Descent

Only a quarter of an hour before, Harry growled out in frustration as he followed Ron into an empty classroom on the third floor. "What is your problem?"

To say Ron had been avoiding Harry would be a lie. Of course, Ron probably thought he was avoiding him, but all he did was follow him around and give him silent, angry looks. He refused to talk to him, refused to be in the room alone with him, and made snide comments about Harry in front of him whenever he could.

When Ron had been separated from Dean and Seamus after Defense, Harry saw his opportunity. Following him, he waited until they were completely alone in the hall before confronting him. "Is this about Lavender? Are you having some sort of second thoughts?"

"No!" Ron turned towards Harry then, his face clouded with anger. "No. I'm glad I broke up with her. She's been following me around all week, giving me these insane looks like she's going to push me down a flight of stairs any moment. I'm talking about you and Hermione. Spending a lot of time lately, hm?"

"What?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Me and Hermione? What are you talking about? We always hang out."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah. You, me, and her always hang out. But every time I see you now, you and Hermione are off in a corner talking. About what?"

"None of your business!" Harry threw his hands up in the air, a breathless laugh escaping him. "You haven't been around. As soon as you and Lavender got together, you spent all your time snogging in corners and that left Hermione and I by ourselves. Yes, we're talking. Yes, she's needed some extra time with some things she's going through, but if she doesn't tell you, it's really none of your business."

"We're best friends. You're supposed to tell me everything!" Ron's volume grew and grew. "You and Hermione tell me everything! But lately, you've been secretive. Not just about Hermione, but about everything! It's like you're shutting me out on purpose."

"It's just complicated." Harry said quietly now, rubbing the back of his neck. "It has nothing to do with you. It's just things that I need to handle on my own."

"Everything's complicated with you lately." Ron grumbled lowly. "It always has been. Hermione and I have been with you every step of the way so far. Why should be shut out now."

Harry sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair nervously. "I try to keep you involved. You and Hermione. But you know it's difficult, especially when the things I know are things that Dumbledore has told me. Once I know everything I need to know, of course I'll include you…if I can…"

"And what ABOUT Hermione, Harry?" Ron asked, his hand curling around his the wand in his sleeve. "Are you and her together? Are you going behind my back to be with her? You know how I feel about her!"

Harry let out a loud laugh then. "Do I? You rant and rave about her and you're jealous every minute, but you never tell her! She's confused and she's hurt and you don't even care. Do you want her to be with me or someone else? Do you want Hermione to just walk away from the option of you and her forever? Because that's what you're doing."

"That's NOT what I meant to do and you know it!" Ron exclaimed, his wand hand flying towards Harry in a frustrated gesture. Red sparks flew out towards Harry and Ron's eyes widened.

"Hey! Watch it-" Harry started to say as he stumbled backwards. But as his foot hit the ledge of the open window, his own eyes opened twice as wide as Ron's. The ice on the sill caused him to lose his footing almost immediately, tipping him backwards

Wordlessly, Ron gave a desperate swing of his hand, trying to grab onto the front of Harry's shirt. "HARRY!" He shouted as the boy disappeared over the ledge. He lurched forward, but it was too late. Once he looked over the edge, Harry was already falling towards the ground. "NO! HARRY!"

Harry closed his eyes as his back just barely missed hitting the sill, topping him over the edge. As he began to plummet from the second story towards the courtyard, he wondered why his life wasn't flashing before his eyes. Why he didn't see the years living with the Dursleys, or his first years at Hogwarts. All he saw was Sirius's face. The first time he had seen him in the Shrieking Shack, when he had seen him in the alley his fourth year, when he had seen him at Christmas his fifth, and when he had seen him that summer after both were free. It was all he could see. Sirius's relieved, smiling face.

After what seemed like hours, but was less than a minute, he could feel the wind pick up around him and the signs that he was able to hit the grass fill his senses. He felt his stomach reach the ground before him, and he opened his eyes wide to watch the clouds. Somewhere, Hermione had read that it was important, the last thing you saw before you died.

He could just barely hear people shouting around him, but mostly just the sound of rushing wind filled his ears. Before he could even process how he was going to get out of this situation this time, his back hit the ground and all was black.

In no time, Ron was running from the room and down the stairs towards the grounds. With the changing staircases, he found himself tripping over himself and shouting out to people to get help. When he finally reached the front doors, he had alarmed nearly everyone in the castle.

Remus lead the way through panicked students. "What is going on?" He shouted this over the heads of the talking students, but Sirius just pushed at his back to move him forward. They followed the crowd out onto the front lawn and Remus was barely able to breathe before Sirius took off towards the courtyards. "Sirius! Where are you going?"

"Look. Look at them!" Sirius shouted. As Remus rushed to catch up to him, he could see where Sirius was pointing. A very large crowd of students had now gathered in a circle in the courtyard, presumably around something or someone in the middle. When he reached the circle, Sirius began shoving past students to get through. "Get out of my way! Get out of my way!"

Remus followed close behind him, taking a more polite approach to get people to move, though he was just as panicked. He hoped, desperately, that the reason Harry's name had been shouted was to gain the boy's attention to whatever was going on, and not because he was the event itself. Sirius quickly got far ahead of Remus, and he knew immediately when his best friend had broken through the crowd.

A strangled cry flew from Sirius's mouth as he saw Harry laying, crumpled on the ground. Rushing forward, he slumped to his knees next to his godson, his hands just hovering over the boy's body, worried he'd hurt him further if he touched him. "Harry…" He breathed out, shaking his head as he tried to figure out if the boy was breathing or not. All he could feel or hear was the overwhelming thumping of his heart from his throat to his stomach. "What happened?" He was looking up at Ron now, who was sitting on the opposite side of Harry, his face white with shock. "Did he fall?"

Remus had just reached the clearing when Ron choked out "Yeah." Remus fell next to Sirius, one hand going to his best friend's shoulder and the other to the grass next to Harry's leg. "We…we were fighting. He fell. It's my fault." Shaking his head, Ron couldn't go any further. Hermione pulled him up from the grass and away from any reaction Sirius could have to that confession.

Harry shifted, groaning slightly. Sirius put a hand on either side of Harry's head, resting them in the grass. "Shh, Harry…don't move. We're going to get you help."

"Can I touch him? Can I move him? We need to get him to Madame Pompfrey." Sirius chocked out, but the med witch was already hurrying through the crowds. She kneeled down next to Harry, practically shooing Remus to the side. The werewolf kept his hand firmly on Sirius's shoulder, however, though it shook rather violently.

Waving her wand over Harry's body for diagnostic, Pomfrey looked up with a surly expression. "Enough! Enough! Back away, back away. Give the poor boy some space. Headmaster, please." As she went back to her work, Sirius looked up to see Dumbledore coming out of the crowd. McGonagall was pushing students back with a few other teachers, trying to divert their attention elsewhere with threats of detention.

"Is he…" Dumbledore asked delicately, his voice quiet. "Is he going to be alright, Poppy?" Remus slowly stood up, attempting to take Sirius with him, but ending up having to leave him on the ground with Harry.

Standing now, Pomfrey nodded slowly. "He should be. You can move him, Mr. Black, if you insist. I can levitate him with a stretcher, but if you'd rather-"

"-I'll rather carry him." Sirius quickly interrupted, reaching forward for Harry. Picking him up with relative ease, Sirius cradled his godson as gently as he could against his chest, careful to keep his head against his shoulder. Standing now, he followed Pomfrey, Remus, and Dumbledore to the hospital wing.