"Oh shit, I'm gonna die," Tirza whispered again. "Why?" Remus whispered back. "I did that to Draco's hair... and I just remembered that I forgot to get rid of the vile; it's still in my pocket," she told him. Remus looked closely at the pink haired boy walking beside Snape. "He looks familiar, despite his rather artful hair." Tirza nodded. "You know his dad, something or other Malfoy." Remus smiled and gently pulled Tirza close beside him. "Give me the vile," he whispered. Tirza looked surprised. "Why?" "Do you want to deal with that?" Remus asked, indicating the storming black cloud that was Snape. Tirza shook her head no. "Which pocket?" he asked. Tirza pointed to her left pocket and watched as Remus pulled his wand from inside his robes; the next thing she knew her pocket was empty, just in time too as Snape came to stand in front of her, glaring. "You have a lot of explaining to do young lady!" Snape thundered. Tirza looked at Draco and giggled. "Hey Malfoy, pink is so totally your color!" Draco blushed, and both he and Snape continued to glare at her. "I know you did this," Draco insisted. "Yeah? Well I know you had something to do with Molly!" Tirza retorted. "But I have proof," Draco replied evilly. "Oh yeah?" "A vile is missing from my cabinet," Snape told her darkly. "Do you have it?" "Do you think I do?" she countered. Snape's eyebrow rose; Tirza's eyebrow rose. "I sincerely hope for your sake that you do not." Tirza rolled her eyes. "Fine. Search me," she told him. "Alright, I will," Snape replied. "Take everything out of your pockets."

Tirza sighed, and began emptying the things from her four pockets into his hands. A plastic ring with a fake heart shaped jewel, a half finished letter to AJ, one of Jinn Jinn's treats, a tootsie roll from her private stash of candy, a list of several books and their authors, a high heeled shoe keychain came out of her pockets. "Any furniture in there?" Snape asked sarcastically. Tirza laughed. "No, but the couch is in my lucky pair of jeans," she countered. Remus watched the two of them talking, marveling at how much alike they were. Their quick, sarcastic wit; their dark looks; they even stood the same way. The only difference between the two was that Tirza was very cute, despite looking like Snape, where as Snape looked like... well... the greasy git he'd always looked like. The only thing that confused him was Tirza calling Dumbledore 'grandpa;' perhaps there was something that he didn't know about the headmaster? "What do you mean? I know she did it!" the whiny, pink haired boy's voice drew him from his observations. "Why else was she carrying pumpkin juice? I've NEVER seen her drink pumpkin juice!" Draco protested. Tirza glared at him, her hands on her hips, looking like a mini version of Snape in his intimidation mode. "I was going to meet Hermione in the library when you grabbed it from me and PUSHED me! How do you know that I wasn't bringing it for her to be nice?" she demanded.

Snape thought on that statement for a moment; that was definitely something Tirza would do and if she was going to do something to Malfoy, it would have been when he pushed her. "Then I'm just minding my own business, trying to get back to the dungeons when you start chasing me, yelling that you're gonna kill me!" she shouted at the boy. "Really Mr. Malfoy, there is no evidence that she has done anything other than be a convenient person for you to blame, and also a person to take things from," Snape spoke up. Draco looked crushed. "I can't prove it, but I know she did it!" he insisted. "And she said the same thing about you and Mr. Flint when her lion was charmed. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told her; I will not act without concrete evidence of guilt. If I can give YOU the benefit of the doubt, I can certainly give my daughter the same." "But my hair," Draco whined. "You have no choice but to wait the forty-eight hours until it wears off; if you tried any potions on top of whatever happened, you could end up bald," Snape replied. Draco's eyes went wide, and then his face grew dark with anger as he turned to Tirza. "You'll pay for this; I'll get you back!" Snape turned a horrifying look on Draco, towering over the boy. "Is that so? I'll have to keep an eye on you and your friends then Mr. Malfoy. We certainly don't want anymore spankings or letters to your father, now do we?" Draco quickly shook his head. "Nuh.. Nuh.. No..sssir," he stuttered. "Now quit wondering the hallways and go back to your common room," Snape ordered. The boy turned and ran down the hallway. "NO RUNNING IN THE HALLWAYS MR. MALFOY! THAT WILL BE FIVE POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN!" Snape shouted after him.

Remus could hardly believe his ears. Had Severus Snape, hardcore Slytherin, suspected of being a death eater, and just taken points from his own house and the son of his closest school friend? "Alright, who are you and what have you done with the REAL Severus Snape?" Remus asked. Tirza giggled as she stuffed her things back into her pockets. "Lupin," Snape said, his voice dripping with irritation. "I heard you had agreed to take the DADA job this year." Remus nodded. "Yes I did. I hear that you have a little girl, Severus. This little girl in fact," he indicated Tirza. "Who just happens to love pink and quite obviously hates Malfoy's son. Have you ever heard of sweet justice, Severus?" Remus' tone was soft and light, with a slight bit of laughter twinkling in his dark eyes. "Yes, I do have a daughter," Snape replied, ignoring the second half of Remus' statement. "This is Tirza." Tirza smiled and shook Remus' hand. "Now that you have met and know exactly who she is, I don't want to see you near her again," Snape warned. "Won't that be difficult with her in my class?" Remus asked softly. Tirza giggled again. "I don't go to school here, silly! I have my own teacher and she's really nice." Remus shot a questioning look at Snape. "She is only ten, so she will have no reason to ever be around you." "Am I really as bad as all that?" Lupin inquired. "My daughter can come up with plenty of mischief on her own without any help from an ex-Marauder and famous troublemaker." Snape turned on his heels and started down the hallway, his robes billowing around him. "Come along Tirza." The little girl sighed. "He's so silly sometimes. I think you're cool! Thanks for taking that vile, I'll owe you a big favor, ok?" Remus nodded a slight smile on his tired looking face. "Tirza!" Snape called again. "Oh brother," Tirza said as she rolled her eyes. "Bye Mr. Lupin." "Goodbye Tirza."

Remus watched as the little girl took off down the hallway. "Wait for me! I can't walk as fast as you, you big giant vampire man!" she shouted. He shook his head, expecting Snape to ream her out over saying something like that to him. Instead, Snape turned and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and ruffled her hair. Tirza giggled and stopped him; she crooked her finger, indicating him to come down to her level. Remus watched as Snape leaned down and Tirza whispered something in his ear. "Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" Remus could hear Snape sigh and wondered what Tirza was asking. "Alright, alright; but only because you're you," Snape decided. Tirza giggled as Snape kneeled down in front of her. She climbed on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "Alright, are you ready?" "Yep!" Tirza told him happily. He stood up, with her still on his back and continued down the hallway. Remus could hardly believe his eyes: Severus Snape was giving his daughter a piggy back ride! "Daddy, you sound funny when you whinny like a horsy; will you do that for me?" Remus chuckled; that was something he'd like to hear as well. "No." "Please?" "No." "I'll give you a tootsie pop!" "No. "Aw, come on, don't be a Klingon!" "NO!" Snape shouted. Remus shook his head as they continued around the corner, Tirza still giggling. Who was that man in black? Certainly not the Snape he remembered! With his bags floating beside him, Remus headed for Dumbledore's office.

"Now I mean it Tirza, I don't want you around Lupin. Do you understand?" Snape waited a few seconds for an answer. "Tirza, can I get an answer please?" Snape rolled his eyes and walked over to the couch, where Tirza was reading, and her headphones on. He pulled back her headphones and she looked up. "Wuz up?" she asked. Snape shook his head. "I was trying to talk to you; one sided conversations aren't very interesting." Tirza giggled and sat up, patting the spot next to her. Snape sat and she snuggled against him. "What I was trying to say was that I do not want you around Lupin." "Why not?" "Because I don't like him," he replied. "That's not a good reason!" Snape kissed her head. "That is all the reason you need little miss." Tirza sighed. "What if I wanna talk to Grandpa and he's there? Or what if he eats at our table? Then do we not get to eat anymore?" "Tirza, do not be ridiculous, of course we will eat in the Great Hall, even if he is there." "That's good, I like food," Tirza told him. Snape laughed, earning a scowl from Tirza. "No my dear, you do not like food, you like chocolate and desserts." She smiled and giggled. "Can't a girl have a hobby?" Snape's eyebrow rose. "And what hobby would that be?" She giggled again. "Chocolate! But daddy, I think Mr. Lupin is nice." "And how would you know that? You have hardly even spoken to him," Snape pointed out. "Daddy, well, it's hard to explain. It's like he knows things... I can see it in his eyes, he's a nice guy. Eyes are very cool; if you can read them right, it's like looking into that person's soul." Snape rolled his eyes. "And where did you come up with that?" "In a book at Barnes and Noble; they have good coffee there and they let you sit and look at the books and you don't have to buy them, you can just look. Its way way cool; maybe we can go there when we visit AJ! Hey, can I have another sleepover?"

Snape groaned. "Why do you want another sleepover?" "Because they're fun silly! 'Sides, you said I was grounded from Harry and Ron, you didn't say anything about sleepovers," she pointed out. "And who would be sleeping over?" he inquired. "Hermione of course, and Lavender, and Beth and Katie." Snape recognized the names, but couldn't place them with faces; he had never really paid a whole lot of attention to students unless they were Slytherins or as idiotic as Longbottom or annoying as Potter. "Do you have to invite so many?" Tirza nodded. "I promise we won't go bug the Slytherins." Snape chuckled. "Well I am glad of that at least! Who are these others girls and how do you know them?" "You've been letting me hang out with Hermione and those are some of her friends and we talk and go to the library and they're really nice and I don't wanna leave them out, cuz they might be sad if I invite Hermione and not them." Snape nodded; he could understand her reasons for so many, with as sensitive as she was, she hated to make people sad. "I will think about it," he decided. "Can you think really fast? We wanna have the sleepover soon." "I'll do my best," Snape promised her, kissing her head.

Tirza walked into the Great Hall the next morning and went over to Dumbledore. "Daddy says I'm supposed to sit with you cuz he can't come. He says you have to make sure I eat something. I tolded him I wasn't hungry and then he got all worried, cuz he's silly." Dumbledore smiled and pulled out the chair next to him. "Of course dear." Tirza smiled and gave him a hug before sitting down. "Why can't your father come?" Tirza sighed. "Well I was trying to help him set up some stuff for his classes and I had Jinn Jinn in my bag, but she tipped it over and got out and ate part of the potion ingredients, some sort of herb thingy and daddy was mad cuz now he has to go get some from the forest cuz she ate them all." Dumbledore chuckled. "Good morning Albus," Remus said as he sat in the chair beside Tirza. "Good morning," Dumbledore replied. "Have you met Severus' daughter?" Remus nodded. "We met last night in the hallway." Tirza smiled at Remus. "My daddy says I'm not supposed to talk to you, but I'm gonna anyways, cuz you seem really nice." Remus returned the smile. "Well don't go and get yourself into trouble over me," he told her. "Do not worry about it sunshine, I will speak to your father about it. Remus is a very nice man and I think you two will like each other," Dumbledore spoke up. "Thanks grandpa." "That's what I forgot to ask last night Albus. Tirza is Snape's daughter, so how are you her grandfather?" Remus questioned. "Is there something I missed?" Dumbledore chuckled. "No, you have not missed anything. Tirza has no living grandparents and I have no grandchildren, so we have adopted each other in a way." Tirza nodded. "Yep and I got a big brother now too; his name is Oliver Wood and he's way cool." Tirza cringed at the toast in front of her. "Yucky... don't make me eat breakfast grandpa, I'm not hungry." Dumbledore smiled at her. "I know dear, but you must eat a little something or we'll both be in trouble with your father." Tirza giggled. "Do you like sugar?" Remus asked. Tirza nodded. "How about cinnamon?" "Yeah, why?" she asked. Remus' eyes twinkled as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Tirza's plate. Three fresh, warm slices of bread appeared on her plate; butter was spread on them and they were dusted with sugar and cinnamon (an invention of my mother's; it's really good!). "Cool," Tirza told him. "Try it, I promise you you'll like it." She picked up a slice of the bread and bit the corner. "Yummy!" she announced. "Thank you!" Remus nodded and Tirza happily ate all three pieces of bread. She liked this Remus Lupin... he seemed pretty cool.

Dumbledore did in fact talk to Snape, but was not at all successful. The stubborn man was adamant about his opinion of Lupin and refused to allow Tirza near him, due to the pranks that had been played on him by Lupin and the other Marauders. The only contact Snape had with Lupin was at meals and occasionally in the teacher's lounge, which he would immediately exit at Lupin's entrance. Tirza, however, had other plans. Lupin had done her a big favor getting rid of that vile... in her eyes that made him cool.

By Thursday evening, Draco's hair was back to its normal color. That didn't make him any less angry about the pink hair. He had gone through hell the forty-eight hours until the pink had gone away; the entire school had taken pleasure in making endless jokes about it. The more jokes were told, the more laughs he heard, the angrier he became. That very first night, when he arrived back in his common room, he had started plotting. He'd get back at her, that stupid kid. He'd never understand why Snape hadn't done something about it. Of course Tirza had done it! Who else would? And who else would have access to those potions except her? This time, he'd have a potion of his own and he wouldn't be alone. There was no way he was going to let her get away with giving him pink hair.

"Tirza!" Snape called from his office. Tirza kissed Jinn Jinn and put her back in the cage. "I'd take you with, but daddy's still not happy with you. Not your fault though, your just a little bunny." Jinn Jinn yawned and happily rolled over to sleep. Tirza padded across the floor in her fuzzy slippers and red snowman pajama set and entered his office. "Yeah?" she asked with a yawn. "I'm not tired, so don't give me that 'maybe you should go to bed look,' cuz it's not even nine yet." Snape chuckled. "I was wondering if you'd run this book back to your grandfather for me," he said, holding out a large red book. "Can I stay and visit for a little bit?" Snape glanced at the clock; she was right, it was only a quarter to nine. "Alright, but be back here by nine-twenty." Tirza nodded and took the book from him. "Thanks daddy!" she skipped out of the office and into the hallway. Snape shook his head as he watched her skip away; she had to be the bounciest child that has ever lived. Tirza hummed as she walked through the hallways, waving at several of her favorite of the paintings that decorated the walls. They waved back, smiling at the little girl. She started humming the theme to I Dream of Jeannie as she continued walking. Suddenly, her right arm was roughly twisted tight behind her back. "Owy!" she screeched, dropping the book. She turned around to look at whom or what was holding her arm; it didn't come as a surprise that it was Marcus Flint, but that didn't make it any less scary. "Hey, what are you doing, lemme go." She tried to twist out of Marcus' grip, but it only made him twist her arm harder. She screamed in pain and Marcus put his other hand over her mouth. "I'll break it if you're not quiet," he threatened. Tirza didn't doubt that he would and whimpered. He started dragging her down the hallway.

"Where are you taking me? What are you gonna do?" she whispered, feeling panicked. "Just consider this payback for all the things you've done to us Draco and me," he said. "Getting us caned, using that potion on Malfoy; you're just going to have to learn not to mess with Slytherins. Its better you learn now, because then you'll know when you're sorted into Gryffindor next year, if you're even a witch that is." She screamed again as her arm was twisted harder; she could almost feel her bones ready to break. Marcus dragged her around a corner and down a dark corridor. "You're hurting me, please, lemme go," she whispered as tears started falling from her eyes. "Aw, the little baby is scared," Marcus teased. Marcus pushed her left side against the wall; Tirza could feel her skin scrape against the stones. Marcus took something out of his pocket and held it in front of her face. "See this potion? I made it extra special just for you." Tirza was frightened beyond belief and didn't think she wanted to know what kind of potion it was. "This is a special dark arts potion, used on traitors. It causes great pain that won't stop until the antidote is given. And guess what? I didn't have time to make the antidote." "HELP!" Tirza screamed. "HELP!" Marcus pulled and twisted her arm again, and Tirza could hear her bones snap and bolts of pain shot up and down her arm. She yelled in pain and continued to yell as Marcus uncorked the vile. "This will be so entertaining... for me anyways." Marcus was suddenly grabbed from behind and pushed away; Tirza fell to the floor and saw Marcus' wand fly from his robe into someone's hand. Tirza continued to cry, from both pain and fright. "Petrificous totalis," (so that is way spelled wrong, but you know!) a voice said. Marcus froze in place and fell over onto the floor with a thud. "Hang on, I'll be right back," the voice told Tirza softly. She watched as the owner of the voice picked up the block that was Marcus and deposited it in the nearby teacher's lounge. The owner of the voice quickly came back to where Tirza sat sobbing on the floor, bringing a soft light with him. It was Remus Lupin. "Are you hurt?" he asked softly. She nodded. "I want my daddy." "I'll get him in just a minute, I promise," he said as he helped her sit up. "Show me where it hurts." Tirza shook her head no. "Want daddy," she repeated. Remus leaned down and looked into her dark eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you. Can you tell me what hurts?" Something in his eyes made her believe him. "My arm and my wrist," she whispered through her tears. Remus nodded and gently touched her wrist. "Ouch!" she shouted. Remus gently patted her back. "I'm going to rollup your sleeve and look at your arm." She nodded and he rolled up the sleeve, revealing several dark red hand shaped splotches that would soon turn into bruises. "I think your wrist is broken and mending bones isn't my specialty so I'll take you to the nurse, alright?" "Don't let him hurt me," she whispered. Remus suddenly felt strangely protective over the sobbing little girl; there had been something he had seen in her eyes. "He won't, I promise." "I want my daddy," she asked again. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Can I take you to the nurse and then go get him?" Tirza nodded and he slowly and carefully picked her up. She leaned back against him as he quickly carried her to the hospital wing.

A/N: Well, I think this spells the end for Mr. Marcus Flint! So Remus Lupin has turned out to be a hero, at least to Tirza anyway. Next will come whatever is going to be done with/to Flint as well as Snape and Isabel's date. I hope I've kept Remus' character right, I think I have. Stay tuned!

MissLKid: Hope this lived up to your expectations! Much more Lupin and Tirza interaction on the way!

Jetsog-Ger: Glad you like it! Stay tuned!

Alrick: It would be bad if Snape rather fixated on the bad things Ariel had done. For Tirza's sake, he'll have to help her remember good times and make her believe that it was the cancer (etc) and not that her mother didn't love her anymore. I think for Snape that answering general questions as a teacher would be much different than your own child, and one that you haven't even known for six months yet!, to ask puberty questions. But then it turned out to be a fake pimple, but she was very convincing. I think it mostly caught him off guard, at a moment when he really wasn't expecting to have to deal with that for a while. I think when the real time comes; he'll be more ready to handle it. Excellent suggestion of Snape preparing for her future should something happen to him! I imagine quite a scene from Tirza while discussing such things; the usual are you dying type panic, etc. Will definitely use that later on! As always, you have wonderful ideas!

CraJure: Well, Remus did save the day! Twice actually! Will this make Sev a little nicer to him? Maybe, but no promises!

Potter-Snape: So did all of Remus in this chapter seem to fit? I hope so and I appreciate your email and I hope you got the one I sent back. Let me know how you thought of him in this chapter!

BuzzBuzz16: Okay, Sirius will make an appearance, I promise, but he won't be staying on like Remus. Sirius will come for a visit, not a job like Remus.

Raclswt: This story has gotten insanely long! I have had a friend of mine slowly print out about twenty pages of it a week at her work. I think our poor old printer would jam if I tried to print all two hundred some pages!

AlexGray: Hope this turned out to your liking and that Remus seems like Remus!

Luinthoron: Thanks for the correction! LOL, sometimes I wonder if there is a brain at all inside my head! Maybe darling Sev is taking up too much space? LOL!

Kenomee: I haven't decided quite what I want to do with Sev and Isabel yet. Have them date for a while and get serious or have Sev decide that he just doesn't want to be serious for (blank) reasons. Any suggestions? I almost think I'd like it better if they dated, but had a peaceable parting and Sev raised Tirza himself.

LostSoul: I sent you an email, I hope you got it! And I hope Remus fits your expectations! The question was a cute set up to get Isabel and Snape together! The magic marker pimple was my fav part of it all! The pink hair was great and I am glad that Tirza didn't get into trouble... maybe she'll receive a lift from some of her grounding for good behavior. At her age, I don't think I could have lasted five weeks!

StarliteBaby: Good point about Harry possibly being a help or at least someone who would understand! Perhaps she will get her grounding from them, or him at least, lifted. Maybe someone should suggest it to Snape (say Dumbledore for instance?)

SugarPrincess: I would definitely love to be in Isabel's shoes, dating Snape... ah, sweet dreams, LOL! I think it was nice for Tirza to get away with a prank for once, just once; all her others have failed, so she deserved a chance to succeed! And Sirius will make a visit sometime!

Thanks again to all my faithful and wonderful reviewers! I love you all! Hugs, Kerry