Auribus Teneo Lupum *Dramione*

Chapter Five

Hermione had fallen asleep on the couch by the time Draco emerged from the fireplace, sleeves rolled up and blood splattered on his front. Normally his robes would have kept his shirt clean, but he had discarded them hours ago when they kept preventing him from healing the way he needed to.

It had been a blood bath, something he had only read about and been told during his many classes. A total of fifteen people had been brought into St. Mungo's and they had lost three - two of which were aurors. Apparently they had been serving a warrant for an escaped Death Eater - not one who had escaped prison, but one who had evaded it all together - when an intense battle had broken out. Why they only sent four aurors he had no idea, but it had been stupid and had cost two of them their lives.

The Death Eater, one he vaguely remembered seeing during the war, had been captured along with three accomplices. The accomplices had suffered major injuries and he was pretty sure it was some of their blood that had been splatted all over his front. It had been hard; fighting to save someone who he believed deep down deserved to die. He had glimpsed a faded black mark on one of the men's arms and he knew he had been part of the dark, which in turn made he pause before squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself to begin healing.

It had taken more than five hours to get everyone stable - and that was with every available personnel called in to help. One of the older healers had said it had been this way a lot during the war, something that had made the man remove his glasses and rub at his temples.

Draco couldn't imagine how hard that must have been, plus wondering when the wrong person would come in and start yelling curses - which had happened. It had resulted in the death of four nurses and one healer and he couldn't even begin to think about how he would react in such a situation.

Once he had stepped out of the fireplace he zeroed in on the woman laying on the couch. It was the first time he had gotten off work and come home to someone and he found it to be a novel experience. Somehow simply seeing another human sharing the same space as he did made the trials of the night start to seep from his bones, making him very aware of how tired he really was.

He tossed his robes on one of the chairs by the fireplace and tugged at his tie. He wished he had taken it off before leaving, but now he looked down in disgust as he saw there was some sort of bodily fluid on it. Typically that sort of thing didn't bother him, but this was one of his good ties.

Sighing he made his way over to the sleeping female. Her hair was sprayed all around her and the glow from the candles turned the spiral curls into a glowing halo. She wasn't what you would consider a standard beauty, but you'd have to be blind to not find Hermione Granger attractive. Why Ron would choose a bimbo like Lavender over her he didn't know, though he counted it as a win for himself.

Deciding to clean up before trying to wake the sleeping woman he made his way down the hall and up the stairs to his room. His bed called his name, though he ignored it in favor of being clean.

There was one thing Draco Malfoy couldn't stand, and that was being dirty.

He glanced at the old clock that hung on his wall and groaned when he saw that it was two in the morning. He had another shift at the hospital that began in less than twelve hours, and he raked a hand through his hair in frustration.

Pulling off his shirt he tugged off his pants and shoes, raising his arms overhead and stretching his back once he was down to his boxers. Part of him just wanted to put some pajamas on and go to bed, but he also wanted to clean off all the blood that had splattered on his arms and he knew that the sink wouldn't do a good enough job.

So that meant it was time for a bath.

Downstairs Hermione opened her eyes once she knew Draco had gone upstairs. She had wanted to see what he looked like, coming home from an emergency, but she found that she really didn't know what to say to him.