DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Blind 2

Nearing the end of the uncomfortably silent dinner, there was a resounding urgent knock on the Head Pupils' door.

"Hermione? Open up! It's us!"

Ron and Harry. Hermione got up immediately, but suddenly realised that she might have difficulty moving towards the door.

"Sit down. I'll get it," Malfoy expelled an irritated sigh, as he waited for the confused looking girl to revert to her seat.

"No," Hermione hesitated. "Could you… could you help me get to the door please?"

Rolling his eyes, knowing that the girl could not see the gesture, Malfoy then grabbed Hermione's arm and navigated her around the sofa and writing tables towards the door. He reached for the doorknob and swung the door open to reveal two worried and angry Gryffindors who rushed in, alternatively hugging Hermione and glaring at him.

"What has he done to you, 'Mione?" Ron asked the blind girl, intentionally not keeping his voice down. "I'll hex him if he—"

"He's done nothing so far, Ron," Hermione interrupted her friend. Harry was torn between threatening the Slytherin who was now closing the door and comforting the obviously overwhelmed girl in his midst.

Malfoy merely smirked at the newcomers, and having only recently made truce with Hermione, decided that allowing her time with her friends might in fact be a wise move in alleviating her frustrations, so he took his book bag and left for his chambers. Before he left, however, he addressed Potter, who seemed to be the less antagonistic of the two, and civilly requested that Potter alert him before the two boys left that evening.

Harry led his best friends towards the sofa in front of the fireplace. Settling down between the two boys, Hermione listened to Ron and Harry's version of what happened the past three days.

"You fainted and Snape threw a bubble shield around the split potion before he banished it. He then portkeyed you, Neville and Malfoy to the Infirmary, and left Pansy Parkinson and me to lead the class to Madam Pomfrey for a thorough check up. By the time we go to the Infirmary, Neville and Malfoy were discharged with not a single scratch, but you were still unconscious," Ron related, looking earnestly into Hermione's blank gaze.

Harry picked up the tale, "Pomfrey had to get a specialist from St. Mungo's over to examine you. We were visiting you with the cloak when we heard the specialist's diagnosis. The potion fumes entered your nasal cavity and numbed the surrounding area, which affected your retina. Oh Hermione!"

"You should not have push Malfoy out of the way!" Ron added, heatedly.

"What was I suppose to do then? Let him die?" Hermione raised her voice to match Ron's.

Ron bit his inner cheeks to prevent answering Hermione's question, but it did little to convince the other two of his sentiments.

"Why didn't you tell us you were discharged?" Harry asked, hoping to change the subject in order to diffuse the situation.

Hermione sighed, shook her head and this time, she allowed her frustrations to manifest in her tears, which she did her best to wipe away. "I was conscious yesterday – at least I thought it was yesterday," she said haltingly, trying to make sense of her personal timeline. "Madam Pomfrey explained the situation to me and I think I took the news rather badly; she gave me Dreamless Sleep. After I got up this morning, after I promised her that I was well enough, she got Professor Dumbledore to talk to me."

Both Harry and Ron huddled the sobbing girl between them, offering their comfort. For once, both boys kept silent to listen to the painful fears of the girl who had kept the two of them rooted in her strength, despite their sometimes very harrowing adventures in school.

"Dumbledore… he told me that my blindness was only temporary."

Together, the boys sighed in relief, only to clench their jaws at Hermione's next words.

"But until the antidote can be made from freshly harvested Beltane Moonflowers, Malfoy has to 'take care' of me," she mocked, angry at the words the Headmaster had used when he told her of what was done to help Hermione in her blindness.

"What?" Ron exploded, stood up and began pacing before the sofa. "I wouldn't trust that no good ferret with a ten-foot pole! What was Dumbledore thinking?!"

"Are you sure that's right, Hermione?" Harry frowned, his arm tightened around the sobbing girl. "It doesn't make sense for Dumbledore to entrust you to that git."

"Oh Harry," Hermione sniffed and wiped her tears with the edge of her robe sleeves, calming down somewhat with the warm support of her friends, "when I directly saved Malfoy's life, he… he became indebted to me by natural magical laws. He's under the… the Life Debt. And… and Professor Dumbledore felt that since he shared all my classes, and that since we shared Head quarters, and with the Life Debt in place, Malfoy would be the best person to help me until Beltane."

"That's rubbish!" Ron kicked a winged chair beside the sofa. "It's more than likely that… that… flobberworm would hex you or leave you in the Forbidden Forest than ensure your safety!"

At that, Hermione's face paled at the dire possibilities of having Malfoy watch over her. Her fears trebled and Harry knew that Ron was not helping Hermione in her situation with his outbursts.

"I'm sure Dumbledore has his reasons," Harry tried to pacify the trembling girl whose nose was red with crying, rubbing her back whilst giving Ron a telling frown, which immediately deflated the angry boy's high emotions and made him realise his blunder. "He has not failed us yet," Harry lowered his voice to a whisper, "look at Snape; Dumbledore knows what he's doing."

"But it's Malfoy," Hermione tilted her face up to Harry in a piteous voice. "Ron's right – he could very well hurt me."

"We'll not let that happen, Hermione," Harry assured her. "Besides, you yourself said that Malfoy's under Life Debt, isn't he? I know that I don't pay as close attention to Binns as I should, but Life Debt means that the ferret's bound by magic to protect you, doesn't it? So he can't possibly do you any harm, can he? Be logical, Hermione – you're usually the logical one."

"Yeah 'Mione," Ron agreed quietly, sitting down beside Hermione and holding her cold hands, "besides, you still have your magic and your brains – Malfoy's sure to think twice if he ever decides to cross wands with you."

The trio sat in comforting silence as Harry and Ron's reassuring words sunk in. As Hermione's tears dried up, her clear-headedness, which had saved her friends and her countless times, returned. Yes, she was blind – but like she'd told Malfoy, she wasn't stupid. Yes, she was blind, but she still had her magic. Perhaps she ought to be most grateful that her magic was unaffected by the potion; being blind was one thing, but unlike muggles, Hermione was a powerful witch, and her magical abilities would help her to cope with some aspects of her blindness. She could rely on 'Accio' to get the things she needed; she could use a Dicto-quill to aid her in her writing. And surely there must be a spell or charm to enable her books to be read aloud – she would have to speak to Professor Flitwick about that.

Suddenly, a spark of optimism rekindled Hermione's Gryffindor nature. The usual enthusiasm Hermione took in planning her study schedule or running Dumbledore's Army was now channelled into the challenge of overcoming the odds against her in her blindness. As Hermione's mind began to sift through what charms and spells would help her in her darkness, Hermione was also grateful for one more thing: unlike most muggles who would be permanently blinded for life, Hermione's blindness was temporary. The next four months would fly by and she would soon be able to see again.

True, the major downside to her blindness was Malfoy being her eyes, but now that she thought about it rationally, it really couldn't be helped – not if she wanted to graduate with Ron and Harry. There was no available teacher who could take care of her– not when Voldemort was still at large. None of the other seventh years besides Malfoy took the same NEWTs subject combination as her. And even if there was another person in Hogwarts with the same subject combination, Malfoy's academic level would best them, which made him a better choice to help her in her studies. The other option of placing her under the care of her friends would not work either – complications would surely arise if she had too many people to take responsibility for her and if she had to shuttle between different caretakers – not only would it be very inconvenient, it would cause a great deal of stress for her friends to adjust to taking care of her.

No. It would be a simple thing for Professor McGonagall to rearrange both Malfoy's and her timetable so that they could attend the same classes together; she was almost sure that McGonagall would allow the both of them to attend classes with the Gryffindors, as well as with the Slytherins.

As for her Head Girl duties, those were much easier to carry out – the Head Pupils need not do patrol duties; instead, their duties focussed more on counselling students, planning school events such as Quidditch matches and managing Prefectorial duties. This, Hermione was able to handle, even with her handicap.

With the return of her rational thinking, Hermione's determination and Gryffindor courage rose to the forefront. She would be able to do this. Besides, she could always rely on her boys to come visit her here. Yes, if Malfoy dared to try any nonsense, Harry and Ron would make sure that Malfoy would suffer. And Malfoy knew it. Besides, like Ron said, she was a smart witch, and she was more than able to handle that albino ferret – blind or otherwise.

-OO-

After Potter and Weasley left Granger, Draco approached the silent girl, still seated on the sofa before the fire.

"Granger," he said, making his presence known in the room. Draco took a seat in an adjacent winged chair and looked thoughtfully at the blind girl.

Granger appeared calmer about the situation, and for that he was thankful. He really did not appreciate having to fight with hysteria or tears or stubbornness at every step of their exchange.

Whilst the Gryffindors were in the living room, Draco was not idle in his room. After he had completed his homework and the readings for the next day, he had systematically listed everything he could think of that the witch would need help in her blindness. Some of the things on his list were easy enough to deal with, while other items listed made him blush. Fortunately the blind witch would not be able to see his discomfort; nonetheless, those matters need to be addressed as well.

When Dumbledore entrusted the Head Girl's welfare to him, Draco was shocked at the level of trust the Headmaster had in him. Oh he knew that Dumbledore trusted him, even if the Golden Gryffindors thought otherwise, for the position of Head Boy was not a position bestowed lightly. Even if no one understood the implications, Draco was immensely aware of how much trust Dumbledore had in him to put him in charge of his precious children at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Frankly, he was surprised to receive the Head Boy badge in the owl from Hogwarts before the beginning of the term. He knew that he was a contender for the position, although he did not believe that that interview he had to undergo at the end of his sixth year carried much weight. At the time, he had thought that it was a token interview; done so that the faculty can say, "Yes, we've interviewed all the Houses, but the best candidate for Head Boy is still a Gryffindor/Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff." Being in Slytherin, Draco had learnt early from his first year how much the faculty and students were prejudiced against the Snake House; a bitter lesson he'd learnt when the House Trophy was wrongfully surrendered to Gryffindor after the Headmaster had unfairly awarded house points to Potter after the coveted trophy was already given to Slytherin. The hard work both he and his House had put into that year to garnering House points, only to lose it to Perfect Potter's rule-breaking, made a strong impression in the heart of the young Slytherin. That episode from his first year still stung him, and reminded his House constantly of the battles they had to undertake to rise above the hate and suspicions the other three Houses had regarding the Slytherins.

It did not help matters when, in Draco's fifth year, Professor Umbridge succeeded Professor Dumbledore as Headmaster, and she had recruited the ambitious Slytherins to form the Inquisitorial Squad. The Slytherins had by then been so sick of the other Houses' holier-than-thou snubbing, that they seized the opportunity for leadership, thinking that finally, they were able to put the other Houses in their place. Unfortunately, on hindsight, Draco now understood that Umbridge had the Squad behave little more than pathetic lackeys and snitches – a position of leadership he had never aspired to be.

But if asked what kind of leadership he aspired to, Draco would be hard-pressed to answer.

Nonetheless, the fact of the matter was that Dumbledore had taken a very high risk in appointing the son of a convicted Death Eater as this year's Hogwarts Head Boy. That the Death Eater in question was still in Azkaban was immaterial – Voldemort was still at large, and Draco's position as Head Boy could very well compromise Hogwarts' security if Draco proved untrustworthy.

Trust. How very difficult a concept for Slytherins to grasp, thought Draco wryly. Oh he knew very well what others thought of Slytherins, even if what they thought were utter rubbish! The same-old, same-old nonsense about how Slytherins were notorious for not trusting people, and not keeping people's trust; that Slytherins trusted no one – not even themselves. Really, if Slytherins were such untrustworthy people, then why bother teaching Slytherins in the first place? Why not just let the Sorting Hat sort them out and imprison the lot of them at Azkaban?

Yet, somehow, the Headmaster did the unthinkable by entrusting him with the Head Boy position – this, despite his association with the Inquisitorial Squad; despite the trouble he had caused to Hagrid in his third year.

And yet again, Dumbledore had increased his measure of trust in Draco by putting Granger's welfare directly in his hand.

Dumbledore was either an eternal optimist, or insane, Draco shook his head.

Still, Draco remembered how at his interview for the Head Boy position, the Headmaster had taken a long hard look at him, as if staring into the depths of Draco's soul, and how Dumbledore had then looked at him with a solemn satisfaction – as if he had plumbed the depths of all his unfathomable questions and longings and insecurities, and found a measure of something worthy in him. For that look alone, for that moment of something akin to pride in the eyes of a man in authority over him – a look he had never had turned onto him by his father or the Headmaster – the oft looked-over Slytherin would not let the Headmaster down.

Draco was honest enough to admit to himself, even if he would never admit to others, that part of the reason for his current position was due to Professor Snape. The Potions Professor had begun counselling him in his sixth year, when Draco showed signs of depression after his father's imprisonment at the end of Draco's fifth year. Draco's depression was part due to the events of fifth year – an unexpected inheritance of the Black estates, the backlash from his peers for his involvement in the Inquisitorial Squad, but mostly his depression stem from what he believed was his inevitable destiny of servitude to the Dark Lord. Experience in the Inquisitorial Squad had taught him that he did not want to be a lackey all his life; and frankly, after talking to Phineas Nigellus at Grimmauld Place, he found himself questioning the pureblood rhetoric spouted by his father.

Somehow, Professor Snape had stepped in just in time to help make sense of what Snape called 'The Slytherin's Destiny'.

According to the Professor, the fate of the Slytherin is not servitude to the Dark Lord. Not at all.

The Slytherin, explained its Head of House, is an ambitious creature, and was, metaphorically speaking, always on the lookout to scale every mountain. Slytherins saw challenges as exciting possibilities, as tests of their cunning and perseverance. A Slytherin's ambition was never about taking over the world; the concept of power struggle and gaining the right to rule was never a uniquely Slytherin trait. As long as there were selfish, self-seeking people, they would seek to rule – be they Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaw or even Gryffindors.

And there was nothing in the Slytherin's make-up that made it easier for them to choose Dark over Light. Choice was still a matter of a person's will.

Then, the professor had looked into Draco's eyes, and solemnly entrusted Draco with a secret so profound that Draco felt awed by it. The professor had shown him his Dark Mark, and told him the regrets of his joining the Death Eaters, and how now, after all these years, he was trapped to obey the whims of a madman, and adhere to a vision he did not believe in, in order to stay alive. Snape had charged Draco then, not to follow in his footsteps, but to be the kind of Slytherin that would epitomise what it meant to be Slytherin.

That session with Snape came on the heel of his discovery about the truth behind the Black family motto. He had spent Christmas at Grimmauld Place, and one of his ancestors, a Slytherin and a Hogwarts Headmaster, had revealed to him that 'Toujour Pur' – Always Pure, was not about blood purity as most of the post-Grindelward magical community thought. The motto referred instead to purity of heart – for it was for Sir Reginald Blackhart's embodiment of the true Slytherin in keeping his heart pure, using his cunning and determination in saving his King, that he was knighted by Arthur Pendragon. The irony, the best-kept secret of the Black clan, was that pure-hearted Reginald, the first of his line, was one of the rare Slytherins of muggle birth.

Buffeted on all sides with new perspectives, and eyes opened to new possibilities, Draco had spent the rest of that year thinking hard about what he wanted to do in life. He knew what he didn't want – he didn't want to be trapped like Snape was. He didn't want people to look at him with disdain and disgust. He didn't want looks of hatred and betrayal.

Apart from that, he only knew that he wanted a chance to prove himself worthy of the trust of two men who took a chance on him.

The silence stretched between the Head Pupils.

Draco decided that he would break this stalemate once more. "Granger," he repeated exasperatedly, "we need to discuss about how we're going to go about this."

The girl closed her unseeing eyes and leaned her head back against the sofa, silently waiting for Draco to begin the discussion.

"I've listed down some daily situations which might get awkward with your… um… situation." Clearly, Draco was not quite sure how to proceed, especially with Granger being so uncooperative.

"Naturally, I'll need to escort you to class – Professor McGonagall will be giving us the new timetable tomorrow, so we'll…" he shrugged, trailing off. Draco took a look at his list and began again, "There's the matter of writing, but I think we could—"

"Dicto-quill."

"Pardon?" Draco looked up at the interruption. Hermione had not moved an inch.

"I said, 'Dicto-quill'."

When it was clear that the Head Boy did not understand her, Hermione sat up and said, "Dicto-quill. For writing."

Draco nodded, then felt foolish. She couldn't see him. He grimaced and then affirmed her idea. "Right. Using a Dicto-quill would be a better choice than getting a House Elf to act as scribe." Draco ignored the look that passed over Granger's face at the mention of House Elves.

With a longsuffering sigh, Draco continued, "There is the problem of reading books—"

Again, he was interrupted by the Gryffindor. "I was wondering if there was a charm or spell that could read the books aloud. Could we check with Professor Flitwick tomorrow?"

That was a possibility, Draco thought, but unlikely. If there were such a spell, literacy would be moot – and surely Crabbe or Goyle would have taken advantage of such a spell already. Nonetheless, Draco decided against bursting Granger's bubble, and simply said, "We'll see him during our Charms class."

The next item on his list was a bit more personal, and Draco found that he was suddenly discomfited. "Erm… finally… that is, we… er…need to discuss about… your… er… personal hygiene."

Granger looked stunned for a moment, and then she looked as if she was trying not to laugh at him. Granger's reaction irked him and immediately, that dispelled any uneasiness on his part.

"Per…personal hygiene?" Granger queried, the corners of her mouth inching upwards.

Falling back to the cool cool drawl that Draco had perfected in his second year, he leaned back and said, "Well, I'm not going to bathe or change you. It might very well blind me for life."

Granger's laughter was doused instantly. Giving Draco's general direction a glare, she retorted, "Like I would allow you to even step into my bathroom with me!"

"You'll need someone to help you around," he reminded Granger.

"You could just lead me to the bathroom door. The bathroom's not that big, and I can easily 'Accio' whatever I need. And once I get used to walking about in my room, I might not even need you to lead me to the bath," countered Granger quickly.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

"So, would you like to get cleaned up now?"

Granger looked confused, so Draco enlightened her with a sneer. "Your little chat with your friends lasted three hours. Frankly, I'm tired – it'll be midnight in half an hour and we've got classes to attend in the morning. I'll need to lead you to your bathroom and then tuck you in," he mocked, "before I can even attend to my own needs."

Looking furious, Granger got up from her chair without a word and tried walking in the direction of her bedroom, but she didn't get too far – her path was obstructed by a side table, and if it were not for Draco's lightning quick reflexes, she would have fallen to the ground.

Draco shook his head, amused by the Gryffindor's obstinacy. Feeling exhausted by the day's chain of events, he decided not to provoke Granger anymore, but to lead her to her bathroom, and thereafter, to her bed.

TBC.

A/N: Yes, Draco's thoughts rambled on. grins Still, life-changing moments do not often happen in a linear fashion. We might be hearing more from his quarters in future chapters. Just to clarify, Snape did not tell Draco that he was in the Order – only that he had regret joining the Death Eaters and now had to remain under Voldemort's control. How does Draco feel about that? We'll explore that in future chapters, my friends.