#healerreader

A/N: Hello, my lovelies! I'm so excited to post the first chapter of this series! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it :) -Rose

Summary: After the war, y/n was certain that she would never see Draco Malfoy again. That is, until he shows up at St. Mungo’s emergency department.

Warnings: mentions of death, language, and blood

Word Count: 2.4K

The war was over, but the wizarding world still brandished its unhealed wounds. Roads had been patched up, fresh paint had been applied to the scars on buildings, but the wounds of the war ran deeper than any new glass or brick. 

Hogwarts opened its doors once again to the young wizards and witches whose innocence had been tainted with violence and loss. Even though the school was being stretched to its limits with students repeating their respective years and the addition of a new cohort of eleven-year-olds, the halls were cold and haunted with new ghosts that mirrored the friends they had before. Everyone had tried their best to return to a time that no longer existed but the echoes of the war could not be ignored. The empty seats in Charms that no one dared to take, empty beds in the dormitories, and the new potions professor who didn’t act like they would rather be anywhere else. 

Being a seventh year made the transition for y/n a bit easier- as easy as using a bone saw instead of a butter knife to saw off a limb would be. Hogwarts with all its size and grandeur, seemed too suffocating beneath the weight of loss and the wide-eyed first-years who filled the halls with noise, oblivious to the ghosts they brushed past. She found solace in the infirmary with Madame Pomfrey. The quiet nights, potions bubbling in cauldrons and the sting of antiseptic tickling her nose. It turned out that bandaging wounds was easier than untangling the grief that clung to her. 

The moment she completed her N.E.W.T.s, she fled. France. Germany. Romania. Anywhere that let her disappear into study, into silence, into work that kept her hands busy and her thoughts buried. She chased mastery in magical medicine and left her memories behind. But forgetting was a luxury she had never been afforded. And when she returned to London, she did what she had always done—she kept going. She envied the muggles whose minds were obliviated after the war. How easy it would be to forget all that had happened. 

Over the past two years at St. Mungo’s Hospital she had put back together the loved ones that had been left behind. She reset bones shattered by curses, mended hearts stopped by trauma, and eased pain no spell could fully erase. There were no medals in it, no glory—just long hours, quiet hands, and the constant ticking of time borrowed from fate. Although the wizarding world believed they were invincible, they were not immune to the morbidities of the Muggle world. They were just as vulnerable as they were human.

---

The doors to St. Mungo’s emergency department flew open. A gurney flanked by two healers wheeled through into the chaos of the floor.

“We need some help!”

Y/n met them halfway into the hall, “What’s the status?

“Fifty-eight-year-old witch. Found unresponsive at home, head trauma on fall. Brief pulse—non-verbal on arrival. House elf apparted them here.”

Her stomach plummeted at the sight of the woman lying on the gurney. Dark hair streaked with grey, lips that had once offered tight, polite smiles at social gatherings. She had aged but y/n knew all the same the woman on the gurney. The healer’s lips beside her continued to move but she couldn’t hear him over the ringing in her ears. 

“Narcissa?”

The reformation period after the war had not been kind to the Malfoys. Their name had been stripped of all aristocratic titles, and their vaults drained of the fortunes they had. From what she had heard from her mother, Malfoy Manor was a ghost on the hill. The family had done their fair share of time in Azkaban, though not equally. Narcissa’s sentence had been altered during the trial after Harry confessed that if it were not for her, he would have been killed a second time. Lucius, however, remained in Azkaban to serve out the rest of his life for his loyalty to Voldemort. And Draco? Not a soul had stepped up to testify for him. Until Y/n.

In that moment, Narcissa’s eyes shot open, wide and full of panic. They found Y/n’s instantly recognition flickering in the dark brown hues. Her throat tried to form words but what tumbled out of her mouth was a silent scream.

“We need to get her upstairs.”

“There’s no time, we need to act now.” She looked down at the woman and took her cold hand in hers. “Hold on, Narcissa, we’re going to help you. Bring her to Trauma Two.” 

The gurney wheeled forward, and Y/N swung herself up, balancing along the stretcher’s edge as they moved. She cast a quick diagnostic charm, the results shimmering above Narcissa’s body in pale blue and gold lines. The charm showed somewhat normal vitals her heart rate was erratic, but not crashing. Blood pressure was high, but not unexpected.Then there—hovering just above the arteries feeding her brain—hung a dark, swirling shadow.

“She’s having a stroke due to residual dark magic. Give her two vials of Draught of the Living Dead.”

Y/n counted back from ten, steadying her breath with each passing second. Each number pushed down the panic colining beneath her ribs. She cast another diagnostic charm-more focused now, this time tracking neurological blood flow. Come on, come on. The clot revealed itself, pulsing like a bruise in left parietal lobe. It wasn’t massive, but it was nestled dangerously close to an area that controlled motor coordination. One wrong move and Narcissa would lose the ability to hold a wand perhaps even to walk.

Then Narcissa’s body started to convulse. The gurney jolted as her limbs thrashed violently, and Y/N nearly lost her balance. Healers scrambled to stabilize the stretcher and turn Narcissa on her side. 

“Petrificus Totalus!” 

Narcissa’s body went limp and the healer’s turned her with the ease of a well learned routine. The glow of the vitals charm hovering above her body turned dark red. She watched as the numbers quickly fell.

Y/N’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. “Trauma Two, now! Move!”

The doors to Trauma Two slammed open as the team of Healers rushed Narcissa inside. Y/N quickly cast a series of diagnostic charms, tracing the source of the hemorrhage deep within the brain. The spells relefected shadows of dark magic and blood that pooled ominously. She needed to remove the clot and stop the bleed before any irreversible damage was done. Her hands moved with practiced precision as she administered a localized numbing draught and stabilized Narcissa’s vitals with soothing charms. With her wand she, traced delicate lines over Narcissa’s temple and skull, parting layers of skin and bone with a whisper of light. The air shimmered as she carefully extracted the dark, pulsating clot nestled near the parietal lobe. With a flick, she banished the clot and the pooling blood in the cavity. Another charm sealed the fragile vessels to stop the bleeding. A tense moment followed before the golden glow of stable vitals filled the room—steady heartbeats, clear arteries, no new blood pooling. Y/n exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding in and smoothed down the strands hanging out of her bun. The shadows that had clung to Narcissa’s head had dissipated like mist in the morning light. For several minutes, y/n watched the steady rise and fall of her chest. The golden glow of Narcissa’s vitals bathed the room in quiet reassurance.

A hand came to rest gently on her shoulder. The warmth seeped through her robes, it was comforting, the hands of a healer. She turned to face Padma, concern etched into her usual warm features.

“Y/n,she’s stable. Let’s get her to Bay Four.”

“Yea, you’re right.” she exhaled. 

There was a deep sense of responsibility anchoring Y/n to Narcissa’s bedside. Padma would be able to cover the extreme cases until she reemerged. Despite having magic to instantly remove the blood caked on her face and hairline with a flick of her wand, the healer decided to take her time. She wet a soft washcloth and gently wiped away the blood crusted on her face and in her hair. Moving her attention to the laceration, she applied antiseptic and smoothed a healing salve across the surgical scar. Narcissa Malfoy would be horrified by the rawness, the jagged line where flesh met healing magic. With the proper care it would heal without changing her features. A whisper at her brush with death.

The quiet that settled over the room was a welcome reprieve from the usual chaos of the trauma floor. It curled around Y/N’s shoulders like a warm blanket, whispering temptations to close her eyes and rest. The adrenaline high from earlier—the pulse pounding, the sharp focus—was ebbing away, leaving exhaustion gnawing at the edges of her consciousness.

That was before the yelling started beyond the curtain. Her few moments of peace were washed away by the chaos one again.

“What’s going on?” Y/n asked, pushing back the curtain. 

Her question had been leveled at a trainee who stood stunned at the scene in front of her. The trainee’s eyes were wide and unmoving at the scene in front of her.

“Is that…Draco Malfoy?”

Y/n froze. Her spine locked, her pulse spiked. She didn’t need to look to know it was him—the voice was unmistakable. Sharp. Demanding. Angry in that particular way only he could be. A new wave of shock rolled over her as she turned toward the front desk. 

Y/n smoothed her hands on her robes, “I’ll handle it.”

Draco was towering over the secretary, eyes blazing, his hands braced on the counter like he might break it in two. “Where is she?” he snapped. He was still the same boy who once demanded everything from a world that had taken too much from him. But older now. Sharper around the edges. The war hadn’t softened him—it had carved him. The fabric of his auror robes strained against his taut muscles. He was void of all the boyish softness he once possessed in another life. 

“Sir, I understand, but we have protocol—”the poor receptionist tried.

“Fuck your protocol.”

His presence vacuumed the air from the room, as if even the walls braced themselves against him. Time seemed to stretch as y/n crossed the floor to him. She folded her arms in an attempt to poorly shield against the rising heat in her throat. 

“Draco.”

His head snapped toward her. For just a flicker his eyes widened. She didn’t miss the way his hand twitched at his side before he quickly masked it behind that cold, aristocratic detachment.Maybe she wasn’t the only one seeing a ghost.

“Please stop harassing my staff, they’re overworked and underpaid. They don’t need to deal with your temper on top of it.”

He didn’t speak. Just looked at her—too long, too hard. She wouldn’t allow herself to fidget under his gaze. A tell he knew all too well about her.

“Your mother is this way. I’ll take you.”

The short walk to Bay 4 was thick with silence. Y/N kept her eyes fixed ahead, every step deliberate, measured. Still, she could feel him beside her—his presence sharp and unrelenting, pressing at the edge of her awareness like a storm waiting to break. He didn’t say a word, but it didn’t matter. His silence was loud enough. She refused to look at him, knowing that one glance might unravel her.

Narcissa was beginning to stir when y/n pulled back the curtain, letting Draco brush past her to his mother’s bedside. She wasn’t sure what she had expected but even in the face of near-death Draco’s emotions remained restrained again.

“Mother,” he said, his voice low and soft.

“Draco?” She reached for his hand, and he took it—tentative, unsure, as if he hadn’t touched tenderness in years. ”You shouldn’t be here! You’re supposed to be in Austria.”

“I was. Tippi sent an owl.”

“My boy! You can’t abandon your post.The things they will say! Your reputation!”

“Let them talk. My reputation’s already in ruins. What’s one more headline, Mother?”

Narcissa flinched at the harshness in his words. She tore her gaze away from her son and her eyes widened acknowledging y/n’s presence for the first time. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, my dear!” she gave a weak smile. “Draco, you remember y/n, don’t you? She’s the wonderful healer that saved me.”

Draco barely spared a glance at her. “No, Mother I don’t”

The words tore through her like shrapnel, but she wouldn’t dare give Draco Malfoy the satisfaction of knowing he was the source of her hurt. 

Y/n cleared her throat and slipped into her professional role, “Narcissa, you suffered a stroke due to some of your blood clotting within your arteries. This can happen sometimes with those who have used dark magic. I’d like to run a few tests first to see what was affected, and we can go from there. It can wait a moment, though. I’m sure you two would like to catch up.”She offered the best smile she could muster. 

Before they could answer she was already at the curtain. The more distance she could put between herself and the Malfoys, the better. 

“Stay.”

Y/n’s steps faltered at the sound of his voice. She turned to face him, his steel gaze leveled on her. The way that his free hand clenched at his side did not go unnoticed. 

“I’m sorry?”

“Stay and do the tests.” He stood, straightening his frustratingly tailored suit. “ I’ll wait around the corner.”

Before she could protest, he was already brushing past her through the small opening in the curtain she had made. The brief contact set her nerves alight—sharp and uninvited. She told herself it was nothing, just the static of proximity, the residue of adrenaline. But his scent, lingered too long in the space he left behind.

“Right.” turning back toward Narcissa. Her fingers tightened on her wand. “Let’s get started shall we?”

Narcissa’s eyes drifted to the curtain, “Don’t mind Draco. He always did have a complicated way of showing gratitude. But he’s not one to forget.”

Y/n didn’t answer but tried her best to ignore the tremor in her hand as she cast the first spell.

"Renji!" you were shocked at the red haired reaper's clothing. His robes were in shreds. He also had a number of bruises littered all over his body. He was just grinning at you.

"Ichigo and I were just sparring, nothing much." you sighed. Ever since Ichigo got his powers back that's all that they did. Which meant Renji took numerous trips to your squad to get treatment. You weren't exactly complaining though. "That punk Ichigo thought he could best me." Renji still had that stupid grin on his face as he rubbed his nose.

"Do these guys care about anything other than fighting. " You were a healer, so violence wasn't really in your nature. You'd only ever really fought when you thought it was absolutely necessary. You guided Renji to sit. This was somewhat of a routine now.

He came by so often you were already used to it. He shrugged the top part of his robes off his body, revealing his muscled back. You blushed at the expanse of skin, hanging your head to control the color in your cheeks. Your hands lifted, a green glow emitting as you started healing his wounds. He just sat back quietly, letting you work. It felt a bit strange, 

Renji wasn't as rowdy when he was around you. If Ichigo or even Rukia walked in right now you knew that would change, But aside from that he was a bit tamed in your presence. You wondered why. Did he just find it uncomfortable talking around you? You hoped not. You really liked that you were always there when he came in.

You may or may not have been sprouting a huge crush for him. It was his fault though for being so...so Renji! You remembered your first encounter with him.

~Flashback~

You were humming to yourself on your way to the Fourth Squad Barracks. After a very awkward meeting with Kurotsuchi-taicho, you decided to carry the documents you were given to your captain. Hanataro was terrified of the scientist so you decided you would do him a favor and go. 

However, you knew exactly why Hanataro was scared, the guy was creepy. Shaking off the encounter you continued to skip through the barracks. You stopped mid step when a chill rushed up your spine, the hair on the back of your neck standing up. You turned just in time, a burst of reiatsu raising in the area.

You didn't have a chance to react before you were being forced backwards at the wind. Your eyes squinted, the papers flying out of your hands at the rise in pressure. 

"W-what the hell!" 

When you finally opened your eyes a hollow was now standing before you. You tensed, not expecting this at all. Hollows rarely ever attacked right in the center of the barracks. You assumed they were smarter than that since reapers were almost everywhere. Unfortunately they found a less than formidable opponent.

When it's hand struck down in your direction you jumped back, skating on the concrete a few meters. When your legs came to a stop you looked up. 

"I gotta get out of here!" 

That was the best possible solution. You moved to flash step, before you could take off something latched onto your leg. You panicked at the appendage that was now firmly wrapped around your lower limb. It slammed you into the ground, knocking the wind right out of you. You gasped at the pain that rushed through your body.

"Gyah!!" 

You were tossed around a few more times, hitting every rough surface it could find. You weren't even able to reach for your zampaktou. You coughed up a mouthful of blood at the last place your body made an impact. When it was satisfied you were thrown into the air. You couldn't move a muscle, your body felt like a rag doll. 

"What a waste, here I thought I could have some entertainment before my meal." 

Its distorted voice was like an echo in your ears. You were still free falling, you could see at the corner of your eyes it's mouth opening below. It was going to devour you. Your eyes shut, hoping it would just get it over with.

"Howl Zambimaru!!" 

The yell startled you. Someone grabbed your body midair. All you could see was a flash of red light, the hollow releasing a scream on pain. When the light faded, your eyes slowly opened. Your head shifted at whoever it was managed to get to you in time. Your eyes skimmed over an unfamiliar set of tattoos. Eyes connected with brown ones. He was holding you securely, careful not to hurt any injuries you sustained.

"You'll be fine." he assured. You didn't remember much after that. You were in too much pain, you'd just ended up passing out.

When you recovered you were partially disoriented. Yet, at your bedside was the familiar head of red hair you saw right before you fell unconscious. When he saw you awake he was just looking down at you with a grin. 

"Hey! You're awake. You took quite a beating, I kinda thought you wouldn't make it. You're lucky I came when I did." His tone sounded boastful, and you didn't care. He was right, you would have mostly likely been a goner if not for him. You smiled up at him weakly.

"Thank you so much.." you conveyed. You don't know why but you were crying. Maybe it was because you were terrified you would have died there, all alone. He looked at you, the grin he had slowly dropping. 

"H-Hey don't cry you're safe!" He looked a bit frantic, clearly unsure of how to deal with the situation. 

"I-I'm sorry." you apologized wiping at your eyes. You really shouldn't have been crying like this in front of him. You didn't even know him. His eyes softened, getting up from his seat and moving onto the bed next to you. Your eyes widened, before you could even question him, he pulled you into a hug. You just sat there a bit dumbfounded. 

"It's fine, you can cry if you want.." He whispered. You didn't say anything, just wrapped your hands around him, letting out all your fears as he held unto you. That day, you'd seen a softer side to Renji.

~Flashback end~

"Oii!" you blinked, snapping out of your thoughts. Renji was standing right in front of you, a look of worry in his eyes. 

"You okay, you just zoned out." You nodded. 

"Y-Yes I'm fine sorry." you stuttered. Overly aware of his naked torso that was on display right in front of you. You tried to focus on anything but his toned body. You closed your eyes with a smile. It was the best way to get rid of the heat that was now gathering in the room.

"I-If you need anything else just let me know." you offered. Your hope was he would just say yes and leave so you could control the feel of your heart now pattering against your ribcage. 

When you opened your eyes he was still looking at you. He looked like he was contemplating something. You blushed when he started moving closer. You stumbled back, body almost knocking into a small table. You steadied yourself, looking up to ask about his weird behaviour. 

"R-Renji what are you-" His hand touched your cheek and every part of your body went still. 

"I think you deserve a reward for always putting up with me.." he breathed. Your eyes shook the closer his face got to your own.

"R-Renji.." you whimpered out. He chuckled, closing the distance. His lips were so softer than you could have ever imagined. You inhaled sharply, hands unsure of where to go, so you just kept that at your side. Renji pulled you into his arms, everything in your body melting at the feel of his taunt muscles pressed to you. 

Your hands finally raised, hesitantly. You reached up, fingertips resting on his broad shoulders. They ran down his arms and apparently Renji liked it because he deepened the kiss, tightening his hold on you. You weren't sure how long the both of you were standing there, it felt like hours.

His hand slid down your body and you finally pulled away, panting heavily. Your chest was heaving, but Renji didn't even look affected. He just smirked at you. You blushed when his lips moved to your neck. 

"R-Renji!" you said in alarm. As much as you were enjoying this, you were still in the Fourth Squad Barracks. Anyone could walk in at any time and catch the both of you. Your grip on his shoulder tightened when he started nipping at your skin. Your legs were barely keeping you upright. 

"C-Chotto..R-Renji we have to-" you moaned when he bit into your skin. The sound surprised both of you. He pulled back staring at you and you jumped out of his arms covering your mouth in embarrassment.

He just grinned at you wolfishly. 

"I found a weak spot huh (Y/N)." his teasing tone did nothing to quell the warmth running through your veins. In a flash you were laying with your back on one of the many beds in that room. Renji pinned both of your arms above your head with just one of his hands.

"Let's see what other weak spots I can find." he snickered.

"N-No fair!!" you protested. Wait what were you saying you should have been stopping this, not complaining because you couldn't touch his deliciously sculpted body. 

"S-Stop!" you meant for it to come out threatening, but that was not the case. He leaned in to lock lips again and you stammered. 

"W-Wait-" the door of the room flew open. "(Y/N)-chan have you seen.." Rukia's eyes trailed off when she saw your very compromising position.

Renji started sweating at the change on Rukia's face 

"RENJI! How dare you take advantage of (Y/N)-chan!!" 

She sprinted over delivering a swift kick to his face. His body went right out the window, breaking the glass as he flew into oblivion. You sweatdropped, looking over at the female. "I'm scared to see what her future kids are going to be like. "