The Crash

Part 6

None of us were quite sure what to do, so we finally decided to go with Pansy's idea of going to the clearing so we could feel proactive.

I picked up Hermione bridal-style and she gave a small whimper of pain in response. "Sorry 'Mione." I said softly.

She waved her hand and I lifted the oxygen mask. "Don't ap-apologise for saving...my life." Her voice was weak, but a small smile still shown on her pale face.

We gathered everything we thought we may need from the crash site, even though there really wasn't much, then started off. Pansy took the lead, as she was the only one who really knew where we were going.

When we arrived, I saw that the clearing was small, but large enough that a passing plane or flying carriage could spot us if they looked down. Merlin let them look down!

As my robes were still mostly intact, I pulled them off and laid them on the ground so Hermione would have something to lay on. I was only clad in my T-Shirt and black pants, but that worked for me. I was very hot. Too hot. I was sweating, even though none of the others were.

"Harry, what's on your arm?" Luna asked me, walking forward.

I saw Malfoy look up at us. Luna touched the back of my arm, where it had been burning, and I let out an audible gasp of pain. There was obviously a large gash, from what I can't say, and it felt like it was on fire now.

"Sit down." Malfoy said as he walked over. I shook my head.

"No. I'm fine. It's just a scratch. There's still-"

"Shut your trap Potter and sit down. You're injured and you neglected to tell us and now you owe us, so sit down." I stubbornly sat and Malfoy sat down beside me and started examining my arm.

Pansy went and grabbed the first aid kit then brought it to Malfoy. He looked closely at my arm then started rummaging through the kit. The fact that it was the muggle part made me start to worry.

"How bad is it?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. Malfoy looked up at me and I saw something that you never want to see in your medics' eyes. Pity.

"It's bad. There's an infection. You're lucky though. It didn't go all the way to the bone." I nodded.

"Alright. Then how do we take care of it? You've got a kit full of medicine. You can do it. Right?"

Malfoy sighed. "I-I'm not a healer. I learned a bit from Madam Pomfrey, but I've never gotten real training or anything. I don't-"

"You're still our healer though. You know enough that Hermione's not dead, I'd say that's a damn good amount of knowledge. Far more than I have. Look, my point is, you're all we've got out here so just...do your best. Please." Malfoy's eyes softened.

"I'll do my best. I promise." He gave me a small smile, but it quickly disappeared as he went back to rummaging through the first aid kit.

I swear, if anyone had ever told me that I would one day be civil with Draco Malfoy, I'd say they were barking. But what I said was true. All we had out there was each other, so we couldn't be bickering and we sure as hell couldn't let old vendettas tear us apart. We'd die for sure.

"The infection is pretty bad, so I'll use the leaves to try and draw it out. They're normally used for poison, but I think they do the same with infection. Then I'll put the grey ones on top to keep out further contamination." I nodded and Malfoy set to work.

My arm burned and tears stung my eyes on more than one occasion, but I didn't let any slip through.

My hands were clenched into fists, my fingernails digging into my palms, so I tried to focus on that pain instead.

It felt like flames were being drawn out of my arm and I tried to think about how that was a good thing instead of how much it hurt. Because it hurt like hell.

After a while of doing nothing, Pansy went off in search of a water source for when our bottles ran out. She found a stream about half a mile away and filled some of the bottles back up. We were thirsty and, between the five of us, had downed two.

Malfoy used the stream water to turn the grey leaves into paste and dabbed it on top of the gash on my arm.

I couldn't see it, but I could definitely feel it and was very glad I couldn't see it. It would probably make the pain worse. And make me sick.

Malfoy pulled out a long piece of gauze then wet it with a bit of the blue potion and wrapped it around my arm. The pain was instantly gone. Must be one hell of a potion.

"Let me take a look at the cut on your head. Looks like I have two reasons to call you Scarface now." I rolled my eyes at the old nickname.

Malfoy moved over to me and our faces were just inches from one another. For some reason I felt my heart pick up its pace. It's just because I hurt. I'm just panicked is all. Just panicked.

Malfoy put a bit of the blue potion onto a large bandage, then let it sit while he stitched up my forehead. His hands were surprisingly gentle, but moved with frightening speed.

I grimaced as the needle wove its way in and out of my flesh, but didn't show any other signs that I was in pain.

When he was finished, Malfoy put the bandage over my stitches and the pain immediately went away.

"That way you won't get infection and you won't hurt for a while. At least until the potion wears off, that is." I nodded as Malfoy moved away, wiped off the needle, and put it back in the kit.

"Thank you." I said suddenly. The words just seemed to fly out of my mouth. "For helping me. I know we're not on the best of terms and-"

"Don't worry about it Potter. It's like you said, we're all we've got out here." I nodded as Malfoy picked up the first aid kit and moved over to Pansy. He was now examining her ankle.

We were in a moment of peace, who knew how long it would last, so we wanted to keep up our strength. After all, who knew what waited in the woods after dark.