the hallows - f. weasley

- c h a p t e r - n i n e -

 "GEMMA!"

She sucked in a deep breath–the voice so stark and horrified it seemed to have woken her from whatever stupor she had been in.

Only for her to nearly scream. But she hardly had enough air in her lungs to do so as she stared down at the ground that was a good sixty feet below her.

What the bloody hell?!

Everything aching, Gemma tried to push herself up on the tree limbs that cradled her–only to hiss and grab at her wrist where the Horcrux's chain was wrapped around.

"Shit..." She growled–staring down at it as the pain settled.

The Horcrux was fine–her hand was not.

Once she felt like she had enough air to actually breathe and function, Gemma shouted, "HARRY!!! HERMIONE?! RON?!"

"GEMMA?!" Harry's voice echoed back–sounding relieved and anxious. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"OVER HERE!"

Gemma had very slowly and carefully started making her way down the tree she had somehow landed in, trying not to jostle her injured hand and trying to make sense of what had happened.

When she touched the ground below and knew her legs wouldn't give out, she started to run, calling, "HARRY!!!"

She hadn't even gone twenty feet when she literally ran into him.

He caught her before she fell–wrapping her in a tight hug before placing his hands on her shoulders–looking her up and down, "Are you alright?"

"Uh...not entirely," Gemma answered truthfully–her eyes watering from her arm being jostled. "I think I got Splinched. But I'm not dead, at least. What happened?"

"I dunno. I left to find you before Hermione could explain," Harry took her hand–glancing at the Horcrux briefly–before he examined the injury. "It's not as bad as Ron..."

"Ron?!" Gemma demanded–horror creeping up her spine as she stared up at Harry with enormous eyes. "Has something happened to Ron?"

"He got Splinched–it's not great. Hermione's taking care of him right now."

Gemma's head spun, and she started running in the direction Harry had come from.

"Hermione?! Ron!?" She called–her breaths coming in short bursts. She found the Granger girl kneeling beside a slightly unconscious Ron, her hands covered in his now-dried blood. Gemma dropped beside Hermione, taking in Ron's injuries as he slept, "That's gonna take a while to heal..."

Hermione flinched–as if just now realising she had arrived.

But she didn't reply to what she had said about Ron–instead, she choked out, "Gemma, you're bleeding too."

Gemma hadn't noticed it was bleeding until Hermione's light fingers wrapped around her wrist and came away with fresh blood.

She gritted her teeth as she recognised that this was the same hand that had gotten hit with the Sectumsempra curse last year. She already knew it would scar worse than before as Hermione's shaking hands grabbed a bottle from her right.

"I'm fine," Gemma told her–angry with herself for getting hurt, even though she wasn't sure what had even happened.

"No, you're not," Hermione shot back–her voice shaking with tears as she opened the phial of Essence of Dittany. "It's gonna sting."

Gemma swallowed a shriek as the liquid hit her palm, and it felt like someone was stabbing her hand over and over again.

She waited until the wounds shut before letting out a calming breath and muttering, "Thanks."