*clears throat*
Before you start reading this I just want to say that, however this chapter is pretty nice and friendly -except for that one last word-, the next chapters might not be like this. Also I might not stick to the kind of relationship you don't have to apologise for when writing about it...
*stares blankly at some of the wondering looks from the other side of the screen, then, as realisation sinks in coughs nervously*
For the ones who have no idea what I am talking about, some people think they have to apologise to their readers for writing slash. *holds up large piece of parchment, the words 'same sex relationships' hastily scribbled across it*
I don't agree with these people *tugs at her 'oranje, blanje, bleu'-striped T-shirt*(1), so don't expect me to apologize for it, you now know you might find it in here.
I will however rate the chapters at least PG because I do think that young children shouldn't read everything I write *voice becomes more of a whisper* trust me, I have two younger brothers, I should know.
I'll stop my little sermon now. *grins*
Enjoy the reading.

~Love, Mistaria~

(1)'oranje, blanje, bleu' = the colours of the flag of the Netherlands (lit: orange, white, blue, but is now red, white and blue) -I consider the Netherlands to be wonderfully open-minded, and myself too- *evil glance at someone who is rolling over the floor laughing just a bit too loud* Never mind...

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~When darkness envelops you...~

***

An ordinary day and an ordinary class. That was what it should have been. And then things got out of control, very rapidly.

It all started in a class in duelling. Those had been reinstalled in the beginning of the fifth year and, contrary to the second year, instead of an non-obliged evening class, it was now a course every student had to take. A new teacher had been appointed and, once again, the students from different houses had been put together. And, of course, Gryffindor had to go with Slythering...

So the first class had started. Draco was sitting behind his desk, staring at a spot on the wall behind the two duelling students in front of him. Seamus Finnigan had just put the furnunculus course on Pansy Parkinson who was covering her face in her hands and whining. The new teacher, a young man, around thirty and patient as a rock, tried to calm her down. Draco smiled as he obviously didn't seem to manage.
And then it happened. Pansy, furious as she was, had grabbed her wand from the ground and pointed it at Seamus. She muttered one single short syllable and something streamed from the tip of her wand. The dark-grey substance shot through the air in the direction of Seamus's face, he ducked and pointed his wand at the substance, shouting, "Expelliarmus!"
He wasn't fast enough. Although the spell didn't hit him, and Pansy was thrown against the wall, her wand flying through the air, the spell wasn't stopped. It merely changed direction, went past Crabbe and Goyle, who were sitting in front of him, and, despite his attempt to duck or avoid the spell, hit him full in the face. The whole world went black.

For a second or two he was highly disorientated. Then the sound of the class broke through, the sounds still strangly muffled, people were sounding concerned.
He tried to open his eyes but found he couldn't. Instead of trying again he let his hands wander around him.
He was lying on his back on the ground, someone was hovering over him. Then that someone said, "Fine Incantatum."
Nothing seemed to happen. Then, slowly, the substance that was covering his face started to dissolve.
"You can open your eyes now mister Malfoy."
He did so.
The world remained black.

This wasn't really what he had expected. He'd expected blurry images slowly fading into sight again, but not this utter, disconcerning, blackness. Slowly the boy sat up and brushed some locks of silvery-white hair from his face. Then he reached beside him, as his hand gripped the back of a chair he pulled himself upright, swayed for a second and then found his balance again. Calmly he reached out in front of him and found the robes of someone standing in front of him. He pulled the person closer.
"What are you doing mister Malfoy?"
As his teacher's head was level with his he softly whispered, "I can't see a bloody thing." The man in front of him straightened immediately and a hand was put upon his shoulder.
"Miss Granger, since you are a little ahead of the material already, would you be so kind to escort mister Malfoy down to the hospital wing?"
There was some grunting and muttering from the Gryffindor half of the class, then a scraping sound, probably the mudblood's chair being pushed back, he refused to think different of her, even after the Yule Ball last year, he still refused the fact that her appearance had him dumbstruck. Then he was carefully ushered out of the room. As they stood outside he heard the mudblood come out after them.
"Please close the door for a moment miss Granger."
The creaking sound indicated that she did.
"Now I would like to ask you to take mister Malfoy's arm and guide him towards the hospital wing. I am afraid something made the spell go bad and that resulted in mister Malfoy temporarily loosing his eyesight. I'm sure the matron can mend this."
The hand was lifted of his shoulder and another, smaller, hand closed around his upper arm, an arm awkwardly around his waist. Then a voice near his ear.
"Come on Draco." Immediately he was pulled forward and nearly lost his footing.
"Watch it Granger!"
Her grip became firmer and she tugged him forward, her voice angry, "Shut up Malfoy."
He shut up, making a snappy comment might result in him standing in the middle of Hogwarts without anyone to guide him. He didn't want that while he was obviously blind.

***

Fortunately the trip to the hospital wing turned out to be very short. When he was 'handed over' to madam Pomfrey and she'd put him down on one of the beds she told the mudblood she could go back to her class. A door closed and hasty footsteps came his way.
"So, mister Malfoy, what happened exactly?"
He explained about the curse and told her that he couldn't see a thing. She started examening his eyes, pulled his eyelids up and seemed to be peering into them. Finally she let go of his head and stepped back. Her voice sounded slightly worried as she pushed him down onto the bed.
"I... I'm sorry mister Malfoy, I'm afraid I will have to get the headmaster for this. It's quite... unusual."
Her footsteps sped away from him, a door opened and closed.
And then there was silence.
Draco sat up again and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He carefully lowered himself to the ground and straightened one arm in front of him, the other one held up to protect his face. Slowly he tried to find his way to one of the windows. Carefully placing his feet in front of each other he tried not to crash into anything, he shoved the curtains aside and walked towards where the windows were supposed to be.
Then, all of a sudden, his legs hit a chair. He fell down and yelped, around him something clattered to the ground. Someone came running towards him.
"Gods Draco, are you alright?"
He didn't recognise the voice, it was distinctly female, but he didn't recognise it. He wondered for a moment who was in here with him, but soon realised that he was still sprawling on the ground and tried to scramble to his feet again. A hand against his shoulder stopped him.
"Wait."
He heard the sound of a chair being put against a wall and someone picking up several items from the ground and placing them on the chair, or table, maybe. Then the person came over to him and took his hands, he was still sitting on his knees on the ground and hoped no-one would enter the hospital wing right now. It had to be an odd situation, besides, madam Pomfrey would be very 'upset' to see him out of bed. Even though he wasn't really sick. After all, he was only temporarily blind, wasn't he? The hands that were now in his tried to pull him up. He pushed himself of the ground, staggered and almost fell into the person in front of him.
He knew for sure he wasn't going to like this, the falling and staggering, the blindness, the, he swallowed hard, helplessness.
The hands were now around his upperarms and holding him steady. The one who was holding him was also leaning very close to him, he could feel curly hair tickling against his forehead. The woman who was holding him was probably trying to examine his eyes or something. Strange, he couldn't remember another nurse attending to Hogwarts. Nervously he tried to step away from the person in front of him but this only resulted in a hand that cupped his head and forced his eyes down. Now that he couldn't see it was quite uncomfertable.
The voice spoke again, this time concern was written in huge illuminated letters across it. "Draco, what happened to your eyes?"
He flinced from the hands that were steadying him. What had changed in the appearance of his eyes? What had happened to him?
He tried keep his voice calm as he asked the question.
"What has happened to my eyes," then, without awaiting the answer he continued, "and who are you anyway?" Feeling a little annoyed by now he added a drawling, "my father will hear from this you know."

The reply was an unexpected push and a wonderful laughter.
"You really don't know do you Draco. You really can't see me. Pity you haven't paid more attention to my voice then when you and you silly friends pushed me into the lake yesterday and made sure I got in here with a serious cold."
This time he did, even though he would be denying it for the rest of his life, flinch.
Ginny. Ginny Weasley. Who had been pulled into the lake yesterday by, gulp, him.
And now she was standing in front of him with the great advantage that she could actually see.
And he couldn't.
"Oh fuck."

That's all for now (it's late, I want to start dreaming about the guy instead of writing about him... *mischievous grin*).
Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas for a romance. Could be anything from Ginny-Draco to Harry-Draco to Hermoine-Ginny. I'll see which one gets voted for the most. Please leave a review (I won't continue this if I don't get at least ten reviews).
Oh yeah, if there was some bad grammar or anything in here, that's because I don't have a beta for my HP stories yet *holds up a list*. Any volunteers, please mail me at

Thankies to: um, Joanne K Rowling, Draco, that's it for now I guess.

Disclaimer: I don't own this wonderful world, or it's inhabitants. If I would I wouldn't make little children take their fansites of the www. *glares evilly at Warner Bros.* I do thank JKR for creating them. *gives JKR a loud round of applause and throws flowers* Hope she doesn't agree with WB on the websites...