Tirza sat on a tall stool in Snape's classroom, wearing faded jeans and a paint splattered t-shirt. Snape sat beside her, slowly handing her the ingredients for a Dreamless Sleep potion. "Only a small drop Tirza." His face showed signs of stress; he was clearly thinking this was a bad idea. Tirza's thin finger glided down the page in the schoolbook to find the next item to be added. "I think it's done," she told him. She looked at him, her dark eyes full of excitement. "Is it right?" Snape was amazed; it was in fact right! Every item had been added in correct order and amount. "You did well Tirza." A smile lit her face. "Yea!" Snape wondered how it was that a ten year old child made the potion without error when half of his first years could not. He began bottling the potion for future use. "Can I do another one? Pretty please?" She stuck out her lower lip and used her best puppy eyes. "Alright, go to page 4 and read the instructions," Snape sighed and began gathering the ingredients needed.
Under Snape's watchful eyes, Tirza worked a potion that battled fatigue. She was more confident this time as she added things and worked more quickly. Suddenly she froze. "Umm, umm, I think I put too much wormwood in," Tirza told him as the potion started to bubble furiously. Before Snape had time to react, the cauldron exploded, sending Tirza flying from her stool into the wall and covering her and Snape in a sticky purple liquid. Snape was absolutely horrified; that made three cauldrons broken in one day, first Neville, then Pansy and Draco, now Tirza. "Oww," Tirza moaned, breaking Snape out of mourning for his cauldrons. She was sitting on the floor, blood flowing down her face from a gash on her forehead. She tried to hold a hand over the gash to stop the bleeding; Snape rushed to her side. "Move your hand, I need to see." She shook her head no, so he pushed her hand away. He pressed a clean corner of his robe against the gash, trying to stop the bleeding. "Ow, that hurts!" Tirza whined and tried to push his hands away. "Sit still child," he said as he picked her up. "Bloody Merlin, are you always this way, or did you become accident prone for my benefit?" She stuck her tongue out at him and he hurriedly brought her to the hospital wing.
"Gracious child, the trouble you get into," Madame Pompfrey scolded as she cleaned Tirza's cut. "OW!" Tirza yelled. She and Snape were still covered with the potion and made quite an amusing site; Poppy would have laughed, but she was much to concerned with the nasty gash on the little girl's forehead. "She does seem to be attracted to trouble," Snape replied. "Well, I remember her mother and she was always here being patched up for something too. And as I recall, you had plenty of trips here as well, Severus," Poppy stated, causing Snape to scowl. "My mom was always getting hurt, too?" Tirza asked. Poppy nodded. "Yes, she was here nearly every day. Potions was her worst class it seemed. Almost daily she caused something to explode, much to the despair of the Potion's master. She was not unlike our Neville Longbottom." Tirza giggled. "See dad, it's not just for you, it's in my blood!" Snape did not find that comforting, dreading the thought of her turning out to be another Neville Longbottom. Within a few moments, the gash was cleaned and stitched. "Now child, I don't want to see you back here for at least three days. Can you keep yourself from injury for three days?" Poppy asked, looking at Tirza sternly. Tirza nodded. "Well, let us hope so." She released Tirza who bounced out of the room with Snape behind her. 'She has to be the most energetic child that has ever lived,' he thought. They returned to the dungeon to clean up the mess and change their clothes.
"Can I make some more potions?" Tirza asked as she scrubbed the dungeon floor. "Absolutely not," Snape told her firmly. "Aw, come on man." "No!" She frowned. "If you can behave yourself, you can accompany me to Diagon Alley to purchase a few new cauldrons." She smiled. "Oh I love shopping!" Snape, who was reaching for floo powder stopped suddenly. 'Last thing I need is her to say the wrong place and I have to spend hours searching for her,' he thought. "I think we'll ride my broom there. It will be slower but safer. And I will need to go to the bank as well. Go change your clothes; put on something warm," he told her. She flashed him a smile and ran off to her room. Snape shook his head at her endless energy and went to his room to find clean robes.
Snape positioned Tirza in front of him on the broom. "Hold tightly and do not wiggle so much." She nodded and leaned back into him as they took off. Her hair was in braids that in whipped in the wind almost slapping Snape in the face and her cheeks were flushed with excitement. Tirza looked down at the ground. "Dude, this is almost like an airplane, but way cooler!" "Airplane?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow. "Haven't you been on an airplane?" "No." "Well, you aren't missing much; tiny bathrooms, tiny seats and bad food. This is a way better way to get someplace," she told him. "You know, you're real good at this. Can you teach me?" "When I feel you are ready I will teach you," Snape replied. "Cool. Ya think I'll be ready tomorrow?" she asked excitedly. "No." "How about the day after that?" "No." "What about the day after that?" Snape sighed, growing exasperated. "I will tell you when you are ready, alright?" She sighed and nodded.
It wasn't long before Snape landed in front of Gringotts Wizard Bank. Tirza looked up at the massive building, awe struck. "Whoa. This is a bank?" Snape nodded and lead her inside. They were escorted by a goblin to Snape's vault and Snape took out twenty gold coins. "Well, I need three new cauldrons. We will find those first and then look around, alright?" he told her as they stepped outside. Tirza hadn't heard a thing he said; she was standing almost in the middle of the street, her wide, dark eyes taking in every detail of the alley. "Tirza," he called. She still just stood there. "Tirza!" Snape grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the road. "Stay with me child, I don't want you to get lost; Merlin knows what kind of trouble you would get into!" Tirza didn't say a word as he continued to drag her along. "TIRZA!" She blinked. "Huh? What?" Snape shook his head. "Do I have your undivided attention now?" "Yeah, sure." "Stay close so you don't get lost," he told her. He released her hand and strode to a nearby shop, his robes billowing behind him; Tirza ran to keep up with Snape.