A/N: This follows the morning after the last chapter, with the Third Task. Next, we'll jump until after the summer holidays. Just so you know. Enjoy!
Catching Her When She Falls
Somehow, the day before had ended, and after dealing with Fred and George's unexpectedly strong reactions, she'd lain in her bed for hours, images swimming in her head, thoughts that lead her nowhere as she still didn't even know what had happened, since Harry had been too much of a mess last night to even tell Ron and Hermione anything about it (and being so concerned about him that her heart ached didn't mean anything, and if it did, she didn't give a damn, because he was hurting and she had the right to care).
She only knew one thing. Diggory was dead. And she had insulted him, just minutes before…
Giving up on sleep, she went down to breakfast early. The Great Hall was almost empty, except for a couple of people over at the Ravenclaw table. Before she'd even had time to wish that one of them would be a certain person, he'd hurriedly made his way over to her.
"Hi," he said, running his hand through his hair, not smiling, taking in her probably pretty shitty state.
"Hi." She didn't know what else to say. He'd held her, yesterday. They'd kissed in bliss, and then, when the world had come crashing down, he'd held her. It had been nice, his arms around her. She'd needed that. She wasn't used to needing, or getting, protection from anyone other than maybe her brothers (and that was only when she let them, which wasn't often at all). She wasn't sure whether it was okay to have needed him like that, in that moment, or if she should despise herself for it, really, for being so weak. But right now, she didn't have the energy, and she found that with him, it wasn't humiliating or awkward, like it had been with Harry, in her first year after the Chamber business. Michael somehow made it easy to trust that it was okay to lean on him. And she found herself appreciating that.
"You didn't get any sleep, did you?" he asked, cringing as he took in her appearance further.
She shook her head, honestly. He sighed. "Need a hug or something?" he offered, still not grinning. She only hesitated a moment before nodding, and stepping into his open embrace.
She didn't cry today either, but she stood there for a few moments, just breathing in his scent, feeling the safety of a couple of strong arms, of a someone.
"I don't wanna not hear from you all summer," she suddenly mumbled into his shoulder, surprising both him and herself by voicing her thought.
She looked up at him. He frowned at her for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Okay. I believe we can take care of that. I've got an owl."
"Good," she whispered, letting her head fall back against his chest. She would have smiled when his lips grazed her hair. Except that a boy was dead, and she had a definite feeling that their world wasn't safe anymore.