The next day was Saturday and being forbidden from going to Hogwarts, Tirza was left with an incredible amount of time to come up with a plan of revenge. What was even better, was that Snape was exhausted from working straight through two days between Tirza's potion and his classes, that when the energy potion wore off, he went to take a long nap, leaving Tirza to entertain herself. The story grandpa had told her last night had been more than just funny, it had been pure genius! If she could find the instructions and sneak the ingredients, maybe she could make a potion and turn Marcus and Draco into girls! That would be the ultimate revenge! She giggled quietly, not wanting to wake Snape and have him ask what she was up to; she certainly did not want to lie to him. She went to the book shelves and grabbed an armload of books and slowly walked to the couch. She looked through the indexes of each book and found nothing; the result was the same with the other books in the room. Tirza sighed, sitting on the couch surrounded by piles of books; the potion was probably in one of the restricted section books and she wasn't allowed to go there. If she was going to get revenge, she'd have to be careful and stay out of trouble before putting her plan into action; in case she got caught, she didn't want to make things any worse than they'd have to be. Well if she couldn't find the potion to change them into girls, than she'd have to find something else to do to them. She'd have to go look in the classroom and see if there were any prepared potions she could use. But before she did, she'd have to make sure that Snape was still asleep.

She tip-toed into his bedroom and peered at her sleeping father, who seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. She smiled and pulled the blanket up tighter around his shoulder and turned to leave the room, but something caught her eye. There, on the nightstand, was Snape's wand. Tirza's eyes went wide. Ooh, she wanted that wand and she wanted it bad. But she couldn't, could she? She glanced back over at Snape, blissfully asleep. Oh, this was just too perfect a chance to pass up! Her heart pounded and she walked over to the nightstand and looked at the wand, debating what she should do. The temptation was too strong and she reached her hand out to grab the wand. A second later it was in her hands and she felt very cool, big and powerful. Oh, this was so good. "Might I ask what you are doing with my wand?" Tirza screamed and dropped the wand, looking guiltily at Snape. "Um...um...um..." she stammered. Snape looked sternly at her, one eyebrow raised. "I am waiting for an answer young lady." She continued to stammer, her face white as a sheet. "Tell me the truth Tirza; you were going to play with my wand, weren't you." Tirza nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving his face. "You have asked to use my wand before, have you not?" She nodded again. "And what did I tell you?" "Not to," she mumbled. "Correct; now come here," he ordered sternly. Tirza shook her head and started backing up. "No way; I know that look- you're gonna spank me." "Tirza, I asked you to come here; now come." She continued to back away. Snape sighed. "Tirza Jade, please do NOT make me come and get you." Knowing there was no way to get out of this, she slowly walked towards him, dragging her feet. "This isn't fair," she whined, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood before him. Snape cupped her chin in his hand and titled her head, making her look him in the eye. "This is not the first time you've been told not play with wands, is it?" he asked. "No, you wouldn't get me my own and you wouldn't let me play with Hermione's either," she replied. He nodded. "That's right; you are the one who is not being fair, trying to get your own way after you've been given fair warning. Do you understand that?" "I guess so," she told him reluctantly. Snape nodded and put her over his knee, swatting her hard six times. "OUCH! Sons of the pharaohs!" she yelled. Snape shook his head. "What did you just say?" Tirza sighed. "I didn't say a bad word, I said sons of the pharaohs like on The Mummy." Snape nodded and let her off his lap, relieved that he didn't have to lecture her yet again on using better language. He waited for her to settle down after sniffling a little and rubbing her bottom. "Alright, I'll let you say that as long as I don't hear the other one again." "Can I have a hug daddy?" she asked, sounding on the verge of crying.

Snape nodded and took her in his arms, cuddling her close. "Don't cry baby, I'm not angry." "I know," she told him, sniffling. "I'm not gonna cry cuz your mad; but I might cry cuz it hurts." Snape kissed her head and rubbed her back. "I'm sorry baby," he gently told her. She nodded. "I still love you daddy," she whispered. "You still love me, right?" He squeezed her tight and kissed her cheek. "Always," he assured her. "Do you want to go play now?" She nodded and crawled off his lap, no longer sniffling and headed for the door. She suddenly stopped and turned around, walking back to him. "Daddy, I got a question. What kinda potion turns boys into girls?" Snape's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Why do you ask that?" She giggled and crawled back onto his lap. "Grandpa told me a story about you when you were in school. He said you turned Harry's dad and three other guys called Marauders into girls! I thought it was really funny and... I was thinking of doing that to Marcus and Draco," she admitted. Snape rolled his eyes. "I can see I'll need to speak with your grandfather and tell him not to tell you stories that will give you ideas. At least you did not already try that on Flint and Malfoy..." he looked at her suspiciously. "Did you?" She shook her head no. "That's a relief; but I'm not going to tell you how to do it." Tirza stuck her lip out in a pout. "Please?" "No." "Please?" "No." "Pretty please?" "Tirza, please do not pester me." She sighed. "Okay okay, don' get all, um can I say pissy?" Snape shook his head no. "Aw tribbles. But don't get all cranky okay?" Snape laughed at the 'aw tribbles,' amused, but pleased, that she was trying to find other things to say that would keep her out of trouble. "I won't get cranky, but I won't tell you either; you get into enough trouble all by yourself, you certainly don't need any help from me," Snape replied. "But I don't want you to ever touch a wand again, until I give you permission to buy one for school, alright? Because if you do, I promise you'll get a spanking that you won't soon forget. And remember what I told you about getting revenge, as well. Do I make myself clear?" he gently asked. She sighed and nodded. Snape hugged her close before she slid off his lap to go play.

An hour later, Snape poked his head into her room. "Hang on," Tirza told him, quickly pausing her video. "Wuz up man?" Snape rolled his eyes and entered the room. "I've decided that I can't in good judgment give you the potion without testing it first, so I have decided to test it on myself." Tirza looked at him, her eyes narrowed, an eyebrow raised. "You're not gonna blow up are ya?" He chuckled and shook his head. "No, I'm not going to blow up. It will most likely make me just very calm and passive." Tirza giggled. "That'd have to be a pretty strong potion!" "Very funny, wise acre," Snape teased. "It's wise," she suddenly stopped. "Never mind," she decided. "So I am going to take that now and if it makes me fall asleep or very agreeable, you be good and don't try to take advantage of me," he instructed. "Um, what do you mean?" "I mean don't try and get me to say yes to things that I have already said no to, alright?" he asked. She nodded and he left, closing the door behind him. He went into his office, where he had stored the recently bottled potion in a locked cabinet. He took out one of the small bottles and popped off the lid, than quickly drank it. Two minutes later, Snape felt relaxed; VERY relaxed. He took a deep breath and gathered some papers, sitting at down at his desk. If he had to test this potion, he might as well grade papers during the time. Usually he was very disappointed by the work of his students, seeing as most of them were idiotic or just didn't care to pay attention. The notes were always improperly organized; the essays always contained miss-spelled words, bad grammar and little or no punctuation. Very rarely did he ever see a paper from a student that was actually decent, let alone ever seeing one that was as near to perfect as was possible. Today, however, he received a very pleasant surprise. Most of the work was actually quite good, some in fact quite brilliant. Elated by what seemed like remarkable achievements by his students, Snape happily passed out A's and B's, very few getting a C or lower. Perhaps he had been teaching differently lately and it had made a difference in their performance. Perhaps, they just finally decided to pay attention to him and the subtle art of Potions. Whatever it was, he was pleased with the results.

Snape decided that perhaps he had not looked as carefully at past papers as he should of and pulled the files of my people whose work had surpassed the norm. Most of those were Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, with a few Ravenclaws and only one Slytherin. His suspicions were correct for some of the files; those of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, George Weasley, Fred Weasley and Neville Longbottom. The last three essays handed in by each of the aforementioned students were much better than the lowly grade that they received. "Well what happened here? I should pay closer attention to these things and I shall have to let them know later on about the errors." The door suddenly flew open, banging loudly against the wall. Tirza cringed, waiting for the usual scold about being careful and not making so much noise. After a moment of complete silence, she looked up at him surprise written on her face as Snape was still writing on the parchments in front of him. "Uh dad?" she asked. Snape looked up and smiled. "Oh, I didn't hear you come in sweetie." She gave him a funny look, an eyebrow raised. "What is that look for? Are you upset about something?" Snape asked. She shook her head. "No, nothing at all," she assured him. 'How did he not hear that door slam? Half the castle probably heard!' "Um, I think it's time for supper dad." Snape looked at his watch. "Supper started almost ten minutes ago," he commented before returning his attention to his grading. "Hey, I thought you hated being late," Tirza pointed out. Snape shrugged. "Being late every once in a while is not such a big thing." Tirza's eyes went wide. "Daddy, are you okay? You're acting kind of funny." Snape smiled brightly. "I feel wonderful; why do you ask?" "Can we just go to supper? I'm hungry." He nodded and stood up. "Of course, let us be on our way then."

"Minerva, you are looking lovely this evening. Have I ever told you how well green suits you?" Snape said as he and Tirza approached the teacher's table. McGonagall was so dumbstruck by what he had said that she couldn't even answer him. "And good evening to everyone! It is so nice to have such a wonderful crowd of people to dine with." Tirza shook her head and rested it on her hands. "What is wrong with him?" McGonagall whispered to her. "He's testing my potion... maybe he drank too much of it," Tirza whispered back. McGonagall nodded and turned to pass the word down the line of teachers. "Does everyone else enjoy working here as much as I do?" Snape piped up. "I really enjoy working with all of you and this school feels so much like a home to me. And I even like the children; even the Gryffindors." Everyone at the table stared at him in shock. He ignored them and started eating. Tirza sighed deeply... she was baby-sitting again, just like she had her mom sometimes when she was sick and it was always stressful. She silently prayed to who or what ever god or deity was listening that he'd snap out of it soon; last thing she wanted was her father to become like her mother was at the end. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Wood!" Snape shouted after supper, running down the hallway. Both boys stopped and looked at Snape, wondering how many points they had just lost and why. "I wanted to wish you boys luck on the quidditch game against Hufflepuff tonight; between you and me, I've always thought the Gryffindor team was right up there with the Slytherin team and it's a shame that you couldn't combine forces and become a knock out team. You'd be unbeatable! Perhaps that's a good idea; I shall bring that up to Dumbledore sometime. I'd be happy to sponsor the combined team for a championship." Oliver and Harry looked at Tirza, clearly confused at this person that looked like Snape, but certainly wasn't acting like Snape. She merely shrugged, having no answer for them. "Well, um, thank you Professor," Oliver finally spoke up. "Oh think nothing of it. Did I tell you that there will be a test in Potions on Monday? If you need any help preparing, I'd be most happy to tutor you," Snape added. The boys nodded and rushed away to get ready for the game. Snape turned to Tirza, who was still standing beside him. He crouched down in front of her. "Here, get on my back, I'll give you a ride." 'Well, it can't hurt,' Tirza thought. She smiled and got on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his stomach. "Alright, let's go!" he shouted. He took off running down the hallway, whinnying like a horse. "Heigh-ho Silver, away," Tirza said, hardly able to talk she was laughing so hard. "Heigh-ho Silver, away!!!" Snape repeated, shouting it loudly as he ran down the hallway. Tirza continued to giggle as he ran through the hallways while students gaped at him. 'Well if I have to baby-sit him, at least he's fun!' Tirza thought.

Tirza crawled out from under her bed. "Found it!" she shouted. "Alright, come and teach me," Snape said excitedly. They went into the hallway and Tirza began to draw boxes on the stone floor as Snape watched impatiently. After eight boxes were drawn and each had its assigned number, Tirza turned to Snape, holding a small rock. "Okay, this is the official hopscotch rock; we can't lose this." Snape nodded. "Okay, what you do, when it's your turn is stand here," she drew a small 'x' on the floor and stood on it. "And you throw the rock like this. Now it landed in the four square and you have to jump in each square, but over the one the rock is in." She showed him how to do it and turned around when she reached the end, smiling. "The first one that falls or lands in the square with the rock is the loser okay?" Snape nodded and she picked up the rock. "Okay, you go first daddy." Snape took the rock from her hand and tossed it, missing the hopscotch squares entirely. Tirza giggled. "Daddy, you have to throw it in a box, not down the hallway," she told him slowly. "Sorry, I'll go get it." Snape ran down the hallway and retrieved the rock and tried throwing it again; this time it landed inside the six box. Snape attempted to jump properly, but ended up tripping himself and falling flat on his back. "Are you okay daddy? Are you hurt? Do you need the doctor?" Tirza asked. This was very much like old times and Tirza hoped he'd be back to normal soon. "Let's not play this game anymore; I might hurt myself," he told her. "Good, I got another idea. Go in and sit down and I'll be right back." Tirza pushed him inside their chambers and then took off running down the hallway. Snape was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace when she returned, holding a box of crackers, a bag of marshmallows, and several chocolate bars as well as a large heated container of hot chocolate and two mugs. She dumped everything on the coffee table and poured the hot chocolate into the two mugs, handing one to Snape. "Be careful daddy, it's very hot and it might burn you, so blow on it and try not to spill," she told him, sounding very grown up and motherly. He nodded and took the mug, blowing on it as she poured herself some. She blew on hers and took a tiny sip. "It's not as hot as I thought; I don't think it will burn you if you drink it. Have you ever made smores?" "What are smores?" Snape asked. Tirza giggled. "Daddy, you're so funny and naïve!" "Naïve?" Snape asked. "Do you even know what that means?" She rolled her eyes. "Of course! It means someone who is stupid about stuff, like a little baby, someone that needs to grow up," she replied. If Snape had been his normal self, he would have investigated that statement further, but at the moment was more excited about learning what smores were. After finding some long sticks, Tirza set out four crackers and a chocolate bar, than put a marshmallow on each stick. "Now you put it in the fire like this. And when it gets all nice and toasty and starts to turn colors, than you pull it off," she told him as she made her own. "And put it on the cracker, and then add some chocolate and the second cracker. Now try it!" She offered him her smore and he bit a large bite of it off. He said something, but Tirza couldn't understand him. "Daddy, I can't hear you with your mouth all full like that," she told him giggling. "It's really good," he announced when he was able to speak again. She smiled and put another marshmallow on the stick and handed it to him. "You try," she urged. He nodded and took the stick, placing it carefully in the fire.

Four hours after Snape took the potion, he was in the sitting room playing Candy Land with Tirza. He yawned and Tirza looked up, a worried expression on her face. "Are you sleepy daddy?" "A bit," he admitted. Tirza stood up and walked to Snape and tugged on his sleeve. "Come one, I'll tuck you in and you can sleep and feel better," she told him. Snape gave her a questioning look, an eyebrow raised. "Excuse me young lady, but last time I checked I was the parent here," he retorted rather gruffly. "Daddy, you're back!" she shouted, throwing her arms around his neck. "I was always here child, just a tad more relaxed then usual." Tirza doubled over with laughter. "Oh my god, you should have heard yourself daddy and seen you playing hopscotch, it was funny!" Snape scowled. "I happen to remember everything I said and did, unfortunately." She collapsed, still giggling, in his arms. "I'm glad you're normal again," she stated. She looked him up and down. "I mean, as normal as is your kinda normal, ya know what I mean? But anyways, I am glad you are you again, cuz I hate baby-sitting." Again, Snape's eyebrow rose. "What do you mean baby-sitting? Aren't you too young to be responsible for children? You are hardly responsible for yourself?" Tirza rolled her eyes. "Don't make me call you a Regulan bloodworm daddy," she teased in reply to his insult, which had been delivered with a wink. "I never baby-sat kids daddy, I mean duh." He watched her get up and have a drink of hot chocolate. "You want smore smores daddy?" she asked with a giggle. Snape shook his head. "What I would like is to know who you were baby-sitting and why you, a ten-year-old child, was going to "tuck" me, your father, into bed?" She sighed and studied the mug in her hand. Snape crouched in front of the chair she sat in and tickled her feet. Tirza, with out so much as a giggle, got up and changed her position so that she was sitting on her legs, keeping her feet out of tickling range. "It's a secret," she whispered. "Who told you it was?" he asked. "Mommy... I wanna tell you, but you might get mad and mommy will be sad if I tell." Snape reached out and gently brushed curls from her forehead; he could see it in her eyes that it wasn't something he wanted to know, but needed to. "Your mother will not be mad at you for telling me, because I want you to tell and your mother would want you to listen," he assured her. She sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you, but I don't think you'll be happy. Just don't be mad at mommy, okay?" She nodded and she crawled onto his lap and was struck with a thought. "Daddy, it doesn't make me a baby like I like to sit on your lap does it?" Snape smiled and kissed her cheek. "No sweetheart, it doesn't. And I like it when you sit with me; I like to hold you and make you feel safe." She sighed happily and leaned against him.

"I baby-satted mommy a lot, before she was an angel. She'd get sick and I'd tell her to go to sleep and I'd cover her with the blankets and sing to her. Sometimes I would make supper or lunch; I learned how to use the microwave. Sometimes, I'd take money from her purse and go get the food from the grocery store so she wouldn't have too. I got to be a big girl and help her, cuz she needed me. She really needed me daddy and I didn't like to baby-sit her so much, but I did cuz she needed me. She said she needed me to be a big girl and help her, so I never ever tolded her that I didn't wanna baby-sit, cuz she hurted so much and I didn't wanna make her be sad." Her voice had grown quieter as she told Snape what she had meant; she had never told anyone about it before, not even auntie Chrissy. "Tirza, I want you to know that what you did for your mother was the nicest and most loving thing I've ever heard. But your mother was wrong; she shouldn't have had you doing those things, going off by yourself. You are a little girl; your job is to grow up and play and have fun and learn, not to do the things that a parent is supposed to do," Snape told her. Tirza shook her head. "No, you're not right! I had to do it for mommy! She told me I was her bestest bestest bestest friend the whole wide world! She said I was all she had and all that was important and she needed me to help her. She was sick daddy, and she was my mommy and my bestest friend and I had to help her, I just had to!" Snape shook his head. "Tirza, I'm not trying to say bad things about your mother and I know you were doing what you thought was right. Your mother should have sent you to me when she got that sick; it wasn't your job to help her and be a grown up. Your job was to love her and you did a very good job loving her. Your mother wasn't trying to make a bad decision, and I know that she loved you very much, but she should not have laid so much responsibility on you." Tirza started to cry and struggled against Snape's embrace. "You don't understand! You're stupid and mean and I hate you! I really mean it daddy, I hate you!" She broke out of his arms and ran out the door of the chambers and Snape could hear her sobbing loudly as she ran. He didn't know where she was going and if he should go after her or not.

A moment later, he dashed out of his chambers and down the hallway. "Tirza!" he yelled. "Tirza! Where are you going? Stop, baby, we need to talk!" Tirza stopped and turned to face him. Her face was a sickly ash color with red blotches from her crying. "Don't... follow... me..." she told him between sobs. "I... can't... take it... I want it to stop!" she wailed "I gotta make it stop! It hurts too much daddy and I'm gonna make it stop and you can't follow me!" she shouted. She quickly turned and ran down the hallway. Her words sent a shiver through Snape and his blood turned icy cold and his heart was pounding in his chest. A horrifying through flashed through his mind as he started running after her. Her words clicked together and the truth of what they meant was so terrifying that he stumbled, almost falling face first into the floor. He willed himself to run faster, to catch her and grab her and stop her. His worst nightmare was coming true before his eyes... his baby was going to kill herself.

A/N: Oh, such drama. My heart just breaks for Tirza, because I know how she feels. But it isn't going to go away with some sort of quick cure and she has to deal with it. And she will and now will come a big turning point in her and Sev's relationship. I know this last part has been rather sad, but what can I say, my emotions influence my writing and I was wrote this part after waking up from the same nightmares as Tirza, only this time aaron wasn't here (still not home from work, it's close to 3am, my poor honey) and writing Tirza stuff always makes me feel better, and I am feeling better (but sore again). But don't worry everybody, she'll be okay, I promise!! For a little while, the war against Draco and Marcus will be put off, but not for too long, as they'll still be fighting no matter what is wrong with Tirza. I promise she'll be okay and things will become more manageable for her and for Snape as well. I'll try not to keep everyone waiting too long for the next chapter.

CraJure: Glad you enjoyed Dumbledore's story! I thought it was fun! So far, it will remain unknown that Marcus was the one who put that spell on Molly, but it will come out eventually. There will be a "war" between him, Draco and Tirza, but as you can tell from this ending, Tirza's going to have something else to deal with for a little bit, but that won't stop the Marcus and Draco.

Potter-Snape: Glad the stuff with Molly was how you pictured it! Thanks again for the idea! And never apologize for rambling; some of the most brilliant ideas come from ramblings!

LostSoul: Perhaps it is only you and I that like The Mummy, Star Trek, and Scooby-Doo. Perhaps we are long lost sister, LOL! I hope I did better with this chapter about THEN and THAN, and thank you for pointing that out, I had never thought of that before. And I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar (so to speak) by Aaron earlier and as predicted got a long long lecture and a sentence to bed for the rest of the day (which I'm breaking right now, oops... but what does he really think he's going to do anyways if I don't listen, LOL!). Sleeping pills for the two evil ones (Marcus and Draco) is an excellent idea, I bet Tirza has some of those somewhere or could find something like them. And don't worry, Tirza will be trying her best to switch to the Regulan bloodworm (etc) sayings and won't get her mouth washed out, at least hopefully, for her, not for a while.

MissLKid: Yes, Tirza certainly is a cool kid! She's got a big heart and so much pain and Snape will become her hero as he helps her through everything. Haven't ever seen the Outsiders; is it good? If so, I'll try and catch it one of these days. And don't worry, I'll keep on writing!

Stay tuned everyone! I'll try and not keep you in suspense for too long! Love, Kerry