"No no no no no." Harry cried as he carried Hermione over to the chair and set her down lightly.
Hermione's world was dark. Hermione's world was black. Hermione's world was devoid of hope.
"Harry." She said quietly, trying not to panic. "What happened?"
"I-I don't kn-know." He stuttered as he began to examine her with his wand. "I don't know what to do…"
"Shine a light in my eye." She instructed hopelessly.
Harry did as he was told, and Hermione could feel him moving his wand back and forth in front of her eyes. "Can you see it?"
"No." She breathed softly. "Let's just run through what could have possibly happened."
"HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?" He asked in a panic.
She held back tears that threatened to flow forwards. "Harry, if I don't stay calm, I'm going to break down. So if you could please be calm as well, we may be able to find a solution."
"A solution to what?" He demanded. "I've blinded you! There's no going back! I slammed my wand down on the table, it shot a random spell at you, and now you're blind!" She heard him begin to pace across the room.
"Harry, please…" The tears began to roll down her cheeks as she began to break. Her eyes were her everything. Without them, she couldn't read, she couldn't study, she couldn't perform magic, she couldn't… see. Sobs were building up in her throat, and in one swift moment, she let them roll out of her throat.
Harry quickly came over and pulled her into a hug. "I am so sorry, Hermione. Tell me anything I can do. Anything, please."
Hermione waved him off as she curled up on the chair. She heard a loud crack come from outside the tent, and the floodgates burst. The tears wouldn't stop spilling out of her unseeing eyes. The sounds slowly faded around her as color returned.
She looked at him from out of the corner of her eye, her focus maintained on the birds she had conjured. They flittered above her as the tears fell from her eyes.
"Hi, Harry." She said, not moving her gaze an inch. "The party's…" He pulled her into a gentle hug. "Congratulations." She nearly sobbed.
The door opened behind him as Ron and Lavender stumbled in, lips locked together. Her heart broke as they turned around. She snapped as she sent her birds at him in a rage. She was lost as Harry led her back to the Common Room. She broke as she cried silently in her bed.
The dream faded, the darkness returned, and she was blind. The world around her was nearly silent. She felt a sudden warmth when she moved her hand into a specific position, so she guessed it was still daylight. She wanted to move. She wanted to read. She wanted to see.
She crawled off of the couch groping around on the floor. She didn't trust herself to stand, and she didn't even know where her wand was. "Accio wand!" A moment later a twig-like object cut across her face before falling to the ground in front of her.
A loud crack came from outside, causing her to jump. "Hermione! What are you doing?" Harry called as the entrance to the tent opened with a swish.
"Oh. You know. Crawling on the ground while I'm blind is all." She choked out, a fake grin spreading across her face, hiding her true feelings. "You?"
Harry picked her up and set her down on one of the chairs. She heard a faint rumble as Harry pushed a chair to her side, and a soft squishing sound as Harry sat beside her. "Well," He rustled around in a pile of… something, causing a few bumps to disturb the otherwise silent tent. "I stopped by Diagon Alley-"
"WHAT!" She gaped at where she thought he sat (And subsequently had her head turned slightly to the right) in total shock. "But… That's so…" She slapped his arm - she hoped - and heard him grunt in pain.
"I went there for you!" He snapped. "I snuck in, under my cloak, into Flourish and Blotts so that I could get something to help our situation. Speaking of which…" He slid a familiar object into her arms. She cracked open the book and brushed her hand on the page.
She nearly sobbed. "I can't read this, Harry."
"I know. That's why I'm here. It's called Magical Blindness: Causes and Treatments. I'd thought if we knew a bit more…"
"You're brilliant Harry."
He sighed. "Other than blinding you, I guess."
"Can you read me the table of contents?" She asked, quickly diverting the conversation to a hopefully smoother topic.
He took the book back and began to flip through the pages. "Umm, sure." He read off the table of contents, until Hermione stopped him. "Causes: Spell Damage. Alright… Umm. Oh this is cool. It has descriptions of the spells, and what their effects are… Let's see…" He flipped through quite a few pages before he stopped and began examining a page. "Was your blindness immediate?"
"It was dark in an instant." She sighed.
"And, do you remember what color the spell was?"
She thought for a moment, thinking back to her last moment of sight. "I think it was blue, but I can't be sure.
"That's what I… Oh no…"
"What?" She asked cautiously, not wanting an answer.
"Umm…"
"Harry?"
"It's an Obscuratus spell. It… It permanently blinds. He moved his hand into hers. "I'm so sorry Hermione."
She squeezed his hand tightly. "Don't be. You didn't mean to. We'll just… Did you say there was a chapter on adjusting?"
Once again, she heard him flipping through pages. "Yeah… It's… Right here. Do you want me to read it out for you?"
"Please."
Harry cleared his throat quickly. "Many may think that blindness is one of the worst afflictions to befall a witch or wizard, but they are wrong. Things, such as a total loss of magic, a Dementor's kiss, and even more have all been proven to have a worse effect on a witch or wizard's magic." Harry shivered at the thought of the Dementor's kiss. "Blindness, although often untreatable, can actually enhance the magic of the individual. The loss of one of the senses frees up some of the magic that was being used to already enhance it, albeit slightly - then how am I blind without my glasses?" He asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Just keep reading, Harry. Please."
"When a witch or wizard is blinded, their magic is enhanced to a point that they can use their magic, much like another sense, to explore their surroundings, receiving a faint 'image' that they can use to navigate through the world."
"That's brilliant." She breathed quietly.
Harry sighed. "I'm… I'm not done." He turned his attention back to the book. "This magical sense, however, is a rather complex process that sometimes takes months to develop, if they can develop it at all. But, another simpler choice used by many is the process of Legilimency. Using Legilimency, due the lack of sight of their own, a witch or wizard can 'borrow' the sight of whose mind they are looking into. It is only temporary, and works off of the concept that the present time is a memory."
"Harry?" She reached out for his face, eventually finding it. Slowly turning it until she felt her eyes met up with hers, she took a deep breath. "Legilimens!"
Her magic rushed from her core into her eyes. Crossing the gap of space between her and Harry, it poured into his eyes, his mind, and his soul. Light instantly returned to her vision, and she found herself looking at… herself. "This is almost as bad as the timeturner."
"Speak for yourself." Her vision was blocked as Harry reached up to his eyes, making sure they were still in his head. "Asking next time… Or even a warning…"
"I'm sorry!" She dropped the spell, allowing the darkness to return. "I just… got excited. Was it weird?"
"I felt… blind." Harry answered, rubbing his eyes. "But if it means you can see… Feel free to hijack my sight anytime. But, you know, a warning would be great."
"Can I…?"
"Go for it."
"Legilimens!" She felt her magic flow from her eyes, meeting Harry's. Sight returned in a moment as Harry looked around wildly. She slowly was able to grasp his face and turn it towards her. "My… My eyes are grey!" Her eyes stared back cold and grey, unseeing. She could see the panic written on her face.
Harry coughed. "They umm… They were grey right after the… Umm… Spell…" He looked towards the tent door, completely disorienting Hermione in the process. She released the spell, allowing the darkness to seep back through.
She held on tight to the chair she sat in so as to get her bearings once more. "That wouldn't be too bad if it didn't almost make me sick. I can only see that being useful for reading."
Harry pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry. This should have never happened."
"No, it shouldn't have, but there's nothing we can do now." She explained. She looked around, pointlessly as she couldn't actually see. "Maybe… Maybe you should just go on without me."
"What?" He gasped. "Hermione, I-"
"I'll only hold you down…" She sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm only a weak link now. I can't even defend myself."
Harry began tapping his foot. "I can't do this without you. You're half the reason I'm alive right now." She glared in the direction she thought he sat in. "Alright, you are the reason I'm alive. And that's why-"
"I don't want to be the reason you get killed!" She snapped, her temper breaking through the calm exterior she had been holding together.
"You aren't… I don't want to be the reason you get killed!"
She sighed. "This argument is never going to end, is it?" A moment later, she found Harry turning her head towards him, giving her a signal. "Legilimens." She said halfheartedly. In front of her - or in front of Harry really - she sat, looking broken.
"I need you, Hermione." He said as he brushed some hair out of her face. "Do you see this?" He held the Horcrux up in front of his eyes. "I need your help with this. I need you." He pulled her into a hug once again.
A few tears began falling out of the corners of her eyes. "I… I need you too."
She slowly let the spell begin to falter, allowing him to have a blurry sight as well. He found her eyes quickly as her sight began to go dark. "But you shouldn't have to."