Part One: Tirza J. ?
"Tirza, are you ready for supper?" Snape asked. "Daddy, can we eat up in the Astronomy tower? I wanna look at the stars." "I can't see any harm in that. You find a sweater and then we'll get some food." After visiting the house elves and getting large potions of everything that would be served at supper, Snape and Tirza made their way to the tower. Tirza spread a red and white checked blanket on the floor and sat down while Snape set out the food. "Mommy and I used this blanket when we went on picnics in Central Park," she told him quietly. Snape nodded and dished her some potatoes, a slice of roast and some cornbread. She lay on her tummy, slowly eating her food, gazing at the stars. "Daddy, would you be mad if I want to be an astronaut when I grow up?" Snape was startled for a moment. Why hadn't he ever thought that she might not want to work for the Ministry or do anything involving magic? And what exactly was an astronaut? "Do you want to be an astronaut?" he asked. She giggled. "I dunno maybe. Maybe a nurse or an actress or I could do stuff with magical animals like Hagrid. I got like millions of years though before I grow up." Snape chuckled and ruffled her curls. "Well not exactly millions dear." Tirza raised an eyebrow and looked at him very seriously. "Are you makin fun of me?" "Of course not," he replied. "I think you are!" She winked at him and threw a spoonful of mashed potatoes at him, which went splat on his sleeve. She giggled at the disgusted look on Snape's face. "What exactly is it about throwing food that you delight so much in?" he asked. "It's funny!" She tossed another spoonful his way and Snape tried to duck, but it ended up in his hair. Tirza pointed at his hair and laughed hysterically. "I hardly find it amusing," Snape said as he tried to get the potatoes from his hair. She continued to laugh and Snape suddenly made a grab for her.
Tirza easily rolled out his way and caught the twinkle in his eyes. He came towards her again, but this time Tirza wasn't nearly fast enough. Snape pulled her onto his lap and began tickling her tummy. He tickled her for several minutes while she wiggled and giggled. "Not fair! I wanna win!" she shouted amid giggles. Snape stopped tickling her and she rolled off his lap and stood up, her hands on her hips, pretending to be angry. "Who is the winner?" Snape asked. She smiled. "Me!" She lunged at him, landing in his arms and toppling him over, sitting on his chest as he lay on the floor. "See, I win!" she announced, kissing his face. "Oh really?" She nodded and Snape suddenly sat up, turned her over and playfully swatted her bottom before tickling her again. Several minutes of tickling and playful chases later, they both sat down to finish their supper, exhausted. "Ya know, it's not fair," Tirza said between bites of cornbread. "What is not fair?" Snape asked. "You're stronger and bigger than me!" He chuckled. "You have your own advantages; you are smaller than I am which can make you faster." "What else?" she asked. "You're also much cuter than I am." She giggled. "Well, yeah!" Snape pretended to look hurt and insulted. "Aw daddy, don't be sad!" Tirza crawled into his lap and wrapped her arms around him. "I think you're beautiful; even if no one else does!" Snape chuckled and kissed her head. "Tirza, women are beautiful, not men." She looked confused. "Then are you cute?" He shook his head. "Men are handsome." She nodded. "Okay, then I think you're handsome daddy." He kissed her again and held her tight, thinking how boring life without her would be.
The supper things had been picked up and pushed to the side of the room, the blanket rolled up against the wall. Snape held Tirza in his lap as she tried to count all the stars. Snape was only half listening to her; he had been pondering something over the last week (Brain: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering? Okay, for those of you who get that, good for you! Now you see what a sad and overused brain I have to work with, all sorts of things popping up all over the place! And for those of you that don't get it, you need to watch cartoons more often!) and was thinking perhaps now would be the right time to ask her. "Tirza?" "Shh daddy, I'll lose my place!" He shook his head. "Tirza, I need to talk to you about something important. Let's count stars later, alright?" She sighed and nodded. Snape turned her around in his lap so he could look at her face. "You know that I love you, don't you?" Tirza smiled. "Yep! And I love you!" "I have been thinking that since we love each other and you are of course my daughter, that you'd like my name." Tirza raised an eyebrow. "I'd have to be Severus Snape? No more Tirza? And then what would you be?" She was completely confused and Snape almost chuckled at her way of thinking. "Of course you would still be Tirza and I would still be Severus. I meant that perhaps you would like to have your last name be Snape, like mine." "Oh," she said quietly. Snape watched her little face contort with thinking. "No," she decided. Tirza wouldn't look at him; he put his finger under her chin and tipped her head up. "May I ask why?"
Tirza looked extremely nervous. "Well, mommy gave me her last name and now she's gone. And I know she's watching from heaven, like AJ's mom told me, and maybe she'd be sad if I didn't keep her name." Snape nodded; he had figured that she would feel that way. "Your mother and I loved each other Tirza and we wanted to be married." "But you were afraid of the bad wizard, right?" Snape nodded. "If we had been married like we wanted, you would have my name. I think your mother always wanted you to have my name, but since we were not together, perhaps she thought it would be better if she gave you hers." Tirza's eyes filled with tears; it was always so hard to talk about her mother. "And she is watching us, like you said, from heaven," Snape thought that was ridiculous, but did not want to tell Tirza that. "She sees that you and I are close and that we love each other. I think she would want you to decide; she won't be sad if you take my name. I think she'll be happy that you love me enough to want to." Tears spilled silently down her face as Snape talked, and he gently wiped her face. "But you need to be the one to decide. If you want to keep your mother's name, that is fine. If you want to take mine, that is fine also. It's up to you." Tirza leaned against his chest, her tears wetting his robe. "I want to be a Snape, but I don't want mommy to be sad," she whispered. "Do you think she'd be really really sad?" Snape held her tight and gently rocked her back and forth. "Tirza, I can promise you that she wouldn't be sad. She always wanted us to be a family, but she would want you to do what made you happy." Tirza rubbed her eyes with her hand, and then looked up into Snape's face. "You really want me to be a Snape?" He chuckled and kissed her head. "Of course; I love you very much. But only say yes if it will make you happy." He continued to rock her for several minutes as she thought over everything Snape had told her. "I wanna be a Snape. But can I keep Shelby like another middle name?" Snape nodded. "Yes you can. I am glad that you want my name Tirza; it makes me very happy." Tirza wiped her face again, and then smiled at him. "Me too."
Part Two: Snow Angel
"Your school materials are on their way," Snape told Tirza as they headed for breakfast the next morning. "Oh; yippy," she replied in a monotone voice. She would have been more thrilled at going bald then she was about school. Tirza tuned out as Snape started rambling on about the importance of education; suddenly something in the window caught her eye. She darted over to the window and stood on her tip-toes, peering out. "Yes!" she shouted, jumping around. "It snowed! It snowed! Yippy!" Snape watched her hop around in excitement, wondering what was so very thrilling about snow. "Isn't that great?" she asked him. "Not particularly." Tirza's black eyes went wide. "Oh my god; don't say that! Snow is the bestest thing ever!" 'Bestest?' Snape thought. It was definitely a good idea to get her started on school work right away. "Dear, there is no such word as 'bestest,'" Snape pointed out. She laughed and shook her head. "Course there is!" She started skipping down the hallway, singing "There's sn-ow! It's snow-ing!" Several students on their way to breakfast gave her funny looks, but she never noticed. Nothing mattered right now except the snow!
"I wanna play in the snow!" Tirza yelled. Snape had a class coming in at any moment and was not in the mood for her tantrums. "I wanna play in the snow!" "You will wait until I can go with you. You are a little girl; you shouldn't be outside by yourself, who knows what could happen?" Snape pointed out. Tirza scowled and stomped her foot. "I'm not little!" "Yes you are and you will be staying inside until I can take you," Snape replied. She put her hands on her hips. "I won't!" "Tirza Jade, I am not in the mood for this. You will stay inside or you will be in very big trouble, understand?" Snape and Tirza fought a silent battle with glares for nearly a minute before Tirza relented. "Fine! But I think it's stupid!" She stomped into his office just seconds before the first class came in.
Tirza left Snape's office scowling, arms folded across her chest, and stomped down the hallway. "He's stupid! I'm a big girl; he should let me go outside if I want to!" Tirza grumbled aloud. She was so caught up in complaining to herself and not paying attention to where she was going, that she ran right into someone. "Sorry," Tirza mumbled. She looked up to see who she had run into; it was Dumbledore. "Hi uncle Albus," she said. "Hello dear. Where are you off to?" He smiled at her and she sighed. "I wanna go play in the snow, but daddy won't let me. He doesn't want me outside by myself. He's stupid!" Albus chuckled and ruffled her curls. "I do not think he is being stupid or purposely trying to ruin your fun." She rolled her eyes. "He worries about you dear." "So?" she countered. "I wanna play outside!" Dumbledore chuckled again; she certainly was her father's daughter. "Will you let me go outside?" Tirza gave him her puppy eyes and even managed to make her lower lip quiver. "Pwease? Pwetty Pwease?" she begged. "Not by yourself; your father would be most upset if I did that. But I will take you outside for a little while," he decided. "Yea!" Tirza threw her arms around him and Albus returned the hug. "You go get ready dear; I'll come and get you in a few minutes." Tirza nodded and skipped down the hallway. "I'm gonna play in the sn-ow. I'm gonna play in the sn- ow," she sang. Dumbledore watched her skip down the hallway and shook his head. He did understand where she was coming from; there was something special about snow and being the first to play in it. It had been quite a while since he had played in the snow and was rather looking forward to playing with her.
Clad in pink snow pants, Disney Princess boots, a fuzzy pink hat, fuzzy pink mittens and a large black jacket, Tirza was ready for battle! A battle with snow that is. She felt bad for the kids stuck inside in class; but at least she could eat some snow before anyone trampled it. She stood just outside the door and looked at the glittery white snow and softly falling snowflakes. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and fell backwards into the snow, than started moving her arms and legs. "Come on Uncle Albus, make snow angels with me!" Albus smiled. "No thank you dear; be sure and make a few for me though." She promised she would and he helped her to get up without ruining the angel. Then she fell backwards again and started another angel. After making four angels, Tirza looked over her handiwork. "Cool huh?" she asked. Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed." She sat on the ground and used her mitten covered finger to write the names of the angels underneath. "Aw shit," she said when she got up. "I'm wearing snow pants and I'm still getting wet!" Dumbledore chuckled. "I can fix that for you." He pulled his wand out of his long gold, wool coat and said a simple spell. "Now you will not get wet." She giggled. "Like waterproof! Dude! Wanna help me make a snowman?" Dumbledore nodded.
Snape dismissed his final class before lunch. He checked his office to see if Tirza was there; when he saw that she wasn't, he headed for the dungeons. He always brought Tirza to lunch, she could never keep track of all the hallways and she refused to do those moving stairs alone! When he reached his chambers, there was no Tirza in sight. He highly doubted that she did the stairs herself, but decided to check and see if she had found her way to the Great Hall. "Has Tirza come in yet?" Snape approached the teacher's table and asked McGonagall. "No Severus, I haven't seen her. In fact, I haven't seen Albus either." A thought suddenly hit Snape; Tirza had been begging all through breakfast to go outside and play in the snow. He hadn't been especially comfortable with the thought of her being outside by herself and told her to wait until he could go with her. Would she really go anyway? 'Yes, she would,' Snape said to himself. Not wanting to accuse her falsely, he looked out the window on his way to get his coat. Tirza had definitely been outside! He could see two snowmen, one of which Tirza was putting a carrot nose and blue scarf on. Her pink ensemble clashing with the white snow; there was no way that Snape could not have seen her. Feeling extremely angry that Tirza would chose to deliberately disobey him, he stalked off to get his coat. "Tirza Jade Snape, I specifically told you to wait for me!" Snape thundered as he went outside. He couldn't see Tirza, but figured she was by her half constructed fort and headed in that direction. He was within five feet of it when something cold and wet hit his chest. "Gotcha!" Tirza popped up from behind her fort wall and hurled another snowball at him. This one caught his shoulder and only made Snape angrier. Tirza had another snowball ready, but she caught the look on Snape's face and quickly dropped it. "Well young lady, did I not ask you to stay inside?" "Um... well... yeah, but." "But nothing young lady! There is no excuse for you deliberately coming out here!" Tirza scowled. "Daddy, I didn't..." "I do not want to hear it!" Snape yelled. He picked Tirza up and threw her over his shoulder, heading for the building. "But I wasn't out here by myself!" she told him. "And now you are lying? Consider yourself grounded young lady."
Just then Dumbledore spotted them from where he had been gathering tree branches for the snowmen. "Severus," he called. "What is going on?" Snape turned to face Dumbledore, surprised to see him. Tirza's wet outfit was starting to soak through his coat and he put her down. "See I TOLD you I wasn't out here alone!" she yelled, stomping her foot for extra effect. "You do not honestly expect me to believe that the headmaster was out here making snowmen with you?" he asked her. She scowled at him. "But I was Severus," Dumbledore interrupted. "Albus do not cover for her; she needs to learn that there are consequences for her actions." Dumbledore chuckled. "Severus, I am serious. Tirza and I have been out here most of the morning together. I ran into her in the hall and she told me what you said and I brought her out here." "Yeah, we made snowmen! And next we're gonna make a fort!" Tirza interjected. Snape shook his head. "Alright, you are not grounded Tirza. But I think you two are going to make me lose my mind." Tirza giggled and Dumbledore laughed. "You're just jealous cuz you didn't get to make a snowman," Tirza told him. Snape rolled his eyes and ushered Tirza in for lunch.