Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chpt. 3 – Hit Rock Bottom

Destiny really is a funny thing…

It is said that destiny, like gravity, is unstoppable…

But gravity can be overcome if only you have the strength to keep going…

They say that if men were meant to fly, they'd have wings…

So why do you make me feel like I'm flying…

"HARRY!"

Ron's voice seemed to echo in the emptiness of the barren tower top. Slowly, as if a marionette turned deliberately by the hand of God, Harry turned to face his best friend of the past six years. His eyes remained distant and his facial features gave no indication that his ears had even actually heard the other boy's call. It was almost as if he were dead. After a few moments of silence Harry moved as if he were about to turn back around, but Ron was quick to think of something…anything…to say.

"What are you doing up here?"

His words came out drenched with concern and worry that he could not seem to conceal. Said words sunk into Harry's mind at a pace that would have made a snail proud and his emerald eyes seemed to shift from a depthless nothing until they were filled with the kind of sorrow that is only seen shortly before someone commits an act they know to be wrong, yet feel they must do.

"This has nothing to do with you Ron. Go back to the dormitory."

Harry's voice cracked as it faded back and forth between the world of the living and those who just don't care anymore, but that was not all that Ron noticed. Something in the words gave him a foreboding feeling that he could not quite put his finger on.

"Harry, come on man, just tell me…"

"I SAID IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

That was when Ron caught on to what felt so wrong the first time Harry spoke, he was lying! Whatever was going on, it apparently had at least something to do with him, if not everything. Somewhere deep in his stomach something moved in a way that it shouldn't and he also came to the conclusion that this fact made him even more nervous than he already was.

"Don't lie to me."

Not only Harry, but Ron himself was surprised at his reaction to Harry's words. He had not planned on being that blunt, but somehow his emotions had altered his plans. Harry's face reveled a moment of shock before returning to its sad, rather empty look. With a seemingly large amount of effort, Harry placed one foot behind the other and made a quick pivoting motion to face the other direction.

"Harry Potter! I'm you're friend for God's sake, don't just leave me wondering like this!"

The world around Ron seemed to shimmer slightly around the edges and he wondered if the night air was getting to him before he realized that he was crying once again. Bringing his right hand up, he used the hem of his cloak to attempt wiping his face, only to fail miserably. Before him, Harry stood silhouetted against the newly rising moon that wasn't quite full, but was quickly approaching. His raven black hair swayed slightly in the slight breeze that had managed to pick up in the short time he had been outside and, just for a second, Ron could have sworn he had been watching something that feel from the heavens. Something shimmered slightly, a tiny drop that fell from somewhere beyond Harry's face and rushed out of view as it slipped through the air beyond the tower's edge.

Harry leaned forward.

In that moment Ron mastered a skill that even the famed Hermione Granger hadn't quite fully tamed yet, he cast a spell without speaking. Before he realized what he was doing, Ron had retrieved his wand from his front inner cloak pocket and was holding it before him. The oddest thing was that, of all the spells Ron knew, this was one he had never learned. Rather, he had only seen it used once. It was commonly known as a "Chain Charm" and he had once seen it used by his mother in an attempt to tame the twins. The effect of the spell is to cause two objects to be chained together by a luminous, green, magical chain. In this specific case, it brought about the result of connecting Harry's left wrist to Ron's right and, with a sudden jerking motion, brought Harry's attempted fall to a halt.

Now suddenly repositioned on top of the edge of the tower, Harry seemed to be staring intently at his shoes which just stuck out from under the hem of his Cloak. There was a croak, followed by the telltale noise of someone who is crying rather hard attempting to talk. It was only then that Ron realized the way his shoulders were bobbing slightly in time with, what Ron could only assume, to be his staggered breathing.

"Harry?..."

It seemed like that was all that would come out. There was so much that was running through his mind, and yet all that Ron could manage to say was his name, but at least it appeared to get some sort of reaction out of Harry, who jumped at the sound of his name.

"Harry? Please, tell me what's going on…"

"Just answer me one question."

Harry's response was not at all what Ron had been expecting.

"Answer me fir…"

"ONE QUESTION!"

Harry tottered dizzily from the effort it took him to yell so loudly while it was apparent he was already having trouble breathing. 'I wonder if he's hyperventilating' Ron thought to himself. The silence only seemed to deepen in the two seconds after Harry's question, but that lead to him speaking again, waiting for no response from the red-head.

"Do you love me?"

Ron's mouth fell open in astonishment. Obviously Harry could not see this due to the fact that he was facing the other direction, yet something still caused him to suddenly break out in a sob. Even though he wanted to say something, anything, all Ron could seem to do was stand there gaping like a fish out of water and hoping that he could fix all this soon, what ever "this" was. It was then that it came to his realization that Harry had removed his wand from his cloak as well. Rushing towards Harry, Ron realized that he was already too late.

"Bombarda!"

The chain that bound the two together burst into a shower of luminous green flames before vanishing into the cool night air. Reaching the edge of the tower, Ron groped blindly due to the magnificent flash and managed to gain hold of one of Harry's hands, but it wasn't enough. The two toppled over the edge of the tower and Ron felt his stomach slide somewhere closer to his teeth as the world was suddenly inverted. Falling headfirst over the edge of the tower, Ron tightened his grip on Harry and managed to pull himself below the other boy, looking him dead in the eye. Somewhere in the distance he was quite certain he heard a scream, but all that mattered at the time was Harry and the fall. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ron remembered the old adage…

'It's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stop at the end…'

'Well, that gives me about ten seconds' he thought glumly to himself.

Looking deep into two emerald green pools, Ron saw nothing but fear and surprise. Obviously, this isn't what Harry had planned. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and tried to calm himself as he looked upward toward the quickly receding night sky.

On top of the tower, a glowing green chain had just burst into flames that nearly blinded Hermione who stood motionless in the shadows of the stairwell. Only once the flare had faded did the young girl realize everything that had happened. Harry had managed to break the spell that Ron had used and, in the moment of confusion, had jumped off the tower. Shocked as she was, this was only made worse as Ron attempted to stop him and toppled over the edge in the process, joining his friend. Fumbling in her cloak, Hermione seemed unable of the speed withdraw that the two boys had so easily accomplished just moments earlier. Tearing the inside lining of her cloak in the desperate attempt to get to her wand, Hermione rushed to the edge of the tower and looked down screaming.

"Arresto Momentum!"

Down below, she was unsure of whether or not the spell took effect. All she knew was she needed to find help.

The wind rushed past Ronald Weasley's ears as he plummeted toward the earth from atop the astronomy tower at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. Looking up at the top of the tower, he caught a glimpse of what he thought to be brown, rather poofy, hair as it bobbed off into the night. He knew that this wasn't right, it shouldn't have turned out like this, but what had he to say in the matter now. Suddenly there was a feeling like a hook in the pit of his stomach and it was almost as if he was falling through Jell-O rather than air. The decrease in speed was not much, but it was noticeable even to Harry who broke from his trance to look at Ron rather puzzledly before a look of sheer terror overtook him. Then they hit the ground.

The pain that ran through Ron was unbearable as he gazed skyward, how he managed to survive at all was beyond him, but it didn't seem like it would last long. The world was slowly getting darker from the outside in and he was rather surprised to suddenly find the whole of his field of vision filled with the face of Harry Potter. Somewhere deep inside, he felt a great sense of pride at being able to protect at least one person in this world. He smiled slightly before coughing, a few drops of blood landing on his lips in the process. Tears welled up in Harry's eyes and one fell, warm and wet onto Ron's cheek. The tear streaked away, leaving the impression that Ron was the one crying, but he continued to smile while his voice croaked out from somewhere in his throat.

"There's your answer"

With that his eyes rolled slightly, as if acknowledging a bad joke before the slid back into his head and eventually closed. Somewhere in the distance Harry heard someone curse under their breath. Startled, he looked up to see a figure dressed all in black staring back at him. A scythe glinted slightly in the moonlight, but it wasn't the scythe that had Harry's attention, it was the two eyeless sockets that seemed to bore into his very soul. The voice that seemed to float from somewhere in the general direction of the figure was like two blocks of lead being ground together. Two very confused blocks of lead…

"The schedule never changes…"

The cloaked figure pulled a roll of parchment out of his sleeve and looked it over carefully.

"Harry Potter – Twelve minutes after the stroke of midnight – Location: Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry astronomy tower"

The figure replaced the parchment and Harry swore he heard something like "Damn you boy" before the being vanish…and then he found the comfort of darkness.

A/N: Yes…I know…I'm a horrible person but…bah…I had to leave it there if I ever expect you to come back…okay so there are many of you that would come back anyway when you saw what's next, but still…nothing is more fun for a writer than leaving the readers going… "WTF…how can you just stop there"…I know…I'm a demon…deal with it…but other than that…you can make me want to write more by REVIEWING…latta…

MK