Chapter 7 - 7

Oliver Wood gently lowered Tirza and himself to the ground. She tried to stand up, but was too wobbly. Wood held her up and helped her to walk towards Hermione and the boys who each had a look of horror on their face. "Hey guys, I'm okay, don't look so worried," she told them. Then Tirza saw the source of their worry; her father was charging towards them with a horrifying scowl on his face. "What the bloody hell is going on here?" he demanded. Even Tirza was speechless. "Why in Merlin's name was Tirza flying?" Snape turned his scowl towards Tirza, looking for an answer, and Tirza shrank back against Wood. "Um. well. see I wanted to learn to fly a broom like Harry and asked him to teach me." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Snape was hardly able to control himself. "What were you thinking Potter? She could have been killed! And why didn't you two try to stop him?"

"I didn't mean for her to get hurt. She really seemed to want to and I didn't think she'd be another Neville," Harry told him. As the look on Snape's face grew darker, he realized maybe he shouldn't have compared TJ to Neville. "Did it ever occur to any of you that Tirza has had no proper training in anything to do with the wizard world? Did you even stop to think of the consequences?" They all fell silent, knowing it was best to let Snape finish. Finally Tirza spoke up. "It's not Harry's fault! Or anybody's fault! It was an accident." "An accident that should never have happened!" Snape shouted. "Oh my gosh! Look, I'm not dead or anything so just give it a rest and quit yelling already. It's not like they were trying to kill me!" she shouted back.

Ron, Hermione, Harry and even Wood were surprised at Tirza who was brave enough to talk back to Snape. "It was immature and irresponsible! Of course, what else could I expect from you three?" he sneered. "That's not fair! They're my friends!" "Well, the truth can hurt." Tirza rolled her eyes. "Oh for the love of god, shut up!" "Daughter or no, I think he's gonna kill her," Harry whispered. Snape turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Get out of my sight before I do something I may regret." Grateful for an escape, they took off running. "And you are coming with me." He took Tirza's arm and started dragging her from the field.

Snape slammed the door of his quarters closed. "Don't you ever speak to me that way again!" he thundered. "Well how come you are the only one who gets to be nasty?" "Why did you fly in the first place child?" Tirza sighed. "Cuz it looked like fun and Harry was so good at it. Who else was I gonna ask?" She flopped onto the couch, giving him a nasty look as she did it. "You could have come to me, child." She laughed. "You were too busy to show me around so I figured you'd be pissed if I bothered you!" Snape sighed; he had in fact set himself up for that. "I would rather see you ask me than get yourself killed!" "So, will you teach me to fly?" she asked. "No, it's too dangerous." Tirza rolled her eyes. "Well if you are done throwing a tantrum, I'm gonna find my friends." Snape folded his arms across his chest. "Oh no you're not. You child, are attracted to trouble; you're staying here where I can keep an eye on you."

She stomped her foot in protest. "What the fuck am I supposed to do while you play with your papers?" Snape glared at her. "Young lady, I warned you about that kind of language." He started walking towards her. "So what are you gonna do about it? Go all insane and spank me or something?" She started backing away, her bravado failing. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but I'll save that suggestion for later." 'Shit, what did I get myself into now,' she thought.