Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Three Conditions	By : goldhorse Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 48512 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 9
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the HP universe. JK Rowling does. I just borrow her toys and put them back in reletively decent shape when I'm through. I make no money doing this, which is why I work two jobs.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
“Wake up, sleepy head.”
Hermione groaned and shifted on her pallet. It felt like someone had taken a hatchet to her sinuses. “Time’sit.”
“Time to start Potter’s treatment.”
She bolted up so fast the hut spun. “Ow.”
Malfoy clucked his tongue and handed her a potion vial. “Drink this.”
She took it without question, the soothing minty taste easing the ache almost immediately.
“Better?”
She nodded and eased out of bed. “The potion is ready?”
Malfoy nodded and helped her to stand and dress. She still felt shaky and exhausted, like a rung-out flannel.
“How long have I been out?”
“Eighteen hours,” Malfoy said quietly as he helped her wobble to the loo.
“What?” she screeched, wincing when half the village turned to see what the fuss was about.
“The potion took a lot out of you,” he murmured as they continued on their journey. “Emotions take their toll, especially on pregnant women.”
“The baby!” she gasped.
“He’s fine,” he said quickly. “Nia came and checked you out, said the best thing was for you to sleep it off. So we left you alone.”
She swallowed thickly and nodded, motioning that she was better. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess as she took care of her morning ablutions, a jig-saw of nightmares and questions and unadulterated fear. How was Harry? Did he think she’d abandoned him? Was he even conscious? How well had Nia been able to heal him? She hadn’t even asked about the potion. Had she cried enough? And the worst thought… would it even work?
“Granger, you think any louder and you’ll make my head hurt,” Malfoy said sourly as she fell into step with him.
“I can’t help it. Did it-“
“Let me save you some time,” Malfoy said on a huff. “The potion is perfect. Potter has been sleeping this whole time and Nia has him in the best shape he can be in. We’ve got to start administering the treatment today though because any longer and it wouldn’t be effective. She’s not sure it will be a complete healing as it is.”
She stopped short, pulling him around to face her. “Why not?”
He sighed and ran his hands through his messy hair. “Potter had a piece of a psychopath’s soul squatting in his core since he was a baby. Nia is afraid that his body saw that as cancer from the beginning.”
“How so?”
“His horrid upbringing aside, and yes, I know all about that, he was always sickly looking, even at Hogwarts with proper nutrition and medical care. He ate like he had a tapeworm or something, though with a hundred times the grace of the weasel. And he never seemed to gain a stone. He always had dark circles under his eyes and I guarantee even with all the sneaking about he did, he should have been better rested than that. One could argue that the stress of being the Chosen One could have been weighing on him, but I ask you, would it affect him that badly?”
She bit her lip and thought about it. Harry had always looked a little ragged, even as a gangly eleven-year-old. And diet aside, he ate enough for three people whenever he could. He should have at least gained a little weight back but he never did. Had it been Voldemort the whole time?
“So what does that mean?” she breathed.
“It means that Potter has been suffering the effects of the cancer for far longer than anyone could possibly calculate. The Dark Lord’s magic sustained him, helped his core fight against it. But then he killed that piece and the magic that was valiantly fighting disappeared. Nia figures it threw his body in shock, a stay of execution if you will. But then the cancer had an epiphany I guess and spread like wildfire. That’s why it’s moved so fast. It was so used to resistance that it’s become a super cancer of sorts.”
“So we can’t fix him?” she asked, her voice quivering in fear.
He pulled her into his chest and allowed her to snuggle into him. “I didn’t say that. We’re going to try the original healing method first. Nia feels that even if it isn’t successful, we could slow it down enough to try a second course.”
“But I thought that was impossible. You have to have the healer keep the effects at bay because the potion will cause it to multiply if you don’t get everything.”
He hummed and urged her to walk with him. “I have listened to more magical theory and spiritual beliefs the past few days than I’ve ever cared to learn. But I did pick up one thing. You have the one advantage that Snape didn’t have during his first healing. The one thing that Potter’s had going for him his entire life. Care to take a stab at what it is?”
“Love,” she said hoarsely.
“Exactly,” Malfoy said quietly.
“You love Potter so much that you blew me off, pulled every string you could possibly think of, and moved to Africa on a ghost of a chance that you could save him. If that’s not enough to throw the cancer off, I’m not sure anything is.”
“It’s an awfully large gamble, isn’t it?” she mumbled into his side.
“I thought you were in Gryffindor.”
She snorted and shook her head. “Doesn’t always feel that way.”
“You’ve got to have hope, Granger. That was the only thing that got me through the war.”
She nodded and straightened back out. Malfoy was right. Harry only had one shot. She’d be damned if she sat on the side lines paralyzed with fear. Harry needed support, now more than ever. She hadn’t abandoned him before, she wouldn’t do so now. She’d stay with him to the bitter end. She just hoped it wouldn’t be the end.
X
“Hey Hermione!”
Hermione grinned and hurried over to Harry, enveloping him in as tight a hug as she felt he could manage. “How are you?”
“Better than I’ve been in a while,” Harry admitted, scooting to lie his head on her swollen stomach. “Nia works wonders.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” she said softly and stroked his unruly hair. She wondered now if her son couldn’t ease Harry’s mind through the womb. He seemed at peace when he was laying on her. “Your treatment starts today.”
Harry nodded. “I was wondering if you’d ever show up again.”
She sighed. “Sorry. I was working on the potion.”
“I was hoping that was all it was.”
She sniffed. “What else would happen?”
“Well, you could have run off with your new husband.”
“Oh you,” she huffed and lightly tapped his shoulder when he grinned up at her. “You know better than that.”
“I don’t know,” Harry said mischievously. “That ferret managed to surprise me once.”
She rolled her eyes and urged him up. “Come on. Up with you. Nia said we’ll have to go to a different healing hut to administer the treatment.”
Harry frowned and slowly worked himself out of bed. She could tell he was as weak as a kitten but he looked much better than he had when they’d arrived. She couldn’t even remember how long they had been at the village, too many naps and late night brewing. But it didn’t matter now. They were so close.
“She say why I have to move?”
She snapped out of her musings and cleared her throat uncomfortably. “The, uh, the walls are reinforced with silencing and magic dampening spells.”
He frowned. “She figures I’m going to scream.”
She shrugged. “Everyone is different.”
“Yeah,” Harry said sadly. “Watch me be the one she can’t heal.”
She almost swallowed her tongue but managed a nervous laugh. “You’ve cheated death twice now. The third time has got to be a charm, right?”
He chuckled and accepted her shoulder as he shuffled out of the hut. “Why not?”
“Ah, the guest of honor has decided to grace us with his presence,” Malfoy drawled as Harry and Hermione hobbled in the healing hut.
Harry snorted. “Still a git I see.”
Malfoy sniffed. “Thought you’d given up the goose, Potter.”
“Nah,” Harry huffed as he painfully lowered himself on the cot. “I’m stubborn like that.”
“Gryffindor.”
“Slytherin.”
“Why yes,” Malfoy drawled with a Cheshire grin. “I did. Your wife is great in the sack, Potter.”
Harry practically turned green. “Could have gone a century without hearing that.”
“Look at you two,” Hermione scolded. “Carrying on like school children.”
“He’ll need that pluck.”
All three occupants turned to see Snape and Nia walk in the door together. Harry collapsed against the straw.
“I’m dead,” Harry whispered, shaking like a leaf.
“Not quite,” Snape drawled as he glided over and gracefully lowered himself in a nearby chair. “It seems you aren’t the only one with a talent for eluding death.”
Harry grimaced and shook his head. “I don’t understand. I saw you die. I… I held you. You… you quit breathing.”
Snape nodded and began taken vials of potions out of a bag. “Not everything is as it seems. But that is neither here nor there. We’re here to finish this.”
“Yes,” Nia broke in before Harry could speak anymore. “Now, we have discussed your condition for a very long time, Harry. We will have to alter the administration of the potion. It will be twice as painful and twice as long.”
“Twice as long?” Hermione broke in.
Nia nodded and began laying her hands on Harry, checking his health with her magic.
Snape cleared his throat and began arranging several bottles of the potion in order. “No doubt Draco told you of our discovery?”
She nodded. “But-“
Snape cut her off with a glare. “Ms. Granger, what did we discuss about the theory of healing and time.”
She frowned. “The time is what matters as duration effects the healing.”
“Precisely. As Potter has more than likely suffered longer than we had originally suspected, we’ll need to alter his dosing regimen. Nia tells me that she was able to heal a great deal of damage done by the cancer. However, it does regenerate quickly. The original dosing method calls for 5 doses 24 hours apart with extensive healing in between. This stuns the cancer, enabling one to heal the body. However, Potter’s cancer was already stunned once. It will most likely react the same way.”
“With a vengeance,” Hermione said softly.
“Quite so,” Snape said quietly. “Therefore, we will try to kill it subtly, pushing it back bit by bit until we hit the last piece hard enough to eradicate it.”
“How will the new dosing work?” Hermione asked, torn between worry for her friend and fascination at the magical healing theories.
“The first four doses will be split in fourths given every twelve hours. This will allow a steady dose of the potion to essentially push the cancer back. Any damage will then be healed by Nia. We hope that this method will cause less trauma to Potter’s other organs. Think of it as a sneak attack. Theoretically, the cells will shrink and be removed by the body and through Nia’s magic with minimal scarring and Potter’s body none the wiser.”
“And the fifth dose?” Hermione whispered.
Snape took a deep breath and sighed. “The cancer should shrink enough that the one dose will kill it.”
“And if it doesn’t?” she breathed.
“Then we try another course at the regular dosing, though we’d need to start on the base immediately.”
“And then?” she asked, dreading the answer.
“There is a radical alternative,” Snape said gravely as he looked anywhere but her. “You and Draco will need to discuss that privately.”
“No,” Harry growled, struggling against Nia to sit up. “If she’s got to go have a private discussion, then no. I won’t risk anyone else. Not ever again.” Harry wheezed in pain as he pulled himself up. “I can’t let anyone else sacrifice themselves for me. I’ve already allowed too much.”
“Harry,” Hermione said firmly as she pushed him back down on the cot. “This was entirely my choice. You were content to spend your last days in England. I was not. No one can sacrifice themselves without the one thing you can’t control.”
Harry frowned. “And what is that?”
She smiled. “Free will. I love you, Harry. I truly do. But only I get to choose what I sacrifice. And if it’s my time, my blood, sweat, and tears, or making a deal with the devil himself, I’ll choose it for myself thank you very much.”
“But-“
“I’d leave this one alone, Potter,” Malfoy drawled as Snape physically restrained Harry to the cot. “You know how she is.”
Harry huffed and went limp. “Yeah. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“You let me worry about that,” Hermione said grimly. “For now… let’s get started.
X
Hermione shook as she walked back to her hut. The first dose had been awful. It hit quickly and soon Harry was doubled over emptying the contents of his stomach every few minutes. Then there were the chills, hot flashes, and the bone pain. After the first hour, he looked like he’d had his life sucked out by a dementor. Nia dutifully kept her hands on him, healing what she could and changing out cold and hot compresses on his forehead and adding and removing blankets as needed. Snape quietly scourgified the sick bucket and administered potions to treat the symptoms of the treatments. All Hermione could do was hold Harry’s hand, watch stoically, and whisper encouragement as Harry literally had his insides twisted around. He’d passed out 4 hours in and Nia assured her that he’d sleep for at least 4 hours more.
“You alright?” Malfoy asked as she sunk down into a pile of blankets, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She shook her head. No, she wasn’t alright, not mentally or emotionally anyway. Physically, she was exhausted, stiff from staying still for an extended period of time, and starving because she refused to eat in front of a man who couldn’t seem to hold water down. She couldn’t imagine another 9 days of this. How was Harry going to make it?
Malfoy sighed and picked her up and sat down in the blanket pile pulling her into his lap. She nuzzled into the crook of his neck and cried until she had nothing left. It was a different sort of cry than the one she’d had over the potion cauldron. It was cathartic, the ability to just release the grief without tormenting images or the fear that if she didn’t live in the sorrow, the potion wouldn’t work.
“Better?” Malfoy said after she’d gone silent for a while.
She nodded and cleaned his shirt. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” he said brushing her hair out of her face and wiping the last of her tears. “What are husbands for?”
She snorted and shook her head as his pluck. “Well, thanks for that. I don’t suppose my doting husband has anything to eat?”
Malfoy grinned and pulled out an apple and a pita bread. “Anything else?”
She took the food and frowned. “What radical alternative was Snape talking about?”
Malfoy’s face fell and he put her on the blanket beside him so he could get up and pace. She’d seen the nervous habit a few times, though he did try to curb it in public. If he moved he could think better. She herself had employed the tactic in the past. Movement focused the brain. But she did dread what was about to come out of his mouth.
“There are three things we could try,” he said, smirking when she snorted because there always seemed to be three. “The first is a second course of the potion. It could work but I’m not sure you’re going to be able to last another brewing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she spat.
Malfoy sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “Granger, the amount of stress you’ve already put on yourself and our son is bordering on dangerous. I gave him so much magic the other night that I nearly passed out with you. He’s strong, Granger, so strong and getting more so every day. It’s a miracle you’ve been sustaining him this entire time by yourself… and seeing the way Potter reacts, I’m not so sure he hasn’t been sustaining our son as well. Another brewing could very well cause permanent damage to you and our son.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t!” he spat and took a few cleansing breaths. “Granger, I know you haven’t done much research in the way of single pregnant witches but there is a reason that being single while pregnant is highly discouraged. Single witches have the greatest risk of not only miscarriage and squib births, but they can lose their magic all together. You could very well be a muggle after this birth if you attempt another brewing.”
“But I don’t use any magic!” she protested.
He snorted. “The fact that you aren’t getting it should clue you in. You’d have no trouble picking up on this before now.”
“What does that even mean?” she screeched.
“Merlin, Granger. Every potion ingredient has some sort of magical property, even muggle ingredients. What does that say for the ones that you’ve given?”
Her jaw dropped open, causing apple to dribble out before she came back to herself. Of course. The pregnancy changed her magic. Blood, sweat, and tears from just anyone wouldn’t do. A small part of her magic leached from her core into those ingredients. She cursed her stupidity and threw the apple core out the door in a rage.
“I take it you’ve come to your senses?” Malfoy asked tersely.
She sniffed. “Fine. We can’t brew a second batch… unless you know of any other pregnant witches around.”
“Not ones with ties to Potter,” he murmured.
“So the other two options then?”
“The first…” he shook his head and plopped down, grabbing her hand where she’d sliced it for the potion. “It’s a bastardized version of the magic that saved Potter as a baby, the protection of love. It saved him from death many, many times and most likely has been fighting this curse since the beginning.”
“How does that work with Voldemort’s magic?” she asked, noticing his flinch at the name.
He shrugged. “Near as those two can figure, the opposing forces kept the cancer confused, unable to advance.”
“And how could the love protection work now? There is no opposing force.”
“And there’s the rub,” Malfoy said sadly. “Unless you know of a true enemy of Potter, it might not work to contain the cancer. It’s a dark spell though, so it could balance it… but even then…”
“It’s just containment,” she said quietly.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “He’d remain in a sort of stasis, unable to heal, unable to die from it. It might buy some time for research but there is no guarantee how long that would be.”
“That’s a horrible way to live, always wondering.” She cleared her throat from the sudden knot. “So what is the third option?”
“There is a particular type of magic that has been known to have supremely effective healing powers. It’s little known, frowned upon, and could be considered light or dark depending on its intentions.”
“What’s that?”
“Sex magic.”
AN: MERRY HAPPY CHRISTMAHAUNAKWANZAKA SOLSTICE HOLIDAYS!!
Did I get everyone? Please accept this wonderfully awful cliffhanger as a token of appreciation for sticking with me. I had some actual down time so I banged this one out for you guys. It's mostly edited but I can't guarantee my grasp on the English language at any given time. I hope to have the next one out much sooner. As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed. They are more addicting than chocolate and much less fattening! Keep them coming and let me know how I'm doing. I still feel a little rusty. Until next time... love you guys!
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Three Conditions