A/N: This is my take on what could have happened with the Half-Blood Prince's book. It's how I'm coping with the Ginny/Harry and Ron/Hermione developments. Please review and flames are welcomed.
Disclaimer: It's not mine. Harry Potter is property of Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling and I'm sure a lot of other people. Please don't sue…:-(
Pairing: H/Hr
Rating: PG-13
To See Again
Harry slowly opened the heavy door, hoping it would not make the aged creaking sounds many doors at Hogwarts were known to make.
"Who's there?" Hermione sat shot up abruptly from the bed that Madam Pomfrey had levitated her on.
"It's only me Hermione." Harry had not bothered with the invisibility cloak; no one was going to give him detention for visiting Hermione now (although Snape had tried once before Dumbledore had dismissed the detention).
"Oh, Harry…I thought it was night. What are you doing here?" He could here the sorrow in her voice, the longing to look out the Hospital Wing's many windows to see the moon, or to see anything for that matter.
"I thought I'd come to read to you. I brought your Hogwarts: A History with me."
"That's very sweet of you Harry, but I'm feeling more tired than usual." A rush of alarm and concern traveled through Harry's body. Aside from the loss of sight and the bouts of nausea, Hermione had been fine, but something could have changed since his last visit after lunch.
"Oh really Harry, don't think I'm not aware of that look on your face. Relax, I've just finished a brail reading lesson. The charms for reading aloud are nice, but I want to be able to read without them.
Again Harry was forced to deal with the sacrifice Hermione had to make because of his stubbornness. Again he had to face the fact that he was the reason Hermione was not only blind, but miserable from missing her lessons. The guilt that was constantly building inside him reminded Harry every moment that he should have listened to her or that he was the one who rightfully belonged in that bed.
Two Weeks Earlier
"Really Harry, you don't know what this 'Prince' character is about. That Sectumsempra curse could have killed Malfoy!" Hermione was pacing the common room, glad that no one was up at this late hour. She and Ginny had gotten into another row a few hours ago about Harry and his encounter with Malfoy.
Harry had gotten the most wonderful feelings in him when Ginny argued in his defense. Although Hermione was his best friend, he could admit that she was, as Ron liked to say, an insufferable know-it-all sometimes.
"Leave it alone Hermione. The Prince didn't tell me to use the curse. He didn't write 'oh look here, you should use this incase a fake platinum blond git tries to use an unforgivable curse on you!' I'm sorry I did it ok? But I'm not sorry for keeping the book, you never know when it might come to the rescue again."
"There's something not right about that book Harry. It's turning you into someone I don't' know anymore."
"Oh sod off Hermione. You're just mad at Harry because you're not top in Potions anymore. If you want to know what I think, keep that book Harry. Keep it and let me have a go at it when you're done." Ron could not argue the value of the Half-Blood Prince's advice since it had saved his life once already.
"Is that all you can think about? I hardly call Harry the top Potions student when I had to rewrite his essay last night Ron. What he's doing is underhanded and very close to cheating. But that's not all, Harry, you have to listen to me. There's something evil about that book."
"Hermione, shut up about the bloody book will you? No one's asking you to read it or have anything to do with it. Now I'm tired, especially after trying to break into the Room of Requirement. I'll see you two in the morning." With that, Harry angrily turned his back on Hermione and bid Ron a good night.
"I just want him to be careful. That book will only bring trouble Ron. You have to see that all I want it for Harry to be okay." Hermione's eyes pleaded with Ron to understand why she was so anxious for Harry to hand the book over to Dumbledore. However, Ron simply mumbled a 'g'night' to her and followed Harry up to the boy's dormitory.
It was not until morning that the whole of Gryffindor tower was awoken by a piercing scream. Harry and Ron both recognized it as Hermione and leapt out of their beds without a look backwards. Since they were not allowed entrance to the girl's dormitory, both had to wait until a tear streaked Ginny ran down the stairs. The monster inside of Harry wanted to murder whatever made Ginny cry, but right now he had to focus on Hermione.
"What the bloody hell is going on up there?" Ron said through his heavy breathing.
"It's Hermione. Lavender said that when Hermione woke up, she started screaming like a banshee. We all thought she saw a bug or something, but not even Hermione would scream because of a little spider. Oh Ron, Harry…Hermione can't SEE!" After Ginny had reported this to the stunned boys, she ran as fast as she could to find Professor McGonagall.
"Do you reckon it was just a prank by one of the other girls, or something worse?" Ron asked as he stumbled over to one of the overstuffed couches and sat down.
"I dunno. I mean, a lot of people were mad at Hermione last night. But I don't think any of the girls would even know how to take away someone's sight. Professor Flitwick said that loss of sight was really dark magic remember?" Harry looked worriedly up at the girl's dormitory. Although he was off his rockers mad at Hermione last night, he would never have wanted this to happen to anyone.
Just as Harry was about to have a try at the barrier protecting the girl's staircase, Lavender Brown hurried down the stairs. She marched up to Harry and Ron was a purposeful look on her face. In her hand was a book that Harry could have sworn he saw before.
"Hermione wanted me to give this to you. She said she found it next to her pillow when she woke up this morning. She also said that she thought she felt something strange coming off of it." Lavender said this to Harry, avoiding Ron at all cost.
She was still miffed at him and for a moment Harry wondered if Lavender had cursed Hermione out of spite for her failed relationship with 'Won Won'.
Harry took his copy of Advance Potions from Lavender's hand as she turned to run back to her room. Harry stared at the book with a dumbfounded look. After his argument with Hermione last night, he had not gone back to get the book from his hiding place. He had not told Ron or Hermione about the book's location either.
"Ron, I never got the book back from where I hid it." Harry lifted his head to look at Ron, but Ron's eyes were staring vividly at the book in Harry's hands. When Harry looked down, he found the most peculiar sight. The Half-Blood Prince's book was glowing green, and it was slowly burning his hand.
"I think you should take that to Dumbledore mate, maybe Hermione isn't such a crazed lunatic as we thought she was." Ron sounded more scared than worried, handing Harry a misplaced tie from a corner table in order for Harry to wrap the not so harmless book in.
Present
While the book was not a Horcrux, it was indeed cursed. It's storage in the potion's dungeon had put the curse in a state of dormancy, but Hermione's warnings had activated a deep anger in the book. Dumbledore was disappointed that Harry had not shown him the book beforehand, but could understand the book's temptation. It offered Harry a chance to understand a subject he could not have understood as easily without it and valuable knowledge about curses and cures.
Harry felt sick when he had heard from Ron that Madam Pomfrey could not undo the strong magic of the curse. Hermione had been sent to St. Mungo's after, but they could not fix her either. While Hermione's parents had demanded for her to go home, she pleaded with all to allow her to stay at Hogwarts to finish the rest of the term. After much argument and a longwinded conversation with Dumbledore, Hermione's parents had relented and allowed her to stay the rest of the term, visiting whenever they could.
Hermione could not stop crying for the first few days because every time she opened her eyes she was reminded of her loss of sight. She was allowed to do her homework from the Hospital Wing until she was strong enough to return to classes.
At first Harry could not stand to visit Hermione, feeling immense guilt each time he neared the wing. But Ron had convinced him to visit Hermione, telling him it was his duty as a best friend.
While Hermione spoke to him friendly enough, he could detect that underlying hurt and betrayal in her voice. That was when he had begun to visit her three times a day and read to her just as much. While Hermione did not lecture him about being right and how he was foolish for keeping the book for as long as he did, Harry could not help but apologize profusely.
"You don't have to visit me like this Harry, I know you have other things to do. Snape's essay is due in two days and I have a hunch that you haven't even started yet." Hermione said.
Of course, having so much free time had allowed Hermione to already finish her essay. She had used a spell much like that of Rita Skeeter to dictate her essay.
"What's more important than visiting my best friend, you still haven't produced enough proof that Madam Pince and Filch aren't madly in love"
It was still a running joke between them that Filch was sneaking around the castle trying to catch the librarian alone.
"Oh Harry, you poor naïve fool. Madam Pince is only in love with her books. There's simply no room in her dusty heart for Filch." Both settled into a comfortable conversation about Filch, Pince, and Harry's denial over his love for Winky.
When Hermione had fallen asleep a few hours later, Harry could not help but stare at the way her hair fanned out, creating a dark bushy halo. He found the monster that was once crazy for Ginny lessening each time he visited Hermione. There was no monster for Hermione, only a deep need to make sure nothing ever hurt her again. He was becoming afraid that while there was no monster inside of him, he himself might have become the monster.
