hippocratic oath (meleny)

[HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!]

"Name?" a gruff voice said at the front desk of intake at St. Mungo's hospital. The woman, stout and wearing pink floral scrubs with a named clip on her chest and grey hair pulled back into a squat bun, did not look over her paperwork to see the patient in front of her.

"Hermione Jean Granger," the younger woman said weakly, hands resting on the countertops. The room was whitewashed, patients illuminated and washed out under bright lights overhead. It had a distinctive clean smell, acidic and sickening to those not accustomed to it. The girl was used to healing herself, but internal injuries were not her speciality; a simple 'episkey' would not fix the ache in her side, the bruising of her ribcage. Every breath was labored, and her entire side stung enough for her to wince and be visibly uncomfortable.

"Malady?" the woman replied in that same gruff voice. She was certainly aware that this girl was wanted by the Ministry and would be arrested once she left the haven of the hospital. However, they had a duty to treat her, since the Hippocratic Oath did not show disdain towards criminals.

"Bruising, an ache in my side, a possible bruised jaw... cuts... hit with the Cruciatus Curse-"

"Go through this door and have a seat on the table. Your station is number five, Miss Granger. A healer will be with you shortly." The woman went back to her writing.

"Thank you," Hermione said gently before walking past the double doors and desk into another white room. Thin curtains veiled each section from each other, numbered with the single digit printed on a card that stuck out from the silver curtain rod. Walking slowly, Hermione found hers, five, in the right-hand corner of what she knew as the 'Injuries/Curses Wing'. Staring at the table, covered in sterile white paper, she managed to sit on it by shoving herself over with her arms and single good leg. Taking in a deep inhale, feeling nauseous from the sickly sweet air, she gazed forward. Oh, how she hated the doctor's office. She was cornered her, vulnerable... being poked and prodded at... nasty tasting medicines... she was a good healer, but a horrid patient.

[MELENY CHRISTINA ALDRIDGE !]

Meleny was tending to another patient when another healer walked up to her and handed her a clip board. She read over the information which was about a patient who was a victim of the cruciatus curse and other spell damage. Meleny stared at the name twice before she realized her next patient was someone she went to Hogwarts with, none other than Hermione Granger. "Um....could you possibly take over for me here while I go deal with this?"she asked the other healer.

The healer just nodded and switched spots with Meleny.

Meleny left the ward she was currently in. She walked into an elevator and pressed the button for the spell damage ward. Meleny stared at the clipboard a few more times reading Hermione's name over and over again. She hadn't seen her since their seventh year at Hogwarts and the final battle. She would remember that day for the rest of her life because it was the day when they lost their hero, Harry Potter to Voldemort. Pureblood supremacy took over and every muggleborn became wanted because they were considered impure by the new regime. Her father and twin sister were part of same pureblood regime. She was considered impure by them because she was a blood traitor. She had moved out of her father's mansion and moved into a flat by herself but soon couldn't bear the thought of living there alone in such a horror filled world that her aunt Cordelia had to move in with her. Meleny was well aware of the fact that Hermione was wanted by the ministry. She saw her face on the wanted posters around London everytime she went to diagon alley or anywhere in the wizarding world.

The number four lit up on the elevator and the doors opened admitting Meleny onto the waiting room for the spell damage ward. She saw Hermione sitting at station number five waiting for someone to come tend to her. She still wasn't fully over the shock of seeing one of her old friends from school, even more shocking and horrible was the fact that she was a wanted criminal and there was no getting over that. She knew she worked here and couldn't refuse her treatment because of the hippocratic oath but still she was a little nervous. What if she got in trouble just for associating with a wanted criminal? In Meleny's opinion, it was ridiculous that Hermione was wanted just because of her blood status. She wasn't a criminal and knew she'd never hurt a fly. She knew she was very kind to her friends and even kinder to lesser creatures such as house elves. However, in Meleny's opinion house elves were just like everyone else. "Hermione Granger?"Meleny called out the name written on the clipboard to get the patient's attention and to maintain a semblance of professionalism.

[HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!]

Hermione's head, which while waiting had drooped as her eyes bored into the perfectly white floor tiling, shot straight up and towards the direction where the healer was coming from. Before she caught a glimpse of who exactly this was, her eyes narrowed from the harsh light and a drop of frustration and her hands, resting to her sides, gripped the paper liner of the table. Offensive magic was not permitted at the hospital, those sorts of charms and incantations unable to be cast, but she was smart enough not to forget where her wand was in case this 'healer' was actually someone to arrest her. It dug into her back pocket, still chipped from the encounter she had with Lucius Malfoy hours earlier.

In any case, it was a welcome sight to see not only a young woman who did not resemble Pansy Parkinson in any manner, but who also was a former Gryffindor. Hermione's memories of Hogwarts may have been scattered from adrenaline pumping through her brain nonstop for the past few months, but if there was eve an encounter with someone who she knew was an aid to her cause, she was quick to pick their name and face from her conscious. Her grip on the paper relaxed, leaving it crinkled to both sides of her, and she let out an audible exhale of relief.

Hermione needed to keep calm and level, however; this could be an impostor... or this girl could have changed her allegiances since the whole of Gryffindor house was separated during the Battle of Hogwarts. She straightened her back as she glanced over the other woman, feeling the pops and cracks of her sore bones and joints. As much as she HATED coming here... she needed their help. A day off her feet with a mug of cocoa was not adequate to fix all of this.

"That is correct," she replied professionally, biting her lower lip afterwards, tasting the dried blood. If this was who she thought this was... another ally could be within her grasps.

[MELENY CHRISTINA ALDRIDGE !]

Meleny gave Hermione a kind smile. "Well, I'm ready for you now. According to this report, you were hit by the cruciatus curse, correct? If you come back to the examining room with me, I can check out your bruises. " she stated fighting to maintain her professionalism. She was still slightly reeling from the fact that she ran into Hermione at work of all places. They had been good friends in school and the whole thing was rather shocking.

"If you don't mind my asking, what brought you to st mungos today? It will help me figure out how to go about curing whatever is wrong wrong with you."she said. She glanced at the clip board once more to read the information given to her by the other healer. It said bruising, achy jaw, and that she had been hit by the cruciatus curse.

Meleny felt bad that Hermione had gotten hit by such a terrible curse. In her fifth year she had been a victim of the cruciatus curse herself by her own father. He was punishing her for being a blood traitor and he figured suffering would teach her a lesson. Her twin sister gave her a black eye too. Meleny remembered returning to Hogwarts with similar aches and pains. It felt like the effects lingered every day. She ended up missing the sorting feast and went straight to the hospital wing when she arrived at Hogwarts.

(Sorry it took so long. I had a hard time coming up with a decent post. Sorry if it sounds sucky.)

[HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!]

(no worries; we all have our off days : D!)

Hermione let out a chuff of a laugh as propelled herself lightly off the table, the paper underneath her shifting forwards and feet landing lightly on the floor. Oh ho, these healers and their 'professionalism'. Most 'professionals' Hermione had come across during her life, besides her parents, that stuck to the rules of their establishment were either doomed to be slaves to it or held back from their own potentials. Those who she admired the most were the ones who went above and beyond the call of duty, who spat on the rules when needed, and above their own positions. She wished to live her life in such a manner, but unless being a professional Death Eater punching bag was an official position... she was out of luck.

"Yes, the cruciatus curse," she replied as she followed the woman to this 'examining room'. Her heart began to race, tension creeping up each vertebrae of her spine. Her hands felt cold as she rubbed them together, her gait stiff. The external blood loss that she experienced was minimal, significantly less than that or her assailant, Lucius Malfoy, but internally her injuries were probably much worse. Not to mention the bruises, splinters from the wooden floors cracked and shattered by the blows, the sharp pain coursing up her jaw... she could have been going into shock and hardly even realizing it.

"I got into a skirmish," Hermione stated, her voice getting weaker, "At a bar in Hogsmeade. Not the usual, either. Fugitives often must fight to escape their captors, but when the attacker's intent is to just cause pain, not apprehend... well, more injury results. Surely you understand; fate has not been kind to those who support muggleborns or halfbloods." Hermione bore down on the woman, body tensing as she continued to follow. If Meleny was the girl that she had left those many years ago and would support her, she would show so in her response. Hermione prayed to Merlin that the Aldridge girl did not succumb to the perverted ideas that defined the lives of her sibling and father, that she would hold onto the good cause, fight the good fight.

"What should I do... for you to see the bruising and external injuries, that is..."