Harry Potter 1. Default Chapter

 Through Closed Eyes Prolog 

Hermione Granger was a top student**.**  She did every bit of homework she was assigned,always read over every note she had taken three or four times before going into a test, and had nearly perfect attendance.  Needless to say, she was not the typeof person to enter a Potions test without knowing what to do.  It was, for this reason, quite unfortunate that she was seated next to Neville Longbottom.

It had been quite a shock to the young girl, who was sitting quietly carefully measuring just the right amount of moss to drop into the boiling cauldron before her, when Mr. Longbottom accidentally tipped over his own potion and tipped her cauldron over, covering her from head to toe in the half-finished potion.

Professor Snape had rushed up the steps, sending both Hermione and Neville straight to the hospital wing, shouting a quick order at Ron Weasley to clean up mess the two had left behind.

That is howHermione came to be lying in the hospital wing of the school, her entire body was covered in terrible blisters and her eyes had lemon slices placed over them, tied in place with a strip of cloth.  The citrus juice was quite painful, but Madam Pomfrey had been quite clear in her instructions that the girl should keep the slices over her eyes for at least a day, if not more.

Neville had been more or less unharmed, save a few small blisters on his hands, so Madam Pomfrey had simply wrapped them up and sent him on his way, deeming to spend her time fussing over Hermione.

"You mustn't fuss with them now, just leave it be!"  The nurse had scolded when she caught Hermione trying to lift one of the lemon slices up just slightly off her eye, if only for a moment's relief from the stinging.  She was sure the lemons could not be good for her eyes, but the school's healer was quite skilled, and had yet to prescribe any incorrect treatment to any of the students, at least as far as Hermione was aware, so she left it at that, trying to keep her mind off the stinging in her eyes.

Several attempts to ask what was wrong with her had gone unanswered, and it had to be getting terribly late.  "Madam Pomfrey, what time is it?"  She asked, turning her head in the direction she though the healer was located.

"Nearly six now, I suppose you are ready for dinner.  I will have something sent up then."  The woman muttered, but Hermione wasn't listening.

"Nearly six?"  She asked, hoping she had heard wrong.  There was a prefects meeting to be had at five, and as Head Girl**,** she was expected to be there.  If she wasn't, the last say would go to the Head Boy, and Hermione shuddered to think what he would do.  The meeting was about the preparations of the Yule ball.  The students had had such a time of it three years past, that the prefects had begged Hermione to speak to Dumbledore about having another this year, and of course**,** once Hermione went to the man, he had instantly agreed.

Today they where planning the decorations, and Hermione shuddered to think what the Head Boy would be doing to the place.  All green and silver she supposed, maybe he would even try to get away with the Slytherin crest hanging from the walls.  "I'm sorry but I have to go.  There is an important meeting that will be nearly ending and I can't afford to miss it!"  The bushy haired girl mumbled as she began to climb from the bed, and she cringed slightly as the rough fabric of her robes brushed a rather painful blister on her thigh.

"You will be doing no such thing.  Whatever it is can wait until you are healed, now lie back down, you aren't going anyplace tonight, or anytime too soon after I should think."  Hermione was forced none to gently back down into the bed.

            The supper came shortly after, along with Ron and Ginny Weasley, two of Hermione's closest friends.

            "Hey 'Mione how you doing?"  Ron asked as he sat next to her, looking longingly at the plate of high piled food on the girl's bedside table.

            "Oh, I'm alright I suppose."  She mumbled, but had little concentration to spare for idle chat.  She was currently using one hand to hold the plate of food in front of her, trying to use it as a guide for where her fork should go, but eating without sight was no easy task.

Ron and Ginny watched their friend struggle to feed herself for a moment, before Ginny said in a rather tentative voice, "Hermione, would you like me to, you know, give you a hand?"

Hermione shot a dirty look at the spot where she was sure Ginny was standing.  "I think I can feed myself by now," she said, but a look of disgust crossed her face as she took the next mouthful of food and spit it right back out.  "Ugh, well, maybe you could just, load my fork up for me, with things I don't hate."  She mumbled, and the redheaded girl moved to comply.

Ron and Ginny stayed with Hermione for quite a while, and were soon joined by Harry and Neville, the latter of which spent a good deal of time apologizing to the girl lying in bed.  Finally, at nearly nine o'clock, Madam Pomfrey sent the rest of the students back to their dorms, and told Hermione to get some rest.

The girl thought about asking if she could do her homework first, (Neville had brought it for her, hoping that it would cheer her up) but realized that she would not be able to see it anyway, and so she pulled a blanket over her, and did her best to fall asleep, doing her best to ignore the stinging sensation in her eyes.

Hermione awoke the next morning to the sound of hushed voices, though if she listened carefully she could just make out what was being said.

"Sir, I don't think it will come back, not for months at least!"  Madam Pomfrey was saying, and although her voice was quiet, it seemed rather urgent.

"Well there isn't much for it is there, she can't just lay in bed, not for that long, why the poor girl would go insane."  This was Dumbledore.

"Yes well, we can't have her bumping around the halls walking into any person who crosses her path now can we.  Dumbledore, I honestly think we should just send her home until the problem is fixed."  The third voice was Snape's, and while Hermione had no idea what they where talking about, something told her it was about her, and a shock of fear chased down her spine at the thought of going home.

"No, that won't do.  This is hardly her fault, we shall have to assign her a guide I suppose, somebody to stay with her, insure she doesn't go looking for the toilet and end up in a classroom."  Dumbledore said, and Hermione felt a sense of relief wash over her, though it didn't last long.  Why on earth would she need a guide?  She knew the school just as well as anyone else, probably better than most of the students.

"And who would you possibly condemn to such a fate?  The Potter boy is only in three of her classes, and Weasley only two, have you any other suggestions as to who would follow her around the school all day?"  This was from Snape.

"Why yes, Professor, I can think of one person who would be perfect for the job.  They have all the same classes, though there would need to be some slight changes in the timetables, they even have the same extracurricular responsibilities.  Why I daresay he is the perfect man for the job."

"No!"  The girl mouthed from her place in the bed.  "Not him, anybody but him!"  But of course, who else could it be?  They where going to make the Head Boy her guide.  She had no idea why, but it had to be something serious, for her to need constant supervision.

"You can't be serious Dumbledore!  The two of them would kill each other!"  Professor McGonagall said, and Hermione could not tell if she had just come into the conversation, or if she had simply been silent since she awoke.

"I certainly am Minerva.  Professor Snape, would you please summon the boy, I believe Ms. Granger is awake, and quite desperate to know what is going on."  Hermione sat up as she heard Snape's footsteps echo down the hall.

"What is going on then Professor?"  The young girl asked, she was not embarrassed to have been caught eavesdropping on them, asthey where talking about her and as far as she was concerned, she had every right to listen in.

"I am afraid it isbad news Ms. Granger**.**  The potion you where fixing, while in its complete form is a fine little shrinking potion, but leaving out the ingredients you had yet to add, well I am afraid it had some nasty effects when it touched your skin."

At first Hermione assumed he was speaking about the blisters, but as the thought came to her head, she realized that her body was now free of any of the painful marks.  "I don't understand?  Oh this is insane, may I please take this silly thing off, I hate talking to you when I can't even see where you are!"  She cried in outrage as she reached up and began to remove the wrappings covering her eyes.

She tore the wrappings away from her face, letting the lemon slices fall into her lap, but there was something dreadfully wrong.  "I can't see."  She whispered, blinking her eyes a few times, hoping against hope that they just needed to adjust to the sudden burst of light.

Nobody spoke for a moment, as Hermione's expression went from fear, to anger, to panic and back again.  It was Dumbledore who was first to find his words.  "The effects are temporary only; I assure you your sight will come back."

The young girl's head snapped to face the spot she thought the old man was sitting.  "Temporary!I heard you out there talking, you said months! I'm going to be like this for months!  I can't see!"  The last was shouted with a mix of rage and panic.

Professor McGonagall reached out a hand, placing it on her brightest student's shoulder, but the girl had not been expecting it, and flinched away from the touch.  "I'm sorry dear, that we can't do anything more, but we will do what we can.  Arrangements are being made as we speak.   Professor Flitwick is charming your school books to read aloud, so that only you may hear them, and Professor Snape has gone to fetch," the woman stopped, and Hermione was sure she was looking at the headmaster with a look of either insecurity, or annoyance. "A guide, to help you find your way to classes and such."

"Yah, that's great, I get to be stuck with the great and powerful Head Boy! Professor Dumbledore**,** there has to be another way!  I can't be left at the mercy of him, I can't!  He is likely to take me to the Forbidden Forest and leave me there, then tell you I just wandered away from him!"

"Now Granger, do you honestly think I would do something as underhanded as that?"

Hermione couldn't quite choke back the sob as the voice filtered from the doorway.  She may not be able to see, but the voice was unmistakable.  She heard Dumbledore's robes rustling as he got up to greet the newcomer.  "Ah, so good of you to join us Draco!"

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	2. Through Closed Eyes01

Through Closed Eyes 

_Chapter 1_

Hermione sat on the bed in the hospital wing of Hogwarts School, fiddling with the bandages that had been covering her eyes only moments before.  Draco had taken a seat by the door.  Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape and Dumbledore were sitting about the room as well, much to the dismay of Madam Pomfrey.

Draco had little idea of what was going on.  He knew only that something had happened to Hermione, and he was to look after her.  (Though he had every intention of finding a way out of that.)

"What exactly happened to me?"  Hermione had just asked, and while he had to look closely to see it, there was something strange about the girl's eyes, aside from the tears she was trying to hold back.

Draco watched as each of the professor's in the room looked down at their feet, apparently unwilling to answer.  It was Snape, who finally opened his mouth.

"Ms. Granger, the potion, as it was, had negative effects when coming in contact with human skin, as I believe you were already told.  One of those effects, should any of the mixture get into your eyes, is blindness.  The citrus juice Madam Pomfrey kept on your eyes all night was designed to draw out the poison, and the effects, but unfortunately the salve was not put on in enough time, and not all of the poison was removed."

Draco's eyes widened.  The girl was blind, and he was meant to help her out.  He wasn't sure if he should feel irritated that he had to baby-sit the poor little blind girl, or amused at the 'accidents' he could help send her way.

"The effects are only temporary though, right?  Madam Pomfrey said a few months, didn't she?"  Hermione was saying, and Draco turned to look at her.  Now that he knew, he couldn't understand how he had missed it.  Her eyes, while they still looked just like normal eyes, where not focused on the people she was talking to.  When Draco had marched into the room she had looked his way, but now that he thought of it, she had been looking slightly off to the side of him.

"Yes, we can't know exactly how long it will take, but your vision will come back.  It is our nurse's opinion that three or four months would be the longest it would take," Dumbledore said.

"Excuse me, but what exactly is my place in all this? Professor Snape said I was to look after Hermione in some way, and how exactly am I supposed to do that?"  Draco asked, and everybody's heads turned to look at him, save Hermione, whose head stayed down as she continued to pick at the bandages.

"We would ask you to be a guide for her Mr. Malfoy.  To get her to and from classes, help take notes, help her find the Great Hall, or one of her fellow Gryffindors so they might take her back to their tower.  We need you to be her eyes Draco, until she regains the use of her own."  This was Professor McGonagall, and the boy could plainly see his potions master scowling behind the old woman.

"And how am I to do that?  I have classes of my own to get to, homework of my own to do!"  He demanded.

"We will be revising your timetables slightly."  Dumbledore said, his voice had taken on the calm, but stern tone that meant that he was not angry, but what he said was going to be, one way or another.  "Your classes and Ms. Granger's are all the same, although they are spread out a little differently, we will simply put Hermione in a few classes with the Slytherins, and you, Mr. Malfoy, in a few classes with the Gryffindors."

"Professor, are you sure there isn't another way?  I mean, Draco cannot very well come into the Gryffindor common room with me, and surely I could just partner up with somebody in each of my classes!"  Hermione said, her head was now pointed in the general direction of the Headmaster.

"Ms. Granger, there is no need to put out the entire of your house.  Besides, there are meetings that only the two of you attend, places that only the two of you can go.  I am sure one of your friends would be willing to help you once you are in the Gryffindor tower.  Maybe young Ms. Weasley could move into your room for the time being."

Hermione was more than happy to agree to the last bit.  As Head Girl, she was given a private bedroom, and without sight, she would hardly be able to get around the room by herself.

Debating went on for quite a while, both Hermione and Draco using every excuse they could think of to have somebody else care for Hermione while she couldn't see.  Hermione even offered to try and do things on her own.  Surely there was some way she could get on by herself, but Dumbledore refused them all, and in the end, they where forced to agree with his terms.

"Very good, Minerva, if you could escort Hermione back to her room, and assist Ms. Weasley in moving her things, and then you and Severus can get started on the revised timetables."

Professor McGonagall stood and moved to the bed.  "Alright Ms. Granger, lets go."  And she placed her hand on the small of the young girl's back, helped her to her feet, and the two of them left the room together.

"Draco, you may go now, but when you awake in the morning, I would ask that you take your breakfast quickly and go to collect Ms. Granger.  You will have your revised timetable by then, I am sure."  Dumbledore said, and then left the room himself, closely followed by the rest of the teachers in the room.

Draco sighed, but did as he as told.  If he was stuck with such a rotten job, then he would just have to make the best of it.  As soon as he reached the common room, he went to find Pansy, asking her to help plan several rotten things he could do the know-it-all witch.

Hermione sat in the common room, along with Ginny, Ron and Harry.  Her three closest friends had locked her in vicious hugs when she told them the bad news, each of them promising to help with anything they could.  Ginny was already moved into the Head Girl's bedroom.  (Although the room seemed no smaller, even with the additional canopy bed.)  The other Gryffindors had come to offer help and condolences as well.

"I haven't told you the worst bit, yet," Hermione said after a while.  "There is only one person who has all the same classes as me.  Dumbledore is changing all my classes around, so that Draco can take care of me," she said, and her voice took on a sarcastic tone at the last words.

Harry and Ron both looked at her as if she had grown a second head. Ginny sent one glance at them and decided her opinion could wait.  "'Mione tell them we'll do it!"  Ron shouted, and Ginny cringed at his voice.

"Ron, I am sure she tried that," the redheaded girl said, shooting her brother an icy glare, but Ron failed to take the hint.

"Well you should try harder!  Hermione, do you have any idea what he will do to you?"  He was standing up now, pacing ever so slightly in front of his long time friend.  "He might, he might, I don't know… Dump you in the Forbidden Forest and leave you there!"

Hermione sighed.  She could hear the footsteps, so she knew he was pacing in front of her.  She too, stood up, wanting to keep on a level ground with him.  "Do you think I haven't thought about all of this?  There is nothing to it though.  I tried everything I could think of and Dumbledore isn't budging.  Now I had kind of wanted my friends' support instead of criticism."  She said, and turned away; walking very slowly in the direction she knew the girl's staircase was located.

Ron, Harry and Ginny where left to stare at the slowly retreating girl.  She made found the staircase almost exactly, though she needed to use her hands to feel around as she was a few inches away from them, but she found them quickly and disappeared up the stairs.

"You shouldn't have said that Ron.  She is under a lot of stress and I don't think now is the time to judge her for something she can't control."  Ginny said, before following her friend up the stairs.

Draco was chuckling lightly as he made his way into the Great Hall the next morning.  He and Pansy had come up with several little tricks they could play on Hermione that he couldn't possibly get blamed for.  Nothing overly big, just walking her into walls, replacing her charmed books with normal ones, simple little things like that.

His revised timetable had been brought to him shortly before he went to bed last night.  Today he had double Transfiguration in the Gryffindor class, then Charms and Arithmancy****in the afternoon, both with Slytherin.  He had a feeling he would enjoy his afternoon much better.

The other changes had included History of Magic, which he now had with Gryffindor, as well as Ancient Runes and Defence Against the Dark Arts.  Hermione would be having Astronomy and Herbology with the Slytherins.  Potions and Care of Magical Creatures would not change, as Slytherin and Gryffindor already had both classes together.

Draco entered the Great Hall and took his seat, glancing across the room to see that Hermione and Ginny were already seated and eating, although Ron and Harry were strangely absent.  He had thought they would be hovering over her like little house elves, trying to make themselves useful and only succeeding in being pests.

The boy turned his head from the girl, loading his plate up with all of his favourite foods.  He did not hurry his breakfast.  In fact he would have prolonged it, if it were only Hermione who would have been late for class, but he had to be there on time as well, and so he finished off his plate and got up to collect his charge.

The mood was bleak at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron had gone for breakfast early, so that they could be gone before Hermione and Ginny arrived.  The girls were not sure if Ron knew he needed to apologise and just was not yet ready to do it, or if he was simply not willing to speak to Hermione, but it was clear that whatever it was, Harry had taken his side.

"Ignore them 'Mione, that was what you always used to say to me, remember?"  Ginny had said, and while Hermione knew she was right, it was a completely different thing to actually do it.

The bushy headed girl had cried herself to sleep last night; everything was coming at her so hard and fast.  She had lost her sight for what could be as long as three or four months, she had to spend all her classes with Draco Malfoy, and now Ron was being his usual bull-headed self and Harry was going along for the ride.  She knew in her heart that it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.  The three friends had fought before, many times much worse than this, but it wasn't the same this time.  This time she needed her friends help, and support.  How on earth was she going to cope for four months without sight?

"Well Granger, I suppose we should be off to class,"  came the sneering voice that Hermione had half hoped would simply not show up, but of course, he was as bound by Dumbledore's rules as she was.  She stood up, and heard a chair across from her scrape along the floor, indicating that Ginny too, had risen from the table. 

"I have to go to, I have Divination and I really don't want to be late."   The redhead said.  The noise in the hall to much distraction, and Hermione did not hear the girls retreating footsteps.

"Come on then Granger, don't want to be late."  Draco said, and began to walk away.

"Wait!"  And the boy stopped, turning to see that Hermione had not yet moved.  "I can't hear where you are going.  I, I don't know where to walk."  She hung her head low, and Draco didn't attempt to hold back his laughter.

"Oh now this is rich!"  He choked out around his laughter.  "The all powerful Mudblood can't even find her way out of the Great Hall on her own!"

"Don't call me that."  The young witch said, but her voice wavered slightly, betraying the fear within her.  "Just lead me out of here, and I can follow your footsteps once we get into the hall," she said. 

At first she thought the he was going to leave her there, but after a moment more laughter, she felt his hand on the small of her back.  "Don't run me into anything."  She mumbled keeping her hands out in front of her to insure the boy didn't intentionally make a fool of her.

"Quite bossy there Granger, you have a lot of don'ts on your list."  She heard him say, and just as she was about to retort, her knee smacked painfully into the corner of one of the tables and she let out a yelp of surprise and pain.

"Draco you useless depraved little whelp!"  She cried, and several people turned to see what had made the girl who was usually more or less composed, and above such silly insults, turn into a potty mouth.

"Now, now Granger, don't bite the hand that feeds you."  Draco said, and Hermione could almost hear the grin in his voice.  She swallowed down her retort and let him lead her out of the Great Hall.

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	3. Through Closed Eyes02

Through Closed Eyes

Chapter 2 

"Granger, would you just bloody well wait!"  Draco exclaimed as he watched the young witch swish her wand and nearly transfigure his hand instead of the wooden chair she was supposed to be aiming at.

"Well, did I do it right?"  She asked, ignoring his outburst.  They where doing something more or less simple today, changing a wooden chair into a cushy armchair with ruffles and pillows that was big enough to fit two students comfortably.  Professor McGonagall had gone slightly more in depth when she described the hand motions required in the spell, and had then come over and watched as Draco took Hermione's hands and showed her how it was done.  For the shortest of moments, Hermione was reminded of one of those romance movies where the man would show the girl to swing a bat, or shoot pool, or some such nonsense in which he had to touch her, but she shook the thought away as soon as at entered her head.

"Yah, you did it right."  Malfoy mumbled, and had she been able to see, Hermione would have known that he did not meet her eyes when he said it.  "Now, if you don't mind I would like to take a chance to get my own work done before I have to come in after class to do it."  He said, and she heard him walk away.

The bushy haired witch sat down on the chair she had made.  It really was quite comfortable, it had turned out nearly perfect, although there was a lump here or there that she was sure wouldn't have been had she been able to see exactly what kind of a swish her wand was supposed to make.  Still, this accomplishment gave her a slight sense of hope for her future year at Hogwarts, as well as her NEWTs.  That was one of her biggest worries; she had the biggest wizarding tests any Hogwarts student would face at the end of the year, and she would not be able to see half of what she learned.

"Hey 'Mione!"  Ron said, and she felt the slight shift of weight as he sat on the arm of her chair, shortly followed by Harry on the other side.  "How is the torture session so far?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, although she was sure the fact that she must be looking several inches to the side of Ron would lower the effect, but the point would get across.  "Have you done the assignment yet?"  She asked, and didn't have to be able to see to know that Ron was looking at the floor.

"I just wanted to come see how you where doing is all."  Said the redhead hotly.

"No, you just wanted to see that I was having a miserable time and try and get me to come to your side of things."  She said, and she felt the weight of the chair shift as Ron once again moved to his feet.

"You know what, I'm sorry I ever came over here.  To think, I was going to apologize for blaming you for Dumbledore's mistake.  Hermione if I didn't know any better I would think you wanted Draco Malfoy for your keeper."  The boy's last words were said at a shout that could be heard by the entire class, and while Hermione could see nothing but blackness, she was sure that every eye in the room was on her.

"Harry."  She whispered.  She had not felt him get up from his place at her side.  "Can you take me back to the common room now?"  The boy gave a mumbled approval and took his friends arm.  Hermione did not see the nasty glare he shot at Ron, nor did she see that Draco had dropped his wand mid spell and was gaping at the two friends as they left the room.  All she knew was that Ron had stepped over a line, and she was not willing to face her classmates now.

A quick glance at the Gryffindor table at lunch told Draco that Hermione had gotten over embarrassment, as she was currently sitting with the little Weasley girl, one hand planted firmly on her plate.

He had been shocked by what the Weasley boy had said.  He knew it wasn't true, but he hadn't thought the boy had it in him to say something so hurtful to one of his best friends.  And, if Draco had been seeing things right, a best friend that the redhead quite fancied.  Malfoy shook his head, there was no point dwelling over it.  So the perfect Trio had it in them to hurt each other and that was no big revelation.  He did note, however, that Harry had abandoned the muggle born, and was now sitting back with the weasel.

"Draco, you still have charms with us right?"  Crabbe said as he took his seat on the boy's right, Goyle was just sitting down on the left.

"Yah, why?"

It was Goyle who replied.  "We got a plan, to screw up the Mudblood."  He said with a grin on his face.  Draco looked from one boy to the other.  Their plans rarely did turn out as they where supposed to, the two boys were more about muscle than mind, but anything to get at Granger would be worth hearing out.

"Okay than boys, what have you got?"

Things were not so bright at the Gryffindor table; Ron and Harry had both gone off to sit on their own, and where mumbling things together, Ron continually sending glares at the bushy brown haired witch at the very end of the table, even though he knew she couldn't see them.

Hermione and Ginny sat together, and Hermione had not stopped ranting from the point when Ginny had found her crying on the bed in their private dorm room.  "What right did he have?  In front of everybody too, Ginny. They won't forget he said that!"  She exclaimed.  Ginny smiled sympathetically, remembered that her friend could not see and then patted the girl on the shoulder.

"It could be worse."  The little redhead said, and received an off centre glare from her friend.

"How?"

"I don't know it could have been true."  She said, and couldn't help but grin as Hermione gave a shudder.

"Yah alright then, it could be worse.  How long is there till the next lessons?"

Ginny gave a loud sigh, ensuring that Hermione got the full effect of the motion.  "It is about five minuets closer than the last time you asked and in five minuets when you ask again I am going to slap you silly!"

Hermione scrunched her nose slightly, and uttered a quiet "sorry" before taking a rather large bite of her sandwich.

"Anyway, here comes his royal highness of bleach, and he brought along his bodyguards."  Ginny said, as she saw Malfoy, Crab, and Goyle coming towards them.

"Okay, you get on then, no need for both of us to face the wrath of Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber."  Hermione said.  Her friend uttered a quick goodbye and was off.

"You ready for class Granger?"  She heard the drawling voice of Draco directly behind her a moment later, and with a resigned sigh got to her feet, waited a moment before she felt his hand on her elbow, and the two of them walked out of the great hall, followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

The four of them walked in silence through the halls, and Hermione was able to follow the sound of their footsteps as they walked, though she stayed close enough to Draco that he could touch her arm slightly when they had to turn.  It was amazing really; in the time it had taken them to get from the Great Hall to the Transfiguration class that morning, the Head Boy and Girl of Hogwarts had come up with a system of elbow taps that were imperceptible to anybody else, and showed Hermione exactly where to go.

It wasn't long before they came onto the Charms class, and Hermione was led to a seat that she was quite sure was between Crabbe and Draco, with Goyle on the pureblood's other side.  Professor Flitwick gave the class a quick explanation as to why Hermione was in the class, and then progressed with the lesson. 

The lone Gryffindor scrunched her brows together as Flitwick began his lesson.  Her class had gone through this lesson early last week, what on earth was she going to do with her time if Slytherin house was so behind her own?  She waited until the teacher had finished speaking before raising her hand in the air.

"Ah yes Ms. Granger, if you will come along with me for a moment, we will sort you out."  He said, and she felt a hand too small to be Draco's at her elbow, and Professor Flitwick's voice directly beside her.  He spoke more quietly now, as if he was half hoping the others would not hear their conversation.

"I am aware, Ms. Granger, that you are slightly ahead of this class, but I believe that was why you where put in it.  I am to take this time to teach you a few charms that may help you get your bearings until your vision returns to you." 

Hermione cocked her head to one side, paying even closer attention to his words than she ever had.  Anything that could help her get around for the time being was something she would be more than happy to learn.

"Now this," He said taking hold of her hand and allowing her to feel the complicated swish of the wand, which was made harder due to the fact that she had to point it at herself. "Accompanied by the words 'Caecus Visum' will greatly increase your other four senses.  The words mean 'Blind Sight'. In plainer terms; it allows you to see the world around you, without using your eyes."

Hermione nodded, taking in every word he said, and practicing the movements of the wand as he spoke.

"The next spell, and one I am sure you will love, is the charm I used to make your books speak to you.  Simply incant the word 'Affor' while using this" He showed her another, much simpler, wand movement "while pointing the wand at the book, and it will be able to speak its words.  The charm I am showing you will allow only the caster to hear the words."

Again Hermione nodded, smiling as she listened to him show her several more tricks she knew would help her through this hellish ordeal.

Draco could not stop glancing in Hermione's direction every few moments.  He wanted to know what it was Flitwick was teaching her, and why she was missing the current lesson, surely she would not want to miss any important charms with her NEWTs coming so close.

"Draco you aren't paying attention!"  Pansy muttered from someplace to his left, and Draco looked quickly around.  The dark haired girl had pounced on the seat mere seconds after Hermione had left it, and had not let his attention leave her for more than a few moments since.

"I know the charm Pansy; I have been doing it right for ages. I don't need any more practice."

"Not that, I was talking to you and you where not paying any attention to me."  The female Slytherin said, and Draco shook his head.  The girl was insufferable, she constantly needed his attention and praise and he was getting awfully sick of it.  He was used to getting attention, not giving it, and Pansy had long since stopped giving him any extra attention.  "I was saying," she continued. "That I think we should go to Hogsmeade together this weekend.  You could treat me to some tea from Madam Puddifoots."

Draco's head snapped up at this, a horrified look on his face.  "Where?"  He asked, he was sure he must have heard her wrong, he was sure she had asked him to Madam Puddifoots, and that place was only used by students who where going steady, or trying to be going steady.

If Pansy was at all put off by the look on Malfoy's face she did not show it.  "Madam Puddifoots, I thought we would go and have some tea.  This is the first Hogsmeade weekend, and I think it would be good if we started it out together."

The look on Malfoy's face had changed naught.  Was she asking him to be her boyfriend?  He wasn't ready for a girlfriend, and certainly not one who was so self-absorbed.  He was had enough of that going on for two.  "What?"  He asked.

Crabbe and Goyle where both looking at the two Slytherins, trying to hide their chuckles from Malfoy, knowing he wouldn't like the fact that they where laughing at his expense.

"Draco, honestly. Even when you look at me you don't pay attention.  Well anyway, I already decided that was what we where doing, and don't bring that Granger girl, it wouldn't do to have a silly little charity case come along on our first date."

Malfoy still sat in his seat, mouth hanging slightly open and a look on his face that was somewhere between disgust and shock, but before he could tell the girl to back off, the bell had tolled and she had picked up her books and flitted off on her way.

"What the hell just happened?"  He asked the two boys, who had managed to get their chuckles more or less under control.

"I think you have a date, mate."  Crabbe said, patting the boy on his back.  "Not to mention a little Mudblood to baby-sit.  See you back in the common room."  And with that both his friends went on their way, leaving Malfoy to collect his charge and move on to his next class, still trying to puzzle out what on earth had just happened.

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	4. Through Closed Eyes03

Closed Eyes

_Chapter 3_

 Arithmancy went off more or less without a hitch.  Draco would read Hermione the problems from the board, and she would solve them in her head.  It was not long before she was doing the work in her head just as quickly as she had ever done on paper.

When the class ended, Draco packed his own things, then waited less than patiently while Hermione packed up her own things, eventually getting upset with her and shoving her out of the way to toss them carelessly into her pack.

They made there way into the Great Hall slowly; as Hermione seemed to be running into every wall they passed (Draco couldn't help but shudder at the horridness of Crabbe and Goyle's master plan.)  But they soon arrived in the crowded room.  "Where should I dump you then?"  He asked as the entered the large doors, but the question was soon answered when another hand touched on Hermione's other arm.

"Come on, I saved you a spot," came a voice she recognized as Ginny's.  Hermione turned her head in the direction she thought Draco was standing, unsure as to whether or not she should say goodbye, but Ginny was pulling her away and she did not get the chance to think about it any longer.

Ginny helped her friend see where to sit down, and then began filling both of their plates in accordance with Hermione's wishes.  "So, how was the afternoon?  Did Draco bugger you over in both your classes?"  Ginny asked after she sat down

Hermione was giving most of her attention to the fork she was currently stabbing in general areas around her plate, hoping to spear some bit of food.  "I don't think so.  Professor Flitwick took me aside to show me some private things in charms, because the Slytherins are behind us, and in Arithmancy he just had to read me the questions, and I used a charm Flitwick taught me to bewitch my quill to write whatever I told it to."  She said, and than gave a small shout of victory as her fork finally managed to spear what felt like a piece of boiled potato.

Draco stood in his spot a few moments, watching Hermione as she sat down and attempted to get some food on her fork.  He laughed as he watched her struggle, but he couldn't help but notice that the laugh held less, much less, malice than usual.

He sighed after a moment and turned to walk to the Slytherin table, but stopped a few feet away when his eyes set on the dark haired girl sitting there chatting with her friends.  They were meant to go on a date that weekend, it was Monday now, which meant he only had four days left to find a way out of the date that he had not agreed to go on.

He decided to avoid that side of the Slytherin table, and instead sat at the other end, finishing his meal quickly and then making his way into the Slytherin common room.

"Draco, hey!"  Malfoy turned and saw Crabbe and Goyle coming towards him, both had their hands full of random sweets they had taken with them from the supper table.

"Did you run her into the walls like we told you?"  Goyle asked, a great smirk on his face that showed just how clever he had thought this plan was.

"Yah, for a bit, it just got old after a while though.  You two really should let me make the plans."  Malfoy mumbled as he continued on his way to the common room.

"You get a gift for Pansy yet?"  Crabbe asked, and at this Draco did a double take.

"A gift?  What the bleeding hell would I get her a gift for?"

"Well, it is your first date, and all the other girls got gifts from their steadies on their first dates, it is a tradition.  Blaise got an emerald necklace, and Adrian got wicked broach with a snake eating a lion."  Said Goyle around a mouthful of pastry.

"Yah well, I am not Pansy's steady and I do not plan to become one, so she will be getting no trinket of jewellery from me.  Besides I just spent the last of my pocket money for the week on repairs for my broom."  It was true that Draco had drained the pocket money his father had sent him for this week, but he did not mention that he still had most of what had been sent to him over past weeks hidden under his mattress.

Crabbe shook his head.  "Yah well, I don't want to be you when Pansy finds out you are not giving her a present.  You might want to find a charm to make your ears fall off or something, because if you don't your head will never stop hurting."

Draco sent a glare at the two boys, but neither had anything else to add and so the conversation was closed, and for once Draco had not quite won.  "Women."  He muttered under her breath.

"Men."  Hermione exclaimed as she collapsed onto her bed.

Ginny gave a sympathetic look out of sheer habit, then remembered that Hermione could not see and said, "You know 'Mione, they don't do it on purpose, they just haven't got a clue how to talk to you.  You know how boys are, no sense at all."

Hermione gave a great huff that implied she did not at all agree with the redhead's comment, but she said nothing.  Ron had once again tried to apologize, and once again Hermione had not been ready to accept, and so he had said she really should just marry Draco.  Hermione had been livid, and stood so fast she knocked her chair out from under her.  "Ronald Weasley you are a horrid little boy!"  She had exclaimed.  Ginny had been at her side then, and the two of them had escaped to the solitude of their private bedroom.

"Well, you have all your classes with Gryffindor tomorrow, which is something good right?"  Ginny said from some place across the room.

"Yah I suppose."  It was true, she had Double potions first thing, Care of Magical Creatures after lunch, and then Defence Against the Dark Arts.  She was not much looking forward to them though, not with Ron and Harry still angry with her, but at least she would not be stuck with the others, and maybe she could have Dean or somebody trail behind her in between classes to make sure that Draco stopped ramming her into every wall they past, she was sure she had a nasty bruise forming on her elbow.

"Anyway, I have loads of homework to deal with, so I should really go and take care of it all.  Will you be okay if I go down to the common room?"  Hermione nodded and Ginny trotted off down the stairs.

This left Hermione sitting alone cross-legged on her bed, and she decided it would be a good chance to work on some of the new charms professor Flitwick had taught her. 

_"Caecus Visum."  _She cried, pointing her wand at herself, and all at once she felt the world around her come into a strange new focus.  She could hear the slight breathing coming from a spot near the bed where Crookshanks slept, smell the strange Jasmine perfume Ginny had put on hours ago.  In her mouth she could still faintly taste the dinner she had consumed in the Great Hall.  She could feel each ridge or dent as if they where great canyons, where seconds before she had thought there was perfect wood.

"Oh."  She uttered, and the whispered sound seemed to echo in her head.  It was like nothing she had ever experienced before; it truly was as if she could see without sight.

Taking in a deep breath, the young witch got to her feet and began walking around the room, touching this and sniffing that, getting the feel for what everything was and where in the room it was located.  She nearly stepped on Crookshanks several times, but after a while was able to tell where he was in the room by the sound of his breathing (which had become much louder after several tail stampings.)  It was truly amazing.  She smiled when her hand came to rest on the bookshelf.  She slipped one out of its case and pulled her wand back out of her pocket, uttering a quick _"Affor" and_ listening as "Hogwarts a History" was read aloud to her.

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	5. Through Closed Eyes04

Through Closed Eyes Chapter 4 

Grimmauld Place had changed a great deal since the days when it was the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.  When Sirius had died, it was Narcissa who inherited the building, as neither Tonks nor Andromida were still in the will.  (Nobody had quite puzzled out how the woman had not inherited it at the time of Mrs. Black's death.) 

Where once it had been a clean and beautiful place, decorated in yellow, blue and red, with even a few green accents, all meant to represent the great houses of Hogwarts School. The building was now decorated in nothing but black, with the odd silver accent in the hardware.  There were no pictures on the walls now, not even that of the great Mrs. Black.  Only the coveted Black Family tree had been spared, and it was covered with a black cloth, which was rarely drawn back.

The only exception to this rule was what had once been the dining room.  It was done up in beautiful gold and purple shades, the drapes hanging from every surface where a silky gold, the furnishings (though they where sparse) where done up in beautiful metallic purples.

There were tables lining each wall, but the only seat was on a raised platform in the center of the room.  It looked more like a throne than anything else, and on the back of the wood was carved a wilting black rose.

Sitting atop the thrown was the heiress to the Black fortune.  She looked regal there with her long white hair that hung just below her waist, though it was currently tied in a tight bun, not a single strand to be found out of place, with a tiara covered in tiny diamonds.

At her side, stood her sister, who had gained a great deal of her beauty that Azkaban had stolen from her.  This woman had a dark smile on her face and an empty look in her eyes.  Although this woman stood on the platform, she did not get a seat, she was not in charge, and it was well known that she was only number two.

People moved all around them, though each of them seamed to be in a rather zombie-like state.  They where all dressed in long dark cloaks, similar to those that the old Dark Lord had once placed on his death eaters, but these were slightly different.  None of them wore masks, trusting instead on the shadows of their hoods to hide their faces from prying eyes, and on their sleeve, where the Dark Mark would have marred their skin, was a black wilting rose, identical to that carved into the back of the throne.

Voldemort had been an amazing wizard, a man who knew what he wanted and had an amazing amount of power, but he had one great weakness, he was in fact a muggle born himself.  The last remaining Black women were sure that this had been his downfall, but they did not have this same weakness, both pureblooded witches with every power that came with the name.  They would continue their late Lord's work, but there would be one thing in his plan that they would change.  The Dark Lord had always wanted to get rid of muggle born wizards, exclaiming that they where a disgrace, but the Black women intended to take this a step further, they would kill all Muggles, and ensure that Mudbloods where a thing of the past.

_Hermione was back in her parents home, staring intently in the mirror.  There was something different about the reflection she saw there, something that she was sure was missing._

_"Do you see it?"  Came a voice from behind her, and Hermione shifted her glance to stare not at herself, but at the boy behind her.  He had shocking white hair, but she could not seem to make heads or tails of his face, it seemed as though it was nothing but a blank slate, with shadows for eyes, mouth and nose.  The young witch was sure she knew this boy, but she could not place a name to him, or connect him to any type of importance in her mind._

_"See what?"  She asked, her gaze slipping back to herself.  She was sure that this missing thing was dearly important, but she just could not figure out what it was._

_"Can you see what isn't there?"  The boy was asked._

_Hermione frowned slightly at the boy behind her, trying to make sense of what he had said.  "I don't understand, how can I see it if it isn't there?"_

_"Ah, not so clever as you thought are you.  What will you do if it doesn't come back?"  The boy had moved from his spot behind her, walking about her room, lifting trinkets that she had owned since she was a babe._

_"What isn't coming back?"  Her mind was racing, but her words where calm, as thought they where talking about nothing more pivotal than the weather.  She longed to turn and look at him face on, but something in her would not let her turn her head, so she continued to gaze at him through the mirror, which she noticed was beginning to fog slightly._

_The boy picked up a picture that had been taken the year before she went to Hogwarts, it was of a girl she had been great friends with as a child, the two of them had been inseparable for an entire summer, and before she left they had promised to see each other every summer.  "You can't keep your promise now can you."  The boy was saying, and though she could not quite see his mouth, she could somehow see a smirk on his face._

_"Why can't I?  Has something happened to her?"  She asked, but somehow she knew this was not the case.  "No, something has happened to me hasn't it."  She mumbled and the boy nodded._

_"You know I can't help you don't you?"  He said and for some reason Hermione nodded.  Yes she did know this.  "You have to wake up now Hermione."  He said, and even in this dream, Hermione was aware that this was a terribly odd thing to say._

_"What?"_

_"You have to wake up now."  But this was not the boy's voice at all it was,_

"Ginny?"  Hermione mumbled as she slowly climbed out of her sleep.  The dream was slowly fading from her mind and she found herself clambering to keep it there.

"Honestly Hermione, I thought you would never wake up!"  Ginny exclaimed, and her voice sounded as though it was already in the other side of the room.  Hermione gave a non-committal noise as she tried to grasp onto the dream, but for some reason the only bit she could hold onto was the gray shadows of eyes.

The brown haired girl grunted as lump of cloth hit her in the chest.  "Get dressed 'Mione, we are already late!"  Ginny was saying, and Hermione absentmindedly began to pull the robes clumsily on, before having to pull them off again and removing her pajamas.  Somehow she had a feeling that today would be a long day.

Draco glanced at the door to the Great Hall, from which his current charge had yet to emerge.  It was not like her to be late, but it was even less likely that she would miss the class.  He decided to wait for her a little longer not wanting to bring about the wrath of his Headmaster, or his Deputy Head Mistress, both of whom he was sure would be livid if he abandoned the girl.

Potter and the weasel had both left for class already, along with mostly everybody else, save a few students trying to finish the last bits of their essays before they absolutely had to be in class.

It was only a few moments longer before he saw Granger and the youngest Weasel all but running into the Great Hall.  Draco stood, meaning to meet them at the Gryffindor table, but the two girls where heading towards the Slytherin table instead.

"Granger, you are rather late don't you think?"  He said meeting her half way.

"Yah, I am, which is why we should cut out the chit chat and get to class."  Hermione said.  She seemed to be quite angry with herself for being late, and for some reason beyond Draco's comprehension, he did not continue to prod her, but instead took her elbow and the two made their way into the potions class, Draco did not even shove her into any walls on the way.

Professor Snape looked up when the two of them walked into the classroom.  "Well, it seems as though our Head Boy and Girl do not feel the need to arrive to class on time.  You were very sure that you would be able to attend all of your classes and make your N.E.W.T.S at the end of the year Mrs. Granger, I would not like to see you removed for the year."

Hermione gave a slight nod, and Draco led her to the table the two of them now shared together.

Potions class turned out to be a good deal harder than they had expected.  There was very little Hermione could do to assist with the Dreamless Sleep they were making.  The chopping of the ingredients was far too dangerous for her to do without sight, and she could not very well measure out the ingredients, nor could she read things to Draco off the board, and so she was more or less left to listen to Draco tell her what to do, and use the charm she had been taught so that everything Draco said to her would be jotted down.  It was by far the worst class she had to sit through so far, and was sure she had never been just so happy to hear the end of class bell ring.

She and Draco made their slow way out of class, as Hermione had to stay back so as not to be stepped on.  Next was Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid, and she was hardly looking forward to the prospect of listening to Draco moan on about how horrid a teacher he was.

"'Ello there 'Ermione, feeling a'right then are yeh?"  He asked, and Hermione gave him a smile.

"As best as I could be."  She said with a smile.  Hermione had come to enjoy Hagrid's class recently, as he began to think more and more before he let a creature loose on the class, these days all the students found the class quite as enjoyable as they ever had when Professor Grubbyplank was teaching.  Draco gave a slight 'Hmph' from his spot beside her and Hermione decided it would be best to get on before the boy had a chance to say anything offensive about the half giant.

"A'right class, today we are goin' teh do a bi' abou' carin' fer sick animals.  I wan' yer each ter split into pairs, and yeh will be given a diff'rent animal with a diff'rent somethin' wrong with it, yeh jus' gotta look it up in yer books and find out how to cure it."

The lesson sounded easy enough, but Hermione soon found that she could not search for one specific thing while her books where speaking to her, as they would read the entire pages.

Their animal was a niffler, who had come down with a horrid stuffy nose and was, obviously, found quite useless for sniffing out trouble.  Hermione and Draco where meant to find out what had caused the stuffy nose and fix it, but Draco was speaking quietly to Goyle and Crabbe about some nonsense about the Hogsmeade weekend and first gifts, and she was having a hard time finding the right pages to have her book read to her.

"Draco," She whispered, wanting to catch his attention and his only.  He continued to speak to his gooiness as if he had not heard her.  "Draco!"  She said a little louder, and this time she heard him sigh, and a slight scrape of chair as he presumably turned to look at her.

"What do you want Granger?"  He asked.

"I want you to help me like you are supposed to."  She said motioning to the book lying on the table.  "I can't skim the book."

Draco let out a dramatic sigh and moved the chair next to her.  "You are teachers pet, I don't know why you don't ask the big stupid lump to tell you the answer."  He mumbled, but she could hear the rustling of the pages as he began to look through the book for nifflers with stuffy noses.

It was a fair bit of time before Draco was finally able locate the section entitled "Nifflers without Sniffers" and began reading off possible symptoms.  "I think he has this one, the 'Niffle Poppers', ugh it's got snot bubbles stuck in its nose!"  He exclaimed.

A disgusted look brushed across Hermione's face.  "Oh. What do we have to do to get rid of them?"  She asked, though she was sure she already knew the answer.

"Poke something up the noses and pop the bubbles."  He said, and had Hermione been able to see him she would have seen a look on his face that matched her own.

"Well let's get to it."  She said, standing to her feet.  "Just hold the poor thing still and give me something to stick up there."  Draco was quick to comply, and Hermione was sure it had much more to do with his intense need to not be anyplace near a niffler's snot-bubble, than actually doing what she said.

Draco grabbed her wrist and guided her hand holding the stick to the niffler's nostril, and then turned his head away as Hermione began to slide the stick into the poor thing's nose.  There was a loud pop when the stick made contact and a split second later Hermione's entire arm was covered in the slime.

"Good job there 'Ermione! Didn' think you two would figure it out tha' quick."  Hagrid said from someplace behind her.  "Yeh can go ahead into my cabin and clean yerself up a bi'."  He said, and Hermione called back a thank you before holding her arm out for Draco to take and lead her to a place to clean up.

The Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher they had gotten this year was a man not unlike Professor Lockhart of their second year.  He was a tall man with perfect blond hair and a smile to melt any brainless twit's heart.  His name was Professor Oramont, and although he was a pretty boy, he knew his dark arts and was more or less an adequate teacher.

Class that day was one of the less memorable times, loads of notes, mostly on different spells that have been used directly against You Know Who.  Hermione set her quill up so that instead of her voice, it would write to the voice of Professor Oramont, and spent the entire class listening closely to every word the teacher said.  
  
Most of what was learnt in that class were things that she had already known, either from being there when the spells where used, or from hearing about them first hand from the members of The Order so she found the class very uneventful, but it was an hour spent without paying much attention to the problems currently facing her.

"The Stupefy curse, has of course been used to defend against You Know Who, although it takes a powerful wizard to have this particular spell make any effect to the powerful wizard, as his magic makes certain spells much harder to make effective."

Hermione remembered the battle that had occurred last year, in which The Order Of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters had finally had it out for the last time.  It had been a desperate battle, and they had lost several good members on their side, Tonks, Mundungus, and several others where now nothing more than a memory.  The stupefy spell had been very effective against the wizard when she had blasted him with it, buying Harry the few seconds he had needed to cast the final "_Avada Kedavra"_ that had ended the war, but when Luna Lovegood had tried to use the spell, it had simply rolled away when it hit him, and she had been sent flying into a wall when the spell bounced off of him.

The battle had been a hard one, hardest on Harry, who had been forced to kill a man, simply because some woman had given his birthday in a prophecy.  They were all glad the war was over now though, even several of the Slytherins seemed to have had a weight lifted off of them when Voldemort was defeated.  Draco had been upset at his father's imprisonment, but Hermione was quite sure that while the young Malfoy supported his father, he did not in turn support Voldemort.

"Thank you class, that will be all for today."  Hermione looked up when she heard this.  Her thoughts had been drifting for an entire class.

"Come on Granger, I don't want to sit around here all day."  Draco snarled from behind her, and Hermione quickly grabbed her roll of parchment and the quill that had been keeping her notes, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, and carrying the papers so Draco had nothing left to complain about, the two of them left the classroom.

"Mistress, we have word from Hogwarts," said a man wrapped tightly in his cloak. 

The white haired woman on the thrown smiled down at him.  "Yes, and what is this news?"  She asked

"Apparently the young Granger girl who captured Mr. Lestrange has come down with a slight case of blindness and the headmaster has assigned her somebody to act as her eyes."  The man said, he was on his knees looking at the ground.

"Blind is she?  Who have they got watching over the girl?"  She asked, and dark smile spread across her face.

"Young Lord Malfoy, Mistress."  He said.

"Young Lord Malfoy?"  The black haired woman said, and wore a smile that matched that of her sister.  "Well, this is an interesting situation isn't it?  Miles, go and fetch us an owl, I think I should like to send a letter to that dear little boy."

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	6. Through Closed Eyes05

Through Closed Eyes

Chapter 5 

Being blind is something you cannot understand until you actually experience it.  Sure you can slip a blindfold over your eyes, or turn off every possible light, but in the back of your mind you know that you only have to flip a switch or untie a not and once again you will be able to see. Actually losing your vision was something completely different, and something incredibly hard to cope with. 

Hermione Granger was doing an incredible job of coping with the loss of her sight.  She still had dreadful nightmares on a nightly basis, and she still tended to panic every morning as she opened her eyes and found herself without sight, but after a few moments of adjustment she was on her feet and ready to go to class.  Ginny was helping a great deal, taking her to and from the Great Hall for breakfast and Supper, as well as bringing her books from the library several times a day, but when it came down to it, Draco Malfoy was by far the person who had helped her the most through her classes, which in the end where what she really cared about.  Like it or not, Hermione truly owed Draco a debt.

"Granger are you listening to a single word I am saying?"  Hermione snapped her head up to the general direction of the voice.  They where in Astronomy class, Draco had been copying down the star chart and telling Hermione the locations of things, pointing out the movements they had made and any anomalies, but Hermione had not been paying attention to a word he had said.

"Oh, I'm sorry."  She muttered.  "I was just thinking."  She cursed herself mentally, she never 'just thought' during class, and now she had done it twice in as many days.  She was blind, not stupid. She honestly needed to get back with it, but there was just nothing she could do any more.  It seemed all she could do these days was burst snot bubbles so a niffler could smell again.

"Yah well, if you have to think about something try thinking about the work, I am getting right sick of doing all the work for the both of us."  Draco mumbled, and Hermione heard the metallic sound of his adjusting the telescope.

"Sorry."  She mumbled.  "How long is there left of class anyway?"  She asked.

"A few minutes, but we are supposed to stay as long as it takes to finish our assignments, and ours is hardly done."  Hermione gave an embarrassed look.  This was in large part her own fault.  The class had been working in pairs, one person checking the scope and the other jotting down the location they where told, but as Hermione could not see what she was doing, Draco was forced to do both jobs on his own.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"  She asked, and Draco gave an incredibly irritated sound.

"Yah, you could be a less clumsy potions partner."  He muttered, but Hermione heard him clearly.

Hermione sighed, doing her best to beat down the urge to fight back.  He was being rude and she had every right to snap back at him. His comment had been offensive, but she simply did not want to start a fight with him.  He had helped her greatly and she truly had been nothing but a burden on him, she supposed he had the right to be upset with her.

The bell rang shortly after, and Hermione heard the other students get up and leave the class.

"Draco, do you want me to give you my notes so you don't have to be stuck here with that stupid little Granger girl?"  She heard Pansy say from some place behind her.

"No Pansy, I don't, I am planning to get good grades in this class."  Draco said, and Hermione heard the dark haired Slytherin give an indignant 'hmph' and walk away.

Hermione frowned.  "You didn't seem that happy to hear from her."  She said.

"Yah well, I wasn't."  Draco said.

"Why not? I thought you two got on well, I always hear her talking about you, and in the laboratory last week I heard her telling Blaise and Millicent that you two were going steady."

Draco turned so quickly he knocked over his telescope, but he paid it no mind.  "She said what?" he demanded.

Hermione took a step back, and ended up falling over and landing flat on her backside.  She gave a slight moan of pain.  "She said you where going steady. Jeez what is your problem!"  She demanded, not bothering to climb back to her feet.

"My problem is that _bint_ is spreading dirty rotten lies and one day soon she is going to regret it."  He said, and there was nothing but malice in his voice.

Hermione sat still where she was.  Draco sounded truly angry and seeing as how she could not see him at all, she decided it would be best to simply wait for him to cool down somewhat. 

"That bloody girl."  He mumbled, and Hermione heard as he started to pick up the telescope he had toppled over.  "Thinks she can make something real by telling people it happened.  Honestly you would think she was some kind of god, or at least that is what she thinks of herself."  He was mumbling.

"Draco, isn't that more or less you see yourself?"  Hermione asked, unable to hold back that one comment.

His head snapped to her, and she heard a metallic clang that she could only assume was one of the bits of the telescope falling to the ground.  She was certainly glad it was his they where using and not her own, as the poor thing was sustaining quite a deal of damage at Draco's hands.

"I do not think of myself as a god, I simply know that as a Malfoy I am slightly superior to the rest of the world."  He said, and Hermione could not hold back the undignified chuckle that broke past her lips.  "What?"  Draco asked, and his tone made it quite clear that her answer had better be to his liking as he was in a less then charitable mood.

Hermione sighed and got to her feet, feeling around for a chair, and making quite a fool of herself as she did so, though she did not let it show.  "I just mean," She said once she found a perch on a desk.  "That if you honestly think you don't consider yourself a god, you are incredibly deluded."  She said, and had she been able to see she would have surely shied away from the look the young Malfoy boy was sending her.

"You, Miss. Granger, need to get yourself in check before you upset the wrong people."  He said.  His voice was calm, but full of a malice that would make most grown wizards flinch.  Hermione on the other hand, simply smirked and cocked her head slightly to the side.

"I suppose then, that you are the wrong sort to upset?  What are you going to do to me Draco you don't have any Daddy to sick on me now?  Your name isn't nearly as strong as it once was and you know it."

Draco's eyes narrowed, though the effect was lost completely to Hermione's unseeing eyes.  "You need to watch your tongue Mudblood!  I can do plenty of damage without any help from that useless ponce!"

Hermione's grin did not waver. He had been throwing around threats like wildfire ever since his father had received his kiss, captured by, as unlikely as it sounded, Neville Longbottom, with a perfectly place leg locker curse.  The threats had all been empty though, and Hermione had no doubt that this one was no different.  "What can you do to me Draco?  What exactly would you do that I couldn't counter, couldn't find a way around?  Face it Draco, I am just as good as you and better, me, a muggle born."  She was pressing his buttons, and doing so intentionally.  She had taken as much of his talk as she was going to.  Sure he was helping her out at his own inconvenience, but he was only doing so because Professor Dumbledore had told him to.  She had had enough of him and she was done being a doormat to his little games.

Draco was floored.  Nobody spoke to him like that, especially not somebody as simple as Hermione Granger.  No, simple was not the word for her and he knew that.  She was smart, for a muggle born she was a near genius, hell she wasn't even that slow by wizarding standards.  She was a muggle-born though, and that was plenty enough to make her shut up and keep in place, especially now that she was so impaired.  "Granger you couldn't come close to meeting my strength!"  He shouted.  He was standing several feet away from her, as she had put nearly the entire room between them when she had fumbled for a place to sit.  Somehow he didn't think this had been coincidence.  She was sitting atop the desk now, legs crossed and arms stretched behind her holding up her weight.  She looked perfectly comfortable with herself, and this only upset Draco more.

"You want to make bet on that?"  She asked, and at this Draco could not help but incline an eyebrow.

"What exactly do you mean by that?"  He asked, as angry as he was, this statement was not one he was willing to ignore.

Hermione shifted slightly, adjusting her position to make herself more comfortable.  "A wizarding duel, with a few extra rules thrown in.  We stand still, due to my little handicap and when one surrenders, the other has won, no take backs and no spells after the surrender."

Draco stood looking at her, mouth slightly ajar and feeling completely dumfounded.  Was she honestly proposing they have a duel while she couldn't even see?  All he had to do was whisper the curse and she would never see it coming.  "You want a duel?"  He asked he knew the question sounded stupid but he was having an extremely hard time wrapping his mind around exactly what it was she was proposing.

"Yah. I am."  She said, and she gave a little hop to take herself off the desk, and there was a bounce to her step as she moved a few steps away.  "Stand directly in front of me, no cheating now, and lets see what you can do."  She said.

Draco grinned and moved to comply.  "Alright Granger, on the count of three then."  He said, moving to comply with her orders.  "One."  He said

"_Caecus Visum" _Hermione muttered under her breath, waving her wand at herself.

"Two."  Both young wizards took deep breaths, both readying themselves for a battle with a foe that, though they would never admit it for anybody to hear, was quite worthy with whom to do battle.  "THREE!"

Both cried their spells simultaneously.  A deep "_Stupefy!"_  And a slightly higher pitched _"Expeliarmus!"_

The two spells collided in mid air, and as the blue and red beams collided, instead of one of them overpowering the other and sending through to continue its attack, they both changed to a shade of purple and continued on their paths without missing a beat.  Both the children where caught completely off guard; Draco because he had been so sure his spell would win out; and Hermione because she could not see the bright light coming right for her.  The spells hit both of them square in the chest, but instead of doing what they where meant to, both spells knocked the wands out of the children's hands, as well as the consciousness out of their bodies.

Hermione was the first to come to, and though she had no idea how long it had been, she was sure it was only a few moments.  "Oh, what happened?"  She groaned as she sat up, reaching a hand to rub her head where it had collided with the floor.

"Granger what the hell did you do to me?"  She heard a grown from someplace across the room, which she was sure was a good deal away from where Draco had been when she sent out her spell.

Both where confused and disoriented, unsure of what had just happened to them, and what effects it would have.  "Where is my wand?"  Draco asked after a moment, and Hermione noticed that she too was missing her wand.

"My own spell came back at me."  Hermione mumbled as she fumbled blindly for the bit of wood that held so much power within it.

Draco looked up at her, wondering exactly what she was talking about.  Then he realized, she had used the disarming curse, and he had used stupefy.  The spells had not come back on their caster but combined together to create one spell that seemed to have a double purpose.

Hermione too, had come to this conclusion, and Draco stared at her as her mind worked feverishly to come up with the answers.  He watched as her nose scrunched up ever so slightly in though, it was really rather cute.  He shook his head, realizing the thought that had just ran through it and wondering where on earth it had come from.  He did not dwell on it long though, as there where more important things at hand.

"I need to go to the library; can you get the Astronomy notes from Pansy after all?"  Hermione asked after a moment.  When all else failed, she always fell back on her tried and true books.

Several hours later Hermione sat in her dorm room, her bed covered in books, each of them spattered with bits of paper sticking out from several of their pages.  Draco had taken her to the library and helped her find several books that may have been useful to the subject, two or three of them where books she had already read and simply thought may be useful to check through again.  Normally when Hermione used her books for research she left them open to whatever pages she needed, putting to memory the page numbers that she thought she may need to check back to, but without her sight, she had to resort to bits of paper, as leaving the books open meant each of them read their pages at once.

She pointed her wand at the clock on her nightstand and muttered a quick _'Affor' _to find that it was already two o'clock in the morning.  She would have to go to bed if she stood any hope of staying awake for her classes next day so she reluctantly set her books aside.  Next day was Thursday, which did not leave her much time to do any more research, and she would need new books for she had thought of several that she was sure could be put to use, but for now she would simply go to sleep.

She sighed as she put the books up, and as she fell asleep her thoughts where of the white haired Slytherin with whom she was forced to spend so much time.

_"When are you going to find it?"  Asked the boy.  He was standing directly behind her again, leaning one hand on the back of her chair.  Hermione shuddered slightly at the closeness of him._

_"I still don't understand what you are talking about."  She said.  The mirror before her was now quite foggy; she could still make out each of the figures within it, but just barely._

_"No, you wouldn't.  I honestly though you where clever enough to understand all this.  I suppose I underestimated you; something I didn't think I could do."  He said with a chuckle._

_"I wish you would just tell me what it is you are talking about.  I know it, I'm sure I do, but I just cant seem to pull it to the front of my mind."_

_The boy's shadowy mouth quirked into a smile and he lifted a lock of her hair into his hand.  Hermione was shocked to find that though she could see the lock of hair lifted into his hand, she did not feel the movement of the hair behind her._

_"Why do you keep coming back to me if you are not going to help me?"  She asked._

_"Would you like for me to leave?"_

_Hermione shook her head. No, she did not want him to leave.  He was the only thing in this strange place that seemed to make any sense, even if he was the part of it that frightened her the most. No, that wasn't true, the part that frightened her most was the fact that she was missing something terribly important, something she could not seem to put a name to._

_"You can't do this on your own you know, but I can't help you."_

_Hermione nodded. Yes she knew he could not help her, he had told her that the last time.  The last time?  Yes, this was the second time they had met; yet she could not seem to find even a few seconds between the two meetings.  Everything felt so strange in this place, she longed to be back at Hogwarts where things where normal._

_"Normal is an illusion Hermione." He said, and she frowned again.  Somehow it felt wrong for him to use her name like that, somehow she was sure he should be calling her something different, yet it did not occur to her that she should find it odd for her to read her thoughts._

_"Get up Hermione."  He said, but his lips did not move.  "Get up Hermione!"  This time the voice was not his, but that of -_

"Ginny?" Hermione asked, rubbing her palm against her eyes.  She felt a quick jolt as she opened them and found she could not see, but it passed quickly and she took a moment to take a deep breath. "I had the strangest dream." She muttered as she struggled to fight off the last remnants of sleep.

"A nightmare?"  Ginny asked as she shuffled around the room, setting Hermione's robes on the bed beside her.

"No, not a nightmare." The older girl said as she began to change.  "Just strange.  I think I have had it before, and it ended nearly the same way, with you breaking through it, as if it was trying to stick around as long as it could." She shook her head. "Oh well, no time to worry about that now is there.  Let's get to class."  She said, climbing to her feet.

The dream had unnerved her, but it had flitted out of her mind as she awoke, and there was nothing left of it but the shadows of a mouth forming a grin.  She sighed and shook off the dream; there were more important things to worry about than simply ponderings of the subconscious mind.

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