Thank you very much to CrimsonShocker for beta-reading this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own J.K. Rowling's works and forfeit any claim of profit from publishing on this site.

Sacred Fire

Chapter 10

Kingsley Shacklebolt's hand rose into the air to stop the other people in their tracks. His golden earrings glinted in the light as they swung, their stillness upset by the momentum of his turn to face the two Healers.

"Now, I need you to please keep what I am about to tell you quiet from Mr. Potter and Ms. Weasley."

The two Healers and the assistant nodded.

"As I spoke to them earlier, I watched them carefully, the way in which they talked and interacted with each other. It was as if they had telepathy. They acted as if they had known each other all their lives, and they seemed to know what the other was going to say even before it came from their mouth. It was unnerving to watch."

"Indeed? You also told us that Mr. Potter has sight problems in one eye," said the female Healer.

"And so I did, Healer Barker," said the Minister gravely. "Come, let us go in so that you can examine for yourselves."

The two people in question had begun to grow annoyed with each other while they had waited for Kingsley to return.

Why must girls think of so many things at once? Stop talking! Harry said irritably at Ginny, who glared back.

Oh yeah? How about you stop moaning and groaning about your eye and about what could have happened to us? Hypocrite!

And she smacked him on the shoulder besides her. It stung, but Harry wasn't going to tell her that.

Calling me a hypocrite, huh? You –

What he had been going to say to Ginny, she never knew, as the ward doors opened to reveal the Minister of Magic and, following behind, two Healers (one familiar and one not) and an assistant, distracting Harry completely.

"Harry, Ginny, the Healers are here: you must tell them every detail of your problem, okay?" said Kingsley seriously.

"I would stay, but time is pressing and the meeting I have to attend is of utmost urgency. Until then, adieu." The Minister smiled at them apologetically, waved a hand of farewell before sweeping from the ward.

Healer Barker blocked Harry's sight of Kingsley's retreating figure as she leant over him, peering into his eyes.

"What is the matter, dear?" she asked in a businesslike tone.

Harry gestured towards his problematic eye. "I ... I can't see out of this one," he said in a quiet voice.

"Let me see," said the Healer in a kinder tone. She tilted Harry's face back and firmly stretched his eyelids wide open with her fingers. Harry squirmed uncomfortably under her touch, struggling to control the impulse to jerk away. Ginny grimaced in empathy.

The first Healer called the other to examine Harry's eye as well. This Healer was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties with a pleasant face. "He's an eye specialist," Healer Barker explained to Harry and Ginny.

The second Healer moved in to look at Harry's eye. After a few moments, he muttered, "The iris's dilated … " He slowly raised his wand to Harry's face. Harry, seeing the Healer's action, jerked reactively.

"It's okay, Mr. Potter," the eye specialist whispered. "I'm not going to poke your eye with my wand."

Beside them Ginny giggled at the small joke. The Healer muttered a complex-sounding incantation and Harry felt the sensation of magic wash over him. Suddenly a hologram of a few runic marks appeared from thin air. The Healer read them intently, a furrowed eyebrow creased over his forehead. As he finished looking at the last rune, his eyebrows rose almost to the hairline. He turned to the first Healer, a look of consternation on his face. "This situation is serious. His eye cannot be healed, either by magical or Muggle methods. We -"

His next few words were drowned by Harry and Ginny's shouted "WHAT?"

"Are you absolutely certain? What if -" Healer Barker began, but the eye specialist harrumphed, interrupting her.

"I did not make a mistake! The runes do not lie!" he snapped. As he caught Harry's gaze, he seemed to slowly deflate.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter," he said gently. Awkwardly he patted Harry's slumped shoulder.

"We cannot heal your eye, but what we can do, to help restore your sight … is to give you an artificial eye."

"How would that help Harry?" Ginny spoke up for the first time.

The two Healers regarded her solemnly. The male Healer said, "We will give him an artefact which has a state-of-the-art range, complete with the most complex enchantments available. And we will give it to you for free, Mr. Potter."

"For free? Why?" Harry asked.

The Healer seemed somewhat surprised by the question.

"Why? For bringing peace to the wizarding world or once and for all, of course!"

Harry looked uncomfortable at that statement, but as he could not deny its truth, he remained silent.

"Yes, Mr. Potter," the eye specialist murmured. "We will give you the best eye model available, and I promise on my skill and reputation as one of the best eye specialists at St. Mungo's that there will be no imperfections with it."

Suddenly, Harry's mind flashed back to Petunia's kitchen and an electric-blue eye spinning about madly in a glass of water, and he snorted with amusement.

"Why are you laughing?" asked the Healer, looking vaguely offended.

"He's so happy that you're doing this for him," Ginny said quickly, helping Harry save face. She glanced sideways at him and continued, "Believe me, sir, what you're doing for him really means a lot for both of us." She gave them her best smile.

The eye specialist nodded, appearing mollified, while Healer Barker beamed down at Ginny, her businesslike exterior cracking enough to reveal that she was touched at Ginny's words.

The male Healer turned to confer with Healer Barker, their voices low and indistinct. Finally, Healer Barker's head bobbed in response to the other, and she turned back to Harry and Ginny. "Healer Powell will arrange for you to be fitted with the artificial eye, Harry. He estimates that it will be likely sometime next week."

"Good to know," said Harry.

Powell leaned over and gripped Harry's palm in a handshake. "It's such a pleasure to meet you at last," he said, his professional air absent for the moment. "I'm very glad that I would be the one to help you; it's a honour!"

"Uh … thank you?" Harry said.

"Not at all," the Healer smiled, and he made sure to include Ginny in the interaction. After greeting her (although in much less effusive tones), he finally left with Healer Barker, who before departing issued the standard admonition to both of them to rest.

As she closed the ward door behind her, Healer Powell muttered to her, "Merlin, Shacklebolt wasn't kidding."

…

As the day wore on, Harry and Ginny, tiring of each other and the constant intrusion of one's thoughts on the other, withdrew into themselves and did not speak to each other. Harry dozed for a while, and Ginny got up from the bed and stared out the window of the single ward they shared.

The clicking of the door's lock being released sounded and Ginny looked around, glad for the distraction. When she saw whom it was that had come to visit them, she gave a cry.

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny ran to one another and fell into a tight embrace, each gripping the other as if afraid to let go.

Finally, they broke apart and gazed into each other's eyes. Mrs. Weasley looked close to tears as she took in Ginny's appearance.

"Oh, my little girl, you're awake … thank Merlin …"

Ginny smiled. "I'm so happy that you came! And Daddy too!" she cried with delight, as she caught sight of her father standing off to the side, his face one of trepidation, joy and relief. He laughed weakly as he folded his arms around his only daughter.

"So good to see you, Firefly. So good to see you."

Ginny wiped at her eyes as she pulled away. "Mum, Dad … I've missed you …"

"Oh, you don't know the half of it, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, and the three of them smiled anew at one another. Mr. Weasley then turned and called behind him.

"Xenophilius! Luna! Don't be shy, come in!"

Ginny blinked in surprise at her friend and the girl's father.

"Luna?"

"Hi, Ginny. I've come to give you some stuff to keep the Wrackspurts out of your head."

"Good to see you too," Ginny smiled. She turned her attention to Xenophilius, who briefly met her gaze before dropping his eyes, quickly turning his head away.

"Well, shall we get seated, then?" said Mr. Weasley brightly, distracting both Ginny and Luna's father.

With a murmur of assent, the four of them returned to the bed, atop which Harry was still sleeping.

Ginny sat down and proceeded to shake him awake.

"No, let him sleep!" protested Mrs. Weasley, but she was too late, as Harry's eyes jerked open.

"Hmf?"

"Wake up, sleepyhead, as Mum, Dad, Luna and Mr. Lovegood are here."

" Oh, hey … what a surprise!" Harry quickly sat up and put his spectacles back on. Grinning, he shook Mr. Weasley's hand, and got crushed in a hug by Mrs. Weasley. He and Luna briefly embraced before Harry offered his hand to Xenophilius Lovegood. The blonde man slowly grasped Harry's hand and held it pinched between his fingers.

"Harry," Xenophilius began softly. "I am so, so sorry about what happened. I should have …"

"Mr. Lovegood, I want you to know that it wasn't your fault. What's happened has happened, and there's nothing anyone could have done about it," said Harry. He patted the back of Xenophilus's hand

"I … yes, yes, you're right, I suppose," Luna's father sighed.

"I heard Kingsley visited you earlier," said Mr. Weasley.

Ginny nodded in affirmation. "He was basically checking up on us and wanted to see if we could help him with this whole story."

"What kind of help, if I may ask?" enquired Mr. Weasley.

"Just whether we could remember anything of what happened to us," Harry said.

Ginny shook her head, half-closing her eyes as she did so. "He was somewhat disappointed that we weren't much help in that department."

"Why wouldn't you be of any help?" asked Mrs. Weasley, her brow furrowing.

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other, and rapid-fire thoughts whisked between them in seconds.

We have to explain this every single time? Harry grumbled.

It's my parents, Ginny said a little defensively. They don't always understand. Quickly, she turned back to the others.

"Harry and I don't remember much of –well, anything- that apparently happened to us. Our last memory was of us leaving you, Luna, and the next thing, we're waking up here in St. Mungo's."

"Merlin. Amnesia!" Mrs. Weasley muttered, then seemed to realise that she had spoken audibly, and held a shocked and embarrassed hand to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to -"

"Shh, it's okay, Molly," Mr. Weasley interjected before his wife rambled on. "We have this under control. Firefly, you truly do not recall anything? You, Harry?"

The bespectacled young man dropped his gaze as the girl next to him shook her head.

Mr. Weasley heaved a sigh as he sat back in his seat, his forehead creased with contemplative bemusement.

"We've got it under control," he repeated.

"I know what's ailing you," Luna said, "It's the Wrackspurts that got to you!"

Everyone looked at her in surprise - Mrs. Weasley muttering, "what?" - before Ginny, to the shock of them all, burst out into laughter.

Harry stared.

Mr. Weasley stared.

Luna, Mrs. Weasley and Xenophilius Lovegood stared.

They gaped at the redheaded girl, whose whole body was shaking with mirth, tears of laughter forming in her eyes.

Harry felt his cheek muscles working as he found himself beginning to smile as he watched his girlfriend laugh. Hesitantly, he began to join in.

Soon the others had followed suit and the ward rang with the group's laughter.

Finally, they all began to calm down. Ginny smiled and squeezed Luna in a tight hug.

"Oh, thank you, Luna, that was wonderful!"

Harry felt different – in a sense, he felt lighter, happier, than he had been in quite a while.

Mrs. Weasley wiped the tears from her face. "Oh, Ginny, you have no idea how fantastic it is to see you laugh and smile," she said in a thick voice.

"I know, Mum – I feel amazing," Ginny said as she sat in her mother's lap and allowed herself to be subjected to one of her mother's infamous embraces.

A comfortable silence followed, and they basked in it for a while. Eventually, Harry spoke up.

"So, how are the others? Ron, Hermione, George, everyone?"

"Ah, that is what we had come, in part, to tell you about," Mr. Weasley replied. "Ron and Hermione have heard what happened to you. Hermione sent back a reply as fast as she could and said that they had found her parents, and are trying to come home as quickly as possible," he said.

"How did it go with her parents?" asked Ginny.

"She wrote that their memories had been restored; the poor dears are still coming to terms that their own daughter wiped their minds and sent them to a different country. Fortunately they do understand that she was doing it for their safety's sake."

"Oh, that's good!" Harry felt Ginny's relief for Hermione sweep through her mind at the news.

"George is trying his best to cope," Mrs. Weasley murmured. The ward's festive atmosphere considerably lessened.

"I can't imagine how difficult this must be for him," Harry said.

"Very difficult," Ginny's father confirmed grimly. "He has gone back to the shop; Bill and Percy check up on him regularly and they tell us that he's not doing anything much, unfortunately. He's mostly sitting upstairs where he and - and Fred, well, lived." Mr. Weasley's lips briefly compressed themselves into a thin line. "He's left most of the work of running the shop to that assistant of his, Verity, I think she's called.

"Anyway, Bill has said that George has agreed to come with him when he next visits."

"And when is that?" Ginny asked, looking slightly worried.

"Bill says hopefully quite soon, but he can't make any promises as he's very busy at the bank," Mr. Weasley smiled for a moment.

"I think I will have to visit him, then," said Luna Lovegood serenely. Harry immediately got a vision of George Weasley being confused by Luna's bizarre statements and he inwardly smiled; the poor man would be half-scared to death. On the other hand, maybe it would shake him out of his depression.

"That's so kind of you, Luna," Ginny smiled. "I don't think that George would be ready for that yet, though."

Her parents chuckled a little at that, or at least Mr. Weasley did.

"Why not? I think it would be a good idea!" Xenophilius spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Well … he's not used to her … ideas," Ginny muttered. "And I don't know if it would be good for him."

"Oh, okay. Whenever he's ready, just tell me," Luna answered.

"I'll do that."

"Well, my dears, to go back to you not being able to remember things, would it not be a good idea if we were to schedule a time for you to see someone about this?" Mrs. Weasley said in a suggestive voice

"Why?" asked Harry in surprise.

"No! For what reason, mum?" Ginny demanded.

Mr. Weasley held up a hand to cut off his wife's response and quell his daughter's stubbornness. When he had the attention of both, he spoke quietly.

"Your mother is right, Ginny. We need to make sure you do remember things, important, basic things. Please listen to me," he added urgently as Harry began to open his mouth, "We cannot be sure, and neither can you, that you remember everything else apart from the attack. At the very least, we need to help you come to terms with what happened."

Harry and Ginny could not fault his logic.

"Alright," Harry nodded grudgingly.

"Excellent," Mr. Weasley said.

Luna spoke up. "I think they're right. You need the Wrackspurts cleared from your mind."

…

A few days later Harry and Ginny found themselves face to face with Healer Powell, the eye specialist. At first Harry had been called alone, but Ginny had cajoled and pleaded with the Auror until he had relented and allowed her to accompany them to Healer Powell. Harry and Ginny had been escorted down a long, sterile hallway into another room, whose appearance was that of a large, well-lit dentist's practice. There was a table covered with many kinds of unrecognisable metal instruments and a large chair that looked as though its back support could be adjusted to lie flat. As far as Harry knew there were no dentists at St. Mungo's. He and Ginny had just finished taking in the room and its contents when Healer Powell himself arrived.

"Ah, there you are, Mr. Potter! And Miss," Powell added as he saw Ginny. The medical professional had brought a bright red, satchel bag. He hoisted it as he said, "I've constructed your artificial eye, Mr. Potter. I'm quite sure you'll be very pleased with it. Shall we get started?"

Harry was pointed to the chair. "Now, this is very important: you must be relaxed," Powell said firmly. "It will be easier and quicker. Lie down."

Harry, wondering what was going to happen next, lay back on the chair and removed his spectacles, which he wore out of habit despite the imbalance in his sight. The Healer pointed his wand at the chair; without warning, the chair's back fell downward into a 90-degree position. Not only that, but large tough straps flew around Harry's body and bound him tightly to his seat.

"What are you doing?" demanded Harry.

"I told you, relax," murmured the Healer. "You may hold your Miss's hand if it will make you feel better."

Ginny reached down and enclosed Harry's fingers in her warm hands, and a rush of love and affection surged between the two. They smiled briefly at each other as the Healer hovered over the table with the instruments and audibly opened the small satchel.

Powell's blurry face appeared in Harry's line of vision. "Right, Mr. Potter. I'm going to keep reminding you of this: relax. I promise that you will not feel a single thing. It will be painless."

He then muttered a couple of unintelligible words. Slowly, Ginny broke into a grin.

"Can you feel anything?" Powell asked Harry.

"No … why?" Harry said, puzzled. Ginny seemed to be struggling to keep herself from laughing.

What's so funny? he shot at her. Ginny quickly shook her head.

"My finger's tapping your nose right now," the Healer said, a hint of amusement in his voice. Ginny broke into a laugh.

Harry was shocked "How- how did you do that?"

"I cast a spell on your face which prevents pain from being felt," Healer Powell answered. "Now let's restore your sight."

He leaned over close to Harry's face and held a metal instrument with what looked like two hooks facing in opposite directions. The wicked-looking instrument descended.

Harry recoiled instinctively, trying to avoid the dangerous-looking object hovering close in his face.

"Relax, Mr. Potter," Healer Powell insisted. Harry squirmed as he struggled not to turn away from the Healer's equipment. Ginny squeezed his hand and he gripped fiercely back.

"Look at me," she murmured. Harry did so, staring at her, her brown eyes, the flaming red hair that framed her face. He drank in her features as he tried to resist the horrible stress he was feeling.

Healer Powell stood up for a moment. Then he bent down again.

"Yuck," Ginny's voice said. Harry squeezed his remaining eye shut and concentrated on his mysterious link with his love.

The fear and stress faded to a feeble background of white noise. He felt himself spiralling down, down, down, out of his body, and saturated himself with the sight and sound and feel of Ginny.

Abruptly he saw his own face. His intact eye was closed, while the other had been stretched wide open, the eyelids held apart by the small prongs on the metal instrument. Powell was busy removing the blind, useless eyeball using another instrument of a different design.

Harry/Ginny shuddered, but soldiered on as he/she continued to clutch Harry's hand to give him all her love and strength and support. Harry/Ginny watched in mingled fascination and disgust as Healer Powell severed the eye-stalk and quickly muttered a spell to instantly seal the cut and prevent it from bleeding.

"Evanesco."

After having promptly disposed of the dead organ, Healer Powell held up an ordinary-sized replica of an eyeball with a colourless iris. Harry experienced Ginny's thoughts and emotions as he watched through her eyes Healer Powell putting in the artificial eye.

Abruptly, Harry felt himself "back" in his own body. He listened as Powell began a litany of healing and other arcane medical spells. Finally, his voice slowed and switched back to a lighter tone.

"Well, we're done!"

"Hooray!" Ginny smiled.

"Yes, quite!" The Healer agreed. "Mr. Potter, I have created a magical connection between your eye and the area of your brain which governs vision. However, your brain needs to adjust to the connection and be able to interpret the signals it receives correctly. For this reason, Mr. Potter, you will not be able to open your eye for about a day or two."

"And you cannot do that even though you might try; I've seen to that," Healer Powell smirked.

"I've sealed your eyelids together magically until the necessary time period elapses. Let me tell you more about the eye I've made for you. As I promised, it is the most advanced model we have to date. It is made according to the strictest standards – of the quality required for top Magical Law Enforcement personnel. The eye will be able to change colour and adjust its size should you need to transform or disguise yourself in some way. It has great accuracy and can distinguish fine detail up to the length of half a mile away, and will be able to sense wards, magical concealment spells and the like. It will, like all standard military-grade artificial eyes, be able to penetrate walls and barriers to see any hidden weapons or traps. It's got three-sixty degree manoeuvrability, too."

"That is so amazing," Ginny said fervently.

"How come Mad-Eye didn't have this kind of stuff?" Harry asked.

"Mad-Eye?" the Healer asked.

"He means Alastor Moody, sir." Ginny explained.

"You knew the famous Auror?" Healer Powell said, appearing impressed. "Yes, Alastor Moody's eye lacked many of the features which your eye has. You must remember that Moody retired many years ago, and received his eye many years before that. We've made many great strides in the development of artificial eyes since then."

"What about natural eyes?" asked Ginny.

The Healer turned to face her as she spoke, and considered her question for a moment. "Unlike magical eyes, real eyes are very sensitive to magic, and things can go horribly wrong if the eye reacts badly to any magic enchantments laid upon it. Blindness could result … or things much worse. That is why we prefer to have charmed spectacles, that sort of thing instead."

"I see," said Harry, speaking for both his girlfriend and himself. "Healer, thank you for the eye … for everything."

Healer Powell laid a hand on Harry's shoulder for a moment. Then Ginny handed Harry his spectacles, and they all rose to their feet. "You should rest up for a bit, Mr. Potter," Powell advised. "The process will go quicker that way."

He opened the door and the Auror waiting outside turned expectantly. "The procedure is done, and it went well. Minister Shacklebolt will be pleased," Powell told the Auror, who nodded once in affirmation. The Auror accompanied the young couple back the way they had come.