The bell rang dismissing classes for lunch; it woke up Tirza who had been sleeping peacefully and she began to wail. "Poppy! No woud!" Snape was instantly at her side and lifted her from the playpen. "Hush, its okay, daddy's here." Still holding Molly, Tirza cuddled against Snape's chest. "Are you hungry princess?" Tirza nodded enthusiastically. "Ungee! Baby ungee peez!" Snape kissed her head and they left the classroom. Tirza struggled against him and Snape finally set her down and took her hand. Holding Molly by the hair, Tirza toddled along slowly beside him. "It will take us an hour to get there if you don't let me carry you," Snape told her. "No warry," Tirza replied stubbornly. "Professor!" someone shouted behind them. Snape and Tirza both turned to see Draco hurry towards them. "Ducky!" Tirza shouted happily. Snape chuckled as Draco rolled his eyes at his new nickname. "Can I hold her Professor?" Snape raised an eyebrow. "Why are suddenly so kind towards my daughter Mr. Malfoy?" Draco shrugged. "Look at her; she's... cute!" Tirza started wiggling and trying to pull her hand free from Snape's. "Ducky warry! Peez!" "Is it alright Professor?" Snape nodded and Draco picked up the wiggling little girl. "Tis Mowy," she said, holding the lion out towards him. "I would refuse if I were you Mr. Malfoy, she's been drooling all over that thing," Snape warned. "No," Draco told her. Tirza wrinkled her little face into a nasty scowl. "Tis Mowy!" she ordered. "Baby kiss Molly," Snape told her. Instantly the scowl was gone, replaced by a smile and Tirza slobbered on the lion's face again. "Cute dress kid," Draco told her as they continued down the hallway. "Baby pwitty," she replied, nodding her head. Even with Tirza being carried, they arrived in the Great Hall as everyone else was already sitting. By now most of the school knew of what happened to Tirza and nearly everyone waved at the adorable little girl. Tirza happily waved back, smacking Draco's face several times in her excitement. "Come on princess, let's go eat," Snape said as he took Tirza from Draco. "Bye ducky!" Tirza yelled loudly. Everyone laughed and pointed at Draco; he cringed. Now everyone would probably start calling him ducky!
"My my, aren't we a fancy baby?" McGonagall greeted Snape and Tirza as they approached the table. "Hello to you as well Minerva," Snape said. "Oh Severus! She's just so very sweet that she completely outshines you!" Snape rolled his eyes. "I need some sort of chair for her to sit in, would you hold her for a moment?" McGonagall nodded and Tirza happily went to her. "You look so pretty, honey, do you know that?" Tirza giggled and pointed to her dress. "Pwintis." McGonagall kissed Tirza's cheek. "Yes you are, you sweet little thing." Tirza leaned over and spotted Dumbledore. "Tanta! Tanta!" She dropped Molly and held her arms out to Albus. The kind old wizard happily took the little baby and sat her on his lap. "Ooh (you) tanta! Tanta pretin (present)?" Albus had no trouble understanding her and nodded. "Just a moment darling and you shall have a present." Tirza clapped her hands and bounced on his lap. Albus took his napkin and folded it into a circle. He took out his wand and Tirza watched him, her dark eyes growing wide. He said a spell and the napkin circle was turned into a glittery pink bracelet; he gently slipped it onto her tiny wrist. Tirza stared at it for a moment, then touched it and giggled! She leaned up and wrapped her arms around Albus' neck and gave him a slobbery kiss. "Tayooh Tanta!" "May I hold you dear?" Sybill Trelawney asked. Tirza peeked around Dumbledore and stared at her. Tirza wrinkled her nose, pointed at Sybill and spit. "NO!" she shouted. Sybill was very insulted and turned away. Flitwick approached Tirza. "How about me? Can I hold you?" Tirza looked at Flitwick's long beard and than at Dumbledore's. "Tanta?" she pointed to Dumbledore. "Tanta?" she pointed to Flitwick. "Pretin tanta?" Flitwick smiled and gathered Tirza in his arms. "Of course you will get another present; pretty little girls must always have many presents." Tirza giggled. Within moments, a napkin was turned into a glittery gold crown that perfectly accented Tirza's dark curls. (Okay people, what is Flitwick's first name? Has it even been mentioned in the books? LOL, so I'm probably idiotic, but forgive me! Have pity on my poor brain!) Just then Hagrid entered the Great Hall and Tirza watched him with wide eyes. "'Cuse me headmaster, had me some trouble with a few of the blast end skrewts (did I spell that right?)." Albus nodded. "Of course; have you met out guest of honor?" Hagrid looked toward Tirza, who was attempting to tell Flitwick to give Molly a crown as well. "Well, if'n it ain't a little princess," Hagrid said, smiling at Tirza. Tirza wrinkled her nose at him for a moment. "Yient! Fee tie ooh tum!" she announced happily. "Ain't you a bright one! Bet you'd like ter come and see me animals?" Tirza's face lit up. "Yamimals?"
"No, she would not," Severus said, coming up behind them. "She will not be playing with any of your animals Hagrid; she'll be staying with me so I can keep an eye on her." He turned to Flitwick, who handed Tirza back to him. "Time to eat now princess." Dumbledore chuckled. "Princess," he said under his breath. Snape noticed the bracelet and crown. "Where did those come from?" Tirza giggled and pointed at Dumbledore. "Tantas!" Snape looked confused. "She thinks Flitwick and I are Santa Clauses; of course we could not disappoint the sweet thing, so we gave her some presents," Dumbledore explained. A house elf suddenly appeared beside Snape. "Kind and wise Dumbledore tell us special food for little missy," the elf explained. "Where little missy?" Snape pointed to Tirza. "Oh, little missy is VERY little missy!" The elf handed the plate to Snape and left. Tirza was now settled into a chair whose arms wrapped around the little girl, gently holding her and the chair was scooted up to the table to serve as a tray. Snape looked over the contents of the plate; peas, a slice of bread cut into tiny pieces, chocolate pudding, and a piece of meat cut very tiny. He nodded, thinking the food would be just fine, and placed the plate in front of her. Tirza looked skeptically at the things on her plate and than looked at Snape, who was eating his own meal, not paying much attention to her. She gingerly picked up a piece of bread and put it in her mouth; she decided that was good and turned to pick up a pea. Tirza's little button nose wrinkled in disgust and she took the pea out of her mouth and set it back on the plate. The meat received the same reaction, but the chocolate pudding passed with flying colors. Tirza stuck her hand in the pudding, than pulled it out and began licking it. After carefully licking her hand, she took another bit of bread. Bread of course is not nearly as exciting as chocolate pudding, so she turned her attention back to that, once again putting her hand in it. McGonagall laughed and nudged Snape. "Look," she told him. Snape looked at his daughter licking pudding form her hand and shook his head. "Tirza, do not do that!" he scolded.
Tirza did not like to be scolded and felt that she could eat her pudding any way she wanted! After all, wasn't she a princess? She stuck her tongue out at Snape and threw a piece of meat at him. "Tirza Jade, you stop that!" She ignored him and turned back to licking her hand; Snape shook his head and decided she really wasn't hurting anyone so he might as well let her be. The pudding soon was gone; a majority of it made it inside her mouth, but some ended up smeared all over her face as well as the table cloth. Tirza looked at the food left on her plate and giggled. She grabbed as many peas as her tiny hands could and began smearing them on the table cloth. She giggled at the "paint" and used her finger to draw in the mess of peas and pudding. After creating a masterpiece she reached for more peas and this time threw them at Snape, giggling. They didn't go as far as she hoped and she angrily threw her plate at him, which went much farther and smacked Snape's head. "Bloody hell!" he swore loudly. Tirza giggled. "Wody hell!" she repeated. Snape rolled his eyes. 'Probably how it all started the first time,' he though. "Wody hell!" she yelled and giggled. "Wody hell!" "I've created a monster," Snape moaned to McGonagall. McGonagall could only laugh at the chocolate and green mess that covered Tirza as well as part of the table. "Tirza, you will not throw food!" Snape scolded. She scowled at him and threw a nearby piece of bread at him. "Wody hell!" she shouted triumphantly. "I mean it young lady," Snape said, his temper rising. She continued to fling bread slices at him and the rest of the staff offered absolutely no help; they were enjoying it too much to be of help! Tirza giggled at the scowl on Snape's face. Snape was not amused and grabbed both her hands and looked her in the eye. "Tirza Jade Snape, no throwing food!" he shouted. "Wody hell! Tupid poppy!" she yelled, a scowl matching his own on her face. "Tupid poppy!" Snape was speechless for a moment; had she really just called him stupid? In front of the whole school? "Tupid tupid tupid wody hell!" she repeated. Snape said the spell to release the chairs arms form holding her and grabbed Tirza. "Lunch is over young lady!" She started kicking and screaming as he carried her towards the door of the Great Hall. Snape carried her kicking and screaming all the way to his chambers.
Snape was in the bathroom, the water running, attempting to wash Tirza's face when there was a knock on the door. Not in the mood and rather busy at the moment to get up and open the door, he called for the person to come in. Tirza continued to scream as he tried to wash her little face. "Almost sounds like you're murdering her Professor." Snape looked behind him and saw Hermione. "Miss Granger, what is it you need?" She shook her head. "Tirza dropped her lion and I thought she might want it." Tirza continued to wiggle and scream and Snape was getting another headache. "Um would you like some help?" Hermione asked. Snape nodded and handed the messy baby to her. Hermione sat down and took the washcloth from Snape and gently pulled Tirza onto her lap. "This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face," Hermione sang softly. She alternated gently wiping Tirza's little face and tickling her tummy. Snape watched the whole procedure wondering why Tirza would sit still and be quiet for her and not for him. Several minutes later, Tirza's face was clean; Hermione kissed her clean cheek and stood up. "She needs to be changed," she told Snape. "I know, I'll go get another outfit." Hermione shook her head. "Not just that, her nappy needs to be changed." Snape cringed and Hermione laughed. "You touch leeches and dead spiders; a nappy isn't bad compared to that." Snape highly doubted it; he carried Tirza into her room and wondered what to do next. "You've never changed a nappy, have you?" "Aren't you a bright one," Snape sneered. Hermione ignored his comment; even if he was nasty and deserved to have a big messy nappy; Hermione cared about Tirza and wouldn't let Snape's uncertainty make her miserable. "Here, I'll show you," Hermione said. Snape handed Tirza to her. "I'll need another nappy, a pin, a cloth and several wipes," she instructed. Snape nodded and found the requested items. Hermione spread the old towel he had given her on the floor and laid Tirza on top of it. Within minutes, Tirza's messy nappy had been replaced by a fresh one that Hermione pinned securely with a large safety pin. Snape had watched the process with a look of sheer horror on his face. "That is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. I cannot believe a person has to do that." Hermione laughed. "You get used to it eventually. Anyways, I am going to wash my hands and than go to my next class." Snape nodded. "Thank you for your help," he choked out. Hermione nodded and headed for the bathroom. Snape looked at Tirza, who was now sitting up in her messy dress. "You certainly had fun, I'm sure." Tirza giggled and Snape began to unbutton her dress. "I feel bad for the house elf that has to clean that," he said as he threw it into the hamper. Tirza now sat on his lap in nothing but a nappy, smiling at him. Snape smiled back; he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so young or so happy. It surprised him the way he was actually enjoying two-year-old Tirza. 'How unfortunate it that it has to wear off,' he thought.
Tirza was once again sitting in her playpen in Snape's classroom. The students were diligently working on their studies and her father was sitting at his desk, correcting papers as usual. Now clad in a blue sundress that featured a large image of Tigger and Pooh on the front and a white sweater to keep her warm; Tirza picked up the blue crayon. "Boo," she said to herself. She looked at the crayon and than at her dress, her little mind registering the fact that they were the same color. "Poppy ook!" Snape glanced over in her direction. Tirza held up a blue crayon. "Boo!" she announced, than pointed to her dress. "Boo!" Snape smiled. "Yes, your crayon and your dress are both blue; what a smart baby!" Tirza giggled and turned her attention to her coloring book, attacking it once again. She happily scribbled a page with the blue crayon and grabbed the yellow one next, adding even more scribbles to the page. "Pwitty," she announced. Tirza ripped the page out of her book and picked the green crayon and attacked the next page. Snape was relieved that for the moment she seemed occupied; she was fun, but she was a lot a lot of work! He kept his attention on grading as Tirza continued to attack pages and than rip them from the book. After scribbling and tearing out nearly ten pages, Tirza was bored with her Winnie the Pooh coloring book. Her dark eyes caught sight of the rows of books on the shelves next to her playpen, her curiosity peaked. Standing in the playpen on her little tip toes; she stretched her chubby little arms towards the bookcase and grabbed the first book that she could reach. She giggled and let the book fall inside her playpen and reached for another, and another, and another. After four books fell into her playpen, Tirza sat back down and struggled to pull the first heavy book over to her. She opened the hard cover and carelessly pushed the pages; several pages were smudged, bent or ripped by the time she stopped. She grabbed her green crayon and began to draw on the page; sure the book had no pictures, but that didn't matter because she could add her own! When finished with that page, she ripped it out as she had done with the others and turned to another, choosing the pink crayon. This time she left the page in the book and attacked another with the gold crayon, giggling all the while. Snape continued to pay attention to his papers, completely oblivious that Tirza was coloring and ripping pages from his precious potion books.
Tirza was on the third book before anyone noticed that she was no longer playing with her coloring book. "Um Professor?" a first year Ravenclaw said, raising her hand. Snape looked up and the girl continued. "I think the baby's coloring in your books." Snape quickly strode to Tirza's playpen; sure enough colored pages of potion books were strewn around the playpen. Snape stood there for a moment, his eyes closed, trying VERY hard to control himself. He loved his books; they were almost as precious to him as his cauldrons! "Poppy," Tirza said. He opened his eyes and looked at her. Tirza held out a page about truth potions that was now decorated in black crayon. Snape grabbed the page from her and gathered her crayons and any pages in the playpen. "My books, ruined," he moaned. Most of the students rolled their eyes; to them, the books were just books. "You do NOT PLAY with my BOOKS!" he shouted. Tirza's lower lip began to quiver and her eyes welled up with tears and she began to cry. The girls in the class shot nasty looks at Snape behind his back; it was bad enough that he was mean to them, let alone a little baby! Tirza curled into a ball and sobbed; all of Snape's anger and frustration melted away at her heart wrenching sobs. After all, they were just books. She struggled as he lifted her out of the playpen, slapping at him with little balled up fists. He gently rocked her back and forth in his arms. "Ooh mwean! Ooh woud," she sobbed into his shoulder. Snape sat at his desk and kissed her head. "I'm sorry I was loud sweetheart." She looked up at him, tears running down her face. "Baby tupid?" she asked. He gently wiped her face and kissed her cheek. "No, baby is not stupid. It is bad though to ruin daddy's books." Tirza looked very confused. "Baby bad?" she started to cry again and Snape tried to think of a better way to explain it. He tipped her chin up and wiped her face again. "You're a good girl Tirza, but no books, alright?" She stopped crying and wiped her nose on Snape's robe; he inwardly grimaced but said nothing. "Pway dig tooks?" she innocently asked. Snape shook his head. "No, no books." Tirza nodded. "Dood baby?" Snape hugged her tight. "Yes, you are a good baby." Tirza wrapped her little arms around his neck. "Wuv ooh poppy," she told him. Snape smiled and cuddled her close. "I love you too."