Blind - drarry

Chapter 14

Published: December 17, 2020

Updated: September 30, 2021

Harry did not throw him out, though it was undoubtedly awkward when Potter brought him breakfast the following day. Harry, of course, apologized for pushing him so far, stupid, self-sacrificing git. Harry talked for several minutes without any input from him, explaining that he was a beautiful snowflake or something, and that everyone is important. He wanted to tell him to f off, but that wasn't going to help the situation.

Then Harry left on his hunt and didn't come back until late at night. Draco roamed the house, explored the cupboards and worked on his cube. He stayed up waiting for him, until he came home. Potter updated him with the search, and then they went to bed, without asking any personal questions. The same thing happened the next day and the next and the next. Harry's panic was only increasing. He was blaming himself for not trying to find the git sooner. No matter how much Draco tried to assail Potter's nervousness and grief, he couldn't let it go.

The fifth was coming closer. Despite Harry's previous protestations, he was starting to believe that year-mark limit. Hermione and Weasley stopped by on the morning of the fourth, and they couldn't calm Harry down. They did join him in the search effort, though. Draco thought Harry had to have looked in every house south of Hadrian's Wall for the Auror, but they didn't report on their missions nor talk to him besides greeting him and bidding him goodnight.

"I don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait up," Harry said before he Apparated away. Ron and Hermione left with similar farewells.

Draco lowered his head. He walked to the den. He had patience, and he would wait. He fell asleep a few times, but Potter never came back, even after the clock struck midnight. Draco stayed in his chair, fiddled with the puzzle more. He was getting the hang of it, now realizing that you can't go by the sides, you have to go by the rows. He stopped every few minutes to look at the Floo. He had to admit that he was worried about the Chosen One. Williamson was an experienced Auror. Harry could be in trouble, and he couldn't sleep.

The sun woke him from his unintentional nap, and Harry hadn't returned. It was the fifth. His time was up. Draco grimaced when he realized that he had actually started to hope. Hope was stupid, though. He knew he would be stuck in darkness forever, so why did he start to believe it possible? Maybe because it was Harry. He had destiny and the light on his side. Harry never failed anything, until now, that is. Draco had to wipe some tears away. Stupid freaking hope.

He got up, made tea and even pulled out some sausages to fry up. He overcooked them a bit, but they weren't too bad. He went up and took a shower, maybe his last in the house, and changed. He just made it back downstairs when someone Apparated into the room, dropping something big to the ground.

Harry's voice growled, "Welcome to my home, Asshole. Draco? There you are. Are you okay?"

"Fine?" he said, unsure of what was happening. He was tense as he could tell there was someone else in the room. Potter kidnapped someone.

"Found him. I got him bound. He admitted it, but won't tell me what the counter curse is."

"Go screw yourself, Potter. I don't have to tell you crap," the same evil voice said from that day in the hospital.

Draco backed up to the wall next to the steps. There was an Auror in the house. His fear spiked. The reconditioning from the halfway house had done a number on him. He didn't want to go back to prison.

"You will," Harry spat.

Williamson laughed. "Malfoy deserves being blind, and he'll never get it back! It's been too long!"

"Well, tell me the counter curse, and we'll see if you're right."

"No... I'm not going to do that. Traitor deserves it!"

"No, he doesn't. You had no right to do this to him."

"He's scum. He doesn't deserve to live. I enjoyed watching him beg for straps. It was so sweet to watch," Williamson hissed, and Draco trembled from the scorn in his voice.

"You're a right bastard. Tell me the counter, or I'll make you!" Harry threatened.

"Ha! The Great Harry Potter is going to make me do anything? I'd like to see you try!"

"Wish granted. Silencio!" Harry growled.

Draco strained his ears to listen to them struggle. He had no idea what Harry was going to do. His fear now was that Harry would get himself into more trouble on his behalf. He heard Harry mutter a finite.

"There. What is your name?"

"Lester Williamson," the Auror responded in a dull voice.

"Did you curse Draco Malfoy a year ago?"

"Yes."

Draco's stomach dropped. Veritaserum. Oh, crap.

"What was the curse?"

"Caecus totalus."

"What is the counter for it?"

"Abrogo imprectio."

"Was it meant to be permanent?"

"Yes. A pernicious curse," he drawled, almost happily.

Harry took a deep breath. "Why did you curse him?"

Draco braced himself. He wanted to know, but then again, he didn't. Maybe he had earned it.

Williamson seemed to be resisting the potion. It wasn't possible, even for Aurors. Truth is what you get. "He betrayed us."

"Betrayed? You?"

"Yes... no."

"He betrayed the Dark Lord?"

Draco shrunk a little when Williamson answered with, "Yes."

"Are you a Death Eater?" Harry growled.

"Yes."

"Did you use any Unforgivable Curses?"

"Yes."

"Against muggles?"

"Yes."

"Who else worked for Voldemort that is still in the Ministry?"

Williamson named five people that Draco didn't know. Harry asked him more questions about how they hid their crimes and what they did before he was done questioning him. Then Draco suddenly felt a warm, encompassing presence pass by him. Seconds later, Granger and Weasley arrived.

"Harry? We got your message," Hermione exclaimed.

"You got him?" Weasley asked, as they stepped further into the den.

"Williamson, what did you just tell me?" Harry asked.

The Auror reenacted the whole hair-raising dialogue again for Harry's mates. Draco stayed leaning on the wall, emotionally wrecked, as he processed that Williamson hadn't cursed him for being a Death Eater. No, it was because he had been a good person. Somehow that made it, made him, feel better. When Williamson finished, Harry stunned him.

"Bloody hell... a Death Eater!" Ron gasped.

Hermione was in stock as she stammered. "H-Harry... did you use...."

"Yeah. I didn't want you here for it. You don't need to get in trouble, too," Harry said, with a bit of deviance in his voice.

"You can't potion-induce him to force a confession out! That's illegal! They might fire you, if not charge you!" she growled.

Harry ignored her, though. "You both can testify to what he said. He wasn't going to give up the counter curse."

"Still, Veritaserum is against the...."

"I do not care! Draco deserves his eyesight back. It was worth whatever they throw at me, but let's get this curse off. You heard him, Hermione."

"You want me to do it?" she asked, surprised.

"You're the best at, well, everything."

"Alright. It's a straight-forward spell. Ready, Draco?" she said.

He was trembling, but he was filled with trepidation. His sight... maybe it was possible to get it back. "Okay?"

Hermione cleared her throat and said, "Abrogo imprectio."

They waited for a few seconds and then a minute. Nothing happened. Then Harry tried it and then Ron. They roused Williamson, again, to make sure it was the right spell. They all said it together. But nothing worked. He was blind.

Damn hope, Draco thought acidly.

Harry's outrage and confusion were apparent, when he shouted, "It was supposed to work!"

"Harry... it was on too long," Hermione murmured, with a half-sob.

"It was the right spell! Why?" he moaned.

Hermione went over to him. "You have to understand, Harry, the longer a curse like that is on, the longer it takes to come off. If it's just a few days, it only takes an hour. If it's on for weeks, it takes days. When it's a month, it might take a whole week to come off."

"So, we just wait longer?"

"Harry, it increases exponentially. It's not just a ratio."

"I... what the hell does that mean!?" Harry said, completely confused. Granger, like Draco, had taken Arithmancy and knew precisely what was happening and how long curses take to wear off.

"It means..." she stopped. She couldn't get it out, whether it was for his sake or Potter's.

Draco stepped off the wall, joining the conversation. "It means, Potter, that the reason why everyone says a year is the cutoff is because, after a year, it could be decades before curse wears off, if not a century."

"No..." Harry whispered, absolute denial running through him.

"Face it, Harry. I'm going to be blind for the rest of my life."