Flying and Falling

Disclaimer: None of the characters or settings mentioned belong to me.

AN: I play somewhat fast and loose with chronology. Sorry about that.

Flying

"Up!" the Gryffindors and Slytherins yelled at their broomsticks. Some brooms rolled uncooperatively, others meandered up to their owners, and a lucky few students had brooms that zoomed straight into their hands.

Of all the students, Ginny Weasley had the most success, which did not surprise Link overmuch. She had mentioned breaking into the family broom cupboard and stealing each of her brothers' brooms in turn during Potions class.

Link's own broom took a bit of convincing to fly up to his outstretched hand, but that was likely rooted in Link's apprehension about flying on something that didn't have wings.

"Mount your brooms," Madame Hooch ordered, and the class obeyed with varying levels of success. "Now, on the count of three, gently push off the ground. 1, 2, 3!" Madame Hooch said quickly, before anything could go wrong.

Link floated slowly into the air, surrounded by his classmates. It was a heady feeling, and Link gathered himself, processing the semi-familiar sensation of true, magical flight. It occurred to Link that he was comfortable in the air, but that he was more accustomed to falling with style without much opportunity for precise maneuvers.

The broomstick bucked, and Link's grip became white-knuckled. "Woah, there," Link said, as if he were soothing a horse.

Link experimented, and found that he could propel himself forward, turn, and slow to a stop in the air by shifting his weight. It was an unfamiliar system, and Link enjoyed the opportunity to find a new way to take to the air.

Across the field, Ginny was performing loop de loops, while Colin Creevey cheered her on.

"I wish I had my camera!" Link heard Colin lament, and Link sympathized.

Falling

The Sunday after the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match, where Harry Potter managed to have the bones in his arm first broken then vanished, Link slept late.

This was not particularly odd, as Link was a very heavy sleeper.

What was odd though, was that Link's designated human alarm clock, Colin Creevey, had not woken up his friend.

(The first week of classes, Link was late to his first class every morning, no matter how many alarms he set. The first year boys held a council amongst themselves, and decided that each of them would have the job of waking up Link. This, over the course of a month, devolved into Colin waking up Link, because the other boys could hardly handle the responsibility of getting themselves out of bed. Link, in exchange, always offered to work on homework with Colin.)

As it was, Link did not open his eyes until the sun had almost reached its zenith. He hastily performed his morning ablutions, and headed to the Great Hall for lunch, lamenting that he had not had the time to explore that interesting passageway by the statue of Jean-Baptise Lully, the composer who died after stabbing himself in the foot with his staff while trying to keep his ensemble in time.

The Great Hall was not full of chattering voices as Link was accustomed to, but instead was hushed. Students were huddled, their heads close to each other. A sudden, fierce sense of dread coalesced in Link's stomach, and he swallowed, trying to clear the sudden tension.

Something was wrong.

Link walked up to the Ravenclaw table, looking for Luna. Since Halloween they had found several more of her missing items together, and Link enjoyed her company and appreciated her input: often Luna was able to find solutions to puzzles that Link could not perceive.

Luna was seated at the end of the table, a copy of the Quibbler balanced on a salad bowl.

"Hello, Luna," Link greeted, sitting across from his friend. "Sorry I missed you this morning." They had agreed to investigate the statue of Jean-Baptise Lully.

"You slept late," Luna pronounced sympathetically. "Because your friend Colin wasn't there to wake you up."

Link blinked. "Yeah, that's right," he peered at Luna. She looked straight back at him.

"Mr. Faron," Professor McGonagall interrupted. "Are you quite alright?" she asked, concern in her gaze.

"Ah, well," Link began, but Luna cut him off.

"He doesn't know that he shouldn't be yet," Luna told Professor McGonagall. "He overslept because Colin wasn't there to wake him up."

"Oh, of course," there was a hiccup in Professor McGonagall's voice. Link felt the ball of dread in his stomach harden, and no amount of swallowing would relieve the growing tension in his throat. "Mr. Faron, if you would follow me."

Link got up mechanically, and Luna left the Ravenclaw table behind, half a step behind him. The small group entered the hospital wing, and Link vaguely noticed that Harry Potter was in one of the hospital beds, but his eyes were glued to the corner, where Link spied a prone figure silhouetted behind the curtains.

Colin Creevey was Petrified. He was frozen in the act of taking a photo, his hands raised in front of his face. Colin was clothed in his nightclothes – the clothes Link had seen him in just last night, when they had joked about Quidditch goals looking like bubble blowing sticks, and made plans to find a bunch of soapy water to see if they could make a giant bubble.

Vaguely, Link noticed Luna put a steadying hand on his back.

"He snuck out last night," Professor McGonagall explained.

"To see Harry," Link finished for her. Link had thought status as Harry's number one fan was funny. Now he felt dull. If only I were there, Link began to think, but he stopped himself, knowing that if he gave into that spiral of despair he would falter from the weight of it.

"Mr. Creevey will be restored in time," Professor McGonagall reassured Link and Luna. "Professor Sprout is working on developing the ingredients for the Mandrake Restorative Draught as we speak."

Link nodded, and allowed himself some small comfort at her words. Nevertheless, Link's blood stirred at the injustice of it, that Colin, who loved magic so deeply, would be torn from it so viciously.

"He looks surprised," Luna said. "But also…determined."

"He tried to take a picture of his attacker," McGonagall shared, a hint of pride in her voice.

Link placed a hand on Colin's shoulder, and was reminded of another Colin from long ago, who held strength far beyond his stature, and who he also failed to save.

Link vowed to himself not to be caught sleeping while his friends suffered again.

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Just a heads up, the rate of updates may slow to twice a week (MTh) soon primarily because Spider-Man Homecoming was just too gosh darn good and I now need to consume every piece of Spider-Man media available, apparently, which is cutting into my writing time.