Screams coming from the common room woke Draco at 6:30 on Sunday morning. He grumbled to himself about people who enjoyed getting up earlier and carefully rolled over in bed. He was relieved to find it much easier to put pressure on his bottom. Deciding to investigate the reasons for all the screaming, Draco pulled on his green bathrobe and padded in his bare feet towards the door. He opened it and stepped out; he suddenly felt something luke warm pool on his head and seconds later was covered in honey. He cursed loudly, his crumpled hair stuck in its odd fashion by the honey, his feet wanting to stick to the floor. With a great amount of energy, Draco managed to step out of the sticky pool at his feet just as Crabbe came up behind him and avoided the stickiness that was his leader, heading for the common room. "Whoa!" Crabbe yelled as he slid on the marbles and landed hard on the cold floor, marbles scattering everywhere. Draco slowly made his way into the common room and began to feel nauseous. "What is that horrid smell?" he asked. It was then he noticed a white substance had been smeared on the backs of the couches and chairs; his eyes then drifted to the two girls that sat on one of the couches, crying. "What is wrong with you two?" Draco demanded. "We're stuck!" The two girls went on to explain how they sat down and now they were glued to the cushions. Shaking his head, he looked around the room, his eyes taking in the decorative pink silly string and toilet paper. Soon more people began to gather and several more traps went off. Goyle managed to set of the trap that covered him in flour, and then doused him in water, the two mixing to make a paste like substance. A scream rang out from the girls dorms. "Sounds like Pansy," Draco muttered and made his way toward that direction. Pansy Parkinson stood there in the hallway just outside her door covered in chocolate sauce, stomping her foot at the fact that this happened to HER and no to someone else. More shouts came from the common room as invisible traps were activated and rolls of toilet paper on strings came flying, knocking people in the head. The best yet was when a sixth year girl was covered with pink dye.
Loud banging reached Snape's ears as he lay in bed still sleeping. He tried to ignore it, but the knocking was becoming louder and was joined by shouts of "Professor Snape!" Grabbing his dressing robe, he headed for the door and was met by a very upset Slytherin boy. "Sir, something's happened in the common room!" The boy continued talking very quickly and all Snape could catch was something about being stuck and traps. "Go back to the common room, I'll be there in a moment," Snape told the boy. He closed the door and headed for Tirza's room and gently shook the little girl's shoulders. Tirza blinked several times and then yawned. "Something has happened in the common room and I must go and see what all the fuss is about." Tirza nodded absentmindedly and pulled the covers back over her head. A few minutes after Snape left, what he had said began to dawn on Tirza and she giggled. Unwrapping herself from the sleeping bag, she woke Hermione. "Someone just came to get dad because of all the stuff in the common room!" The girls giggled, imagining the chaos. "Let's go watch," Tirza said. Hermione shook her head. "Snape'll wonder why we would care what was wrong with Slytherins; we don't want to make him suspicious." Tirza stuck her lower lip out in a pout, even though she knew Hermione was right.
Snape was nearly overpowered by the smell as he entered the common room and took in the chaos around him. His stress level went through the roof as his brain registered what he was seeing: flying toilet paper rolls, things covered in pink string, marbles all over the floor, a girl dyed pink, Malfoy covered in honey and Pansy Parkinson covered in chocolate. The worst was the two girls that were glued to the cushions who could do nothing but cry. "SILENCE!" he yelled. Within seconds the room was totally quiet; at least a girl slipped on the marbles. Snape pulled out his wand and cast a spell to take care of the smell, then ordered those covered in various substances to go shower and sent the girl dyed pink to see Madame Pompfrey. Within minutes, he had disarmed all the traps and had cleared them from the room. He turned to the girls and had to use several different spells before they were unstuck and it took several more to get rid of the pink string. Everything in order, Snape turned to those still in the room. "Who did this?" he thundered. Everyone shrugged. "It was all here when we woke up," a girl piped up. No one could come up with an explanation of how all this had happened. Snape, however, immediately thought of Fred and George and decided them the likely suspects. He was determined that this time he would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was them and get them out of Hogwarts for good; sabotage and vandalism were grounds for expulsion. Once the situation was in hand, he turned and stormed from the room.
Snape returned to his chambers and was greeted with giggles and squeals from Tirza's room. Not in the mood for excessive noise, he burst into her room. Hermione and Tirza stopped in their tracks; each was holding a pillow and feathers covered the room. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" "Pillow fighting," Tirza answered. He used to wand to restore the feathers to their pillows. "I DO NOT want to clean up another mess today; find something else to do!" He left the room, slamming the door behind him. Both girls winced as the door slammed. "Ooh, he ain't happy," Tirza commented. Hermione nodded. "We should get dressed and go to breakfast, since we're already up." Both girls began rolling up their sleeping bags and Jinn Jinn scooted out from under the bed, where she had been hiding from the pillow fight. As Hermione and Tirza headed for the bathroom to brush their teeth, Jinn Jinn ran from the room and scooted under Snape's desk, stretching out near his feet. Snape felt an odd, wet sensation of his foot and looked under the desk; Jinn Jinn was happily licking his foot, and then stretched out again. "Happy to be with someone quiet?" he asked, petting the rabbit. "I don't blame you."
After breakfast, Fred and George were summoned to Snape's office. "As much as we'd like to take credit Professor, it really wasn't us," George said. "Yeah, pink isn't our color." Immediately Fred and George thought of whose color was pink; Tirza must be at it again. Over their dead bodies though were they going to get her into trouble, sweet little kid; a kid after their own prankster hearts. Fred spoke up. "Alright Professor, you caught us, no sense in denying it. If only we had been there to see it all happen!" Snape looked at them doubtfully. It wasn't like them to deny something and then take the blame anyways; they must be hiding something. Since he suspected them of covering for someone, he couldn't expel them. "Alright gentlemen, you can spend every night for two months with me for detention." Wondering why the punishment was so light this time, both boys nodded. Tirza was listening from inside the classroom and felt incredibly guilty. Here it was all her idea and Fred and George, who hadn't even been involved, were taking the blame. She followed them down the hallway and cornered them out of sight of Snape's office. "Guys, you don't have to say you did it. I'll tell my dad the truth." The twins smiled at her. "We don't want you to get in trouble; besides, we have always wanted to do that, just could never get the password," George told her. "But that's not fair, I feel really bad," she told them quietly. "Don't worry about it, kiddo."
Snape was sitting in an armchair, drinking a cup of tea and going over his lesson plans when Tirza came into the room. She sat gently on the couch, much to the amazement of Snape. She looked upset about something; he figured that she felt immensely guilty about the Weasley boy taking the blame for the disaster in the Slytherin common room. He had figured out it was her and someone else who knew magic that had done it; the quick confession and the mention of pink not being the Weasley boys color had put the pieces together for him. "Where is Miss Granger?" he asked. "Had homework she wanted to do." Snape motioned her over to him and she came to stand in front of him. He gently pulled her onto his lap and kissed her head. "You seem upset. Would you like to talk about it?" She shook her head. Tirza hadn't decided yet if she wanted to get into trouble or just feel guilty and let the boys take the blame; besides she really didn't want to rat out Hermione, Harry, and Ron. As much as he wanted to yell at her for vandalizing the Slytherin common room, he forced himself to remain calm; he had learned that it worked better to be calm with her. "I think that you participated in the vandalism, am I right?" Feeling completely overcome with guilt, Tirza nodded, a few silent tears running down her face. "That was not a good thing to do was it?" Tirza sat still. "I thought it was funny... none of the other houses deserved it more." Snape sighed; her reasoning left much to be desired at times. "I know that you did not do it alone; who helped you?" It was one thing to confess and save the twins from unfair punishment, it was another to rat out her friends. "I did it all by myself." Snape could feel his anger rising; she was lying again. "Young lady, that is a lie. There were charms and spells put on some of the traps and I know you are not capable of that. Did Miss Granger assist you?" Tirza stubbornly shook her head. "She was asleep and I was bored; I did it all by myself!" "Tirza Jade Snape" "Shelby!" Tirza interrupted him. "Do you remember what I told you would happen if I caught you lying again?" She nodded; oh boy did she remember. "And you are willing to be spanked than to tell me who helped you?" "I did it myself!" she shouted. Snape frowned at her. "I understand that you do not want to get your friends into trouble, but you also need to think of the consequences to yourself if you do not tell me." Tirza didn't care; in her code of honor, you never rat on a friend. "I don't care; it was all me," she told him stubbornly. Snape thought for a moment before continuing. "Alright, if you refuse to name your accomplices and are determined to take the blame entirely upon yourself than you shall be punished accordingly." Her face became pale. "Vandalism is a serious crime young lady; you will be grounded from your TV for an entire week. And during that week you will not be allowed to practice your flying and you will be sent to bed at 8 instead of 9:30." By this time, she was staring at him in shock. "And for that whole week, you will be spanked every night before bed." Snape had no intention of spanking her every day for a week, but she would not know that and he hoped it would prompt her to name her accomplices. Silent tears streamed down her face and she slid off his lap. "You're mean," she whispered and ran to her room.
That night Tirza sat in her room; she hadn't spoken to Snape since that morning and had no intention of ever speaking to him again. At eight o'clock as promised, Snape knocked on her door. He waited for an answer, but since she wasn't speaking to him, he received none and entered anyways. Tirza was already in her pajamas and snuggled under the covers of her bed reading. Snape nearly smiled; she really was a good little girl. He hated himself for what he was about to do. He sat on the bed and sighed. "Well young lady, you have a spanking coming, let's get it over with." Without looking at him and without saying a word, Tirza crawled out of her bed and stood in front of him. She knew by now that no amount of yelling and crying was going to save her from a punishment once her dad had made up his mind. He pulled her over his lap and her hand immediately shot back in a small attempt to save her bottom. Snape sighed and cursed himself; he just couldn't bring himself to spank her this time. As much as she might deserve it, it really was not fair to punish her for staying loyal to her friends; and would he have been any different? Snape pushed her hand out of the way and gently swatted her bottom several times and then let her off his lap. Tirza gave him a strange look and put her hand on his forehead. "Not that I'm complaining, but are you feeling okay man?" Snape smiled; it was nice to hear to talk to him again. "Yes, I am feeling alright," he pulled her onto his lap and cuddled her close. "That was a very nasty trick you played on the Slytherins," he softly scolded. "But it was funny," she pointed out. Snape remembered the people covered in honey and chocolate and the flying toilet paper rolls and chuckled. "Yes, it was amusing, but still wrong. I admire your stubbornness in remaining loyal to your friends." She nodded. "I'm no rat fink." She looked into his eyes. "Does this mean I'm not gonna get spanked every night for a whole week?" He chuckled and nodded, kissing her head. "Yes. Although you are still grounded from TV until Tuesday." Tirza pouted. "That sucks." He raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you'd rather be spanked?" She vigorously shook her head and he chuckled. "I thought not. You really are a good girl; you just need to learn to control your impulses." She hugged him tight. "Um, what's an impulse?" He chuckled and kissed her head again. "Never mind, I'll explain it another day. Would you like a bedtime story?" She nodded and Snape tucked her into her bed and picked a book from the shelves. "Once upon a time..."