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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