the hallows - f. weasley

- c h a p t e r - t w e n t y -

 Gemma spent most of the ride trying not to fall to her death–using the Quidditch-toned muscles in her body to keep herself steady in her spot as the wind whistled around her.

When the dragon finally levelled out–flying far, far away from London and Gringotts, Gemma was finally able to sit up like she was riding a horse rather than fighting for her life on the back of a Kelpie. As she rode on the back of the dragon, she almost felt at peace–watching the sky shift colours after a while. It was like nothing could touch her on the back of the nearly blind creature, who was finally free.

She had actually been dozing when a hand latched on her shoulder. Gemma jerked violently and would have fallen off if the hand hadn't tightened on her jumper. She craned her neck and saw Harry staring at her intently–a glow in his eyes that she recognised as pride and awe.

"Is everything okay?!" She shouted over the wind.

He nodded and called back, "We're losing air! We need to jump once we're close enough to the lake!"

"Lake?!" Gemma looked down and saw the glistening surface of the dark lake below. "Oh, that lake! WE'RE JUMPING INTO THAT?!"

"YOU BASICALLY JUST TAMED A DRAGON, AND YOU'RE SCARED ABOUT JUMPING INTO A LAKE?!"

"...NO!"

"LIAR!"

"SHUT UP!"

He just laughed and said, "WHEN I SAY JUMP, JUMP!"

She bobbed her head–keeping it craned over her shoulder so she could hear, even if it was faint.

It was about ten minutes before she heard Harry faintly shout, "NOW!"

As she tipped over the side, Gemma came to the abrupt realisation that she wasn't actually on a broom and couldn't just catch herself if she panicked.

So she flipped a wildly couple times as she free-fell before she managed to get her bearings and plummeted feet-first, a good bit away from Harry, Hermione, and Ron, into the freezing water. Water rushed up her nose even though she held her breath. When she stopped sinking, Gemma opened her eyes–looking around at the reed-filled water briefly to search for a direction to swim before she swam up to the surface of the lake.

Harry was already swimming to her as she watched the dragon swoop up some water in its mouth before landing on a distant bank for a rest.

Gemma smiled at it before she turned to Harry–treading water and asking, "Everyone okay?"

His skin was still blistered from the jewels and treasure, but he looked mostly okay.

For example, somehow–he still had his glasses after all that.

"We're all okay...we need to get out of the water, though. That was...a mess..."

Even as he said that and the adrenaline faded from her system, Gemma felt fatigue set into her bones, and she nodded, "Yeah, let's get out of here."

The swimming to the opposite shore drained her even more than before. When she dragged herself through the reeds and mud and finally onto the slippery grass, Gemma felt like her lungs were about to explode. Hermione was next to her–coughing and shuddering in her oversized, soaking-wet robes.

"Where's...where's the bag?" Gemma wheezed out–dizzily sitting up.

Hermione just pointed to her boot, and Gemma leaned over and rummaged around until she found a bottle of dittany.

She helped Hermione sit up, dripping the dittany into the Granger girl's hands so she could press the healing serum to the burns over her skin–glancing at Harry, who was placing protective spells around the area. Gemma did the same for Ron, then for Harry, and then herself–waiting until they had finished entirely and got changed into the dry clothes she had scrounged up before passing them a bottle each of pumpkin juice.