before i fall.

When he was young, his best friend took him to the cliffs.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," he said, but she dragged him there anyway.

"Come on, you big baby," she said, tugging him up to the very edge. "You won't fall."

"I might."

"I won't let you. I'll catch you before you fall. Don't worry so much."

"I can't help it. Angelina, stop. You know I'm afraid of heights."

"It's not even that high." She peered over the edge. "If you can see the ground, it isn't that high."

"I don't like this, Angelina."

"You'll be fine. Just don't let go of my hand."

"What, so you can drag me down with me if you fall?"

She rolled her eyes. "Roger. Seriously. You aren't going to fall."

He didn't say anything.

"Look, do this." Angelina backed up a few paces and then lay down on her stomach. "Now just inch your way up to the edge, until your whole head is over the side - like this - and look! It feels like you're flying. It feels unreal."

"If I wanted to fly," Roger said sourly, "I would buy a broomstick."

"Just try it," Angelina begged. "Just for a second."

And the truth was, he couldn't deny her anything, even at seven years old, so he flopped down on his stomach. The grass was long, and it found its way into the openings of his jumper and tickled at his skin. "Angelina, I hate this," he said, scooting up to the edge of the cliff. "Just so you know."

She squeezed his hand. "Just look down. Look down and remember you're safe."

And looking down made him feel dizzy and sick, but he did it anyway, and for nearly half a second he caught himself smiling.

"Are you nervous?"

He nodded. "You?"

"No."

"Not at all?"

They were at the cliffs again, sharing a mug of hot chocolate - sharing because Angelina had already finished hers, and she'd begged Roger until he gave in and let her take a sip of his - to celebrate their last night before Hogwarts. "Not at all," she said, motioning for him to hand her the mug. "I know I'll be a Gryffindor."

"But I might not be."

She shrugged. "So what? You'll be whatever you're meant to be."

"But if we aren't in the same house, we won't see each other very much anymore."

"We can still be friends. My mum's a Gryffindor and she still married my dad, didn't she? He was a Ravenclaw." She set the mug down in the grass. "Come on. Let's do that thing again."

"What thing?" But he already knew the answer.

"You know. Putting our heads over the edge."

When they were both settled on their stomachs, Roger spoke up again. "Angie?"

"Hm?"

"What if - I wonder if by tomorrow evening, everything will - you know, look different to me."

"Why would it?"

"What if your house makes you see the world differently?"

She snorted. "I see the world for exactly what it is. And no house is going to make me change my mind."

"I suppose." He swallowed as he looked down at the earth hundreds of feet below. "I wonder if I'll look different to other people."

Angelina didn't have an answer for that.

She ended up in Gryffindor, just as she'd predicted, and he was shuffled off into Ravenclaw, and they made eye contact when the Sorting was over, but that was all.

"Congratulations," a Ravenclaw prefect said to him with a smile. "You're going to do quite well here. All the Ravenclaws do."

Roger smiled. In the distance, he could see Angelina sitting next to a boy he thought was called Lee Jordan. "Thanks," he said to the Ravenclaw prefect. "I'm happy to be in this house."

But as he sipped at a steaming mug of hot chocolate, he couldn't help feeling like something was missing now that Angelina was absent from his side.

In spite of the promises, and the history, and the bonding at the top of the cliff, she didn't talk to him again for three years.

"So I hear you're Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team?"

He snapped his head up. "Angelina Johnson? Are you lost?" he asked sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and sat down at his table in the library. "Don't give me that tone. I've been busy."

"Well, I'm honored that you found time in your schedule to speak to me again."

"I just wanted to congratulate you, that's all," she snapped. "On overcoming your fear of heights."

He nodded stiffly. "Thanks."

An awkward silence settled in around them.

"Well," he said, tapping his book, "got to get back to studying, I'm afraid. I'll see you around, maybe. During Quidditch."

"Yeah." She had a strange look on her face - almost like sadness, but the Angelina he remembered didn't get sad. "Yeah, I hope so."

Once she was gone, he breathed a sigh of relief.

(Because he was still afraid of heights.)

(But flying gave him almost the same sensation as lying at the top of that cliff.)

(And the terror of it all was worth it for the memory.)

And later - years later - after Hogwarts - after the war - after they were both married to other people - he was lying on his stomach, looking over the edge of their cliff, when she found him again.

"Roger?"

He didn't even look up. "Angelina."

"What are you doing here?" She came to sit next to him.

"I just come here sometimes. To think." To pretend the world has ended, and I'm looking down on it from above, and I don't have to feel or think or worry or love you anymore.

"Oh." She cleared her throat. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead."

She rolled onto her stomach and inched toward the edge. "I was thinking about you today," she admitted when she could see his face.

"Is that why you came here?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well. You found me."

She gave him a half-smile. "I really liked you once, you know," she said.

I really like you now. "Did you?"

"Yes. I realized it for the first time up here, on this cliff."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She laughed. "We were children. Things were complicated."

"No. Things were simple. Things were very, very simple."

She closed her eyes. "Take my hand, Roger."

He didn't want to (yes, he did, desperately) but he couldn't deny her anything, even after all this bloody time, so he did.

She smiled when his fingers touched hers. "Don't let me go."

"Why?" he asked after a moment, and there was a smile in his voice. "So you can drag me down with you if you fall?"

She laughed. "Truth is," she whispered. "I've already fallen."

And there wasn't a kiss.

There wasn't a declaration.

There wasn't anything but her holding his hand.

But it was enough.

[Tien Len Competition: Four of Hearts - Roger Davies, absent, "Don't let go of my hand.", "Please tell me that this is the end of the world."- Alexisonfire 'We Are the End']

[Before I Fall Competition: Last Day One - Roges Davies, "I wonder if by tomorrow evening everything will look different to me; I wonder if I'll look different to other people."]

[Disney Character Competition: Kristoff - write about friendship. Prompt: Looking]

[Het-Pairing Boot Camp: time]

[Fiddler on the Roof Song Challenge: Do You Love Me? - write about a reaffirmation of vows (friendship)]