For the Battlefield Wars

Position: Team Colonel

Required Character: Rose Weasley

Secondary Character: Draco Malfoy

Prompt: One of the characters is suffering a physical impairment, the other helps.

Word count: 2968

The Truth

Draco Malfoy peered over his copy of the Daily profit at the sound of a whimper. His mercurial eyes honed in on the child huddled down against the side of the fence separating the patio where he was enjoying his paper and morning coffee from the bustling of Diagon Alley. The child gasped and started to cry when someone trod on her fingers as she reached for something beyond her grasp. Draco dropped the money for the coffee on the table and walked through the gate to the busy street. He cast a shield charm around the girl as he saw another passerby nearly stomp the poor kid. "Are you alright?" His voice was soft as he reached her and knelt down to help her to her feet.

The girl flinched back and her eyes roved around wildly, unseeing. "I-I can't find m-my cane. I lost m-my Uncle!" Fresh tears pooled in the girls eyes as she hugged her knees.

"Easy, there. I'll help you," Draco soothed, as his eyes sought out the dropped cane. Draco picked it up absentmindedly, but his eyes widened when he saw that it was a cane used by blind muggles. "I found your cane, but how did you lose your Uncle? Do you know where you were headed this morning? He may be looking for you there." He used the time it took for her to respond to take in her appearance. Her hair was pulled back into an unruly braid, and was dark brown with red tinted highlights. Her brown eyes were foggy, but had the intensity of-

"Florish and Blott's," the girl said softly, startling Draco out of his observation. "Uncle was taking Al and Teddy to Quality Quidditch, and I was going to Florish and Blott's for books for first year. Mum had a meeting so Uncle brought me with Teddy and Al." She shifted. "Oh, how am I supposed to find them? I don't know what they look like...I barely remember the layout of the alley from my trips here with Mum." She tilted her head down and sniffled.

Draco glared at a person that nearly knocked him over and took the girl's hand, pulling her to her feet. "Well, even if you don't know what they look like, they should know you. Let's head to Florish and Blott's. Your Uncle, Teddy and Al should still be there, yeah?"

The girl nodded. "I'm Rose, by the way." She scrubbed her face with her sleeve. "Nice to meet you...er...what's your name?" Her face scrunched up.

Draco cleared his throat. "I'm...Draco." He waited for the vehement refusal of help that usually accompanied his name.

"Dr-a-co." Rose sounded out his name. "I like it," she grinned. "Dad said he went to school with a mean boy named Draco, but you're nice."

Draco coughed, embarrassed, "Your dad was probably talking about me. I wasn't the nicest boy growing up. I mercilessly teased a group of kids when the leader of their group didn't want to be friends with me." As they spoke, they were walking towards Florish and Blott's. Rose used her cane to avoid obstacles. People steered clear of Draco like the plague and gaped questioningly at the girl holding his hand.

"I feel the stares," Rose said loudly. "Mind your own business!"

"Rose!" A voice called out nearby. Two more voices joined in on the call. "Rose! Where are you?"

"Rosie, I promise I'll be nice! Please come back!"

"Rose!" A brunette blur launched himself at the child. "Oh, Merlin, Rose! Don't even wander away like that again! Do you know how frightened I was that something had happened to you?" The man clutched at the girl, a pair of boys, one appearing near Rose's age, and one nearly an adult standing nearby.

Rose shrugged. "Teddy and Al wanted to look at quidditch things. I was going to wait in Florish and Blott's... I got lost. Mr. Draco helped me get back." Rose reached for Draco's hand. "He's nice. Not like the boy Dad talked about. Mr. Draco, this is my Uncle Harry. Uncle, this is Mr. Draco."

A few flashes went off in the crowd. Harry glared and used a summoning charm to retrieve the cameras. "No pictures of my family in the papers! You know the rules!"

Harry took Draco and Rose's hands, nodding to Teddy to grab Al. "Meet you back home, boys."

Teddy nodded, grabbed Al's hand and disapparated with a loud crack. Harry turned to his charges and did the same.

Draco pulled away as soon as they landed, and dropped to his knees to check on Rose. "Rose, are you alright? Do they really apparate with you in your condition?"

Rose shuddered. "Yeah. I don't think they realize that I can't orient myself like they can." She rubbed her forehead and sighed as her stomach settled. "But it's fine. Everyone is used to that form of travel. I don't want them to sacrifice what they are used to for me." She shrugged and grabbed her cane, using it to get her bearings. "You should come see the spell Mum taught me when my lack of sight was discovered after an accident a few years ago." She grabbed his wrist and used her cane to navigate to her room at Harry's house. "You can talk to Uncle Harry later," Rose said as she pulled him along.

Harry shrugged at his niece's antics. "I'll be in the living room when you're ready to came back down. Your mother is going to kill me," he whined.

Rose laughed, "Serves you right, Uncle Harry. You didn't notice I was gone. Dad will just sit there and not say anything though. He doesn't care about me." She pulled Draco into her room and closed the door. Draco looked around the room. There were several bookcases filled to the brim with novels, textbooks and knickknacks. Her bed was shades of grey and black with silver hangings. The large rug in the floor was a blend of the Hogwarts House colors. He stood by the door as Rose dropped her cane and stretched before turning and gazing just to the right of where he stood. "I can't really tell where you are, but I know that you haven't moved from the doorway. Come sit down and tell me about yourself."

"Actually, Rose, I wanted to ask you a few questions and then go talk to your Uncle. If that's alright," Draco interjected.

Rose shrugged and sat on her bed. "Go ahead."

Draco cleared his throat and started his questioning. "When did you lose your sight, and how?"

Rose scrunched her face as she thought. "Um, two years ago? Teddy was trying to make a potion set by the Potions Professor as extra credit over hols. I startled him and the cauldron exploded. The safety spells in place redirected the explosion… towards me instead of him. I didn't really understand at the time why everyone was screaming until I was brought to St Mungo's. They got rid of the burns, but my eyes...They weren't able to fix me." Rose shrugged and picked at her comforter. "I'm used to it now. I don't remember what anyone looks like anymore. I get by with my cane and sound more than anything else."

Draco started seething when he realized what had happened. He took a calming breath and said brightly, "I'm going to go speak to your Uncle for a moment and then I'll be right back, ok?"

"Sure." Rose grabbed a book and muttered a few Latin words causing the book to read itself aloud.

Draco twitched when the book started speaking using his voice. "You'll have to teach me that trick when I come back up."

Rose nodded as she continued to listen to the book. When Draco left, she crept to the door and used one of her Uncle George's extendable ears to hear what he had to say to her Uncle Harry.

"Potter," Draco hissed, causing the darker haired man to flinch slightly. "Why didn't you bring her to me? I am the foremost Potions Master in Britain. Even if you don't like me, you should know that I would help a child in need!"

Harry rubbed the back of his head and coughed, "She had it bad enough. Her parents were on the verge of divorce. They bonded back together over Rose's...disability. Besides, St Mungo's couldn't do anything about it, so how would you be able to?"

Draco glared at Harry. "Maybe because I am the Potions Professor at Hogwarts, and I remember every extra credit assignment ever handed out and can recreate the potion and make an antidote that will give the girl her sight back? How dare you make that girl suffer because of your friends' petty squabbles? I don't give a fuck what their problems are. THEODORE LUPIN GET IN HERE."

Teddy walked in, twisting his wand in his hands, with a desolate look on his face. "Yes, Professor?"

"Fifth Year, Christmas Hols. How, in Merlin's name, did you fuck up the potion did I set you for extra credit so you could continue my class in Sixth Year? None of the ingredients react violently in that potion. What were you really making?" Draco had drawn himself up, sneering down at the cowering seventeen year old. "What...did...you...do?!"

Harry stepped between the teen and Professor. "Back off, Malfoy!"

Harry flinched when Teddy put his hand on his shoulder. "He's right, Harry... I wasn't... I didn't... It wasn't supposed to explode like that," he finally defended. "I was trying to make a better version of the Wolfsbane Potion. She came in as I was adding phoenix tears to the mix. When the door hit the wall... I dropped half the vial into it. I hadn't prepared for that. My wild magic protected me, at the expense of Rose."

The three men turned when they heard a gasp and whimper in the doorway. Albus stood there, holding Rose's hand. Rose turned and buried her face in Albus shoulder as he wrapped her in his arms. "How could you say you care for her when it was your fault for experimenting in a house with kids in it? You should know better! Merlin! Even I know that the first lesson EVERY YEAR in Hogwarts is to never experiment without supervision!" His green eyes bore into the blue-haired teen. "I will never forgive you."

Draco walked to the children and knelt down on their level. "Do you want to come to Hogwarts early? I can take you there now to start trying to make this right. I'll even go get your mother first, Rose, if it'll help."

Rose relinquished her grasp on Albus and held her hand out to Draco. "Mum is at Hogwarts today. She was talking to the Headmistress about becoming the new Charms Mistress."

"Perfect." He took Rose's hand, but Albus grabbed his hand as well.

His face was angled down and his shoulders were shaking with suppressed rage," I don't want to stay here. Aunt Hermione said I could stay with her until school starts. Please take me, too."

Draco lifted his other hand to tilt the boys chin up. "What about your father? Won't he be upset that you want to go with me?"

Albus' eyes narrowed. "I don't care. He defended Ted."

Draco glanced over his shoulder at the gobsmacked Harry and distressed Teddy. "Bye, Potter. Lupin." He disapparated with a loud crack, taking both eleven-year-olds with him. They reappeared right outside of Hogwarts gates. Draco used his Professor status to unlock the gates, bring the kids in and lock them back as Harry and Teddy apparated right behind them.

"Let us in, Malfoy!" Harry screamed, casting spell after spell at the gates.

"What is going on here?!"

All faces turned to see the Headmistress and Hermione running to the gates.

Albus and Rose put themselves on either side of Draco, each holding onto his arms.

"He's trying to help-"

"Please don't make me go back-"

"Saved me when I got lost-"

"He can save Rose's sight-"

"One at a time," Hermione said, looking at Draco in shock and Harry in anger. "I think I'd like to hear what the adults have to say first."

"Malfoy just took off with my son and your daughter," Harry snarled, punching the gate.

Draco shrugged, 'Yes I did. Because Albus requested it, and I can save Rose's sight. Now that I know the idiot metamorphmagus cousin of mine was experimenting when he should have been making a boils cure."

"Hey!" Teddy cried. "I was young! You can't blame me for-"

"Shut up!" Hermione cut him off. "Rose, what happened today?"

Rose shifted slightly behind Draco as she answered, her voice quiet but strong, "I got lost in Diagon Alley. Mr. Draco helped me get back to Uncle Harry and the boys. I spoke to Mr. Draco, then he went downstairs to speak to Uncle. I used one of Uncle George's extendable ears to hear what was going on. When Albus came in, they started yelling, so he helped me downstairs. We heard Teddy confess to making a potion not authorized by his Professor. The potion that took my sight. Mr. Draco offered to bring me here to fix it. I accepted. Albus requested to come along as well. Albus is mad at Teddy and Uncle on my behalf." She leaned over and held her hand out to Albus, who grasped it tightly. "Thank you, Al." She turned forward once more, "That's what happened, Mum. I would offer my memories, but we all know you would only hear it, not see it."

Draco shifted so his arms were around the shoulders of his young charges. "Minerva, I'll be taking these two down to the Potions lab to get started. Please refrain from allowing those two morons into my workroom. Thank you."

Minerva stood there and watched the three head up to the castle in confusion. "Hermione, what just happened?"

"Apparently," Hermione said, "My dear, sweet, best friend used my only child to try to fix a failing marriage. Which didn't work. Ron and I still divorced six months ago." She turned her back on Harry and Teddy. "I think I'll reiterate Draco's sentiment. Please refrain from allowing those two into my personal workroom. Thank you." She ran back up to the castle after the retreating figures. "Draco, Al, Rose! Wait for me! I want to help!"

The three stopped on the steps into the castle and allowed Hermione to catch up.

Minerva shook her head at the two on the other side of the gate. She raised her hands and the gates shimmered. "Until this injustice has been rectified, Harry James Potter is hereby banished from Hogwarts Grounds, to include any and all passages and modes of travel to get within the grounds. Theodore Remus Lupin is only allowed on Hogwarts campus for the remainder of his schooling under strict observation and with severe restrictions."

Rose and Albus sat quietly behind a shield charm as Draco and Hermione worked tirelessly to create a counter potion, breaking only for meals and sleep. After a week of this, Draco and Hermione came running into the Great Hall where Minerva sat with the kids. "Rose," Hermione grinned, hugging her confused daughter.

"Mum, Mr. Draco?"

"Draco did it, sweetheart. You just need to drink this potion, and your sight will return!"

Draco handed Rose the vial and watched her drink it with baited breath.

Rose kept her eyes clenched shut as she drank the potion. When she blinked her eyes open, they filled with tears. She saw her mother with lines of worry on her face, Albus with his hands clenched in his robes, and a man that she knew had to be her savior. His blonde hair was worn long, and pulled back into a low ponytail. His mercury eyes were watching her with worry. "I... Thank you." She threw her arms around the surprised Potions Master knocking them both to the floor. "Thank you so much! I thought I would never..."

Hermione left out a startled laugh at Draco as he attempted to sit up and sooth Rose. "Rosie, I think Draco needs to breathe, sweetie."

Draco finally sat up and hugged the girl back. "I just wish I had known about your predicament sooner." He released the girl so she could launch at her mother and give her the same treatment. Albus stood off the the side, watching his cousin.

When Rose finally released her mum, she walked over to Albus and took his hands. "Thank you for protecting me when I couldn't protect myself, Albie."

A tear leaked out of Albus eyes, and he wrapped his arms around his slightly younger cousin openly crying. "I thought you wouldn't want me around you anymore," he whispered.

"Of course I want you around, Al. Especially since I can actually see you now." Rose kissed Al's cheek and looked at Draco and Hermione. "I can face Uncle and Teddy now that I can stare them down."

Hermione nodded and Draco tensed.

"But maybe, not until Winter Hols?" Rose continued. "I think Al and I should stay here until the Sorting and avoid the Hogwarts Express."

Minerva sighed, "I can arrange for that children. Let's go get you settled into Hermione's rooms until the feast."

"Sounds good." The three in question said.

"I'm going back to the Manor to get Scorpius. I don't think he should be around Potter and Lupin should they show up at the Platform," Draco said quietly.

Minerva nodded her consent and they each went their own way to get ready for a drastic change to their lives.