Platform nine and three-quarters was full of hurrying children and more sedate adults. Chaos in a sea of madness. A sea that parted easily for a tall figure in dark robes. He strode down the platform with a speed and surety that implied both competence and danger. He ignored the nervous twitches and looks of outright fear shot his way, other more important things occupied his mind. Like how much of a waste of time this was. Severus fumed. "Superstitious peasants! Smallest hint of a bloody rumour and they go scurrying. 'The Dark is coming! The Dark is coming!' Some fool drunk in the Cauldron probably just noticed that the sun went down. Chicken bloody Little."

A nearby boy in Ravenclaw robes squawked at this and scampered away in terror. Severus gritted his teeth, leaned against a nearby wall and counted to ten. And then continued his rant. "Seven years dead and they still cower at his name. 'Professor Dumbledore! Professor Dumbledore! Please protect our darling ickle children!' Idiots! Like the Dark Lord would ever even consider attacking children! There's no faster way to become hated...ow!" Something slapped against his shin.

"Sorry, sir!" The perpetrator's voice was young and female. Severus' favourite! Especially over a slow flame.

"You will be! Can't you see where you're going?"

"I'm blind, sir."

Severus frowned, confused. Blindness was extremely rare in the wizarding world. Most forms of it could be cured, either by charm, potion or prosthetic. It was really only Muggles who had a problem with such a basic disability. He studied the young girl, trying to determine her origins. She stood about waist high and couldn't have been more than seven years old. Bushy brown hair framed a cherub like face above an outfit that could only be called ... i>cute. /i> But most noticeable were the overly large pair of dark glasses hiding her face. Severus grimaced. A Muggle-born. But apparently a very powerful one. Only a child whose magic was already active could penetrate the barrier leading to the platform. She would one day be a great asset to whichever house snapped her up. And he intended for it to be Slytherin.

"I'm sorry sir, but could you help me? I've lost my parents. We were supposed to meet my gran on platform 9..."

"Be quiet child. I will help you find your parents, on the condition that you answer my questions."

A smile lit up her face. "Thank you, sir!"

"Indeed. Now, how long have you been blind?"

"Since I was a baby. There was an accident."

"I see. Your corneas were probably scarred. I suppose the ... doctors...were unable to help you at all?"

"No, sir. I'll never see. Mummy cries about that sometimes." Her lip quivered.

The tiniest tug on Severus' heart made itself known. Pity. An abhorrent emotion. He banished it. "And what would you do? To be able to see? What price would you pay?"

The girl froze. Severus could almost hear the thoughts careening inside her head. She, unlike him, had no true idea of the meaning of cost, nor consequence. But of what she did know, how much would she be willing to give up? Soon he had his answer. She removed her glasses and faced him directly, her unseeing eyes boring into his. "Whatever it takes."

Severus' answering grin was almost predatory in nature. She would make a fine Slytherin. "Then you shall see. Wait right here. I shall be back in a few minutes." And with a crack he was gone.

-----------------

I've lived in darkness all my life. I've never seen the sky. Or a tree. Or my mother's face. I know what they feel like - the texture, the shape, the weight. But I still don't know what they look like. Doctors have been looking into my eyes since the accident, but I've yet to look out of them. I remember the words they used. Maybe. Possibly. Never. Not one of them was sure of himself, unless they were saying no. Not like him. He didn't ask to try. He didn't say maybe. He knows! I will see!

But at what price? Well, whatever it is I will pay it, even if it's...well I'm not sure exactly what. I just know that Mum and Dad warned me about strange men. And I think this one is stranger than most. There is a sudden crack, like the one made when he left, and suddenly he's back. See what I mean about strange?

"Here drink this." A small glass tube is pressed into my hand, warm to the touch. From his hands or the contents?

"What is it?"

"A numbing potion. For a few minutes the pain receptors in your brain will cease to function. I will then administer a healing wash to your eyes. Now drink."

The tone in his voice is like Dad's after I've been asking too many questions. I really don't want to make him angry, so I drink. Two swallows and it's gone, leaving only mint and a pleasant coolness that fills my head. Then my head is being tipped back, a finger under my chin, and warm liquid washes over my eyes, first the left, then the right. It... tingles. The liquid cools as it runs down my cheeks and neck where it soaks into my blouse. I can feel his hand now resting over my eyes. "Blink rapidly," he says.

Stars explode! Or at least I think they're stars. Lots of pinpricks of something. Light? And each is different. Is that what they mean by colour? I try to focus, to see them better, but they disappear too quickly. They fade away, and all that is left is darkness. I slowly stop blinking. But it is a different darkness to what I know. It is ... warm. There are places where the darkness is different. Lighter? And what colour? is that? Hundreds of questions burst in my mind. And are silenced: "I'm going to slowly remove my hand, allow your eyes to adjust, then tell me what you see."

His hand shifts, his fingers moving, separating. Light stabs in, and I squint in reflex. A reflex I didn't know I had. The pain dims, and with it the light. I can see more clearly now...I can see! As his hand moves away, I look upon my saviour for the first time, but I find it difficult to reconcile what my eyes see with what my fingertips know. My fingers know the shape of a nose, the ridge of a brow but my eyes do not. So I reach out.

My fingers find the line of his jaw first, then up to his mouth followed by his nose. His nose is larger than some, and hooked, but hardly ugly. There is no need to feel further, I can figure out the rest: eyes, brow, ears, hair. I am drawn back to those eyes as the brows above them draw closer together. They are deep and dark, much like the darkness he just rescued me from. A weird idea comes to me, that he is also caught in some darkness, waiting for someone to come and pull him out of it. I make a promise. A solemn vow, as Daddy says. Whatever price he asks of me today, I will do anything to save him in return. For making me happy, he should be happy too.

He stands up and I realise for the first time just how much taller adults are than children. How do they get around with out trampling us underfoot? To notice someone as small as myself and go out of his way to help me was a miracle of the first order. I'm so grateful I can't speak. All I can do is step forward, wrap my arms around his middle and hug him for all I'm worth. I find myself whispering "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you" over and over. It isn't long before he's prying my arms away and stepping back.

"That will be enough of that, Miss...?" he says sternly.

"Hermione Granger, sir." I hold out hope that he will tell me his name.

"Do you believe in magic, Miss Granger?"

There is only one answer I can give. Only one answer that can explain the miracle that just happened. For years my parents have read tales of sorcery and magic to me and were amazed that I was so willing to believe that they could be true. Only one answer. "Yes."

--------------

"As well you should." Severus unconsciously drew himself up imperiously, gathering his robes about and folding his arms. "I am Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A school which, your parents willing, you will be attending in some few short years. You, Miss Granger are a witch, and quite a powerful one at that if I'm not mistaken."

"Me?" The smile that graced the girl's features told Severus all he needed to know. Already she was thinking ahead to the possibilities that lay in her future.

"Indeed. And I shall do everything in my power to see that you reach your potential. Providing you pay for your debt to me."

For a moment, the girl looked ready to bolt. Then she steeled herself and asked, "What must I do?"

Ever so briefly, Severus was tempted to smile benevolently at her, as Professor McGonagall would have done. But it had been drilled into him from an early age that such facial expressions were not in his repertoire. Leers, smirks and maniacal grins - yes. Anything else? Not a chance. So he remained aloof. "Students at Hogwarts are divided into four houses through the use of a magical hat. It is said by the fanciful that the Sorting Hat looks into your heart to determine which house would best suit your temperament and abilities. Whether or not this is true I do not know, nor do I particularly care. What I do know is that the Hat can be persuaded. Upon your sorting you shall convince the Hat to place you in Slytherin House. MY house. Is that clear?"

The girl seemed puzzled, but nodded anyway. "Yes, sir. That Sorting Hat will put me in Slytherin House." She paused, then asked, "May I ask how this pays the debt? It seems very little for all you've done for me."

For the first time in his years of teaching, Severus felt something like pride. And she wasn't even one of his students yet! To see straight to the heart of the matter at such a young age! Not even Malfoy's brat could do that! "As I told you, Miss Granger, you shall be quite a powerful witch. And should you come from my house your achievements will enhance my standing considerably. As I train and guide you, so your successes reflect upon me. Do you understand?"

Granger's smile was almost blinding. "Oh, yes, sir!"

Severus dispelled that smile with his answering scowl. "Should you fail me, however, there will be consequences. This is no miracle cure, Miss Granger, it will not last forever. By my estimation, sometime shortly after you graduate you will awaken one morning to find that you are once again blind. Come to me then and, if you have done well, you shall see again. However if you disappoint me..." Severus let the threat hang there.

The girl's smile had faded and been replaced by a somewhat fearful expression. Considering that Severus had just threatened to revoke the greatest gift of her life, fear was appropriate. The true test would lie in how she responded. Solemnly the girl said, "I won't fail you." Severus had seen less sincerity in others taking magically binding oaths. When faced with an obligation, a true Slytherin met it in full and honourably. Although if he could play it to his advantage he would. The girl would do well.

Severus hesitated a moment, then held out his hand to the girl. "Come then, let us find your parents."