Disclaimer:

Everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling. Alexa and her dad are mine, as are subsequent original characters, if any.

Chapter Three

The first two weeks were not easy for Harry by any means. Classes were hectic, homework was piling up, his timetable was always full, and Hermione's seat was always empty.

Ginny had started spending more time with her fifth year friends, and Harry hardly saw Alexa – the few times he did, it had never been the time or place for meaningful conversation to be had or confidences to be shared.

Ron, in the meantime, was gradually withdrawing deeper and deeper into his shell. He hardly spoke to Harry, or anybody, for that matter, at mealtimes, and used lessons and homework as excuses later, but it wasn't hard to tell that he wasn't paying attention to his lessons, or that his homework was going undone. If there was nothing to be done, he'd go straight to bed. He hadn't touched his Wizarding chess pieces in ages, and his broomstick lay forgotten.

Harry was worried. He knew death wasn't easy to move past, but Ron's condition looked bad. He'd tried talking to him several times, but after a point, dejected, Harry gave up.

He was lonely.

He made his way up to the Owlery to meet Hedwig. He didn't have anybody to write to, or anybody who wrote to him, so he hadn't interacted much with his snowy owl in a while. He gently stroked her, remembering how happy he'd been to get her as his eleventh birthday gift from Hagrid.

A moment later, as she took off into the air to perhaps join another owl, Harry knew what he needed. Quidditch.

At the end of the first week, he'd told Madam Hooch about his intentions to be more Coach than Captain for the Gryffindor team. He'd told her he'd like to play the first match against Slytherin, but that would be it. She'd agreed. He was to hold tryouts a week later, and the first match would be in November, against Slytherin, as it always was.

He looked forward to it.

"Ron, come on! I booked the Quidditch pitch so we could practice together! Tryouts are in a week! You do want to play, don't you?"

"Harry, I can't. I-I just can't, Harry. I'm not feeling like it."

"But Ron, you used to love Quidditch!"

"Look, Harry, I said I don't want to go, okay? Why can't you just leave me alone? Why is everybody always suffocating me, trying to get me to talk, treating me as if something's the matter with me?"

"Because something is the matter with you, Ron! You're not the only one who lost Hermione, we all did, but you seem to be the worst affected!"

"Harry, I'm fine! I swear, I can't seem to say it enough. Ginny was after me yesterday, Luna keeps telling me about Wrackspurts and even Neville keeps checking in with a 'You alright there, mate?' and I promise, the next time one of you asks, I'm going to —"

"Save it, Ron. I'll go."

And with that, Harry left the Common room, storming off to the portrait hole in a huff. Once outside, dejected, he leaned against the wall. The Fat Lady looked like she wanted to say something to him, but before she could, the door opened and Ginny appeared.

"Oh, Harry, he's gotten worse, hasn't he?"

"You heard?"

"Yeah, I was just getting down the dormitory stairs. Harry—everyone's different. Just because we're trying to put this behind us doesn't mean we shouldn't let Ron grieve in his own time. Some people take longer than the others, and we should respect that."

Harry sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on him. Maybe I need to give him space. But it's just that —"

"You're lonely, Harry, aren't you? You miss Hermione and Sirius, and now you miss Ron."

Harry just nodded.

"I'm sorry."

Harry frowned. "Why?"

"For leaving you to deal with this on your own. Can I go with you for Quidditch? I'd like to practise a bit before tryouts, I'm afraid you'll be harsh on me just so that you don't look lenient."

Harry smiled and the two of them went to the pitch.

After finishing a gruelling session of Quidditch, trying different dives and techniques, Harry and Ginny just sat on the ground for a bit.

"What's she like, Ginny? Alexa, I mean. What's she like?"

Ginny smiled faintly. "Someone's got a little crush, eh?" she teased.

Harry grinned. Then, quite honestly, he said, "Well, yeah, I did have a bit of a crush on her for the first two days, you know."

Ginny punched him playfully on the arm. "Forgotten me already, have you?"

Harry laughed.

"She's amazing. She's funny, she's cute, but I think I like her best because she somehow just always knows what kind of an atmosphere people need at that moment. And no matter what, her voice is just so soothing. It's almost like it puts you to sleep. In a good way, I mean. Like she puts all our bad thoughts to rest. Do I make sense?"

Harry nodded. Ginny tore a blade of grass before continuing, "She's one of the most genuine people I've ever met. She's brave, and she doesn't ever let anything get her down. And she can sure give it back to Slytherins. She's a tiny thing, but boy is she fierce."

Harry remembered a line from Shakespeare that he'd once read. "Though she be but little, she is fierce." It could certainly apply to Alexa.

"I'd like to be friends with her."

"I'm sure she'd like that too. Why don't you talk to her?"

"I only see her in passing and it's never the right time."

"It never will be. Try today, okay? She usually hides out in the library. Oh- I forgot to tell you. She's almost as big a library person as Hermione was. She's almost always there."

"Thanks."

This was followed by a long, comfortable silence, both lost in their worlds.

"Do you think we'll ever be okay, Harry? Will all these ghosts of our past ever stop following us? Riddle, Hermione, Sirius, all the stuff you've had to deal with- will it ever end?"

"I hope it does, it's the reason I'm going on."

Ginny nodded in understanding.

"And Ron? Will he get better?"

"Of course he will, Gin, what kind of a question is that?"

Ginny was quiet. They watched the sun go down. It was time to go back to the castle. They walked back wrapped up in their thoughts again.

They gave the Fat Lady the password, and when they entered the Common Room, Ron called out from the other end of the room, "Did they mean nothing to you? Did she mean nothing to you?"

Harry looked at Ron, his brow furrowing in confusion. Ron was walking towards them, his voice getting louder and the words trembling with rage.

"Her body was still cold, but you didn't care did you? You didn't care that she died because of you, because you couldn't save her. All you wanted was to snog my sister senseless."

"Ron—"

"Save it, Ginny. I saw you two come out of the bathroom with your lips all swollen that day - I'm not a fool, I know what it means! Did you hear me? I SAID, I'M NOT A FOOL!"

"Nobody thinks you're a fool, Ron—"

"And I saw you two sneaking away all summer, and even now you can't pass up a chance to put your hands all over her, can you? You make me sick. You make me SICK, Harry Potter!"

"Ron, stop yelling, please. Why don't we go up to the dormitory and discuss things a bit more civilly?"

"How convenient of you to talk about being civil when you've just had your way with my sister!"

"Ronald Weasley, how dare you talk about me and Harry like that? Have you completely lost it? Yes, we snogged over the summer, but it's not like that anymore, do you understand? We're just friends, but I don't need to explain myself to you. Who do you think you are, Ron? Huh? Just because the one girl you ever had a remote chance of snogging died doesn't mean you ruin the fun for the rest of us! No Harry - don't try to stop me, he deserves to hear this. I love Hermione, but I never understood what she saw in you. And you see how it is - she'd rather die than be with you, you piece of scum!"

The Common Room was completely silent.

"Ginny, that's enough, let's go up to the dormitory now, okay?"

Ron took out his wand and pointed it at Ginny.

"Ooh, big boy, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Remember that time you spent throwing up slugs—"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Ginny froze. Harry turned to Ron, yelling, "Expelliarmus!"

Ron's eyes turned red as the wand flew out of his hands. He curled his fists into balls and looked around for something to throw. He found his book bag and took out a framed picture of himself with Harry and Hermione. It crashed to the floor, after which he started hurling books, and ink pots, and everything he could find. Harry reversed the spell on Ginny, getting more and more alarmed as things started getting out of hand. What was going on with Ron?

When he looked up, he saw Alexa walking towards them. Oh no, he thought, Ron shouldn't try something on her, oh please, no…

"Ronald Weasley. Ron."

Her voice was very low. It sounded almost ethereal. It wasn't just because it was pleasant and musical. This was different. This was what Ginny had been saying about putting the bad thoughts to rest. Except this was more than her normal voice. She was doing something, and whatever it was, it was working, because though Ron was still on a rampage, he was slowing down.

"Shh, Ron, it's alright now. It's going to be just fine. Why don't we go to the dormitory where it'll all be better?"

"I don't want to go anywhere!" complained Ron, but it lacked the rage of before, coming out as a nasally whine.

"I have to tell you something, Ron, don't you want to know? It's very important. And then you'll feel alright again. Everything will be just fine again. Won't you come with me?"

What was she doing? Harry thought in amazement as Ron followed her up to the boys' dormitory (as boys couldn't enter the girls'). He and Ginny followed them, but when they tried to enter the room, Alexa held up her hand, asking them to wait. Ron was on the bed and Alexa seemed to be doing some sort of hypnosis with him.

"I want you to close your eyes now, Ron, close your eyes nice and tight. Do you feel yourself feeling better? Do you feel all those bad thoughts melting away? Do you feel your anger dissipating?"

Ron grunted.

"Shh now, it's going to be just fine, now, isn't it? I want you to keep your eyes closed, nice and tight, and I want you to think of all that rage and see it fly away from you. Do you see it, Ron? You feel better already, don't you? It's like they're going to bed, isn't it? Yeah? You feel better? Yes, just like that, Ron, keep your eyes shut. Do you want to go to bed too? Yeah? Think of how soft the pillow is, think of how warm that blanket makes you feel. You like that, don't you? You know you want to go to sleep now, yes you do…"

And then, almost miraculously, Ron snored.

"Petrificus Totalus," murmured Alexa calmly.

"Is that necessary, Alexa?" asked Ginny tentatively.

Alexa regarded Ginny with something Harry couldn't comprehend. "A lot more necessary than some of the things you said before, I can say for sure."

Then she sighed. "He might have woken up and not remembered he was calmly put to bed, he'd have thought you two tricked him or hexed him and then he'd work himself into a frenzy again. Harry, we need to take him to St Mungo's, he's Sinking."

"What? What's - sinking? What do you mean? Is he going to —?"

"He's not going to die, Harry. I'll - I'll explain later. I'm going to bring Madam Pomfrey, okay?"

Within minutes, she had appeared with Madam Pomfrey and it seemed like she'd already explained the matter to her as Madam Pomfrey knew what was going on.

The matron levitated Ron's body, taking him outside the Gryffindor Tower. As Ginny and Harry raced out, they bumped into Luna, who'd clearly been running too and looked very frazzled.

"Harry, what's going on?"

"No time, Luna, I'll tell you la—"

"Harry Potter, you're going to tell me right this instant what's wrong!"

Harry sighed. There was only so much yelling he could take in a single evening.

"Ron's Sinking, Luna, but I'm not sure what it means. We're taking him to St Mungo's."

"I'm coming too," she said with finality, and that was that.

They met Dumbledore in the courtyard, where he was carrying the St Mungo's Portkey. They all held onto it, and after an uncomfortable few moments, they arrived at the wizarding hospital.

Ron was rushed to the Sinking department, where Alexa explained everything to the Mediwizards and Mediwitches. Dumbledore sent off a letter to the Weasleys intimating them about the situation. Madam Pomfrey was sent back to Hogwarts although she wanted to stay.

Within half an hour, Mrs Weasley had arrived along with Mr Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Fred and George. They barged into Ron's room, Mrs Weasley bursting into tears as soon as she saw her son unconscious. Harry quietly walked out of the room, letting the Weasleys have their privacy. He turned around to see if Luna was coming too, but she didn't look like she was going to leave Ron's side anytime soon.

He sat down on one of the chairs outside Ron's ward. That clean, surgical hospital smell brought back memories. Terrible memories. Sirius's dead body. Hermione's last moments. Memories he wanted to forget. Memories Ron was holding onto on purpose.

At the sound of footsteps, Harry looked up. Alexa looked gently at him and sat down beside him.

"Tell me."

Alexa looked into Harry's eyes for a moment.

"Do you want to know everything? Even the things that might hurt? Even the things that might not apply to Ron's case in particular?"

Harry nodded.

"Sinking is the magical equivalent of depression."

Harry stared into her eyes.

She took his hand in hers and continued, "Muggle depression is often caused due to an imbalance in production of serotonin, the happy hormone. I'm sure you know its effects are heartbreaking. Magical depression, or Sinking, is even worse than that because the chemicals interact with the magical blood and create 'sad cells' . The symptoms are similar, there's moodiness, a lack of appetite, anger, a lack of interest in things they loved. However, in magical depression, there can be an intense surge of the 'sad cells', which leads to the victim slipping into a coma which can take a few weeks at the very least to come out of. At this stage the patient is said to have 'Sunk'. The reason I wanted Ron rushed to St Mungo's was that it's easier to get Sunk when you're asleep, but I had to get him asleep or he would have hurt himself eventually."

She bit her lip and frowned. "I'm forgetting something. Oh - oh yes, sometimes, when the patient has Sunk, they sink deeper into their coma, and it can take months or even years to bring them back. This is called Drowning. It's very rare, but there are people who could never be brought back. And sometimes, even if they do come back, they've lost their sanity and no longer have the will to live."

She gripped his hand tighter as Harry processed all her words.

"Is it fatal?"

"No, but getting Sunk multiple times weakens your mind and brain after a while, making it easier to get permanently Drowned. And when you've been Drowned for a few years, it's - it's a bit like being brain dead."

Harry stared at the drab hospital walls.

"Harry."

He looked up.

"Harry. It'll be alright. Ron is young. This is his first time Sinking. We can cure him. We can treat him. There are Healers for this. We just need to wait for him to wake up and we can make things alright. Harry, look at me. It's going to be fine. Harry."

She was using that voice again. He felt incredibly tired. He didn't know whether it was because of the strain of the entire evening, or because Alexa was hypnotising him or something.

"What's that thing you're doing, Alexa? What's that voice you're using? And - and how do you know so much about Sinking, are you a Healer or what?"

"Harry —"

Just then, Ron's door opened. Ginny appeared, looking flustered. Harry suddenly had a vision of Ginny at age eleven, rocking back and forth because she wanted to tell them about Riddle. He stood up.

"Ginny, what's wrong?"

"It's Ron, he's - he's Sunk."

A/N:

My next update will be next month because of my exams.

As always, a review would be appreciated, constructive criticism is welcome!