Stepping over the Edge

Lay down your sweet and weary head

The night is falling

You have come to journey's end

Sleep now

And dream of the ones who came before

They are calling

From across the distant shore

Annie Lennox - Into the West

Chapter 2 - A step from the unbelievable

Every eye in the Great Hall watched Harry as he stormed out of the doors. Malfoy looked really pleased with himself, but the Gryffindors were concerned. There had been a determination in Harry's eyes when he left, something none of them had seen for months.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Seamus asked turning towards Ron, who was still looking at the doors.

"I don't know. Maybe he's leaving school, running away or something," he answered.

"Did you see that look in his eyes?" Neville cut in. "Sent shivers down my spine."

The others nodded. It had been creepy. "You don't think he's going to do something stupid though?" Hermione asked.

"Like what?" Ron said confused. "Hasn't everything he's done this year been stupid?"

"Yeah, but I mean like hurting himself." Hermione had gone really pale.

"What? You think he's going to kill himself?" Ginny asked a little worried.

"He wouldn't do that." Ron said, although they could all hear the uncertainty in his voice.

"Maybe he would. He has been really strange, it might have become too much for him." Hermione whispered.

"He chose this himself you know." Ron said defensively. "He turned his back on us first."

"But maybe we should have tried harder to get him to change?" Hermione said looking down on her food.

"It wasn't your fault." Dean cut in. "I saw the way he was behaving towards you guys. The blame lies with him."

"Yeah, don't blame yourself Hermione." Ron said smiling weakly. "We did just what anyone else would have done."

"Maybe you're right." She said, still looking down on her food. "But don't you think we should try and talk to him again?"

"I don't know Hermione. If he wants to talk, he can always come to us."

"That's exactly like Harry. Always turns towards others when he's feeling down." She said sarcastically.

Ron sighed. "OK, if it means so much to you, we can go talk to him later. He'll probably not be in class, but we can do it this evening."

Hermione gave a weak smile and continued with her food.

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The wind was playing with his hair, as he stood at the edge of the Astronomy tower. He was looking out on the world as the sun slowly made its way down into the horizon, darkness creeping up on him. It was such a strong metaphor, but he still tried to ignore it. Harry didn't want to live anymore, and he wouldn't let this stop him. So maybe the world would be lost without him, but was it really any better with him here? He couldn't fight, so what good was he?

He had thought about leaving a letter behind, but decided against it. They didn't care about him or what he had to say. They would grieve his death, but not him. They would grieve for their fallen hero, but not the boy he really was. They just didn't care.

Was he finally going to do this then? Was Draco's words the last thing needed? The knowledge of what his former friends really thought? He had thought himself stronger than this. For all the years Malfoy had taunted him, mocking him for the hero he had tried to be, he had believed that he was stronger. He would never have thought that it would end this way, that he would be such a chicken and not stand up for his destiny. The fact that he, Harry Potter The-God-Damn-Boy-Who-Lived, would leave the world with a threat it couldn't handle had been unbelievable for him.

Yet, here he was, a single step from doing the unbelievable. A weak smile crossed his face for a second. What if Dumbledore could see him now? He had protected him for so many years from what he had thought was Harry's biggest threat. How wrong he was. The biggest threat was not a simple murderer like Voldemort, it was his own mind and actions. Nothing could save him from that.

As the sun went down in the horizon, leaving the world to the darkness, Harry Potter took one last step over the edge.

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