Stone Pinions

By Lochar

Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, yadda. Don't come bothering me about this, as I don't own it.

Chapter 9: Restored eyes, subdued sight.

As the alarms went off, loud enough to hear in all of the girls' dorms, Ginny looked around confused. "What's that?"

"That's the stairs' alarm." One of her dorm mates answered. "A fifth year told me that goes off when a boy tries to climb the staircase." She grinned. "Come on, let's go see who got caught!" She got up off her bed and shot out the door.

Ginny laughed, closing her diary before getting up herself.

Halfway down the newly re-formed stairs, the alarm stopped. Confused, Ginny kept moving downwards. She found her brother Ron being supported by a couple of other students, and a loose crowd looking at something in the corner. After making sure her brother was actually okay, she looked towards the corner, trying to see what was happening.

Curious, she walked over, squeezing between people since as a first year she couldn't see over anyone's head.

As she got to the inner edge of the crowd, she gasped. Harry was in the corner, curled up into a ball with both of his arms covering his face.

"Harry? What happened to him?" Ginny whispered. After a few seconds passed she realized no one was doing anything; they were just standing there. She glared at the crowd, silently wondering why no one was trying to help him.

She rushed forward, not noticing the winces of the crowd or hearing Hermione's shout of, "No! Don't!"

0o0

The lights had apparently stopped coming any closer to him. That was a good thing, considering Harry didn't think he had much more energy to push them away. Even through shut eyes and both arms covering him, he could still see the lit shapes gathered around him, standing out against the background light of the room he was in, which he prayed was still the Gryffindor common room.

A voice sounding vaguely like Hermione's shouted, "No! Don't!" and Harry braced himself, thinking there was another something about to come at him.

Gathering up what remained of his energy, -and at this point he couldn't even tell the difference between his Chi and his magic- he readied himself to push another rushing shape away.

Suddenly, his vision was covered with a warm, vibrant color that wasn't harsh enough to hurt his eyes. A hand touched his arm.

"Harry?" the voice asked.

"Elly?" Harry whispered, and then shook his head. "Ginny? Is that you?"

The person gave a startled laugh. "At least you corrected yourself this time. What happened?"

He slowly dropped one arm, then the other before opening his eyes to look at Ginny. "I screwed up. What are all the lights for? And how come you're just a color?" Harry was sounding a little panicked. He then added in a softer voice, "Your color is bright, but it's not blinding me at least."

Before Ginny could say anything, another harsh light came around the edge of what he supposed was Ginny. Pushing out again, the shape stumbled back out of his view.

"Umm, Harry, what was that for?" Ginny asked cautiously.

Harry refocused his eyes again near the center of Ginny's shape before speaking. "I don't know what it was. But it hurts my eyes when it gets close to me. The light it makes is blinding."

Ginny giggled slightly. "That was Hermione."

Harry sighed. "Sorry then, Hermione."

"It's not a problem, I guess, Harry. At least you didn't throw me across the room like you did Ron." Hermione's voice said. "I guess we still can't get to close to you?"

He shook his head. "I messed something up, Hermione. Now everything is just a bright light. If that was you, then you're the really bright blue light. Ron's is like looking into the sun."

"What about me?" Ginny asked.

"You're bright too, but it's a warm red. I don't know why, but at least yours doesn't blind me." Harry sighed again, not daring to take his eyes off Ginny's shape. "Can you take me to the hospital wing, please?"

Ginny nodded, and Harry caught the movement of her shape. She then turned around and looked at Hermione. "Back up, please?"

Hermione did so, turning to the other students. "Everyone back up. Clear the way from here to the exit, please."

Unseen to Harry, everyone cleared a very large path through the common room. Ginny stood up with Harry behind her and walked towards the portrait. She then stopped for a moment, looking back at Harry. "Are you ok?"

Harry nodded unsteadily and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lead the way, please."

She grinned weakly before leading Harry out of the common room.

After they left, Hermione turned to face the rest of the room. "Umm, I really think Harry would appreciate if no one mentioned this to anyone else. Please?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The room was a chaotic mix of different colors, all blinding in their own way, Harry noticed with a quick glimpse around before refocusing back on Ginny. "We're in the Hospital Wing?"

"Yep." Ginny said. She then called out, "Madam Pomfrey?"

The thin, grey-haired matron stepped out of her office. "Yes? What seems to be the problem, child?"

Ginny paused, not sure how to explain.

After a few seconds of silence, Harry sighed. "I did something to my eyes, Madam Pomfrey. I can only see colored shapes, and the only one that isn't blinding me is Ginny."

"Oh dear. Come sit down on one of the beds, Mr. Potter." Harry did as requested, Ginny sitting across from him. She blushed as Harry's unseeing eyes focused on her.

Madam Pomfrey looked at Harry. "Alright, Mr. Potter. What spell were you trying to cast when it backfired? That will give me a starting place to work with."

"Umm…" Harry started, then paused. "I didn't cast a spell. Is it considered wandless magic if the magic never left me?"

"Pardon me?" Pomfrey said. "I think you need to explain in a little more detail. You didn't cast a spell?"

Harry sighed. "Short story? I was listening to Hermione and Ron talk about the Conjunctivis Curse, and thought I might be able to use magic to see through it if I got blinded. I pushed my magic into my eyes, and now all I see are really bright colors."

"So you're at the Corecas level, are you? That might make this a little more difficult." Pomfrey took a step between Harry and Ginny, holding her wand up.

Harry immediately put his arms over his eyes again. "You're too bright too." He whimpered.

Pomfrey immediately moved out of Harry's line of sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as she moved so he could refocus on the only thing in the room he could still bear to look at.

"What seems to be the matter, Poppy?" a voice asked from behind Harry.

"Headmaster. Mr. Potter seems to have blinded himself somehow." Pomfrey said from Harry's side. "What brought you down here?"

"I was curious to find out why the whole of the Gryffindor common room has been rearranged, along with a student setting off the dorm alarm." Dumbledore's voice was faintly amused. "I see now."

"I don't." grumbled Harry.

"Let's fix that then, Mr. Potter. I'm going to cast a diagnostic spell on your eyes from over here. Hold still, please."

With a murmured word, the magic left Pomfrey's wand and went toward Harry.

As the magic hit his eyes, Harry saw the almost ungodly bright light that was the spell. With a loud yell, he turned away from it, but not before it entered his eyes. He didn't feel anything change, but as he kept turning, he caught sight where the Headmaster was standing.

It was akin to staring into the sun, only the sun was just a single spot in the sky, and the Headmaster filled up his entire vision. With a sharp, pained groan, Harry grabbed at the last of the power in him. Chi, magic, it was all the same at the moment, and Harry pushed. And pushed again, as the almost impossibly bright light began to encompass him. He gave one final push with everything he had and was happy to see all the glowing lights around him move away, becoming smaller pinpoints that didn't hurt.

Then everything grew dim, and Harry collapsed on the bed he'd been braced against.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry slowly felt consciousness return to him. Everything was dark, which was a plus at this point. There was something covering his eyes and Harry slowly raised a hand to it.

"I wouldn't at the moment, Mr. Potter." A weary voice stated.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry recognized the voice. "What happened?"

"From what I can surmise from your descriptions and your reactions to people and spells, I think you've managed to enchant your eyes with a type of Mage Sight." Was the answer.

"Mage… Sight?" Harry asked. "How does that change everything to colors?"

"Not colors, Harry. Auras. You've been seeing everyone and everything's magical aura. And without the benefit of being able to see the person as well, or to turn it off. What you have over your eyes currently is a very specially made piece of nightcloth. Nightcloth is a mundane material that can block out any and all light, including that of auras."

"So I'm blind? With or without this thing? Just bloody great." Harry slumped down.

"I would certainly hope not. While eyes are one of the most delicate things in your body, as you did not use a wand to enchant them, it should be possible to reverse. After all, it is your magic that is doing this."

Harry winced. "I don't think it is, anymore. When it happened, I tried to take it back and the magic wouldn't react to me anymore." Harry laughed harshly. "Professor Maison is going to kill me."

Dumbledore's voice took on a partly confused, partly curious tone. "What would Professor Maison have anything to do with this?"

Harry sat up and faced towards the Headmaster's voice. "I was trying to learn to see Chi. I couldn't make it work using my cousin's way of doing it. So I tried to see with magic instead."

"I think," Dumbledore started slowly, "I will have Professor Maison join us then. Maybe a method he knows for fixing improper Chi Sight would be helpful for fixing your mistaken case of Mage Sight. I shall be back shortly." There was a shuffling sound, as Dumbledore stood. "You are still in the Hospital Wing, so if you need something, a call for Madam Pomfrey will bring her. It would probably have brought Ms. Weasley as well, had she not finally relented to going back to the common room."

And with that, the room was quiet again.

Harry sat there on the hard mattress, thinking about what he'd done. Well, if I'm going to screw it up, might as well do it completely. Wonder how long I'll be in here. Putting a hand on the cloth, he slowly pulled it down enough to see around the room.

Everything magical had been moved far away from the bed he was sitting on, leaving only the stones of the castle itself as the closest source of magic. After a few moments of watching the walls Harry was forced to cover his eyes again

Still, the quietness of the room was beginning to creep him out. "Madam Pomfrey?"

After a short moment, Harry heard movement and then her voice. "Yes, Mr. Potter? What can I do for you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm sorry, it was just too quiet. It was kind of disturbing."

"Oh, you poor dear. I should have considered sensory deprivation. Would you like to listen to the wireless?"

Harry nodded, not quite sure what would be on, but anything would be better than the maddening silence. She turned it on, leaving Harry listening to someone the announcer called Celina Warbeck.

He sat there, focused on the wireless, until he felt a touch on his senses. Frowning, Harry ignored the wireless to focus more on the sensation. It was moving closer and seemed familiar. Harry turned to face it and heard someone enter the room. "Professor Maison?"

A short chuckle. "At least you didn't burn out your ability to sense Chi when you were messing around." Professor Maison then sighed. "Harry, what am I going to do with you? I told you I was going to have to talk to your Sensei about how to train you to see Chi. I would have thought you would realize that meant don't try it on your own."

Harry hung his head. "I know, but Dudley managed it, and he even put a description as to how he did it. I thought I could use his description."

"Be that as it may, we'll talk about that later. The Headmaster hopes I can help you with what you've done. But instead of seeing Chi, you see nothing but magic?" Professor Maison asked. Harry nodded, not saying anything. "Well, that sounds approximately the same as when a student messes up their Chi Sight."

"So it is fixable?" Dumbledore's voice came from near Maison. "I would hate to have him try to re-enchant his eyes just to stop it."

"That's the problem with Chi, you can't add more to the mix or you'll really mess things up." Maison said to Dumbledore and then directed his voice to Harry. "Mr. Potter. What you've done, if it's anything like Chi Sight, has permanently altered your way of seeing. When you do it with Chi, you set Chi Sight as the natural way you view the world. You were supposed to set limits on it, but didn't. I think that's what you've done with your magic as well."

Dumbledore spoke up, his voice joining the conversation. "I see. So using Chi, or in this case magic, to try to fix the problem would most likely reinforce the type of Sight as the natural state."

"Correct, Headmaster." Harry felt the end of the bed move as someone sat on it. "We can't completely fix it, but we can change it to where you can see again. You'll always have the Sight though, just not enough to completely blind you to the rest of the world. It's going to be hard work, and it's going to take you at least a few days to get to the point where you will be able to function for class."

"As long as I can see even somewhat normally again, I don't care how long it takes." Harry vehemently said.

"Good, good." Maison's voice was now lighter. "Professor Dumbledore, care to watch? I've seen you use Mage Sight before."

"I wouldn't mind, thank you. I'll sit over here though."

Harry felt a tap on his shoulder, and faced Maison again. "Now, what I want you to do, Mr. Potter, is go back into the Void, back into the windowed room where you found how to see. Look at the window and then come back and tell me if you see anything strange about it."

"OK." Harry quickly slipped into the Void and was surprised that with only a moment's thought, found himself back inside the room. With the nightcloth covering his eyes, he expected to find the whole room dark. Instead, he could see the magic rapidly swirling around in the glass window, casting a silver glow throughout the area.

"I think that's what Professor Maison was saying about something strange." Harry laughed to himself, before leaving both the room and the Void.

"Professor Maison?" Harry asked, still behind the nightcloth.

"We're still here. What did you find?"

"Magic swirling through the glass, moving really fast. It lit up the whole room."

"Very interesting…" Dumbledore murmured.

"Regardless of how interesting it may be, Headmaster, I'd still like to get it fixed for him." Maison said.

Dumbledore chuckled softly. "I meant no offense, Lawrence. It was just a statement of fact."

"My apologies then." Maison said, as he redirected his attention to Harry. "Now, what I want you to do is go back there and stop the magic from moving. Don't do it with more magic, don't do it with Chi. It's all a force of your willpower, and it will put a drain on you mentally. Once you get it to stop, keep it stopped and leave the Void. Then we'll test to see how well you can see."

Without a word, Harry once again brought the Void around him. He noticed the flame was burning brightly with all the trepidation he was feeding it, but Harry centered himself and found himself again in the room.

"Now, I just have to make it stop moving without magic or Chi? Just make it happen, huh?" Harry looked around the bare room, hoping to find some sort of clue as to how he was supposed to do it. He didn't find one.

"Well…" Harry trailed off. "How about this? Magic, stop!" Harry shouted at it. He then laughed as the swirling seemed to hiccup for a moment before going about again. Saying stop a few more times made the magic hiccup again and again but didn't keep it stopped.

"How about stop for five minutes?" Harry tried. At the word stop, it paused in another hiccup before continuing on, ignoring the rest of what he'd said. "Halt. Cease. Desist. Quit moving." Each time, the magic only stumbled and hiccupped before moving again.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, bloody stay still!" Harry yelled at it in frustration a few minutes later.

Immediately, it stopped.

"That wasn't so hard, I guess. Just needed the right words." Harry laughed, and then staggered as it felt like he had an extra hundred pounds added to him. Staggering about in the room, he managed to push the feeling away from him, only to find the magic starting to move again as soon he wasn't burdened anymore.

"Alright, alright. I get it. That's the drain Professor Maison was talking about." Harry cursed. "Wonder what it feels like outside here?" Looking at the swirling magic, Harry braced himself. "Stay still!" He yelled at it, causing it to quit moving and the weight to again fall upon him.

Better prepared for it this time, Harry didn't stagger when it hit him. Instead, he left the room and the Void with the weight still holding onto him.

Opening his eyes, he still saw nothing because of the nightcloth. "Professor Maison? Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry took a deep breath. "I think I managed it. It felt like something added a hundred extra pounds to me while I was in there."

"And now?" Maison queried.

Harry's voice was slower, considering. "Umm. Now it doesn't feel like a weight, but like I'm thinking about something else as well. I have to think about what I want to say more before I can actually say it."

"That would be the mental drain I told you about. Eventually, and probably quickly this time, it will get too much to bear and you'll have to push it away. And then your Mage Sight will come back in full force. Take off the cloth, see if you get blinded. I'm sitting away from Professor Dumbledore, so it shouldn't blind you if you look at me."

Nodding, Harry turned to face where Maison's voice had come from. He slowly lifted the nightcloth away from his face with his eyes open. No blinding light struck him this time, and he was able to see the Muggle Studies teacher.

"You've got a glow around you." Harry laughed.

"That would be his aura, only you can see Professor Maison as well." Dumbledore said from behind Harry.

Harry turned to face the Headmaster, not noticing Maison wince at what might be coming. Harry blinked a few times, before his eyes focused. "Yours is a lot brighter, sir. It was like walking out from the dungeons into the day."

Maison laughed at the analogy. "At least you didn't attack him this time."

"This time? What'd I do before?" Harry looked between the two professors.

"I can do wandless magic, Harry. When I walked into the Hospital Wing earlier and you saw me, you instinctively pushed me away when my aura was too bright for you. It was my natural reaction to push back. You were braced against your bed, I was not. Once I had hold of my reaction, you pushed me away before I could move on my own, draining yourself and causing you to black out. Do not worry about it."

Harry nodded slightly, then paused. "Wait a second. I'm not wearing my glasses. How can I see?"

"Ah, that would be a side effect of using such magic on your eyes. You corrected your vision so that you wouldn't need them anymore. Not something I suggest trying." Dumbledore explained to him. "Now, I've excused you from your classes for the next few days. Rest here. Once you are able to hold your vision for an hour or so, Madam Pomfrey will allow you to go back to Gryffindor Tower. Once you can hold it long enough for two classes consecutively, you may return to class."

"Yes sir, thank you." Harry quietly said.

"Quite. Now, I think I shall be off, before your martial arts teacher scolds you." Dumbledore laughed as Harry's head whipped up to face him, then turned to face Maison, who was nodding. He then left the Hospital Wing.

"Now, for your punishment." Maison started.

Harry made a timeout gesture with his hands, interrupting. "Wait a second, isn't this punishment enough?"

"Not particularly. As long as you can keep it under control, you're walking away lucky and with the benefit of being able to see magic constantly. Besides, you admitted to playing around trying Chi Sight while I was awaiting a response from Citan. I will not stop you from coming to lessons, as that would be counter-productive. Your punishment will be starting as soon as you return to class. Your choice of time, but either every morning before breakfast or after dinner, you will come find me so that I may watch you run from the main doors to the Quidditch Pitch and back twice, for the next month."

Harry gave him a sick look.

"And I do mean run. You know what your Sensei's rule is, do not make me invoke it. I have very little doubt that you would lose trying to force your rule-breaking on me."

Harry nodded, repeating the rule to himself. "Rule 3. 'My word is law, you don't like it, fight to make a change.' Yes sir, Professor Maison."

Whee, done! OMFG, I can't believe it. Sorry it took so long people. I'm blaming school, Elder Scrolls 4(not beat yet), and Kingdom Hearts 2(beat it!) on it. In that order, since that's the order they interfered.

Read and review, please?