Gack. I'm sorry. Just … lots of things have been happening lately, and my heart just hasn't been in writing. I'll try to be better…
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, as always.
As a timer went off in the kitchen, Molly called up the stairs to her daughters' bedroom. "Angel, honey, please hurry up! We're going to be late to your Healers' appointment!"
Slowly, a small girl, looking to be about six or seven years old, walked cautiously down the stairs. At the same time, a boy and another girl, both larger, came barreling down the same stairs, almost knocking the smaller girl over. Molly had witnessed the entire scene and yelled at the two, walking over to her youngest daughter, Angel, and comforting her. "You two know better than that. She has difficulty knowing when someone's coming up behind her; now, both of you, apologize to her."
The boy, Ron, apologized first. "'M sorry, Angel. I didn't mean to scare you." He turned to his mother. "But, Mum, I swear I had a good reason! Ginny stole my kiddie broom!" He glared at the older of his two sisters.
Ginny stuck her tongue out at her older brother and tucked a few strands of short, red hair behind her ear. "Tattletale!" At a warning look from her mother, she turned to her younger sister. "Sorry, Angel. I didn't mean to almost knock you over." Then she looked back at Ron. "Let's keep playing outside!"
Molly watched her second- and third-youngest children run out to the yard to play before turning back to her youngest daughter. This year had been hard on her. Her favorite brothers, Bill and Charlie, were both at Hogwarts, studying hard for their exams. Bill was in his seventh year at Hogwarts, Charlie in his fifth. The "middle" brother, Percy, who had also been close to Angel, was in his third year and was already preparing to be made a prefect in two years. Even the twins, Fred and George, were gone now, though their reprieve from pranking Angel had not lasted as long as anyone would have liked. However, they both understood how dangerous pranking Angel could be; she tended to retaliate with magic, and her aim was simply terrible. The only siblings Angel had left were Ron and Ginny. While neither child was particularly mean to her, they did not seem to understand that they needed to be more gentle with her than with the others. Because they had been so young at the time, Molly suspected they did not even know that Angel was blind.
Five years of monthly Healers' visits were beginning to take a toll on the family's budget. Before Angel's illness, the family had been fairly well-off. Not nearly as much as the Blacks or the Potters or so many of the other pureblood families, but well enough to get by, even with eight children. Now they could barely afford to buy schoolbooks for their children, and that was with only five of the kids at Hogwarts. Thankfully, by the time either Ron or Ginny was old enough to go to Hogwarts, Bill and Charlie would have graduated and could help out. It wasn't fair for them to have to support their sister, but Molly knew that they would agree out of the goodness of their hearts; they loved Angel dearly and would do whatever they could to help.
Molly pulled herself out of her thoughts long enough to take her daughter's hand. Angel tightened her fingers around her mother's fingers. "I'm ready to go now, Mama," she said softly, her green eyes staring ahead unseeingly in the direction she knew her mother to be in.
Molly led Angel over to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder into the fireplace. She pushed the seven-year-old forward gently; Angel stepped into the fireplace with practiced ease and said, "St. Mungo's Hospital – Outpatient Care Unit." As soon as the emerald-green flames stopped swirling, Molly followed suite.
After about a ten-minute wait, a Healer came forward to take them into the examination room. It was a Healer that they had visited many times – Healer Maria, of the pediatric ward. Maria Abbott was a mother herself, to a little girl the same age as Ron, and so understood Molly's worries about Angel, though Maria's own daughter, Hannah, was perfectly healthy.
Molly picked up her daughter and followed Healer Maria into the examination room, setting Angel down on the table. Healer Maria smiled at the little girl and placed the girl's hand on her face, so Angel would know that she was smiling. Angel smiled back, a little shyly. Maria then turned to Molly and asked a few questions: Has Angel been ill in the past month? Have her eyes been hurting her? Has her eyesight grown any worse?
The answer to all of these questions was "no", and had been for most of the past year, but these questions were asked at every single appointment anyway. However, this did not mean that Angel's eyesight was getting any better, either.
The illness that Angel had contracted from Percy and the others five years before had not completely robbed her of her sight. She was still able to distinguish shadows, and she could see light vs. darkness. However, it was not enough to allow her to safely navigate the house. This is why her and Ginny's room had been switched with Bill and Charlie's, putting the two girls on the next floor up from the main floor with the oldest boys on the fifth floor, between the twins below and Ron above. With some help from other members of the Order of the Phoenix, they had found a tutor who specialized in teaching blind students Braille and basic magic, so Angel was able to read and write to an extent. She was also able to better control her accidental bursts of magic, though it seemed unlikely that she would ever be able to aim at a moving target or even brew a potion.
As sad as it was, it was unlikely that Angel would ever be able to attend Hogwarts. She would be unable to learn a substantial amount of the curriculum, and she could easily be a danger to the other students. She was prone to temper tantrums, and neither Molly nor Arthur was truly willing to punish her for getting frustrated about not being able to do things for herself, so they simply waited until she could calm herself down. Unlike the other children at her age, she was not spoiled by possessions; most of her toys and clothes were hand-me-downs from Ginny and her brothers, because between the tutoring sessions and the Healers' visits, they simply could not afford to spend much money on anything else.
Angel had been so excited when Fred and George had gotten their Hogwarts letters. How could Molly break her daughter's hopes and dreams about attending Hogwarts? Angel had to know that going was an unrealistic fantasy, but surely it wouldn't hurt to let her innocent daydreams continue for a little while longer…
Again, I am so sorry. I will try to update again soon; I only have a few weeks of classes left before I'm out for the summer.
