A/N: I don't own Harry Potter

This is for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Assignment #1 Medieval & Renaissance Studies: The Tudor Dynasty

Task #8 - Catherine Parr: Write about someone surviving something (or someone)

Word Count: 608

Warning: Depression, suicidal thoughts and actions.

She wanted to end it. She was tired of fighting, so tired.

Everyone around her didn't understand. No one would ever understand. Things had spiraled out of control. Everyone was terrified, but no one was doing anything about it. These thoughts repeated themselves over and over while she climbed the algae covered stairs. They were slick because it had been raining again.

It was always raining now. The teachers handed out chocolate at the beginning of every lesson. They thought, maybe it would help? They were wrong. Nothing was helping.

There used to be hope, or at least, something resembling hope that this would end. That things would return to normal at some point. It would never happen. Things had gone too wrong.

She pushed open the heavy wooden trap door. She wondered what everyone else was doing? She knew most of them were sequestered in the Room, but she couldn't stay there. There were too many people, too many voices, too many emotions that weren't her own.

She could feel the night air kissing her face. It was cool, but not cool enough. Her own blood seemed to boil in anger, in fear, in so many emotions she couldn't control. Too many emotions, too many things that were out of her control.

She walked to the edge of the tower. There was a telescope aimed at the heavens. She knew what she would see if she looked. Jupiter rising, she knew that was a bad sign, she'd read the books, knew what the stars meant. That didn't change things, not tonight. Nothing was going to distract her tonight. She had to escape.

Now, at this point, there was only one way to do that. She had to make her head stop spinning, her chest stop hurting with fear, with heartbreak over the loss of her whole world. Someone had said it was alright to mourn the loss of one's routine, of one's future plans. She'd tried that, tried pushing past that to look for something, anything to look forward to.

Now, the future was too dim, there were too many things going wrong. One thing compounded into another and another. So many dead, so many dying, so many living in fear. She couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't live in this world, live in a constant state of being overwhelmed.

She looked out at the sky. It was night, she could see the darkness, the abyss calling her home. She climbed onto the ledge, putting her arms out and letting the still air just remain around her. She took a deep breath before closing her eyes and pitching forward.

She felt the world rushing to meet her, only to feel it stop suddenly. She was motionless in the air, her body frozen. She opened her eyes. The boy looked at her, from the ground. Slowly, he lowered her down. She felt her face flush as he wrapped her in a tight hug.

"I'm not sorry," she whispered. "I need out, I need..." she couldn't finish the sentence as she burst into tears. Slowly he wiped them from her cheeks, hugging her tightly.

"I know. I know, Hannah, it's alright. It's going to be alright," he whispered, holding her in his arms. For a moment, a moment that passed too quickly but lasted forever, she believed him.

In his arms, right then and there, she believed, maybe, just maybe, they might be able to get though this war. She let him lead her back inside, back to the Room, where she felt asleep in his arms, hoping that this feeling could survive in the darkness surrounding them all.