A/N: I couldn't resist. I had to post this. So here's the first chapter of my second full-length fic! It will probably take me a while to update, as I'm in my hardest year of High School, but I hope you guys stick with me through this one :)
Warning: Strong language
Love Is Blind
"Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are."
Chapter 1: Find Me
It was only a few days until a full moon. The pale glow was basking over the forest and shining everything in a silver light. There was a soft wind, ruffling at the young girl's hair that was traveling through the woods quickly and quietly, her lips pursed together in concentration and her eyes narrowed. There were others around her, heading in opposite directions, searching the wood for sign of something. A Muggle had reported that they heard something only hours before; something like an explosion coming from the forest. So the members of the Order of the Phoenix had gotten the news and headed for the forest near the Muggle town expecting evidence of a recent battle that they had been too late for. However, the forest was eerily quiet, not at all what they had been expecting.
Hermione was determined not to be afraid, although her mind kept screaming set up! Surely Death Eaters would appear from the trees and laugh at their foolishness to fall for such a simple attack? But she had Harry, and Ron, and Mad-Eye, and Lupin, and even Snape. There were many there, and they were all quite skilled. Death Eaters would have to be quite confident to attack them.
She entered a clearing. The moon shone brightly, making everything look silver and mystical. She hesitated. There was something, just ahead. It looked terrifyingly like a body. She thought of calling to the others, but decided against it. She could handle this.
Taking a deep breath, and stowing herself for the worst, Hermione walked closer to the object and inspected its face, looking for recognition.
She screamed.
Hermione fell on her back and used her feet to propel herself backwards and barely was able to contain the vomit that was threatening to burst forth. Harry and Ron were there in an instant, followed by practically everyone that had joined them on the mission. Harry reached her first and asked, "What's wrong?"
She shook her head and raised a shaking hand to point at the body, which Lupin was inspecting. Harry left her to join Lupin, but Ron stayed by her side and helped her into a sitting position. She leaned into him and turned her face away from the body.
The man's face had been horribly disfigured. The skin on one side of his face was bubbly and distorted, and looked as if had been shredded and clawed to pieces and burned at the same time. It covered the entire left side of his face, all the way from the top of his forehead to the left side of his lip, which was tugged up a tiny bit from the disfiguration.
"It's Malfoy." Harry whispered in shock, and Hermione lifted her head up to stare at him in disbelief. "This is Draco Malfoy."
She shook her head, but refused to look again at his face. "That's impossible. He's on the Death Eater's side; they wouldn't do this to him."
Harry grimaced and turned his face away from Malfoy, who Lupin was currently still inspecting. "You don't think-"
"No." Lupin immediately cut Harry off, shaking his head firmly. "None of our own would do this. This is terribly dark magic. It's irreparable."
Hermione was on the verge of questioning why it mattered when he was dead, when Lupin reached down and touched Draco's shoulder. If the state of his face had scared Hermione, the scream that immediately ripped from Draco's mouth terrified her. It was a shriek that told of horrible pain, of torture; a scream that begged: kill me. His back arched up violently and he began to thrash his arms, his eyes squeezed shut, and she almost wished he were dead, just so he would not have to suffer so horribly…no one deserved this, not even Malfoy.
"We've got to get him out of here. Remus and I will take him to the Order. The rest of you search the area for any more." Mad-Eye ordered as Remus lifted the thrashing Draco in his arms. He muttered a spell and Draco became limp in his arms. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief at the blessed silence that filled the clearing, and then they were gone, and Hermione could see again.
They split up to search the forest again, but Hermione found she could not concentrate. The mental picture of Draco's ripped face kept popping in her mind, making her lean over and clutch her stomach again and again. She was sure she would vomit. It had been the most hideous thing she had ever had the misfortune to set eyes upon. Why had they done it to him? They would just go and do that to one of their own? Maybe he had tried to get away from them, and they had found him…
"Hermione." Hermione jumped about a foot in the air but relaxed when Harry popped out of the forest in front of her, shaking off some branches that had snagged to his sweater. He cast a look over his shoulder. "Let's go back. There's nothing else here. I think everyone else has already left."
She nodded, not even aware of how much time had passed since they had found Draco. She did not particularly want to return, however. She did not want to see Malfoy; did not want to hear his wails and screams of pain. She did not think she could even take it.
But she grabbed hold of Harry's offered arm and took a deep breath as they Apparated onto the front step of the Order and entered.
It was always a bustle of movement in the kitchen, but it seemed much more subdued tonight. The Aurors were sitting around the table and Hermione could see the disgust in their eyes at what they had seen. Mrs. Weasley wasn't even bustling around, but sitting still in an armchair. "That poor boy," she muttered as Harry threw his cloak on the hanger. "That poor boy."
"How is he?" Harry asked Lupin, who was sitting on the couch, nodding at Molly's words.
"We cleaned off all the blood. He's not going to die, but his face is permanently disfigured. And he's been blinded; no doubt by the fire that destroyed his face. He's resting, now. He shouldn't feel any pain when he wakes; we gave him a potion for that."
The news shocked all. He was blind. He could not see. He would need help getting around, dressing, bathing, eating…He would need help with everything.
"Someone should probably sit with him, in case he wakes up. He'll panic when he can't see, and he won't know where he is."
"I'll do it."
The entire room looked at Hermione, shocked. She was even shocked at herself, and had not even been aware she was about to say it until the words left her mouth. She couldn't even stand to look at him, how did she expect to sit there and wait for him to wake up?
Lupin, oblivious to her inner turmoil, nodded. "He's in the room on the second floor, first door on the left. He doesn't have a wand, so he won't be of any threat."
She nodded and took a deep breath, heading for the stairs. They creaked underneath her weight, and it seemed the longest trek up the stairs she had ever taken. They seemed suddenly daunting and menacing, like they were going to cave in underneath her and send her falling and she would be just as helpless as Malfoy would be…
The door opened easily when she pushed it; ignoring her hopes that it would be jammed and she would not be able to enter. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then looked at him.
The absence of blood only made it seem much more real. If she had once thought Mad-Eye Moody's scars had been disgusting, now he seemed as if he were the most beautiful man in the world. Draco's entire left face looked as if it had been carved of wood, with ripples and holes and it was just so unnatural. It looked like something out of those horror movies that her dad had tried to make her watch. He didn't look human.
The right side of his face gave you a cruel taste of what he had once looked like. You could tell that he had once had porcelain, smooth skin, and had been decent looking. She was tempted to put a hand over the left side of his face so that he looked like Draco Malfoy. His blond hair was relatively untouched, which he would at least be pleased to hear. Maybe.
Perhaps it was a blessing that he had been blinded, so that he would not have to see his own reflection.
She pulled up a chair next to the bed and chose to stare at her hands in her lap rather than his face. It was oh so difficult to look at his face and hold down her dinner. Vaguely, she wondered if he'd be hungry.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there, but she did know drowsiness was beginning to take effect. It was late; it had been near midnight when they set off for the forest. She was just beginning to rest her head in her hands and perhaps take a little nap, because he surely wasn't going to wake up…
He stirred. She jerked to full awareness and watched him, waiting for a reaction. His eyes opened. They were still grey, but had a cloudiness to them that made it obvious he could not see. She saw the panic in his face for a terrifying moment as he groped around.
"Relax, Malfoy. You're safe."
His head jerked towards her. He scowled immediately, recognizing her voice and crossed his arms over his chest. "Turn on the light, Granger." He demanded, his voice cold and harsh. "And tell me what's going on."
She felt incredibly regretful as she said, "The light is on, Draco."
His face flittered with confusion for a moment, and then he swung his arm wildly at the direction of her voice. He missed her by a few feet, and she shook her head. "Turn the damn light on before I really get angry."
"I promise you that the light is on." Hermione said, surveying his face as the realization set in.
The panic attack was inevitable, and Hermione could do nothing but watch as the blond boy leaned over and balled his fists in his hair and began to hyperventilate. He took in great, gasping breaths with his head down. Something in Hermione wanted to reach out to him and comfort him, but she knew that Malfoy would not appreciate it.
Then he snatched his head up and his sightless eyes began to search the room, desperately attempting to catch a sight of something, of anything, to assure him that it was all a lie.
And then those eyes fixed on her.
She gasped involuntarily, leaning back as the bottomless voids settled on her. It was like they went on forever; no end, no emotion, no life. She was shocked to see tears in his cloudy eyes, but knew she shouldn't be shocked at all. Finally, his eyes moved away from her, darting about with nothing to focus on, and she was able to breathe normally again.
Hermione did not want them to ever settle on her again.
It was a childish hope and she was not being very sympathetic, but there was something about the way his eyes did not take her in, something about how they looked like weeping voids, something all too creepy and foreboding about it.
"Turn the fucking lights on, Granger, or you'll be sorry. I'm not blind. This is all a trick by your damn Order. I'll give you three seconds. Turn. The. Lights. On."
An overwhelming sense of sympathy washed over Hermione. He was Draco Malfoy, but really, not even Malfoy deserved this. "Don't you remember anything?" Hermione asked, trying to stop the constant roving of his eyes.
He was silent for a long moment and his eyes stilled at last, and she knew he was desperately trying to fill the void in his memories. And then he let out a shocked gargle of a sound and his hands slowly lifted towards his face. They probed and touched the mangled side of his face and she saw the complete panic in his expression, so reached out and touched his knee. He jerked away immediately and spat out, "Don't touch me, Mudblood."
"I'm just trying to help, ferret." She hissed, glaring at him even though he could not see her.
"Where are we?" He said in a demanding tone, as if he were trying to act as if he were in control of the situation. She crossed her arms and knew it would be pointless arguing, so answered him.
"The Order of the Phoenix."
"Oh, goody."
"You're just lucky we found you." Hermione snapped.
"Oh, I'm just terribly lucky."
Hermione threw up her arms in frustration. "At least we didn't leave you there lying on the ground! I found you, you know."
His face softened somewhat and he turned away from her. "How bad is it? Don't lie." His voice was soft and broken, and her glare disappeared immediately. She could not help but feel sympathy for him.
"It's…it's not good."
"Like…is it the worst thing you've ever seen?"
"Malfoy…this is stupid…"
"Just tell me."
"No."
He groaned at her unwillingness and his unseeing eyes darted about, as if searching for something, anything that would tell him it was all a lie, that he could still see and that his face wasn't as hideous as he knew it was. "Are you hungry?" She asked, in a desperate attempt to change the subject.
He frowned. "I guess."
"Do you want me to bring it to you, or do you want to go downstairs?"
"I doubt I could make it downstairs, Granger, unless you want to see me take a tumble."
"Well I could help."
"That would mean you have to touch me, and I'll die before I allow a Mudblood to touch me."
"You know, I might just leave you on your own."
"Do it." He lay down and turned his back to her. "See if I care."
She huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at his back and standing up. "Fine. Have fun starving."
She marched out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her, trying to squash the feeling of complete and utter sorrow.
A/N: I know it sort of starts off slow, but hang in there :) Review!
