next week at her fiancé's manor in Dublin. Now she's been living with them for a while, and I just happen to know him really well. So we've been invited as special guests. They're even letting us stay in the manor with them. There's one thing though. Since we're a 'couple' now…"
"…we have to share the same room…" I replied reading his mind. He nodded sternly and took a long sip of his coffee. I did the same, trying to figure this one out.
"Well it looks like you'll be sleeping on the floor. " I joked. "When do we leave?" Draco only gave me that entrancing smile of his and finished off his espresso shot. I waited for an answer before I said anything. He produced a train ticket and slid it across the table to me.
"We leave tomorrow at twelve o'clock sharp. I'll be at your apartment to pick you up at eleven. And don't say I don't know where you live because I mail your paycheck to you," Draco finally replied. I took the ticket and bid him goodnight. I couldn't believe it, I was going to Dublin to pretend to be Draco's girlfriend. I guess I had better get use to him, or it was going to be a long trip.