Blind Spot
"I assume, Mr Evans, that you have a good reason why you have rushed into my classroom?" McGonagall said.
"Yes, Professor" said the boy.
"And what, pray tell, is it?"
"" Evans said in one go.
"Would anybody care to translate?" McGonagall shook her head.
"Harry Potter was taking part in a duel and Professor Lupin attacked him and now Harry Potter is lying in a great deal of pain. Madam Pomfrey says you have to get there right away" Evans repeated – this time more slowly and clearer.
"Very well" said the Deputy. "You might as well leave now" she told her class. "I want a three page report on the laws of Transfiguration" and with that she followed Evans out of the classroom. "Is he badly hurt?" the woman asked him.
"GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!" came a high pitched yell, and the pair only just moved to the corridor side as a blur in the shape of Hermione Granger whizzed past them.
"Yes, Professor" Evans said. "I do believe he is" he finished dryly.
#
The two of them arrived at the classroom to find Pomfrey attending to a clearly wounded Harry. Hermione on her knees and holding his hand as she muttered things to try and soothe his blood curdling yells. Lupin, meanwhile, was tied up after clearly being punched by the class. They had relieved him of his wand and formed a semi-circle to guard him.
"Evans, go to Professor Flitwick at once and tell him what has happened. Ask him to contact the DMLE and get them to send some Aurors at once. The moment you know what is happening, run back here at once" McGonagall said.
"Yes, Professor" the boy got as far as the door before she called him back. "Yes?"
"If you see that mouldy old goat, tell him where to go" McGonagall said.
"YES, PROFESSOR!" Evans said gleefully, then ran off for the tiny Charms teacher.
"How is he?" asked McGonagall, moving over to stand over the pain racked Harry.
"I can't be certain" said Pomfrey. "He has multiple broken bones, all of his limbs are broken or damaged, he has a slight skull fracture and just look at his face…" the nurse pointed. It looked as if somebody had poured an acidic potion over Harry's face. His hands were affected where they had the potion on them. A few bits of twinkling light told McGonagall where the glass had hit him.
"But you can fix him, right"? Hermione said, tears running down her face from the pain of seeing Harry injured.
"Miss Granger, I haven't any idea what potion was used to assault him!" the Nurse said. The sound of a small army arriving heralded the Aurors turning up with Flitwick and Evans.
"Remus Jonathon Lupin, you are arrested for the assault of Harry James Potter" the lead Auror said. Meanwhile, Pomfrey had given Harry a pain relieving potion that reduced the pain by a microscopic amount.
"We have to get him to the hospital wing" she said.
"Oh god… please help him…" Hermione sobbed.
"We might be needing him" the nurse muttered. She conjured a stretcher which Harry was placed on before being levitated into the air.
"Mi…" Harry said.
"I'm right here, Harry…" Hermione said, squeezing his hand.
"Lupin"
"I know, I know"
"Take me to him" Harry said, though the effort to do so was clearly visible on his face.
"The Hospital Wing is where we will be taking you" Pomfrey said.
"Head… take me"
"That boy is going to kill himself or me one of these days" Pomfrey said. Instead of being a pupil, Harry had given her a direct order in the form of Headmaster. They floated him over to where the Aurors moved out of the way.
"You deserve everything you get" Lupin spat out. Harry, and with surprising accuracy for someone with no sight, kicked out and slammed his left foot directly into Lupin's groin.
"You're fired" and then passed out.
"You know" McGonagall said, "This is his most co-operative state" and Hermione spun round and raised her hand as if to strike.
"No… it isn't worth it" she decided, then hurried to follow Harry as he was floating out of the room.
#
Hermione remained by Harry's bedside all the rest of the day. She wondered why he was the receiver of so much pain. The girl knew that she could never have survived after so much abuse to her body. Harry, it seemed, always took the pain and kept on coming. Hermione liked to think of him as an old Battleship that could take incredible damage and still deliver the knock out blow. Even with his whole body injured in one way or another, Harry had blocked the pain long enough to give Lupin a defiant kick in the balls and formally sack him. Harry's tortured screams caused her to start and the hushing seemed to have no effect.
"Its happening again" Hermione called.
"It is the right time" said Pomfrey as she came over with a small glass. "I have just finished the potion" she added. Harry was in so much pain that none of the standard potions worked at all. Hermione gave permission to Pomfrey to administer the Draught of Living Death to Harry. They had hopes that it would knock him out so much that his body would get the start it needed for recovery. "Miss Granger, I will be frank with you. Mr POtter is in a great deal of pain from whatever it is that that bastard mutt threw at him, but nothing in any of my medical texts gives me a clue. I have contacted St Mungos, and they agree that he should be moved there as soon as possible"
"Is that the real and complete truth?"
"I am afraid it is" Pomfrey replied, "But there is far worse as well"
"Is he going to die?" Hermione started working back up the panic ladder.
"I dont know yet" the nurse replied. "During my examination scans of Mr Potter after we got him here, i noticed something odd that concerned me. I went back and did another check and it appears that Mr Potter has been blinded"
"WHAT?" Hermione shrieked.
"His eyeballs are still there, but the optic nerve has been eaten away by whatever potion was used. Once he is at St Mungos, the staff there will be able to find out what it was. I can only do so much"
"Can they repair his eyes?" Hermione asked as she looked at the deep sleeping Harry.
"Maybe"
"That's not good enough, damn it! Not good enough!"
"Its the best that I can do, Miss Granger. Now then, it is the opinion of the Healers at St Mungos that Harry not have any contact from yourself for a day. Given how powerful his magic is, we don't want an emotional outburst that could kill him"
"I can't leave him" Hermione said.
"If you go from here now, who will be the one who works out what happened?" Pomfrey said. "The Aurors will question each and every person in the class about what they saw, but the students might well open up to you more"
# # # # #
"Have you seen those that were in his class?" asked McGonagall.
"Not since the Aurors took Lupin away" Flitwick replied. McGonagall had noticed the spaces left by the twenty odd students at dinner that evening.
"Do you think they were kidnapped to stop them from talking?" asked Sprout.
"Oh my!" squeaked Flitwick, and he nearly fell off his chair in shock. "Should we call the Aurors back here?" he asked.
"We shouldn't dismiss that idea" Babbage said from her position down the table.
"Well of course we shouldn't dis…" McGonagall broke off and groaned as she realised where the missing students were.
#
"I must apologise to you all" McGonagall said to the group. They had been told to not leave the classroom after a lesson until told to do so by a teacher. As Lupin had been sacked – in more ways then one – he had no authority to give orders to them. With everything centred on Harry, the Professors had forgotten to dismiss the class after things had calmed down. As it had happened, some of them had sweets in their school bags, and had grouped them together and then shared them all out. But they were still very hungry indeed, and McGonagall arranged for a longer sitting then normal at dinner to allow them to have something. She also awarded ten house points each for punctilious rule observing.
#
When Fudge heard of the attack on Harry, he took no chances and ordered a round the clock guard mounted on his room. A pair stood on either side of the door in full battle gear. Two more Aurors guarded the entrances to the floor, and a full squad had taken over a large meeting room two floors up to act as a break room. Every Healer and visitor coming in and out had to be examined with the Triluminum – a device that could tell the truth without a doubt. As an added insurance measure, non Healers were asked to surrender their wands which could be collected on the way out.
"What's in that chest?" asked an Auror. The Healer opened it for the Aurors inspection whilst his partner had her wand ready for instant use. Several powerful potions were inside, and the Auror checked each one off against a list of those used at St Mungos.
"Do we have to go through this every single time we give Mr Potter more treatment?" the Healer asked as he closed the chest again.
"Orders of the Minister" the Auror said firmly.
"And what if he suddenly takes a bad turn and he needs stuff in a hurry?"
"That would be different" and he opened the door and followed the Healer inside whilst his partner moved to stand in the path of anybody else wishing to come in. The Healer worked on examining Harry, and then administering a few of the potions he had brought with him.
"This is annoying" he said after a while.
"Something the matter?" asked the Auror.
"According to these scans, his optic nerves are not regrowing" the Healer said. "Madam Pomfrey washed his eyes out when he was still at Hogwarts, and we've done it twice since then. None of the potions or salves that we have given him seem to be working at all"
"What does that mean?"
"It means" the Healer said with a dark tone, "That Mr Potter may well be blind for the rest of his life"
"Are you certain?"
"Does the Pope shit in the woods?" and the Auror just shook his head and went to resume his post.
#
Madam Bones was meeting with Fudge in his office, and she had a great deal to tell him after Lupin's interrogation. A court order had been obtained giving the DMLE permission to use Veritaserum despite Lupin saying he had done nothing wrong at all. In the application, Bones had said that there was a serious threat to public safety if Lupin was connected to any dark groups. They also needed to know what he had done to Harry in order to treat his injuries.
"What do you have, Amelia?" asked Fudge.
"Back pain and a slight stomach upset" she replied.
"I was referring to the attack on Harry Potter" Fudge rolled his eyes.
"Ah, yes…" Bones opened a file and handed Fudge a number of pages of parchment that made up Lupin's drugged revelations. "It seems that Lupin was working for Albus Dumbledore all this time. According to what he told us, there were several things he had to do such as finding out what frequency the wards operate on around the school"
"What are they?"
"4625Khz" Bones replied. "Once he had found that out, he was to kill Harry in a simulated duel and make it look like an accident"
"We need to find Dumbledore and stop him once and for all" said Fudge. "Let all of your Aurors know, and I'll get on to the ICW" he added. "You can only guess what Dumbledore has been doing to his students all that time" and Bones agreed.
"We've interviewed his brother as a matter of routine, but Abberforth rarely speaks to his brother. He hasn't spoken to him since before Albus was removed as Headmaster by the Castle" Bones said.
"Were you able to get the name of the potion he threw at Mr Potter?"
"We tried several times, but Lupin became very… odd" Bones said. "He kept jerking around as if the name was protected by some very powerful secrecy spell of some sort"
"As Uncle Lewis would say, this gets curiouser and curiouser" Fudge said with a shake of his head. "Have a search made for Dumbledore and have him arrested on charges of complicity in attempted murder. I am going to the Wizangamot and the ICW as soon as possible in order to get him stripped of all of his titles. It is clear that there are grounds for that"
# # # # #
"You will have to surrender your wand" said the Auror. "You can get it when you leave" he added.
"Oh please…" Hermione snorted in disbelief. "Have you any idea who I am?"
"No"
"Hermione Granger" she replied. "I took on Death Eaters twice already, and I think I can deal with you. Now move aside, or I shall make you serve as a deckhand on a submarine!" and with that, Hermione shouldered her way past the guard. "Idiot" she grumbled. It had been a week since the attack on Harry, and they had managed to remove the majority of the pain from him. All that remained was a shooting pain up both of his legs, and a slowly healing back ache. He could move around on the bed, but not get up and walk – though his legs were moved three times a day to ensure they didn't get stiff, sore or weak. He was still blind, of course, but the Healers hoped to have something soon.
"Who's that?" asked Harry.
"Hermione" the girl said, closing the door behind her. The first time she had visited Harry, an Auror had come in as well. When she had refused to leave in order to give them privacy, Harry pointed a hand in the general direction of the Auror and sent a few sparks that singed her cloak. His hearing had picked up a little after the blindness, and it was that which told him about where the Auror was standing roughly.
"I was wondering when you would come" Harry said, pushing himself up slightly on the bed.
"Beware of Romulans bearing gifts!" his girlfriend said. "I was delayed by Fliss and what seemed to be most of the first years. They've made you all cards and things like that. The Ravenclaws got together and made a card that sings. Luna did that little bit for them though" she put the cards on the bedside table.
"I'm much happier seeing you" Harry said. "Well when I say see, I mean…"
"I know exactly what you mean, Harry" Hermione giggled and sat next to the bed. "Everybody misses you, of course, and Dean and Seamus are planning some kind of party when you get out"
"That'll be nice"
"Yes. There is one strange thing, though" Hermione said.
"Oh?"
"You seem to be handing your homework in on time" and Harry laughed. He strongly suspected that Dean was behind that, and decided to award him house points the moment that he had set foot in Hogwarts.
"What have the Healers said about you?"
"They say I am a stubborn pain in the arse"
"I meant about your condition" Hermione rolled her eyes and groaned.
"They are thinking of applying a regrowing potion directly to my eyes" Harry said. "It will regrow my nerves and all that, but I'll still have to wear glasses after I'm allowed out. I just hate being cooped up in here" he finished.
"They won't let you out?" Hermione asked as she gave a squeeze of support to the hand she held.
"For my own security" Harry replied. "I know I can't se or anything, but I just want some fresh air and feel the wind on my face"
"Maybe they could Portkey you to some place out in the country for an hour or so" Hermione said.
"Tried that one" Harry told her. "Still said there was a chance I could be found"
"How about I do something for you?" Hermione began, and cast a silent spell on the door.
"If you break out into Cherry Pie, I'm having you arrested for bad singing" and Hermione put her wand down on the bedside table.
"Apart from what I know, everything else is alright, isn't it?" she asked, letting her hand go west, and then turn and head south as she pulled down the bedcovers.
"Sure" Harry said. "Didn't you hear me say that ev- " Harry broke off as Hermione pulled down his pyjama bottoms and started a new treatment procedure of her very own.
#
Hermione left an hour later with Harry exhausted and asleep. She wasn't offended by that, and she knew that he was drained quite a bit by the attack still. At least he would have a few hours good sleep, and more then a few pleasant dreams!
"How is he?" asked the Auror that had opened the door for her.
"He's sleeping well enough" Hermione replied. An enormous smile graced her face as she turned and walked down the corridor. "I'm walking on sunshine, oh yeah, yeah…" she sang.
"She didn't" the other Auror said.
"I think they did" the first one replied.
#
Harry woke that evening, and fell into a dark mood. Hermione's visit had been uplifting, in more ways then one, but he still couldn't stand the smells of the Hospital. Everything was so clean and fresh, and the plan came to him in a flash of brilliance.
"Dobby?" he whispered.
"Oh Master Harry Pot-"
"Not so loud, Dobby" he hissed. "Look, Dobby, I've had just about enough of this place as I can handle in one go. Can you help me out of here?"
"Mistress Graingy said that yous had to beings in the bed for longer" Dobby said. "Harry Potter be very ill"
"I know that, Dobby" he told the elf, "But by staying here I am getting more and more ill" and Dobby frowned – forgetting Harry couldn't see.
"Why?" it asked at last.
"Getting better is helped by you being happy right?"
"Of course, Master Harry Potter"
"But I am unhappy being here, so I am more ill then better"
"If you be goings to Hogywarts, then yous be feelings better?" Dobby just contained his understanding.
"Now you get it!" Harry grinned in the direction of the far wall mirror – not that he knew of it. "I want you to clean me up, do that rather snappy dressing trick and then apperate the pair of us to the outside of the Great Hall"
"Everybody is in there" Dobby said after a moment's far awayness. After the first few times, Harry had asked Dobby what it was that he did. What Dobby was doing was tapping into the magic at Hogwarts and searching for people or items based on their magical signatures.
"Well then" Harry smiled. "You better start…" and the elf set to work. Dobby took his hand when Harry stood up. He nearly fell to the floor but set his mind to standing upright by picturing a line and trying to keep it steady.
"Dobby be taking you to Hogywarts" Dobby said, then added "Very, very, very, very quietly"
#
Once they had arrived, Harry fumbled for his shirt and twisted the collar so it sat on him better. The elf by his side looked from Harry to the doors to the great hall as if waiting for another instruction. It was only then that he remembered Harry was blind and couldn't see the gestures.
"Would the great Harry Potter be wanting Dobby to walk with him?" he asked.
"Thank you, Dobby" Harry smiled clean over the elf's head. "But I can do this under my own steam"
"Then Dobby may be going about his business?"
"Go on" he replied. "Off you trot…" and the elf vanished with a tiny popping noise. Harry started walking towards the doors. Although he couldn't see them, he was able to guess how close he was and wave his hand. "Alohamora" and they opened quietly. Almost at once he heard the noise of hundreds of people talking over dinner. It wasn't until McGonagall dropped her knife and fork that people fell silent. When they saw she wasn't suddenly sick or something, they followed her gaze.
"That boy…" she whispered.
"Awfully sorry, ladies and gentlemen. It appears that I am a little bit late for dinner" Harry said in the deafening silence. As he walked up the middle of the four tables, there was the sound of a chair scraping and then of somebody running to him. It didn't take a genius to guess that it was Hermione, and she just kept crying into his shoulder. Harry's hand went lower and lower until he found a good enough spot on her back to pat.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, putting her hand in his. "You're much better off at St Mungos"
"Well, Mione, it goes like this" Harry beamed at her left ear. "I went there, was told about all of the things that are going on this week and, after a while, decided that the establishment had nothing else to offer me, so I checked out"
"You should sit down" Hermione said, pulling him towards the Gryffindor tables.
"Hermione" he said, "I sit at the top table. Care to join me? I find I need a bit of help"
"But that's the Headmaster's place" Hermione said. "I can't sit there"
"You are qualified" Harry joked.
"How?"
"Going from what happened this afternoon, I'd say you are a head master" and his girlfriend went a brilliant shade of red.
"HARRY!" she hissed, put guided him to the spot he wanted to sit at.
"It is good to see you, Mr Potter" McGonagall said.
"I'd like to say the same, Professor" Harry said. "But I can't…"
"You don't have to be so rude" Hermione admonished him.
"Hey!" Harry protested lightly. "I can't see the point" he shook his head – an action that looked odd given his blindness. "Talk about blind ambition…" he muttered loudly, and the entire hall burst into laughter – he was back on the way to recovery.