Owl Eyes

Chapter Two: The Castle in Darkness

Silence is golden

Like the dawn

Waiting for something else

To happen

And when it does

It has always come too soon

I woke up before my dorm mates. It wasn't so bad. It meant I got the showers to myself and a bit of silence. I have always marveled at the silence of dawn. It is both welcoming and unfriendly. It is welcoming because of the warmth it brings and the first sleepy songs of tiny birds. It seems unfriendly because it dares anyone to enter it, to disturb it, to rustle its peace no matter how gently.

I am seldom deterred from unfriendly places. The world is an unfriendly place when you are blind. At least it seems that way sometimes. It is made for the sighted and it bows to their wishes and their needs. My needs would be forgotten if I didn't get out of bed every day saying, "Here I come world! Make room for me. I dream of many things and I work here too along with my brothers and sisters." I reminded myself of this as I went about my morning ritual.

After a quick shower I slipped on my robes and went to sit beside the fire in the common room. The flames behind me crackled and roared. Somehow it was relaxing. It was the only noise I could hear this morning. I began to wonder exactly what time people woke up around here. No one had really informed me of the routine. My stomach began to growl and I couldn't help wondering when breakfast was served. At the same time I didn't want anyone to wake up. I like the quiet of the morning and I wasn't looking forward to the noisy chatter of last night's dinner. It had been welcoming but overwhelming at the same time.

People began waking, showers were turned on, and conversations began. I sat and listened to the goings on. After a while, Hermione approached me.

"I'm going down to breakfast," she said. "No reason to wait for Harry and Ron I suspect they'll be a while."

"Okay," I replied getting off the floor, "I'll come with you."

Once again we traveled through the twists and turns that are the maze of the castle corridors. This time I had my cane with me and I tried to gather more information about my surroundings. I decided it would take a while to find my way around. The stone floors echoed the noise from every tap of my cane. If I ran a hand along the walls they felt the same no matter where I was. Some areas were narrow and others wide and open but these were irregular and not an adequate method of finding my way. My breath, my words, and the air, which made my robes float, all disappeared into the surrounding darkness. I wished there was a spell I could use to find the great hall or a certain classroom. I knew the library wouldn't contain such a spell. My parents had spent months looking for ways to help me. When they had failed to dig up magical spells for everything I'd need to be able to do to get through life, they enrolled me in a Muggle school. I took subjects like Muggle history and math, but I also took courses on reading Braille, traveling with a cane, and learned to do things like cook and clean without being able to see. As I walked through the halls of Hogwarts I was glad I had studied those subjects and grateful for my parents' foresight.

Breakfast was quite an amazing thing. There was tons of good food. Hermione was already in the habit of telling me what kind of food there was on the table. About halfway through eating Ron and Harry arrived both only partially awake. Next came the owl post. Sapa didn't come to me but I wasn't surprised. Other people got packages from home, things they had forgotten or the wizarding newspaper. I knew my parents were waiting for me to write so I didn't feel sad or worried when I didn't receive any mail. The buzz of chattering voices in the great hall seemed to grow much louder with the arrival of the post though. As I speared my second sausage I was interrupted by one of the Prefects handing out time tables.

Before I even had a chance to look at my time table Ron said, "At least we don't start with double potions!"

I imagined there was something bad about potions but I wasn't sure what. I decided it was better to ask and be educated then to keep wondering until I actually did have that class. When I was in the Muggle school no one had liked the Braille class. It had been so much work. We had to increase our reading speed practically every week and would stay up late practicing. Some nights my fingers would almost begin to feel numb from the tireless scanning of the raised dots.

"What do we have first and what is wrong with potions?" I asked.

"Herbology this morning, then an elective it looks like," Hermione replied.

"Snape, is what's wrong with potions," Ron added.

"Yeah, he hates us," Harry put in.

"He seemed nice enough last night," I said.

"Really?" Hermione asked.

"Dumbledore probably threatened him," Ron suggested.

I laughed. "He can't be that bad."

"He is!" Ron and Harry screeched in unison.

"What classes did you pick to take?" Hermione asked changing the subject.

"Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures," I replied.

"We all have care of magical creatures, but none of us has Muggle Studies," Hermione said. "Too bad I'm not taking it anymore."

"That's okay, I can take care of myself," I replied. "Why did you drop it? Is it boring?"

"No," Hermione mumbled, "my schedule was a little too full."

"Or a lot too full," Harry said.

Our conversation was interrupted by Dumbledore making an announcement.

"As I mentioned last night a sign up sheet for the dueling club will be posted in the great hall. I encourage all fourth year students and above to participate." Murmuring could be heard throughout the hall. "I would also like to announce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Mrs. Ragina Wiggins. She and Professor Snape will be in charge of dueling. That is all, you may continue on to your classes."

"Do you want to sign up for dueling?" Hermione asked, getting up from the table.

"Is the sign up sheet posted already?" I asked.

"Yeah Dumbledore conjured it in midair, levitated it to the wall and stuck it there while he was talking."

"Really?!" I shrieked. "That's incredible! He didn't even take a breath or cast a spell. I'm not sure I'll be good at dueling though."

"You'll be fine," Harry said.

"Yeah come on, let us sign you up," Ron prodded.

"Alright," I finally agreed.

After we waited in line for a while to gain access to the sign up sheet we headed off to Herbology. The lesson was easy enough for me. I loved to garden at home so taking care of plants was really second nature for me. Professor Sprout seemed nice enough as well. I don't think she'll be one of my favorite professors but I didn't dislike her either.

Once back in the castle Hermione and I stopped off in the bathroom to get cleaned up. It is so easy to get dirt in the crevasses of one's hands while gardening. It sneaks in like the darkness through the windows at dusk, and it is not easily removed. I pulled my long, blonde hair back into a clip as Hermione stood by admiring the ease with which I could style it without a mirror.

Assured that we were clean, if not beautiful, we headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Clearly it didn't pay to be late for any of the classes here. On arriving I discovered that Professor Wiggins wasn't going to be the polite sort. She stood at the front of the room and seemed to spit out the names on the role. We took our seats quietly and were instantly reprimanded for arriving late. I noted that we weren't so late according to my Muggle Braille watch. As I am often nervous around professors I did not point out this small but important fact to her.

I pulled a quill and some parchment out of my book bag along with the appropriate book. I thanked myself for being smart enough to bring my Muggle Braille labeler to school with me. I had used it to label each of my books with the title for easy identification and I would be able to use it throughout the year.

Professor Wiggins finished calling the role and stood silent at the front of the room.

"How do you expect to keep up in this class?" she asked.

Nobody answered.

"Miss Lee, I am speaking to you," she shouted. "Have you no answer for me?"

"No ma'am," I replied. Then, fearing her wrath, added, "I'm not sure exactly what you mean by me not being able to keep up."

"How will you read, write, hex, block curses?" she yelled full of impatience. "It should be quite clear what I mean!"

I felt sorry I had even said anything in response at all. I shifted nervously in my chair wondering if this class was required.

"I have spells I use to help me read, write, and research," I told her. "I am quite good at hexes and blocking curses. I believe you will find my skills to be at the level of my classmates."

"I believe that I will have plenty of opportunity to test your skills," she said in as cold a voice as I had ever heard. "Now you will, all of you, take notes," she shouted. I could hear parchments shifting and my classmates murmur, probably about her unfairness.

""Assidue exarosensa," I whispered to my quill as she began to talk.

She droned on for the remainder of the class on the role dark magic had played throughout history. I was glad my quill was spelled to refill itself with ink independently and to write as quickly as I thought. I clearly had an advantage over the other students at that point. I was quite sure their hands were probably cramping while I sat with one resting at my side and the other supporting my chin.

"Well I see Miss Lee has managed to take quite a few notes," Professor Wiggins said evilly at the end of the lesson. "Of course, she has done it the lazy way and I'm sure she will have taught the rest of you her little spell before the year is out." She dropped a heavy volume onto what was probably her desk judging by the way it sounded. "Before you are all corrupted by one lazy individual amongst you, you will write three feet on what we have discussed today in class to be handed in at our next meeting."

The entire class had probably groaned inwardly, I know I had.

Later, at lunch, everyone complained outwardly about the new professor. They called her things like Reg on the rag, Wacky Wiggins, Reckless Regina, the Pissy Professor, and Wiggins the whooping wombat. They talked about how mean she had been to me but I tried not to get involved in the conversations because I didn't want to talk about my blindness, the spells I used, or how unfair things were.

Instead I had pulled out my time table to see what class I had after lunch. "Audiosolus recito," I muttered as I tapped my wand to the parchment containing the schedule. It was the reading spell and it caused the parchment to be read aloud to me, in my own voice, but only so that I could hear what was being read.

I determined that I had Muggle Studies, said my good-byes, and wandered off to find my way to the classroom. I quickly noticed that the castle wasn't the best place for someone who couldn't see to get around by herself. I turned corner after corner and ran into few students. When I did they would say unhelpful things like "the classroom is back the way you came." I felt most discouraged.

I began to realize that the air surrounding me had grown progressively colder. I moved onward more quickly hoping to find someone to ask for directions.

"Miss Lee, what brings you down here?" the silky voice of Professor Snape asked me.

I jumped in surprise. I hadn't known where I was and had not really been listening hard enough to detect the professor's quiet presence.

"I...I uh, I was just looking for the Muggle Studies classroom."

"A likely story," he said. "I find it quite interesting that you aren't anywhere near it. Explain yourself."

"I um, I don't know where it is exactly."

"Five points from Gryffindor for wandering about the castle alone and being too stubborn to ask for assistance!"

"But I did-"

"I would suggest that you not continue to argue with me or I shall have the pleasure of taking yet more points from your house."

I didn't say a word after that.

"Would you be clever enough to accept some assistance in finding your classroom now?" Snape asked.

I nodded.

He offered his arm and I was escorted to the classroom, which was in the complete opposite direction from where I had encountered Snape in the dungeons. I was late for class but the professor was kind enough not to take points, though she did assign homework.

Later that evening I explained to Hermione, Ron, and Harry how I had gotten lost and what Professor Snape had said. They spent about five minutes griping about him and then we set to work on our homework. I felt like the homework for defense against the dark arts was because of me, but my new friends assured me I wasn't the cause. They were convinced that Professor Wiggins was at least as mean as Professor Snape and suggested that she might turn out to be even worse. I had to agree with them. She was the cruelest professor I had ever encountered.

Writing the essay was slow going for me. I had to switch back and fourth between using the spell to read and the one to write. It was a long and tedious process that often made me wish that there were an easier way of doing things. If I kept at it for too long it would drain my magical ability. I hadn't done this often, just once, but had learned my lesson that night. It was a great excuse not to study for too long.

I had written two feet when I couldn't hold my head up anymore and I decided to go to bed and finish my essay on the next available evening. Tomorrow I would have to write to my parents as well. They would be worried. I had been so busy I had forgotten about home and how much my parents would want to know about what was going on. I was already beginning to wish they lived closer so I could visit them on holidays.

I quietly slipped into my pajamas, not wanting to wake my dorm mates, and slid into bed. I drifted off to sleep even before Hermione had gotten into bed and my dreams were filled with the unfair Professor Regina Wiggins. I woke several times during the night willing those dreams to leave me. I wanted them to disappear and never come back but sometimes we want and we do not receive. For if we got everything we wanted we would never appreciate the things we do have, those which we once wanted.