The Boy Who Couldn't See: Year 1

The Midnight Duel

Detention with Snape wasn't as bad as Harry was thinking it would be. He just scrubbed cauldrons for a few hours before heading back to the common room with a reprimand of not cleaning them very well. Harry had to hold back a quip about being blind, the thought of getting another detention being the only thing stopping him.

Draco Malfoy has started to become a real thorn in Harry's side. He's taken to scaring Harry, just like Peeves, and Harry is getting increasingly pissed off with the boy. Luckily, they only have Potions with him, but they still pass in the corridors and Malfoy takes every chance he can get to sneak up on Harry and scare him into jumping a foot in the air. This luck ends, though, when a notice is put up in the common room informing them that flying lessons are starting on Thursday and they have them with the Slytherins. Harry, who has been getting increasingly nervous about getting on a broomstick and flying around, is especially bummed about this information.

"Typical," he mumbles when Ron tells him the news. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," Ron tells him. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch but I bet that's all talk."

Malfoy has been talking about flying a lot but everybody seems to talk about Quidditch, so he's not the only one. Seamus Finnigan talks about zooming around on a broom all the time and Harry is sure by now that the boy's entire childhood was spent on one. Ron talks about it too and the ongoing argument between him and Dean Thomas about football and Quidditch is something Harry pretends annoys him but it amuses him greatly. Neville, the last boy in their dorm, has never been on a broom in his life and Harry thinks this is for good reason, seeing as Neville has more accidents than him with both feet on the ground. The first time Harry joked about Neville being more clumsy than himself, a blind person, nobody but Ron had laughed and Harry had to clarify that it was okay to laugh about it. Now, though, Neville is always the second to laugh when Harry makes jokes about his blindness, Ron being the first.

Harry hasn't gotten a letter since Hagrid's but his friends frequently get some. Today, Neville has gotten a package from his grandmother.

"It's a Remembrall!" he tells them. "Gran knows I forget things, so this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red... oh," he pauses, "...you've forgotten something..."

"It turned red," Ron mumbles and Harry bites his lip, fighting a small smile.

Ron suddenly jumps to his feet and Harry flinches.

"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall's voice says and Harry also wonders the same thing.

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor," Neville tells her.

Harry sighs.

"Just looking," Malfoy walks away, his two friends -- which Harry has yet to learn the name of -- following behind.

At three-thirty in the afternoon, the Gryffindors head down to an open area outside for their flying lesson. Ron, sensing Harry's fear, keeps squeezing his shoulder encouragingly as they walk.

It's silent for a moment before a voice barks, "Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Harry stands next to Ron, his hands shaking slightly. How is he supposed to fly if he can't see?

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," their teacher -- Madam Hooch, Ron whispers to Harry -- says, "and say 'Up!'"

Harry sticks out his right hand, hoping to whatever god out there that his broom is below his hand, and says in a much more confident voice than he feels, "Up!"