The wind whistled between Luna's toes, escaping from the forbidden forest naught a mile away. It felt good around her, the only part of Hogwarts actually comforting her body. She sat upon the balcony, hundreds of feet in the air, barefoot.
She sat on top of the astronomy tower looking out over the grounds. Of course the astronomy tower was off limits to students this late at night, but Professor Sinistra trusted Luna well enough to let her get in extra studying. But this night wasn't about studying constellations; Luna hadn't even brought a telescope with her.
Tonight Luna gave up.
Giving up is the only option she thought she could do, there was nothing left for her in Hogwarts. No friends, no comfort, no crumple horned snorcack. And tonight was the night that she gives it all away to the empty air.
"Luna? What the bloody hell are you doing up here on your own?" A voice said from behind her.
Great,she thought, more people to laugh at her. She turned around and standing before her was a fifth year wizard by the name of Ronald Weasley. He wasn't the worst person here, but certainly wasn't the best.
"I'm studying. And what are you doing here? Don't you have Sinistra's permission slip for off night studying?"
Ron shrugged, then joined her on the balcony, "I'm not here for studying. I'm here because somebody up here apparently needs help getting down the right way."
Luna turned her whole body to him, "Who says the other way isn't right?"
"Because it's a long fall to a sudden stop."
Luna did a double take, how did he know? She hadn't told anybody of her plans since she was bullied by the Slytherin sixth year and decided on what she should do. There was only one person who could know and that's
"Ginny told you, didn't she?"
Ron looked out over the Hogwarts school grounds, beautiful as moonlight shined over them. And he sighed longingly, "My sister was crying in the common room. She thought that you were going to kill yourself tonight because of somebody bullying you. She saw you walking through the halls with tears streaming behind you. So she came to find the only people who can help."
Luna was surprised, Ron Weasley thought he could help her? After teasing her? His attempts at reconciliation was almost laughable. "And you thought you could help me?"
"Well, yeah."
Luna began to slide her body off of the tower's balcony.
"I don't need your help. I'm done with this." Tears began to flow from Luna's eyes, staining her face with salty tracks. Her whole body was racked by sobs as she considered what she would be doing in the next ten seconds. She curled herself up into a ball, not even trying to stop the tears, but giving herself a final moment of self pity. "Go to hell Ronald Weasley."
And she jumped.
The fall was glorious, an extreme sense of elation filled her as wind rushed by her face. Far above her Ron was yelling something, but that no longer mattered. All that mattered was the end of her suffering, for three years she suffered at Hogwarts, but no longer.
Her happiness filled the body of someone who felt unloved by her peers. And she anticipated feeling the crushing stop that would end everything. Until she heard a voice on the ground yell out a charm.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"
And Luna stopped in mid air, held aloft three feet above the ground by a hovering charm cast by someone to her right. When Luna looked there to figure out who her untimely savior was, The Boy Who Lived greeted her sight.
"Why?!" Luna shrieked into the night, "I was so close! Why would you take this away from me?"
Harry strode forward across the grounds, robe billowing out behind him as the night wind touched him, "There is never a reason to do this, now stop yourself."
He muttered the counter-charm and Luna dropped safely to the grass.
"No! How?!" Luna yanked out her wand and pointed it at her face, ready to mutter a curse to take her own life.
"Expelliarmus!" Ron called out from the balcony, attempting his disarming spell like a sniper would a killing shot.
Harry caught the wand, "You need to rethink this, why would you consider death to be the only option out there? That's even dumber than Umbridge not teaching us magic, or the ministry of magic thinking that Dumbledore is raising us to be an army!"
"You wouldn't understand!" spat Luna, rabid madness now in her eyes.
"Yes, I would."
Luna froze, the words providing the effect of the full body bind curse.
"I understand because I felt that I had no way out but death for twelve years. I lived with oppressive muggle guardians who starved me most days because they knew I was a wizard. They thought beatings and bloody noses could take away my magic. I didn't know I was a wizard, I believed that I would be there until they starved me to death or I became an adult. No escape."
Harry walked over to where Luna was on the ground and knelt beside her. "I stand up for myself now, they won't bother me again. But you haven't stood up yet, and I think it's time for that."
From the castle walked an older boy in green robes, followed closely by a ginger witch with a death glare she got from her mother on the back of the boy's skull. This was the Slytherin who had bullied her the other day, followed by Ginny Weasley.
"What's going on?" The Slytherin asked.
"Some revenge." Ginny retorted menacingly behind him, "This is what you get for picking on Dumbledore's Army."
Harry held up Luna's wand, "I think you should stand for yourself Luna." Then Harry spoke to the Slytherin, "This is a wizards duel, between you and the girl who you so generously bullied."
A small wet patch grew on the boy's pants, "But everyone does it , I was just following the crowd. Don't hurt me please."
Luna smiled and took her wand, "You might not have been the first to bully me, but you'll be the last. I think you should pull out your wand, otherwise I would feel bad for cursing an unarmed man."
Harry and his friends stepped back, watching the interesting exchange. The Slytherin pulled out his own wand and took a stance, when both were ready Harry yelled out "BEGIN!"
The exchange began and ended in two spells, the Slytherin attempted to strike her with stupefy, but Luna deflected that to the side. She then retorted by casting the total body bind curse, splashing the red jet of light against the slytherin's chest, and leaving him bound on the grounds.
As the group of students walked back into Hogwarts, a new chapter had begun.