Chapter I: A Blind Angel
It was a sunny day. It was August. Harry was looking at Phineas Nigelus's picture in his room at Grimauld Place. He was thinking of Sirius...
Members of the order wouldn't let him go out. It was dangerous to be all by yourself in the street when Voldmort was eager to kill you. So Harry was left alone with his pain. He was alone with it all summer. Not that Ron and Hermione left him, no: but he preferred not to speak to them. He knew they wouldn't understand him: he couldn't confess them he felt guilty for Sirius dying. He hated himself. Well, like if he had a choice.
There was a knock on the door, then Hermione entered.
"Harry, you can't stay here for ever! Come out!"
"No, Hermione, I... I really don't feel like... my head aches."
"You don't expect me to buy that, do you?"
"Look, I just don't feel like talking to anyone right now, so..."
"Harry, you'll have to face the reality someday! We are going back to Hogwarts tomorrow! And if you don't remember, there was an article about Sirius, what he did, how he saved you... They said you stated in our third year that he was innocent, they are making suppositions! Harry, do you think the students will leave you alone!"
Harry shrugged... He indeed asked Dumbeldore to do something to clear Sirius's name. He was glad when he saw the article in The Prophet. He didn't care what will happen to him. He wanted the whole world to know how wrong they were about Sirius. It was the only way he could make it up to Sirius.
"Better later..." he said after a while, "I don't feel like seeing Mrs. Weasley, Tonks or anyone who knew Sirius."
"Well then, Ron's father is bringing today along a new girl from the USA. She will come with us to Hogwarts."
"Oh, Hermione! I don't want to see anyone, don't you understand? I want to be ALONE!"
"Harry, Mrs. Weasley said you should come and meet her. This is elementary policy."
"Oh, all right. When is she coming?" Hermione checked her watch. "Well... in 5 minutes?"
"Oh, all right, I'll go down. You won't leave me alone anyway, will you?"
"Three guesses."
When they came down, the front door burst open and Mr. Weasley entered. He was caring a medium size trunk. "Hello there!" he said cheerfully. "May I introduce you to miss Alexandra Blamez?"
A young girl entered the room. She had black wavy hair, which cascaded on her shoulders, sapphire blue eyes, oval-shaped face. She was of medium height. Alexandra had a nice body and a charming smile. She looked so innocent, so childish. But Harry felt that something was wrong with her. The next moment he realized what.
She was blind.
"Hi" she said, looking at the wall. Harry just noticed that she was holding a stick in her hand.
"Hi" replied Hermione, Ron and Harry.
A door burst open and Ginny emerged into the hall.
"Hi! You must be Alexandra."
"Yes, and you are...?"
"Ginny."
"Ginny, nice to meet you. And who are these other people?"
"These are Harry, Hermione and my brother Ron," replied Ginny, before the trio could even open their mouth.
Alexandra approached Hermione. Harry noticed, that she had no difficulties in walking. As if she could see. She greeted Hermione, and then the same with Harry, Ron and Ginny. And then silence fell. Ron was the first to break it:
"How come you orientate so good if you are blind?" he asked.
Hermione gave him a sharp look, but the girl smiled and answered: "I may not see, but all my other senses are very well developed. If God ever takes something away from you, He gives you something instead. My case. I can't see. But by touching, smelling and hearing, I notice more than some people who do have the ability to see. And I have something like the sixth sense. I just feel things, foresee, if you like. We
ll, enough about me. Tell me about yourselves. What grades did you get in OWLs?"
"Hermione, of course, had only Os. Harry and I got Os in Potions Es in Transfiguration, Es in Charms and Os in DADA. These are the most important, because the rest are useless if you want to be an Auror. And what about you?"
"Oh, I have been tested by a special committee at the Ministry and I was aloud to go into the sixth year. I am also going to be an Auror, so we'll be meeting in our NEWT classes."
"Great. Um... look, I just remember, I have to finish a Potion essay. Snape will take off my head if I don't give it to him. See you later." And ignoring Hermione's dirty looks, he went up to his room. He heard Hermione's voice from the Hall: "Just ignore him. Better tell us about the USA. When he entered his room, he shut the door and threw himself on the bed. A blind girl at Hogwarts! Well, at least something new.
There was a quiet knock on Harry's door.
"Don't you think that half an hour isn't enough to write an essay!" he yelled.
The door opened. But it was not Hermione this time. It was Alexandra. "Sorry for disturbing your thoughts, but it is more probable that I am a ballet dancer than that you are writing now an essay. I know you want to be alone. Hermione told me about your godfather. I am sorry."
"Th...thanks..." he said uncertain. "Look, I don't want to be rude, but I...I really want to be alone. So, would you... would you please leave...?"
"Harry, I know how you feel. I... I passed through worse. And it didn't break me... Well, I guess I should leave..."
Something in the expression of her face made him change his mind. "No, wait. Come here. Close the door, please." He noticed that she became sad, defenseless. She was no longer that strong, sure of herself girl, that loved this life. She was different. 'Sit near me." he said in a low voice. She obeyed, without saying a word. Harry caught a glimpse of her eyes. They didn't see the world. They were the mirror of her soul. He saw that she hardly suppressed tears. The eyes were full of pain and sufferings. He took her hand in his. He felt that she needed to confess somebody everything. He was glad that it could be him. "What happened to you?" he asked. "I regret so much that I can't look into your eyes. I know they are of emerald green," she said unexpectedly. Harry raised her head in such a way, that she was looking into his eyes. "Imagine that you are looking into them, because I am looking into yours." She suddenly freed her hand from his and did something he wasn't expecting. With both her hands she touched his face, as if wanting to feel his every feature. Then she outlined his scar. She trembled slightly when she did so.
"Now I see you," she said with a smile. "And I know everything... you feel guilty for Sirius dying. But you should learn that it is not your fault. Don't blame yourself for not listening to Hermione. But don't blame Snape either. The only guilty one is Bellatrix Lestrange..."
"Wait, how did you know about my feelings...I didn't confess them to anyone, even Hermione."
"No matter. You shouldn't blame yourself..."
"How come you know! I insisted that we went there! I believed that dream! Because of me..."
"Harry," Alexandra interrupted, "you are not guilty. Voldmort would get you go there anyway. And you didn't know it was so important for you to learn Occlumenicy. Don't blame yourself. You did what you thought was the best. You thought Snape was trying to soften you for Voldmort. You thought you'd save Sirius if you went to the ministry. You've made a mistake, but you are not guilty..."
"Because of my mistake Sirius died!" he cried at the top of his voice. "If I practiced, if I listened to Hermione, if I didn't believe..."
"You can as well blame Dumbledore for not telling you about the prophecy, Sirius for going to save you, Lupin for not dueling with Lestrange... But you don't, right? It is Voldmort's fault, Lestrange's, but not yours," she said sternly.
"If I listened to Hermione, if I didn't believe..."
"If Dumbledore has told you, if Sirius hadn't gone to rescue you, if somebody else dueled Bellatrix... there are too many ifs for you to blame yourself, Harry."
"And in the end..."
"...you'll have to kill Voldmort. I know. I read it when I touched your scar. That scar is like a door into your mind, but I doubt anyone except me can read it."
"Why?" he asked astonished.
"Some day, later, I'll tell you how I got blind. I want you to know that, whatever happens, I'll always be near you. You can count on me."
"Thanks", he said, looking into her eyes. He felt that she might be the only person who understands him, his fury against himself, and the only one he can tell the slightest detail.
"Tell me," he asked quietly, "what happened to you? Why are you so sad? Who hurt you?"
"Has Dumbledore never told you?"
"What?"
"My parents were murdered. By Voldmort. I was one. I lived with my sister."
"I'm sorry. But it is better than living with the Dursleys, I guess. At least your sister loves you."
"Yeah. She does. And I feel sorry, for she has always has to take care of me and to neglect herself. But she is very strong. She pasted through awful things, and they didn't break her. You have to be really strong and to have a very kind heart to pass through what she did and remain as good as she is."
"You both had a hard life, hadn't you?"
"Yes, we had..." she said and suddenly started crying. Harry took her hand into his and asked softly: "What happened? It's not just Voldmort, right? There is something else?"
"When I was 13, I wasn't blind yet," she said sobbing. Tears were falling from her eyes. "Once I met a guy at the bus station. It was raining, and I had no umbrella. He offered to help me go home. Since then we started dating. But one day, I overheard him talking to a friend. He said some Lyane shouldn't worry about me, because he only wants a one-night stand. Oh, Harry, you have no idea how much it hurt."
"Did he get what he wanted?"
"Do I look like an idiot?"
She was crying. He embraced her. She was looking so defenseless, so fragile.
"Don't worry. Nothing will ever happen to you. I'll protect you."
"From destiny?"
"If necessary, yes."
"Harry, I..."
"Don't say anything. I understand."
"I understand you too," she whispered.
In the night Harry couldn't sleep. He felt like he was needed somewhere, but he didn't understand where. Finally, he put on his dressing gown and went to the fourth floor. He knocked quietly on the door. He thought he heard somebody crying. "Alexandra?" he asked in a whisper. There was no answer. He entered the room. He saw her sitting on the bed, her head on her knees. Her hands were embracing her knees. She was indeed crying. "Alexandra?" he called again. She raised her head, staring somewhere at the wall. Her eyes were red. "Harry, I'm sorry I just..." She broke off. The next second he was near, hugging her. "What's wrong, angel?" Harry asked, not knowing why he called her that. She was, indeed, an angel. She didn't answer. She was sitting in his arms like that, crying. He pulled her to his chest. He was so sad that she was crying. But for the first time in all summer he felt he was needed...and that he needed somebody. Her. His angel. She soon fell asleep. Carefully, not to disturb her, he stood up, pulled the covering over her, put her head on the pillow and quietly went out.
He couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He was thinking about her. Their talk has definitely brought her unpleasant memories. He understood what meant to be disappointed by the one you love. He was disappointed in Cho too. He loved her. And she never understood him. She disapproved of Hermione, his best friend, his adviser... Hermione... He has never really realized it, but after Sirius dying, Hermione was the closest person to him. He actually loved her. She was charming, clever, she tried to understand him. No. Hermione would never love him the way he loved her. She considered him a brother. His love could spoil their friendship...
Wait. He was thinking about Alexandra. He definitely liked her. She was strong, but yet so fragile, beautiful, but blind, clever, but childish... She'd be a good friend. He fell asleep, thinking of her charming smile. He definitely thought that she was the friend he needed. She'd take Hermione's place and Hermione... Hermione will take Cho's. She was the girl he loved.
Or at least, that was what he thought.