Chapter 48: 48
Tirza was lying on the floor next to the coffee table, screaming, her hands holding her head, blood seeping through her fingers. "Merlin, what happened?" Snape asked. He kneeled down beside her and gently tried to pull her hands away. "Honey, let me see." She screamed as he pried her hands from her head and blood squirted and began running down her face. Snape took part of his robe and pressed it firmly to her forehead. "hur (hurt) poppy," she cried. Snape gathered her in his arms, careful to keep pressure on the wound and took off running towards the hospital wing. Tirza was still screaming as they entered the hospital wing, drawing everyone's attention. "Good gracious, what has happened to the poor darling baby?" Madame Pompfrey asked, hurriedly taking Tirza from Snape. His robe was stained with her blood, as was her nightgown. Thankfully the bleeding had slowed and Madame Pompfrey continued to apply pressure until it stopped completely. A calming potion was administered to the nearly hysterical Tirza and Madame Pompfrey cradled the little girl in her arms. "Now child, can you tell me what happened?" Tirza, still sniffling, babbled something about hitting her head on the nasty coffee table. Madame Pompfrey kissed Tirza's cheek and dried her eyes. "There there darling, you'll be alright." She turned and shot Severus a scowl that could compete with his own. "And just where were you when this happened? Why were you not watching her?" "My dear woman, I am very tired of listening to you tell me how to care for my own daughter!" Snape thundered. "Well if you would take some responsibility, perhaps she wouldn't be in here almost every day! Really Severus, she is just a child; children need supervision!" Snape glared at the little, but feisty nurse. "Madame Pompfrey, I am well aware of the fact that my daughter requires much supervision! However, accidents will happen and she seems particularly prone to them!" "Hey!" a voice called out. "Is Tirza okay?" Both adults looked to where the voice had come from and Tirza opened her eyes. "Oliver Wood, you are to be sleeping!" Madame Pompfrey scolded. Oliver smiled at them from his bed across the room. "I know, but I heard Professor Snape bring Tirza in." Madame Pompfrey shook her head. "Yes, Tirza will be fine, just a nasty scrape on her forehead." Snape frowned. "A scrape? That's it? But there was so much blood!" "Head wounds always bleed profusely Severus." "Oliwer otay (oliver okay)?" Tirza murmured, half asleep. "I'm okay, don't worry!" Oliver yelled back. Madame Pompfrey glared at him. "You won't be if you don't go back to sleep!" Oliver chuckled, than closed his eyes and pretended to snore. "How is he?" Snape asked as the nurse began to wash Tirza forehead. "Four broken ribs and a nasty concussion from hitting his head on the ground. He'll be right as rain in a few days," Madame Pompfrey told him. By the time the nurse had placed a bandage over Tirza's scrape, Tirza had fallen fast asleep.
It was close to midnight before Snape felt tired enough to sleep. He opened Tirza's door slightly and peered in; she was still sleeping peacefully, her lion tucked under her arm. He smiled and quietly closed the door, than headed for his room. Around two, Snape could hear what sounded like a voice; a little girl's voice. The voice grew louder and Snape knew it was Tirza. "Poppy," she called. "Poppy tum!" He rolled out of bed and headed for Tirza's room. He flipped on the light in her bedroom and found Tirza sitting in the middle of her floor. He scooped her up and she wrapped her little arms around his neck. "What's wrong?" She clung to him, shaking. "Bad deem (dream). Tie (try) to tum (come) to ooh (you) but dart (dark)." A thought suddenly hit him as he cuddled her; how in Merlin's name had she gotten out of the makeshift crib? Snape had made sure that the guard rails were too tall for her to climb over and a closer inspection revealed that the two small locks holding the rails up had not been touched. He carried her out to the sitting room and sat next to the fire, rocking her slowly. " Sweetheart, how did you get out of your bed?" Tirza smiled at him and rubbed her eyes. "Pefent (pretend) ot (got) tand (wand), toint (point) to wocks (locks) fay (say) oten (open)." Snape was surprised and thought carefully of what she had said. Was it possible that Tirza could do wandless magic? "Poppy ting (sing) peez?" Snape looked down at her, cuddled in his arms. "Darling, I do not sing." Her little eyes pleaded with him and he relented. How bad could it be? Besides, no one would hear except her. "What should I sing?" Tirza yawned. "Winkle wittle tar (twinkle little star)." Snape smiled, but had no idea how the song went. "Tell me the words, little one." Tirza sleepily mumbled the words to the song. "Ooh (you) urn (turn)." Snape cleared his throat, not sure why he felt on edge. "Twinkle twinkle little star," he began to softly sing. He was certainly not a singer, but Tirza didn't complain. "Gen (again)," she requested when he finished. His voice cracked slightly as he sang, rocking her in his arms. "Poppy, baby sweep (sleep) if (with) ooh (you)?" It was never something Snape liked, to have her sleep with him, but yet he felt pleased that she needed him and depended upon him. As much as he wanted to tell her no each time that she asked, he knew that he couldn't; she was frightened and he was supposed to protect her and if that meant allowing her to sleep with him, that was what he would do. "Of course." "Mowy?" Snape smiled and headed to her room, getting the lion from her makeshift crib. He tucked her into his bed and she snuggled close to him. "Wuv ooh poppy," she whispered. Snape kissed her sweet face. "I love you, my angel."
Tirza's sleep was restless and full of bad dreams, but Snape did not think it would be safe to give her the Dreamless Sleep Potion. When morning came, Tirza couldn't keep her eyes open as he tried to change her nappy and dress her. She was too tired to even try walking to the Great Hall for breakfast by herself. She sat curled up in Snape's lap, asleep while he ate. "I do not know what I'm going to do with her today; she's so tired and I am sure that the classes will disturb her," Snape commented. "I would not mind watching her for a while Severus," Dumbledore spoke up. Snape looked at the old wizard and than at the sleeping toddler in his lap. "I do not know Albus; when she wakes up, she'll be a handful." Dumbledore chuckled. "I am sure I can manage her, she's such a sweet girl." Snape nodded. "Alright; let me go and get her playpen and things and I shall bring them to your office." Snape stood up and Tirza's eyes popped open. "Poppy, cake peez?" Snape kissed her head. "No cake; go back to sleep precious." She nodded and closed her eyes. He carried her to Dumbledore's office, her playpen and playthings floating beside him, thanks to his wand. He mumbled the password and entered the office. The playthings were set in a chair and the playpen was set up in a semi dark corner of the office; Snape gently kissed her face, brushing a few curls from her eyes, and placed Tirza in the crib, covering her with the blanket. "If there are any problems, please bring her to me." Dumbledore nodded and chuckled as the younger man continued to look at the baby, seemingly nervous. "Something wrong Severus?" Snape shook his head. "As much as I trust you Albus, I hate to have her out of my sight." The old wizard chuckled. "That is certainly something I never thought I'd hear you say; to be honest, I never imagined you as a father, particularly the father of a little girl." "I never imagined myself that way either, but now I can't imagine things any other way," Snape confided. Dumbledore nodded. "Everything will be fine, I assure you. Go tend to your classes, I promise to come to you if anything should happen." Snape cast one last longing look at the sleeping Tirza, who looked positively angelic, and left the office. Dumbledore looked into the playpen and gently tucked the blanket in tighter around her. Snape walked solemnly toward his dungeon classroom, attempting to resist the urge to go back and take Tirza with him. He hated to give up this time with her as a baby; he knew the potion would wear off by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. In a way, he wished that he could keep Tirza this way and raise her himself; he knew that wouldn't be fair to her. She would retain no memories of her mother or her friends from America, he would be completely remolding her as a person; as much as he wanted to be selfish, Snape knew he couldn't.
"Poppy?" Tirza asked, sleepily sitting up in the playpen. Dumbledore looked up from his desk at chuckled; Tirza's curls were sticking up in tangled bunches all over her head. "Tanta!" Tirza shouted excitedly. She held her arms out towards the old wizard. "Up, peez?" Dumbledore lifted her from the playpen and sat back down at his desk, sitting her on his lap. "Would you like some chocolate my dear?" Dumbledore asked, breaking a candy bar into tiny pieces. Tirza smiled wide and clapped her hands. "Peez tanta!" She eagerly ate the piece of chocolate, smearing some of it on her face in a pattern that slightly resembled a moustache. "You know dear, I'm not Santa Clause." Tirza raised her eyebrow and he laughed at how much she looked like her father. "No tanta?" He handed her another piece of chocolate. "No, I'm not." A thought suddenly struck him. "But you could call me grandfather." Tirza shoved more chocolate into her mouth as she thought about his proposal. "Gadfafer (grandfather)?" "Try again dear," he said with a chuckle. Tirza scrunched up her little face and pointed at him. "Ooh (you) be Gahpah (grandpa), otay (okay)?" Dumbledore nodded and threw away the chocolate wrapper. "Ungee (hungry) gahpah (grandpa). Baby brektist (breakfast)?" "Of course dear; what would you like?" She scratched her head in thought. "Cake?" Dumbledore chuckled and hugged her. "I think we'd best eat something healthier, otherwise your father will be upset." Tirza shook her head. "Tupid (stupid) poppy." Dumbledore looked at her with as much sternness as he could muster (which isn't much!). "You shouldn't talk that way about your father." Tirza just shrugged and Dumbledore called for a house elf to bring her something to eat. As Tirza ate, Fawkes flew into the room; her eyes went wide and she bounced on Dumbledore's lap. "Birdie! Pwitty birdie!" Dumbledore called Fawkes and the bird came and perched on the desk. "Would you like to pet him?" She nodded. "Pwet (pet) wof (soft) wike (like) bunny." He smiled at her as she began to gently pet Fawkes. "That's right; you're a very bright little girl." Tirza giggled. "Baby ist (is) pwintis (princess); pwitty (pretty) pwintis." Fawkes patiently sat while Tirza pet him (or is Fawkes a girl?). "Baby haf (have) birdie?" Dumbledore shook his head. "No dear, you may not have him, but you may visit any time you wish." Tirza narrowed her eyes and looked at him closely before sighing and saying "Otay."
Eventually Fawkes had had enough petting and flew away; Tirza cried, yelling for him to come back. Dumbledore quieted her with another piece of chocolate. "Let's see what your father packed for you to play with." He opened the bag of playthings and pulled out several ponies with braided manes; one blue, one pink, one yellow. "Powees (ponies)," Tirza told him. She grabbed the yellow one and made it prance around on the desk and whinnied; Dumbledore watched her play with the pony and it gave him an idea. His eyes twinkled as he pulled his wand from inside his ornate robes. "May I see your pony?" Tirza nodded and handed it to him. He lined them up on his desk and pointed to each of them with his wand, saying words that Tirza did not understand. Suddenly the blue pony began to walk across the desk, followed by the yellow one. The pink pony started running and whinnying. Tirza's eyes went wide as she watched the My Little Ponies move and make noise. "Tayoo (thank you) gahpah (grandpa)." Tirza held out her hand and the yellow pony clip-clopped over and into her hand; she gently pet the pony, which licked her hand in response. Next out of the bag was two Barbies; Albus shrunk them and enchanted them to ride the ponies. Tirza squealed in delight as the Barbies rode the ponies around the desk and said the proper riding instructions. A musical ballerina followed the Barbies, and was enchanted to dance to the Nutcracker Suite. Tirza clapped her hands and bounced excitedly on Dumbledore's lap. "Ippy (yippy)!"
The classes before lunch went slowly for Severus; he couldn't stop worrying about Tirza. In fact, he worried and missed her so much that he didn't yell at Neville when his cauldron exploded. Snape was just not himself. When the last class ended, Snape quickly went to Dumbledore's office. As he approached the door, he could hear Tirza talking and giggling and felt immensely relieved. He opened the door and stood speechless at the sight in front of him. Tirza's face and shirt were smeared with chocolate and oatmeal; ponies were galloping across Dumbledore's desk, being ridden by dolls. A ballerina danced to a classical song, Molly was sitting up and roaring softly, and crayons were coloring all by themselves. Dumbledore looked at Severus and smiled. Snape couldn't believe his eyes. "Why? How?" he stuttered. Dumbledore chuckled. "Don't look so surprised Severus; did you think I'd let her be bored to tears?" Tirza excitedly began to telling about the ponies and such and Snape just shook his head. Leave it to Dumbledore; honestly, that old wizard was just a child at heart. Snape took Tirza from Dumbledore and Tirza kissed his face several times, smearing chocolate on him. Dumbledore took the enchantments off the toys and turned to the younger man. "I suppose it is time for lunch?" Snape nodded. "Sorry to ruin your fun, but yes it is." The toys were put back in their bag as Tirza continued to tell Snape about the adventures that Molly, the ponies, and the Barbies had all been on. Snape was only half listening; the rest of his attention was searching his brain for the enchantments that the headmaster had used, because he was sure that Tirza would beg for him to do this later! The teachers all had a good laugh at lunch as Tirza explained the toys and Dumbledore added his own comments; they could just imagine Snape's face when he walked in on all that! "Tirza, would you please settle down?" Snape scolded as Tirza bounced non stop in her chair. "I do believe that she is high on sugar; I wonder who around here has such a vast supply of sweets to give to her?" he said sarcastically. "Sweets for the sweet, I always say," Dumbledore retorted. Snape rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Tirza, who had more than half her food still on her plate. "You specifically ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and yet you do not eat it," he complained. "No ungee; ant (want) toklif (chocolate)." Snape shook his head and laughed. "Oh no, no more sweets for you my dear." Tirza frowned at him. "Me pwintis; wiv (give) toklif (chocolate) now!" "Yes you are a princess, but you are not having any more treats today; you're already energetic enough with out all that extra sugar." Tirza stuck out her tongue at him. "Wiv (give) now! Now! Now! Now!" Snape turned his back towards her and started a conversation with McGonagall. Tirza whined for a few more minutes, but since no one paid attention to her, she stopped and slowly began to eat her sandwich. Snape turned to her as she quieted down and smiled. "Good girl." She raised an eyebrow at him and continued to eat. "You know, I have no classes this afternoon, I'd be happy to watch her for you," McGonagall offered. "No, go tee (see) Oliwer!" Tirza piped up. Snape looked at Tirza, whose face was yet again covered with food. "Are you sure you would not mind Minerva?" McGonagall nodded.
Tirza wriggled her hand from McGonagall's and toddled as fast as her little legs would go to Oliver's bed in the hospital wing. "Oliwer!" she shouted. She tried to climb onto the bed and got one leg up before rolling off and falling on her bottom. She spit at the bed, as though it had purposely caused her to fall. Oliver smiled and held his arms out toward her. "Come here sweetie." He easily lifted her onto the bed; she crawled onto his lap and hugged him. "Ooh (you) otay (okay)?" Oliver ruffled her hair and nodded. "My head hurts, but I'm fine." "Glad to hear that Mr. Wood," McGonagall added. Tirza wrapped her arms around him again and leaned her head on his chest. "Wiss (miss) ooh (you)." Oliver brushed a curl from her face and smiled. "Ooh wy hewoo (you my hero)." "Anytime; isn't that what big brothers are for?" Tirza nodded. "Ooh dood dig brudder (you good big brother)." "I think we should let Oliver rest now Tirza," McGonagall interrupted. "Haf too?" McGonagall nodded and Tirza sighed. She gave Oliver a slobbery kiss and hopped off the bed. "Ohtust furhot (almost forgot)," Tirza suddenly dug in her bag and pulled Molly out, handing the lion to Oliver. "Mowy teep ooh no wonwee (Molly keep you no lonely)." Oliver smiled. "No honey, you keep your lion." Tirza frowned and him and put her hands on her hips. "NO!" she shouted. Oliver reluctantly accepted the lion, knowing that he would have to make sure she got it back later. "Yes ma'am," he said, saluting the stubborn toddler.
McGonagall returned Tirza to her empty classroom and pulled out several large puzzles for her to play with. Tirza happily sat on the floor dumping the puzzles and putting the large pieces back into the tray as McGonagall worked on her lesson plans. "Fwy (fly) in sky, fwy way, Ooby-doo (Scooby- Doo) he fwy too, Haggy tum fwy wif dus (Shaggy come fly with us)," Tirza sang to herself. McGonagall watched her play and smiled; Tirza's little song wasn't making much sense, but it was cute anyways. Before long, Tirza's eyes began to droop. "Are you tired dear?" McGonagall asked. Tirza yawned. "No," she replied. The teacher smiled and picked up the toddler, placing her in her lap. Tirza snuggled against McGonagall and yawned again. "Ooh ting (you sing) peez?" McGonagall kissed Tirza's forehead, careful not to touch her bandage, and nodded. She thought hard, back to when she was a child and her mother sang to her and remembered a song; Tirza closed her eyes as McGonagall began to softly sing.
Snape was prepared for anything when he went to collect Tirza from McGonagall's classroom. When he opened the door, there were no prancing ponies or dancing dolls; Tirza sat on the floor, a tabby cat in her lap, happily purring along with the cat. Snape rolled his eyes. The cat jumped off Tirza's lap and transformed back into the Transfigurations teacher. Tirza laughed and clapped her hands. "Kitty fun!" Snape chuckled. "You and Dumbledore are setting me up for disaster; Tirza will want me to perform these tricks later and since I am not able to, at least turning into a cat, she shall give me an enormous headache from her screams." McGonagall smiled. "She had a short nap and played with a few things from her bag, but she grew bored and I ran out of ideas." "Come here princess," Snape said, holding his arms out. Tirza got to her foot and ran to him. "Poppy kitty?" Snape glared at McGonagall. "See what you've started Minerva?" He turned back to the toddler in his arms. "Is there not something else we could do?" Tirza scrunched up her face in thought. "Id week (hide and seek)?" "As long as you're the one hiding, you have a deal," Snape replied, summoning her playpen and bag of toys to follow his wand. "Bye kitty!" McGonagall smiled and wave as Snape carried Tirza from the room. As they neared the dungeons, Tirza spotted Draco down the hallway. "Ducky!" she screamed. "Ducky!" Draco cringed at his unappreciated nickname and walked towards them. "Ducky pway?" "We are apparently on our way to play 'hide and seek'," Snape informed him. "I'll play with her sir; I'm sure you have much more important things to do," Draco offered. Snape looked at the young boy suspiciously, wondering why Draco Malfoy was being so very nice to his daughter; he really didn't believe that it was because Tirza was adorable, but was unsure of the true motive. "Alright, do not lose her," Snape said, setting Tirza down. Tirza took off running down the hallway and Draco took off after her. With one more suspicious look towards Malfoy, Snape entered his chambers and put Tirza's playpen and toys away.
"Hey, look what I got!" Draco announced as he entered the Slytherin common room, holding Tirza's hand. "How'd you manage stealing the kid?" Marcus Flint asked. Draco laughed evilly. "Snape actually believes that I think she is cute and want to be nice to her; he was so much smarter before she came along!" Agreements to the statement echoed around the common room. "So what are you going to do with her?" Pansy piped up. Draco shrugged. "Not sure yet; figure I'll let her get lost and feign the hero by finding her. It's not like she's going to tell Snape I lost her; he can hardly understand half she says anyway!" "Can't we think of something better?" Pansy whined. "Patience; once I gain her and Snape's trust, she will be very useful as soon as she is back to her normal self." Pansy snorted. "Normal? You can't tell me she is anywhere near normal!" Draco nodded. "Of course you are right; don't worry, there will be many benefits to having her believe that we are friends and you shall share in the rewards." Pansy batted her eyelashes at him. "Aw, would you truly do that for me?" Draco puffed out his chest and an extremely pleased look came over his face. "That's what a man does for his girl," he told her, his voice full of pretended manliness. Pansy winked, than looked around the room; Tirza was no where in sight. "Hey, the brat's gone already!" Tirza toddled around the Slytherin dormitory and ducked into the first room with an open door that she could find. Her eyes went wide as she surveyed the make-up on the vanity. She cautiously approached the vanity and reached for the blush.
Draco looked up from his book about Dark Arts and glanced at the clock. "Well, the kid's been gone almost an hour and a half; I should get her back to Snape before he comes looking for her." He reluctantly put down his book and began looking in all the places of common room that a small child could hide; Tirza was in none of them. "Hey, Snape's going to come any minute for her, I need some help finding her." Pansy nodded. "I think I saw her head for the dorm rooms, I'll go check." Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and several others continued to search the common room. A scream was heard from the dorms and Pansy rushed towards them. "Draco, it's bad! It's really bad!" she was nearly hysterical. He followed her thinking that it couldn't possibly be that terrible; he immediately changed his mind when they entered the dorm room. Tirza stood there, covered in baby powder; the powder decorated most of the floor and all of the vanity. Dark red lipstick was smeared around her mouth, a large amount of blush covered her cheeks and blue eye shadow was smeared across her forehead. In Tirza's hand was a pair of scissors and the floor was littered with dark curls. "Bloody hell!" Draco shouted. "Look at her hair!" Tirza had obviously cut her own hair; her once long curls were now longer on one side than the other by a good two inches. "We can wash the make-up and powder off, but what are we going to do about her hair?" Draco was starting to panic; Snape was going to kill him. "Draco, I'll wash her up, you think of something to tell Snape; I hope for your sake you can think of something believable." Pansy roughly picked Tirza up and snuck into the prefect's bathroom. Tirza screamed and kicked as she was carried off. Ten minutes later, Pansy returned to the common room, dripping on the floor, and dumped Tirza into Draco's arms. "You owe me big for this Malfoy! Do you know what that little brat did? She screamed and she kicked me and she got me all wet and she bit me! And now my hair is flat!" Pansy yelled, nearly close to tears. "You're lucky I like your power, otherwise I would have said to hell with it!" She turned on her heel and stomped, still dripping, from the room. She hadn't even been out of the room thirty seconds when Snape entered the common room. "There's my girl," Snape said as he approached Draco and Tirza. He suddenly stopped and peered at Tirza. "What the bloody hell happened to her hair?!" he bellowed. Tirza covered her ears and pouted and Draco turned a ghostly white. "Professor, I... it was an accident! I just turned my back for a second and she rain off! I followed her, but she had already started cutting her hair! There was nothing I could do!" Snape silent fumed for a few moments as he mulled over Draco's explanation. "She is rather fast, I suppose there really was nothing that you could do," he said slowly. He sighed and took Tirza from Draco. "Well, let's find someone a bit more skilled to fix your hair."
"Draco Malfoy was watching her? Really Severus, I thought you were smarter than that!" McGonagall told him. Snape held up his hand. "Please Minerva; I've already heard this speech from Madame Pompfrey when she fixed Tirza's hair." He glanced at Tirza's now shoulder length hair; at least she looked decent again. "You're going to have more troubles with her hair in a minute; she's half asleep and about to place a few strands of hair in your pumpkin juice," Dumbledore pointed out. Tirza was nearly asleep in his arms; Snape kissed her head and stood up. "By the way Minerva, I asked Tirza where her ever present lion was and she babbled something about you and someone being lonely. Any idea what she was saying?" McGonagall nodded and told Snape about Tirza giving her lion to Oliver Wood to keep him from being lonely. Snape smiled; Tirza was just so precious! He was truly going to miss her as a baby when she returned to being ten. Tirza sleepily said goodnight to those in the teacher's lounge as Snape left the room, headed for the hospital wing to retrieve her lion.
"I wanted to..." Snape paused. "Thank you for saving my daughter's life." Oliver nodded and handed him the lion. "Don't worry about it; I'm glad I was there and that she didn't get hurt." Snape nodded and smiled slightly at Oliver. "Now Severus, Oliver needs his rest if I am to release him tomorrow. And I suggest you get your little one to bed," Madame Pompfrey scolded as she emerged from her office. Tirza was asleep on Snape's shoulder and he quickly thanked Oliver again and left before Madame Pompfrey started in again. Snape was glad he had given Tirza her bath earlier; she was much too tired to bathe now. He had been smart this time and had cast a water repelling spell on himself. Tirza barely stirred as he changed her into her Cinderella pajamas and tucked her into the makeshift crib. "Good night angel," he whispered, softly kissing her face. "Wuv ooh (love you) poppy," Tirza mumbled. Snape tucked the blankets in around her, than left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Tirza was having another bad dream; thankfully not one of her horrible ones in which she relived her secret, but bad enough that she started crying. She tried to turn over in bed and hit a sort of railing. Shaking her head, she tried to turn over again; the rail wasn't a dream, it was real, she could touch it. "What the hell?" she muttered, trying to push the rail away. It wouldn't budge and she started to panic. "Daddy! Daddy!"
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