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Summary: When a spell goes very wrong.
Steve woke up with a start, listening. Another crash outside his door had him jumping out of his bed, wrenching his door open and expecting the worst. But it was only. Bucky… crashing into the wall, cursing, turning around with his arms held out front, and walking forward to promptly fall over the couch.
"Bucky?"
Bucky's head reappeared over the edge of the couch, looking in his direction with wide unfocused eyes.
"Bucky, what's wrong?"
"I can't see a damn thing!" Bucky growled. "And since when's this place so small?"
It wasn't, but there was definitely something wrong with Buck's eyes. Steve went to him, kneeled down, and took his face between his hands so he'd look at him. Well, not so much look as stare unblinkingly in his general direction.
"Nothing? Did you hit your head? Do you feel sick?"
"No! Nothing. I just woke up like this. I'm… blind. I'm blind, Stevie. What the fuck am I gonna do?"
"People don't just go blind like that overnight. I'll take you to the hospital and-"
"No!"
Steve's jaw clenched. He'd almost forgotten Bucky still freaked out around anything medical. Not seeing anything on top of that in such an environment would make it a hundred times worse too. The only kind of doctor Steve knew who would not be scared of Bucky, and whom Bucky could not break, was Bruce. He called him immediately.
"Bruce? Yeah. Can you come to my place? There's something wrong with Bucky and-"
Bruce groaned on the other end of the line.
"Blind?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah. How did you-"
"Turn on the TV. Sorry. I gotta go. Tony is freaking out."
And he hung up. Steve stared at his phone. What the heck was going on?
"Stay here," Steve told Buck as softly and calmly as he could, but inside, for the first time in a very long time, he was scared.
He reached for the remote, neatly tucked away next to the screen and sat back next to Bucky. He turned the TV on with one hand, and held Bucky's hand in the other, so he knew he was there and not going anywhere.
And then the madness began. He didn't even have to look for a news channel. It was on all the channels. Worldwide, people had suddenly gone blind at the same time. Some, more unlucky than Bucky who was sleeping at the time, had been driving, skydiving, using blades, playing with fire… It had already been determined all those who had been blinded were of blood type B, but that was all. There were no physical causes, no way for a chemical or other weapon to do this to the whole world at the same time. Even a solar flare would only touch half the planet, according to scientists.
Steve squeezed Bucky's hand, but watching the news seemed to have relaxed him some instead of freaking him out like he was.
"I know it sounds… selfish, I guess," Bucky explained. "But it's easier knowing it's not just me. That's I'm just a drop in the ocean."
Steve was glad Bucky couldn't see the horror on his face. Had he thought he deserved to be blind because he had been the Winter Soldier? That it had been done to him because of it? Steve was incensed. He wished he could just hit something. Or better yet, punch the person who did this in the face. If it was a person… Could it be aliens again?
"Shhh… Stevie. Look at the bright side. If it were just me, no one would give a fuck about solving this, but the whole world? Hell, I might see again by tomorrow, pal, so don't worry so much."
***
Meanwhile, in the middle of Stonehenge's standing stones, Auror Harry Potter was pacing the middle of the site which had obviously been used very recently for a ritual of some sort: runes, candles, herbs, mirrors, and dubious artefacts he was sure he had seen at Borgin and Burke's new establishment not so long ago littered every surface.
"Can you make sense of this mess?" Harry asked Hermione, his best friend who just happened to be his best Unspeakable to boot.
"Looks like a hag threw up every magical paraphernalia she ever used," Hermione muttered. "Most of these things don't even make sense. By all means, It shouldn't have done anything ."
"Well, it did, and now half the world is blind."
"I wouldn't say half -"
"Hermione…" Harry said with a sigh.
"Right, focus. Oh! Found the grimoire! It was under the cauldron of… never mind. I don't think I want to know," Hermione prattled on while she went through the book, snorting here and there until she became very interested in a page.
Curious, Harry looked over her shoulder and she didn't even curse him for it, so this had to be it.
"How to be perfect in the eyes of your soulmate?" he read. "You gotta be shitting me."
"Teenagers," Hermione deduced. "Remember how desperate you were with Cho? This is just a notch higher."
"More like worlds apart. I wish the muggleborns had not introduced online shopping to the wizarding world. The things they find on Amazon… My job used to be a lot easier, you know?"
"Take that up with the Muggle Office Liaison Department," Hermione replied airily, only half listening as she finished reading the incriminating page.
"You mean the MOLD?"
"It's the M.O.L.D. and you know it," Hermione said, snapping the book shut.
She stepped over skulls set in the world's smallest pyramid, hopefully fake ones or that was gonna be another nightmare to deal with in paperwork, and she inspected the runes painted on the ancient stones, which Harry was gonna class as vandalism, just to add one more charge to the sentence of the morons who had done this.
"Blood. Thought so. B type if I had to venture a guess. At least the muggles worked that one out for us. Not that it's gonna help us find the culprits on our end. How many did you say?"
"Half a dozen judging by the footsteps and magical signatures, but given this fuckery, I wouldn't be surprised if it was seven."
Hermione nodded.
"The book says seven participants are required. Luckily they didn't all use their own blood to draw the runes or we'd probably all be blind."
"Lazy more like. Our B type had to be the most invested in this. Maybe the leader?"
"Still a moron. This has got to be a bunch of kids. School's out. They got bored. Thought this would be fun, until it wasn't…"
"Can't we just use this blood to track him-"
Judging by Hermione's eye roll, the answer was no.
"How you survived being an Auror up till now, I don't have a clue. The blood is already tainted by the ritual, it won't lead anywhere but here. We'll just have to wait on the aurors who followed the magical signatures to get back to us."
As if on cue, Kingsley's patronus appeared, rubbed its head against Hermione's hand. Harry was pretty sure the older man had a not so secret crush on Hermione. The beast stayed by her when it opened its maw, announcing in the Head Auror's deep voice that they caught them all. Harry smiled, relieved this case wasn't going to drag on for days or even weeks. Keeping the muggles in the dark was going to be difficult enough, and wizarding communities all around the world were not going to be too pleased with the Brits causing trouble again.
"I'll meet you in your office," Hermione told him with an evil looking grin. "I'm going to need my special daggers for the next part."
With a pop, she was gone. Harry stared at the spot, a bit worried for his friend's sanity, but then again, you had to be a bit insane to work in the Department of Mysteries. He ordered the aurors guarding Stonehenge to start cleaning up, then apparated to the Ministry to stop Hermione from maybe murdering someone.
***
Steve passed his fingers through Bucky's wet hair, making sure he had gotten rid of all the knots. Bucky had become reliant on him since becoming blind, much more than Steve thought he would since he had kept him at arm's length after bringing him back kicking and screaming as Bucky Barns.
But here he was now, washing his old pal's hair. It was soft and shiny, or it would be if Buck ever bothered to take care of it. To think the man used to groom himself within an inch of his life. He was always so dashing, he drew the eyes of everyone around him, men and women alike. No one was safe.
Not even him .
"Come on, you lazy slob," Steve told him softly. "Let's get you dry before you catch a cold."
But Bucky just purred in contentment, not lifting a muscle.
"Are you expecting me to lift you myself?"
"That would be nice. Thanks, Stevie."
***
Hermione returned with her daggers as promised, and if she was not exactly murdering the suspects, Harry was sure she was drawing a lot more blood out of them than necessary, especially since it was obvious which one had used his blood for the runes. However, Kingsley held him back from intervening, and who was he to argue with his boss?
"If it's not enough to reverse the spell," Hermione said casually as she wiped the blade clean once more. "I might need to cut off a little bit more."
"More?" one of their suspects asked while others were practically crying at this point.
"You can't do that! That's illegal!" their prime suspect shouted. "Hey you! Harry Potter! I know you're here! Are you really gonna let her do that?!"
Harry just frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. He was tired of everyone assuming he was in charge, and he didn't bother trying to explain, letting Kingsley loom over the lot of them instead.
"You blinded a good part of the world, Muggle and Magical. You just made yourselves a whole lot of enemies. I think our dear Unspeakable here could cut off your fucking heads and get away with it."
Harry envied Kingsley's booming voice. It was a great tool to threaten people in custody.
"I think a hand should do the trick." She sighed theatrically. "For now. If only I knew where you idiots messed up…"
"No!" the one Hermione approached screeched. "It wasn't me! It wasn't even my idea! Trevor! He's the one who messed! I swear!"
Trevor was easy to pick out. He was the one who had turned white as a sheet and looked about to pass out when Hermione approached him.
"Well, well, well, Trevor. You should have told me sooner," Hermione said soothingly. "I can be understanding, and forgiving. And the sooner we give everyone their eyesight back, the better. Right? Even your two friends here would like to get their eyesight back, I'm sure. Won't you help us?"
"I d-didn't mean t-to," Trevor said.
Hermione paused, then looked to Harry who shrugged.
"Be a dear and give me your full name Trevor," Hermione asked sweetly.
"T-trevor McT-t-tomhuil, miss."
That settled it then. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose and faced them all.
"Do you mean to tell me, that out of all of you, you decided the best choice to read out a long and fastidious incantation was the guy with a stutter ?"
The silence was absolute, although Harry was pretty sure Kingsley had barely repressed a laugh.
"Why? Why would do such an idiotic thing?" she demanded.
"We thought it would be fun," their prime suspect said with a shrug as he glared blindly in Hermione's direction.
"Well I hope you have fun in Azkaban then," she shot back.
***
Steve ended the call. He had not expected Tony to call him and offer help for Bucky. Turned out Pepper had gone blind as well, and he had been besides himself to help her adjust as best he could. When he learned Steve was doing the same for Bucky, he called immediately
"That was… nice." Bucky commented, not sounding entirely convinced because Tony was still so cold towards him in general, not that they blamed him.
"I know. It's weird," Steve chuckled. "But maybe you guys can be-"
"Don't say it."
"Friends," Steve finished, shoulders drooping at Bucky's immediate rejection.
"I don't need friends. I only need you."
"I'm pretty sure that's unhealthy. Maybe you should talk to Sam?"
"Fuck Tony. Fuck Sam," Bucky grumbled, reaching a hand out in his direction.
Steve helped him out, thrusting his hand where he could catch it, which he did, pulling him down with enough strength to make him fall over his lap. He might be blind, but the rest of him was working just fine.
"I only need you, Stevie," he sighed and Steve swore his heart skipped a beat like it did often when he had been sickly.
Bucky's fingers trailed over his face, tracing his cheekbone.
"I miss seeing your stupid face."
Steve's mouth went dry as he stared up into Bucky's unseeing eyes. He might be reading the room wrong, he often did, but he wouldn't know until he took a chance. It felt dangerous, like he was standing on the edge of a precipice, but if this latest twist of fate had taught him anything, it was that for no rhyme or reasons, things you took for granted could be taken away from you without warning, in an instant.
Steve raised his hand to Bucky's face, touching his cheekbone, mirroring him. Bucky froze, then his devilish smile appeared and he blindly mapped his way to his lips with his thumb. Steve smiled and Bucky felt it.
An instant is all it took. Bucky leaned down and gently pressed his lips to his. When he drew back to gauge his reaction, their eyes locked and Bucky's were sharp and focused once more.
"Oh," Bucky gasped. "Fucking hell! I think you cured me!"
***
"So he just stuttered on the word Equinox and created a giant Nox spell directed at people's eyesight instead?" Kingsley summarized.
"As stupid as that, yes. The ritual was designed to look perfect in the eye of your soulmate so it was a logical mishap, I suppose."
"As logical as magic gets, in any case. Why was it so powerful though? I mean, the whole world? That's pretty unheard of and the culprits aren't exactly our best or brightest."
"Oh, just the sheer combination of magical power ups. Stonehenge, the red moon, a coven of seven, blood, runes…"
Kingsley nodded and rolled her report shut, then looked gravely at her.
"Now that all this mess is behind us, and thank you and your team for reversing the spell so quickly, I think we should never speak of it ever again."
"You saw it too. How it could be used as a weapon?" Hermione deduced. "No one must know."
Kingsley nodded.
"Are you okay with destroying this knowledge? I know how you feel about that in general, but I can't just leave this report where anyone can read it."
The corner of Hermione's lips lifted unapologetically.
"I actually set the parchment to self-destruct, whether you agreed or not," Hermione confessed.
"My kind of witch," Kingsley replied with a wink.