Michaela walked up the stairs to the top of the tower slowly. She'd stopped crying halfway up the stairs to the top of the tower. She felt as if what little shred of sanity she'd been holding onto was gone.

Once she reached the top, she looked out towards the Quidditch pitch and beyond it the Forbidden Forest, filled with creatures both good and bad. She considered summoning a quill, parchment and ink, but decided against it. Instead she took out a piece of muggle printer paper and a pencil. She wrote her reasons why she was deciding to leave this world, and wrote at the very end 'tell Conor Neufeld that I love him. He probably doesn't care, but I do.' she placed the paper where it would be found, and walked to the edge of the tower.

She didn't hear Conor scream her name until she was mid-air. But she did feel her body's momentum slow, until she was grabbed by strong arms, and held closely with one arm.

She screamed "No! Let me go! I'm not good enough to be here! Let me join my grandmother!" She flailed, her fists hitting her rescuer's back uselessly, as he flew her back to the entrance nearest to the Infirmary. "Let me go." she protested weakly, crying into the shoulder. "I don't belong here. I'm not worthy."

Conor's eyes were filled with tears as he heard her cry out. He stiffened when he heard her murmur "He wouldn't want me anyways. I'm broken and useless." He said nothing as he slowly flew down, allowing her to cry into his shirt. He sighed in relief when she fell asleep as he landed.

"She's fine." He assured the Marauders before saying "Would someone carry her to the Infirmary? I'm going to need some help to get off this thing." He gestured to the system of ropes he'd used to tie himself to the broom with so he'd be able to stay on it.

Remus walked over and helped Conor out of the harness before helping him limp back to the Infirmary. "You're a lot braver than we thought, Neufeld."

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself." The boys stopped for a moment outside of the Infirmary.

"Ready?"

"No. But let's do this anyways." The Gryffindor helped the Hufflepuff walk in, supporting some of his weight while allowing him to also use his broom as support.

Michaela was sleeping in one of the beds, and all of the Gryffindors plus one Slytherin were gathered around her. "Move." Conor said quietly. Once they were out of the way, he moved one of the beds next to hers, and climbed into it before falling back exhausted.

"Thank you."

Conor saw the small Slytherin look at him. He nodded. "I had to."

"No, you didn't. If you'd have done nothing and had Prongs do all the work, I would have been just impressed. Instead, I'm in awe. Well done."

The seven were silent as they all watched her asleep in her bed. Inside her mind, she dreamed.


"Grammy?" Michaela asked, seeing her grandmother as she remembered her from her childhood.

"Michaela! Oh, I've missed you so much." She held Michaela in her arms, and she felt safe and happy again.

"Am I dead?" She looked up into her grandmother's warm, chocolate brown eyes. Her hair was like it used to be, dyed blond and permed so she'd look decades younger than she was. The laugh lines around her eyes were the same as before, and her smile was as beautiful as ever.

"No, child. Your friends took you to the Infirmary." She squeezed Michaela gently. "Why did you try to take your life? You know that all you have to do is ask and I'll come to you in your dreams."

"I want to be with you." Michaela snuggled closer to her on the couch.

"Oh, Michaela. I wish I could be with you too. But I will always be with you in your heart. Don't you ever forget that."

"But I never said goodbye!" Michaela sobbed into her grandmother's sweater.

"I don't want you to. It would mean I wouldn't have a reason to come back to you in dreams. I will always be here when you need me." She stood back after giving Michaela one final hug. "It's time for you to wake up. Don't worry, I'll see you in your dreams."


"Grammy, No!" Michaela whimpered aloud while still sleeping. She thrashed about, hitting whomever was close enough to touch her. Conor pulled her into his arms, where she cried. No one spoke as they watched the Keeper of one team hold the other close as if she would disapparate if he let her go.

Conor smoothed her hair, which had come out of its tight braid sometime after the game earlier that day. "I'm here, shhh everything will get better, I promise."

Michaela shifted and murmured "No, it can't. My grandmother is gone, and the only person I will ever love has his eyes on another girl. He deserves better than me."

Conor squeezed her shoulders and said in his normal voice "No I don't."

"Conor?"Michaela looked into the blue-grey eyes of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain.

"Hey." he smiled, making her feel warm and safe.

"Hey." she moved closer, as if she could ward away her depression by being closer to him.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" He asked shyly, unsure whether or not he should ask her.

She blushed "W-well, I-I-I"

He chuckled, and said "Yeah. Me too."

He kissed her on the cheek, gently squeezing her shoulders in a hug. She flung her arms around his waist and began to sob into his shirt again.

"Don't cry. Please, I hate it when you cry."Conor begged, trying to be gentle with her, not knowing how she would react.

"I'm happy. I'm actually happy and it feels like I don't need a broom to fly anymore." She said as she stopped crying after a minute of soaking his shirt. She giggled, a sound that caused the other six people in the room with them to look at the couple in astonishment. Mary pushed the other five out of the room after winking at Conor, who nodded as he chuckled.


Outside the Infirmary, Sirius said "She giggled. She giggled like how she did when she would prank us when we were firsties and during the first half of our second year. Prongs! Raven's back!"

"I know." James grinned. "Let's go tell the Professors that she's safe and that she won't be likely to pull that sort of stunt again."

"But she giggled. She never giggles." Andrew couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she was giggling again.

"Hawk, you are so stupid it makes my brain feel dumb." Mary said as she hugged Remus in her excitement.

"Oh, Vixen. How do we ever get along?" Remus asked her as they walked through the passages, heading towards the Teacher's Lounge.

"The same way we've always done, Moony." Peter chuckled. "Michaela holds us together."

The six all laughed as they would when they were together, happy that their Ravenclaw was happy once more.