AN: Hogwarts. Snape, and magical world belongs to J.K., but the girl is mine.

Accidents happen. That is what everybody says. It's a normal thing for everyone to have accidents. It was not normal in my household. Even as a small child accidents were not supposed to happen to me. I was from a elegant, class family, accidents did not run in the bloodline. I suppose some where something skipped me.

I was forever breaking thing, running into walls, and tripping over my own feet. The worst mistake was the small potions set I was given. As large as my love was for potions, my destructive power with it was greater. Finally my parents were forced to take it from me. I was a shame, a constant disgrace that was hid from company, like I was not even there. It was a shock to most when I enrolled at Hogwarts. I remember the whispers about the Snapes having another child. I was ashamed.

I think my parents hoped that school would make me outgrow my accidents, but it only worsened them. The presence of Black and Potter made me a mess. I could not even eat strait when they were around. I tried my best to ignore them, but I could not. Soon the humiliation spread to even my own house; i became the constant butt of the jokes, the door mat, and the stepping stone. Even when I got older my body turned on me. My nose became more and more crooked, my hair became greasy and unimaginable, hands to large for arms, and legs to long for body. I was a mass of gloom and nothing could cure me.

I learned to hide in my books. I learned to find the things I was good at, the things that would give me the edge, the Dark Arts. I could do those, very well. My gift was my salvation, the thing that gave me an edge over Black and Potter. Of course they could hunt me down and hang me by my toes from the ceiling, but I could turn their toes black for months if I chose to. It was a sick joy that took the edge off the pain.

Finally in my sixth year I began the even out. My body caught up, my face filling out to match my features, my body catching up to the limps. Suddenly I was less clumsy, suddenly I was being looked at by girls, and suddenly I began to notice one. She was everything I was not, beautiful, outgoing, musical and lovely. She dressed in colors like I had never seen, never knew existed. She was a marvel, one that I could never have for she was Black's.

She was his. Why, that is something that will never be known. He could not treat her right if he wanted to. He was a constant flirt, even while holding her hand in his. She followed him like a puppy, and put out her colors. He reduced her to the black and white world that was everyone else. Alone she was bright and fiery, taking nothing from anyone, with him she was a shadow, bowing to his every whim. I longed to make her mine, to show her off, to make her blaze. So I did the one thing I could do, irritate her, and make sure she burned brightly for a few minutes a day. This was my gift to her.

Somehow my gift worked, or she finally saw Black for the fake he was. Soon I could feel her eyes on me. The bite she had when speaking to me had softened, and every now and then it was gone altogether. Her eyes were puzzled when we met across the Great Hall at meals. I dared not hope to think she was starting to see me as anything positive or romantic. I just held my breath and bided my time; there was still one year left.

That summer I thought of her often, she invaded my dreams, and every waking thought. My parents were pleased with me that summer. I had grown to the son they had always dreamed of. It was a blissful summer full of hope and new beginnings, I felt like my final year would be my shining glory. I arrived at Diagon Alley, a Head Boy pin stowed away safe in my bag. It was at Flourish and Blotts where I bumped into her.

She looked more beautiful thing I remembered, as clichéd as that sounds it was true. She was deep tan, strait brown hair curly and alive, her face a lively rosy color I had never seen it before. She did not say much, just dropped her eyes from more, gathered her spilt books and moved away quickly. My heart was pounding too hard for me to stop her. The sheer fact that she touched me sent me to a place I never knew was real.

It was not long into the term that I found her wandering in the dungeon after hours. She looked lost, very lost, in the darkness of the halls. She did not fit here in my world. At that moment, maybe I should have seen the mess this was going to become.

She looked up at me, and then threw herself at me, pressing against my body. I was shocked, my wand dropped to the ground and suddenly we were lost in darkness.

"Why? Why do you do this to me? How can you torture my waking moments?"

TBC