All day Tuesday, every time she saw Oliver she turned at went the other way. She spent most of her time pouting in front of her TV. After Snape's last class, he asked if she wanted to practice flying. Grabbing a jacket (at Snape's insistence) she followed him outside. She zoomed around and laughed; even if she was pissed off, it was still fun to fly. Snape anxiously watched her; he always worried when she flew, she enjoyed being a daredevil like Potter. "Do not turn so sharply," he scolded. "Don't be so fussy! I'm an expert!" Snape rolled his eyes. She saw him roll his eyes at her and just to prove her point, she went higher in the air and began to do fast loops. "Tirza Jade, you come down this instant!" He bellowed. Tirza ignored him and continued to zigzag high above Snape's head. He continued to yell and she laughed; or she did until she flipped right off the broom. Snape thought he was going to have a heart attack, she was a good fifteen feet in the air and she fell off. He pulled out his wand and raced towards her. Tirza screamed as she whizzed through the air; she could almost feel herself go splat on the ground below. Instead she fell on top of something... Oliver Wood. Tirza quickly scrambled off him and tried to run, but he quickly grabbed her hand. "We need to talk," he told her firmly. She jerked her hand free and stomped. "Screw you asshole!" She hadn't realized that Snape was right behind her; he swatted her bottom hard. "OUCH!" She yelled and both hands flew back to rub her bottom. "You know better than to talk that way," Snape scolded. And it was true; she knew which words she was allowed to say and which ones she wasn't, though that didn't stop her from scowling at him. Tirza turned her attention back to Oliver. "Please TJ, can't we talk?" Tirza grabbed the broom and took off in the air.
Over the two days, Tirza continued to ignore Oliver and yell at him anytime he came near her or tried to speak with her. Frankly, Oliver was getting tired of it. He cared about her, but there was only so much that he was willing to take off a mouthy ten-year-old. He finally decided to do something about it on Thursday. Tirza had been hanging out with Hermione, Harry and Ron in the Gryffindor common room; when she left, he followed her. He snuck up behind her and picked her up, carrying her kicking and screaming towards an empty classroom. Oliver plopped her into a chair and kneeled in front of her. "Now look, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings, but this is ridiculous. Can't you be a grown up girl and give me a chance to explain?" She shook her head and kicked his shin, heading towards the door. Oliver had played many a quidditch game while injured and reached the door before her, locking it. "You are going to listen whether you like it or not." "Fuck you!" she yelled, pulling on the door handle. He easily picked her up and plopped her back down in the chair. Tirza threw several punches, but Oliver caught her hands and held them gently in his. "Lemme go!" "Are you going to try and hit me again?" She nodded and he chuckled. "Until you promise not to hit me again, I'm going to hold your hands for my own safety." She started to scream and kick. Oliver easily held her legs still with one hand around her tiny ankles and held her wrists in his other hand. "You're certainly determined to beat me up aren't you?" Tirza started to cry. Oliver didn't want her to cry and released her legs but still gently held her hands in his. "Come on now, don't cry. I care about you Tirza, I really do." Tirza wasn't listening; things were suddenly all too familiar. An empty room, locked, her hands and legs held; the room started to spin and it was hard to see. 'Not again!' she screamed inside. 'Oliver's not gonna hurt me, stop!' Her mind didn't hear her pleas and she began to feel nauseous. She could see that Oliver's lips were moving, but she couldn't hear him. Her sobs grew stronger and the blackness surrounded her, her body jerking from the flashback. "Merlin, Tirza are you alright?" Tirza slumped to the side and it was like she was having a seizure. Oliver gathered her in his arms and tried to shake her awake; she only continued to cry and shake. "Merlin, what have I done?" he wondered aloud. Not sure what to do he just held her and continued talking to her, wondering what was wrong.
Ten minutes later, Tirza's eyes suddenly popped open and she wordlessly wrapped her arms around Oliver, clinging to him for dear life. "Tirza! Tirza; what's wrong?" She sobbed into his shoulder. Oliver held her and rubbed her back while she cried. "Make it stop. Make it stop." "Make what stop?" Oliver asked. Tirza just kept mumbling it over and over. Slowly her sobs began to subside. "What's wrong? What do you want to stop?" Oliver gently prodded. Before she could stop herself, she poured out the whole story to him. When Tirza finished, she looked sheepishly at him. "Do you hate me now?" He shook his head. "Of course not. I wish I had known; I never would have tried to make you talk to me." She shook her head. "It's not you, you didn't mean to. It was just that I was mad and it was an empty classroom and the door was locked...just too many things the same." He hugged the tiny girl and wiped a tear from her face. "I am so sorry Tirza. But I'm glad you're talking to me again." Tirza felt exhausted and leaned against him; Oliver was more than happy to hold her after what she had just told him. "So what did you wanna talk about?" He smiled at her. "You still want to talk with me?" She nodded. "Well, it's just... I didn't think of you like a girlfriend. I thought of you like a little sister; I'm an only child and you're such a sweet kid. I still care about you like a little sister, but you are ten and I am fifteen; things just wouldn't work out. Do you understand?" She sat and looked thoughtful for a moment. "So you want to be my big brother and not my boyfriend? And that's why you take me to Hogsmeade and stuff?" He nodded. "I didn't try to hurt your feelings; though why you picked me as your first crush I'll never know." She giggled. "Dude have you seen yourself? You're hot and lots of fun!" She blushed as she realized what she had just said and Oliver chuckled. "I'm sorry that I've been mean to you." Oliver smiled at her. "It's alright." She returned the smile. "So do ya still wanna be my big brother? I've just got me and I think it would be fun." Oliver nodded. "I'd be honored to be your big brother." She hugged him tight. "Deal!"
"She's probably lost again," Snape said to himself. Tirza was ten minutes late; he left his quarters and rounded a corner, then stopped and blinked several times. He could have sworn he saw Tirza walking with Wood, holding his hand. His eyes were not playing tricks on him though and Tirza waved. "Sorry she's late Professor, my fault." Snape nodded, amazed that Tirza had made up with Wood. "I need to go, I'll see you tomorrow TJ," Oliver said. Tirza smiled at him. "Night big brother!" He smiled and chuckled. "Good night little sister." Tirza walked with Snape to their quarters. "Do I want to know why you called him your brother and he called you his sister?" Snape asked her. She giggled. "Oliver and me talked lots and he did nice things cuz he thought of me like a little sister. So we made up and now he's my big brother." Snape chuckled; he figured that had been the case all along. "Are you glad you made up with Mr. Wood?" Tirza nodded. "Yeah; we're cool now." She didn't tell him about the flashback; Oliver hadn't meant to give her a flashback and it would only make her dad mad if he knew.
Tirza looked through her pile of movies; it was midnight and she couldn't sleep. She grabbed the original Dracula move, made in 1931 and smiled. She had watched that movie so many times with her mom; it wasn't scary at all! She popped it into the VCR and sat on her bed; Jinn Jinn jumped up beside her and she kissed the bunny's face. "You gonna watch Dracula with me?" Jinn Jinn licked Tirza's hand, than jumped off the bed and into her cage to munch on food. Tirza shut the door of the cage, not wanting to fall asleep and have Jinn Jinn out by herself. Tirza snuggled into her blankets and watched. She soon found out that watching Dracula during the day with your mom was a lot different from watching Dracula after midnight by yourself. She started to get a little scared, but didn't want to be a sissy and shut it off. A few minutes later, she noticed a shadow out of the corner of her eye. She peaked her head to that side; the shadow looked just like Dracula. Not wanting to attract attention, she quietly left her room and then ran for Snape's room. Snape had been in bed for nearly two hours and was sleeping soundly. Suddenly he felt a great weight on his chest and he sat up grabbing his wand. He opened his eyes and pointed the wand... at Tirza. "Tirza, why did you jump on me?" She looked almost panicked. "Quick daddy, get the garlic and the wolf bane. Hurry! Count Dracula's gonna get us!" She buried her head in his chest. He chuckled. "Whatever are you talking about child?" Tirza explained about the movie and the shadows and kept insisting on getting garlic and wolf bane for protection. "Child, I can assure you that there are no vampires here." "Don't believe you," she said with a pout. Sighing he got out of bed and grabbed his wand. He picked her up and headed for his room, his wand at the ready. He couldn't believe that he, Severus Snape, was actually pretending to scare away Count Dracula. Tirza was so frantic about it that it was hardly a laughing matter. "See, there are no vampires." "I wanna sleep with you daddy." Snape smiled. "I think you should try and sleep in your own bed; you're perfectly safe." She shook her head. "No, wanna sleep with you!" It was useless to try and fight her when she was frightened; he sighed and carried her to his room. Snape got into bed beside her and covered them both with the blankets. Tirza was shaking and he put his arm around her. "What's wrong?" "I still think Count Dracula's gonna come. And what if birdies come and break the windows and peck our eyes out like on The Birds?" Snape shook his head; Merlin, where did she get all this from? "I have charms that keep vampires out of these rooms and the windows from being broken. If they can't get in they can't hurt you." The idea of charms seemed to make her relax. She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "Do you have your wand just in case?" Snape nodded. "Cool. Goodnight daddy." He kissed her cheek and hugged her close. "Good night Tirza." "Love you!" Snape smiled in the darkness. "I love you too."
"Severus, you look awful." "Thank you Minerva; exactly what I want to hear in the morning." Tirza chuckled. "You look like you've hardly slept." "We had a busy night; had to fight Count Dracula and his followers and the birdies too," Tirza told her with a nod. McGonagall shot a questioning look at Snape. "Do not ask," Snape quickly told her.
That afternoon Tirza walked out to the quidditch field to watch the practice. "Remember a coat this time?" a voice from behind her asked. She turned around and smiled at Oliver. "Yep!" She found a nice spot to sit that was hopefully out of the way of the bludgers; as good beaters as Fred and George were, she still was afraid of being hit by one. After practice, Harry came over to where she sat. "Hey TJ, are you going to the Hallow's Eve party on Sunday?" Tirza nodded. "Going with anyone?" "Nope," Tirza told him. "Would you like to go with me?" Her face lit up in a smile. "Sure!" Harry nodded. "Okay, great. See you later!" Harry took off towards the castle on his broom and Tirza giggled.