Author's Note: This is a very different story than what I usually write. Hermione is the main character, not Harry.

Disclaimer: The brilliant and wonderful J.K. Rowling created the Harry Potter world and the characters it contains. As such, they belong to her and we are merely playing around with different situations we can dream up. No copyright infringement is intended. This disclaimer applies to all of the chapters in the story even if it is not included at the beginning of every chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Visual Changes

Ten-year-old Hermione Granger laid on her bed, after doing all of her homework. She was tired, as she seemed to be having trouble reading the words on the papers so doing her homework seemed to take three times as long. She felt like her world was narrowing, or at least what she could see clearly was becoming less clear, especially around the edges. She didn't want to worry her parents with something that might just be a silly problem from watching too many cartoons. Perhaps she just needed to eat more carrots and read fewer books.

"Hermione? Are you ready for dinner? We're going out," said a calm voice from the door to her bedroom.

Hermione nodded to her mother and followed her downstairs and out of the house.

Hermione picked up the menu, trying to decide if she should treat herself to fish and chips, or just stick with a salad. She knew that her parents would not like her eating fish and chips. She sighed and started looking at the different salads. But she couldn't see the print, so she squinted her eyes to try to read it.

"Hermione honey, are you having trouble reading the menu?" her mum asked with worry.

"Yes," she said quietly. "I'm sorry! I've been having trouble reading for several months but I didn't think it was this bad. I thought it was a phase."

"Let's decide on food then we will make an appointment with the eye doctor in the morning. What do you want to eat?" asked her father.

"Fish and chips but I know you and mum prefer that I eat more vegetables so I wanted to look at the salads," said Hermione.

"Fish and chips it is. You may share a small salad with your mum if you wish," said her dad.

The next day was Friday. Hermione went to school but returned home crying. She couldn't understand why she couldn't read anything anymore. Her mum told her that she had an appointment with the eye doctor on Monday.

The weekend was a blur for her. Her parents had to read her homework to her, because she could only make out a few words. Much of the weekend was filled with tears and worry.

On Monday, Hermione left school early to see the doctor. She hated missing any school. The eye doctor, Dr. Baxter, started examining her eyes with a flashlight before saying that he was going to check her eye pressure. He put a couple of eye drops in her eyes before putting a tool near her eye. She was surprised that she could barely feel it, except for a little tickle.

"Her eye pressure's very high," said Dr. Baxter. "I'm going to ask you to try reading some letters to me, okay?"

Hermione nodded. He held some letters in front of her eyes, but she couldn't read them. He then tried bigger letters, and she still couldn't make them out. She started crying.

The nurse handed her a tissue as Dr. Baxter put everything away.

"I'm afraid that she is losing her sight," he said to her parents. "She has glaucoma. It could have been treated, but we didn't catch it soon enough. I'm very sorry about this."

"Will I lose all of my sight?" Hermione sobbed.

"I cannot promise that we can prevent more vision loss, but we can try to keep your current vision stable," said Dr. Baxter. "You will have to take eye drops to keep your eye pressure down."

"How am I supposed to go to school?" cried Hermione in a panic.

"I recommend that you go to the Training Institute For the Blind," said Dr. Baxter. "They can help you learn braille, they'll teach you about daily living skills, like personal management, cooking, meal preparation, money organizing, and more."

"Can I go?" asked Hermione, looking at her parents.

"I don't see why not," said her mum. "I think you'll need this training."

"How am I supposed to finish my last week of school?" Hermione asked the doctor.

"I think you should start this week," said Dr. Baxter. "The teachers there will help you complete any schoolwork."

"I'll call them as soon as we get home. Thank you, Dr. Baxter," said Hermione's dad, shaking his hand.