Summer Rain

Chapter 15

Draco sat in a hard plastic chair in the hospital's waiting room. He was hunched over and had his head buried in his hands. He didn't want to talk to anyone, he didn't even want to look at anyone. A sick feeling was churning in his stomach, and the unfamiliar hospital smell was making it worse.

It had been four hours since Hermione had turned up at the apartment. Harry's accident had happened in a Muggle suburb and therefore he had been rushed to a Muggle hospital in the city by ambulance.

'Would've died without his seatbelt,' the nurse in charge had told them, and her words kept running through Draco's head, almost taunting him.

The hospital staff had contacted Remus Lupin, as Harry's listed next of kin, to inform him of Harry's accident. Remus had rushed to the hospital to try and halt any Muggle procedure they tried to perform on Harry, but he had been too late and he was already in emergency surgery.

It was a well-known fact that once any Muggle medical treatment was started on a witch or wizard, it rendered magical Healing ineffective. Draco had been furious when he heard that Harry had been taken to a Muggle facility. Where all his injuries could have been Healed rapidly at St Mungo's, Harry was now forced to suffer a lengthy recovery the Muggle way.

If he survived at all.

That thought caused an almost physical pain in Draco's heart, and he gasped and clutched his chest. He jumped up and started pacing anxiously, an overwhelming guilt was coursing through his veins and he was unable to stop the barrage of negative thoughts pouring through his mind, making it feel like his head would explode.

Remus and Tonks were there, as were Ron and Hermione. Hermione's parents had come briefly to take Melody home with them; they had wanted to stay, but Hermione hadn't wanted the little girl to be hanging around in such a dire environment and seeing both her parents so distressed, as she was too young to understand anything.

Remus had alerted Hermione as soon as he had heard of Harry's accident, and they both agreed that Draco needed to be told in person, so Hermione had volunteered for the distressing task, but had been fearful of what Draco's reaction was going to be. She had expected Harry's boyfriend to shout, scream, cry or even pass out from shock like she herself had done, but Draco had merely nodded and followed her to the hospital in a stony silence.

Draco sat apart from them all, and had completely withdrawn himself from them group. He hadn't said anything in the whole time they had been at the hospital and none of them were familiar enough with Draco's emotional state to attempt to break through his barrier.

Draco felt overwhelmingly distant from these people who had become to be Harry's family, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was intruding on a private time; like he had no right to be there. Some part of Draco deep within in him seemed to have resigned himself to the notion that Harry wasn't going to live.

Draco felt unbelievably alone and took no comfort from being in the presence of Harry's loved ones.

Nevertheless, Draco needed to be there for Harry just as much as they all did. Hermione kept sending him sympathetic glances, and seemed to be debating with herself whether Draco would welcome comfort from her. Remus and Tonks had both tried to engage him in conversation and offer support, but Draco had been closed off to any comfort. Their attempts just seemed to force him to withdraw even more.

None of the hospital staff had been forthcoming with any helpful information. They wouldn't say who, or what, caused the accident, or even if Harry was the only one hurt. All they were able to reveal, and only directly to Remus, was that Harry had suffered extensive injuries, and was presently undergoing emergency surgery for some internal injury that was bleeding. They were also to remove his spleen, which was ruptured on impact, and reconstruct his knee which had been trapped under the steering wheel and damaged considerably. They wouldn't reveal the details of the injuries, citing that the doctors were still working on Harry and didn't know all the details themselves.

Draco suddenly felt dizzy like he was going to faint, so he grabbed hold of the railing along the wall to steady himself, stumbling slightly in the process.

"Draco!" Hermione cried and jumped up to help him. He had righted himself though, so she just stood by to make sure he wasn't going to black out and hurt himself. Draco squeezed his eyes shut and made a small whimpering sound.

Hermione hesitantly approached Draco and gently laid her hand on his forearm. He turned to look at her, his eyes filled with distress. Hermione gave his arm a tentative squeeze as she looked at his miserable face and then pulled him close to her in the comforting hug she had been desperate to offer him all night.

Draco broke down and started sobbing into her shoulder. Hermione was deeply worried about Harry, but she couldn't begin to imagine how Draco was feeling.

Since Harry and Draco became friends, everything Draco did was for Harry. He left for Harry. He stayed away for Harry. He came back for Harry. Yet, he had to continuously fight the stereotype he had been labelled with his whole life -- a Death Eater's son.

Hermione could see now what a terrible time Harry's friends and family -- herself included -- had given Draco when all Draco wanted was to love Harry. It didn't even matter if Harry loved him in return. They had all tried to interfere for what they believed was 'Harry's own good', when the best thing all along would have been to just let Harry make his own choices and be with the one he loved, whether they thought it was wrong or not. They should have all seen at the beginning that Harry's love for Draco was reason enough to be happy for him.

Hermione stroked the back of Draco's soft hair and rubbed his back while he cried desperately for Harry. She could feel his tears seeping through her thin cotton shirt, and she felt the guilt pool sickeningly in her stomach. She was even stupid enough to believe that Harry loved Lucas as much as he had loved Draco.

On contemplation now, Hermione realised that Harry's eyes never lit up when Lucas walked in the room like they always did when Draco appeared. Harry would laugh at Lucas, but rarely with him. Where Lucas would touch and caress Harry, Harry would rarely instigate such affection, but with Draco, he couldn't keep his hands off him. Harry would defend Draco with such passion and indignation, but Hermione couldn't remember one instance of Harry speaking about Lucas with such fire. And finally, Harry had been extremely hesitant about moving in with Lucas, but he had asked Draco to stay indefinitely with him the day they got back together.

"I'm so scared, Hermione," Draco hiccupped and pulled back from her. "If I lose him like this all over again, I won't be able to go on. This is all my fault! I shouldn't have let him drive to the Weasleys! I just knew he wasn't going to be in any fit state to drive, but I wasn't forceful enough! He was insistent on fucking driving, and I just stood back and let him! I should've gone with him and supported him! Fuck, he must've been so upset to have gotten into an accident like this! He could DIE AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" Draco's voice broke and punched the wall in frustration, tears still pouring down his pale cheeks.

"Hey, this isn't your fault, Draco!" Hermione told him. Draco closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cool stone wall, trying to stop himself crying. "We don't know what caused the accident, and we don't know what happened at the Weasleys'. He's strong, darling. He battled and survived the Dark Lord. Do you really think he will let a little prang in the car take him away from you again?" Hermione said gently and Draco sighed miserably. He wiped his eyes and sniffled.

"I hope not," Draco whispered. "I really hope not."

"Are you ok, Draco?" Hermione asked and brushed some strands of his hair away from his wet eyes.

"No," Draco choked out. "I'm going crazy here. I need to know what's going on. When I think about him lying there on some operating table with them cutting into him, all alone without anyone there to look after him, I feel like I'm going to vomit. I hate not being entitled to any information about him. I should've gone with him to the Weasleys. I should've have at least not let him drive in such a state. I hate that I wasn't there to comfort him after his confrontation with them. I hate that I missed out on five years without him..." Draco turned away from her as he started crying again, though not as forcefully this time. After a few moments, he started pacing anxiously again.

Ron returned to the waiting room just then, having left about half an hour previously to call his parents. He came over to them and put his arms around Hermione.

"I spoke to Dad. He said Harry was really upset when he left. They'd had quite a confrontation and there was harsh things said, so Harry left abruptly. Mum and Ginny want to come to the hospital but Dad told them to stop being so selfish, as they would only cause more grief being there. He doesn't want to see Harry upset again," Ron explained softly, but Draco didn't miss a thing.

"Your dad," Draco said to Ron. "He was forced into the threats by your Mum and your sister." Ron frowned up at Draco.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"He doesn't want to see Harry upset. I can see that now. That night, at your wedding, your Dad just stood back while your Mum did all the talking, with Ginny jumping in every now and then. I can see now that your Dad didn't want to hurt Harry in the first place. All Harry wanted was them to show him some remorse for what they did. Your Dad has done that." Draco bit his lip. "Next time you speak to him, can you tell him that I appreciate his love for Harry?"

Ron studied Draco for a few minutes, finally seeing just how much of himself Draco gave to Harry. "Sure, Draco. I'll do anything I can for you to make up for what they did," Ron said sincerely. Draco gave him a small, sad smile before he went back to pacing.

"Is there a Remus Lupin here?" Draco turned around to see a female doctor standing there holding a clipboard. Remus jumped up and came over to her.

"I'm Remus. How is Harry?"

"May I speak to you privately please, Mr Lupin?" the doctor asked.

"What the fucks going on?!" Draco cried, frantically brushing the tears off his face. "What's wrong with him? Is he ok? Please!" Remus placed a calming hand on Draco's arm.

"This is Draco Malfoy, he's Harry's long-term partner. I would prefer him to be present for any information you have to tell me about Harry," Remus said politely but in a firm tone.

"Of course," the doctor replied. "Would you follow me to the consultation room?" Draco and Remus nodded and followed the doctor down the hall and into a tiny office.

"What's going on?" Draco demanded.

"Harry has just been moved to Recovery. I'm sure the nurse told you that his seatbelt saved his life? This is true, however, upon impact the seatbelt caused internal damage to his abdomen and we had to operate to stop the internal bleeding, and also to remove his ruptured spleen. There were some complications during the operation and Harry went into cardiac arrest twice. We were able to revive him but his blood pressure is still quite low. Overall, the operation was successful, but he remains in a coma," the doctor said gently.

"No!" Draco whimpered and Remus reached out and took his hand.

"What about his other injuries, doctor?" Remus asked. "The nurses indicated they were quite extensive independently of the abdominal bleeding and ruptured spleen."

"The blow to the head didn't cause any fractures, though there is a large amount of swelling and bruising which is why he is in the coma. He also suffered three cracked ribs, a broken arm, a broken leg and obviously a large amount of cuts and bruises. There was a significant amount of blood loss and as I said, his blood pressure is lower than we are comfortable with, but he will be placed in the Intensive Care Unit to be constantly observed at all times. He also has a fever, which is being monitored, but it's not a cause for concern at this point."

"Will he be ok?" Draco choked out in a whisper. The doctor looked sympathetically at Draco and offered him a soft smile.

"I won't lie. He remains in a critical condition at this point and the next twenty four hours will be uncertain. His condition is unstable, meaning we can't predict a prognosis as yet as things may literally change within seconds. However, if he can hang on as he is for the next twenty four hours without change, we will be pretty confident he will recover," the doctor advised.

"If he's ok, will there be any permanent difficulties? Remus asked.

"The spleen is basically what creates the disease-fighting mechanisms of the immune system, but the body will survive perfectly fine without it. However, Harry will be more susceptible to infections and illnesses than normal and will require scheduled immunisations for certain diseases, which we will give him once he wakes. It generally won't be life threatening if he becomes ill with an infection or what not, but he may take longer to recover than most people. Also, his eating habits and appetite might be erratic for some time because of the injuries to his stomach. Depending on how the bones heal, he may limp or need to walk with a walking stick as parts of the knee on the broken leg were basically shattered, but it's been reconstructed. There may also be temporary breathing difficulties because of the cracked ribs." She shifted some papers around on the clipboard and smiled at them. "But as for serious permanent ailments, we are hoping it's unlikely."

"Did... well, did Harry cause the accident, doctor? Was anyone else injured?" Remus asked tentatively.

"Harry certainly did not cause the accident. He was hit from the side by a drunk driver who was eight times over the legal blood alcohol limit. Harry was very lucky to survive. The drunk driver died on impact," the doctor told them and Remus nodded.

"Good!" Draco snapped.

"Draco..." Remus said softly.

"NO! That person nearly killed my Harry! Death is too good for them!" Draco sneered. The doctor simply nodded.

"It's ok, Mr Lupin. Mr Malfoy's not saying anything that any normal person wouldn't be thinking. I, unfortunately, see people in Harry's position far too often because of drink driving." The doctor shook her head sadly.

"When can I see him?" Draco demanded. He didn't want to sound angry, but after hearing about Harry's accident, he suddenly felt furious.

"He'll be in Recovery for about another hour and then we'll be moving him to the ICU. Normally, we would only allow immediate family, but as Mr Lupin has advised that Harry has no immediate family, I will make exceptions in this instance." The doctor stood up and tucked the clipboard under her arm.

"We appreciate that," Remus smiled.

"You can see him as soon as he is settled in ICU. I'll have a member of staff inform you of when that is. Mr Malfoy, Harry is in a bad way and it might be quite a shock for you to see him like that. It might be advisable to get some fresh air and clear your head before seeing him." The doctor patted Draco's shoulder, who nodded feebly.

"Thanks for everything, doctor," Remus said gratefully and shook her hand.

"We'll speak again." She nodded and left.