This is my pet project, one I am not likely to finish. ^^ but i thought you might enjoy a taste... and maybe convince me to write more. Writers block sux and nothing is a better cure than insomnia and feedback (doesn't matter weather it's good or bad since i have tough skin)
Ironic how Harry's final challenge was both the easiest and the most dangerous that he'd come to face over his first year of Hogwarts. Harry felt the skin crack and crumble under his hands as his defence teacher pulled away in both shock and agony. He watched what was left of Professor Quirrell disintegrate into a grey dust, and with a strong sense of foreboding watched the soul of the Dark Lord Voldemort rush towards him before phasing through his body. His scare flared up sending pulses of pain shooting through his body, his head began to throb and he felt his senses begin to fade. His vision went black and there was a feeling of falling, then nothing.
Harry woke up in the hospital wing, the sterile smell and the lack of snoring from a certain roommate *ron* gave it away. Harry opened his eyes a fraction, noting the utter darkness before closing his eyes again, rolling over in hopes of falling asleep until the morning arrived.
"Harry?" the familiar sound of the voices of Ron and Hermione caught his attention. He struggled to sit up, while every molecule of his body protested. Once he had positioned himself, he made the effort to open his exhausted eyes.
He gasped. Looking around his eyes met nothing but black, and he began to panic. "Ron? Hermione? Where are you?"
"We're right here mate" Said a resigned Ron Weasley.
"Harry, Calm down." Hermione said as she grabbed Harry's flailing hands, steadying them with her own. "Madam Pomfrey?" She called as soon as Harry had settled.
Harry heard the footsteps of the slightly frantic Head-nurse of the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He felt the rim of a potion pressed against his lips. "Harry, dear. Please drink this." She said in as calm a voice as she could manage. Harry began to swallow the potion. He felt the calming effects of the potion, instantly registering that this would most definitely be bad news. He heard the sound of the medi-witch straightening up her uniform and let out a nervous laugh. "Harry, I'm afraid we have some bad news. You're optic nerves have been severed, they have been irreparably damaged by a powerful dark magic." She said in a grave tone. "You're blind, permanently. All of the staff, including Albus Dumbledore, have looked at it, none of them have been able to come up with a possible cure."
Hermione interrupted the nurse "Don't worry Harry! It's not hopeless Harry! Dumbledore is working on a charm that will allow you to use your inner eye to visualize things, like divination. It will absorb ambient magic around the school and use it to fuel the charm. It will only work for 9 hours and then it will need to be charged." She blathered on.
Madam Pomfrey shushed the girl before saying "However this is only in Hogwarts my dear, because of all the powerful wards, wizards, and children who haven't gained complete control of their magic yet there is more than enough stray magic to go around. However the same is not true of all places. Some places you will have only a few minutes of 'sight' thanks to the amulet."
He heard a quiet shocked gasp escape from the lips of the Weasley boy and Muggleborn girl as Albus spoke showing that his entrance had been just as unnoticed and startling to them. "But, My Boy, This charm unfortunately requires some careful casting and participation of many of the other members of staff. Specifically our Potions Professor, who is at the moment brewing a complicated potion for the ritual needed to enchant an item to tap into ones inner eye. It's a very complex process and I ask you to remain patient whilst we construct it. It should be ready in a weeks' time though, my boy. For now though I believe that it's best for you to rest." The Headmaster finished. Harry felt his eyes begin to droop as Madam Pomfrey's wand began to glow, the last thing he heard was the headmaster shooing his fellow housemates out of the hospital wing.
Over the week Harry began to get used to being blind, he figured that the same way that the best way to learn a language was to be immersed and therefore forced to, it would be easier to get used to being blind because well... he was forced to. Not that his eyesight had ever really been very useful to begin with, he was blind as a bat and his cheap reading glasses didn't really do much to help the matters, how he'd ever caught that snitch he'd never know. His other senses had always been more sensitive than his sight, he could hear things that other boys couldn't which had come in very useful in games of 'Harry Hunting'. His enhanced sense of smell had always come in handy while cooking for the Dursleys who'd always been particularly picky on how well done their food had been, however after the food was done it became more of a curse than a blessing seeing as he would have to smell the food he'd slaved over for the rest of the night when he was lucky to be sent off with a burned piece of toast for dinner.
Though the inability to see had left him feeling vulnerable, the darkness that surrounded him now left him strangely at ease. He had always been more partial to the small and dark rather than the large and bright, he supposed all his time inside his small dark cupboard, his only safe place, taught him that. The problem was, when you were in a large dark room, you feel very uncomfortable because you don't know what's out there. Harry soon found that if he pushed his arms against the edges of the bed in just a way he could fool his body into thinking there were walls surrounding him, allowing him to think of the bed as if it was a small dark coffin. Harry laughed a little at the thought as he said "I vant to suck your blood" He then felt his cheeks flush as he desperately hoped no one was close enough to hear him.
Yes, he really could deal with being blind, after all he'd just been thrown into a world where magic exists, magical creatures exist, fairy tales are real, and oh yeah there was an evil villain out for his blood. Sure this was going to be a HUGE adjustment, but he'd been adjusting his whole life just to survive. This wouldn't be too much of a challenge. At least that's what he hoped.
During his time in the hospital wing, Harry had begun experimenting with his face, as any young boy or girl might have done. He found that although he was blind he could still feel it if he poked his eye, it'd been an interesting discovery seeing as Hermione entered and went to comfort his 'crying' shortly after. He could just imagine her disapproving look as he told her that his eyes were just watering cause he poked them too hard. Another interesting thing that he'd accidentally discovered due to an itch was that he now had feeling in his scar. In fact it was now more sensitive than the rest of his body, just by brushing his fingers over it sent a wave of chills running down his spine and the thought of someone else 'taking advantage' of it sent ice-fire through his veins inevitably ending with a 'small problem' which thankfully nobody had seen , or at least nobody had admitted to seeing.
Harry was introduced into the world of Sexuality rather young, seeing as Dudley was the delinquent he was, had gotten his hands on porn very early, and planted them in Harry's cupboard for a good hiding spot and someone to pin it on if they were ever found. This gave Harry constant access, and eventually he gave into the temptation of the playboy knockoffs which rested underneath his comforter.
This was followed by a more surprising realization, He was gay... or at the very least bisexual. During his times in his cupboard with the little treasures he often found himself visualizing things, and instead of imagining himself in the place of the overly endowed male he'd imagine himself in the place of the female. Sometimes he would envision himself in the position of the male, but those visions usually ended up out of control and him and the other male would be fighting for dominance, a battle he continuously lost.
He was pulled out of his musings about his past and personal life by the sound of several pairs of feet rushing into the infirmary and collecting around his hospital bed before going silent. "Come in." Harry said to the group and he heard a gasp from Hermione who obviously thought they were being very quiet, before the curtains around the hospital bed were opened.
"Hello, Harry. We've finished preparing the charm." said professor McGonagall. The blind boy heard the rustling of clothing and the feeling of a cold metal chain settling around his neck. He felt the presence of a new muscle, for a lack of a better word. He cautiously went to stretch this muscle, aware of everyone waiting anxiously around him. Suddenly there was a flicker of white haze. His eyes shot open and he saw the room. Everything he saw was covered in a constantly moving white foggy layer. He saw that there were more people there than he had originally thought. Hermione, Ron, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, Headmaster Dumbledore, and Madam Pomfrey were all gathered around him watching him carefully. It seemed the more magically powerful a person was the thicker the fog around them. The headmaster was barely visible through this layer of glaze while Hermione and Ron were very easily visible.
"I can see." Harry said incredulously.
"Ummm... Mate." Ron began nervously. "Can you close your eyes mate... they... they're kinda creepy.
"Oh, yeah, sure." Harry said quickly. He shut his eyes tightly, yet the image didn't even falter. A huge grin broke across his face. "This is bloody brilliant!"
"Can you really see Harry?" Hermione said cautiously. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Harry looked at her hand for a moment before answering "Four" Hermione frowned and the sparkle disappeared from Dumbledore's eyes. "Four... FINGERS. One Thumb." Hermione sighed. Dumbledore chuckled gaining back his nearly permanent twinkle and Ron looked puzzled for a second then promptly punched Harry in the arm.
"Had me going for a second there mate!" Ron blurted.
Harry winced but his grin didn't leave. "Headmaster, does this mean I can go back to class?" He asked.
"Why yes my boy! In fact I encourage it. Go out there and enjoy the world. We can't have you wasting away your youth in a hospital bed can we?" Dumbledore said as he saw Madam Pomfrey was about to argue, she quickly backed off. "Harry, I do ask however that you be nice to poor Madam Pomfrey and come and visit her next week so she can be sure you're all right. I would also ask you to come and visit me after classes today. We have much to talk about." Dumbledore added.
Harry's grin faded from his face. "Yes Sir." There were some questions that Harry needed answered.
Later on in Dumbledore's office "Good Evening Harry." Said Dumbledore
"Hello, Sir" Harry replied politely. "The Philosophers stone, is it safe now?" Harry asked.
"In a manner of speaking" Dumbledore replied. "It has been destroyed. By the way my boy, have you been back to your dorm today?" Harry shook his head. "Well you might find it buried in tokens from your admirers. You see you'd been in a coma for 3 days and in the hospital for 6 more. Well... What happened in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows about it. The involvement of Professor Snape, however is known by none but myself, you and Hermione. And I plan to keep it that way." Said Dumbledore.
"The stone's destroyed? What about Nicolas Flamel?" Harry asked.
"Nicolas Flamel and his wife have enough elixir to finish their affairs, and then I'm afraid they will die. Fortunately for them it will be just like them falling asleep after a very, very long day. Remember my boy, Death is the greatest Adventure." Dumbledore explained.
"I know Snape isn't really evil, he's to obviously evil to really be evil. One thing I don't know is, does he really hate me or is that part of the act." Harry mused.
"Excellent use of logic my boy!" Dumbledore praised "Unfortunately he really does hate you. Your father bullied him for many years then finally did something Snape could never forgive."
"What was that?" Harry asked curiously. He was rather upset about Snape though, he was a cruel teacher but under different circumstances He could really see himself becoming friends with the man.
"He saved his live." Dumbledore said in an amused voice. "He couldn't bear to be in his tormentor's debt." Dumbledore shock his head.
"Voldemort, he'll try to come back again, won't he?" Harry asked knowingly and Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "How long?" Harry asked.
"I'm afraid your guess is as good as mine," Dumbledore replied.
"Why did Quirrell... Why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" Harry faltered.
"When your mother sacrificed herself to save you that night, her love cast a protective shield around you protecting you from evil trying to harm you. Voldemort cannot touch you as long as you have this shield." Dumbledore lectured. "Lemon Drop?"
Harry politely declined before saying something about opening some 'tokens' and headed off to his common room. Once he arrived he was surprised to see that some of his housemates had taken the liberty to take all gifts for him and pile them on his bed. Harry looked at it longingly, he wanted nothing more that to take the charmed pendant off and flop on his bed, but alas. Roughly shoving all the gifts onto the floor, figuring anything breakable will be protected by charms he quickly cleared his bed. He took his pendant off and felt the edge of the bed, quickly flopping onto it and releasing a loud content sigh.