CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: THE SIGHT OF BLIND EYES
"Aternis Tenebris!"
With a sudden flash of green light I was left in darkness. Nothingness. Alone. The blackness engulfed me and I sank away from consciousness.
~
I moaned lightly as I stretched. My cold fingers grabbing at the blankets. I was so exhausted I didn't even think to wonder where I was. I stretched out my arms and blinked a couple times.
"Waking up now dear?" I heard a hearty female voice ring from beside me. I could hear a note of sorrow-or was it pity?-in her voice. Madame Pomfrey. I knew that voice anywhere.
"You gave us a right good scare there! Attacked by Death Eaters!" She tutted. I blinked, still finding myself surrounded in unsaturated blackness. I had been at Hogwarts, just back from Christmas break when I had run into Bellatrix during a stroll around the castle on my first night back. She was filled with hatred, her sneering voice hissing 'Lupin' at me in disgust. She now only wanted me dead, but death was too easy. Blindness, on the other hand is disabling a person's most basic function. Disabling that function with dark magic ensured no recovery. I was trapped in the darkness.
"Yeah." I sighed. I jumped slightly when I felt her hand rest on my shoulder.
"We'll get you through this, love. We've got some of the best wizards in the whole world right in this castle." She told me calmly. "We'll sort this out. Believe it or not this isn't the first case of blindness from a spell we've had. Just a decade ago a student accidentally blinded another student. We got her through it too! She can see clear as day now." Madame P. rambled, trying for a reassuring tone, and not quite succeeding. "I best be getting to my other patients now dear." Her hand left my shoulder and I could hear the sound of her heels clicking against stone as she went. I wanted her to stay. I wanted someone to just hold me and tell me it would all me okay. I sank back down into the sheets and pulled them over my now useless eyes.
Hours later, my eyes were open as I stared forth at blackness. I tried to imagine the bedside table next to me, I brushed a lock of hair back from my face and let loose an exhausted sigh. Slowly, I sat up again, not wanting to drown in self-pity.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and slowly lowered them and stopped once I felt the cold stone of the floor seep through every pore. I sighed again and stood, swinging an arm out and hitting the table, my outstretched fingers groping for my wand. I felt the familliar length of it and plucked it from the table.
"Internum Ductor." I whispered. With a blaze of light the room appeared around me. It only became so clear though, just dark smudges upon gray distinguishing object from open space. I wasn't 'seeing' though, all the spell did was lay out a vision in my mind, everything I saw now was created from memory. When a person passed the door they only looked like a lazily drifting smudge of gray. It would have to do for now. I shuffled forward until I gradually became used to my new view of the world and began to take more confident strides. "Not so bad." I whispered to myself.
I didn't believe that, but I might as well try and convince myself that this whole things wasn't as bad as it seemed. Yet it was. No self pity. No self pity. I mentally chanted. I felt around more and grasped the fabric of my school robes and slowly shrugged it on. I stood silently for a moment, listening for Madame P. before slipping out of the hospital wing.
I tugged at the sleeve of my robes, taking satisfaction in the knowledge that there was no dark mark there anymore. I let out a breath of relief as I made my way down a long empty hall. I could hear my boots clicking on the cold, smooth stone as I walked. Finally I got to the portrait hole, the fat lady looked like a dark smear dancing about in a dark frame. I told her the password and scrambled inside, instantly feeling the heat from the common room fire.
"Iris Lupin." I hear the old, yet strong voice from behind me and I cringed at how she said my name, Professor McGonagall. "Madame Pomfrey is looking for you." She said.
"Professor- Can you tell her that I am fine? Please? I promise that if I have any trouble I will head straight back." I pleaded, she sighed in defeat.
"Yes, fine. Find a student to get you from class to class though."
"Yes, Professor." I said, suppressing a small smile. The clicking of her heels against stone got quieter until disappearing from my hearing range all together, and I sucked in a breath of relief. It was Sunday. I had all day to do what I wanted. Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I jumped and stiffened, then relaxed when I realized who it was.
"Iris!" The voice said.
"George!" I responded with a breath of amusement.
"Are you okay?" he asked. He pulled back a bit and I knew he was looking at my eyes.
"Yeah, brilliant." I replied calmly. I stood on tip-toes to give him a chaste kiss.
"You sure you're okay?" he asked again, I could hear the worry that resonated in his voice.
"I promise! Just compromised vision!" I joked half-heartedly and we both let out a short laugh. "George?"
"Hm?"
"Would you mind helping me get from class to class? McGonagall said I need to find someone to help me around if I want to stay out of the hospital wing." I explained.
"Course, love! I'd be happy to help!"
"Thanks, Georgie!" I grinned.
"Anytime!" He chuckled. I leaned into him and enjoyed the sensation for a few moments of comfortable silence.
"Hey, where's Freddie?" I asked finally.
"He's out at Hogsmeade with the others."
"Can you take me?"
"Iris..."
"Please, Georgie?" I pleaded. He sighed in playful defeat.
"Yeah, c'mon then!" He said as he as he ushered me back through the portrait hole.