The Crash

Part 3

When I woke up, I found myself looking up into grey sky. I tried to move, but my entire body ached. I felt blood dribbling down the side of my face and a burning pain in my arm.

I slowly sat up, grimacing at the throbbing pain in my head. I gingerly lifted a hand and felt a large cut on my forehead. I pulled down my sleeve and wiped away the blood, but more replaced it in seconds.

Slowly staggering to my feet, I looked around. I was in the woods, the wreckage of the golden carriage around me.

A door was a few feet to my left, half of one of the benches about a yard in front of me. The carriage itself was no where to be seen.

I started walking, nearly crying out as each step sent a wave of pain through my body.

What happened? We were in the carriage. We were in the carriage on the way to Illvermorny, then there was a bright green light and we were falling. But why? How? How did this happen?

"Hermione?" My voice was hoarse and croaky. "Hermione!" I called again, this time with a bit more strength.

I heard a shout in response and my hopes soared, but plummeted once again when I realized it wasn't Hermione. It sounded like Pansy.

I looked to my right and saw her stumbling out from the trees. She looked fairly unharmed, but by the way she was limping, I knew something was wrong with her leg.

"What...What happened?" I stammered as she neared.

"We...We were in a crash. The car...carriage crashed. Where is Hermione? She was sucked out the side when the door flew off, and I can't find her." I felt my stomach drop. Oh Merlin not Hermione. Please not Hermione.

"Where are you going?" Pansy demanded when I started walking forward.

"There are others. We won't find them by just standing still." 

I heard Pansy grunt as she started after me.

"Do you have your wand?" I asked.

"Mine broke into pieces. It was crushed under a rock. Do you have yours?"

I felt my robes, but didn't find it. I stopped and looked back to where I had been laying, but it wasn't in the dirt.

"I...I can't see it. I don't know." I wiped the blood off of my forehead again and started forward once more.

Pansy and I walked for a while, limping in her case, until I saw a shimmer of gold and picked up the pace.

"Hermione! Luna!" I called. 

"Draco!" Pansy yelled. Her cries echoed all around the woods, but got no reply.

I kept walking towards the gold, but saw that it was only the other carriage door. I looked around and saw several pieces of glass scattered around it.

"Potter. Look." I turned around and saw that Pansy was looking at something on the ground. I knelt down and saw that it was a footprint. There was a trail of them, leading off into the bushes.

"Well come on," I grumbled, then started following them. 

Pansy huffed, but she followed.

The slope was downhill, and it was all I could do not to fall. I imagined it was much harder for Pansy with her bad leg.

I saw something shimmering up ahead and breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was the carriage. That had to mean the others were close, right?

"Luna! Hermione!" I yelled. 

"Draco!" Pansy shouted.

"Harry!" I recognized Hermione's voice, but didn't see her. It sounded faint, and I was immediately filled with dread.

I stumbled forward and looked around, but didn't see her in the trees. The carriage was on its side, and only one of the thestrals was there. It was dead. The other one wasn't anywhere nearby. It must have flown away. Along with my hope to get out of here.

"Hermione?" I called, looking around.

"Over here, Harry!"

"Luna! You're okay!"

I stumbled around the carriage, but my heart stopped at the scene in front of me.

Luna was kneeling in front of the carriage next to Hermione. Hermione was trapped under the carriage and had a trail of blood dribbling from her mouth. I immediately dropped to my knees and took her hand.

"Hermione! It's okay. It'll be okay. We can lift the carriage. Then you'll be fine. I promise. Do you-do you have your wand?" 

She shook her head in the small gap between the ground and the side of the carriage.

I could see pieces of glass surrounding her and understood where all of the cuts on her face and tears in her robes came from.

"It...It's gone. It...b-broke." Her breaths were coming in sharp gasps, and I was starting to panic. Every time she spoke, more blood dribbled from her mouth.

"Luna?" I asked. "Do you have your wand?" 

She shook her head. "I left mine in my trunk, but my trunk isn't there anymore. None of ours are. They must have fallen out."

I looked behind me and saw that Pansy was staring with wide eyes, her face drained of color.

"Pans...Pansy," Hermione gasped. Pansy held out a hand, and I helped her down to the ground. I figured she twisted her ankle.

"It's okay. You'll be okay," Pansy said, her voice high. I wondered when they had become so close. They didn't spend much time together at school, but when they did, they were strangely kind to one another.

I stood, then pulled both Luna and Pansy to their feet. "Okay. So, we've got to lift the carriage. Just a little bit. Then we can get Hermione out."

Pansy shook her head. "We can't. Not enough to get her out. If Draco were here, he could—" Malfoy! I had completely forgotten about him!

"Okay. Pansy, Luna, go look for Malfoy. He can help. He has to be close by. We were right next to each other in the carriage."

"And Hermione and I were next to one another and look how far apart we were," Pansy stated. Her voice didn't sound mean, though. Just tired and full of worry.

"Still. You two look for him, I'll stay with Hermione." Luna nodded, then she gently took Pansy's arm and started leading her away.

I grabbed a large stick and handed it to Pansy. "Here. For balance." I thought I saw a small smile turn up her lips, but she turned around before I could be certain.

I knelt down next to Hermione and took her hand again. "You'll be fine, 'Mione. We'll get you out of there." 

She nodded, choosing to believe me. I just hoped I wouldn't crush that belief like the carriage was crushing her.