Twenty three years had passed since the Second Wizarding War and Harry Potter thought that nothing threatened the safety of his family. Voldemort was dead, his daughter was in Azkaban, and many Death Eaters were kept in prison as well, while those who had been given shorter sentences were now considered safe and rehabilitated members of this new world. As the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry no longer heard many rumours about radical witches or wizards who wanted the return of Voldemort's ideology, or wanted a revenge on the man who destroyed their Master.
But no one, not even the boy who twice survived the Killing Curse, is able to predict a future and prevent bad things from happening.
It was a warm summer evening, after Albus's fourth year. Ginny and Harry were relaxing after a long day at work, enjoying their favourite programme on TV. Suddenly, they were startled by their older son's shouts:
"Yeah, just run away! Why not?!"
"I'm not running away!" Albus yelled back. "I'm ending this discussion because you don't listen! You just want me to agree with you, and start shouting at me when I don't!"
Harry made a move to stand up but Ginny stopped him and just turned up the volume of the television.
"You're running away because you lost! You have no more arguments!" James was shouting even louder.
"Merlin, James, you really don't understand! A discussion is not a competition!"
"Sure it is! And I won!"
A moment later Ginny and Harry heard Albus running down the stairs and leaving the house, slamming the front door behind him. James cursed loudly and shut his room's door with a loud bang.
"Maybe I should go after Albus," said Harry, a little concerned.
"Leave him be. He needs to calm down. He'll be back soon," Ginny reassured him and they went back to watching TV.
Half an hour later, they were once again interrupted, this time by a silver pig unexpectedly appearing in the living room. Ginny and Harry recognised it as their neighbour's Patronus. It conveyed a simple but grave message before dissolving.
"Come quickly to the park. I found your son, Albus. He's unconscious."
Harry grabbed his wife by the hand and Apparated them both to the edge of the park, behind thick bushes where no Muggles could see them. They started to run down the path, looking for their son. After two minutes of hectic searching they found Albus and Mr Parker under a tree near one of less commonly walked paths.
"Albus!" cried Ginny and dropped to her knees beside her child.
Albus was still unconscious, and Ginny noticed that his clothes were covered in dirt, vomit and urine. Harry knelt down beside her and cast a basic diagnostic spell, informing him that Albus was alive and not in life-threatening state.
"What happened?" Harry asked Mr Parker.
"I was walking with my dog," the older man said, indicating his dog which was now licking the boy's hand. "After about twenty minutes I noticed something lying under the tree. When I came closer I saw that it's Albus. I immediately sent you a Patronus."
"Did you notice something or someone suspicious earlier?"
"No. Just a few people in the park, but I know them all."
Harry looked around, looking for any traces of attack or fight. The only out-of-ordinary thing he noticed was a patch of crumpled grass beside Albus, as if someone rolled around in it for a long time.
"Harry?" Ginny looked at her husband. "Was Albus attacked?"
"I don't know. He might have been," Harry took a deep breath to calm himself. "But maybe we're panicking. Maybe there's a more prosaic cause. Like an epilepsy attack."
"An epilepsy attack?" repeated Ginny doubtfully.
"Yeah, you're right, Mr Potter," interfered Mr Parker. "My brother has an epilepsy. I saw his attacks many times. He often loses consciousness after them. Or maybe Albus hit his head while falling down."
"Either way we need to take him to St. Mungo's," decided Ginny and stood up. She conjured the stretcher and gently moved Albus onto it, while Harry cleaned him with a quick spell.
"Thank you, Mr Parker," said Harry, looking at the older man.
"No need, Mr Potter, no need. I hope he's okay," Mr Parker said and grabbed his dog so he wouldn't be accidentally Apparated with the Potter family.
Harry took Ginny's and Albus's hands and Apparated with them to the St. Mungo's Hospital's Apparition zone. They went to the emergency ward and were quickly approached by a Healer.
"Mr and Mrs Potter," he greeted them. "How can I help you?"
"We found our son unconscious in the park, about five minutes ago," began Harry.
"Did someone see the exact moment your son lost consciousness?" asked the Healer.
"No, Albus was already unconscious when our neighbour found him. He left the house about half an hour earlier. He was alone," said Harry.
"We suspect he might have had an epilepsy attack," added Ginny.
"Does Albus suffer from epilepsy?"
"No," answered Ginny. "I don't think he's ever even fainted before."
"Does he have any chronic diseases or take any medications?"
"No," said Harry impatiently. "Do you know what's wrong with our son?"
"Mr Potter, I'm not omniscient. We need to cast diagnostic spells, run some tests before we can tell what happened to Albus and how to help him. We'll do our best."
Harry nodded, breathing deeply and trying to calm down.
"I'll take Albus to the examination room. Please, wait here. I'll inform you as soon as we know anything."
Ginny and Harry sat down in the chairs in the waiting area and the Healer took their son to the room at the end of the corridor.
"He'll be alright," said Ginny, taking her husband's hand.
"We don't know that," replied Harry, pulling his hand out of hers and hiding his face in his hands.
"But we can believe in it. Let's stay positive and wait for what the Healers will say." Ginny stroked Harry's hair. "We need to tell Lily and James where we are. They'll be worried."
"Right," agreed Harry, glad to have something to do. "I'll Apparate home and tell them what happened. Should I bring them with me?"
"Not yet. Tell them that we are at the hospital with Albus, and that we don't know anything yet, but we'll come for them when we learn anything. Don't worry them too much, tell them that we are optimistic."
Harry nodded and went back into the Apparition zone. He returned five minutes later, telling Ginny that Lily and James hadn't even noticed that they were gone.
"Lily wanted to come with me but I persuaded her to stay in the house. I asked James to look after her, but if we have to wait long here, I think we should ask Arthur and Molly to take them to the Burrow. Do you know anything new?"
"No. No one came to me while you were gone," said Ginny.
Harry started to pace back and forth along the corridor. Ginny brought tea for them, but Harry was too worried to drink it. The tea was cold when finally someone came to them. A young nurse told them that Albus had been moved to the Spell Damage ward, and that a Healer was waiting for them there with detailed information. Ginny and Harry rushed up the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator. The Healer was already waiting for them when they entered the ward.
"Good evening, Mr and Mrs Potter. My name is Katherine Austen and I'm taking care of your son."
"Do you know what happened to Albus? Can we see him?" asked Harry frantically.
"Of course. Follow me," she led them to the small, private room.
Albus was lying on the bed, pale and unmoving. He was still unconscious. Ginny sat in the chair beside the bed and started delicately stroking her child's face. Harry stood next to her and looked sadly at his son for a moment before turning his attention to the Healer.
"What's wrong with Albus? Why is he still unconscious?"
"I'm afraid I don't have good news." Harry's face fell and tears appeared in Ginny's eyes. "We cast many spells, ran many tests, called the best Healers in the hospital, but the diagnosis was still the same. It seems your son was attacked and- I'm so sorry but he- Albus was tortured. With the Cruciatus Curse."
Ginny whimpered and broke out into tears. Harry grabbed the chair's back so hard that it creaked in protest. They both knew what it meant to be the victim of that terrible curse, but the thought that their child had suffered it, was much worse than any torture.
"And we estimated that Albus was tortured for about fifteen minutes."
Ginny was sobbing now, kissing Albus's hand. Harry sat down on the bed, too shocked to say anything, to even cry. He couldn't believe that someone could have done such a horrendous thing to an innocent child. And then an even more terrible thought occurred to him.
"Fifteen minutes?" he asked slowly and Healer Austen nodded. "People lose their minds after shorter time. Is he-?" he couldn't finish the sentence.
"We don't know. We can't tell anything about Albus's mental state until he wakes up. And we don't know if he will wake up at all."
"Can't you do something?" asked Harry in despair.
"We gave Albus potions to recuperate his nervous system and protect it from further damage. But it's all we can do. The rest is up to your son."
"Is that all?" asked Ginny. "We want to be left alone with Albus."
"There are a few other things you need to know, but I'll be quick." When both Ginny and Harry nodded, the Healer continued: "As a residual effect of the Cruciatus Curse, Albus's limbs are still trembling, and he may have seizures. But we gave him very good potions so these symptoms are under control and should be gone completely very soon."
Harry looked at Albus's hands and indeed saw that they were constantly twitching.
"There is another residual effect of the curse: the pain. Unfortunately, after such a long exposure to the curse, Albus will feel pain for a long time, even for a few months. We gave him a strong analgesic potion which he should continue taking after he wakes up. I'll tell you more about analgesic potions and their administration later."
Harry didn't think he could take any more bad information. But Healer Austen hadn't finished yet.
"There's one more thing. And before you ask and raise your hopes, I have to tell you that there's no cure for it, neither in our world, nor in the Muggle world," the Healer took a deep breath before continuing: "The Cruciatus Curse was mainly focused on Albus's head. It destroyed his optic nerves."
Harry knew what she was going to say but couldn't believe it even after he heard the news.
"I'm so sorry. Your son is permanently blind."
Harry and Ginny were sitting on Albus's bed, barely seeing their son through tears streaming down their faces. Ginny put her head on her husband's shoulder, and Harry was running his hand through her thick hair. Healer Austen had left them a few minutes ago, saying that if they had any questions, she would be in her office.
"It's all my fault," said Harry.
Ginny raised her head and looked at him, appalled.
"Harry! Not again! Not everything in the world is your fault!"
"But this is. I should have gone after him."
"And you wanted to," his wife reminded him. "I told you not to. So it's my fault. Or maybe it's Albus's fault because he left the house. Or James's because he argued with him. It's a lot of people's faults, Harry, but there's only one person to blame. The attacker."
Harry looked at her, gratefulness and love shining in his green eyes.
"And I will find whoever did this to Albus. And make sure that their punishment is severe. Even if it's the last thing I do."
"I know, Harry, but please don't lose yourself in revenge. Remember that Albus is more important than vengeance. He will need you."
"What are we going to do?" asked Harry, looking at his sleeping son. He looked so peaceful, not a sign of torment he had endured visible on his face.
"We're going to support him, help him, as we always do. We have to be strong for him. He's going to be in a bad state when he wakes up so we-"
"If he wakes up-" said Harry, recalling the ominous words of the Healer.
"He will! Do you hear me, Harry! He will!" insisted Ginny, trying to convince herself as much as her husband. "And when he does, he'll need us to help him adjust to this new life."
"But we don't know anything about blind people and how to help them."
"We'll learn everything. We can ask Healers, read books, meet some people who have experience in this area."
"I'm terrified," admitted Harry. "And what scares me the most is the moment we have to tell Albus that he's blind. He'll be devastated."
"I'm scared too," said Ginny, stroking Albus's dark hair. "But we can do it. As always."
Harry nodded, suddenly feeling very tired.
"I'll get James and Lily," said Ginny, standing up. "They need to know what happened to Albus."
"Of course," said Harry. Ginny kissed him and ran from the room to Apparate back home.
She returned after fifteen minutes, holding crying Lily by the hand. The girl sat down on the bed and put her favourite stuffed dog next to Albus's hand.
"Hi, Al," she said quietly, her voice breaking with sobs. "Please, wake up. Don't be afraid, I'll help you with everything. Just wake up-" she couldn't continue so she took Albus's trembling hand and squeezed it tightly.
"Where's James?" asked Harry, peeking into the corridor and seeing no sign of his older son.
"He didn't want to come," said Ginny.
"Why?! Doesn't he want to see his brother?"
"I don't know. When I told James and Lily what happened, Lily started crying and pleading to go to the hospital. But James- he just looked at me in shock and then ran upstairs to his room. I came to him but he locked the door and yelled at me to go away."
"That's strange. I know that he and Albus quarrel a lot but I'd never expect this-"
"I think-" started Ginny, looking at her daughter who had calmed a bit and was now talking quietly to Albus. "I think that maybe James feels guilty. Maybe he thinks that if he hadn't argued with Albus, Albus wouldn't have run from the house and none of this would have happened."
"We'll need to talk to him. Explain to him that it's not his fault," said Harry.
"Of course," agreed Ginny and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Harry, take Lily home and tell the family and Scorpius what happened. They can visit Albus but tomorrow's afternoon. And not everyone at once. He needs some rest and peace."
"I want to stay too. We both need to be here when he wakes up."
"Then you can come back. Take Lily home, inform everyone, ask Arthur and Molly to take care of James and Lily, then come back here."
Harry went over to his daughter. "Lily, you need to go back home."
"Dad, no," she said, looking at her father with big, brown eyes. "I want to stay with Albus. Maybe he'll wake up quicker if I talk to him."
"Lily, sweetheart, you need rest. Go home and get some sleep. You can come back in the morning," said Ginny.
"We'll tell you and James when anything happens to Albus," Harry assured her.
Lily sighed and got up. She made sure that Albus's hand was holding her toy dog and kissed him gently on the cheek. Harry's vision blurred at that sight.
"Come on," he said, clearing his throat and taking her hand. "I'll be back soon." Harry glanced at his wife. "Send me a Patronus if anything changes." Then, he and his daughter left the room.
Ginny sat down on the bed and took Albus's hand. She knew that it was going to be a long night. Her only wish was that tomorrow Albus would wake up, and that he would be sane. He might have been blind and traumatised, but if his sanity were intact, they could deal with everything else.