To Thwart The Darkness {Book 3}

There Was Nothing He Could Do About It

Maybe I should put a !Suicide Attempt Warning! here? I don't really do trigger warnings, but I just want to make sure you guys are okay. 

It's only a light attempt, nothing too graphic or anything, but everyone handles things differently. 

Stay safe <3

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Hogwarts 

Jason wasn't used to feeling useless. He remembered what it felt like to be needed; on the Argo II, as Preator in Camp Jupiter. But here at Hogwarts — what good would sword combat or lightning be to teenagers being tortured with magic?

Jason helped where he could, but it only felt like meagre efforts. Sure, doing Will's homework meant he could spend more time where he was needed. But Jason wasn't doing anything that directly helped the students at Hogwarts.

Nico helped by bringing Will food and making sure he stayed out of trouble with the Carrows. Piper helped keep moral up with the students in the New Hospital Wing. But Jason felt completely and utterly useless wherever he turned.

Piper had asked why he'd become quiet. He'd shrugged her off and told her he was tired because he couldn't bring himself to share his insecurities with her. She'd tell him he was being ridiculous.

So he quietly did Will's homework in the corner of the Room of Requirement, wishing he could do more as he watched Will nurse the students back to health before the school week started up the next day. The weekends were always the worst. Everyone became a potential target if they stepped outside the dormitories.

He knew he should do something, but he was terrified of what magic could do. Magic had almost drowned Will. Magic was the weapon that was used to whip and beat the students into submission.

And there was nothing Jason could do about it.

"There needs to be a lightning storm when you drink the animagus potion," Neville said, leaning over Jason's shoulder and reading the (handwritten and ink-blotched) essay for Transfiguration. "You've just written 'storm', McGonagall would want you to be specific."

It was a combination of self-loathing and frustration that caused Jason to snap. The one thing that he could help with, and he does it wrong. The fury of words weren't directed at Neville, specifically, but the poor wizard got a lot of it.

Silence hung heavily over the room when Jason was finished. He spun, realising what he'd done, and faced the stunned expressions directed at him.

"We're all tired, Jason," Piper said gently, walking over to him, her hands outstretched, "maybe you should take a break."

He took it as condescending and another wave of anger rushed to the surface. But he stormed out before he could make the situation worse. Piper was right. Jason was tired. Tired of screwing up.

His legs unconsciously took him to the astronomy tower. The sun was setting and wind whipped his hair into his eyes and chilled his bare arms. He'd left his cloak in the New Hospital Wing on his chair, leaving him with just his white shirt and Gryffindor tie. He didn't care.

First it was the wedding. If he hadn't suggested they sneak it, Percy and Annabeth would be here. Annabeth would be able to do something against the Carrow's. Then he encouraged his friends to steal the sword of Gryffindor. He hadn't spoken up against Amycus when he was bullying Nico. He hadn't noticed Luna disappear off the train.

Jason was messing everything up and his friends payed the price. No wonder Frank was a much better Praetor of Rome.

He leaned against the railing. He could smell the lake and grass and stone from the castle. It was nice up that high, as if all his problems were down below and he'd run far enough away. Flying was his escape. But with Quidditch cancelled, he had no way of doing it.

He angrily wiped at his damp eyes, scolding himself for crying. Then he heard it.

Sniffling. Someone was crying. Someone else.

Jason whipped his head around, noticing for the first time a girl standing at the railing on the other side of the tower, her long red hair and Slytherin scarf flying around her in the wind.

"Are you okay?" Jason called. She gave a startled sob, only then realising that she wasn't alone, and jumped around to face him. "What's wrong?" He asked, walking closer but stopping when she stepped back.

Jason opened his mouth to say something else, but she fired a spell at him, reducing his words to a strangled squeak. She flicked her wand again but Jason recognised the red stunning light that came towards him and leapt to the side, hastily crawling half-way down the stairs.

Thinking he had gone, there were more throaty, soggy sobs that lasted an eternity and made Jason's stomach twist with empathy. This was the kind of crying someone would do if they thought they were alone.

Then they stifled slightly, as if she were covering her mouth. So Jason slowly crawled back up the stairs. He stuck his head above the floor boards.

His eyes widened and he leapt up, sprinting over to the railing and snatching her hand before she let go.

"Go away!" She cried, trying to wrestle out of his grip, her feet slipping slightly on the other side of the railing. The ground was so, so far down. "Let me go!"

"No!" Jason refused.

"Leave me alone!" She reached for her wand but it fumbled through her fingers and fell down. She tried to grab it but her feet lost their grip and then they were only one thing between her and gravity.

Jason.

His throat closed up at the fear in her eyes as she dangled helplessly. But his hands were wet from his tears and her wrist was so small.

She was slipping.

Then she was falling.

The girl hadn't even begun to scream before Jason leapt over the railing and dove after her.

It took three seconds for him to reach her. To wrap his arms around her and for them to stop moving. Three very long seconds.

They were suspended upside down in the air. She sobbed into his shirt, but she was alive. Still very, very alive.