Tell Us Again, Please!

Though Hermione wanted to see her parents and reassure them that she was alive and well, she also wasn't anxious to leave the magical world yet and seclude herself among Muggles. Thus, she found herself being escorted home to the Burrow as she still waited for word on Harry and Ron. She hated leaving St. Mungo's and furthering the distance between herself and them, but she was glad to be rid of everything else, to finally be at home, and to finally try to return to living. Yet she wondered how she could even try to go back to living her life, without Ron and Harry; the idea plagued her. And so it was a vicious cycle.

"Come on, Hermione, this isn't a hotel!" Fred joked, as he and his other family members were officially checking Hermione out of St. Mungo's and leading her to the exit. Hermione continued to protest, not wanting to be so far away from Ron and Harry. If only she could go up and see them...

"You could try some Skiving Snack Boxes and see if they'll let you stay," George continued from Fred's thought. His tone was light and teasing, as though they were all attempting to keep Hermione positive. But even Fred and George's teasing didn't completely mask the family's concern for their brother.

"I just want to see Ron and Harry." Hermione spoke quietly, but firmly.

"They'll be all right, Hermione," George insisted. He was always trying to reassure her.

"How do you know? Have you seen them? Why won't they let me go visit them?" she asked painfully. She tried to direct her words toward them, but was having difficulty as they were on either side of her. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were walking a few steps ahead.

"Well, actually only Mum and Dad have been allowed to visit them," Fred confessed thoughtfully.

"What?" Hermioned asked, surprised. She had been under the presumption that every one of the Weasley family members had been allowed to see Ron. She thought they had all been visiting, seeing him, holding his hand... She thought they had all been to sit in Harry's room, and they had all had nice long chats with him. Those were the pictures that had played in her mind, anyway.

"They're in quarantine, actually," Fred continued on from his previous thought.

"Why? You mean you haven't been see to Ron?" Hermione's world was becoming shaky underneath her. Perhaps no one ever had any news because none of them had been able to see their brother and Harry.

"They won't let us in," Fred shrugged.

"They say it's too much of a risk, since they don't know exactly what the spells did to them, they're quarantined off, but Dad managed to get he and Mum in there. Being from the Ministry, he was pretty persuasive." Hermione didn't miss the shift Fred and George's teasing voices had made into more serious and thoughtful tones.

"So, they decided it was parents only. They have to go through this whole protective-what-not to get into the rooms, and then to get out again..."

"But Harry's come to-" Hermione was about to ask, but was interrupted by a delighted Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, come dear, it's time to go to the Burrow, a comfy bed of your own at last," she was grinning happily. Naturally Hermione didn't see the grin, but she knew it was there. Hermione could tell that Mrs. Weasley was trying her very best to make Hermione's going home a positive event. While her son's fate was hanging in the air, Mrs. Weasley was still putting forth intense effort to welcome Hermione home. Perhaps it was something that could take her mind off Ron's state. Or, perhaps, Ron and Harry weren't so bad off after all.

Upon arriving at the Burrow, Herimone promptly stubbed her toe, bruised her shins, and fell over an armchair, lost her balance and landed sprawled out on her face, arms and legs splayed in different directions. Perhaps she was taking things too quickly. Ginny ran to help, and Mr. Weasley was quick behind her, easily taking hold of Hermione by the arms and righting her again.

Fred and George volunteered to lead Hermione around the Burrow to help familiarize her while Mrs. Weasley and Ginny started preparing dinner. Half an hour later, and four stubbed toes and two bruises from Fred and George's grips catching her under the arms before she fell again, they finally relinquished the task to Ginny. But she didn't fair much better. Twenty minutes, three run-ins with the walls, and one near trip up the stairs later, and Ginny was sacked.

Mr. Weasley finally came to Hermione's rescue.

"All right, Hermione, let's do this properly. Take hold of my elbow, then follow and mimic me. But, let's start at the front door." Mr. Weasley positioned Hermione just in front of the Burrow's front door, and proceeded to walk around the bottom floor, Hermione in tow, counting her steps and struggling to accurately picture the Burrow's bottom floor. After five rounds around the entire ground floor, Hermione finally had memorized sixteen steps through the kitchen, twelve steps across the sitting room, plus two side steps, and finally twenty three steps to circle around the extra rooms where the family rarely gathered, before she made it to the stairs, back near the kitchen. She could usually successfully guess which furniture pieces were where, her hands finding them as she walked and grazed their surfaces.

"Mr. Weasley, how do you know how to do this? Lead a blind person?" Hermione asked thoughtfully on their last trip around the bottom floor.

"I read about," he answered easily.

"You read about blindness and blind people?" Hermione questioned in disbelief.

"I did," he responded lightly.

"But, why?" Hermione was greatly confused. She knew Mr. Weasley had some quirky interests, but he had never spoken about blindness. She learned as he cleared his throat, sounding a bit off guard.

"Well, for you, dear," Mr. Weasley answered warmly. Hermione was shocked and didn't know what to say. He had read about blindness just to be able to help her.

Before Hermione could express proper gratitude, Mr. Weasley told Hermione it was time to progress upstairs. She counted the stairs and the landings, even working to memorize the squeaky steps. Maybe she could do this after all.

Of course she could! Hailed the brightest witch of her age, she wasn't going to let this get her down!

..:..

A few days later Mr. Weasley had come off his shift at St. Mungo's with Ron and Harry, and had achieved a few hours of sleep before he was off to the Ministry. By the time Herimone had woken up, the Burrow was silent. She got dressed in her world of darkness, not quite certain what to wear because she didn't know the colors. Finally she decided that she couldn't go wrong with robes. At last she counted her steps coming downstairs and was met with an unexpected voice.

"Hermione!" Hermione willed herself at the bottom of the stairs not to get disoriented as she worked to put a face with the voice. She knew the voice, but it wasn't a Weasley. It was a soft and dreamy kind of voice.

"Luna? What're you doing here?" Hermione asked kindly, though confused.

"I came to take you out," her dreamy voice stated matter-of-factly.

"What? Where? And where are the Weasleys?"

"They left a note for you."

"Where?"

"In the kitchen." Hermione made her way there and her fingers found the parchment. She was crestfallen. She couldn't read it! Why had they bothered to write her a note? Didn't they remember she couldn't see?!

"Can you read it to me?" Hermione grumbled, carefully making her way over to the sofa where she thought Luna was sitting. Hermione unhappily plopped herself down, suddenly in a very unpleasant mood, and held the parchment out towards Luna's voice. She felt Luna's fingers brush hers as she took the note.

"Hermione," Luna began reading, "Mr. Weasley's gone into the office today, and I've taken the twins and Ginny to visit Ron. Ginny and I'll be home for dinner, but then I'll be staying the night with Ron. Sorry we didn't wake you up to come with us. I thought you could use the rest. Luna Lovegood owled to say she wanted to take you out today. We'll bring home any news at dinner. Love, Mrs. Weasley."

Hermione sat silently grumpy, stewing in her frustration. Luna kindly allowed her a few minutes before she spoke.

"So, I've got a wonderful place to take you today!" She spoke dreamily, quite as though it was a dream come true, whatever she had planned.

"Luna, I don't really want to see any of your odd, afarce creatures that you father's always printing articles about," Hermione implored miserably, still upset over the note she couldn't read, and about being left behind.

"Of course not," Luna replied, ignoring what easily could have been taken as an insult. "I've got something better. I think you'll really like it."

"What is it?"

"A surprise."

Hermione had nothing else to do, and facing the alternative of a long and lonely day in the Burrow by herself, Hermione finally agreed to go with Luna.

"But first, you can't wear witch's robes where we're going. You'll need Muggle clothing," Luna informed her. Hermione sat thinking for a moment. She envisioned herself coming down the stairs in the most hideously mismatch clothes she owned. This could be a disaster.

"Luna?" Hermione asked timidly, slightly disbelieving she was going to ask her for help.

"Yes?" Luna replied in her usual whimsical voice.

"Uh, can you help me pick out some Muggle clothes? I can't see them..." Hermione trailed off.

"Of course you can't see them. Come on, take me to your room, and I'll help you," Luna answered. Sometimes it surprised Hermione how nothing seemed odd or awkward to Luna. They weren't the best of friends, and perhaps Hermione should be asking Ginny for help instead, but Luna was there and willing to help. The girls stood and Hermione began making her way back to the stairs and up to hers and Ginny's room as Luna followed.

"Okay, Hermione," Luna began, scanning over the clothes in the wardrobe, "How about jeans and a sweater?" Hermione heard the jeans and the sweater on its hanger being tossed onto her bed.

"Sure... Erm, do I need matching socks or anything?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Here, these match," Luna answered, tossing those on the bed as well.

"But, you really need to code your clothes, Hermione." Luna spoke in a thoughtful tone.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, turning her back to Luna's voice and starting to change into the sweater. She had to find the tag to make sure she put it on correctly.

"I mean, you need to label the colors in a way that will help you dress yourself. I can't come over every day and help you," Luna stated, as though it would be the most normal thing for Hermione to do, to call Luna over every day to help her dress.

"How can I code them? I can't see them." Hermione mumbled.

"You need something you can feel. Say, a circle tag for something that's blue, a triangle for something green. Maybe some wavy shape for something with stripes. You can code all the colors, and since you used to be able to see, you'll probably remember what they looked like in your mind. And then, that way, you can pick out your own clothes." Hermione stood, now facing Luna and tilting her head in consideration. The idea actually seemed like a good one. How did Luna know these kinds of things? If Hermione could label her clothes in some tags she could feel, then she could definitely remember what clothes she owned and how they looked. Maybe later she could find some spell to put magical labels or speaking labels onto the clothes. Hermione smiled. Luna had such a great idea.

"Will you help me?" Hermione asked. "I mean, if we did it now. Would it make us late for the surprise?"

"We can label your clothes. We won't be late," Luna replied, and Hermione thought she heard a vague smile in Luna's voice.

It occurred to Hermione that Luna might not often feel needed.

An hour later, Luna was replacing labeled clothes back into the wardrobe while Hermione was still labeling the last few. They had sat together working, labeling, and talking. It had been difficult to label some colors that were so close in hue, but would be ghastly if mismatched. Finally, everything had been labeled and Hermione had a wonderful sense of achievement. Luna even tested her a few times, making Hermione pick out clothes for the next day, and the next week, and what she would wear out to a nice dinner with the Weasleys, or what she would wear if she went to Diagon Alley. When Hermione had passed all of Luna's tests, they finally tramped back down the stairs and prepared themselves to leave for Luna's surprise.

"So how are we getting there?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I thought we'd Apparate," Luna answered.

"But it's a surprise, how can I? I don't know where we're going," Hermione questioned back.

"You can side-Apparate with me. I'll take us there," Luna answered as though it were quite natural.

"Can you... Can you do that?" Hermione asked doubtfully. She wasn't sure she trusted Luna to get them both there. Had Luna even taken the Apparation test yet?

"Of course I can do that. I learned how to Apparate last year, and I have my license. I've taken someone on side-Apparation before. It's a bit difficult, actually. But I think you'd rather do that, than ride a broom," Luna said. Hermione thought hard for a moment. What would be worse, riding a broom, or side-Apparating with someone she wasn't even completely sure could Apparate properly? She sighed. What a choice.

"All right, let's just go." Hermione nodded, willing to place her life into Luna's hands. She could only hope that any serious splinching could easily be cleared up by the Ministry, and, after all, she consoled herself, she wouldn't be able to see it, anyway.

"Well, are you ready?" Luna asked. Hermione gulped.

"Sure." Hermione felt Luna at her side and grabbed onto Luna's arm rather tightly.

"Just concentrate on staying with me. I'll get us there, okay?" Luna said happily. Hermione nodded nervously.

The familiar feeling of Apparation squeezed against Hermione's body. It felt so odd to be Apparating without her sight. She focused on keeping ahold of Luna, suddenly envisioning herself splinched in the middle of nowhere. At last her feet fell to the hard ground. She was still with Luna. They had made it safely, at least, she thought they had.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked, letting go of Luna and turning her head about as though something might magically appear in her sight. It never did.

"I told you, it's a surprise!" Luna said in a happy and dreamy voice. Hermione rolled her useless eyes. Everything was a surprise when you were blind.