Tirza sat beside Snape at breakfast. She waved to Ron, Harry, Hermione and Wood; she caught Malfoy's eye and stuck her tongue out at him. "You are only going to make him hate you more if you do that," Snape told her. McGonagall smiled. "Having problems with Malfoy?" "He seems bent on getting my daughter back for beating him up that night." McGonagall nodded. "Now you see the Malfoy that the rest of us see." Snape ignored her. "Finish your breakfast Tirza. I have work to do in my classroom." Tirza rolled her eyes. "Have you ever noticed he has like no patience?" she asked McGonagall, who chuckled. "Tirza," Snape said warningly. "Well you don't." "That is plenty young lady, eat your breakfast." "Do you enjoy bothering your father?" McGonagall asked her. "Well he's like way to uptight. I am trying to loosen him up and make him stop looking like a vampire." Tirza eyed Snape. "So far it's not working." "He reminds you of a vampire?" McGonagall asked. "Yep. You ever seen the original Dracula movie with Boris Karloff, I think it is? Sometimes dad looks just like that." McGonagall and the rest of the teachers burst out laughing; all except Sybill Trelawney, who still felt insulted that the little girl doubted her abilities, and Snape, who was fighting the urge to magically keep Tirza from talking.
Snape moved Tirza's TV/VCR into his office next to the classroom and she brought videos and coloring books. "Now, I will be checking in on you occasionally. I wish for you to be quiet; I cannot have you disturbing my class, understand?" "Can't I watch you make potions?" "No. I want you to stay in here," he told her. "Okay, okay, if you're gonna be pissy about it." He left the door between the two rooms slightly ajar. Tirza could hear kids filing into the classroom and turned on a video, plugging in her headphones to keep the noise down. I Dream of Jeannie kept her company and she felt glad that she wasn't in school at the moment. Her dad had mentioned something about home schooling until next year, but so far that had not amounted to anything.
After watching two episodes of I Dream of Jeannie, and her favorite Star Trek episode, the one with the tribbles, boredom set in on Tirza. She shut off her TV and tried coloring and drawing, but neither could hold her attention. What she really wanted to do was watch the Potions class. 'No, I can't. If he sees me he'll be all pissy.' She tried to talk herself out of it, but curiosity won the battle. She grabbed a pillow from her bed and scooted on it towards the door. She stopped and peeked through; Snape was giving instructions, looking away from her. 'Don't let the door creak,' Tirza prayed as she opened the door wider. She scooted on her pillow so that she could lay on it and have her head part way out of the door to watch. She saw Ron and smiled; he returned the smile, then nudged Harry and Hermione, who both saw her and smiled. She lay there and watched for a few minutes as the groups were putting in ingredients.
A sound like a firecracker, followed by a puff of smoke caught her attention. She looked at the boy whose cauldron had exploded; he was covered with a red liquid and his face was gray from the smoke. "Mr. Longbottom, your stupidity never ceases to amaze me." Tirza's head jerked at the sound of her father's very angry voice. Snape was scowling at the boy who looked like he might faint. "This is a very simple potion; there is no reason why it should not have been successful. Are you paying attention when I give the instructions? Are you following them in your book?" Snape yelled. "You, Mr. Longbottom, are a hopeless cause. Clean that up! NOW!" Tirza left bad for the boy who was fighting the tears welled in his eyes. 'Well my dad sure sucks as a teacher,' she thought. 'I can tell home school will be oh so much fun,' She continued to watch the students work on their potions as Snape scowled at the Gryffindors. Her eyes suddenly caught a familiar face: Malfoy. He caught her eye at the same time; if looks could kill, his would have killed Tirza. In return she stuck her tongue out at him. His face screwed up in anger. Instead of concentrating on which ingredient to add next, he continued to watch her. "Draco, not that one," Pansy Parkinson said. BOOM! The explosion from her and Draco's cauldron was much worse than the one from Neville's.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Parkinson, why are you not paying attention to your potion!" Snape thundered. "SHE distracted me!" Malfoy said, pointing to the door. Tirza frantically tried scooting her pillow back and out of site. "Well, well, we seem to have a visitor," Snape sneered. She looked at his scowling face, not sure what to say. He strode over to her, towering above her. "Did I or did I not tell you that you had to stay in my office?" "Well, um," she stammered. All eyes in the Potions class were on her and Snape. "Answer me young lady!" "You told me to stay in your office," Tirza whispered. "Tell me child, what Potion is made by mixing asphodel and wormwood?" Her eyes went wide. "Ass-of-what?!" Snape shook his head. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" She started to fidget under his stern eyes. "Um, monks wear hoods on their robes and wolfs don't?" "Until you know the correct answers, you cannot be in this class understood?" he told her. Tirza nodded. "Now go help Malfoy and Parkinson clean up that mess." "Are you crazy? Dude, this is my favorite shirt! I'm not gonna get who-the-hell-knows-what on it!" she retorted. The entire class burst out laughing. Snape turned to face the class. "Silence! Or every one of you will have detention!" It was instantly silent. "Tirza, do what I say this instant." "Nope, I don't want to ruin my shirt." He leaned down to her level and looked her in the eye. "Tirza Jade, if you aren't moving in three seconds, I will do something that you will regret." His voice was low and dangerous. She stomped her foot. "Fine!"
"Aw, did the little girl get in trouble with her daddy?" Malfoy whispered in her ear. "Screw you." "Ooh, sounds like someone needs her dirty mouth washed out with soap. Maybe I should tell your daddy on you." Tirza rolled her eyes. Draco grabbed her wrist. "Watch out little girl. Daddy won't always be around to protect you. Watch your back because I'm going to get you one of these days." "Kiss my ass Malfoy!" she threw her rag in his face and stormed out of the room. Snape turned to his class. "Continue working on your potions, I want absolute silence." He decided to deal with Tirza later.
When he class was dismissed an hour later, Snape burst into his office. "That was a nice stunt you pulled!" "Whatever man!" Snape glowered at her. "I am your father and a teacher at this school. You need to show me respect in front of my students!" Tirza's eyes blazed. "Well tell your precious student not to make threats!" "What you said to Malfoy aside, I asked you to stay in here and not disturb my class," he thundered. "I wasn't! I just wanted to watch." "What you did was deliberately disobey me and disrupted my class. I will not allow that young lady!" Tirza's lower lip started to tremble. "What are you going to do to me?" "I feel like giving you the spanking of your life, but I won't. I cannot have this happen again Tirza. If it does, I will spank you," he told her sternly. "So what are you going to do to me?" Snape thought for a moment before answering. "You will be sent to bed an hour early." She sighed. "That sucks." He shook his head and took a deep breath.
After eating, Tirza rushed to the Gryffindor table. "Um, Oliver. Can, I um, ask you a favor?" she said blushing. He smiled. "Of course." "Can you show me where the library is? I have some research to do." Oliver left her at the library and headed for his next class. Tirza combed the shelves, grabbing an armload of books on potions and almost tipped over before reaching a desk. "What are you up to?" Tirza looked up and saw Hermione. "Hi! Don't you have class?" Hermione shook her head. "This is my study period and I like to work here because it is quiet." She looked at the piles of books that were almost bigger than Tirza. "What is all this?" "Well, I want to find the answers to those questions my dad asked me earlier and I wasn't sure where to look so I grabbed everything I could." Hermione smiled. "I can help you with that." "Just show me which books to use and let me find the answers myself," Tirza told Hermione as she began going through the pile of books.
"Here you are." Tirza looked up to see her dad standing in front of her. He looked at the piles of books on Hogwarts, magical creatures and history. "Been busy?" She nodded. "Yep, and I know the answers to your questions. Asphodel and wormwood make a potion called The Living Death and monkshood and wolf bane are the same plant," she announced proudly. "I am impressed." "Can I be in your class now?" He shook his head. "No, but I will teach you some simple potions if you'd like." Tirza smiled. "Really? When?" "I have no classes left this afternoon, so right now seems like a good time." "Yea!" Tirza yelled before remembering she was in the library. Snape shook his head. Tirza grabbed five books from her piles. "I wanna check these out, and then let's go."