Tirza ran to the shelves and grabbed a book. Snuggling under her covers, she handed the book to Severus who sat on the bed beside her. "Once upon a time." he began reading. "Wait a minute! How many years ago was that? I asked mom once and she didn't know, do you know?" Snape's mind went blank. 'How the bloody hell would I know?' "It was 150 years ago." "Oh." She nodded. "Wow, I that seems like millions of years ago." Snape rolled his eyes and attempted to continue. "In a faraway kingdom, there lived a widowed gentleman and his lovely daughter Ella." "Wait! Were you alive 150 years ago, did you know Cinderella?" "No child, I am only in my late thirties." "Well, that's old too. Too bad you didn't know Cinderella though." Snape was already sick of reading bedtime stories. Snape continued reading with many interruptions as to the injustices of Cinderella sleeping in the attic and how the stepsisters ripped Cinderella's mother's dress and several questions about mice who could sew.
He came to the part in the story with the fairy godmother. "Bibbidi-bobidi- bo?" Snape sneered. "What kind of charm is that?" "Can you turn pumpkins into carriages?" Tirza asked. "No." "That sucks." He finally came to the end of the story. "And Cinderella and the Prince lived happily ever after." Snape closed the book, thankful it was done. "Do you think people can really live happily ever after?" Tirza asked. "'Cuz I don't." "Why not child?" Tirza rolled her eyes. "Cuz nobody can live happily ever after. There is no such thing." She told him softly as she looked away. Snape watched as a haunted look came over her face and in her eyes. He could tell something was wrong. "How do you know child?" He watched her eyes start to glisten with tears. "Bad things happen that make you sad. Sad things aren't supposed to happen in happily ever after." Tirza refused to say anymore on the subject and Snape reluctantly tucked the covers in around her. He left as though he was missing something; that he was missing the signs of what gave her that haunted look.