Blindness of the heart.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of j. K. Rowling's work.
Plot: its two days after the start of term and they have all come back to Hogwarts after the war still grieving for the ones killed. Draco comes across Hermione in the library reading a book in braille. She has wounds from the final battle that not even Harry and Ron know about. One shot. This is a revised version as I took some advise and corrected the spellings and took out the a/n's in the middle of the text. also ignore the fact that electrical items don't work in the castle. For the purpose of this story, assume that it was just a lie to stop the students bringing gadgets with them into school.
Draco was walking along the charms corridor when he remembered he had left his potions book on the table in the library. It was lunch time so there were not many people around and even fewer who would even look in his direction. The end of the war had done nothing to help the growing prejudice against purebloods. He spun around, scaring a group of Gryffindor first years as he went. He was walking purposely back down the corridor when he bumped into Two thirds of the golden trio.
"Potter, Weasley" he said and continued walking, ignoring Ron's scoffs and comments. Even now, 4 months after the war they still haven't let bygones be bygones like he had hoped they could. He was still thinking all that over when he stopped in front of the library doors. He pushed them open almost silently and crept inside so as to escape from the sharp glare of Madame Prince who was still the librarian. As he walked towards the table where he had been working earlier that day, he thought about the one person who he hadn't seen back at school in these last couple of days. Hermione Granger.
It was funny that he was thinking about her when it would have gotten him killed during the war. His father had died about a month ago in Azkaban, while his mother bought a small house in the mountains of Greece where she has been ever since the war ended. He had never wanted to be part of the war himself and all the many mean things he had said and done was all just a mask that he hid behind to save himself from being killed.
But now he thought freely about that witch who had always haunted his mind. He could see that she often got upset at the things that he said and afterwards he always felt guilty but just hid it behind insults and smirks.
He looked up from his feet where his gaze had landed and saw, sitting at the table he had been working at earlier, Hermione Granger. He jumped in shock, and then looked around to see if anyone had seen. No. They were too engrossed in what they were doing.
As Draco took a step closer he could see that there was something wrong with the young witch that his fantasy's so often lingered on. He could see tears softly making their way down her face. She was making no movement to stop them and let them continue on their path. He took another step closer then stopped. He noticed that her fingers were running across the page at a rapid pace while following a set of raised lines and her face was turned towards the window.
"Hermione?" he spoke softly so as to not alarm the girl. Her head snapped round to look in his direction. Draco bit back a gasp at what he saw.
A jagged scar ran down from the middle of her forehead, over her left eye and ended half way down her cheek. Another thing he noticed was that her eyes were no longer the rich chocolaty brown that he could loose himself in. They were a milky brown that Draco knew meant only one thing; she was totally blind. He felt an instant rush of sympathy for the girl in front of him who had only one outward sign of her role in the battle, but, what he would bet was, thousands of emotional scars all over her mind.
"Who's there?" she asked, her voice sounding cool, calm and like she had been blind for her whole life. Draco's heart went out to her, which was a totally knew feeling for him and so he whispered gently back,
"relax. Its Draco."
"Malfoy?" her tone only implied a certain curiousness but not surprise. Perhaps she had always felt that he had not chosen to be in the war and wanted to be on the darker side even less.
"yes. Are you ok?" he said and then instantly regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. Of course she wasn't ok, she had tears dripping down her cheeks.
"I ... don't ," she started and then broke off as she broke down in sobs. Draco saw that Madame prince was about to come over and tell them off so he did the only thing he could think of. He put his arms around her and held her while she cried. Madame Prince came over and began shooing them out the door so Draco picked up Hermione's bag, swung it over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist.
He then helped her stand up and led her out of the doors and down to the great hall. Before they reached the hall Draco turned down a path that was at such an awkward angle that no one else he had ever talked to knew about it. The corridor led to a room that was very like the ROR in that it changed to meet the users needs , but he had later discovered that it only had two rooms to choose from; bedroom and bathroom and an art studio. He ran into the room and watched as the last few touches of the room came into place such as the lamp, wardrobe and electric blanket. Draco then led Hermione over to the loveseat and sat down with her on his lap. She soaked the shoulder of his new shirt and sobbed her heart out, but Draco found himself staring at her intently and was suddenly hit with a crazy fact. He thought the witch that was currently sitting on his lap, to be the most beautiful person he had ever seen. Even sitting there with tears rolling down her face, he found and savoured the true, pure beauty he saw that came from inside. He realised what a selfish idiot he'd been all though out their Hogwarts years together, and also what a kind, sensitive soul Hermione Granger really did have.
Finally, she hiccupped and pulled her face out from where it was buried in the crook of his neck.
"I'm...hic...so ...hic... sorry" she managed to force out as she tried to pull away. Draco pulled her closer to his still and felt her freeze before slowly relaxing.
Draco whispered in her ear. "you have nothing to be sorry for," and, for the first time in his life, he felt peaceful and sincere. At that moment, the whole of Slytherin house could have walked in, Voldemort amongst them (even though he is dead), and neither of them would have noticed as they were both so lost in the moment.
Suddenly Draco did something that surprised them both; he lent over and kissed her, before moving his mouth close to her ear and whispering into it "I have loved you since the day I met you". As he said these words, he realised how utterly and completely true they were. It made sense of a lot of things. He loved her when he met her the first time on the Hogwarts express, but he was never allowed to show emotions. Resulting in the fact that it was only now that Draco realised what love is and what it means to be in love with someone.
Hermione stopped so still that Draco thought she had been petrified again, until she flung her arms around him in an attempt to convey her affections , but it obviously didn't work as he was still looking confused.
She sighed and kissed him lightly before pulling away.
"I've always loved you, even if you were a stuck- up, arrogant prat.
5 years later
"I've done it!" Draco Malfoy yelled as he sprinted down the corridor to his and his wife's bedroom. In his hand he gripped a test tube filled with a bright pink liquid. As he walked in Hermione Granger lifted her head off the pillow and looked in his direction.
"what have you done, sweetie?" she asked her husband.
"its the cure to the curse. The one that damaged your eyes." He shouted joyfully "the answer I've been looking for these last five years. Its love! Love is the key. I just mixed the tears of a phoenix with human tears and a few other ingredients!" Draco had started researching the curse that made Hermione blind from the moment they were out of Hogwarts and got a job at the ministry of magic making the cure. Apparently, before he died, Voldemort cursed hundreds of people all over the world with the lack of sight and the ministry have spent the last 5 and a half years trying to find a counter curse or potion. Since then Draco had been working day and night to find a solution for his wife's problem.
"that's wonderful!" she yelled getting out of bed and giving her husband a hug, " I knew you could do it."
"of course I could" (it seems arrogance is something you just don't grow out of) "and now we can both see our wonderful children." He said resting his hand on her swollen stomach, just as two young children came rushing in and the chaos began.