Full Summary: Lobelia Potter was a dreamer. She had been since she had first come squawking into the world, bloodstained and wailing and trapped in a silent world. She dreamt of helping those in need, of righting all the hurts, and finding a place to call home. She never needed to hear to do that. Luthor!Harry. Fem!Harry. Brother!Lex. Deaf!Harry. Eventual Clark/Fem!Harry.
Prologue:
Index Finger and Thumb.
Lobelia Potter's P.O.V
Lobelia Potter was not officially diagnosed as deaf until she was six years old. Nearly two whole years after most children born with hearing loss got their own diagnosis from the mandatory check-ups before joining nursery at age four.
Later, when questioned, her Aunt Petunia would simply say she thought the girl dumb. Dumb and obstinate and unable to follow the simplest of instructions.
It had not once crossed her mind that the reason for this was Lobelia couldn't hear her, and it wasn't until Lobelia had missed the practice fire alarm drill at school because she could not hear the alarm that her teacher had begun to suspect that the girl-who-grunted might have some auditory issues.
Two months later, she was hit with a shiny new title.
The deaf girl.
Lobelia Potter's P.O.V
The first thing Lobelia learned to sign in British Sign Language was her own name.
Right index to left palm, right index to left ring finger, two circles joined at fingertips, index to index, right index to palm, right index to middle, index to thumb.
L. O. B. E. L. I. A.
Her.
She had a name.
A name she could tell people. A message to pass. Communication to be had.
It had seemed so magical to the young girl back then, the idea that now the things inside her head could get out, into the room, and into the world, and into other people's heads, and this enchanting interaction was how all the other children worked.
With their tongues and not their fingers, of course, but Lobelia didn't mind.
She could sign her own name.
L.O.B.E.L.I.A
Me.
She would spend hours locked in her under stairs' cupboard signing those seven letters until her fingers bled numb, and her wrists cramped, and the muscles in her small hands prickled.
In her own way, she was shouting to the world.
L.O.B.E.L.I.A
Me.
I am here.
Only silence answered her back.
Lobelia Potter's P.O.V
People tend to pay the most attention to the man who shouted, and less to the man who whispered.
And the man who Signed?
Yeah, he was completely ignored.
Lobelia Potter didn't mind being overlooked.
It kept Petunia and Vernon off her back, the struggle it was for them to spend a few seconds more using hands instead of screams, and Dudley's taunts couldn't translate over his stilted, childish coordination.
The neglect gave her time to read, of which she didn't need a voice or an ear to understand.
And read she did.
The cookery books in the kitchen. The magazines and pamphlets that came through the letter box. The covers of CDs and cereal boxes, and the flowerpots Petunia made her plant in the garden even when it rained or snowed.
Lobelia soaked it all in, and in school, she bloomed out into the library like a sunflower reaching for the sky.
Homer and Dante, Gatsby and Little Women, To Kill A Mockingbird and 1984, Lobelia devoured books as dogs devoured bones.
Hungrily.
Including the leaflets her BSL teacher gave her to take home.
Fifty to sixty percent of hearing loss in babies was due to genetic causes. Environmental causes were second, and twenty-five percent of hearing loss in infants was due to maternal infections during pregnancy or complications after birth.
Lobelia, in this case, wasn't very special.
Her cause of deafness was genetic in nature, along with most other young deaf children.
Something in her DNA hadn't built the components in her ears correctly, and now the synapsis didn't meet up in her brain.
Empty cells in the ear. A dead nerve for a shrivelled malformed cochlear. It was a bit like have a rose with no pretty-petaled head, just a sheared thorny stem to hold.
The problem was Lily's family had no such history.
Neither had the Potters.
It could have been a mutation the otorhinolaryngologists had said. Hereditary, however, was more likely in Lobelia's case.
In the drive home from the hospital, Petunia had complained to Vernon, careless in her tone. Callous too in the only way Petunia could be.
Cold and superior.
Her Aunt spoke of summer internships in America, at a place called the Daily Planet, and of course the brat would be a bastard, and Lily's shot-gun wedding to James when her stomach was already beginning to show, and something about a man called Luthor.
Lobelia, sitting in the back seat of Vernon's neat little Ford, in Dudley's hand-me-downs, had not heard a single word of it. Instead she sat with her hand in front of her face, signing to herself, the word the nice otorhinolaryngologists had taught her in the waiting room before her appointment, along with giving her a lollipop.
Dudley hadn't got a lollipop, and he was still moping beside her.
Index finger and thumb in the shape of a C. Index finger starts on top of the nose, hand twists forward once rotating at thumb.
Witch.
A.N: A dear friend of mine asked me to do her a fic, and I just couldn't turn her down. She wanted a deaf female Harry fic with the Luthor family, concentrating on a brother sister bond between Lex and Lobelia, fluffy, with a side of Clark/Harry. So here it is! This is just the prologue, and the chapters will grow as we move along, and I hope she, and all you who have taken time out your day to read this, like it.
I've taken time to research deafness and deaf culture, and even sat down with my deaf uncle to ask about his experiences, as I want it to be as authentic as possible, and in no way offensive to any person suffering from hearing loss.
If you do suffer with hearing loss, and have found any inaccuracies/poor portrayals of topics/subjects relating to this, please, please, please do let me know and I will fix it. Deaf peoples already suffer from lack of representation in any media, including fanfic, and in no way do I want to contribute to that. Especially by making a mimicry of it.
As always and forever, thank you all for reading, if you have a spare moment, don't forget to drop a review, and I will hopefully see you all soon!
