Snape pounded on the bathroom door; Tirza had been in there for nearly an hour and he was becoming concerned. "Dude, are you tryin to break the door down or what?" Tirza yelled. "What in Merlin's name are you doing in there?" The door suddenly swung open. Tirza stood there in her robe; the entire vanity was covered with various hair and make up tools. "I'm getting beautiful. Do ya mind?" The door promptly closed in his face and Snape shook his head. As long as he knew she was alright, he figured it would be safest for him to stay out of her way. Ariel had always been that way too; when she dressed up, she really dressed up. Snape settled into an arm chair; he had been ready for the party all day, seeing as he wasn't going in anything other than his regular outfit. He wasn't particularly thrilled to be going. Parties were not usually something he enjoyed, but Tirza really wanted him to. And since Potter was taking her, Snape figured he'd best keep an eye on them. He heard a strange sound from the bathroom, but remembered that Tirza had told him it was her "blow drier," some sort of muggle contraption. He knew she'd love it when she learned to do things like dry her hair with out using all those muggle inventions.
After what seemed to Snape like an eternity, Tirza finally came out of the bathroom. She was in her knee length pink Chinese dress and she was wearing little pink sandals. Her fingernails were painted a delicate light pink; her hair was pulled up into one of those messy buns that were all the style with glittery pink butterfly clips with a several curls hanging loose. Her cheeks had a hint of glitter and she was wearing her mother's ring on the chain that Snape gave her. "Do I look good?" Tirza asked nervously. Snape was completely tongue tied for a moment; Merlin was she beautiful! She had to be the most beautiful girl in the world. "You look wonderful," he told her when he found his voice. She smiled and blushed. "Thanks." "I do believe you'll outshine any other girl there." Her blush deepened. "You're not makin fun of me cuz I'm in a dress are you?" Snape shook his head. "Never. I really mean it." "Thanks daddy." She hugged him tight and he could smell her perfume. "What is it that you're wearing?" She giggled. "It's called Love's Baby Soft. It's my favorite." He stared at Tirza; she looked so grown up. He was glad that she was only ten; he didn't want her to grow up too fast. "So do I really look okay?" Tirza twirled around and Snape smiled. "Like an angel." She giggled. "Then I must look awesome cuz you never call me an angel!"
Dumbledore looked around the Great Hall and nodded. He was glad he had asked several of the students for their help in decorating and planning. The ceiling was enchanted with the usual candles and the customary jack-o- lanterns adorned the room. Orange and black crepe paper was hung around the room and the food table had an orange tablecloth. Tirza had helped the elves make cookies and used a special cutter to make them into pumpkin shapes with orange frosting. Dumbledore had already sampled a few and they were quite delicious! One student had made several fake headstones like his muggle neighbors did. Four fake bats were charmed to fly around the room and a fake spider was charmed to descend from a large web and then climb back up again. He hadn't really caught the significance of the headstones and such, but Tirza and the students that helped him assured him that they were "cool" and very necessary. The old wizard smiled, his kind eyes twinkling. 'This should prove to be a very interesting party,' he mused. There was a knock on the door and Snape got up to answer it, Tirza close on his heels. He opened the door to find Harry and fixed him with a glare. Tirza rolled her eyes and stepped in front of Snape, smiling at Harry. "Ignore him; at least he's not a muggle dad. Knowing him, he'd of opened the door and pointed a rifle at ya!" Both kids laughed and Snape shook his head. "You look nice," Harry said. Tirza blushed and smiled. "Thanks. Do you know how long it took me to look this way? I mean, shit, no wonder I hate dressing up!" Harry laughed. "Dude, I put so much gel in my hair it's like a rock, feel it." Harry reached up and felt one of her curls, his eyes went wide. "It is like a rock. Weird." He suddenly pulled a box from behind his back and handed it to Tirza. She carefully opened it; inside was a wrist corsage of white roses. "I got it yesterday in Hogsmeade. I didn't know what color you'd want." She smiled and hugged him, which made Harry blush slightly. "That is the sweetest thing ever!" He helped her put it on and smiled. "Hermione put a spell on it so it won't get crushed." "Cool!" Snape ushered them out the door and they all headed for the Great Hall.
Tirza's big boom box was set up on a table in the Great Hall with her CDs and all the CDs of the muggle born students staked beside it. She had assured Dumbledore that music would be necessary and Hermione backed her up. Dumbledore, willing to try anything once, readily agreed. Snape sat in one of the chairs along the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He had to be here, but he was quite sure that he wouldn't enjoy it. Tirza spotted Hermione and Ron by the boom box and went to say hi. The boys looked over the CD collection having no clue who all these groups were. Draco came over to look though the songs and they all ignored him, which worked great because Draco was ignoring Tirza. "Wow, that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Draco said as he held something. Tirza peeked over his shoulder; he was holding a Brittney Spears CD. "Oh dear god," she moaned. "What?" Hermione asked. "Draco's in love with Brittney Spears." Both girls rolled their eyes and groaned. Draco started to walk away still holding the CD, intending to charm it into a large poster. Tirza saw him and stepped in front of him. "My CD please." She held out her hand for the CD and Draco gave her a dark glare, than looked longingly at the CD before placing it in Tirza's hand. Tirza handed the CD back to a second year student named Kristen Loy who was the acting DJ for the party. Kristen popped in the Moulin Rouge CD and turned the volume up as far as it would go. "Want to get something to eat?" Harry asked. Tirza nodded and they headed for the table of food.
It wasn't long before the Great Hall was filled with students dancing, eating and playing games. Snape still sat in the chair against the wall wearing a frown that seemed like a permanent fixture. All the partying just seemed so ridiculous to him; he would rather be anywhere. There was no way that he would leave Tirza here with Potter though. Not for a second did he trust that boy! So for now, he was being held a virtual prisoner. He watched the crowd of students dancing to the overly loud and obnoxious music and scanned the room for Tirza. She was sitting in a corner eating with Potter and his faithful followers. He smiled for the first time since coming up here. Tirza always seemed to have that effect on him; in his whole life he didn't think he had ever smiled as much as he had since Tirza came four weeks ago. "Harry, ya wanna dance?" Tirza asked. "Um, sure." "Yeah, let's dance too Ron," Hermione said, pulling Ron up from his chair. "But I don't know how to dance," Ron whined. The girls giggled and Ron blushed. "Uh Ron, look around. Half the people here don't know how to dance," Tirza reassured him. Ron didn't look so sure but followed Harry and the girls anyway. Harry leaned over to Tirza. "I don't know how to dance either." Tirza smiled. "Well, I know how to do some dances. Don't worry, you'll be fine." Harry nodded and hoped that he wouldn't look stupid. Tirza gently took Harry's hand and placed it around her waist and clasped his other hand in her's. Harry suddenly felt very nervous. "Um, is this how you're supposed to do it?" Tirza nodded. "This is how they do it in the movies." She showed him the steps to a simple waltz even though the music wasn't the right tempo. He caught on quickly and they started to slowly dance. "Ow, Ron!" Hermione squeaked. Ron blushed as Harry and Tirza looked over at him. Hermione rubbed her foot and sighed. Tirza motioned for Harry to follow her. "Let's let them practice for a while," she told him. Harry placed his hand around her waist and they started dancing again, taking care to not bump into the other couples.
Snape again searched the room for Tirza; he had seen her just a moment ago, but where was she now? He spotted her across the room with Potter and clenched his fists. Potter was TOUCHING his daughter! His arm was around her waist! Snape's face grew dark and could have easily caused Voldemort to shudder. He got up and stalked across the room, reminding himself that he couldn't kill Potter; at least not with so many witnesses! Tirza and Harry were doing their own type of dancing, laughing and talking, completely oblivious to the storm that was Snape striding toward them. Suddenly Harry was roughly wrenched away from Tirza and both kids stared at Snape. Snape, his hand still gripping Harry's collar, bent down to Harry's level. "Why are you touching my daughter?" His voice dripped with hatred and Harry paled. Snape felt a tug on his sleeve and turned to face Tirza. "Dad, what are you doing?" "He was touching you," Snape hissed. She nodded. "Yeah I know. It's called DANCING." 'They were dancing?' Snape thought. 'Why did I not think of that before?' "Dad, you can let go of him now." Snape blushed slightly and released Harry, then stalked back to his seat feeling like a complete idiot. Tirza watched him walk away and shook her head. "I'm sorry Harry, he's..." "High strung?" Harry filled in. She nodded and giggled. "It's okay; at least he didn't kill me!"
Tirza felt a tap on her shoulder. "Can I cut in?" Neville asked nervously. Tirza flashed him a smile. "Sure!" Neville turned out to be an excellent and graceful dancer, as well as a sweet boy. After two dances with Neville, Ron asked to cut in, followed by Seamus. Tirza was turning out to be the belle of the ball! Nearly all the first year boys, except Draco of course, wanted a turn to dance with her. Snape sat watching all the boys hovering around Tirza and shook his head. He could already tell that he'd absolutely hate it when she started dating! And over his dead boy would she date Potter, Weasley, Longbottom or any Gryffindor for that matter! Harry finally cut in on Tirza and a Ravenclaw boy named Kevin Fredericks. Tirza smiled and thanked Kevin for the dance, even though he had stepped on her foot twice, and gladly danced with Harry again. "Harry, TJ," Ron shouted. "We're going to bob for apples, wanna come?" They followed Ron and Hermione to where the game was set up. "Won't our hair and stuff get all screwed?" Tirza asked Hermione. "I'll take care of that," Hermione whispered. She pulled out her wand and cast a charm on Tirza and herself, and then they waited in line with the boys. They each took four turns bobbing for apples and both boys ended up soaked. Hermione and Tirza each got two apples, Ron got one and Harry got three. "Why are we wet and you two aren't?" Ron asked. The girls giggled. "It was a very simple spell; you really didn't think we'd let all the time we spent getting ready go to waste did you?" She pulled out her wand and said a simple drying spell and both boys were perfectly dry.
"Severus, with so much happiness around you how can you look so sour?" McGonagall asked sitting next to him. "I hate parties," he grumbled. "Your daughter is certainly enjoying herself; there's hardly been a dance that she hasn't had a partner for." At that Snape smiled. "Yes, I have noticed that. She certainly does enjoy being the center of attention." McGonagall smiled. "Most girls do Severus. So are you going to sit here the entire time?" Snape nodded. "You won't try bobbing for apples? Or enter the pumpkin carving contest?" He glared at her. "Minerva, you know me better than that." "Indeed I do Severus, but I think you'll find you are able to enjoy some things if only you'll try them." He chuckled. "Don't get your hopes up; I have a reputation to keep you know." She smiled and nodded.
"Can I cut in?" Tirza and Harry turned to look at the owner of the voice. It was Oliver Wood. "Sure. I'm going to get some more to eat," Harry said and headed for the food table. "Having fun?" Oliver asked. Tirza laughed as he picked her up and swung her around. "Lots of fun!" The appointed DJ put on a swing song from the forties. "I love swing dancing!" Tirza told him. Fortunately Oliver's mother had taught him how to do many dances when he was younger and he and Tirza jitterbugged to the music. Not many of the students knew that dance and stopped to watch them. Oliver and Tirza danced out the song to a round of applause. Snape watched the whole thing, very amused. It seemed he learned knew things about Tirza every day. She certainly was an amusing child! Oliver and Tirza bowed as the clapping continued. When the next song began to play, Tirza went off to get something to eat with Harry.
By 10:30, the party was winding down and most of the students were back at their dormitories. Tirza grabbed the last two cookies that she helped the elves make and headed over to Snape. "Wanna cookie?" He looked at the orange frosted pumpkin cookie and chuckled. "I assume this was your idea?" he asked. "Duh!" He ate it and admitted that it was good. "Ya know what? You didn't ask me to dance all night!" "I told you I was not one for parties," Snape replied. Tirza rolled her eyes. "Come on, ya gotta dance with me!" Snape shook his head and Tirza gave him her puppy dog eyes. "Ah, come on. Ya know you want to. Please?" Snape looked around the room; besides he and Tirza, there was only the teachers that were cleaning up left. He reluctantly nodded and Tirza lead him over to her boom box and looked through the CDs. "Here we go." She grabbed a Savage Garden CD and skipped to the song she wanted. "This is my favorite. It's called I Knew I Loved You," she told him. The song began to play and Snape held her in his arms and began to dance. "Hey you're good," Tirza told him as she leaned her head against him. "Surprising isn't it?" he replied. They danced slowly to the song, listening to the lyrics. "Aren't they adorable Albus?" McGonagall asked. She and Dumbledore were using their wands to restore the room to its original state. Dumbledore watched them and nodded. "Yes, they certainly are. They are very good for each other." Snape continued to dance with Tirza, oblivious to everything except the fact that his daughter was in his arms and he loved her more than anything in the world.