Title: A Job with Benefits
Author: woldy
Inspired By: Every Job has its Perks by leela_cat
Pairing: Hooch/Pomfrey
Rating: R
Content/Warnings: medical kink, & some touching while unconscious
Word Count: ~1050 words
Summary: Xio had heard people liken sexual attraction to being hit by a Bludger, but she'd previously dismissed it as rhetorical excess.
Author's Notes: A prequel to leela_cat's story, written for daily_deviant's fourth birthday. Thanks to mindabbles for the beta :-)



Often the significance of an event doesn't become clear until long after it happens. Later, Xio put together the fact that a knee can be damaged by nine pounds of lateral pressure with the knowledge that a professional Quidditch Bludger exerts up to hundred pounds of force. In the moment, she was only aware of the Quaffle in her hand, the opposing players, and the three goal hoops ahead of her.

Xio didn't see the Bludger until it smashed into her left knee, narrowly missing the pad, and her kneecap dislocated with a sickening jolt. The shock and pain left her breathless, and Xio wobbled dangerously, thrown off balance by the inability to grip her legs around the broomstick. She dropped the Quaffle as the broom lurched sideways and grabbed the handle with both hands, fighting to stay upright long enough to reach the ground. When the broom touched down, Xio toppled off it onto the grass. The pain of her knee smacking into the earth was enough to make her pass out.

Xio came around to the sound of cheering fans and brooms whooshing overhead, and excruciating pain in her leg. She could feel the damp ground against her back. Beneath the smell of mud and sweat Xio caught a faint scent of starch and disinfectant. She opened her eyes, and found herself lying at the side of the pitch with a beautiful woman bending over her.

Xio had heard people liken sexual attraction to being hit by a Bludger, but she'd previously dismissed it as rhetorical excess. Now with endorphins surging through her blood, her head spinning, and a strange woman's hands moving over her thigh, the comparison seemed more apt.

The woman's hair was pinned back severely and she wore the uniform of a Healer: red cloak, starched white dress, a red sash across her chest. The only skin revealed was the woman's neck and hands, but somehow the effect was sexier than a locker room full of naked girls. Like all professional players Xio did her best to avoid injuries, but it was almost worth the pain to wake up to this.

Xio shifted sideways to see the woman's face, and the movement sent pain stabbing through her leg, making her gasp.

The Healer looked up, revealing warm brown eyes and rosy cheeks, but her tone was brisk and clinical. "How do you feel?"

Xio stifled her instinctive answer, which contained enough expletives to turn the air blue. "I've been better."

The woman waved her wand over Xio's knee, murmuring some kind of diagnostic charm. She frowned at the result.

"Can you fix this?" Xio asked.

"Not on the pitch. I'll make you a bit more comfortable and then transfer you to St Mungos."

"If there's any way to get me back on the broom --"

"If you get on a broomstick in this state, you'll fall straight back off and do even more damage," she said curtly, giving a disapproving sniff. "I don't know what they tell you Quidditch players, but there is nothing admirable about recklessly endangering oneself. Now, does that feel better?"

The pain in Xio's knee eased slightly as the woman flicked her wand, and Xio nodded.

"Good. Grasp my arm, please."

Xio felt herself float into the air as if suspended on an invisible stretcher. She reached out to grip the woman's wrist. She just had time to register the warm line of skin beside the starched cuff before they spun into darkness, and then they appeared in St Mungo's with a crack.

"Madam Pomfrey, bringing a player injured in the Wasps game," the woman reported to the Welcome Witch.

"Wait here and I'll send someone down from Artifact Accidents," said the Welcome Witch in a bored voice.

Pomfrey Xio repeated to herself, committing the name to memory. Madam Pomfrey.

"You should be fine now," Madam Pomfrey said, looking down at her. Xio stared back. This witch was like something out of Kipling, she thought distantly, the kind of person who'd built an empire on calm practicality and stiff upper lips. What might she be like underneath that surface?

"I will be requiring my wrist, I'm afraid," Madam Pomfrey said dryly, and it took Xio a moment to register that she was still holding her wrist. She released it quickly, blushing, and Madam Pomfrey's lips twitched into the hint of a smile.

A Mediwizard approached them, his wand raised.

"Thank you for your help, Madam Pomfrey," Xio said quickly.

Just before the Mediwizard reached them, Xio heard the murmured reply, "Any time."

----------------------

All these years later, Poppy still smelled faintly of starch and soap, and the sheets on her bed were crisp and white, with perfectly symmetrical hospital corners. Sunlight streamed through the gap in the bed curtains and fell across Xio's pillow.

"Do you ever think back to the day we met?" Xio asked, and Poppy made the low, sleepy sound of one unwilling to be woken.

Poppy's naked body was warm and soft, her arse nestled against Xio's belly. Xio kissed the downy skin at the back of Poppy's neck, and curled an arm around her.

"I thought your bossiness was terribly sexy," Xio teased. "Little did I know, you're secretly a lay-abed. Come on, I thought you wanted to be up in time for breakfast in the hall."

Poppy groaned, tugging the blanket more firmly around herself. Xio decided that it was time to escalate her tactics.

"There might be patients waiting for you," she said, sliding a hand down Poppy's stomach, over the wiry curls to find the heat between her thighs. "This is a reckless abdication of your responsibility to the students."

Xio curled her fingers upwards, tracing over the sensitive skin and lips, before stroking one finger gently over the furl of Poppy's clitoris. Poppy stirred in her arms and let out a contented "Hmmmn".

"The Quidditch game starts in less than two hours," Xio said, repeating the motion, and Poppy arched lazily back towards her, legs shifting apart in silent invitation.

Xio pressed a kiss beneath Poppy's ear and murmured, "What will the children do if you're not there to bandage them up and kiss the bruises better?"

Poppy opened her eyes and turned her head towards the kiss, nuzzling sleepily at Xio's cheek. "The children will just have to wait."