Healing Draco Malfoy

Chapter 21

Published: March 1, 2021

Harry did as promised and passed out in a drunken stupor. He took another draught of Hangover Potion and remembered to brush his teeth after. He popped over to the hospital and up to Draco's room. Today was going to be difficult. He was already planning on fixing Draco's hip, but how would he bring up what he found? He didn't know, but it was time to fix the last broken bone in Draco's body and free him from the Immoblius Charm.

"Good morning, Draco."

Draco looked at him immediately, "Morning."

"I... want to heal your hip today," Harry started, and Draco nodded. "It's... going to be painful, like your shoulder."

"I figured."

"I have to... put you on your stomach."

Draco swallowed and took carefully controlled breaths. "Okay."

"Maybe I should... I can put you under, Draco. You won't have to feel... me... touching you...."

Draco looked up at him and shook his head.

"You shouldn't have to go through that. I think you should take the potion," he pleaded.

"Would you?" Draco challenged.

Harry grimaced. He couldn't lie to Draco. "Well, I'm stupid. I don't want you to be... hurt."

"I don't want potions," he said. "I don't want to sleep or have my control limited. I'll be alright."

"Well... if you're sure, but... just think about it? Okay? I'm going to have to... touch your skin and be on the table, getting the bones into position. There's been bone regrowth, and it was set wrong."

Draco nodded.

"It will take a bit and hurt," Harry reaffirmed.

"I want to be awake."

"Okay... well... I'll be doing it at the end of the day. But let's get you relaxed."

Harry gave him his daily rub down and then did personal hygiene for him. He messed with Draco and then went on into his appointments. At lunch, he ate in his office, unwilling to give Draco a chance to interrogate him.

"Hiding from Draco, again?" Joel said, from the doorway.

"Yeah...."

"Dare I ask?"

Harry shook his head. Draco didn't give him permission to discuss it with Joel.

"Does it have to do with his house?"

Harry gave him a look.

"I went to Draco's room first. He said that you were avoiding his eyes too much this morning."

"I did go. Draco didn't try to kill himself. McGrath tried to kill him."

Joel blinked. "Wow... umm... damn...."

"Ron and Hermione are having him arrested."

"But Draco... knows that McGrath did that... right? Why would he be upset?"

Harry grimaced. "I talked to his parents' portraits, too."

"That had to be disturbing."

"His father is a heartless bastard who told him repeatedly that he was the bane of the Malfoy family, and his mother killed herself because she couldn't live without Draco. She thought he was gone."

Joel swallowed. "That is very... tragic. But Harry, Draco already knows these things. You're the one who's still processing it."

Harry looked at Joel.

"You're trying to understand it and how you feel about it. Draco has already done that. He's not fretting over this. He knows it."

"I'm worried about how he will handle talking about it."

"Yes," Joel agreed. "But he needs to talk about things. I imagine that would be a relatively safe topic compared to what happened to him. He needs to grieve for his loss and come to terms with what his father did."

Harry looked at the kid, intrigued. He was so easy to talk to, and he wanted to know more about him, but that meant opening up. He looked at his desk and asked, "Did you look at my scans?"

Joel was silent for several seconds. "Yes."

"What did you see?" Harry asked, quietly.

"Do you really want to talk about this, Harry?" he whispered.

"No, but I want to see what you learned," Harry replied in a detached voice.

Joel took a deep breath and started in a clinical tone. "I found markers of childhood abuse: bruised bones, stress fractures and at varying intervals during bone growth. I also found signs of malnutrition and stunted growth during the developmental years. The bones in your right arm were regrown at one point. There was a sudden hard impact over ten years ago, which was healed nicely. Looks like you got stabbed in your arm and leg, too. I couldn't tell by what. You have a strange scar on your hand that says, "I must not tell lies"."

Harry snorted and smiled briefly, but stopped. Joel was getting closer.

"You have had a head injury, a severe concussion. I'd say seven or eight years ago. There was plenty of bumps and bone bruises six years ago, I'm assuming it's the war," Joel said and paused. He was looking at him.

"Go on, Joel. You're right on point for everything so far."

"Five years ago... you were attacked. Crucioed for a long time. Beaten. Tied down with your arms and legs spread..." Joel said, softly and Harry didn't move. "...and severe... rectal trauma."

Harry nodded, keeping his panic under control. "Conclusions?"

"Harry..." Joel whispered. "...we don't have to...."

Harry's eyes met his, critically. "Joel."

"Raped repeatedly and tortured."

Harry breathed deeply. "No one even knew what happened, until two weeks ago."

"The night you stayed with Draco?" Joel guessed.

Harry nodded. "He saw it. He didn't need a scan. Did you?"

Joel shook his head. "I suspected."

"You hide what happened to you very well," Harry whispered, and met his eyes.

Joel looked down. "It wasn't... sexual. My father was a drunk... and a muggle. He beat my mum and me. Right before I got my Hogwarts letter, he bashed her head in, and she got permanent brain damage. He was killed eluding police. She was institutionalized for a bit, and I went to my aunt's house. My mum eventually came to live with us, too, but she was always... sensitive. She had panic attacks and was paranoid. That's how I know how to help you calm down. She passed away last year... aneurysm."

"I'm sorry, Joel," Harry whispered.

Joel wiped the tears out of his eyes. "Thanks. My aunt spent a lot of money on her care over the years, so we don't really have much. I wanted to be a healer, maybe to save her... but she's gone, now. Then I needed to work to help my aunt pay bills. She wouldn't have it and told me to go chase my dreams. It's what my mum would have wanted."

"I'm glad you did. Are you still in... a bad spot? I can loan you some money."

"No, I always worked during the summer breaks. I was working at a youth home last summer, and they even paid me to take uni classes."

Harry looked at him, interested. "Muggle classes?"

"Yeah... my mum was a witch, a muggleborn, but she returned to the muggle world to marry my dad. She didn't tell him."

Harry nodded. That was somewhat unusual. He couldn't imagine going back to living without magic.

Joel leveled with him. "Harry, did you... feel the need to open up to ask me about my past?"

He nodded. "Not that I really opened up."

"You allowed the discussion to happen. It's a big step."

"You're the fourth person I've told."

"I'm honored, Harry. I hope I wasn't too forward... asking for the scan."

"No... you played it well. Asking both of us in front of the other. Are you a Slytherin? Or a Ravenclaw?" Harry laughed a little.

"Neither."

"Hufflepuff would have been my guess, really."

"Yep. One of the duffers."

Harry laughed. "It's better than a hothead."

Joel smiled. "When someone is hurting other people... you're amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

Harry blushed a little. "Yeah, and when it comes to defending myself, I'm a gibbering mess."

Joel laughed. "Not as much as you think. Ready for Elsa?"

"Oh right... she's all healed, but she does love to come and see us," Harry said, getting up.

They walked to room 4, and Elsa and Zach were there. She perked right up and said, "Zach, dear! It's Joel."

Joel hugged her. "How's my favorite patient, today?"

"Ooh, good, I feel ten years younger. Zach has rearranged the whole house, it's so much nicer!"

"Yes, she's entirely on the first floor and she's been managing okay. I just wish someone stayed with her during the day. I can pay for someone to stay, but it's not the same."

Harry nodded. "Well, my Aunt Andy is getting up there. Perhaps she might want to visit?"

Elsa looked at him. "Andy? Andromeda? She was one of the nicest ladies I ever knew!"

"I'll ask her," Harry said.

"Thanks, Harry," Zach said, gratefully.

"Alright let's get this check-up over and get you ready to clobber bludgers, again!"

"Me! No! Nonsense, I'm not flying, again!" she said, laughing.

Harry checked her arthritis again, and her hip was doing fine. He bid her to have a nice day, Joel gave her another hug, and they left.

"That was nice of you."

"Yeah, Aunt Andy has been anxious about finding something to do when Teddy is at Gran Molly's house."

"Well, I hope that she comes over," he said.

"So, back to the potions lab?"

"Yeah, lucky me. I have the two worst rotations last. Potions and Mental Health."

"You have Mental Health, next?" Harry asked, a little worried.

"Yeah. Pray for me. Higgs knows that you like me."

"I'm sorry, Joel, and I mouthed off to him while you were there."

"It'll be fine. I did well in my other sections. A bad review there will be okay," Joel said, with a shrug.

"Okay, just let me know, alright?" Harry said.

"Sure, I'll be busy until the end of this rotation. But maybe I'll stop by in the mornings, but I'm sure that Higgs won't give me any time off."

"He's a prick."

"Yep. Harry... but if you want to talk. I'll come and I won't judge you," he offered.

Harry nodded. "Thanks. But I'm not really interested in talking anytime soon."

Joel nodded, and when they stood up, he offered a hug. Harry hesitated for a second and then took his offer. Joel was warm, and he squeezed him gently. He whispered kind words in his ear. Harry hugged him back and had tears in his eyes when he let go.

"Thanks, Joel."

"No problem. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me. I'll never tell anyone about it."

Harry nodded. "And I keep your past between us."

"You can tell, Draco. You two don't need secrets, right?" Joel wiggled his eyebrows for good measure.

Harry blushed, again. "Don't... it gets awkward enough with him."

"Yeah, get going. Stop avoiding him," Joel said and headed out the door.

Harry sighed and made his way to Draco's room. His patient was watching the telly and turned it off, as Harry sent a Patronus to Natalie for a pain potion. This was going to hurt Draco, and he needed him to relax. He sat in the rolling chair and waited for Natalie to bring the potion.

"Another pain potion?" she asked, when she came in.

"Yeah. I'm going to be in here for a bit. Last big one," he said.

"Don't over-extend yourself, Harry," she warned and closed the curtains and locked the door behind her when she left.

He finally met Draco's eyes. "I still think that I should put you under for this."

Draco shook his head and tensed up in a way that Harry didn't like. Draco never seemed extremely sleep-deprived, so he had to sleep at some point. But it was one of the things that Harry knew, instinctively, that he couldn't ask him about yet.

"This is going to be painful, worse than your shoulder."

"I can handle it," Draco muttered and looked to the wall, his default safe location.

Harry grimaced and bit his lip. "I can hold off until tomorrow... or a few days... if you want."

Draco looked back at him, but Harry couldn't meet his eyes, again. "That's not necessary, Harry." But after a few minutes of strained silence, he growled, "Look at me, Harry."

Harry slowly looked. He didn't know why he was so panicky at that moment. Actually, he did. If anyone tried to touch him while being immobilized and upside down on a table, he'd freak out. He took a deep breath. Draco was his patient, and he was scared, regardless of how much he denies it.

"Draco... I'm going to have to use Immobilius on you, again. It's just too painful, and if you jolt... I can't risk it. Do you understand?" Harry asked, falling back on his healer training.

"You've told me this before. I'll be alright."

"Yes... but I'll have to put you on your stomach... and get on the bed to get the bones back in. And I'll be touching you... there. You'll feel me," Harry said, going a little red. "I'll will have my eyes closed, but... I'll be there."

Draco stared and nodded. "Again, I can take it, Harry."

Harry frowned. "I worry. You... don't deserve to be hurt like this. Do you want me to ask... Nat or Joel to come... ummm... supervise? You'll be... vulnerable."

"I thought I always was... since I'm wandless, crippled and bed-ridden," Draco said, his voice laced with bitterness.

Harry frowned, but some of Draco's fire had returned. "Well, we will fix that soon, Draco. I promise. But you're sure... about trying?"

"Yeah, let's do it," Draco grunted.

Harry froze him and then turned him slowly with stabilization charms. He got him settled on the pillows and checked. He knew Draco was very uncomfortable being on his stomach, but he demanded that he was fine. Harry dropped the bed down two feet. He explained exactly what he was doing to Draco as he draped his hips downward and his lower back upward. Just six inches of his hips were showing. He kept talking and planted one knee between Draco's legs and the other just on the outside of the bed.

Draco grunted, so he hoped that meant okay, but now was the hard part. Contact.

"I'm going to touch your back, now. Just breathe."

Draco did, as though trying to prove that nothing was wrong. Harry touched his lower back first, and Draco's breathing staggered before returning to normal. Harry massaged his back, slipping his hands under the blankets. Draco seemed to calm down, and he slowly moved to the hips. He started on the outside of the hips and worked his way in. He finally shifted the broken hip apart and removed the remodeling. He slowly reset the big break and Draco hissed in pain.

"I'm sorry! That was the worst one. It's just small fractures now."

Draco let out a low breath, but didn't say anything. Harry opened his eyes and glanced up at his head. Draco's eyes were closed, and he was focusing on his breathing. Harry continued on, though, wanting to finish as quickly as possible. He healed all the micro-fractures and then put his hands on the outside of Draco's hips to realign them. He eased it into place and mended the socket joint. But Harry opened his eyes.

Draco, despite the already placed Immobilius Charm, had gone rigid. His breathing was nearly nonexistent. His eyes were open and staring fixed ahead at the wall ahead of him. Oh shit, Harry thought.

"Draco?" he whispered. No answer.

He got off the table and knelt by Draco's head. Harry knew that look as he had it many times. Draco was caught in a flashback. Harry's eyes started watering. He had never sent Draco into a flashback before. Draco always seemed so in control of his emotions. He had never seen him like this and he didn't know how to get him out as Draco didn't always respond well to touching.

He conjured a blanket to cover him, and then removed the Freezing Charm completely. He had healed his hips enough for free movement. Draco immediately started shaking. The quick, short breaths indicated how stared he was, but he moved, too. His arms clenched tightly to his chest, and his legs bent and curled upward, getting into the fetal position.

Harry was relieved that his healing seemed to have fixed his hips, but Draco was in nothing but defensive mode. It long-confirmed what position Harry thought he'd be in since day one, if Draco's body would have allowed it. Harry, who had complete control of his muscles, had curled up against the wall just like that when he had been admitted to Mental Health and quite a few times when he drinks. It felt safe.

"I'm not going anywhere, Draco," he said, sitting down on his stool and gently touching his arm. Draco didn't even flinch. He would stay there all night until he came out of it.