Chapter one
It was quiet. Too quiet. Was Draco alone? Was he still laying in now dried blood? Why are his thoughts suddenly so loud? He couldn't bear to open his eyes. Everything hurt. His muscles ached and his head was pounding. As he got used to consciousness again, the feeling in his body returned. He was laying down, his back sunk into a soft mattress. Still however, nothing could be heard. Draco slowly opened his eyes, the bright lights of a hospital room blinded him. He could barely move his head, but he came to a conclusion that no one was in the room with him. Of course.
Sitting up, his whole body jerked in pain. He groaned, but he couldn't hear it. He tried speaking, saying a few random words. Nothing. Draco started to panic. Why couldn't he hear? What happened to him? Draco saw the door open from the corner of his eye. He couldn't look. It all started coming back to him. The pop. The feeling of blood trickling down his neck. He reached up to the side of his head searching for any sign that his ear was gone. His finger landed gently on the lobe of his ear. Nope, still there. Looking to his left, Draco saw there was a person standing right outside the door. He could see their lips moving, but no voice was heard. His eyes began to tear up when he finally realized what had happened.
The cruciatus curse had many side affects but hearing loss wasn't something Draco was familiar with. Over exposure to the curse can cause weaker limbs, colder body temperature, and even weakened eye sight, but hearing loss was something he had never heard of. The pop of his ears kept playing in his head. If he lost his hearing, why could he still hear the voice inside his head? Why weren't his other senses heightened? Had it not been long enough?
Draco's thoughts were stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. The same person who was standing at the doorway just seconds earlier could be seen more clear. It was his mother. He looked into her eyes. Was she angry? sad? Draco couldn't tell. His mothers hand came up to his cheek, stroking it gently, a comforting gesture she had done since he was little. Her lips moved again and he felt the air leave her lips as she sighed, tears stinging her eyes. Leaning back, Draco brought his hand up to his ear and pointed, trying to signal he couldn't hear her. His mother nodded, showing her understanding then left the room.
Draco didn't know what to do. How was he going to go back to school like this? He was going into his sixth year, which was hard on everyone. How was he supposed to pass if he couldn't hear anything? Surely none of the professors had dealt with a deaf kid before. Then there was his friends. How was he supposed to talk to them? He couldn't spend his whole life just writing back and forth. He didn't know what to do. Classes start in a week, how was he going to get his hearing back by then?
He looked at the door hoping someone would walk in a solve this problem. No one. He waited. Draco was waiting for hours, or at least that's what it felt like. He didn't have his wand, nor was there a clock in his room. He couldn't tell what time it was, what day it was, or how much time was passing by. He looked down, picking the skin around his nails, something he did when he was nervous. He did it so much recently that his fingers started to bleed. His finger twitched once, then twitched again. What the hell? He stopped picking at his finger and watched. Why was his finger twitching? Draco saw two feet come into view at the side of his bed, he looked up and an unfamiliar face looked back at him.
A name tag could be found on the person's chest. 'Elise' it read. Elise waved then started to move her hands quickly. What was this weirdo doing? His mother put her hand on the person's shoulder telling them something. Elise then grabbed a notebook and started writing.
'Hi, My name is Elise'
Draco read the notepad, slightly annoyed that he would have to get through a conversation only writing. He motioned Elise to sit, it was going to take a while, he never really was a fast writer. It also didn't help his finger was twitching. After the first word was written down, Elise stopped him. She took his hand, steading his finger, and just like that it stopped twitching.
'Draco. Why can't I hear?'
He passed the notepad back to Elise, letting the conversation move forward.
'well Draco, I'm not sure, ill have to ask you some questions first.'
'Hit me'
'Why are you here? what made you pass out? you've been out for a couple days.'
Draco didn't want to answer the question. He couldn't tell the truth. He would get his father in trouble. Sure, he was a horrible man, but he was still Draco's father. He couldn't hurt him. Draco sat there looking at the page for a while, deciding what to write.
'I was under the cruciatus curse. I can't say who, but it was bad. The last thing I really remember was a loud pop then blood streaming down my neck.'
He passed the notepad to Elise and her eyes widened. He met her eyes, then quickly looked down, embarrassed.
'I'm sorry Draco, but thank you for telling me the truth. This will help me find out what happened. In the mean time, would you like to learn how to communicate without writing?'
Draco finished reading and shot his head up. Smiling, he nodded. Elise nodded back, grabbing a sheet from the clipboard she had brought in earlier. On the paper was a bunch of hand signs with the meanings underneath them. This would make communicating so much easier.
Draco was kept in the hospital for the next two weeks. Sure, he had missed his first week of class, but he had made a full recovery. well, as full as you can get without the hearing factor. There was nothing to do in the hospital, so in two weeks time Draco had learned a bunch of sign language. He could communicate full sentences, and barely struggled holding a conversation. It was nice, and at times, he forgot he lost his hearing. His mother had even learned with him so she could communicate with Draco, trying to make it as easy as possible. She stayed the whole time, only ever leaving to get food, or to get some sleep.
Leaving the hospital was hard. He was told that people outside of the doctors and nurses weren't guaranteed to know sign language, and he was scared. He remembered that Blaise knew a little. He once mentioned in a conversation at dinner that he had volunteered at the children's section in St. Mungo's. Some of the kids were deaf so he learned a little to be able to communicate with them. Pansy however, he had no idea if she knew any or not, but he knew he could teach her.
people weren't going to look at him the same, but over time Draco knew he would get over it. The only thing he needed to focus on was getting his school books, trying to blend back in, and to try and get through the first term.