Tirza woke up early on Christmas morning. She yawned and was about to roll
over and go back to sleep when suddenly she remembered: it was Christmas
morning!! She jumped out of bed and bounded into the sitting room; the fire
was blazing bright and warm, presents piled high under the tree. She looked
around for her dad, but he was no where in sight, so she assumed that he
was still asleep. Just as she was about to head to Snape's room and wake
him up, the door of their chambers opened; Snape walked in carrying a large
breakfast tray, followed by two elves holding pitchers of orange juice and
coffee. Severus noticed Tirza and smiled. "Happy Christmas sweetheart! I
didn't think you'd be up this early." As soon as he set down the tray,
Tirza jumped into his arms, giving him several kisses. "Merry Christmas
daddy!" He hugged her tight and kissed her warm cheek. "What's all this
stuff?" she asked. Snape sat beside the fire and cuddled her in his lap.
"Well, I thought we'd all like to eat some breakfast while opening
presents." "All? Who's all?" Tirza wondered. "Happy Christmas!" some called
while knocking on the door. Severus winked at Tirza and set her down; she
ran to the door and opened it to find McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Remus,
their arms full of gifts. "Merry Christmas!" she shouted happily as they
entered the room. She ran over to Snape and gave him a hug. "And you even
invited uncle Remus," she whispered happily. Snape nodded; he was slowly
warming up to Remus, very slowly, but he was working on it for Tirza's
sake. The adults all sat around the room and Tirza became the official
present distributor, reading the tags and handing each person their gifts.
She of course ended up with the biggest pile of all.
"Shall we let Tirza go first?" Dumbledore asked. She then picked a present and read the tag aloud. "This is from grandpa." She tore open the wrapping and squealed in delight, then began jumping and bouncing around singing "I got a broom! I got a broom!" The adults all laughed, except Severus, who was shooting Dumbledore a rather dark look. Finally turning his attention back to Tirza, he noticed her about to mount the broom. "Not indoors, remember what happened to your arm last time." Tirza sighed, but nodded and sat down, still holding her broom, a shiny Nimbus 2000, just like Harry's. Severus went next; he opened the gift from the Hogwarts staff, a vintage bottle of elderflower wine. McGonagall went next and opened the gift from Tirza, a beautiful emerald pin. She hugged the little girl and thanked her. Remus then opened his present from Tirza; two packages of Oreos. He chuckled and gave Tirza a hug. "I remembered they were your favorite. I had to send Isabel to London for those," she told him. "They are my most very favorite," he assured her. Tirza giggled and turned to Dumbledore. "You're turn grandpa! I know you'll love it!" Dumbledore's present was large supply of chocolate bars and chocolate frogs as well as a large gift certificate for Honeydukes. "Thank you sunshine," he said as he kissed her head.
Tirza beamed and began opening her next present. "This is from Auntie Min." The wrappings were pushed aside, revealing a beautiful baby blue satin pajama set. "Oooh," Tirza said, rubbing the soft material against her cheek. Snape reached for his first present from Tirza; a home made picture frame containing a photo of her when she had been turned into a two-year- old. She was holding Snape's hand as they walked down the hallway, and she was giggling. "I thought you might wanna put it in your office," Tirza told him shyly. Snape scooped her off the floor and hugged her tight. "I don't have any pictures of anyone in my office; that is a wonderful gift," he told her, kissing her head. She smiled proudly and stayed settled on Snape's lap. Next came the gift from Remus, which was rather large and heavy. It was a twenty-four pack of Coke, a package of Oreos, a bag of taco flavored Doritos and several boxes of Little Debbie treats. "Junk food, yes!!" she shouted happily. She blew Remus a kiss, and then it was Snape's turn again. His present was a pillow made of silver fabric with a Slytherin crest cross stitched on it. "Isabel taught me how to do that," Tirza commented. Snape hugged her close. "Thank you sweetheart, it's beautiful." Many of the stitches were wrong, or lose, and the crest was rather lopsided, but it didn't matter to Severus; the point was that Tirza had put a lot of time and effort into making it for him.
Tirza grabbed another present from Minerva; it was a pink sweater that said Princess on the front in sparkly letters. "I saw it in London and it reminded me of how your father calls you princess," Minerva said. Tirza giggled and pulled the sweater on over her pajamas. "Thanks Auntie Min, it's all warm and soft and my most favorite color too!" she exclaimed hugging Minerva. She sat again in Severus' lap and smiled at him. "You're turn daddy!" He had two more gifts and choose the package closet to him. Underneath the stocking stuffer print wrapping paper was a brown teddy bear, with large black eyes and soft brown fur. "Everybody should have a teddy bear," she told him quietly. "I thought you should have one too and maybe you'd like to put it on your bed." Severus slowly rocked her in his arms for a moment, still holding the teddy bear. He looked at the bear; something so simple, yet the thoughts behind it made it the best present in the world. "I would like that very much," he told her, kissing her head. A flash caught their attention and they looked up. "Thought you might like some photos of your first Christmas together," Remus stated, holding a camera. Severus wondered why he had not thought of that; he gave Remus a small smile. "Thank you," he told the man quietly. Remus beamed. "No problem Severus. Now how about another present for you honey." Tirza nodded a big smile on her face. "See daddy, you can be friends with Uncle Remus," she whispered as she reached for another gift. "Ooh, finally one from you daddy!" The package was small and rather hard and didn't make noise when she shook it. Snape kissed her head. "You're supposed to open it, you know," he told her teasingly. She giggled and opened the package, revealing a small, blue velvet box. She carefully pried open the lid of the box and discovered a gold locket. "Wow," she said in awe. She found the clasp and ever so gently opened it and found herself looking at a picture of her parents, from their school days. "This is really special daddy," she told him, sounding close to tears. "I love it! I'll always wear it; thank you daddy." Snape helped her put on the locket before she nearly smothered him with kisses.
Snape had one present left, but Tirza still had seven left. "You are a very spoiled little girl, do you know that?" he told her, kissing her cheek. Tirza giggled. "I can't help it if I'm adored," she retorted. "You go ahead and open yours; I'll save my last one until you are done." She nodded and pulled the other gifts closer towards her. Tirza spotted two small presents from Dumbledore and began opening them. One was a large assortment of candies, mostly chocolate; the other was a simple pink book with blank pages. "That is a journal; there is a spell that you put on it that keeps everyone except you from seeing what's on the pages," Dumbledore explained. "Cool!" she shouted. "I've never had a journal before, that's way too cool! Will you help me with the spell?" "Of course," he replied. The next present was from Severus; a book of fairytales, complete with moving pictures. "Look daddy, they move and everything," she exclaimed, pointing to a picture. Severus smiled at her. "I thought you'd like that, especially for bedtime stories." She nodded happily and added the book to her pile of unwrapped gifts. Another present from Snape revealed a book called Simple Potions for Younger Children by Ima Genius (LOL!). "Ooh, can we do some of these when we get back?" she asked excitedly. Snape nodded. "That's exactly what I had in mind." The potions were very simple and contained ingredients that wouldn't explode if mixed improperly, which was a must have when working with Tirza.
Two more wrapped packages were torn away and Tirza discovered a poster of a butterfly that moved from Auntie Min and a BBMak CD from her dad. Now she had one present left; it was large and heavy and Snape cautioned her to unwrap it carefully. It was a very large pale blue photo album; she began to scan the pages and was stunned to find every single page filled with pictures of Snape and Ariel through out all their school years. "That is every picture I have of your mother and I in school," Snape told her. "I thought you'd like them." She gently sat the album down and pounced on him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Daddy, you are the best," she whispered. Of all the gifts she had received it was her favorite, even over the broom; her mom had never wanted to talk about her younger years and Tirza had never seen any photos of Ariel before Tirza was born. "Do you like it?" he questioned. She nodded and kissed him. "I love it; thank you daddy." Snape held her for a moment before she got off his lap and lugged the large gift over to him. "Now be careful daddy," she told him. Severus nodded and slowly took off the wrapping. It was a large, painted portrait of Tirza; she was wearing a medieval, renaissance type dress. The painter had beautifully captured her little face, her smile, her eyes. He stared at it for a moment, not sure what to say, so taken aback by the gorgeous painting. Tirza frowned slightly. "You don't like it," she stated sadly. "I have never received a gift that I will treasure as much as I will this painting. It is beautiful Tirza and I absolutely love it. In fact, I'm going to hang it over the fireplace after breakfast." Her face brightened. "You really truly like it?" He nodded fervently and turned to painting so everyone could see. "Isn't it wonderful?" he asked them. Everyone replied that they liked the painting very much and how lucky Severus was to have that. He carefully set it down and took Tirza in his arms, hugging her close. "It's wonderful baby, thank you." Tirza returned the hug. "But you gotta thank someone else too," she stated. "Who?" "Uncle Remus, cuz he painted it." Severus looked over at Remus, who had a big smile on his face. "Did you really?" Remus nodded. "It's splendid and excellently done; I had no idea you painted, but you obviously do a magnificent job. Thank you for helping Tirza with this." Remus' smile grew even bigger. "I was only too happy to help; she was an excellent subject to paint. Thanks for the compliments, not many know I enjoy painting."
"My tummy's all growly," Tirza announced. The adults laughed and Severus tickled her stomach for a moment. "Mine is too," Dumbledore added. "Let's have some of that wonderful smelling breakfast." As Tirza, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape and Lupin all began eating their breakfast, in the Slytherin common room, Draco had a large present in front of him. He opened the box and it exploded in his face, cinging his eyebrows and hair, turning his face black. A dung bomb flew out of the box and went off in the room, making everyone groan and cover their noses and run from the room. Draco looked back at the box in shock. Suddenly a piece of parchment became visible. "Happy Christmas Malfoy, from Fred and George Weasley." He grabbed the parchment, intent on showing it to Snape and getting the twins in trouble; just as it made contact with his hand, it disappeared, making Draco growl in frustration.
Breakfast was light, as there was a great feast planned for lunch. As soon as she was done eating, Tirza dressed and put on her snow gear, dragging Snape outside to supervise her flying on her new broom. "Now you know there's no flying in the school, correct?" "Yep," she replied as she zoomed around him. "And no flying without an adult or Mr. Wood present, correct?" "Yep," she repeated. Snape had been very put out with Dumbledore for getting her that broom, but when he saw how excited Tirza was about having her own broom, he couldn't bring himself to insist that she not use it like he had planned to do. Tirza stayed close to Snape, not flying very high or very far away or very fast, trying to keep the broom from getting damaged. "I'm I doing good daddy?" Snape smiled at her. "You're going very well honey." She attempted to ride without any hands, but a look from Snape changed her mind; she was certainly not going to get a broom and have it taken away in the same day. "Can I bring this with when we visit AJ? I wanna show her." "Absolutely not," Snape quickly told her. "Tirza, we've talked about this before. We cannot tell them that we are a witch and wizard." Tirza sighed. "That's gonna be really hard," she retorted as she buzzed by him again. "I know, but you have to try; believe me, it's for the best." Tirza rolled her eyes in complete disagreement, but not knowing the shrinking spell, would have no choice but to leave her pretty new broom behind.
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!!" Tirza yelled as she entered the Great Hall for the Christmas day feast. Many of the students yelled Happy Christmas in return. "PEOPLE IT'S MERRY, NOT HAPPY!" she shouted in exasperation. Everyone laughed, but Tirza ignored them and went over to where her friends sat. She gave Hermione, Beth, Katie, Lavender, the twins and Oliver hugs and wished them Merry Christmas; Harry and Ron were shy, so she shook their hands. "Look, I'm wearing my uniform," she told Oliver, twirling around. He smiled and whistled. "Beautiful!" The twins also whistled. Tirza blushed at their whistles, but giggled. She looked absolutely adorable in her tiny quidditch uniform, which had been shrunk quite a bit because she was so tiny. She spotted Hagrid and ran over to him. "Merry Christmas Hagrid," she greeted him. "Happy Christmas to you; my, don't you look all fancy?" She smiled and handed him a small box. He looked surprised and quickly opened it; three dozen frosted, sprinkle covered snow man shaped cookies stared back at him. "I made them for you," she told him shyly. "I'll bet they're delicious," Hagrid assured her, smiling through his thick beard. He patted her shoulder and presented her with a present. Tirza squealed with delight; Hagrid had given her a box of rabbit treats for Jinn Jinn. "Cool! Jinn Jinn'll be really happy! Thanks Hagrid!" The giant smiled and patted her shoulder again before she took off to find Madame Hooch. "Happy Christmas Tirza," Hooch said. "MERRY Christmas," Tirza replied. She held a wrapped envelope out to her. "Thank you dear," Hooch said, opening the envelope. "I didn't know what to get ya, cuz you got so much quidditch stuff, so I thought a gift certificate to the quidditch store would be good," Tirza told her quietly. Madame Hooch smiled, rather shocked by the ten galleon gift certificate, and hugged the little girl. "Thank you very much; it's just what I needed. And great uniform by the way." Tirza, very proud of her Gryffindor quidditch uniform, beamed. "I have something for you too dear," Madame Hooch stated, reaching in her robes and pulling out a snow man print wrapped gift. It was a book all about quidditch with tons of moving pictures. "Awesome!" Tirza announced. She gave Madame Hooch a hug and thanked her, then ran off to Snape. "Looky what I got!" she shouted excitedly. Snape smiled. "That's very nice; are you ready to sit and eat." "Can we sit with my friends? Please daddy?" Tirza's little face begged him to say yes. He nodded and followed her over to where Hermione, Oliver and the rest sat. Severus Snape then did something that everyone had thought completely impossible. He sat down with Gryffindors, wished them a Happy Christmas, and was involved in a conversation with them about everyone's new Christmas gifts.
Tirza stopped Remus in the hallway after lunch and handed him a box. "This is for Snuffles, if he comes again. It's some cookies I made and they're really good and I had Grandpa put a spell on them so they'd stay good for a while," she told him shyly. Remus smiled kindly at her. "That was very thoughtful of you; I'll make sure he gets them." She beamed and turned to head back to the dungeons and see if Snape would let her fly her broom some more. "Talk about a dumb outfit," Draco sneered. Remus, at the opposite end of the hallway, heard Draco and turned around, wanting to prevent any fighting. "Oh really? Cuz I got this outfit from yo mama!" Tirza countered. Goyle laughed, and then fell silent as he was shot an evil glare from Draco. Draco advanced towards Tirza, who looked at him defiantly. Just then Remus grabbed her from behind, tucking her under his arm. "Hey! What the Regulan blood worm are you doing?" she struggled. "Do you really want to get into a fight on Christmas," Remus' soft voice asked her. Tirza relaxed in his gentle hold. "Okay, so ya got a point. But don't sneak up on me like that, it's scary," she stated. "I'll try not to, but I figured it was better for you to get away from him then for someone to start bleeding," he mused. "So where are you taking me?" "Where do you want to go?" "Back down to my place, cuz I wanna go ride my broom again." Remus chuckled; as soon as they were far enough away from Draco, he set her down. "How about I give you an escort?" Tirza nodded. "Thanks for all the junk foods; all my favorite stuff!" Remus patted her shoulder. "You're welcome. Are you looking forward to your trip tomorrow?" Tirza nodded and began bouncing around. "Yep! I miss them lots and lots and can't wait to see them again!" She sobered and took Remus' hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. "But I'll miss you and Grandpa and Oliver and everybody." Remus gently squeezed her hand in return. "You'll be back soon. You really think of this place as home now, don't you?" She nodded. "I like being with daddy; I love him so much and it makes my tummy all full of butterflies sometimes. He's special." Just then they arrived at the dungeon chambers; Tirza gave Remus a hug and again wished him a Merry Christmas before entering the chambers.
Severus and Tirza ate supper together, just the two of them, in their chambers. A bright, warm fire was going and there was plenty of hot chocolate and an astounding amount of food. Tirza leaned back in her chair when she was done eating and rubbed her tummy. "Wow, I'm really full." "You ate too much didn't you?" Severus questioned. She nodded. "Daddy, will you rub my tummy and make it feel better after I change into my pajamas?" "Of course baby, but must we use that lotion?" he asked. Tirza giggled. "No, you don't have too." She disappeared into her room and returned wearing the new pajama set that Minerva had given her. "Isn't it nice daddy? It's so pretty!" He nodded; she looked extremely adorable. She lay down on the couch with a groan. "I'll never ever eat that much food again," she vowed. Severus chuckled and sat down beside her. "Promises, promises," he retorted. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then pulled up the pajama top slightly, revealing her little white stomach. "Is that my cue to start rubbing?" he asked, rather surprised. She nodded and he gently rubbed her warm tummy, which did in fact look slightly bigger then usual. "Have you had a good Christmas baby?" he as while rubbing. Tirza nodded. "The best; will you read me a story from my new book tonight?" "Just pick out which fairy tale you want and I'll read it to you." "When you're done can I have more hot chocolate?" Severus chuckled. "I think your poor stomach could use a rest for a little bit." When he finished rubbing, he pulled her pajama shirt back down and pulled her onto his lap, where she eagerly snuggled. He stroked her hair and sat there for a moment, neither of them saying anything. "I love you with all my heart Tirza," he said after a moment. She smiled sleepily. "I love you too daddy, forever and ever times infinity."
Snape had put Tirza to bed just after ten and was ready for bed himself; it had been a long and tiring day, but very enjoyable. The best Christmas he'd had in years. He had been in bed for about an hour, thinking over the day and about Tirza, when he decided he wanted a glass of water. He got out of his bed and made his way to the bathroom for a drink. On his way back, he distinctly heard a giggle from Tirza's room. He quietly crept across the sitting room floor, towards Tirza's room. He should see a sort of light from under the doorway and threw open the door; Tirza's TV was on, but her head was covered by blankets. "Nice try; I know your awake," he stated, sitting beside the lump that was Tirza under the covers. He heard her sigh, and then she pulled the covers off of her head. "What are you still doing up? We have an early morning tomorrow," he told her. "I can't sleep, I'm too excited," she replied, sitting up. Severus chuckled and rubbed her cheek with his hand. "Daddy, are you bringing my potion and the sleeping potion?" she questioned. "Yes, I'm bringing both and a couple others just in case. Muggles have strange ways of curing things and I can't apparate you back to Poppy." She nodded. "And I can't tell AJ all about that stuff?" He shook his head, a slightly stern look on his face. "You cannot tell them, baby; I know you want too and that it will be hard, but you cannot. Understand?" She reluctantly shook her head.
"Daddy, have you named your bear yet?" Snape thought back to the brown teddy bear that was now sitting in a chair in his room. "No, not yet." "Bring it here," Tirza told him. "I'll help you with a name." He returned with the bear, which Tirza inspected closely. "Well, it's a boy so it has to have a boy's name." Snape resisted the urge to laugh; how could she possibly tell one way or another? "I'll let you name it, I can't think of any good ones," he told her. She nodded and looked at the bear thoughtfully for a moment. "Well it can't be something stupid like Brownie.... How about Chester? No, that's stupid too... I know, you can name him Paddington, just like Paddington bear!" "That sounds good to me," Snape stated. She gave Paddington the bear a kiss, then handed him back to Severus. "Can I have one more story daddy? Pretty please?" He nodded and she flipped open her fair tale book.
The next morning, Tirza held on tight to Snape as they and their luggage apparated to the JFK airport in New York. They apparated to a secluded spot, where Snape returned their luggage to its normal size and they headed to where they had agreed to meet the Logan's. Tirza suddenly dropped the bag she was holding and ran off towards three people; a woman with light brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a very large dress. A little girl, with straight sunshine gold hair and hazel eyes, who was at least four inches taller then Tirza and a man, in jeans and a t-shirt, with unruly dark brown hair and hazel eyes. "TJ!" the golden haired girl called. "AJ!" Tirza yelled. The girls ran to each other and hugged, jumping around excitedly, squealing in delight. "Here we go," Severus thought to himself.
A/N: Ooh, so much fun stuff ahead! It work doesn't kill me I will try my hardest to have the next part up by Sunday night! Thanks to all those who gave ideas for Christmas presents (you each know which was your idea and I thank you all for them!)!!!
Rox-Angel-Malfoy: I myself have never gone to NY, so please email me about what the tour buses are like and how Snape would be! I would love to include that in there! My email is: medjaigurl@aol.com Looking forward to your email!
MalfoyAngel: Tirza is a real cutie, isn't she? And just the right person to warm Sev up a bit!!
Obsessedwithbritishpeople: Glad you enjoyed it! And don't worry, Isabel won't be gone long!
Oasis: Hope this chapter was all you were wishing it to be!
CraJure: What a horrible typo, that whole Tirza/bunny thing! (blushes brick red!!!) Blame it on my boss, who I swear to god but have been a relative of Hitler or something in a previous life!! Good luck on your exams! My theory of geography is: if I know where I am, why should I care where anything else is?
MissLKid: Glad you liked it!
Slone: It is so MERRY and not happy..... I've always thought that was kinda creepy (LOL!)
Raclwst: New York will have a BIG surprise for everyone, you'll never expect it! LOL!
Fire 'N' Ice: Snape did make a funny Santa, but it was such a nice thing to do for Tirza! I don't think I would have been as lenient to Malfoy as Tirza was, but I think it fits her character better. I would have sent Oliver on him by now, and George and Fred with those clubs that they hit the bludgers with....
Kenomee: As always, Draco will get his. Expect an episode of Oliver pissed at Malfoy for the things he's doing to Tirza! Those rabbit leashes really are the best! I have several of them and my rabbits love to tear around the yard in those things in the summer. They have to go one at a time of course, otherwise girl rabbits will be getting with boy rabbits and we'll have a whole mess of rabbits!! And I wouldn't be able to give any of the babies away and aaron would throw a fit!! LOL!
Potter-Snape: Had lots of fun chatting with you lately, hope we can do that more sometime! Keep those good ideas coming!
AngelsCreation: Thanks for your vote on the Isabel/Snape thing!
Alrick: The trial will be interesting; it will be much different then the wizarding one was. Hope things are going well for you and won't be too crazy!!
Thanks to all my faithful readers! And here's a question: I've encouraged my little cousin to start typing her own Harry Potter fanfic that she's been working on. It's really good and I must for Draco fans. When she posts it, would you all pop over and read it and leave a review? She'd be so happy to get some reviews! And I'd love you all forever if you did, LOL! So I'll put up the link when she's ready, and hopefully some of you all will do that for me. Have a great weekend all! Love, Kerry
"Shall we let Tirza go first?" Dumbledore asked. She then picked a present and read the tag aloud. "This is from grandpa." She tore open the wrapping and squealed in delight, then began jumping and bouncing around singing "I got a broom! I got a broom!" The adults all laughed, except Severus, who was shooting Dumbledore a rather dark look. Finally turning his attention back to Tirza, he noticed her about to mount the broom. "Not indoors, remember what happened to your arm last time." Tirza sighed, but nodded and sat down, still holding her broom, a shiny Nimbus 2000, just like Harry's. Severus went next; he opened the gift from the Hogwarts staff, a vintage bottle of elderflower wine. McGonagall went next and opened the gift from Tirza, a beautiful emerald pin. She hugged the little girl and thanked her. Remus then opened his present from Tirza; two packages of Oreos. He chuckled and gave Tirza a hug. "I remembered they were your favorite. I had to send Isabel to London for those," she told him. "They are my most very favorite," he assured her. Tirza giggled and turned to Dumbledore. "You're turn grandpa! I know you'll love it!" Dumbledore's present was large supply of chocolate bars and chocolate frogs as well as a large gift certificate for Honeydukes. "Thank you sunshine," he said as he kissed her head.
Tirza beamed and began opening her next present. "This is from Auntie Min." The wrappings were pushed aside, revealing a beautiful baby blue satin pajama set. "Oooh," Tirza said, rubbing the soft material against her cheek. Snape reached for his first present from Tirza; a home made picture frame containing a photo of her when she had been turned into a two-year- old. She was holding Snape's hand as they walked down the hallway, and she was giggling. "I thought you might wanna put it in your office," Tirza told him shyly. Snape scooped her off the floor and hugged her tight. "I don't have any pictures of anyone in my office; that is a wonderful gift," he told her, kissing her head. She smiled proudly and stayed settled on Snape's lap. Next came the gift from Remus, which was rather large and heavy. It was a twenty-four pack of Coke, a package of Oreos, a bag of taco flavored Doritos and several boxes of Little Debbie treats. "Junk food, yes!!" she shouted happily. She blew Remus a kiss, and then it was Snape's turn again. His present was a pillow made of silver fabric with a Slytherin crest cross stitched on it. "Isabel taught me how to do that," Tirza commented. Snape hugged her close. "Thank you sweetheart, it's beautiful." Many of the stitches were wrong, or lose, and the crest was rather lopsided, but it didn't matter to Severus; the point was that Tirza had put a lot of time and effort into making it for him.
Tirza grabbed another present from Minerva; it was a pink sweater that said Princess on the front in sparkly letters. "I saw it in London and it reminded me of how your father calls you princess," Minerva said. Tirza giggled and pulled the sweater on over her pajamas. "Thanks Auntie Min, it's all warm and soft and my most favorite color too!" she exclaimed hugging Minerva. She sat again in Severus' lap and smiled at him. "You're turn daddy!" He had two more gifts and choose the package closet to him. Underneath the stocking stuffer print wrapping paper was a brown teddy bear, with large black eyes and soft brown fur. "Everybody should have a teddy bear," she told him quietly. "I thought you should have one too and maybe you'd like to put it on your bed." Severus slowly rocked her in his arms for a moment, still holding the teddy bear. He looked at the bear; something so simple, yet the thoughts behind it made it the best present in the world. "I would like that very much," he told her, kissing her head. A flash caught their attention and they looked up. "Thought you might like some photos of your first Christmas together," Remus stated, holding a camera. Severus wondered why he had not thought of that; he gave Remus a small smile. "Thank you," he told the man quietly. Remus beamed. "No problem Severus. Now how about another present for you honey." Tirza nodded a big smile on her face. "See daddy, you can be friends with Uncle Remus," she whispered as she reached for another gift. "Ooh, finally one from you daddy!" The package was small and rather hard and didn't make noise when she shook it. Snape kissed her head. "You're supposed to open it, you know," he told her teasingly. She giggled and opened the package, revealing a small, blue velvet box. She carefully pried open the lid of the box and discovered a gold locket. "Wow," she said in awe. She found the clasp and ever so gently opened it and found herself looking at a picture of her parents, from their school days. "This is really special daddy," she told him, sounding close to tears. "I love it! I'll always wear it; thank you daddy." Snape helped her put on the locket before she nearly smothered him with kisses.
Snape had one present left, but Tirza still had seven left. "You are a very spoiled little girl, do you know that?" he told her, kissing her cheek. Tirza giggled. "I can't help it if I'm adored," she retorted. "You go ahead and open yours; I'll save my last one until you are done." She nodded and pulled the other gifts closer towards her. Tirza spotted two small presents from Dumbledore and began opening them. One was a large assortment of candies, mostly chocolate; the other was a simple pink book with blank pages. "That is a journal; there is a spell that you put on it that keeps everyone except you from seeing what's on the pages," Dumbledore explained. "Cool!" she shouted. "I've never had a journal before, that's way too cool! Will you help me with the spell?" "Of course," he replied. The next present was from Severus; a book of fairytales, complete with moving pictures. "Look daddy, they move and everything," she exclaimed, pointing to a picture. Severus smiled at her. "I thought you'd like that, especially for bedtime stories." She nodded happily and added the book to her pile of unwrapped gifts. Another present from Snape revealed a book called Simple Potions for Younger Children by Ima Genius (LOL!). "Ooh, can we do some of these when we get back?" she asked excitedly. Snape nodded. "That's exactly what I had in mind." The potions were very simple and contained ingredients that wouldn't explode if mixed improperly, which was a must have when working with Tirza.
Two more wrapped packages were torn away and Tirza discovered a poster of a butterfly that moved from Auntie Min and a BBMak CD from her dad. Now she had one present left; it was large and heavy and Snape cautioned her to unwrap it carefully. It was a very large pale blue photo album; she began to scan the pages and was stunned to find every single page filled with pictures of Snape and Ariel through out all their school years. "That is every picture I have of your mother and I in school," Snape told her. "I thought you'd like them." She gently sat the album down and pounced on him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Daddy, you are the best," she whispered. Of all the gifts she had received it was her favorite, even over the broom; her mom had never wanted to talk about her younger years and Tirza had never seen any photos of Ariel before Tirza was born. "Do you like it?" he questioned. She nodded and kissed him. "I love it; thank you daddy." Snape held her for a moment before she got off his lap and lugged the large gift over to him. "Now be careful daddy," she told him. Severus nodded and slowly took off the wrapping. It was a large, painted portrait of Tirza; she was wearing a medieval, renaissance type dress. The painter had beautifully captured her little face, her smile, her eyes. He stared at it for a moment, not sure what to say, so taken aback by the gorgeous painting. Tirza frowned slightly. "You don't like it," she stated sadly. "I have never received a gift that I will treasure as much as I will this painting. It is beautiful Tirza and I absolutely love it. In fact, I'm going to hang it over the fireplace after breakfast." Her face brightened. "You really truly like it?" He nodded fervently and turned to painting so everyone could see. "Isn't it wonderful?" he asked them. Everyone replied that they liked the painting very much and how lucky Severus was to have that. He carefully set it down and took Tirza in his arms, hugging her close. "It's wonderful baby, thank you." Tirza returned the hug. "But you gotta thank someone else too," she stated. "Who?" "Uncle Remus, cuz he painted it." Severus looked over at Remus, who had a big smile on his face. "Did you really?" Remus nodded. "It's splendid and excellently done; I had no idea you painted, but you obviously do a magnificent job. Thank you for helping Tirza with this." Remus' smile grew even bigger. "I was only too happy to help; she was an excellent subject to paint. Thanks for the compliments, not many know I enjoy painting."
"My tummy's all growly," Tirza announced. The adults laughed and Severus tickled her stomach for a moment. "Mine is too," Dumbledore added. "Let's have some of that wonderful smelling breakfast." As Tirza, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape and Lupin all began eating their breakfast, in the Slytherin common room, Draco had a large present in front of him. He opened the box and it exploded in his face, cinging his eyebrows and hair, turning his face black. A dung bomb flew out of the box and went off in the room, making everyone groan and cover their noses and run from the room. Draco looked back at the box in shock. Suddenly a piece of parchment became visible. "Happy Christmas Malfoy, from Fred and George Weasley." He grabbed the parchment, intent on showing it to Snape and getting the twins in trouble; just as it made contact with his hand, it disappeared, making Draco growl in frustration.
Breakfast was light, as there was a great feast planned for lunch. As soon as she was done eating, Tirza dressed and put on her snow gear, dragging Snape outside to supervise her flying on her new broom. "Now you know there's no flying in the school, correct?" "Yep," she replied as she zoomed around him. "And no flying without an adult or Mr. Wood present, correct?" "Yep," she repeated. Snape had been very put out with Dumbledore for getting her that broom, but when he saw how excited Tirza was about having her own broom, he couldn't bring himself to insist that she not use it like he had planned to do. Tirza stayed close to Snape, not flying very high or very far away or very fast, trying to keep the broom from getting damaged. "I'm I doing good daddy?" Snape smiled at her. "You're going very well honey." She attempted to ride without any hands, but a look from Snape changed her mind; she was certainly not going to get a broom and have it taken away in the same day. "Can I bring this with when we visit AJ? I wanna show her." "Absolutely not," Snape quickly told her. "Tirza, we've talked about this before. We cannot tell them that we are a witch and wizard." Tirza sighed. "That's gonna be really hard," she retorted as she buzzed by him again. "I know, but you have to try; believe me, it's for the best." Tirza rolled her eyes in complete disagreement, but not knowing the shrinking spell, would have no choice but to leave her pretty new broom behind.
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!!" Tirza yelled as she entered the Great Hall for the Christmas day feast. Many of the students yelled Happy Christmas in return. "PEOPLE IT'S MERRY, NOT HAPPY!" she shouted in exasperation. Everyone laughed, but Tirza ignored them and went over to where her friends sat. She gave Hermione, Beth, Katie, Lavender, the twins and Oliver hugs and wished them Merry Christmas; Harry and Ron were shy, so she shook their hands. "Look, I'm wearing my uniform," she told Oliver, twirling around. He smiled and whistled. "Beautiful!" The twins also whistled. Tirza blushed at their whistles, but giggled. She looked absolutely adorable in her tiny quidditch uniform, which had been shrunk quite a bit because she was so tiny. She spotted Hagrid and ran over to him. "Merry Christmas Hagrid," she greeted him. "Happy Christmas to you; my, don't you look all fancy?" She smiled and handed him a small box. He looked surprised and quickly opened it; three dozen frosted, sprinkle covered snow man shaped cookies stared back at him. "I made them for you," she told him shyly. "I'll bet they're delicious," Hagrid assured her, smiling through his thick beard. He patted her shoulder and presented her with a present. Tirza squealed with delight; Hagrid had given her a box of rabbit treats for Jinn Jinn. "Cool! Jinn Jinn'll be really happy! Thanks Hagrid!" The giant smiled and patted her shoulder again before she took off to find Madame Hooch. "Happy Christmas Tirza," Hooch said. "MERRY Christmas," Tirza replied. She held a wrapped envelope out to her. "Thank you dear," Hooch said, opening the envelope. "I didn't know what to get ya, cuz you got so much quidditch stuff, so I thought a gift certificate to the quidditch store would be good," Tirza told her quietly. Madame Hooch smiled, rather shocked by the ten galleon gift certificate, and hugged the little girl. "Thank you very much; it's just what I needed. And great uniform by the way." Tirza, very proud of her Gryffindor quidditch uniform, beamed. "I have something for you too dear," Madame Hooch stated, reaching in her robes and pulling out a snow man print wrapped gift. It was a book all about quidditch with tons of moving pictures. "Awesome!" Tirza announced. She gave Madame Hooch a hug and thanked her, then ran off to Snape. "Looky what I got!" she shouted excitedly. Snape smiled. "That's very nice; are you ready to sit and eat." "Can we sit with my friends? Please daddy?" Tirza's little face begged him to say yes. He nodded and followed her over to where Hermione, Oliver and the rest sat. Severus Snape then did something that everyone had thought completely impossible. He sat down with Gryffindors, wished them a Happy Christmas, and was involved in a conversation with them about everyone's new Christmas gifts.
Tirza stopped Remus in the hallway after lunch and handed him a box. "This is for Snuffles, if he comes again. It's some cookies I made and they're really good and I had Grandpa put a spell on them so they'd stay good for a while," she told him shyly. Remus smiled kindly at her. "That was very thoughtful of you; I'll make sure he gets them." She beamed and turned to head back to the dungeons and see if Snape would let her fly her broom some more. "Talk about a dumb outfit," Draco sneered. Remus, at the opposite end of the hallway, heard Draco and turned around, wanting to prevent any fighting. "Oh really? Cuz I got this outfit from yo mama!" Tirza countered. Goyle laughed, and then fell silent as he was shot an evil glare from Draco. Draco advanced towards Tirza, who looked at him defiantly. Just then Remus grabbed her from behind, tucking her under his arm. "Hey! What the Regulan blood worm are you doing?" she struggled. "Do you really want to get into a fight on Christmas," Remus' soft voice asked her. Tirza relaxed in his gentle hold. "Okay, so ya got a point. But don't sneak up on me like that, it's scary," she stated. "I'll try not to, but I figured it was better for you to get away from him then for someone to start bleeding," he mused. "So where are you taking me?" "Where do you want to go?" "Back down to my place, cuz I wanna go ride my broom again." Remus chuckled; as soon as they were far enough away from Draco, he set her down. "How about I give you an escort?" Tirza nodded. "Thanks for all the junk foods; all my favorite stuff!" Remus patted her shoulder. "You're welcome. Are you looking forward to your trip tomorrow?" Tirza nodded and began bouncing around. "Yep! I miss them lots and lots and can't wait to see them again!" She sobered and took Remus' hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. "But I'll miss you and Grandpa and Oliver and everybody." Remus gently squeezed her hand in return. "You'll be back soon. You really think of this place as home now, don't you?" She nodded. "I like being with daddy; I love him so much and it makes my tummy all full of butterflies sometimes. He's special." Just then they arrived at the dungeon chambers; Tirza gave Remus a hug and again wished him a Merry Christmas before entering the chambers.
Severus and Tirza ate supper together, just the two of them, in their chambers. A bright, warm fire was going and there was plenty of hot chocolate and an astounding amount of food. Tirza leaned back in her chair when she was done eating and rubbed her tummy. "Wow, I'm really full." "You ate too much didn't you?" Severus questioned. She nodded. "Daddy, will you rub my tummy and make it feel better after I change into my pajamas?" "Of course baby, but must we use that lotion?" he asked. Tirza giggled. "No, you don't have too." She disappeared into her room and returned wearing the new pajama set that Minerva had given her. "Isn't it nice daddy? It's so pretty!" He nodded; she looked extremely adorable. She lay down on the couch with a groan. "I'll never ever eat that much food again," she vowed. Severus chuckled and sat down beside her. "Promises, promises," he retorted. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then pulled up the pajama top slightly, revealing her little white stomach. "Is that my cue to start rubbing?" he asked, rather surprised. She nodded and he gently rubbed her warm tummy, which did in fact look slightly bigger then usual. "Have you had a good Christmas baby?" he as while rubbing. Tirza nodded. "The best; will you read me a story from my new book tonight?" "Just pick out which fairy tale you want and I'll read it to you." "When you're done can I have more hot chocolate?" Severus chuckled. "I think your poor stomach could use a rest for a little bit." When he finished rubbing, he pulled her pajama shirt back down and pulled her onto his lap, where she eagerly snuggled. He stroked her hair and sat there for a moment, neither of them saying anything. "I love you with all my heart Tirza," he said after a moment. She smiled sleepily. "I love you too daddy, forever and ever times infinity."
Snape had put Tirza to bed just after ten and was ready for bed himself; it had been a long and tiring day, but very enjoyable. The best Christmas he'd had in years. He had been in bed for about an hour, thinking over the day and about Tirza, when he decided he wanted a glass of water. He got out of his bed and made his way to the bathroom for a drink. On his way back, he distinctly heard a giggle from Tirza's room. He quietly crept across the sitting room floor, towards Tirza's room. He should see a sort of light from under the doorway and threw open the door; Tirza's TV was on, but her head was covered by blankets. "Nice try; I know your awake," he stated, sitting beside the lump that was Tirza under the covers. He heard her sigh, and then she pulled the covers off of her head. "What are you still doing up? We have an early morning tomorrow," he told her. "I can't sleep, I'm too excited," she replied, sitting up. Severus chuckled and rubbed her cheek with his hand. "Daddy, are you bringing my potion and the sleeping potion?" she questioned. "Yes, I'm bringing both and a couple others just in case. Muggles have strange ways of curing things and I can't apparate you back to Poppy." She nodded. "And I can't tell AJ all about that stuff?" He shook his head, a slightly stern look on his face. "You cannot tell them, baby; I know you want too and that it will be hard, but you cannot. Understand?" She reluctantly shook her head.
"Daddy, have you named your bear yet?" Snape thought back to the brown teddy bear that was now sitting in a chair in his room. "No, not yet." "Bring it here," Tirza told him. "I'll help you with a name." He returned with the bear, which Tirza inspected closely. "Well, it's a boy so it has to have a boy's name." Snape resisted the urge to laugh; how could she possibly tell one way or another? "I'll let you name it, I can't think of any good ones," he told her. She nodded and looked at the bear thoughtfully for a moment. "Well it can't be something stupid like Brownie.... How about Chester? No, that's stupid too... I know, you can name him Paddington, just like Paddington bear!" "That sounds good to me," Snape stated. She gave Paddington the bear a kiss, then handed him back to Severus. "Can I have one more story daddy? Pretty please?" He nodded and she flipped open her fair tale book.
The next morning, Tirza held on tight to Snape as they and their luggage apparated to the JFK airport in New York. They apparated to a secluded spot, where Snape returned their luggage to its normal size and they headed to where they had agreed to meet the Logan's. Tirza suddenly dropped the bag she was holding and ran off towards three people; a woman with light brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a very large dress. A little girl, with straight sunshine gold hair and hazel eyes, who was at least four inches taller then Tirza and a man, in jeans and a t-shirt, with unruly dark brown hair and hazel eyes. "TJ!" the golden haired girl called. "AJ!" Tirza yelled. The girls ran to each other and hugged, jumping around excitedly, squealing in delight. "Here we go," Severus thought to himself.
A/N: Ooh, so much fun stuff ahead! It work doesn't kill me I will try my hardest to have the next part up by Sunday night! Thanks to all those who gave ideas for Christmas presents (you each know which was your idea and I thank you all for them!)!!!
Rox-Angel-Malfoy: I myself have never gone to NY, so please email me about what the tour buses are like and how Snape would be! I would love to include that in there! My email is: medjaigurl@aol.com Looking forward to your email!
MalfoyAngel: Tirza is a real cutie, isn't she? And just the right person to warm Sev up a bit!!
Obsessedwithbritishpeople: Glad you enjoyed it! And don't worry, Isabel won't be gone long!
Oasis: Hope this chapter was all you were wishing it to be!
CraJure: What a horrible typo, that whole Tirza/bunny thing! (blushes brick red!!!) Blame it on my boss, who I swear to god but have been a relative of Hitler or something in a previous life!! Good luck on your exams! My theory of geography is: if I know where I am, why should I care where anything else is?
MissLKid: Glad you liked it!
Slone: It is so MERRY and not happy..... I've always thought that was kinda creepy (LOL!)
Raclwst: New York will have a BIG surprise for everyone, you'll never expect it! LOL!
Fire 'N' Ice: Snape did make a funny Santa, but it was such a nice thing to do for Tirza! I don't think I would have been as lenient to Malfoy as Tirza was, but I think it fits her character better. I would have sent Oliver on him by now, and George and Fred with those clubs that they hit the bludgers with....
Kenomee: As always, Draco will get his. Expect an episode of Oliver pissed at Malfoy for the things he's doing to Tirza! Those rabbit leashes really are the best! I have several of them and my rabbits love to tear around the yard in those things in the summer. They have to go one at a time of course, otherwise girl rabbits will be getting with boy rabbits and we'll have a whole mess of rabbits!! And I wouldn't be able to give any of the babies away and aaron would throw a fit!! LOL!
Potter-Snape: Had lots of fun chatting with you lately, hope we can do that more sometime! Keep those good ideas coming!
AngelsCreation: Thanks for your vote on the Isabel/Snape thing!
Alrick: The trial will be interesting; it will be much different then the wizarding one was. Hope things are going well for you and won't be too crazy!!
Thanks to all my faithful readers! And here's a question: I've encouraged my little cousin to start typing her own Harry Potter fanfic that she's been working on. It's really good and I must for Draco fans. When she posts it, would you all pop over and read it and leave a review? She'd be so happy to get some reviews! And I'd love you all forever if you did, LOL! So I'll put up the link when she's ready, and hopefully some of you all will do that for me. Have a great weekend all! Love, Kerry
