Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

It had been nearly five years since Hermione had seen the youngest Weasley and seven years since Ginny had done something that nobody thought was possible for her, the die-hard Quiddich fanatic and hex extraordinaire, gave up the magic world.

She had fallen in love with a muggle girl and decided to make a life with her outside of magic. They had met during the year that Hermione, Ron and Harry had been wandering the countryside in search of the means to end the war and Ginny had been left to the horrors that was Hogwarts. The Carrows had captured a muggle girl and was intent on using her as 'target practise' for the students. Ginny spent her entire time not only protecting the students but also protecting Laura, the muggle that had been kidnapped. The fiery redhead would take as much punishment as she could and would often step in front of spells and hexes to protect the young woman and when she was unsuccessful, she would spend her time healing the girl and getting to know her. It turned out that Laura was nineteen and was in her first year at university, she had been leaving the library late one evening when she had been kidnapped. She did not mind that magic existed, what bothered her most was how so much power could corrupt someone into thinking that they were superior.

Laura's time at Hogwarts was long and painful, but Ginny made up for a lot of the terror, the two found themselves growing closer and closer and when a way to send her back home safely had been found Laura refused, insisting that she would stay to help and be with her friend, even if she didn't have a single magical bone in her body.

After the battle of Hogwarts, everybody expected Ginny to fall into Harry's waiting arms and to be swept off her feet, finally getting who she wanted and what she deserved. Instead she turned to the bloodied and bruised muggle, who had stayed by her side and was helping bandage up the wounded and kissed her with as much passion that anybody had ever seen. Everybody was shocked and nobody paid attention to the heartbroken brunette who had never told her redheaded friend how she really felt for fear of rejection and loyalty to Harry, who had made everyone aware that he had some sort of claim to the youngest Weasley.

Ginny had stayed as long as she had needed to make sure that everything at Hogwarts was mended and she grieved for her family and friends along with everybody else. When she felt that it was time to move on, she and Laura took a floo to Diagon Alley and never stepped foot in the magical world again.

All of her friends and family had received invites to her wedding and were under strict instructions that it was to be purely muggle and they even had to find muggle modes of transport, most were happy to abide by these rules and her wedding to Laura was a lovely day filled with happiness and love. They had also received similar invites to the hospital after Laura had given birth to their son, again they respected her wishes and they all, except for Harry and Ron who were away working, descended upon the hospital to welcome the new born into the world.

That had been the last time Hermione had seen Ginny, nearly five years ago and now here she stood on the doorstep, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, waiting for someone to answer her knock. She had waited a long time to visit the redhead and now that she was there she was unsure if she would be welcome. The door to the townhouse opened and there stood Laura, Ginny's wife, the woman who unintentionally took Ginny away from her heritage and from Hermione. Hermione didn't blame Laura though, she was a lovely woman who had a few times tried to get Ginny back into the world of magic, but Ginny was stubborn and did not want her wife or son to be in a world that had caused too much physical and emotional pain for them both.

'Hermione, it is you, isn't it?' Laura asked.

'Hi.' Hermione said quietly.

'Come in, come in. God it's been such a long time, what brings you here?' smiling, Laura beckoned Hermione to follow her into the house. 'Ginny isn't home yet. She should be along soon though she's just picking Luke up from nursery.'

'How is he?' Hermione asked, genuinely interested. The first and last time she had seen the little boy was just after he had been born.

'Fine, he's getting big. It's been a while since you've seen him. He's four now and is such a terror, Ginny just says she's glad I had him, she couldn't imagine what he would be like if he was a little wizard as well.'

'Oh, he has no magic at all?' This surprised Hermione, she knew that Laura had carried Luke, but she was sure that they had performed a conception spell so that he was biologically Ginny's as well.

'Not from the tests that she ran when he turned one. It was one of the reasons we did everything the, what do you call it again, muggle?' Hermione nodded at this. 'Yeah, it's why she insisted on the muggle way, with me carrying and an anonymous donor, least chance of magic that way.'

'Wow, she really wants to separate herself,' murmured Hermione.

'Can you blame her? I've told her that I don't mind, but she's adamant.'

The two women were in the kitchen and Laura started to bustle around making tea for the two of them. Hermione sat down on one of the breakfast stools and slowly took in the site around her; the kitchen was modern and clean with a large range cooker and all the appliances that you would expect. Everything was in its place and easily accessible, there was something missing though, the clutter of toys that you would imagine an active four year old would have. She took another look at Laura; she had only seen the woman a few times after the battle and most of them were when she was either at her wedding or just after giving birth. The other woman was stunning, she had deep brown eyes, shoulder length black hair and was athletic in build, if you looked closely you could also see the odd scar from a curse of hex, one of the ones that Ginny couldn't protect her from. Hermione stopped taking in her surroundings when a mug of tea was placed in front of her and slowly took a sip.

'No,' she said finally. 'I can't blame her for leaving, not after everything she went through during the war.'

'And the rest,' came a huff from the other woman.

'What?'

'The rest, you know everything she had to go through the other year.'

Now Hermione was truly confused. 'Laura, what are you talking about, what did she have to go through?'

'You mean you don't know? I did wonder why you didn't visit, I just thought you were just too busy or something. Oh, when I get my hands on her, she won't know what hit her.' Laura took a breath and sighed. 'The other year we were attacked, she doesn't know who they were but somehow they found us. We had just finished putting Luke down when all Hell broke loose. She was magnificent, you have to believe me, she stood in front of me and Luke and took everything that they threw at her and fought back. There were colours shooting all over the place, she might not have used it in years, but she always has had her wand on her. Anyway, she was battling them and they must have realised that they weren't getting past her, so they started to disappear into thin air. Just before the last two left they seemed to combine spells and threw a potion, everything went bright. You have to understand, I wasn't hiding I was just shielding Luke and that's why I had my back turned.' The young mother was getting worked up a bit as she was reliving the event; Hermione quickly took the woman into her arms and started to soothe her back.

'Shh, it's alright, I'm so sorry that had to happen to you. You did everything you could and of course you were protecting Luke. It was lucky that Ginny always keeps her wand on her. I'm glad you're all alright, I would have come straight away if I had known.'

'That's the thing Hermione, we weren't all alright.'

Gasping Hermione gripped the other woman tighter to her. 'Luke wasn't hurt was he?'

'No, I think Ginny would have ripped your world apart if he had been. No, whatever they threw at her, well it injured her quite badly.'

'Okay,' Hermione said slowly. 'How badly injured was she?'

Laura looked at her with tears in her eyes. 'She's blind Hermione, completely blind.'


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione felt as if the air had been taken from the room at that point. Blind? How could Ginny be blind? Well, she knew how but that wasn't the point. There was no reason to go after Ginny, she was living peacefully in the muggle world, raising a family and keeping as far away from magic as possible. The fact that this attack had only happened the other year angered her for many reasons. One being, why hadn't Ginny told her? She would have been by the redhead's side the second she knew, being whatever Ginny wanted and helping in any way she could. It hurt her to think that Ginny hadn't told her about the injury; just thinking of the young woman in any pain was enough to make Hermione cry.

'I'm so sorry Laura, I had no idea. How are you coping?'

'We're fine, she really is amazing, nothing gets her down. She learnt brail really quick and we just adjusted to it. I wish she was never hurt, but she got the injury protecting me and Luke, I'm never going to complain about that, you know?'

Hermione nodded at this. It was something that she could understand, the pride in Laura's voice tinged with sadness at the thought of her wife being hurt.

'Do you know if the blindness is magical? If it is, then I could be of some help. I know that she wants to be as far away from magic as she can, but maybe this could be an exception to the rule?' Hermione gave Laura a slight smile and moved back to her seat. The tidiness of the house made sudden sense; it was all to help Ginny manoeuvre around her home.

'You can ask her when she gets here. You will stay won't you?' Hermione nodded at the other woman, bringing a smile to her face. 'Good, I know that she misses you. You needn't be a stranger you know, she just insists that there is no magic around Luke, but you're muggle born so you'd be fine with that.'

Smiling, Hermione nodded. 'I would have done anything to be part of your lives before and now, well; you just try and keep me away. I promise, no magic around your home or Luke, if she wants me to try and heal her, I'll take her to my place or somewhere else, whatever makes her comfortable.'

Laura had a big grin on her face; she opened her mouth to say something when they heard the front door open. She places a finger to her lips, to shush Hermione. 'Don't say anything, you need to see this, you'll see just how amazing she is.'

Hermione remained silent and waited for the redhead who she hadn't seen for such a long time walk into the kitchen. The brunette had to hold her breath when the young woman entered the room; she was still as magnificent as before, her build was still strong and athletic with creamy pale skin and fiery red hair which had been cut into a shoulder length, shaggy style. In her arms was little Luke, fast asleep and snuggled into his mum's shoulder, his black hair mirroring his other mother. Hermione's eyes traced their way from Ginny's toned body, to stunning hair, to her face. That was when she saw that the redhead was wearing a pair of black sunglasses and just peaking from around the frames were the telltale signs of pale scarring. Ginny stopped suddenly and tilted her head slightly.

'Laura?' she called.

'Yeah baby?' Laura moved to Ginny to take their sleeping son out of her arms, she kissed her on the cheek and nuzzled her, nudging the glasses slightly.

'Who's here?' Ginny asked.

'Take a guess.' She whispered, still leaning into her wife.

Ginny gently sniffed the air, turning her head to where Hermione was sitting she started to grin. 'Hermione, it's you isn't it?'

The brunette gulped a little. 'Yeah Gin, it's me.'

Ginny stepped around Laura and made her way over to her old friend, with her hands out slightly she gestured slightly with her head, 'do you mind?'

Hermione was slightly shocked at this but after a few breaths she calmed down. 'Do what you need Gin,' she whispered.

The redhead gently brought her hands to Hermione's face and with the tips of her fingers, delicately traced the soft features of the brunette. 'Hey you,' she murmured softly, gently catching the tear that had fallen off Hermione's lashes. 'No crying now. This is the price for the safety of my family and I wouldn't change it for the world.' Leaning forward and placing a kiss on the end of the brunette's nose she grinned, 'I missed you.'

'You didn't have to Gin,' Hermione stuttered, 'I've always been here.'

'I know, I'm sorry, I've sort of just realised that, which is really stupid when I think about it.'

Laura had been watching the old friends together, with a smile she started to take the still sleeping Luke upstairs. Ginny noticed straight away that her wife was leaving the room and started to move towards her. 'You stay there and chat, my love. I'll be upstairs if you need me, just relax for a bit.'

'Let's go sit in the living room.' Without waiting for an answer Ginny made her way to the room in question, there was no way that you could tell that the young woman was blind from the smooth way that she moved through her home. Hermione followed, once in the room she was a bit unsure of herself, she hadn't seen the young woman in years, had just found out that she had been blinded in a vicious attack and here was Ginny acting like they hadn't had that amount of separation. 'Sit down Hermione, I can feel you hovering.' The brunette quickly took a seat at the other end of the sofa that Ginny was on, she just wanted to feel close to the redhead without being to clingy. 'I'm not what you were expecting, am I?'

'Not really.'

'Do you mind if I take off my glasses? I don't want to upset you, but I don't like wearing them inside.'

'Of course not, don't worry about me, just do what you normally do.'

Reaching to take her glasses off Ginny was stopped by Hermione's hand on her arm. 'Do you mind if I do it? I'm sorry, it might sound weird and I don't really know what I'm saying and I'm just...'

'You're rambling.'

'Sorry.'

'Don't be, it's fine though, I get it. It's more of a shock to you than me, whatever it takes to make you comfortable. Just to let you know, nothing hurts anymore, regardless of how it looks, so you can touch if you want.'

With a smile Ginny leant back so she was comfy against the sofa and waited for Hermione to gather her courage. Slowly and with shaky hands she brought them up to take of the dark sunglasses that hid Ginny's eyes. Gasping quietly she was faced with white, clouded over eyes where they had once been a gorgeous chocolate brown that anybody would drown in. All around her eyes were raised pink scars criss-crossing and marring the silky, soft skin. Without thinking Hermione straddled the other woman's lap to get closer and gently traced the scars with the tips of her fingers. The skin was so smooth; she was fascinated by the patterns that had been caused by the injury. 'Why didn't you call me?' She asked gently, still running her fingers over Ginny's face. 'I know that you know it's not just physical, it's magical as well. In fact, I can see the spell and potion still swirling in your eyes.'

'I know it's magic, Laura took me to the hospital when it happened. We said I'd been in an accident; they couldn't do anything for it, only help me with the burns. My whole body was humming with the spells that they used, it was awful.' At the mention of Laura, Hermione realised that she was straddling the redhead in a very inappropriate way. As she started to move off the woman's lap she felt her hips being gripped, keeping her in the position. 'Don't go, I like you being this close, it's not like I can see you and this way I can feel your reactions.'

'I don't want to make you uncomfortable.'

'You aren't and Laura won't mind either so you just make yourself comfy and keep yourself there.' She took Hermione's hands and placed them back on her scars. 'I don't mind the contact; I've found that I have to rely on other forms of observation as time went on. I know it's magic; I can feel it still in me. You'll think I'm a hypocrite, but I went to a healer to see if they could lift it. Turns out I'm cursed. The only way I'll get my sight back is if whoever did this to me in the first place lifts the spell and I don't know about you, but I can't see that happening soon.'

'You're not a hypocrite Gin; anyone would have done the same.'

'I feel them every now and again you know, behind my eyes. It's as if they're watching me from the inside. They targeted me for some reason and wanted to take me out, not that I was still in. I'd left that world years before and wasn't going back.'

'You must be important to them. You're powerful Gin, you were able to fight them off after not picking up a wand in years! You always have been and always will be an incredible witch Ginny.'

'Now you're just trying to make me blush.' They sat in silence for a few moments, Hermione still straddling Ginny's lap with her fingers gently stroking her scars. 'As much as I'm enjoying this, you didn't come here to stroke my face; you didn't even know that I'm blind.'

'No, I came here for other reasons.'

'Well, come on then. I think it's safe to assume I'm not going to throw you out and that I'm happy you're here. What's up?'

Hermione shifted slightly and looked at the ridiculousness of her situation. It was nice being able to slip straight back into a comfortable friendship with Ginny, it wasn't like they didn't used to flirt with each other before, but she had never believed that she would be in this position with the woman. Ginny never knew, but Hermione had always been in love with her and being so close to the redhead was a sweet sort of torture.

'I'm in trouble Gin and I need your help.'


End file.

Harry Potter, Angst, Romance