Disclaimer: I own Aweina and the plot.
Muse responsible: Rrissa!
Aweina's thoughts and "-0o0-" will denote the beginning and end of a dream or flashback.
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The week continued fairly uneventfully. There was no Dark activity, no further DA meetings for this week at least…just ordinary classes.
Aweina stared mournfully at the next set of papers she had to correct-these ones long essays by the seventh-year students. She toyed with the idea of making a student correct them, but…
Blast. They'd favor themselves and their friends, and would likely downgrade their rivals. Aweina groaned and dropped her head into her hands, resigning herself to it.
She had just focused both eyes on the same sheet of paper-the top one-and was beginning to read it when someone knocked on her door. "Enter!" said Aweina, rolling an eye up to see who it was, automatically focusing through the door.
It was Harry Potter. He closed the door behind him and took some time scrutinizing the photographs Aweina had hung on the walls. "What's this?" he asked, pointing to one. Aweina rolled an eye up and kept the other on her correcting. "That's my training-group picture," she said, absently, "End of our first year in team-training. Generally we're in groups of five or six, with a more experienced Auror as mentor. Alastor's on the left-or he was when the picture was taken, seems he's lurking in the back today. He was our main teacher…the one with the purple robe is Wesley Prewett, always had an odd fashion sense, that one did, the one with the hat is Lucy Redanne, then there's Paul Thompson trying to hide behind Lucy, and the one petting the owl is Kali Wensen."
Harry scrutinized the picture for another moment while Aweina corrected a technicality of the description of a spell. "Then this one's you?" he said, pointing. Aweina's left eye rolled up again to see herself, grinning and waving, wearing someone's scarf tied around her waist. "Yes," said Aweina, shortly.
"Before you lost your eyes," persisted Harry.
"Get to the point, Potter," said Aweina, sidestepping the rather sensitive topic.
Harry came to the chair in front of Aweina's desk and sat. Aweina raised her head to look at him, though only one of her eyes was actually focused on him.
"Um," said Harry, "I was wondering…I don't get much news at the Dursley's…"
"That's the family you live with, isn't it?" said Aweina, and received a nod. "I didn't spend very much time at…the Order's headquarters this year," continued Harry, "And I was wondering…if you could tell me what Voldemort has been doing."
The last seven words were said so fast, Aweina could hardly understand him, but she deciphered it after a moment. The Auror leaned back in her seat and said, "I can't."
Harry looked crestfallen, though Aweina doubted he realized it. "Why?" he said.
"Because there are far more experienced-and I use that as a relative term-" said Aweina, aware that she was speaking to a wizard who should have died dozens of times over, "-wizards working on finding where he is, what his plans are, and so on. Professor Dumbledore, for one. Alastor for another. And-I know you know about him-one particular professor at this school. All of them are better equipped to find out what he is doing, linked though you may be."
At Harry's start of surprise, Aweina smiled. "Albus told us about your link at one of the Order meetings a while ago," she said, "However, it does not make you better equipped to do a job we have been trained to do."
Aweina saw the defiance entering the boy's face, and remembered what her reaction would have been, if she had been a teenager. "Don't go out and try to prove you're better," she warned, "That would probably lose us the war."
Harry outwardly bristled. Aweina continued. "I know that most of the times you've faced the Dark Lord, it's been by accident. You're not stupid, Harry Potter. You know that you are an extremely lucky person. But you had best hope that luck never leaves you, or…well, bad things would happen."
Aweina paused. Damn. I've never been good at speeches, but I've dug the hole…might as well climb into it.
She gave an inward sigh and continued, "I know that many times it has not been your choice to face the Dark Lord-last year being an exception," she said, pointedly. Harry's face went expressionless. "However, I would ask you-not order you, as a teacher would, but ask, as a fellow wizard would-to try and keep yourself out of danger. You may not like it, but…well, you're the only one of you we have."
Harry blinked, but looked Aweina steadfastly in the…well, in the scarf, as it were, but both Aweina's eyes were focused on him. "Now, Mr. Potter," said Aweina, moving her head to "look" at the pile of parchment in front of her, though she was still watching the boy, "Go play a game of chess or do some homework or something. I have to correct these blasted essays, and if you're here much longer, I'll find some reason to postpone it-again."
Harry took the hint, stood, and left her office. Aweina looked back at the rolls of parchment under her hands, swore under her breath, and dipped her quill in the ink to continue.
Half an hour later, she had a royal headache and less than half of the essays had been corrected. "Merlin, that hurt," Aweina muttered, rolling her eyes around, "But I can probably get away with going to bed now."
Raising her wand, Aweina warded both doors to her office-the one in the hall, and the one in the classroom-with spells she cast so often they had become automatic. Retreating to her bedroom, Aweina closed the door and locked it. Taking off the scarf around her eyes, she tossed it onto her bedside table.
Removing her robes and putting on some Muggle pajamas Lucy had given to her a while ago, Aweina lay down, closed the remains of her eyelids, and fell asleep.
-0o0-
An alarm sounded in the Auror practice-grounds, and Aweina looked up from her "duel", startled. Her opponent, Lucy Redanne, disarmed her in her distraction and handed her wand back as Alastor Moody came sprinting into the arena. "Wands, everyone!" he shouted above the general din, "Group seven, to the center in eleven seconds or you'll be left behind!"
Aweina and Lucy exchanged looks and sprinted towards their group leader, skidding to a halt as Wesley and Kali almost ran into them. Paul appeared seemingly out of nowhere-as was his particular talent-after a moment, and Moody held a frying pan, of all things, into the center of the group. More Aurors came through the doors or Apparated in, shouting and adding to the confusion-"Nine! Fourteen! Three!" But Moody's group remained at attention and grabbed the edges of the Portkey-to be yanked hard…
Into a melee. Death Eaters and Muggles sprinted in all directions, Aurors and mediwizards darting back and forth under Shield charms-Alastor's group snapped into their formation as several Death Eaters saw the new target.
There was no telling how long the battle was-Aweina fired curses and Shielded herself, disarming, Stunning, hexing-and worse. Wesley went down to a Dark hex-Lucy covered him as mediwizards rushed to them.
Spells after spells, curses, hexes, charms-any spell that could be thought of was fired in every direction. But Aweina's inner mind babbled in fear-there was no organization, no delineated lines as she had expected, no obvious territory where the Dark wizards were and where the Aurors would be-
And the Muggles were in the way, bewildered as the masked fighters shouted spells at the unmasked ones and vice versa, not sure where to go or which way to turn.
The Dark Mark rose, and if possible, more chaos overtook the battle. The gut reaction of wizards was to fear the Dark Mark-but they had a responsibility to fight against it, and the confusion this generated slowed them for crucial moments-
And Paul was down, with Kali covering him. Aweina and Alastor were cut off by a surge of fleeing Muggles, and both pivoted so as to be back-to-back, covering the other's blind spots.
Then…
A masked figure, looming up directly in front of Aweina-
"Oculsecui!" the figure shouted, aiming point-blank at Aweina's eyes, shouting an incantation she had never heard before-
And she was down, her face filled with-quite literally-blinding pain. She rolled and tried to come back up, but-
"Oculsecui!" shouted the figure again-
And again, and again-
Pain so intense she could not see, was not aware of anything but the strip of burning agony across her face and the shouts around her-the sounds of rapidly shifting feet as Alastor covered her, growling curses one after another as the Death Eaters closed in-
-0o0-
She was screaming, and someone was shaking her. "Wake up, Professor Aquila!" came a voice, penetrating the nightmare of those many years ago.
Aweina stopped screaming as she came awake and tried to steady her breathing, the air coming through her lungs in short, hard gasps. "Merlin, I haven't dreamed ofthat for years…" she muttered, as her breathing steadied, and an eye rolled towards the one who had awoken her. She blinked, the tattered remains of her eyelids flickering over her eyes and not hindering her sight in the least. "Professor Snape?" she said, at last-somewhat incredulously.
Indeed, her fellow Order member was standing beside her bed, a long form of shadow in the darkness. "I was patrolling when I heard screaming," he said, "I thought it was perhaps a student out of bed. When it seemed to be coming from your quarters, I broke the ward on your office door and woke you."
"Thank you," said Aweina, both her eyes looking up at Snape, though her face was turned to her knees.
"Lu-" he began, raising his wand, but Aweina shot out a hand and snatched his wrist, cutting him off. "No light. Please," she said, quietly, but firmly.
"If you are well, I shall take my leave," said Snape, nodding sharply and turning.
"Thank you," said Aweina, taking her wand from her bedside table. Snape left, and closed her office door behind him.
Aweina directed her wand at the outer door through the still-open bedroom door and warded it. Closing the inner door with a charm, she set her wand down and fell back to sleep.
She woke the next morning with only the vague memory of troubled dreams after being awakened by Severusand dressed as usual, in black robes for today, and a purple scarf around her eyes. Tucking her wand into her pocket, Aweina eased the scarf slightly and checked her reflection in the mirror.
However many disadvantages there are, these eyes make up for it in other ways, Aweina thought, turning and rolling an eye behind her. I can see the back of my head.
Satisfied, she broke the wards on her office doors and set one on her personal quarters before heading down to breakfast.
To her amusement, there were several students along her pathway to the Great Hall, and all of them watched her avidly as she maneuvered the steps with the careless ease of one long used to sprinting up and down them, late for class. Or, as it happened, sprinting around various training grounds as she practiced dueling…
Whatever the case, the students still watched her-unobtrusively, or so they thought, and it would have been to any but Aweina and Alastor. Since those two could see them even if they were behind walls or doors, it was a moot point.
Aweina shook her head slightly to bring herself out of her inner ramblings and took pleasure in nodding to each "hidden" student as she passed. The vague amusement at their startled, somewhat guilty jumps backwards lasted her to the Great Hall.
There was an owl sitting at her place at the teacher's table, and Aweina sat before she took the paper and gave it two Knuts. Unfolding it, she looked at the first line and sighed, the vague amusement slowly dissipating.
"Death Eaters, captured this June and moved to a secure location, have escaped said location and are currently at large," she read quietly to herself, trying to keep at least one eye on the words. "Lucius Malfoy won Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smi-damn," muttered Aweina as her eye slowly focused to thefifth page of the Daily Prophet. "Lucius Malfoy, Augustus Rookwood-"
She stopped reading aloud as Professor Flitwick sat down beside her with a genial nod in her direction. Setting the paper down, Aweina let her eyes whirl crazily for a few moments before settling them to their regular lazy spin. "Flitwick," she said, smiling at the Charms Professor.
"Are you finished with that?" he said, nodding to the Daily Prophet.
"For now," said Aweina, slightly gloomily, "I was correcting essays last night, had a rather uneasy sleep-and reading makes my eyes hurt at the best of times."
She handed the paper to him and turned to her breakfast. "Wonderful," she said to herself, good mood slightly returning, "Bacon."
There were still students in the Hall who watched Aweina move with slightly astonished looks on their faces. Now, be fair-some never had Alastor-or, rather, the imposter-so they wouldn't know about his eye, she argued to herself. Though it does get rather annoying, how they watch…
Shaking the thought from her head, Aweina returned to her breakfast and took some pancakes from a dish in front of her.
The day dragged on slowly, from the third-year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors to the first-year Hufflepuffs, basic classes Aweina nonetheless tried to keep her temper with. Her nightmares the night before hadn't helped matters-at odd moments, a flash of the dream would pass through her mind, causing her to pause for a moment before continuing the class. At last, the last class filed out the door, and Aweina collapsed in her chair. She tilted her head from side to side, feeling her vertebrae crackle as she rolled her head.
One of her lazily spinning eyes saw a figure standing outside of the classroom. "Come in, Potter," she called, and the boy started. "Erm…" he said, "The next DA meeting is going to be next Tuesday, same time, all right?" Harry asked.
"Certainly, certainly," said Aweina, waving a hand lazily, "I'll slap something together. Did you have any suggestions?"
"Erm…small-group stuff?" said Harry, slowly. "Like the game last week, but different?"
Aweina turned her face in Harry's direction. "That's a good suggestion, but I'm just trying to get them to work in teams, for now, rather than acting as individuals. I was thinking another few exercises until they get it down, then beginning the small-group training."
"Yes, Professor," said Harry, patiently. "Erm…when is your birthday?"
Both Aweina's eyes swiveled around to stare at him, her eyebrows rising beneath the scarf. "What kind of question is that?" she said, bemused.
Harry shrugged. "When?" he repeated.
"October sixteenth, if you really have to know," said Aweina, nonplussed. "But if you're expecting the year-well, you won't get any help from me."
To her surprise, Harry only nodded and left the room.
"And what was that about?…" she murmured to herself.
Unbidden, her mind turned to memory-not the one of losing her sight, but that of regaining it.
-0o0-
Aweina lay in St. Mungos, in a room somewhere. It was a private room-a rare commodity in these dark times, but someone-Aweina suspected Alastor-had made sure she had the room to herself.
It was…strange, being unable to see. She was oddly…loose, and felt somewhat distant from her body.
She had few visitors, but those visitors came regularly-Lucy, Kali, and Alastor.
Paul was in one of the main infirmaries. The remaining member of their group, Wesley, was several rooms away from Aweina, she'd been told, but he would be unable to see any other visitors for quite some time.
Not that, if he visited, she could see him anyway…
Aweina choked back a sob that tried to fight its way from her throat. "I'm getting better," she whispered to herself, "I am."
Yet, even as she repeated the words, they rang hollowly in her mind, seeming to laugh at her folly.
There was no recovery from blindness.
She had heard one of the Healers talking to someone else-Moody, perhaps? Aweina hadn't been exactly lucid, but she had heard the Healer confirm that her eyeballs-and much of the tissue around it-had been blasted away, that her eyes were completely destroyed, and that she would never see again.
Aweina heard a creaking in the hall, and recognized the slight limp of Alastor Moody-the only visitor who came daily.
Kali and Lucy had come the day before. Aweina had wished they would leave, but they had insisted on talking and laughing, acting as if nothing was wrong. At last, she had surreptitiously pressed the button on the side of the bed that called a Healer, and one had come to shoo them away.
But she was glad of Alastor's visits. Her mentor seemed to understand how she felt, and either talked to her or simply remained quiet, depending on her mood.
The door opened, and the hinge squeaked. Alastor Moody entered the room and closed the door behind him, as usual. He turned-Aweina had memorized the pattern of footsteps-and took the eight steps needed to sit in the chair on the left side of her bed.
"I've brought you something," he said, in his low growl of a voice. Aweina turned her face towards him, out of habit, and winced as she accidentally tugged the bandage over where her eyes had been.
"Is it food?" she said, taking a wild guess. She didn't smell anything, though…
"No. You haven't been eating, anyway," said Alastor, and this time there was a slight reprimand in his voice. Aweina shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not hungry," she said, at last.
"You know that I made my magical eye," Alastor continued, changing the topic.
Aweina nodded, though she really could not see-hah-the point of this.
"Please sit up," said Alastor. Puzzled, Aweina sat up. She heard her mentor stand and set something on the bed, and wondered what he was doing until-
He was untying the bandage around her eyes. Aweina flinched, but she had learned that whatever Moody did, it was for a reason, so she remained still.
There was the sensation of cool air on her now-exposed eye sockets, before there was a crinkle of paper, the opening of something-a jar?-and suddenly a hand over the left side of her face.
Aweina gasped in shock as something popped into her eye socket, but did not get a chance to say anything before Alastor's hand covered her right eye socket-
And she was staring at the opposite wall. She could see the wooden door and the plaster wall-and, as she blinked the remains of her eyelids in shock, through the door and into the hall-
She her head, slowly, to stare at Alastor, bringing both her eyes into focus with an effort.
He was smiling.
Aweina shrieked in joy and leapt from her bed, upsetting the jar to fall forgotten on the floor,flinging her arms around her mentor and hugging him as tightly as she could. Alastor awkwardly returned the hug as she babbled thanks at him, letting her eyes spin, taking in everything in the room, until she was dizzy.
After a few moments, she became aware that her poor mentor probably could not breathe, and was likely rather taken aback by this display of emotion. Embarrassed, she released him and sat down on the side of her bed, sheepishly swinging her legs up and pulling a blanket over her legs, leaning back against the pillows as the Healers had strictly ordered her to do when receiving visitors. Alastor sat down again. "Er…" she began, "Uh."
"You don't need to thank me," said Alastor, gently, "Thank me by recovering so you can return to your duty!"
At the last sentence, his voice returned to his usual gruff tones, but Aweina could hear the fondness beneath it.
"You…don't know what this means to me," she said, at last, "You can't possibly know…but…thank you. Thank you for my sight, Alastor."
Alastor didn't answer, but when Aweina swiveled an eye towards him, she saw that he was still smiling.
-0o0-
Aweina smiled herself, faintly, at the memory of that day. Of course, it was only later she'd started wearing the scarf, when she'd noticed people flinching at the livid, ugly scars around her eyes…but nothing had managed to dim the joy of that day.
In fact, that memory, the incredulous joy that had filled her mind when she had first seen the wall opposite her bed, made her best Patronus…
Swiveling an eye downwards, Aweina absently focused through her chin and found her quill to continue correcting the essays.
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That was more of a background chapter than anything else, but I really liked it. Actually, I really like Aweina! She seems like someone I'd respect a lot, and…I dunno, I just like her! Cos she's cool.
Next chapter: Coming soon!
Reviews are loved!
-Fireblade K'Chona