Blind!Hermione
It was December 8th and winter weather had just set in at Hogwarts. Ron and Harry had woken early, much to everyone's surprise, so as to go play in the snow. Rumor had it that they were organizing a school-wide snowball fight for the afternoon. Despite the wild amount of studying Hermione felt needed to be done before the start of winter break, she could not help but find herself feeling excited by the idea of wizard snowball fights. What would be so special about them? She herself had never attended one; winter was far too busy with school work and all. However, for reasons unbeknownst to her, Hermione felt this year was different. Maybe it was the closeness she was gaining with Ron, or the camaraderie she had with Ginny and Luna, or maybe it was a new found rebellious side to her that had come when they had created Dumbledore's Army. Regardless of the reasons, she signed up to Gryffindor's team, having an inkling something big would happen today.
"Wait what?" Harry sounded surprised.
Ron butted in, adding, "You're coming too?"
"Yes! Did you not see my name on the list? Of course I'm coming. How could I miss this?" Hermione was trying to sound extra cheerful. She thought that if they thought she was overjoyed by this occasion, then they would shrug it off and move on. Apparently that did not work.
"Well…it's just that you've never joined in the fun before," Ron commented, still sounding a bit confused. It hurt Hermione a little, deep inside, though she would never admit it, that her friends didn't think she ever 'joined the fun'.
Trying to move past this conversation, Hermione asked "Have either of you seen Neville today? I was supposed to help him with his Charms homework earlier."
Harry stumbled to form an answer at first, surprised by the sound change in subject, "Uh no. No we haven't we have been outside for nearly the whole day."
"Oh well. Neville will be Neville." The trio was reached the doors to outside and Hermione could already feel the intense cold. Oh yes, another reason I've never attended these fights, its cold.
As they walked over to the area already sanction off to the Gryffindor team, a stray snowball flew straight at them. Unfortunately for Hermione, she was too mesmerized by the beauty of the school covered in its winter white dusting, to notice and it hit her square in the face.
"AHHHH!" Hermione screamed in agony. Something was wrong, very wrong. Her hands were clutching her eye as the pain rolled through her like a massive truck over and over again.
"Hermione! Are you alright?" Harry was the first to respond, looking to her for her wellbeing.
Ron on the other hand looked first to the crowds, seeking vengeance for her, "Who did this!" he practically screamed. "Who cast the bloody snowball?" No one would fess up, making Ron even madder.
Hermione, think the pain had subsided enough for her to remove her hands and open her eyes, discovered that she could not see. "AHHH! Harry, Ron, are my eyes open? Please tell me they are closed right now and thats why I can't see. Its just that they won't open at the moment, right?" She was growing increasingly panicked.
"Hermione, what are you talking about?" Harry was still there. She could feel him sitting on the ground next to her.
"Hermione, you're scaring us. What's wrong?"
"Are my eyes open?" She had a feeling she knew the answer, but she was honestly dreading them saying it.
"Yes," was Ron's reply.
In the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey tried just about everything she knew to repair Hermione's eyesight. The main problem was that no one would admit to the snowball and therefore no one knew what curse had been used. Nearly two hours into the trial and errors Madame Pomfrey told Hermione that the most recent potion required that she take a nap after taking it. This was in fact not true and was merely a way for her to keep Hermione calm while she went and panicked to the other teachers about having used every option she knew of.
Madame Pomfrey had gathered together all the teachers in her office. A few offered up various solutions, most of which she had already tried, but a few left her with some hope. Dumbledore was particularly quiet during this meeting. He gave off the impression that he knew exactly what needed to be done, but that he was not going to share that information. But then again, Dumbledore always gave off the impression that he knew everything.
"Hermione, dear, that was the last charm I had to try."
"No! No! Please Madame Pomfrey, there must be something you forgot. Maybe there was an ingredient missing in one of the potions so thats why it didn't work! Please!" Hermione was truly working herself into a full fledged anxiety attack. She didn't know how to be blind. She was strong, independent, an avid reader. She felt that she couldn't be herself if she couldn't see!
"I'm sorry dear. I'd send you to St. Mungos, but I know I've tried everything they will use on you and more. Your friends are here. I'll leave you guys alone to talk."
Hermione listened to the sound of Madame Pomfrey's heels clicking in one direction as a pair of shoes clomped over from the other.
"Hi Hermione. It's Ron."
"I know your voice Ron. I didn't lose my memory when I lost my sight. Hi Harry."
"Uh. Hi. How are you feeling?" The boys were impressed by her grasp of her surroundings without being able to see them.
"Can we not talk about this?" Hermione asked, gesturing to her face. She was tired of the only conversations she had being about how she was. She wanted some action. "What's new out there beyond this hospital wing? What has happened over the last day?"
"Well Neville lost Trevor again and then forgot he lost him only to rediscover that the frog was still missing," Ron offered.
"And Luna hung upside down from the side of a staircase this morning. Claimed something about wrackspurts," Harry contributed.
These antidotes made Hermione smile for the first time since the trios conversation leading up to the snowball fight. "And how are you guys?"
"Good," they each said nearly in unison.
The trio continued to chat about meaningless stuff as Hermione had asked them to until Madame Pomfrey returned. "Boys, I'm discharging Miss Granger now. There is nothing to do, but wait and see if the curse wears off. However, Miss Granger will have some difficulty navigating, particularly with stairs and such. I trust that you will assist her as needed?"
The boys nodded, there faces contorted with worry for the grave situation. What if the curse never wore off?
Ron held Hermione's arm leading her to dinner in the Great Hall. "One last step down and then were turning right. Follow the sounds of people eating," he teased. It had been a slow trip for the two of them from Gryffindor's common room all the way down to the Great Hall; seven flights of stairs when you can't see is not an easy task to undergo.
"Thanks Ron, for being here. You didn't have to. You could have pawned me off to someone else, your sister, Harry, anyone, and rushed off to dinner. But you didn't so, thank you."
If Hermione could see she would know that at this moment Ron blushed so deep with cheeks blended in with his hair and that he was looking only at Hermione with the biggest grin on his face.
Hours turned to days, days to weeks, and still the curse had not been lifted.
"What if it's permanent?" Hermione asked Ron one afternoon as the two sat in a hallway in-between classes. "What if I never see again?"
Despite typically being a brainless bloke, Ron could see that Hermione was letting her walls down for him. He knew this was her at her most vulnerable. "I promise you Hermione, if it is the last thing I ever do, and I really mean that, I will find you a cure. I won't let you stay this way forever. And in the mean time, I am here for you. Anything you need, and I am here."
"Thanks," that was exactly what Hermione needed to here.
Now that Ron had promised Hermione a cure, he couldn't disappoint. On the occasions that he wasn't with her, he was researching in the library. He even got Harry to lend him the invisibility cloak in order to check the restricted section. And still nothing.
When Ron felt almost certain that you would not be able to follow through on his promise, he found that last glimmer of hope. In a book from the restricted section on dark magic he found an excerpt about a blinding curse. The page included the reversal charm. Tearing out the page, Ron fled the library, rushing back to Gryffindor common room to see Hermione. He didn't even bother to hide under the invisibility cloak. So what if he got caught! He could fix Hermione!
"Hermione! Hermione, Ive found it!" Ron gasped, completely out of breath from his sprint. Hermione was sitting in the common room with Ginny and Harry. The group was shocked, staring in complete disbelief. Had Ron really done it?
"What?" Hermione sounded like she might cry, but she had the biggest grin on her face.
"It says here in this page 'the excaemalorum curse, used to blind an individual, has only one known counter-spell. In order to caste the reversal, one must flick their wand towards the subjects face as if chiming a bell and say synkurerio'."
Hermione jumped up from her spot on the couch, looking to hug Ron. Noticing that she was facing the wrong way, Ron moved himself to her.
"You did it! You promised me you would find it and you did."
"Not yet. We need to try it." And with that Ron mimicked the book's instructions exactly as they said and Hermione both prayed the spell would work and that Ron wouldn't mess it up, as he often did with magic. Harry and Ginny looked on, hopeful.
The first thing Hermione saw after nearly a month of blindness was Ronald Bilius Weasley and she could not have been happier about that fact.
Hermione kissed Ron on the cheek. "Thank you Ron, for everything."