Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I'm just playing with them, they don't belong to me. Much thanks to Inna_chy, who requested this sequel. This may be the last chapter, let me know what you think!

CHAPTER 8: Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

He was nervous, she could sense it the second he walked into the sitting room. She was reclining on the sofa, just having woken up from a light nap. Even though Severus had made a gallant attempt to spend more time with her as their days wore on in the country, Hermione spent most of her time feeling desperately bored. The spell Severus used to transform her books at home into Braille had been a complicated one that took up quite a bit of time and energy. And, of course, it called for a large amount of confidence and prowess with a wand, the likes of which Hermione had not yet regained. Having been more than sufficiently occupied in his makeshift lab, Severus had been unable to transform any books for her to read here. She had already finished the ones they had brought from London.

Her senses turned back to him. He was standing at the door, and she could hear the scuffing of his boots against the floor as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He cleared his throat and drew deep, painful breaths several times before he tread nervously over to the sofa where she lay. Hermione sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She rested her chin on her knee, her persistently longer curls spilling over her face. She smiled at him, hoping it was reassuring.

“Love, I think I may have found something,” he whispered, his voice shaking almost imperceptibly as he sank onto the sofa at her feet. “I wish to try the serum I have brewed, but I want to make sure that you do not have your hopes up too high. This might not work, Hermione. Perhaps nothing I brew will work at all. I do not want to hurt you in any way, and so I thought it my duty to tell you this. The choice is yours. We could try the serum and hope it works. If it does not, I could try to brew something in the hopes I may discover something else. Or, we could simply let the situation be. I will do nothing you do not want to do.”

Hermione drew a ragged breath, feeling the tears stinging her eyes. She reached out to him, sighing when his hand closed over hers and drew it to his lips. His warm breath against her fingertips was reassuring. He seemed so desperate to help her see again that he was willing to sacrifice himself in the process. Her mind raced as she tried to decide what to do, all the while his fingers where stroking her hand and his lips murmuring soft nothings into her palm.

Smiling, she took her hand from his grasp and lay back against the sofa, piling her hair atop her head as she went. “Let’s try this one, Severus. I trust you. Just tell me what to do.”

He sighed as the weight on his chest lifted. She trusted him with this most important project. The thought of it meant more to him than anything ever before. He leaned over her and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Drawing his wand, Severus conjured a warm cloth to put over her eyes once the serum had been applied. “Lay flat on your back, Hermione, and open your eyes as wide as you can. I am going to put the serum in with a dropper and cover your eyes with a warm towel. You must hold your eyes open as long as you can, it may take several minutes for the serum to work.”

Nodding at him slightly, Hermione slid onto the sofa until she was on her back, her curls splaying out behind her. She opened her eyes and struggled to draw even, calming breaths as she sensed his movements. She flinched slightly as she felt his fingertips holding her eyes wide. It seemed as if it took forever for the first drop to hit her eye, and, when it did, the droplet was as cold as ice. Four more drops followed before Severus moved to the other eye.

As he covered her eyes with the warm cloth and took her hand in his own to wait, Hermione felt the drops growing warm in her eyes. For a moment, they felt numb and then, suddenly, sparked to life with feeling. It felt as if someone were pricking her eyes with needles and running water over them at the same time. She cried out and clutched at Severus’ hands as the feeling grew stronger. Tears trickled down her cheeks and into her hair as minutes dragged on, the feeling in her eyes dulling to a painful throb.

Severus felt terrible as he saw the pain wash over her face. He felt every stab of discomfort as she felt them, his heart breaking as she clutched his hands with all her might. “Hermione, love, I’m so terribly sorry. Please forgive me for causing you this pain.” He pushed her hair back from her brow and kissed her softly. “Please forgive me, love. Please…”

Hermione’s breath came in ragged gasps as she focused all her might on fighting the pain that still throbbed in her eyes. She latched on to his words, letting Severus’ voice wash over her and take over every synapse of her brain. “There’s nothing to forgive, Severus,” she gasped through clenched teeth.

Gently, Severus pulled her into his lap, cradling her head in the crook of his arm. The soft thump of his heartbeat in her ear was soothing, comforting enough to lull her close to sleep. She closed her eyes and snuggled into his arms, the awareness of the pain in her eyes fading.

They sat that way for a long while until Hermione was breathing softly, dancing on the edges of sleep. Severus smiled sadly down at her, his heart torn at the pain he had caused her. He gently removed the cloth from over her eyes. He gasped at the blood red circles around her eyes and the thin layer of clear crystals coating her eyelashes.

“Stay still, love,” he whispered, taking the cloth and gently trying to remove the crystals as gently as possible. He cursed softly when Hermione winced. “Forgive me, Hermione, I am not trying to hurt you. I promise.”

Taking several, deep, shuddering breaths, Hermione tried hard to ignore the tenderness around her eyes as Severus wiped them clean. She stilled his ministrations as she took his hands in her own again. “I love you, Severus,” she whispered, kissing his hand gently.

For a moment, she lost all thought as cool tears slipped down her cheeks. Severus brushed them away with the tips of his fingers as Hermione opened her eyes slowly. Her heart pounded as she blinked rapidly, trying to clear the faint numbness left from the serum.

“Oh, shite,” she muttered, sitting straight up and turning toward him. Her hands reached out for him, stroking his hair, tracing the bridge of his nose. Tears streamed down her face. “Finally!”

Hermione lunged forward and wrapped her arms tight around him, pressing kisses along his jaw and across his cheeks. “You look the same as you did when I was in school!” she cried out, sobbing against his shoulder.

His voice caught in his throat as he tried to process what she was saying. Her hands seemed to be everywhere at once, tracing the contours of his face and testing the oily mess that was his hair. She continued to cry with joy as her words began to penetrate his brain. Coherent thoughts chased after one another as memories of her screams of pain resurfaced.

Severus held her close as he finally realized what he had wanted for nearly a year. Hermione was looking directly at him, and she was smiling. After almost eight years of living in the dark, she could finally see. And all she could see was him.

Notes from The Mistress: I'm terribly sorry for the long delay. I have been having health problems for the past month or so, and haven't had the energy to do much else besides sleep and eat. I have also taken on a heavy load at University, as well as a new job, and other responsibilites with my church. Not to mention the wedding plans, well, life just hasn't given me time to do what I love best. Let me know what you think because I'm toying with the idea of ending the story here. It's up to you!