Blaise and Ginny stared at him in shock. Ginny stumbled over her words as she asked, "What? What do you mean, she has no trace of lycanthropy? She was bitten by a werewolf!"
"So it seems, and yet we were not able to find any indications that she has the infection," The Healer said. "Now this raises the question of whether or not she was really bitten by a werewolf. Because if it was another creature we need to know so that we can treat it properly."
"But...but we watched it happen!" Ginny exclaimed. "She's the Head of the Beings division in the Ministry and was taking care of a werewolf last night with our help, and we watched her get bitten!"
As Ginny and the Healer argued, Blaise stood there quietly thinking. He looked down at Hermione for a moment and then looked back up, clearing his throat.
"Sir, with all due respect, we did watch the werewolf change and then bite her," Blaise said. "But what I'm about to tell you next must not leave this room."
The Healer raised an eyebrow skeptically but nodded. "Go on then, Mister Zabini."
Blaise took a deep breath and looked down at Ginny before explaining, "The werewolf that bit her had taken an experimental potion believed to be a cure for lycanthropy. He didn't change at first, and we believed it had worked. But it clearly didn't and he bit her."
"A cure?" The Healer asked in surprise. "But how is that possible?"
"Trust me, the man is very smart." He then looked down at Ginny and muttered, "Do not tell him I said that. His ego is large enough already."
Ginny laughed slightly at this but they were interrupted by the Healer who was looking between them with frustration. "Why were we not notified beforehand of this? We could have inspected this potion first."
"He didn't want the news to get out until it was ready as he didn't want to create any sort of false hope," Blaise explained. "And he also didn't want to put any other lives at risk in case the potion failed horribly."
The Healer sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before looking over at Hermione. "Well, some form of the potion must have worked because it apparently wasn't passed on to her. Which is still miraculous but at the same time..."
He then looked up at them and asked, "Would you be able to bring in the werewolf so I can go over his vitals and see if the potion changed him in any way?"
Blaise gave him a surprised look but said, "Uh, sure; I can see if he's willing to come in here. He might not be, though, just to warn you."
"I will be sure to be very discreet about everything," The Healer explained. "And he would only be working with me."
"We have to find him first," Ginny muttered, crossing her arms against her chest.
"Take your time," The Healer nodded. "If he does decide to come in for evaluation, please notify me immediately."
Blaise nodded and the Healer turned to leave the room. After the door closed, Ginny sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to the other while she looked back at Hermione.
"Where do you think he went?" She asked quietly. "Back to his manor?"
"I'm not sure," Blaise admitted, moving behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist while resting his head on the top of hers. "We can always check there first."
They both jumped as they heard a groan and saw Hermione shifted slightly in the bed. Ginny immediately pulled away from Blaise and rushed over to the side of the bed as Hermione barely opened her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Ginny?" She looked around slightly, squinting her eyes at the brightness. "Where am I?"
"St. Mungo's," Ginny answered quickly before asking, "How are you feeling?"
"I..." Hermione fell silent as her eyes opened more. The memories began flooding back and she took a sharp breath. "Where's Draco? Is he okay?"
Ginny opened her mouth and then promptly closed it, unsure of what to say. Blaise stepped forward then and said gently, "Draco is alright. He's still processing what happened though."
"Where is he?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Well..." Blaise faltered and then sighed. "We don't know, honestly. He came to see you after he returned to his normal form, but he started to panic after seeing you unconscious and then ran off. We haven't been able to go find him yet but we will very soon."
Hermione tried to sit up then, using mainly her left arm to push herself up into a seated position. She looked down at her bandaged arm again, any emotion leaving her face.
"So...I have lycanthropy now," She said blankly.
"Actually, you don't," Ginny said somewhat excitedly.
Hermione's head snapped up. "What? What do you mean?"
"The Healers didn't find any traces of lycanthropy in your blood," Blaise answered with a smile. "It seems that while the potion wasn't a direct cure, it prevented the lycanthropy infection from passing on to you when you were bitten."
She stared at both of them in shock before looking down at the foot of the bed, her thoughts racing.
Draco wasn't sure where to go, but he somehow found himself standing outside the gates of Malfoy Manor. After lingering for a few moments, he pushed open the gate and slowly walked up the pathway, feeling entirely numb mentally.
He raised his hand to knock on the door, cringing at the pain from his still-sore muscles; his usual routine of sleeping and recovering was disrupted by what had happened, but he ignored his aching body as best he could.
The door clicked open and his father answered with a surprised look on his face. "Draco! What a nice surprise, we weren't expecting you!"
Draco didn't answer as any words failed him and Lucius's brow furrowed. "Is everything alright, son? You look like you haven't fully recovered yet."
"I haven't," Draco managed to say. "I...I just needed to talk to someone."
Lucius immediately rushed his son inside and led him to a sitting room before pouring a stiff glass of whiskey. Draco immediately went to sit in one of the chairs, putting his head in his hands and breathing deeply.
"It's very unusual for you to come to me when you need to talk," Lucius said lightly as he handed off the drink. "You usually go to Blaise."
"Blaise already knows what happened," Draco muttered before taking a long drink.
Lucius poured himself a drink and sat in the chair opposite from Draco, lifting his leg to rest it across his other. "Does it have to do with Miss Granger?"
Draco barely managed to nod and Lucius's brow furrowed again. "Son, what happened?"
"I..." Draco faltered as his throat closed up, and he quickly downed the rest of his drink much to his father's disapproval.
"Draco, you shouldn't be drinking that quickly at this hour-"
"Father, I bit her."
Lucius immediately stopped talking, his jaw dropping slightly. "You...last night?! Is she alright?"
"She was unconscious when I saw her not too long ago," Draco answered sadly. "Her arm was bandaged."
Dropping his leg back onto the floor and leaning forward to set his drink down, Lucius quickly asked, "But she's alive?"
Draco nodded. "The Healers apparently said she was going to be okay. Well, about as okay as one can be after a werewolf bite."
"But...why didn't you take your potions?" Lucius asked with a confused look. "And why was she there if you didn't take them?"
Standing up to pour himself another glass of firewhiskey, Draco ignored the look his father gave him as he sat back down and took another drink. "It's mainly for the pain at this point, I'm still hurting a lot."
He took a deep breath then and set the drink down before clasping his hands in front of him and looking down at the floor. "Hermione was working on the papers for the lycanthropy research, and she was worried that if I was included, it would be found out who I was and that would ruin my reputation. I didn't want to just stand by and do nothing to help though. So...I started working on a potion."
"What kind of potion?" Lucius asked slowly.
"I was hoping it would be a cure for lycanthropy," Draco said with an emotionless laugh. "We were all so hopeful about it."
"We?"
Reaching to take a quick drink, Draco nodded. "Blaise knew about the potion, but Hermione did not. She started spending full moons with me in August, and since I was taking my potions it was completely safe for her. Blaise and Ginny joined in last month; they wanted to start making full moons enjoyable for me with some company. But then the brewers came to me at the beginning of this month and told me that this brew was actually successful. Hermione overheard us talking about it since she had come to the office to surprise me for lunch."
"And knowing her, she insisted on being there when you took the potion?" Lucius asked.
With a half-smile Draco nodded. "Of course she did. I made her promise to leave immediately if things turned bad but...well, clearly she didn't."
He took another drink while Lucius straightened up in his chair slightly. "Okay, so what happened last night that led to you biting her?"
Taking another breath and sighing it out, Draco went on. "I was already secured in the basement when she arrived. Blaise was there when she got there and Ginny got there shortly after she did, saying that she wanted to make sure Hermione was alright. After a while, I took my potion, and we waited.
"Nothing happened though, and for a while we thought that it actually worked. I felt normal for the first time in years. I stayed in the cell though, but Hermione was standing right on the other side of the bars while Blaise and Ginny sat by the stairs away from us." He fell silent for a moment before looking down at the floor again. "But then things went bad."
Lucius waited patiently while his son took another drink, noticing his hands were shaking ever so slightly.
"My stomach began hurting, and while I was hopeful it was just a side effect of the potion, Hermione immediately began to take precautions without any of us knowing. She silently put up a shield between herself and where Blaise and Ginny were to protect them before putting the shields up on the bars so that I couldn't get to her either." Draco shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "It starts to get fuzzy from there as I started to change but I remember Ginny panicking and somehow breaking through the shield. She distracted Hermione long enough for me to..."
He faltered then as his voice cracked, and Lucius sighed deeply as he took a drink of his own whiskey.
"Alright...so she is now recovering in St. Mungo's," Lucius began slowly. "And yet, you're not with her."
Draco looked up immediately and the pained expression was very obvious on his face. "Father, I couldn't see her like that. Not after what I had done to her."
"You do realize that when that poor girl wakes up and realizes you're not there with her, it's going to hurt her more than anything, right?" Lucius asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I've hurt her enough as it is," Draco said sadly. "I should never have gotten involved with her. It's better for her this way."
"Do you really believe that to be true?" Lucius asked gently.
Draco didn't answer, instead taking another long drink. There was a voice in the back of his mind telling him to stop being an idiotic prat and to go back to her. But as badly as he wanted to listen to it, he knew he was doing what was best for her.
"It's better this way," He repeated firmly. "She wouldn't be in this position if she hadn't been trying to help me."
Before Lucius could respond, Draco stood up and downed the rest of his drink before setting the glass down. "I'm going to get away for a few days."
Lucius raised an eyebrow again and sighed as he stood up as well. "Draco, I realize you are upset about this situation but I don't think you're making the right choices."
"This is the best choice for right now," Draco said firmly. "I just need to stay away from her to prevent her from getting hurt again."
"How do you think she's going to feel when she discovers that you are leaving her on purpose after a traumatic event?" Lucius asked. "She's going to be devastated."
Draco shook his head as he started to shake slightly. "I can't put her in harm's way again, I just can't."
"Isolating yourself isn't going to help anyone-"
"Father, I could have killed her!" Draco exclaimed then, his voice cracking as tears began to form in his eyes. "I just wanted her to be safe and yet I attacked her and she could have died!"
Lucius sighed and gave his son a sad look; he couldn't imagine the pain that Draco was feeling right now, and he wasn't able to find the right words at that moment."
"I just should have just left her alone in the first place," Draco said sadly before shaking his head. "I've done too much harm already, and she had to pay for it."
He immediately left the room but Lucius didn't follow, knowing that it wouldn't be any use if he did. He heard the front door open and then slam shut moments later, and he sighed heavily before finishing his drink as well before going to get his dress robes.
A/N: Thank you all so much for your patience with this! This chapter just did not want to be written but I will be updating again next week after I update the other two stories I'm working on :) a bit of a more emotional chapter towards the end but I hope you all enjoy! <3