Love in Blindness
by E. C. R. Potter

Rating: PG
Ship: Harry & Hermione
Canon: Books 1 - 4
Genre: Angst, Romance
Status: Complete
Length: 5,871 words in 4 chapters
Published: 14 Dec 2002
Last updated: 14 Dec 2002

With his dying breath, Voldemort takes away something precious from Hermione. Now, through her loss, Hermione with
Harry's help discovers something to make up the loss. Slightly angsty H/H.

From the Unofficial Portkey Archive: https://portkey-archive.org/story/47/

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1. Part 1

~ Love in Blindness ~ Part 1

“Its over, Voldemort. You’re finished!”

17 year old Harry Potter stood over his archenemy, his green eyes blazing. The Dark Lord glared at Harry and pulled
himself up to his feet. Around them, the snow-covered Forbidden Forest was silent, not a single creature intruding on
the duel. Near by, a trembling Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley silently watched the scene, sole witnesses to the final
battle between the Dark Lord and the Boy who lived.

“I’m not the one who’s finished!” Voldemort hissed. He raised his wand in an attempt to fire the killing curse, but
before he had the chance, Harry fired a powerful burst of magic that slammed into Voldemort’s body. The Dark Lord was
flung back some thirty feet and crashed into an old oak tree with a sickening crack. With a hideous twitch, Voldemort’s
body fell limp.

Exhausted yet triumphant, Harry turned around to face his two best friends. The look of sheer terror and worry on
Hermione’s face had been replaced with a small smile. Before Harry could say anything however, Hermione’s face suddenly
took on an expression of alarm.

“Harry look out!” Without a single thought of hesitation, Hermione shoved Harry out of the way. In the process, a final
curse fired by Voldemort slammed into her face.

With a cry of pure rage, Harry blasted Voldemort away, finally finishing the Dark Lord once and for all.

* * *

The days that followed were a time of celebration for the wizarding world. The Boy Who Lived had finally defeated Lord
Voldemort, whom had been terrorizing the world for decades. Wizards and Witches all over Britain went out and celebrated
in public and major magical corporations let all their employees have paid vacations to enjoy the celebrations. Minister
of Magic Cornelius Fudge declared January 23rd, the day of the final defeat of the Dark Lord, a holiday and even
Hogwarts cancelled classes for a week.

However, there were two people that did not join in the celebrations. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were worried sick
about Hermione who was in a coma in the Hospital Wing. Ron was very upset, spending his time either raving around the
Gryffindor Common Room or the hallways whenever Madame Pomfrey kicked him out of the Hospital Wing. He even lost his
appetite.

Harry however was outright hysterical. He spent the next few days sitting next to the comatose Hermione holding her hand
tightly neither eating nor sleeping. In fact, if it weren’t for his breathing people might have mistaken him for some
king of statue or have thought he was petrified. After many failed attempts at trying to get Harry to move, Madame
Pomfrey had given up and simply allowed him to stay in his chair.

For the longest time, Harry simply sat as if he himself was comatose. Eventually, after about three days, Ron finally
came to his senses and tried to convince Harry to move, with encouragement from the other Gryffindors.

“Come on Harry, you’ve got to eat something,” Ron said. Harry didn’t move let alone acknowledge Ron’s presence. He
simply continued staring at Hermione still as a statue.

Ron turned to the people in the doorway, namely the other seventh year Gryffindors Dean Thomas, Lavender Brown, Neville
Longbottom, Parvati Patil, and Seamus Finnigan. They shrugged and urged Ron to continue.

“Come on Harry,” Ron urged. “You can’t waste your life like this, especially now that You-Know-Who’s gone. What would
Hermione say about you wasting away like this?”

Harry still remained completely still. Ron sighed sadly and was about to leave when Harry suddenly spoke.

“She shoved me out of the way.”

Relieved to finally get a reaction out of Harry, Ron turned back to his best friend and said, “Yeah, I know. I was
there.”

“She shoved me out of the way,” Harry said. “It should’ve been me who took the effect of that curse. I’m supposed to be
the one lying on the bed here, not her! Its my fault she’s like this!” By this point he was practically yelling.

“Mate, if it weren’t for you...”

“If it weren’t for me Ron,” Harry chocked back a sob. “Hermione would be up and well nagging you about not studying for
the N.E.W.T.s or something like that! Not lying here. Not lying here...” Slowly, Harry became quiet and resumed his
previous statue like state.

“Harry,” Ron was about to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, Ron was startled to find
Albus Dumbledore standing behind him.

“Let him be,” Dumbledore said. “He will come out of it when he is ready. Until then, we should just leave him alone.”

* * *

Days passed and still Hermione did not wake up nor did Harry move. Finally, the day came that marked a full week from
the final defeat of Voldemort. A full week of staying awake finally catching up to him, Harry was dozing with his head
on Hermione’s pillow when he felt movement next to him.

Harry’s head snapped up to see Hermione stirring, soft moans escaping from her lips. Her bushy brown hair started to
shift, giving it a golden glow like a halo in the sunlight and her eyelashes started to flutter.

Ecstatic, Harry smiled his first genuine smile in a week as sprang from his chair. He considered calling Madame Pomfrey
but decided against it; for some reason he didn’t understand why, he wanted to make sure that his face was the first
face Hermione saw when she woke up.

“Hermione?” he whispered.

“Harry?” Hermione moaned. Her eyes were still closed. “Is that you?”

“Yes, its me.”

“Oh Harry,” Hermione sat up and threw her arms around Harry. Though her eyes were still closed, she was able to tell
where he was by the sound of his voice and the feeling of his presence. “Oh Harry, I was so scared,” she gushed, tears
leaking out of her closed eyelids. “Are you OK? Did he harm you in some way?”

“I’m OK,” Harry said. “You’re OK, we’re all OK, Voldemort’s gone. He can’t harm any of us anymore. Everything’s going to
be all right from now on.”

Hermione smiled through her tears and opened her eyes. Her smile was soon replaced with a frown and she said, “Um,
Harry, is it night? Could you turn the light on, I can’t see anything.”

Hermione felt Harry tense. “Hermione, its one in the afternoon. The sun’s out.”

Hermione started shaking, as if she was suddenly frightened of something. Feeling a chill creep up his spine, Harry
pulled back and looked into her eyes for the first time.

Her usually bright chocolate brown eyes, were dull as if there was no sign of life in them. Harry was shocked as
Hermione started to tremble, tears leaking out of her dulled eyes.

“Harry? What’s wrong with me?” But she already knew the answer. Both of them did, the fear and shock hanging over them
like an omen.

Hermione was blind.

To be continued...

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2. Part 2

~ Love in Blindness ~ Part 2

“What do you mean you can’t do anything?!” Ron Weasley shouted. “You’ve got to be able to do something for her!”

Madame Pomfrey sighed sadly. “I’m sorry Mr. Weasley. I’ve tried everything I know and nothing has worked. If this
blindness had been caused by some physical accident I could fix it easily, but I have no idea what curse You-Know-Who
used on her to cause this.”

“It is my belief,” Dumbledore said, “that not even Voldemort himself would know what curse he used. He must’ve simply
shot the first curse he could think of with his dying breath, not caring what damage it caused so long as it caused
harm.” The old headmaster shook his head. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing more we can do for her.”

“How are we supposed to tell her?” Harry muttered bitterly. “How are we supposed to tell her that? She’s already had so
much sadness in her life, including the murder of her parents two years ago. How are we supposed to tell her that she’s
blind for life?!”

“Harry...” Ron placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder but Harry viciously brushed it off.

“Its all my fault!” he shouted. “If it weren’t for me, none of this would’ve happened! I should’ve just never existed!”

“You know that’s not true!” Ron shouted. “If it weren’t for you, You-Know-Who would still be around! You’ve saved the
bloody world again!”

“Mr. Weasley is right, Harry,” Dumbledore said. “If it weren’t for you, Voldemort would still be in control and we would
all be far worse off.”

Harry said nothing but it was clear that he had calmed down. With a sad sigh, he said, “I’ll go tell her,” and gloomily
walked into the hospital wing.

“H-Harry, is that you?” Hermione called out as Harry walked into the room. Harry felt his heart break as he glanced at
Hermione curled up on her bed. She looked so small and vulnerable, and it was clear that she was terrified. Harry could
only hope to imagine what she was going through. He remembered a time back when he was about seven when the Dursleys had
locked him into the cupboard with the lamp broken for three days. The sheer darkness during that time had been so
frightening. How could he tell Hermione that she was going to spend the rest of her life in that darkness?

“Yeah its me,” Harry said. He lost his voice in his throat and couldn’t continue speaking. It was clear however that
Hermione instantly figured out what Harry was going to say, the silence giving her the dreaded answer. Tears started to
stream down her cheeks as silent sobs shook her body. Harry made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
Hermione leaned her head on Harry’s chest and continued crying as Harry also let a few tears fall from his eyes.

Finally, Hermione spoke, “Well I suppose it can’t be completely bad, right? At least I’m still alive.” She managed a
small smile though the tears did not stop.

“Yes,” Harry said. “I’ll help in whatever way possible so that you can live your life just like all of us.” He bent over
and kissed her hair.

* * *

Classes started again and life at Hogwarts soon returned to normal. Although Hermione was excused from classes for the
time being, it was clear that she didn’t want to be. She may have lost her eyesight but she had certainly not lost her
thirst for knowledge.

Madame Pomfrey helped Hermione change into her standard school uniform, helping her into the holes in the clothes that
Hermione couldn’t see. Unfortunately, the first class Hermione had was Arithmancy, meaning that she couldn’t be with
Harry and Ron who had Divination.

Using her wand, Hermione managed to easily maneuver her way through the castle with the use of a handy guidance charm.
The sight of a girl walking around with her wand sticking out in front of her in her hand was a slightly weird sight but
since Hermione couldn’t see the expressions of other people, she really didn’t care what she looked like. By delving
into her studies, she could keep her mind off of the fact that she was blind and she just might’ve been able to get
through the day. Dumbledore had given her a special reading charm that worked like the muggle form of reading called
brail. With this charm, Hermione simply ran her finger over the words of the book and the words formed in her mind.
Thus, she was able to pursue her favorite hobby.

After a successful Arithmancy lesson, Hermione was in much better spirits than she had been in days. Using her wand, she
was navigating through the hallways hoping to get to her next class when an eerily familiar voice called out,
“Expelliarmus!” To her alarm, Hermione’s wand flew out of her hand. Furthermore, someone suddenly pushed her down the
stairs. She landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the steps and moaned in pain. Tears sprang in her eyes as she
tired to pull herself back up despite the pain in her sprained ankle.

“Ta-ta mudblood. No getting up yet,” sneered a familiar voice.

“M-Malfoy?” Hermione said. The fear was clear in her voice as she tried to pinpoint where exactly Draco Malfoy was.
“W-where are you?”

“Awww, what’s the matter? Can’t the mudblood see?” said Malfoy as he circled around Hermione. He had never seen Hermione
so scared before and it gave him a certain sense of power over her.

“P-please, can I have my wand back?” Hermione whispered, more tears falling out of her eyes. Malfoy for his part
couldn’t be believe that he had reduced Hermione Granger, whom had always simply ignored his taunts and had even slapped
him once, to begging. Her blindness had clearly rattled her more than even she herself had realized.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Malfoy said. He paused to give the illusion as if he were actually considering it and said, “No, I
think I’ll just torment you a little more. You know what? In fact, I think I’ve got a better use for you now.” A sick
grin adorned his face as he grabbed Hermione’s arm and yanked her to her feet. Hermione yelped in pain as Malfoy
proceeded to drag her away, the terror on her face clearly visible.

“Let her go, Malfoy!” called a voice that sounded like a song of angels to Hermione. It was Harry, his green eyes
blazing with rage and His wand pointed at Malfoy’s face. Behind him, Ron looked like he was ready to throttle Malfoy.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Harry hissed.

Malfoy smirked and shoved Hermione into Harry’s arms. He threw her wand at their feet and stalked away, laughing.

Hermione burst into tears and buried her head in Harry’s chest. “H-Harry,” she said. “I-I was so scared. I’ve never been
scared of Malfoy before, but I w-was begging. Because I couldn’t see him I was so scared. I-I don’t know if I can live
like this.”

“Its OK, Hermione,” Harry said soothingly. “He’s not going to hurt you anymore. I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore.”
Harry noticed Hermione’s sprained foot and scooped her up. “Come on, let’s get you to the hospital wing.”

Harry proceeded to carry Hermione toward the hospital wing and Hermione leaned her head on Harry’s shoulder, drawing in
his warmth and security. Behind them, Ron trotted along, his former angry faced now laced with a sense of epiphany. Ron
had been studying the way Harry was looking at Hermione closely and had come to a conclusion.

“Well what do you know?” Ron muttered to himself. And despite everything, Ron couldn’t help but smile.

To be continued...

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3. Part 3

~ Love in Blindness ~ Part 3

The months flew by and Hermione quickly fell back into her standard routine. Despite her handicap, she easily balanced
studying for the N.E.W.T.s and her Head Girl duties quite easily. She added a few charms on her clothing, which gave her
a mental picture of her location in the castle, making going from place to place a lot easier. Almost immediately,
laughter returned to Hermione’s face and the area of the Gryffindor table that was always reserved for the trio was
finally relishing in the defeat of Voldemort.

It happened one afternoon just a few days before the graduation ball. Hermione had just completed her final N.E.W.T.
exam and was in high spirits when Draco Malfoy crept up behind, a sick grin adorning his face; it was clear that he was
hoping to pick up from where he had left off a few months earlier. However, just when Malfoy was about to raise his
wand, Hermione spun around and shouted, “Expelliarmus!”.

Malfoy was flung back into the wall while his wand flew into Hermione’s hand. “Tat-ta Malfoy, not this time,” she said
with a smirk on her face.

“G-Granger? How...” Malfoy spluttered. He tried to hide his fear but it was rather pointless since Hermione couldn’t see
his face and she could easily sense his fear.

“I have my ways,” Hermione said with a smirk. She walked up to Malfoy and raised the two wands. Malfoy tried to shield
himself with his hands but Hermione simply tossed his wand back to him.

“So long, twitchy little ferret,” she said. As she walked away from a shocked Malfoy Hermione tried rather
unsuccessfully to stop the giggles that escaped her lips. About a minute later, Hermione smiled as she heard two sets of
very familiar footsteps run up to her. She knew in an instant that the footsteps belonged to Harry and Ron.

“Hermione!” Harry shouted. “We just saw Malfoy, what happened?”

“Oh, I just had a little run in with him,” Hermione said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“What did he do to you?! I’ll kill him!” Ron hissed as he cracked his knuckles.

“Nothing happened, Ron,” Hermione said. “He tried to do something to me but I just gave him a taste of his own
medicine.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Harry asked.

“I’m fine, Harry.”

“Well if he, or anybody else ever tries to hurt you,” Harry said. “I promise I’ll stop them and make sure you’re safe.”

“I can take care of myself, Harry,” Hermione sighed. But then she smiled and said, “But thank you for being my knight in
shining armor anyway.” She stood up on her tiptoes in an attempt to kiss Harry on the cheek. However, since she couldn’t
see where Harry’s cheek was she ended up nailing him somewhere else. Hermione was completely shocked the instant she
realized that the soft surface her lips touched was none other than Harry’s own lips. She also felt the shock that went
through Harry’s body. However, before she could pull away to wallow in her embarrassment, she felt Harry start to kiss
her back and his hands starting to roam her back. Before she could even remind herself that this was her best friend she
was kissing, Hermione was kissing Harry back in a flurry of passion and her hands were buried in Harry’s messy hair.
Tongues started to duel as the boy and the girl tried to get closer to each other than they already were. Their clothes
were very constraining and their hands soon started to fondle with each other’s robes...

Ron cleared his throat very loudly and Harry and Hermione immediately sprung apart, their faces very, very red. Ron
looked at his watch and said, “Hmm, two minutes. Not bad for what I’m assuming is a first kiss.”

“U-um...um, I’ll see y-you later, Harry,” Hermione said, her face very red. She quickly gathered her books and scrabbled
away toward the sanctuary of Gryffindor tower.

Harry meanwhile simply stood there looking shocked for about a minute when his face suddenly broke into a wide grin as
if he had suddenly solved the greatest mystery in the world, which he probably had. Ron, seeing Harry’s reaction rolled
his eyes and said, “Its about bloody time!”

* * *

All too soon, the night of the graduation ball came. The ball was set, like all dances in the Great Hall underneath a
star filled ceiling that simply twinkled. Dumbledore had given Harry and Hermione, the Head Boy and Head Girl, full
charge of organizing the dance and they had made sure it would be an affair people would remember for a long time.

Hermione strode out of her dorm toward the Great Hall with a feeling of uneasiness. Since she couldn’t see, she had to
completely rely on Parvati and Lavender to help her dress up and she had absolutely no idea what she looked like. It
wasn’t that she didn’t trust their tastes but Parvati and Lavender tended to dress in clothes that were far too
revealing and wear way too much make up.

Feeling nervous, Hermione started to descend the stairs toward the Common Room as elegantly as she could where she would
be meeting Harry and Ron. As she descended the stairs, her sharp ears picked up the sudden silence that came over the
two boys. Hermione couldn’t help but grin as she pictured their reactions, their jaws dropping and the two of them
gaping like fish.

In fact, Harry and Ron had plenty of reason to gape. Lavender and Parvati had taken their job of dressing Hermione up
seriously and quite frankly she looked beautiful. She was wearing a strap-less midnight blue dress robe that hugged her
body closely and yet was completely decent. Her normally bushy hair had been tamed and pulled into an elegant bun though
a few curls still framed her face. She wore a very slight hint of makeup, namely a light shade of lipstick and a slight
amount of blush on her cheeks.

Harry was the first one to find his voice, “Hermione, you look absolutely...absolutely...”

“Amazingly stunning,” said Ron with a huge grin.

“Beautiful,” Harry finished, a smile on his face.

“Thank you,” Hermione said while blushing a little. “I sure wish I could say the same for you two.” Since she couldn’t
see how her two best friends were dressed, she had to rely on the reactions she heard from the other girls in the common
room. In fact, Harry and Ron were also looking very handsome, Harry in his bottle green dress robes and Ron in his new
sky blue ones.

“Shall we proceed,” Ron said as he and Harry looped their arms around Hermione’s arms.

“Yes, lets go,” she said.

* * *

The dance turned out to be a great success for the majority of the Hogwarts residence. Dinner was great, the decorations
were good, and Dumbledore had even hired a magical orchestra.

This was the last event the seventh years would participate in at Hogwarts before commencement two days later. After
that, the seventh years would be going out to the rest of their lives. While eating her dinner, Hermione’s thoughts
wandered toward her immediate future. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were going to share a flat in London where Ron would
start work at the ministry while Harry began auror training. Hermione’s sudden blindness had disrupted her future plans
so she wasn’t sure what she would be doing after graduation. Whichever, she wasn’t all that worried about her future
since her outstanding N.E.W.T. scores meant that she could probably do anything she wanted. She would be O.K., so long
as Harry was with her all through the way.

“May I have this dance?” Harry’s voice cut into Hermione’s thoughts and she was a little startled.

“What?”

“May I have this dance?” Harry asked again.

Although Hermione knew that Harry was an abysmal dancer, she blurted out, “Yes,” as she tried to suppress the quickening
rate of her heartbeat.

Harry grinned and pulled her out onto the dance floor just as the orchestra started to play a slow romantic tune. The
two wrapped their arms around each other and started swaying softly to the music. All this time, Hermione was having a
serious case of the butterflies. She hadn’t been this close to Harry ever since that first kiss they had shared a few
days ago; that wonderful kiss which they had mutually decided not to talk about until the right time.

As the two continued to dance, Hermione couldn’t help but think, ‘Is this the right time?’. Her heart was racing and
there was a lot of heat in her cheeks. Finally, Hermione struck up her courage and said, “Um, H-Harry...” when Harry’s
lips suddenly descended on hers.

At first, Hermione was too shocked to do anything, but she soon recovered and started to kiss him back. In an instant,
the rest of the world disappeared and all who existed were Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. They seemed to have
forgotten the rest of the people in the Great Hall whom all had their eyes on Harry and Hermione, the music now silent.
The kiss wasn’t as steamy as their first one, but it was still enough to convey all the passion and the feelings that
the two were baring to each other. Tears started to build up in Hermione’s eyes as a beautiful feeling of bliss filled
her, as if Harry were the matching piece of the puzzle to her life. When the two finally parted due to lack of oxygen,
there was only one thing Hermione could possible say, “ I love you, Harry.”

“I love you too, Hermione.” Abruptly, the entire hall broke out into a huge applause, much to the embarrassment of the
two at its center.

To be continued...

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4. Part 4

~ Love in Blindness ~ Part 4

Four years later, Harry and Hermione were now married, and living in a small house in the suburbs of London. Harry had
just completed auror training but since dark wizards were in a short supply those days, he had a lot of time off.
Hermione was now a writer and had even gotten a few of her novels published, all of them topping the bestseller lists.
Her most popular works were non-fiction novels written about the trio during their Hogwarts years, all written in third
person from Harry’s point of view. Currently, she had completed the book about their fourth year and was working on the
fifth-year book. As for Ron, he was now assistant head of the Depart of Magical Sports and was living with his fiancée
near Diagon Alley.

“Mommy! Lookit!” came the delighted squeal of a two year old boy. Hermione sighed sadly. She longed so much to be able
to see her son’s face or whatever it was that he wanted her to look at. She loved Jason Ronald Potter dearly but it was
sometimes very difficult holding him and not being into look at the child whom was living proof of the love between
Harry and Hermione.

“Mommy, lookit,” Jason said as he leapt into Hermione’s lap. Hermione smiled and hugged her son close.

“I wish I could, love” Hermione said. She bent down and kissed Jason on the head. Jason seemed to be waving something
around in his hand. While Jason squirmed around jovially in his mother’s arms, Hermione’s thoughts wandered back to a
time only a few months after they had graduated from Hogwarts.

~~~~~

“How are you feeling, love?” Harry asked. They were walking around the lake at Hogwarts, a place that held a lot of
meaning to the two of them.

“Wonderful,” Hermione said. She longed to be able to see the view. “Harry, could you describe everything?”

“OK,” Harry said as he wrapped his arms around Hermione’s waist. “There are stars in the sky, of course. There’s the
Great Dipper over the lake. The moon’s just risen above the castle, not quite full but close. Its reflecting on the lake
very clearly which is very still tonight. It’s very beautiful Hermione, though I admit, not as beautiful as you.”

“Oh Harry,”

“I’m serious Hermione. I love you and I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently.” He suddenly seemed a little nervous
as he continued talking. “There’s nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life telling you how much I love you.
And I’ve been thinking about that for some time now. So, Hermione...”

Hermione suddenly gasped when she felt Harry slip something onto her finger. She felt it and realized that it could be
nothing more than a diamond ring.

“Will you marry me?” Harry finished.

After a slight pause, Hermione whispered, “Yes,” then louder, “YES!” Tears were streaming down her cheeks now and a
beautiful smile adorned her face. She turned around planted a strong kiss on Harry’s lips. Soon their tongues were
dueling and clothes were being shed as they whispered “I love you...I love you...” over and over again in between
kisses. And for the first time in their lives, though far from the last between the two of them, Hermione and Harry
connected with each other with everything they had to offer the other. And their love sang that night near the Hogwarts
Lake.

~~~~~

“Mommy.” Jason’s voice cut into her recollections Hermione snapped out of her thoughts. She smiled and hugged Jason
close. She was also looking forward to their daughter that was due to come in about 7 months.

“Yes, Jason?” Hermione suddenly realized what it was that Jason was waving around. “Jason, is that daddy’s wand?” she
asked, her voice a little stern.

“Yeah!” Jason said.

“You know you’re not supposed to take it.”

“Oh, let him have his fun, Hermione,” Harry called from the kitchen, the merriment in his voice obvious. “After all,
it’s still going to be years before he gets one of his own.”

“That’s not the point,” Hermione said. “He’s still too young to be waving such a thing. We both know that Jason is a
very powerful wizard. The chances of him doing something dangerous are...” Hermione never had the chance to finish what
she was saying, for suddenly, Jason accidentally blasted a burst of magic out of the wand into Hermione’s face. She
screamed and fell backwards.

“Hermione!” Harry shouted as he dove forward and caught his wife before she hit the floor. “Hermione, are you all
right?”

Hermione took a few breaths trying to get her heartbeat back to normal, her eyes shut tight. “I-I’m OK,” she said. “I
just suppose I was lucky.” She slowly opened her eyes.

And the first thing she saw was a pair of very familiar green eyes.

Shocked, Hermione blinked expecting to the eyes to be a part of her imagination and that she would be back in the
darkness again. The eyes were still there, behind a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. She was looking at Harry’s face, which
she hadn’t seen in four years. He still looked exactly the same, only older and more refined. The scar on his forehead
had faded and was now barely visible.

“H-Harry?”

Harry knew. The instant she had opened her eyes he had seen the spark in those beautiful brown orbs he hadn’t seen in
four years. “Hermione?” he whispered, hope creeping back into his voice.

“Harry,” Hermione said, tears now flowing out of her revived eyes. “Harry, I can see. Oh Harry I can see!” She flung her
arms around Harry cried tears of joy and kissed him deeply. After she pulled back and spent some time studying his face
before she looked up and glanced at a large mirror hanging on the living room wall. A beautiful young woman with long
wavy brown hair and lively chocolate brown eyes stared back at her. Hermione couldn’t believe that she was looking at
her own face again, after all these years.

Hermione’s eyes scanned the room, taking in everything from the white wallpaper and the aqua carpet and the various
pictures of her, Harry, and Ron on the walls. She saw a picture of their wedding day and was finally able to marvel at
how beautiful she had looked in the white wedding gown. Finally, her eyes rested on a small boy standing nearby,
watching her with a curious expression on his face. He looked just like Harry, especially the green eyes but his hair,
though messy, had her brown color.

“Jason?” she whispered.

“Mommy? What are you doing? Why are you crying” the boy asked.

More tears rolled down as Hermione drew her son into a strong embrace. “Oh, you’re so beautiful,” she whispered, as sobs
rocked her body. But they were sobs of joy.

Harry wiped a few tears out of his eyes as he also wrapped his arms around his wife and son. “Hermione, love, are you
OK?” he whispered.

“I’ve never been better in my whole life,” Hermione whispered. “And its not going to end, right? It’s going to happiness
forever, right Harry?”

“Yes it will be,” Harry said. “I love you, Hermione.”

“I love you too, Harry.” And from then on, it was happily ever after.

The End
