Chapter 1
Hermione sat on the bed in the hospital wing of Hogwarts School, fiddling with the bandages that had been covering her eyes only moments before. Draco had taken a seat by the door. Professor McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape and Dumbledore were sitting about the room as well, much to the dismay of Madam Pomfrey.
Draco had little idea of what was going on. He knew only that something had happened to Hermione, and he was to look after her. (Though he had every intention of finding a way out of that.)
"What exactly happened to me?" Hermione had just asked, and while he had to look closely to see it, there was something strange about the girl's eyes, aside from the tears she was trying to hold back.
Draco watched as each of the professor's in the room looked down at their feet, apparently unwilling to answer. It was Snape, who finally opened his mouth.
"Ms. Granger, the potion, as it was, had negative effects when coming in contact with human skin, as I believe you were already told. One of those effects, should any of the mixture get into your eyes, is blindness. The citrus juice Madam Pomfrey kept on your eyes all night was designed to draw out the poison, and the effects, but unfortunately the salve was not put on in enough time, and not all of the poison was removed."
Draco's eyes widened. The girl was blind, and he was meant to help her out. He wasn't sure if he should feel irritated that he had to baby-sit the poor little blind girl, or amused at the 'accidents' he could help send her way.
"The effects are only temporary though, right? Madam Pomfrey said a few months, didn't she?" Hermione was saying, and Draco turned to look at her. Now that he knew, he couldn't understand how he had missed it. Her eyes, while they still looked just like normal eyes, where not focused on the people she was talking to. When Draco had marched into the room she had looked his way, but now that he thought of it, she had been looking slightly off to the side of him.
"Yes, we can't know exactly how long it will take, but your vision will come back. It is our nurse's opinion that three or four months would be the longest it would take," Dumbledore said.
"Excuse me, but what exactly is my place in all this? Professor Snape said I was to look after Hermione in some way, and how exactly am I supposed to do that?" Draco asked, and everybody's heads turned to look at him, save Hermione, whose head stayed down as she continued to pick at the bandages.
"We would ask you to be a guide for her Mr. Malfoy. To get her to and from classes, help take notes, help her find the Great Hall, or one of her fellow Gryffindors so they might take her back to their tower. We need you to be her eyes Draco, until she regains the use of her own." This was Professor McGonagall, and the boy could plainly see his potions master scowling behind the old woman.
"And how am I to do that? I have classes of my own to get to, homework of my own to do!" He demanded.
"We will be revising your timetables slightly." Dumbledore said, his voice had taken on the calm, but stern tone that meant that he was not angry, but what he said was going to be, one way or another. "Your classes and Ms. Granger's are all the same, although they are spread out a little differently, we will simply put Hermione in a few classes with the Slytherins, and you, Mr. Malfoy, in a few classes with the Gryffindors."
"Professor, are you sure there isn't another way? I mean, Draco cannot very well come into the Gryffindor common room with me, and surely I could just partner up with somebody in each of my classes!" Hermione said, her head was now pointed in the general direction of the Headmaster.
"Ms. Granger, there is no need to put out the entire of your house. Besides, there are meetings that only the two of you attend, places that only the two of you can go. I am sure one of your friends would be willing to help you once you are in the Gryffindor tower. Maybe young Ms. Weasley could move into your room for the time being."
Hermione was more than happy to agree to the last bit. As Head Girl, she was given a private bedroom, and without sight, she would hardly be able to get around the room by herself.
Debating went on for quite a while, both Hermione and Draco using every excuse they could think of to have somebody else care for Hermione while she couldn't see. Hermione even offered to try and do things on her own. Surely there was some way she could get on by herself, but Dumbledore refused them all, and in the end, they where forced to agree with his terms.
"Very good, Minerva, if you could escort Hermione back to her room, and assist Ms. Weasley in moving her things, and then you and Severus can get started on the revised timetables."
Professor McGonagall stood and moved to the bed. "Alright Ms. Granger, lets go." And she placed her hand on the small of the young girl's back, helped her to her feet, and the two of them left the room together.
"Draco, you may go now, but when you awake in the morning, I would ask that you take your breakfast quickly and go to collect Ms. Granger. You will have your revised timetable by then, I am sure." Dumbledore said, and then left the room himself, closely followed by the rest of the teachers in the room.
Draco sighed, but did as he as told. If he was stuck with such a rotten job, then he would just have to make the best of it. As soon as he reached the common room, he went to find Pansy, asking her to help plan several rotten things he could do the know-it-all witch.
Hermione sat in the common room, along with Ginny, Ron and Harry. Her three closest friends had locked her in vicious hugs when she told them the bad news, each of them promising to help with anything they could. Ginny was already moved into the Head Girl's bedroom. (Although the room seemed no smaller, even with the additional canopy bed.) The other Gryffindors had come to offer help and condolences as well.
"I haven't told you the worst bit, yet," Hermione said after a while. "There is only one person who has all the same classes as me. Dumbledore is changing all my classes around, so that Draco can take care of me," she said, and her voice took on a sarcastic tone at the last words.
Harry and Ron both looked at her as if she had grown a second head. Ginny sent one glance at them and decided her opinion could wait. "'Mione tell them we'll do it!" Ron shouted, and Ginny cringed at his voice.
"Ron, I am sure she tried that," the redheaded girl said, shooting her brother an icy glare, but Ron failed to take the hint.
"Well you should try harder! Hermione, do you have any idea what he will do to you?" He was standing up now, pacing ever so slightly in front of his long time friend. "He might, he might, I don't know… Dump you in the Forbidden Forest and leave you there!"
Hermione sighed. She could hear the footsteps, so she knew he was pacing in front of her. She too, stood up, wanting to keep on a level ground with him. "Do you think I haven't thought about all of this? There is nothing to it though. I tried everything I could think of and Dumbledore isn't budging. Now I had kind of wanted my friends' support instead of criticism." She said, and turned away; walking very slowly in the direction she knew the girl's staircase was located.
Ron, Harry and Ginny where left to stare at the slowly retreating girl. She made found the staircase almost exactly, though she needed to use her hands to feel around as she was a few inches away from them, but she found them quickly and disappeared up the stairs.
"You shouldn't have said that Ron. She is under a lot of stress and I don't think now is the time to judge her for something she can't control." Ginny said, before following her friend up the stairs.
Draco was chuckling lightly as he made his way into the Great Hall the next morning. He and Pansy had come up with several little tricks they could play on Hermione that he couldn't possibly get blamed for. Nothing overly big, just walking her into walls, replacing her charmed books with normal ones, simple little things like that.
His revised timetable had been brought to him shortly before he went to bed last night. Today he had double Transfiguration in the Gryffindor class, then Charms and Arithmancyin the afternoon, both with Slytherin. He had a feeling he would enjoy his afternoon much better.
The other changes had included History of Magic, which he now had with Gryffindor, as well as Ancient Runes and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Hermione would be having Astronomy and Herbology with the Slytherins. Potions and Care of Magical Creatures would not change, as Slytherin and Gryffindor already had both classes together.
Draco entered the Great Hall and took his seat, glancing across the room to see that Hermione and Ginny were already seated and eating, although Ron and Harry were strangely absent. He had thought they would be hovering over her like little house elves, trying to make themselves useful and only succeeding in being pests.
The boy turned his head from the girl, loading his plate up with all of his favourite foods. He did not hurry his breakfast. In fact he would have prolonged it, if it were only Hermione who would have been late for class, but he had to be there on time as well, and so he finished off his plate and got up to collect his charge.
The mood was bleak at the Gryffindor table, Harry and Ron had gone for breakfast early, so that they could be gone before Hermione and Ginny arrived. The girls were not sure if Ron knew he needed to apologise and just was not yet ready to do it, or if he was simply not willing to speak to Hermione, but it was clear that whatever it was, Harry had taken his side.
"Ignore them 'Mione, that was what you always used to say to me, remember?" Ginny had said, and while Hermione knew she was right, it was a completely different thing to actually do it.
The bushy headed girl had cried herself to sleep last night; everything was coming at her so hard and fast. She had lost her sight for what could be as long as three or four months, she had to spend all her classes with Draco Malfoy, and now Ron was being his usual bull-headed self and Harry was going along for the ride. She knew in her heart that it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be. The three friends had fought before, many times much worse than this, but it wasn't the same this time. This time she needed her friends help, and support. How on earth was she going to cope for four months without sight?
"Well Granger, I suppose we should be off to class," came the sneering voice that Hermione had half hoped would simply not show up, but of course, he was as bound by Dumbledore's rules as she was. She stood up, and heard a chair across from her scrape along the floor, indicating that Ginny too, had risen from the table.
"I have to go to, I have Divination and I really don't want to be late." The redhead said. The noise in the hall to much distraction, and Hermione did not hear the girls retreating footsteps.
"Come on then Granger, don't want to be late." Draco said, and began to walk away.
"Wait!" And the boy stopped, turning to see that Hermione had not yet moved. "I can't hear where you are going. I, I don't know where to walk." She hung her head low, and Draco didn't attempt to hold back his laughter.
"Oh now this is rich!" He choked out around his laughter. "The all powerful Mudblood can't even find her way out of the Great Hall on her own!"
"Don't call me that." The young witch said, but her voice wavered slightly, betraying the fear within her. "Just lead me out of here, and I can follow your footsteps once we get into the hall," she said.
At first she thought the he was going to leave her there, but after a moment more laughter, she felt his hand on the small of her back. "Don't run me into anything." She mumbled keeping her hands out in front of her to insure the boy didn't intentionally make a fool of her.
"Quite bossy there Granger, you have a lot of don'ts on your list." She heard him say, and just as she was about to retort, her knee smacked painfully into the corner of one of the tables and she let out a yelp of surprise and pain.
"Draco you useless depraved little whelp!" She cried, and several people turned to see what had made the girl who was usually more or less composed, and above such silly insults, turn into a potty mouth.
"Now, now Granger, don't bite the hand that feeds you." Draco said, and Hermione could almost hear the grin in his voice. She swallowed down her retort and let him lead her out of the Great Hall.
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