Fight or Flight {g. weasley}

afterimage of death

Year Five

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"Gather 'round class!" Hagrid called, quieting his fifth-year students, "Now today, we are going to be learning about thestrals, but the school's herd lives deep in the forest, so we'll be doing a bit of walking. Follow me!"

Ramona groaned. She'd already walked all the way down to Hagrid's hut, and her hip was killing her, and now she'd have to walk even farther, and through the forest on crutches nonetheless.

"How are you doing, Mo?" George inquired, sneaking up behind her.

"Yeah, just dandy," She replied sarcastically. They were near the back of the group, Ramona trailing behind as she limped on her crutches.

"How can I help?" George asked eagerly.

"Can you carry my bag?"

George smiled wide and removed the bag from her shoulder, placing it on his own.

It had only been a few days since Ramona's Quidditch accident. The potions Madam Pomfrey gave her had sped along her healing process, and the wound on her head had closed up nicely, her headaches disappearing along with it. However, bones took longer to heal. Her leg now allowed her to put weight on it, but it would still be a few weeks before she walked around without crutches.

Usually, she would never allow others to fuss over her like this, but after only a day of hobbling around the castle, she finally let her friends help her out.

Fred and Lee provided Ramona with endless amounts of comedic relief. Multiple pranks had been enacted in her honor, all against the Slytherin third-years responsible for the fake dementor stunt at the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match.

Nothing cheers a person up quite like seeing Draco Malfoy with bright red hair.

Roger and Lissa had hit the spellbooks, finding as many charms as possible to aid in Ramona's recovery. A modified cushioning charm had been used on her shoe to help with hip pain. As well, her friends had started levitating Ramona up the stairs in the Ravenclaw tower, so she didn't have to walk all the way up the long spiral staircase to her dormitory.

Ramona suspected that George thoroughly enjoyed taking care of her. He got so excited every time she needed his help. George spent every second of the day by her side, there to help at the slightest wince of pain. He was treating her as if she would break any second, and as much as that annoyed Ramona, she knew that it was coming from a place of love.

"What about....a piggyback ride?" he cooed.

Ramona shoved him playfully, "I can still walk idiot, just....slowly,"

The class stopped in an empty clearing, the students looking around with confused looks on their faces.

"Ta-da!" Hagrid explained, "Thestrals. Aren't they beautiful?"

"Merlin," George whispered, "Old Hagrid's finally lost his mind! There's nothing here!"

But George looked at the rest of the class, and out of the sea of confused students, noticed a few stepping forward, their hands extended to touch nothing but air.

And Ramona was among them.

She'd dropped her crutches, and slowly limped her way to the center of the clearing. Her hand was reaching up and brushing through nothing, as if she was miming. 

George approached her carefully, "Mo, what are you doing?"

Hagrid continued lecturing, "Now thestrals are very rare creatures, but we're very fortunate that Hogwarts has such a large herd. You'll see, they're gentle as can be, but you still want to be care-"