AN: Hi guys! This is an AU of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, in which Harry is blind. Hermione became Ron and Harry's friend on the train and Dumbledore gives Harry a test to see if he will need extra help. It starts at the Sorting. Enjoy!

"Going blind is a little bit like growing up. Maybe because the older you get, the more you have to close your eyes partway."
-Blind, Page 1, Chapter 1, Rachel DeWoskin

There was complete and utter silence in the Great Hall. Harry gulped and turned his head towards the direction of McGonagall's breathing.

Harry had not been killed, but blinded when Voldemort hit him with the killing curse. He had been blind since he was 15 months old, and his aunt and uncle had abused him because of it. His green eyes were always blank and cloudy.

Whispers of he's blind? Harry Potter is blind? revolved around him. Harry's head whipped around, his messy hair falling into his eyes. The whispers were louder for him then for a regular person; his hearing had improved since he was 2 years old. He could tell who people were by the impact of their footsteps and the sound of their breathing, as well as the feel of their hair and skin.

He closed his unseeing eyes and breathed deeply. Ron, who had made friends with him on the train, stepped out of the line. Harry's eyes opened and his head shot up and Ron gently took his hand and led him out of the Great Hall. Ron's steps struck the floor with his heels, then while he rolled towards the toes, his arch lightly collapsing inward and absorbing the impact.

Ron led him to a bend to a wall. "What happened back there?" he asked, as Harry heard the remainder of the students getting sorted.

"I panicked. I totally panicked. There was too much noise…" Harry said, as he turned his head in the direction of Ron's voice. "I rely on sound and touch and sometimes smell to learn about people and my environment, slowly. And this… this is too much sensory information at one time for me to handle. I just can't absorb it all…"

Harry looked up as he heard the light but hurried footsteps of Hermione. Her footsteps were usually calculated, but one was heavier then the other, almost as if she was limping; now was no different. She strode up to them with matter-of-fact footsteps and gripped his shoulder. "Harry, calm down. You'll be okay," she soothed.

"Thanks guys," he said, his sightless eyes focused on his two friends eerily. They both smiled.

"We're smiling, Harry," Hermione said. "Relax."

Harry did and he smiled. Then he felt the vibrations of and heard a sudden boom and they all heard the frightened screams of their fellow students. They rushed into the Great Hall. Hermione and Ron saw smoke, while Harry smelled it. Hermione quickly described the scene for him and Harry nodded. "There's still smoke over by the teacher's table…" Hermione said.

Then Harry heard it: The distinctive sound of a door opening and shutting, and footsteps, headed to the table. No one else heard it.

"Wands out," he said, taking his wand out. He held it at his side cautiously and took a step forward, his two friends flanking him. With a wave of Hermione's wand, the smoke cleared, revealing some of the panicked students and the teachers.

"Everyone, calm down," Dumbledore said, "it was just a prank gone awry."

"No it wasn't," Harry said, and everyone's heads turned to see the Boy-Who-Lived walking slowly towards the professor's table. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances but followed behind the blind boy, taking their pace slow.

"Whatever do you mean, Potter?" McGonagall asked. Her voice was full of confusion.

"This was planned. And the headmaster isn't Professor Dumbledore, but an imposter!" Harry said, stopping in the middle of the Great Hall. His head focused on the position of the headmaster.

"Nonsense Potter! Why would he been an imposter?" Snape questioned.

Harry began to walk forward again, his steps slow and passive. "Being blind has taught me a lot of things. Always be slow, think things over, and listen-or else you could get hurt easily. I'm listening right now; I've taught myself to recognize people by their footsteps, the sound of their breathing, and the feel of their skin and hair, if they'll let me touch them. It's always been peaceful darkness for me. I never saw anything in my life, and I never will.

"So that's why it was so important for me to learn to recognize people this way. His breathing is irregular, a common sign of lying, his footsteps were lighter; Dumbledore has a heavy tread. And his voice is higher, slightly. If you listen very carefully you can hear the slight squeak behind his words."

"Whatever are yer talkin' about, Harry?" Hagrid asked.

Every eye came over to the headmaster as he tried to hit Harry with a charm. "Reduci-"

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, making the headmaster's wand fly out of the imposter's hand and into his. He heard the whoosh of air and reached his hand up to catch the wand. It flew into his hand. Harry smirked in triumph. "I may be blind, but I'm not helpless," he said firmly.

The imposter then began to shrink and turned into… "Professor Flitwick?" Ron said in surprise. "Where's Professor Dumbledore?"

"He's in Flitwick's chair, now," Harry said, hearing the professor's regular breathing. Then he heard Dumbledore's breathing hitch. "What's going on?"

"Dumbledore's changing back to his regular self," Ron explained to the blind boy.

Harry frowned and they continued to look forward. "What I don't understand, though," he said, "why would you do this?" he asked, inclining his head towards where Dumbledore was sitting.

"To test you, young Harry," Dumbledore says, "and you have passed this test beautifully. So have Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger."

That night, Ron showed him around the common room and let him feel his surroundings so he could get used to them. Hermione organized the Gryffindors into a line by their year and told them to introduce themselves and say the same sentence: I am a Gryffindor! Then everyone else was instructed to be silent while the person who introduced themselves walked away, and Harry memorized their footsteps. The three were now sitting on the couch, with the rest of the common room talking quietly so as not overwhelm their blind hero.

"What do you think of Hogwarts so far, Harry?" Ron questioned to his left. Harry turned his head in the direction of Ron's voice.

"I'm liking it a lot so far," Harry said, "but I'll have to learn my way around by touch, so you and Hermione will have to guide me."

"We'll be glad to," Hermione said, and Harry smiled, turning his head slightly to the right, making his hair swish. His hair was shoulder length. Because he was blind, his hair cut didn't matter to him; his hair was long, and it felt comfortable for his hair to brush his face when he walked or moved his head.

"Thanks guys," Harry said, and they hugged him, making the blind boy hug him back and smile.