Disclaimer : HP is not mine.

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An owl flew in and landed next to Hermione, hooting gently as if sensing her distress. Hermione untied the scroll that was tied to its leg. It read:

Miss Granger,

We have an emergency that requires your urgent advice. Please come to St. Mungos as soon as possible.

St. Mungos

Head Healer

M.C.

"I have to go, guys. Thanks for stopping by. You can use the Floo to go. I'll temporarily open it for five minutes." Hermione reset her wards with a few careless flicks of her wand and apparated away without another word.

Harry and Ginny exchanged a worried glance.

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

Harry nodded. "She's the strongest person I've ever met."

And then he blushed. "Besides you, of course."

Ginny giggled. "Is the one and only Harry Potter blushing?"

"What!? I'm not!"

"You are too!"

"Am not!"

Meanwhile...

Hermione

I appeared in front of the Head Healer's office a few seconds later.

I hurriedly flicked my wand to apply the layers of glamours that I had perfected after the war in order to hide how run down I really was from the world.

In a moment, my skin was glowing healthily, the bags under my eyes had disappeared, and my sunken cheeks had filled out. I reached up to feel smooth curly ringlets in lieu of my usual ginger bush and sighed.

And then I transfigured my clothes into a presentable shirt and skirt before knocking on the door in front of me.

"Come in!"

I walked in as the perfect, beautiful version of Hermione Granger.

"Miss Granger, please take a seat." A kind-faced woman said gently.

"My name is Marie Crax, and I'm the Head Healer of St. Mungos. TIme is running out here, so I'll cut to the chase directly. A patient of ours has been rapidly losing blood very quickly before being sent to us. We have managed to slow down his blood loss, but for some reason, we cannot seal his wound completely. The patient has fallen unconscious, and we have found it impossible to feed him any blood replenishing potions as he would throw up everything we gave him immediately." The woman ran her hands through her hair, visibly distressed.

"I'm afraid we are quite desperate at the moment." Head Healer Crax nodded at me briskly. "This is where you come in. We were hoping that the Brightest Witch of Her Generation could help us think of a solution to save this patient before he bleeds out completely."

"A patron has given us a large donation to keep him alive, and we are hoping to keep it." She finished awkwardly.

"...how is he still alive?" I asked, horrified.

"We've been able to put him into a temporary coma in order to prolong his death for as long as possible. But we need to find a way to help him soon, or else he'll die."

"How long does he have?"

"A day or two at best." Head Healer Crax said gravely.

I swallowed. A selfish little voice in my head whispered, "No more saving...No more saving...Hermione...No more sav—"

"Who is it?" I asked before my inner voice could get to me. I had to help save the person, how could I not? He was dying, for Merlin's sake!

"Draco Malfoy."

I froze. "Mal...Malfoy?" I choked.

"No." I suddenly found myself saying. "No. I'm not doing this. I'm sorry."

Head Healer Crax's face hardened in disappointment. "Miss Granger, I would have thought better of you. I understand that the two of you may have ... a difficult relationship, but ex-deatheater or not, he is still a person! You probably have the power to save him, and yet you refuse to."

"I'm sorry!" I said helplessly. "I can't!" Hot tears burned their way down my face relentlessly, harsh and unforgiving.

"You can't, or you won't? Mr. Malfoy is about to die as we speak, Miss Granger. He committed suicide, but does that mean you should let him die?"

I stopped trembling in my seat. Malfoy had committed suicide? Why?

Ms. Crax looked at me coldly. "...But since you deign yourself unable to help us, you may leave." She pointed her wand at the door, and it flew open.

"Leave!" She put her head in her hands.

"Wait." I said quietly.

She looked up at me.

"Show me where he is. I have an idea." 

A/N: Hey everybody! I'm back! I'm sorry for the huuuuge delay, but in my (poor) defense, I was managing lots of other books and schoolwork at the same time.