Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling

'The curse is supposed to paralyze the victim for the rest of his life. However, given that you stepped into 3-month-old magical residue, I suspect it must have only rendered your vision useless.' Madam Pomfrey told him.

Harry didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to nod? He did. It seemed very odd, now that everyone could see him and he could see nothing, he was suddenly very aware and conscious of his own actions.

'Why wasn't this taken care of in the clean-up?' Harry heard Hermione demand hysterically.

'The residue must have been so minimal that the spells just didn't pick it up. However...if it was that minimal, I think the damage will only be temporary, probably a two or three days, a week at most.'

'A week?' Hermione sounded faint, 'But it's Harry's NEWT year…'

'Don't worry about it, Hermione,' Harry said, suddenly very conscious that everyone was looking at him now, 'There's no use.'

'Yeah,' Harry heard Ron for the first time, 'We'll just have to wait and see then, won't we mate?'

'That was cruel,' Hermione sounded offended, but Harry grinned,

'Right.' Harry was grateful that he had a mate like Ron at times like these. Hermione was great, but her speciality lay in stressing Harry about everything. It was in her best intentions, of course, and Harry loved her for it, but sometimes he could live without the stress.

'I advise Harry to stay in the hospital wing until his eyesight comes back,' Madam Pomfrey said, 'It will be easier for him to access vital parts of the castle when he doesn't have his eyesight. Would one of you, perhaps Mr Weasley come and pick him up every morning?'

'Yeah, alright.'

'Then it's arranged. Harry, I'll see that your belongings are brought down for you. Now, off to bed you two, it'll be past curfew soon.'

Harry woke up and no matter how many times he shut and opened his eyes, the darkness was all he could ever see. It was almost as if he had never opened his eyes at all. Or as if someone had shut the blinds on the whole world, and no amount of blinking would help in that situation.

Harry's ears prickled as he heard someone enter the infirmary. It didn't sound like Ron. The footsteps were too slow, too soft, and Ron would have probably shouted his morning greetings from across the room.

'Sit down, Mr Malfoy, I'll get you a potion.'

It was Malfoy, then.

Madam Pomfrey sounded rushed. He heard her angrily muttering something about 'blasted students, don't know when to stop' as she passed his bed.

'Malfoy,' Harry said, not knowing where to look, 'What happened?'

'What's it to you, Potter?' Malfoy spat out, angrily.

Harry frowned, 'They're bullying you again, aren't they?'

'What the fuck do you know?'

Harry felt his face grow hot. Thankfully, his skin was too dark to turn an obvious bright red.

'I know enough.' Malfoy didn't say anything, so Harry continued, 'What spell did they use?'

Malfoy told him. ANd Harry scowled.

For the first time in his life, Harry was aware of what it was like to scowl. All his life, it had appeared in his face so naturally, but now he could feel his features distorting.

Harry very nearly blew up. He rubs his face with his hands, groaning softly into his palms.

The war wasn't truly over. What was leftover, like embers of a fire, it still hurt. It still burned. Afterall, what was left of the curse had taken away Harry's eyes. Not permanently, no. But it certainly showed that some things didn't just die away with Voldemort.

Some things just ran and hid in the darkest corners of the castle, pretending to be gone and at the same time putting everyone on edge.

'I appreciate the concern, Potter, but you don't need to worry your pathetic little head about me.' Malfoy's tone sounded amused, rather than malicious and hateful like usual, 'Why do you still wear glasses if you can't see?'

'Wha-oh.' Harry hadn't realised that he still had his glasses on. In fact, he hadn't even taken them off last night to go to sleep, he'd fallen asleep in them. 'Just out of habit, I s'pose.'

Harry heard Malfoy let out a soft snort, and grinned.

Just then, Madam Pomfrey bustled back into the room. 'Here you are then, Mr Malfoy.' There was a moment of silence, except for the clinking potion bottles and the sound of sparks(which Harry suspected was the healing spells). 'Well, that's all then?'

'Yes, thank you.' Malfoy said. He sounded much softer, much politer than he used to. Madam Pomfrey made a sound of satisfaction and left the room.

'How did you know?' Harry asked, when he thought they were alone.

'What d'you mean?'

'That I was blind. How did you find out?'

'The whole school's talking about it.' Malfoy said simply, and when Harry groaned, he added, 'News doesn't just stay put when it's the chosen one, what did you expect?'

Ron and Hermione came together. There was no real reason not to.

They had no classes that day(it was a Saturday), so they stayed in the library for most of the day since Harry didn't particularly feel like moving about the castle when he couldn't see anything.

He didn't tell them that, of course, but they were smart enough to know. Hermione was telling him all about these Potions things, and Transfiguration theory(Harry suspected she was trying to prepare him for class so that he wouldn't fall behind), and Ron supplied the dry sarcasm in between to keep Harry from dying of boredom.

His two best friends kept the conversation so that it was never-ending, never letting Harry feel left out.

Everyone else was being particularly nice to him too. Even Madam Pince held back from shushing him whenever ROn cracked a joke and he'd let out a bark of laughter.

Harry realised that he was noticing a lot more, now that he couldn't see. He noticed that Ron liked to tap his foot softly when he wrote notes, faster if the notes were very boring. He noticed how cheerful Hermione was trying to sound when she was reading out her notes, just for him.

It also turned out that Harry's handwriting was just as it was when he could see. Though, that could possibly say more about the state of his handwriting than how much he relied on his eyes for it.

What Harry seemed to think about most was not NEWTs or dry wit, or even the delicate whistling of the wind through the crack in the library window.

No, Harry's thoughts lay mostly with Draco Malfoy. He wondered what the platinum-haired boy was currently up to. He was most likely studying for NEWTs, just like every other seventh and eighth year(Malfoy was particularly focused on his NEWTs this year). But what if he was being bullied?

A lot of people said he deserved it. That Malfoy had been a bully for years and he was getting what was coming to him. That Malfoy was a Death Eater. But some bullies were turning very nasty. Some of the spells used on him were borderline dark magic.

Harry groaned, perhaps a little too loudly. Hermione stopped midway through a spell,

'Harry, what's wrong?'

'Sorry 'mione, I'm just -I'm just tired. I think I might go to bed for a bit.' Harry said, sounding a little too miserable. Or maybe he was just over thinking how miserable of a tone he was using.

'That's probably a good idea, it's getting late and we've been at for hours,' Hermione said softly. Ron stood up,

'I still need to finish my potions assignment, but fuck it. I'll take you to the infirmary.'

'Nah mate, I think I know the way back, I'll see you tomorrow, guys.' Harry smiled widely, though he wasn't sure where, or who to face. He navigated through the library easily. He had bumped into a first year, but all in all he was surprised at how good he was at being blind.

He didn't know the way back. Harry thought he must have walked right past the infirmary, and now he was lost somewhere in the castle.

He had wandered aimlessly for about 20 minutes when he heard a,

'Potter?' It was Malfoy, of course.

Harry felt his face instantly brighten.

'Finally! Someone I know. Listen Malfoy, as pathetic as it sounds, I'm lost, so if you'd be so kind as to lead me to the infirmary...'

'You do realise that you're on the third floor, Potter,' Malfoy sounded amused, 'And if I recall, the hospital wing is on the ground floor. How did you even manage to climb all these stairs without even thinking about that?'

Harry rolled his eyes, but really his face was growing incredibly hot. The truth was, he hadn't realised that he was climbing stairs until after he had climbed all three sets of them. Despite his sudden ability to notice things, he had gotten carried away with thinking about a platinum-haired, grey-eyed, and much-changed boy that it simply had not occurred to him that he shouldn't be climbing stairs at all.

'Whatever Malfoy. Turns out, I was not born with an innate sense of direction and I would be ever so grateful if you would so kindly show me the way back to the infirmary.' Harry remarked drily.

'Yeah alright,' Malfoy said, grabbing Harry's forearm. Harry stiffened a little at the gesture, then relaxed.

Draco placed Potter's arm on the stone railings of the stairs.

'Careful now,' he said softly, still holding onto Potter's robes so that he wouldn't walk off the end of the staircase while it was moving.

It was weird to see Potter so helpless. He didn't know where he was going, so his gaze was always pointing one way and he looked forever confused. Potter would simply follow the loudest sound he could hear.

Draco took this as a chance to really look at Potter. The fact that Potter usually had the ability to see had never stopped Draco from staring at him before, but now he could really look at him.

That seemed to backfire though, because Potter then said,

'Do you ever get the feeling that someone's watching you?'

Draco immediately jerked his eyes away from Potter, coughing uncomfortably, and turning dark red for the first time in his life,

'No, not really.'

Potter shrugged,

'Hm, maybe I'm just being paranoid...it's just weird when people can see you but you can't see them. You start thinking that everyone's just watching you.'

Draco tried to cover up his embarrassment with a snort,

'Not everyone has the time to stare at you all day, Potter.' Potter immediately started to deflate, and Draco fell into sudden guilt, 'We're on the ground floor now.' he said flatly. Then continued, 'But..um, well. There is something you can do. You can still see people with your hands. Feel their faces. My mother had to do that once. She lost her sight for half a year when she drank an overtly-concentrated potion. She'd make such a big deal out of it. It was fun when I was little.'

'I can't go around touching everybody in the face,' Potter laughed. No doubt he was imagining touching people like Filch and McGonagall. Malfoy smirked.

Harry tried not to let his nervousness show. He was talking to Draco Malfoy about touching.

'Well maybe not everyone, maybe just your friends.' He heard Malfoy say. Harry gulped,

'Can I try do it to you?' He was whispering just slightly, because he was afraid that at full volume, his voice would sound hoarse and uncontrolled.

There was silence.

'Alright.' Malfoy was whispering too now.

Potter raised a hand, and Draco grabbed it gently, pulling it closer to his face. He could smell Potter's distinct smell of mint and treacle tart and broomstick polish.

Potter's hands were calloused, like his own, from playing quidditch. But his touch was so very gentle, that he was tempted to close his eyes and just let Potter caress his face.

He had to bite down on his bottom lip to suppress a sigh.

Harry had never felt so nervous in his life. They were so close that he could feel Malfoy's hot breath against his mouth.

He had always imagined that Malfoy's skin would feel cold, like ice. But now, he realised that he was stupid to think that. Malfoy was human. He skin was so warm.

He could feel Malfoy's eyebrows and nose and lips…

He could feel Malfoy's breathing hitch and his jaw tighten.

Harry frowned,

'Why are you so worried?'

'I'm not,' Draco said, his voice scratchy and hoarse. He coughed. He stepped back from Potter, 'You should get back to the infirmary. I -I've got a Potions assignment that I need to do.'

Potter nodded sharply, a look of disappointment barely flashing on his face for a mere second.

'Here, this way.' Draco said, tugging at Potter's sleeve.

They got to the infirmary rather quickly. Draco wanted out as fast as he could get it. He had gotten Potter to his bed in the infirmary, and was almost out the door.

'Malfoy, wait.'

Draco stopped. His heart was beating fast. Oh the power that boy had over Draco. If only he knew.

'What is it, Potter?'

'I wanted to say thanks, for, you know, letting me 'see' again, as corny as that sounds.' Potter laughed, and Draco relaxed into a smirk.

'No problem.'

'I can't be captain!'

'Yes you can, Ginny, I believe in you. You're the strongest player in our team, I've no doubt you'll be great.'

'No, you're the strongest player in our team, Harry. You can't just bail out on us.'

'If you hadn't noticed Ginny, I'm blind. What do you expect me to do? Besides, it's only temporary. When I get my eyesight, I can take back my position as captain and seeker and you won't have to worry.'

'Alright...well, at least, could come for our first training session? I need moral support.'

'If you need me to...You'll be fine, Ginny, stop looking so green.'

'How do you know I'm green?'

'I can just tell.'

'You know...sometimes I feel like it's really odd that we're not going to end up together…'

'Yeah, we know each other so much, don't we?'

'Too bad you fell hard for Mal-'

'Ginny!'

'Oh, stop being such a bag of nerves! He's on the other side of the room, you prat!'

'You make it sound like I'm the only one who fell for someone.'

'Well, at least I've got a date with my someone.'

'Really? When?'

'Next Saturday.'

'Good for you.'

'Now it's your turn-'

'Shut up, Ginny. There's no way.'

'Hm, well you don't see the way he looks at you…'

'He doesn't look at me. Stop being so delusional.'

'Oh stuff it, Harry! You were obtuse even when you could see. I'm helping you here.'

'There's no way he looks at me.'

'Stop staring Draco, your fancy is showing.' Draco rolled his eyes.

'Shove it, Pansy.'

'Well, I would, if you didn't hog all the treacle tart. What is it? I'm guessing it smells like him?'

'Why's he talking to that Weasley girl for so long, anyway?' Draco demanded, spooning desert into his mouth.

'You do know they've broken up, right?'

'But-'

'You do know, they're never getting back together, right?'

'But how d-'

'Blaise asked her out. That's how I know, Draco.'

'And Blaise didn't tell me?'

'He didn't tell me, either, the prat. I had to eavesdrop on them. How fucking great is that?'

'Why were you even eavesdropping?'

'I had to know why Blaise was talking to the Weaslette, didn't I?'

'She could still ditch him for Potter,' Draco whined. Pansy raised her eyebrows,

'Honestly, Draco, you're pathetic. You've got a fucking chance now. Take it or leave it. And unless you're not a Slytherin, I suggest you take it.'

Draco groaned. Pansy made it sound easier than it was.

Harry was in the infirmary when Malfoy walked in the next morning, no doubt in need for a healing session after another incident in the hallway.

This time, Harry got off his bed and walked over to where Malfoy was learning on his. His held his hand out a little, so he didn't bump into the bed frame, and he felt a hand reach out and grab his.

Draco didn't realise he was doing it until he had done it. How Gryffindor. There was no turning back now. Potter didn't make a big deal out of it though, he simply smiled, using Draco's hand as a guiding tool to get into position next to Draco.

'Thanks.' Potter said it so casually, as if they hadn't just been holding hands, the bastard.

'No problem.' Draco mumbled weakly.

'How are you?' Potter asked, looking straight ahead, as if he was staring at the wall at the far end.

'I'm alright.'

'You aren't bleeding, are you?'

'Nah, just bruises.' Draco looked at their hands. He contemplated letting go. But what if the fact that he had held on until now showed his obvious discomfort in being in such proximity with Potter? But as each moment passed, it seemed more and more awkward that he was still holding on. 'How about you? You're coping?'

'Definitely coping, in a way.' Draco lifted an eyebrow and then, realising that Potter couldn't see his eyebrows, asked,

'Why? What happened?'

'I think I knocked over about a total of eight first years today. ANd maybe Professor Flitwick too…' Draco laughed at the thought of Harry sending first years, and Flitwick, flying about in the hallways.

Harry grinned. He loved hearing Malfoy's laugh and wanted, more than anything, to see the smiling face paired with it.

'I wanted to ask you something…' Harry hesitated for a moment, 'Can I...touch you again?'

He didn't dare turn his head towards Malfoy, even if he couldn't see him.

'Yeah, alright.' A whisper.

Harry didn't even need to raise his hand. Malfoy lifted their already joined hands to his face. And Harry smiled as he, once again, started to feel the grooves and bumps and character of Malfoy's face.

Draco didn't even stop himself from sighing this time. It was all too much for him. He was at breaking point. Potter was officially going to break him.

His heart was fluttering weightlessly in his chest. He could feel Potter's breath on him. So close.

Potter's eyes were so fucking green. It was driving him insane.

'Potter, you smell like treacle tart.' He had said it before he even knew what he was saying. Potter's face changed, morphing into an amused one, a dashing grin spreading across his face,

'Is that bad?' Just a whisper.

Nope. Draco Malfoy was officially broken.

He leaned forward, he didn't need to go very far, and immediately their lips were touching. His stomach was reduced to butterflies, all fluttering away to various directions and no longer being just a stomach anymore.

Potter pushed a little, his hands moving up to Draco's hair. For the first time in his life, Draco didn't mind his hair being messed up.

Draco Malfoy's tongue was swimming in his mouth.

Draco Malfoy's tongue is swimming in my mouth.

And mine is swimming in his.

They broke apart, panting just slightly. Potter grinned(How could the cocky git be so confident when he was fucking blind?), his eyes still closed,

'Well, I definitely didn't see that one coming.' And the prat laughed.

The officially broken Draco yanked Potter by the collar and kissed him again.

Draco wouldn't be able to kiss him enough.

Not as much as he wanted to.

The broke apart again.

'We probably shouldn't kiss here,' Malfoy said. Harry could hear the weak smile on his voice.

'Do I look like I've been snogged?' Harry asked, a smile playing at his lips. There was a moment, and Harry suspected that Malfoy was examining him,

'Yeah, definitely.' Harry could hear a grin in Malfoy's voice now. Malfoy fixed his collar for him, and straightened his tie. 'Look what you've done to my hair!' Malfoy complained jokingly.

Harry sighed dramatically, 'Pity I don't get to see it at that state now. Remind me to snog you when I first get my eyesight back.'

'Will do, Potter.' Harry's smile was wicked.

Even though Potter was fucking blind, Draco still melted under his gaze and brilliant smile.

'I wonder what's taking Madam Pomfrey so long,' he said, in an attempt to hide his shyness.

Just then, there was a crash from Madam Pomfrey's office, and she appeared, blushing, with a vial of potion.

It occurred to Draco that she was fully aware of the fact that he and Potter had just been snogging, and had probably remained in the safe quarters of her office so as to not humiliate anyone.

'Mr Malfoy, here is your potion. That's all for today, no open wounds that need to be healed after all.' She smiled widely, trying to cover up the awkwardness in the room.

'Thanks.' Draco nodded, and the nurse retreated, rather quickly, to her office.

'She knows, doesn't she?'

'How did you know?'

'I think...after not being able to see and all, I've really been learning to pay attention.' Their faces were so close that Draco could practically see Potter's eyes flashing a brighter green at those two words. Draco's heart went mad.

'You know, seeing as she already knows...we can just stay here.' Draco grinned, already edging his entire body closer to the other boy. Their fingers locked automatically and easily.

'Mm, I feel like I'm a disadvantage here,' Harry said softly, letting Draco kiss him faintly under his ear, 'I really want to see you right now.'

'Well, Potter,' Harry could feel his neck tickle from the touch of Draco's lips as he talked, 'you know what they say, don't you?: Love is blind.'

Thank you for reading! Please review and maybe check out some of my other work if you liked it!