The Dragon
by Jardyn39
Part Three of "The Apprentice Piece"
Chapter 10: General Hermione
Hagrid shouted, "Look, the forest!" and pointed out over the crowd of gathering people.
Several dragons were flying off out of the forest. They must have been hiding ready to attack. Hagrid looked quite sorry to see them go.
"Cheer up Hagrid, at least they won't have to suffer at the hands of Voldemort any more," said Harry smiling at him.
Hagrid shuddered at the mention of Voldemort but soon recovered.
"Suppose," he said miserably.
At that moment a small dark haired girl hurried through the crowd and headed straight to Harry. He recognised her at once as one of Harbinger's dead sisters.
"It's John, he's badly hurt," she said at once, "he wants to see you."
Harry looked up at Dumbledore who looked grave.
"Please, show us where he is," Harry asked the girl.
Harry and Dumbledore dodged through the crowd and hurried away from the Quidditch pitch. They soon came upon the scene of a battle. Bodies were strewn around the grass at the edge of the followers. Harry noticed they were mostly Death Eaters but at least a third appeared to be Regiment soldiers.
The girl dropped next to the familiar blue robes of Harbinger. He was lying on the ground in obvious pain. He had multiple injuries. The girl looked up with tears in her eyes. As Harry nodded in understanding, she vanished.
Harbinger opened his eyes and saw Harry kneeling next to him with Dumbledore standing over his shoulder.
He grabbed Harry's forearm and gripped tightly.
"Fudge," he said, desperately trying to stay conscious. "It was Fudge. Fudge."
"We have him, John," said Dumbledore gently, kneeling next to Harry.
"They were trying to take hostages. I think we stopped them but there were injuries I think. I'm sorry."
"You did splendidly, John, you have nothing to apologise about. No-one could have done more. I am sorry you didn't see Harry's Apprentice Piece break, though. You helped the wand choose the wizard."
Harbinger had a glazed look to his eyes by now and his body appeared to relax a little although he maintained his fierce grip on Harry's arm. He was taking short panting breaths. Harry looked to Dumbledore again and saw him looking sadly down at his fallen friend.
Suddenly Harbinger gave a stifled cry and Harry heard his arm break. Harry let the pain wash over him and didn't attempt to release his dead teacher's hand from his arm until Professor Flitwick was at their side, crying unreservedly. Harry prised open Harbinger's fingers as gently as possible and released himself.
Dumbledore put a comforting arm around Flitwick's shoulders.
*
It appeared that the Regiment's healers were out attending to casualties and had left just three inexperienced trainee Healers.
Harry had found Ginny with one of them outside the Hospital tent.
"Hermione explained to you what to do. You have to assess each patient and mark them so they can be prioritised. You can't keep wandering off like this. People with serious injuries have to be treated first."
She smiled and rolled her eyes seeing Harry.
"I'm glad you're okay, Harry," she said wiping her forehead with a dirty hand. She was covered in blood, although he was relieved to see it didn't appear to be hers. "Hermione's inside. What's wrong with your arm?"
"It's just broken," he said, defensively moving it away from her.
Ginny waved her wand towards his head and he assumed he now also had a marking.
"Go right in," she said. "Thankfully broken limbs is just about the worst injury we've got left. Mostly burns and cuts."
He thanked her and walked into the tent.
Harry found Hermione barking orders in the Hospital tent. She was instructing people who had volunteered to be porters, telling them that the markings on the casualties told then were and in what priority they were to be dealt in.
He wandered over and quietly propped himself next to a trolley at what appeared to be the end of a queue.
He amused himself for about ten minutes watching Hermione at work. Even the Regiment's Healers, who were now returning to treat waiting patients, quickly fell into line. Eventually, she directed an harassed looking Healer to attend to the group Harry was waiting with.
Hermione almost ran over to him as soon as she saw him. Almost at once her disciplined, unemotional façade slipped away.
"Harry, how long have you been waiting? The Porters should have moved you higher up."
"I'm quite comfortable, Hermione, thanks but I'll wait in line here."
Hermione looked down the line at the waiting patients. They included a number of small children from the camp and she nodded, knowing Harry would refuse to be treated ahead of them."
The Healer got through the list of patients very quickly, confirming Harry's suspicion that the injuries were relatively minor.
"Oh, this is more interesting," he said smiling at Harry. Hermione moved away to assist an elderly patient to a chair.
"Are there many casualties?" asked Harry.
"There were several killed but injuries to survivors are generally minor," said the Healer. "Is that young lady a student at the school?"
"Yes, she's a friend of mine," said Harry smiling. "Her name's Hermione Granger."
"Miss Granger?" said the Healer when he had finished with Harry, his last patient. "My name is Jameson, and I'm the Chief Regiment Healer."
"Oh," said Hermione, "I'm sorry if I was rude to you before."
"Not at all. I'd like to thank you for your help. If you hadn't prioritised our patients there would have been many more casualties. You saved several lives today by enabling them to get treatment in time."
Hermione blushed and smiled.
"It's not easy making people act rationally when everything is in chaos."
"I felt like just panicking myself to be honest," said Hermione. "I just thought if I concentrated on doing something then I'd stop worrying about what else was happening."
The Healer smiled and nodded.
"Well if you or your friend outside ever consider a career in medicine, please contact me. The Regiment sponsors medical students and I'm sure we'd be able to offer you something. I should add, we don't insist that Healer enlist at the end of their training, although several do. We often second our Healers to medical establishments around the world and it can be an attractive career choice. Perhaps you'll think about it?"
Hermione nodded and then smiled as they shook hands.
"If you'll excuse me," he said, "I think I'd better go and rescue my staff from your red headed friend before she court-marshal's them!"
He left the tent and Harry saw that Hermione was giving serious consideration to what he said.
"You'd make a good healer, Hermione," he said smiling, "although I don't quite see you in the army though."
"No?" she replied smiling, "I rather like the sound of General Hermione."
As they exited the tent the smiles left their faces almost at once.
Regiment stretcher bearers were returning. Already there were a few victims laid out before them, their heads and faces covered by a variety of cloths and robes. Hermione clutched Harry's arm and they made their way back to the castle.