Author: xyvortex
Rating: T
Genre: Drama/Angst/Action/Adventure
Pairings: None

Title: Blind Faith
Chapters: 21
Words: 78,022
Updated: March 7, 2005
Published: September 6, 2004
Status: Complete
Summary: Blinded at the age of four Harry Potter struggles to have a normal life. On his eleventh birthday he finds out he can have anything but. please R&R.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2046881/1/

Title: Blind Faith: Slytherin's Heir
Chapters: 15
Words: 84,350
Updated: May 21, 2010
Published: June 2, 2005
Status: Abandoned (see bottom of post)
Summary: Sequel to Blind Faith, Harry's second year at Hogwarts with new challenges. Something haunts the halls of the school, hunting down the half-bloods. Who is the Heir of Slytherin, and who will stop him?
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2420227/1/

Harry is blinded at the age of 5 in a car accident where his uncle dies and Dudley is left comatose. His blindness helps him develop his mage sight at an early age. At Hogwarts, he makes friends with Draco, Hermione and Neville and struggles to prove to everyone that he can become great wizard despite his disability.

Characterization here is simply superb. Best example is Harry's group, who are NOT some kind of super-friends most fics are sprouting, but real kids who betray each other, fight, make peace etc... Also, even though most of the gray characters are redeemed (Draco, Snape, Petunia, Dudley), their reasoning is logical and transformation slow and believable.

Second strong points are interesting plots and concepts. Now, while this story vaguely follows the plotlines of PS and COS, but it has so many subplots and original details, that I haven't even noticed it.

If I had to find a flaw, I'd say that this pearl deserves faster updates. There's nothing else I can think of at the moment.

In hindsight, this is probably one of the best and most original AU series in HP fandom. It's a shame it doesn't have more hype built around it, it certainly deserves it.



In 2010 the author posted that he allowed someone else to take over - it seems to be basically copypasting both stories and adding about 14 chapters on his own:

Author: Taylor1991
Title: Blind Faith
Chapters: 49
Words: 238,367
Updated: May 16, 2012
Published: May 21, 2010
Status: Work in Progress
Summary: adopted from xyvortex. Blinded at the age of four Harry Potter struggles to have a normal life. On his eleventh birthday he finds out that he can have anything but.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5986917/1/Blind-Faith


Checked by Minion, July 28, 2013

 

the author must be excellant. i remember this long time ago but i stopped reading because i wanted the to be with a bit more updated and then i eventually forgot about them.

 

They are not immediately chummy, believe me. Besides, this is AU.

 

Read these a while back... quite liked them, the major downside is that the author takes quite a while to update

 

Blind harry is just something i struggle to read, and i can't stand the group of friends for some reason..

 

Basically, he can see wizards auras and magic. When looking at wizards, he can distinguish their power and emotions. When someone cast a spell, he can see how it works. He can also alter magic inside potions and wandlessly heal people.

He still has problems with it and is just learning how to use it to see non-magic objects. There are indications that, once trained, he'll be able to use his mage-sight as normal eyes.

 

the one thing that really confused me about this story is at the begining. the Aruthor never really stated how Harry and Draco became good freinds. I mean even just alittle bit of backround would have been nice concering that point. Other than that i didn't have any problems with this fic.

 

If anyone's interested in another blind!Harry fic, there's a FANTASTIC one-shot titled 'Soulspeaking' that really deals oh-so-well with these issues (the blind/power thing anyway). Click the link - I'd highly recommend checking it out. The author, Mila, also has another fic in the time travel section here on this site.

 

I've read "Soulspeaking". It's an interesting one-shot, but it's nothing like this story.

 

I've only read "Blind Faith" so far, and not its sequel, but I liked it. It shows good character development, a low amount of spelling and grammar errors, and they've managed to make it to where Harry really struggles as a blind person. He gets angry when people treat him as if he's retarded, as I'm sure all blind people do, and the mage sight didn't go from 'ok' to 'mastered' with Salazar there.

There are, of course, some cliches, but I find them ignorable as everything else is so good.

 

I tired reading this a few days ago but it just didn't grab my attention. I'll give it another go, but this is the last chance its getting from me.

 

Just reminding people that this story still exists... and that it has just been updated.

Still going strong, especially character interactions. For example, Hermione had been in the shithole for some time, but is now slowly coming back, Neville seems to be slipping down, while Ron is getting cooler. But knowing the author, these relations will keep shifting, keeping the story fresh.

All in all, still one of the best AU's IMO.

 

ip82, thanks man. I didn't know this story was still going, and had taken it for abandoned. This is probably, aside from SilverAegis's Shadow Mage fic, my favorite fic to date. Recommended to all.

 

got to chapter 4 it ended with "I have something to tell you" and that is where i figure the cliched bear your soul to friends you just met comes in so i stopped reading. malfoy writing home to dad with the cliched "i love my dad, but harry is my friend" sub-plot which will probably be resolved when he realizes that he is in love with hermione. a small reference to neville being blocked or scared which will lead to either dumbledore putting a block on his magic or lestrange got to him as a child and the crucio curse is impeading his ability. BUT, ron has been almost non existant and not so much as a mention of the gutter slut, so that alones rates 3/5, i just couldnt get into it

 

The one thing I thought was a little hypocritical about this story is the repeated refrain of "stop treating me like I need special care because I'm blind" when the only reason he doesn't need special care is because he isn't really blind.

 

Not bad, and not great. The technical execution is pretty good and while the characters are slightly OOC that is more acceptable in an AU fic.

The only real problem I have is with the concept of this Merlin's Crest business. Does Hogwarts really need a fifth house? I don't think so. Although in retrospect it is probably necessary to drive this story to an extent.

Over all I give it a 3/5. Like I said, it isn't bad, but it isn't great. It is right in the middle.

 

Back when the last full chapter was released, I'd probably have given it a 4.

Now however, I can see the problem created with the fifth Hogwarts house, and I probably won't reread it until I start minding redeemed!Snape and Draco less.

Good ideas however, and the Mind Control thing from the first story was pretty cool.

Overall a relatively entertaining fic that doesn't pass the test of time with high enough mark.

3/5

 

I only managed to read the first book of this before I quit reading it. Dumbledore was driving me insane... though I think the fact that I could see canon Dumbledore doing what he does in that situation might be a contributing factor to that.

Anyways, it's an okay story, and started off strong, but in the end I just thought it stuck a little bit too close to canon for my tastes (namely, the fact that they all STILL got detention in the forest, all STILL suspected Snape -minus Harry- all STILL went to 'protect' the Stone, and nearly got themselves killed, and Hermione STILL petrified someone 'for their own good'.)

Then there was the whole Merlin's Crest thing. I feel it's poorly explained, and I never really understood if Harry was in Ravenclaw and Merlins' Crest, or just Merlin's Crest. What's the point of having a 5th house, anyways? Hogwarts worked just fine for a thousand years without one, didn't it?

The mage sight and having a way to 'learn' how to see again was extremely predictable, though. Can't blind!Harry actually be... I don't know, maybe blind, for a change?

However, I'm still giving this a 3/5 due to the fact that it's well-written and somewhat interesting to read.