Tirza snuggled deep into Snape's safe arms. "And then he pulled out the fake wand and yelled crucio. I don't know what that means and daddy won't tell me, but I think it's bad." She finished relaying the story of how he attacked her and tried to use the curse. Dumbledore nodded solemnly and Tirza felt sad; all the twinkle was gone from the kind old wizard's eyes. "This is a very serious situation Tirza, and I am glad that you came to me. I promise you that I will take care of this." She nodded and smiled gratefully. "Now my dear, I am sure that you are hungry as it is time for breakfast. Why don't you go to eat? I wish to speak with your father privately and then we shall join you." She looked up at Snape, an inquisitive expression on her cute face. "Go on," Snape told her gently. She sighed and reluctantly slid off his lap. "Wait! Should I go in my pajamas?" Snape nodded; her pants and top pajamas were plaid and certainly nothing inappropriate. "Cool." With that, she turned to leave the office. Snape watched silently, an eyebrow raised, as Dumbledore quietly withdrew his wand from his robes and cast a charm on Tirza. "What was that?" he asked as soon as Tirza was out of earshot. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Something I learned in Cyprus. Tirza will now be protected from Mr. Malfoy at all times. If he comes within three feet of her, his motor skills will be severely impaired." Severus smiled in spite of himself. "Perhaps one should be placed on Malfoy for his safety; if I see him I might place an unforgivable on him." Dumbledore chuckled. "No, that would be much too easy. Wringing his neck with my bare hands would be much more enjoyable." "Calm down Severus, Mr. Malfoy will be dealt with. You have every right to be furious with him and using an unforgivable warrants the severest punishment." Dumbledore caught the gleam in Snape's eyes. "Short of killing him that is. He should be expelled."
Snape mused the idea for a moment. "Indeed he should be, but Lucius would send him to Durmstrang and then he would quickly be lost to the Dark Side. I think we should hand him over to Filch. He is always hopeful that the old punishments will be used again and keeps the chains in the dungeons well oiled just in case." Dumbledore ignored Snape's blood lust and continued. "The cane has not been officially banned. However, you would be the one to apply the strokes since you are the head of his house. Would you be able to be impartial?" "Of course not! It was MY DAUGHTER he tried to curse. I might in my anger lose count several times..." A small, evil smile slowly made its way across his face. "Although that might not be such a bad idea after all. Better yet would be to kick him out of Slytherin and put him into Gryffindor, where I am sure that many people would enjoy seeking their vengeance upon him." "Bring Mr. Malfoy here after breakfast, I am sending an owl to his father." Dumbledore told him. Severus nodded and stormed from the office.
"She's lying! Trying to get back at me because she was punished for setting off the dung bomb on me. Little brat!" Draco yelled. Snape scowled at him, but he didn't even flinch. "Mr. Malfoy, I believe she is telling the truth. How else would a child not raised in magic know about the Crucio curse?" Dumbledore asked. Draco's mind went blank as he tried to think of an answer. "Well, she's always hanging around with Granger and there's no telling what that know-it-all has said!" "Not uh!" Tirza yelled from her perch outside the office. Realizing her mistake, she clamped a hand over her mouth. Snape looked outside the door and glanced sternly at Tirza. "Hey, I wanna be here!" "No, I will tell you the decision later." She pouted, but Snape shook his head. "Severus, she does have a right to know what is going on." Dumbledore whispered. "Alright, but not a word out of you." She nodded and followed him into the office. Twenty minutes later the office door slammed open and all eyes turned to see who it was.
"Father?" Draco said his eyes wide. Tirza looked from Draco to Lucius to Draco again. "Ahh," she said. "Who are you?" Lucius asked. "I'm Tirza, but call me TJ." Lucius looked at the tiny girl with long raven ringlets and black eyes who was barely four feet tall. "THIS is the girl you attacked?" he turned angrily to Draco. "This tiny child?" "Hey!" Tirza said. Snape gently put his hand over her mouth, silencing anything else she might have said. "For attacking HER, you could be expelled!" Tirza scowled at Lucius, but he didn't notice. Draco nodded yes to each of the questions. "How could you disgrace our name by attacking and attempting an unforgivable on a child?" Draco sat in the chair, his skin ghostly white, eyes wide, not able to say anything as Lucius continued to rant. Snape took the opportunity to escort Tirza from the office, amid hushed protests. "I wanna watch him get yelled at." Snape shook his head. "Go back to the dungeons; I'll be down in a little while to check on you before I start classes." "So what has been decided about Draco's punishment?" Lucius asked as Severus returned. It was then he noticed the cane on Dumbledore's desk. "Ah, so you are not expelling him?" "Lucius, if he steps even a toe out of line, I will expel him on the spot. But this had been decided on by Severus and myself," Dumbledore said, indicating the cane. Lucius nodded, angry that Draco hadn't had the better sense than to try casting an unforgivable. Not that he didn't know how, just that it was going to ruin Lucius' image and cause rumors of him truly being on the Dark Side. Merlin could Draco be so idiotic at times! His blood boiling, he turned to glare at the frightened boy. He grabbed the cane from Dumbledore's desk and reached for Draco's arm. "Allow me to save you the energy." Dumbledore nodded and he and Severus left the office as Draco began to yell in protest.
Snape walked down the hallway towards the dungeons with Draco sniveling behind him. Snape did not feel the least bit sorry for the boy; he deserved everything his father gave him. Unfortunately, that took Snape's pleasure of being the one to do it. Of course he would have had to take a calming potion so he didn't cane the boy to death, but still it would have been thoroughly enjoyed. He spotted Tirza up head and called to her. "I asked you to go to our quarters." She shrugged as Snape caught up to where she was. "I took the wrong turn and got lost again." He glanced at his watch. "I sent you here fifteen minutes ago, have you been lost this whole time?" She nodded and giggled. As they neared Snape's classroom, Draco, stiff and sore, wasn't trailing so far behind them and was noticed by Tirza. "Hey, what's up with him? Why's he walking all funny?" She thought for a moment and her eyes grew wide. "Daddy, did you spank him?" Snape shook his head. "No. His father gave him ten strokes of the cane; he'll have trouble sitting for the next week." "What's a cane?" Snape explained its function to Tirza, who laughed hysterically and Snape looks at her sternly, raising an eyebrow. "You don't think it's so funny when it's YOUR bottom that is sore, young lady." Tirza's face turns several shades of red. "However, because he has been truly rotten to you, I will turn a blind eyes this once, and only this once, if you have to say something to him." Tirza's eyes light up and an evil grin like his own came over her face. "So make it good." He winked at her and turned to enter his classroom, his robes billowing around him. Tirza giggles to herself as Draco approaches the classroom. She grinned at the grimace on his face as he walked. "Serves you right, zebra ass!" she said as he passed her. Draco's face turned crimson, but after what he just went thought, he wasn't about to say anything back and merely shut the door behind him. Tirza opened the door just a bit and peaked inside as Draco made his way to his chair. "Owy!" he squealed as he sat down, gathering everyone's attention. Tirza began laughing hysterically again and accidentally leaned on the partially opened door. She fell into the classroom and all eyes turned to her. "Tirza," Snape warned. She blew him a kiss, then got up off the floor and shut the door, yelling "Au revoir gens!" Goyle poked Malfoy's shoulder. "Maybe she's cursing you again." "I don't care what she's doing!" Draco only cared about how much it hurt sitting on these stupid chairs.
Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven played over and over on the CD player. Tirza sat on the floor beside the boom box, her eyes closed, silently rocking back and forth. God she felt awful; she felt alone. She felt... darkness. She didn't know what time it was and she didn't care; all she knew was that she hurt and she was alone. Sure she could have gone and found her dad, but would have required energy, energy that she didn't have to spare. 'It'll probably be time for supper. Is he gonna notice that I'm not there? Or won't he even give a shit?' She hated the way her feeling went up and down; she knew he loved her but yet she didn't really believe it. She sniffled and blew her nose, adding the Kleenex to the growing pile beside her and pulled the blanket tighter around her. She wanted to cover up and hide. It was like there was some sort of mark on her and everyone knew her secret and they hated her for it. She used all her energy to keep from scrubbing her skin off; god was it tempting. It never made her feel better, but at least she felt like she was doing something about it. It really wasn't fair, the way these sudden moods and memories invaded her. All she wanted to do was shut them up, lock them away, but there was no escape. Tirza's eyes opened and groggily searched the room, looking for something, anything to help make the pain stop. She began digging through the cupboards, desperate. Finally her eyes found something familiar; she opened the top of the glass bottle and the smell made her nose tingle. 'I shouldn't do this,' she thought. 'But I want it to stop...' It was that hope that made her put her lips around the opening and drink. She gagged and coughed, but slowly a sort of buzzing peace filled her mind and the pain began to ease. Urged on by desperation, she drank more. And more.
Snape sat at the table in the Great Hall and scanned the Gryffindor table for Tirza's face. He didn't see her and was starting to grow anxious. She should have been there by now; he had been waiting ten minutes. He had been very busy with things in his office that adjoined the classroom and she had told him she was going to find Hermione after classes were out, but that was four hours ago. He walked quickly to the Gryffindor table, robes swishing behind him, and stopped at Hermione's seat. "Has Tirza been with you this afternoon?" Hermione shook her head. "No Professor, I haven't seen her since lunch." Without another word to Hermione he left the Great Hall, heading for the dungeons.
Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig von Beethoven continued to play over and over again and Snape could hear it as he reached his chambers. 'Calm down, you're panicking over nothing,' he admonished himself and opened the door. Only it wasn't nothing; Tirza was laying on the floor, wrapped in a blanket, a half empty bottle next to her. He rushed to her and picked up the bottle; brandy. It never had occurred to him to lock his small supply of brandy. He leaned over Tirza and patted her cheek. "Tirza, wake up. Come on." Snape gently shook her shoulders. She laid there for a few moments as he continued to shake her before finally waking up. Her eyes were glazed and her breath smelled of liquor. "Heyyy Daddyyy," she slurred, giving him a funny look. Snape was hardly amused. He turned off the boom box and propped her up on the couch. He went to a cabinet and pushed a few viles aside before seeing the one he wanted. He grabbed it and looked at Tirza, sitting there, giggling and hiccupping. His plan was to give her the potion to take away the effects of the alcohol, then yell at her and spank her for pulling a stunt like this. Snape sat beside her and handed her the vile. "Drink this quickly." She nodded and gulped down the potion. Within thirty seconds, the effects began to wear off. "Noooooo!" Tirza screamed. The buzzing peace was gone and the pain had returned. She burst unto tears. "Why did you do that?" "What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" Snape demanded, glaring at her. "You took it away and now it hurts." She covered herself entirely in the blanket and sobbed. Snape softened, realizing this wasn't some kind of prank, and pulled the bundle of blanket onto his lap. "Tirza, what has been happening this afternoon?" "Noo!" she screamed again. "You made it come back and know you're gonna yell at me!" He held her tighter in his arms. "I won't, I promise." "Everything just hits me and it's like my head is too small and it feels like pain, pressure on me," she said softly between sobs. "It wouldn't go away. It hurt so much and I felt like I could barely move. I wanted to get you, but I couldn't." He dried the little face that appeared out a small opening of the blanket and kissed it. "I'm here now."
Tirza buried her face into his chest for a few moments before continuing. "I wanted to scrub my skin off; I wanted to hurt myself, anything to make it go away. I kept playing my song," Snape thought of the Beethoven song he had heard. "Because it's like it understands and everything. I tried to wait for it to go away because it does after a while, but it just wouldn't. I was looking for something to help and I saw the bottle and though maybe it was a potion and I drank a little and it felt funny and then I couldn't feel anything so I drank more." Tears continued to run down her face and he held her tight. "I didn't mean to be bad, don't be mad at me!" "I'm not honey, you were upset and it was an accident, but I am going to lock up those bottles, I don't want you into those anymore." She nodded. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm so stupid!" Snape put a finger over her mouth. "That is not true, don't ever think that. You're alright, I'm here now." He continued to whisper comforting things to her as her tears began to stop. Snape looked down at her once she had calmed down and realized she had fallen asleep. He chuckled and kissed her cheek, than glanced at his watch; it was only 7:30. Still holding her in his arms, Snape made his way towards his potions cabinet, grabbing a vile of Dreamless Sleep potion and urged her to drink it. She did and never even stirred. Snape carried her into her room and tucked the covers in around her and kissed her again. 'At least for the night she'll be free from these things.'
Tirza was her happy little self the next day. She giggled at Malfoy as he yelped every time he tried to sit. Even Snape had to admit to himself that it was amusing and no one deserved it more. "See aren't the tribbles cute?" She snuggled with Snape on the couch after having convinced him that he HAD to see the Star Trek tribbles episode. Jinn Jinn poked her nose out from under the blanket, where she kept playing, glad Snape didn't yell every time she was near him. "Jinn Jinn thinks they're cute too." "Well, they are quite interesting," Snape replied. Tirza giggled. "I think you have issues with the word cute!" "Do not." "Do to." "Do not." "Do to! Do to! Do to!" Snape chuckled and tickled her tummy, causing her to laugh in delight. Jinn Jinn hopped off the couch and stretched out underneath it; they were just too noisy! "Daddy, can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Umm... umm... are you ever gonna use the cane on me?" She blushed and ducked her head. "Whatever made you think I would?" Snape asked. "Dunno," she said, shrugging. "Well the answer is no, I really think it's much too harsh a punishment." Tirza raised an eyebrow at him, mimicking him to a tee. "But weren't' you gonna use it on Malfoy?" Snape smiled. "That is different; he's not my child and he is someone who truly deserved it." Tirza let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know! I was worried! And, can I have some of that potion that takes away my dreams when Hermione sleeps over? I don't want to wake up with bad dreams, it would ruin everything." Tirza looked up at him with pleading eyes; Snape wondered how he ever managed to say no to her. He nodded. "Thanks dad, you're really nice, no matter what all the kids think." Snape chuckled and kissed her forehead