"Daddy, can't I wear make up? Please? I wanna be pretty!" Tirza begged. "You are beautiful; why do you want to wear make up?" Snape asked. "You really think I'm pretty?" He nodded. "I wanna wear it though!" "Tirza, I really do not think that a ten year old needs makeup." "But I'm almost eleven!" He chuckled; of course she was almost eleven, her birthday was only ten months away. "The answer is no." She scowled at him. "Daddy, why can't you cooperate? I am trying to do something here and you are gonna ruin it!" She flopped down onto the couch and stuck her tongue out at him. Snape shook his head; she really was cranky when she hadn't slept! "And just what are you trying to do?" She folded her arms across her chest. "None of your business! I'm going to find Hermione, only girls understand!" She stomped out of the dungeons.
As usual, Hermione was found in the library. Tirza stalked to the table that was overflowing with some 'light reading' and sat on a chair. "You don't look happy. What's wrong?" Hermione asked. "My dad is stupid." Hermione had never thought of Snape as stupid; nasty yes, but he was very intelligent. "How so?" Tirza sighed. "I wanna be pretty and wear makeup and he won't let me because he's stupid." Hermione smiled at her. "Ever heard of natural beauty? You are very pretty, you truly wouldn't need makeup. It must be from your mother." The little girl nodded and started to twirl strands of her hair into knots. "My mom was really really beautiful," she said quietly. "Why do you want to use makeup?" A thought suddenly struck Hermione. "Are you trying to impress someone?" Tirza's mind instantly wandered to Oliver and she nodded. Hermione giggled. "Who?" "Can't tell; it's a secret for now. Sometime I will I promise." Hermione's mind raced as she thought of all the possibilities for Tirza's crush. "Is it Harry?" Tirza giggled loudly, earning the girls a stern look from Madame Pince. "No; Harry's cool and all, but it's not him." "Come on, you have to tell me!" "My lips are sealed," Tirza told her and winked. Suddenly Tirza slapped her forehead. "God, I forgot Jinn Jinn!" "What's a Jinn Jinn?" Hermione asked. "My bunny, she'll be so lonely! Ya wanna come with me and see her? She's really cute." Hermione nodded and followed Tirza from the library.
Hermione's pace slowed as they neared the entrance to Snape's chambers. "Maybe I shouldn't go in. He might get mad." Tirza shook her head. "Hermione, you're my friend and this is where I live so you are very welcome to come in. Besides, despite my dad's vampire look he won't bite your neck and suck out your blood, ok?" Hermione giggled and Tirza turned to give the password. "Look he's not even here!" She led Hermione to her room. "Hello baby," she greeted Jinn Jinn. The rabbit was contentedly eating her food and could have cared less that she was not brought on the trip to the library. "Aw, she's sweet. Hello bunny; youz a pretty wittle bunny," Hermione cooed. Jinn Jinn eagerly accepted the attention from the two girls, licking their hands as they pet her. "She licked you, that mean she likes ya." Tirza leaned down and kissed Jinn Jinn's head. "Such a sweet girl." Jinn Jinn licked Tirza few more times, and then hopped onto Hermione's lap. "Is she going to bite?" "Nah; she's really gentle. At least you didn't yell when she hopped on ya." Hermione giggled. "Who yelled?" "My dad," Tirza told her. "Everytime Jinn Jinn jumps on his lap for a pet he's like 'Tirza your rabbit is on me again! Take her away!'" Both girls laughed so hard at Tirza's great impression of Snape that their eyes filled with tears. While they laughed, Snape's head suddenly poked inside Tirza's room, and Hermione screamed. "Lovely to see you as well Miss Granger," he sneered. He held up a piece of parchment with several Jinn Jinn 'autographs'. "Your rabbit has been into my papers again." Tirza giggled at the ragged parchment. "Not her fault you put them where she can jump and eat them. Now go away, Mione and I are hangin." He shook his head and closed the door. "Wanna watch Tom and Jerry?" Tirza asked. Hermione nodded eagerly. "I love that cartoon!" Tirza hugged the girl tight. "Thank god! Someone who finally knows what the hell I'm talking about!"
Tirza ran to the teachers lounge and burst into the room. Snape raised a dark eyebrow at her and she caught her breath. "I didn't hear a knock." "That's cuz I didn't." The teachers chuckled. "Come in dear; have a seat and catch your breath," Madame Hooch invited. The little girl nodded and took a seat beside her. "Pumpkin juice dear?" Tirza looked horrified. "Good god no; but do you have some root beer?" Madame Hooch smiled and turned the offensive liquid into the more welcome root beer. Tirza took a sip and smiled. "Ah, wonderful! Thanks!" She slowly finished her drink as the teachers chatted, and then she hesitantly crossed the room and crawled onto Snape's lap. "Daddy, I have something I wanna ask you." He nodded and she snuggled against his chest. "Can Hermione and me have a sleepover?" "Hermione and I," Snape corrected. Her ebony eyes went wide. "You want to have a sleepover with Hermione? Ew!" The room erupted with laughter and Snape shot them all a look of death. "No, I meant that you say Hermione and I, not Hermione and me." "Oh; that's good, I was scared for a minute! So can we?" "Why do you want a 'sleepover'?" he asked. She giggled. "They're lots and lots of fun. Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" "Severus hosting a sleepover? Next thing you know he'll invite us all to tea and crumpets an afternoon," McGonagall laughed. Snape ignored her, keeping his attention on Tirza. "And when do you propose to have this sleepover?" "Saturday night looks good." He thought for a moment; Granger certainly wasn't his favorite person in the world and she was such a blasted know-it- all, but would it be worth putting up with her so Tirza could have a friend, especially one that was rarely involved in pranks? "I shall think about it. I will let you know by bedtime, alright?" "Yippy!" She smothered him with kisses, and then bounced out of the room. "Serves you right Severus," McGonagall said. "What are you talking about Minerva?" "As cantankerous and nasty as you can be, it serves you right to have a daughter who is all sunshine and smiles!"
"Tirza, you should start getting ready for bed." Tirza looked up him from where she sat on the couch with Jinn Jinn, surrounded by a blanket. "I'm hungry," she whined. "Of course; any excuse to stay up, am I correct?" She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "Really, I'm hungry. Can we go find something to eat?" Snape nodded and Tirza put Jinn Jinn in her cage and followed him to the kitchens. "Ah, little missy!" the elves greeted her. "Can I have some oatmeal with cinnamon and milk? Please?" The elves gladly prepared her oatmeal for her. "You guys are awesome!" Tirza said as she breathed in the heavenly smelling oatmeal. Settling back on the couch with the blanket she slowly started eating. "Tirza, do not plan on taking an hour to finish your oatmeal," Snape warned. She giggled. "I won't. Ya know one of these days I'm gonna show the elves how to make a Big Mac. I even memorized the little song thing from the commercial. Wanna hear it?" He nodded absentmindedly. "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion on a sesame seed bun!" She bowed to an invisible audience. "Thank you, thank you; I'll be here all week!" Snape chuckled. "So can I have the sleepover?" Snape groaned; he had hoped she'd forget and he'd be spared the torture. "Yes, you may have your sleepover." Tirza flashed him a smile and blew him a kiss. "You're so cool daddy!"
She rolled over in her bed and curled into a ball, shaking. Her blankets slid to the floor as she started to kick her legs. "Noooooooo!" she screamed. "Stop! Get away!" Snape rushed to her side and tried to shake her awake. "Brian... Draco, stop please! I don't want to!" her voice was becoming hoarse from screaming. Snape's blood went cold as she said the name of the boy; she had never wanted to think his name. But why was she talking about Draco? What did he have to do with her nightmare? He continued to shake her. "Come on Tirza, wake up baby. Daddy's here," he whispered soothingly into her ear. "Draco stop! I can't!" she continued to yell. "Tirza!" Snape yelled. Suddenly her eyes popped open and wildly looked around the room before focusing on Snape. "Daddy, hold me," she whispered. He cradled her in his arms and rocked her like an infant. "Why can't it stop? Why can't the dreams go away?" she asked, sobbing. "I do not know; I wish I could make them go away," Snape told her. He kissed her forehead as she held onto him for dear life. Slowly her sobs subsided and she stopped shaking; Snape still held her in his arms. "I need to ask you something." She rubbed her eyes with her fist and nodded. "Before I was able to wake you up, you were screaming for it to stop and you mentioned Malfoy." Snape could feel her little body stiffen up. "Why were you screaming about him?" She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Please Tirza, tell me. If he is doing... these kinds of things to you, I need to know so I can put a stop to it. She took a deep breath. "Do you remember that night when I was crying in the library?" Her voice shook. "And I told you it was the flashbacks?" He nodded and continued to rock her. "When I left the Great Hall that night, I was feeling icky and threw up. Draco was outside waiting for me. He punched me and sat on me and pinned me down. I couldn't move and he was smiling all evil at me." Tears started running down her face again. "It felt just like... and I was so scared daddy. I told him to stop but he wouldn't leave me alone. Things started to get dark because of the flashbacks and then I don't remember anything until it stopped. Nobody was around; I don't know where Draco went. So I just got up and went to the library." Snape's blood was boiling. "Has he ever done or said anything else?"
Tirza wiped her face and snuggled deeper in Snape's safe arms. "Well he keeps calling me 'mudblood' and I don't know what that means, but knowing him, it isn't nice." He kissed her forehead. "It's not something that civilized people say." "What's civilized? Do you mean like nice people?" Snape nodded. "Well not always nice people, but people that are polite." "But what does it mean? Am I a mudblood?" "It means a witch or wizard that was born to Muggle parents. Your mother was a witch and all of her family was magical as mine is." "Oh." Tirza thought for a moment as she absorbed the information. "Like Hermione was born to Muggle parents?" "Yes. There's nothing wrong with having Muggle parents, though some, like the Malfoys, think there is. "There's another word I don't understand that Draco said to me. It was like crud-o or cruck-o or something," she told him. Snape continued to rock her as he tried to figure out what the word was; it suddenly hit him. "Did he say Crucio?" "That sounds right." Snape was ready to kill Malfoy. "When did he say this to you?" Tirza blushed. "When he had the fake wand and was pointing it at me," she started. Snape raised an eyebrow and she blushed an even deeper shade of crimson. "After the dung bomb exploded, he yelled that word when he pointed the fake wand at me, but nothing happened. What does it mean daddy?" A murderous look of anger swept across Snape's face. "It is something very horrible, something Malfoy should never say to you or anybody." Tirza caught the look on his face and cringed. "Am I in trouble?" "No." Her face relaxed. "Is Draco?" "Oh yes, in more trouble than you can possibly imagine." He glanced at the clock; it was just after 5 and he knew Dumbledore was an early riser. "We're going to see the headmaster and you will need to tell him everything you just told me, alright?"
Tirza sat nervously on Snape's lap in Dumbledore's office. Snape was right; the old wizard had been up and dressed for nearly an hour. "Lemon drop?" Tirza nodded and popped one in her mouth; Snape politely refused. "Now my dear, tell me what has dragged you out of bed at this hour of the morning."