It was only a few days after making up, that Tirza found a special thing for Severus to do with her, since he had said he'd owe her a day in London!
"Oh look at this," Hermione spoke up at breakfast. She showed a page of a muggle newspaper to Tirza, Ginny and Maddie. "Sound of Music is on the stage this weekend. Have you ever seen it on stage? It's so great."
"I haven't," Tirza admitted, beginning to plot already.
"Oh, she's plotting Fred, look at her," George poked his brother and nudged him to look over at Tirza.
"What are you planning Tirza? Can we help? Is it something that involves pranks?" Fred looked hopeful as he questioned her.
She giggled and shook her head. "Nah, no pranks this time. Plotting on getting dad to take me to see Sound of Music on stage. He owes me a special dad/daughter day, but he isn't all that keen on musicals."
"Besides, Tirza doesn't need to get into trouble with her dad or with any of the professors," Hermione added. That of course, made the twins roll their eyes.
"Mione's right," Ginny backed her friend up.
"Hermione always ends up being right," Ron said with a cheeky grin.
"I'd rather save my times of pissing…bothering people for something really great, like April Fools," Tirza told the twins. "Dad can be more lenient if it's only every once in a while, but he doesn't like me causing trouble all the time. And I really don't want anymore fights with him for a while."
"So we can count on you for April Fools?"
Ginny, Ron, Harry, Maddie and Tirza all nodded; the twins smirked evilly. "We'll all think about some brilliantly evil things to do and compare ideas later. Like… January. Can't plan too early you know!"
Ruffling Ginny and Tirza's hair, the twins took off out of the Great Hall, taking pockets full of biscuits with them.
Tirza finished her own breakfast and grabbed her book bag. She waved to Severus, and wasn't surprised when he gave a half-wave back. He tried, and that was all that mattered. He had even given a smile!
After her last class for the day, Tirza headed straight to the dungeons. She found Severus' office empty and so she plopped on the floor in the hallway to wait for him. She didn't have to wait long, and waved as she saw him coming.
Severus chuckled very softly as he saw her waving. Truly, if anyone should be embarrassed about claiming relation to somebody, it should be her embarrassed to claim him! She never was though, and it warmed his heart each time she waved or smiled or hugged him in public.
"You in a good mood dad?"
His eyebrow quirked. "If you're going to tell me you've done something you shouldn't have, then no I won't be in a good mood. If it's anything else, then yes, I am in a fairly good mood."
She laughed and followed him into his office, putting some sort of paper onto his desk and beaming up at him.
"What?" Severus asked.
"It's a muggle newspaper dad. Hermione's parents send it to her. Remember how you said you'd owe me a trip to London or something?" she reminded him excitedly.
"Hmm, yes, I do recall that." He was getting the distinct feeling he probably wouldn't be thrilled with whatever she had gotten into her mind they should do.
"Look what's playing at a theater!" Tirza squealed, pointing to the article.
Severus looked at the paper more closely, skimming through the article about 'The Sound of Music' appearing on the stage and how great such-and-such an actor was. He was right; he wasn't going to like this. The story itself was wonderful, it was all the singing; it never seemed to end!
"Let me guess, you wish to go see that this weekend?"
She nodded, still beaming at him. "Yep! Please dad, please?"
With a sigh, Severus thought for a moment. It wouldn't be so bad, just once, right? And they had intermissions and such, of course.
"It will get out late, we'll have to go to a Friday or Saturday evening performance, and find a hotel to stay the night in," he pointed out. "I suppose if you really wish to see it, I can arrange it." He couldn't stop the twitch of his lips, indicating his fight to hide a smile, as Tirza threw her arms around him.
"Yes! Thanks daddy, you're the best!" Tirza hugged Severus tightly.
"Only if you promise me one thing," Severus added quickly.
"What's that?"
Severus smirked down at his daughter. "You will not sing with each and every song they do, just because you know the entire video and song selection by memory." He laughed at the look on her face, between a grimace and a blush.
"Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore, of course I won't!" Tirza scolded.
"You aren't hmm? So are you an old kid then? You seem awfully little to me!"
She rolled her eyes and bopped him on the arm. "That's because you're my dad and I will always look little to you because I'm your kid, and your only kid! But yes, I promise I won't." Tirza shook her head. "You're so silly."
The week seemed to go slowly until Friday finally arrived. Of course, she had her whole day of classes, but today was the day she'd get to go see the play!
"Are you excited Tirza?" Hermione asked.
"Very!"
Maddie smiled. "Will you be here for supper, or are you leaving after classes let out?"
"We'll be leaving just before supper is served here. We're going to eat somewhere special in London, I'm not sure where but dad said it was a nice place," Tirza smiled at her friends. "Then we come back tomorrow late morning, maybe early afternoon since check out from the hotel is no later then noon."
"It sounds so exciting," Ginny piped up. "I sometimes wish we did plays and things here, like a class that you sign up for, not required. Maybe someday we will."
Tirza nodded. "We should try and talk to grandpa or Aunt Min about it. At least to find out if they'd do it; depending upon how many are interested in it of course."
"Yeah, let's ask when you get back!" Maddie added.
"I'm sure we could put on some lovely Shakespeare plays, he was so talented."
The girls grinned at Hermione, only having a vague idea who in the world Shakespeare was.
"Rumor has it he was a wizard, you know. Never been proven, never disproved either. It's incredibly interesting to study!"
"Dad, you're taking longer in there then I did! We'll be late!" Tirza said loudly, knocking on the bathroom door of their hotel room that evening.
"Tirza, they aren't even seating people for another hour," Severus opened the door and stuck his head out. "Do you mind if I shower in peace child, or would you prefer that I don't?"
She giggled at that and waved her hands at him. "Nah, go ahead. Just hurry, I'm so excited I can't stand it!"
Rolling his eyes, Severus shut the door and went back into the shower. This theater was an extremely fancy place, as well as very historically rich in London's past, and they both had to look nice.
He had been relieved when Tirza had chosen a knee-length skirt and a plain but nice blue shirt to go with it. She really was growing up, knowing that she had to dress in something besides jeans and t-shirts for a theater…
"We've lost four governesses already," the housekeeper warned Maria.
"Are the children that bad?"
"No… just high strung," the housekeeper stated as a frog jumped up at Maria. Both women could hear the children laughing…
Maria gathered the children close on her bed and began to sing, to chase away the fright of the storm. "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings! These are a few of my favorite things…"
It really did amaze Severus how much Tirza liked the play. He was also very impressed at how grown up she behaved during the performance. Really, it was a good story and the play didn't seem to annoy him quite as much as the movie did. Maybe because the play was a bit more condensed for time constraints? Who knows?
Maria stood beside the Captain inside the abbey as they recited their wedding vows, the children standing with him. The nuns sang softly in the background. "How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you find a word that means Maria…"
As the von Trapps fled from the abbey and from Hitler's Third Reich, two nuns attempted to look contrite. "Reverend Mother, we have sinned," one of them said.
"Why, my child?"
Both nuns held up parts from a car engine, parts that the car could not run with out.
As the von Trapps walked towards their new life, the entire cast sang. "Climb every mountain. Search high and low…"
As the play ended, Tirza looked up at Severus and squeezed his hand. "Thanks dad for bringing me. I hope it didn't annoy you too much."
Severus smiled and squeezed her hand back. "Actually, it didn't. I've had a very nice time with you tonight. Ready to go back to the hotel and order a late night treat?"
The Monday following their trip to London, Severus was alarmed to not see his daughter at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. She had spent the night in the dorms, and he made a point of catching Ginny on her way out.
"Do you know where Tirza is?"
She nodded. "Yes sir; she wasn't feeling very well and was going to sleep until just before our first class. Should I tell her you were looking for her?"
Figuring she was probably just tired from staying up too late and talking with her friends, Severus nodded. "Yes, I would appreciate that."
Ginny smiled at him, then hurried off to her first class. Maddie was already there when she arrived in Transfigurations. She was relieved to see Tirza was there too.
"Hi," Tirza smiled softly, her face very pale.
"You okay?" Maddie questioned.
Tirza could only shrug. "Still not feeling very good, but I wanted to try and go to classes. I thought maybe if I got going, I'd start to feel a bit better." She scooted over to make room for Ginny on the seat as McGonagall called the class to start.
McGonagall's lecture seemed to go on forever and Tirza was struggling to keep from nodding off during it. Her struggle didn't go unnoticed though, and Minerva McGonagall paused in her lecture to question Tirza.
"Miss Snape, are you well?"
As Tirza looked up, Minerva noticed the sweat that was beading on her forehead. "I'm not really sure," the girl said slowly.
Reaching a hand out, Minerva felt Tirza's forehead; it was quite warm. "Please go see Poppy, Miss Snape. You are dismissed from today's lecture, and I am sure you can borrow notes from a classmate on the rest of the lesson."
Gathering her things, Tirza nodded at Minerva and got up from her seat. "Can you make it by yourself?" Minerva asked.
"I think so." She gave Minerva a small smile and then left the classroom. She headed straight for the hospital wing, even though it seemed like a more pleasant idea to just curl up and sleep somewhere. "Poppy?"
The mediwitch was instantly out of her office. "Tirza Snape, you look so pale," she lightly scolded. Putting her hands on Tirza's shoulders, Poppy steered her towards the nearest bed. "Goodness child are you warm."
Tirza just nodded as Poppy ushered her to a bed and made her lay down. "Aunt Min sent me. I'm so hot and I'm really sleepy and just feel achy and everything."
Poppy gently brushed some of Tirza's hair from her eyes. "You poor lamb. You just lay down and close your eyes while I find out what's wrong."
Poppy took out her wand and scanned Tirza with a spell. "Have you been out among muggles lately Tirza? Perhaps that nice weekend trip with your father?" she asked once the spell had ended.
Tirza nodded. "We went to London."
Sighing, Poppy summoned two potions. "Take these dear, and try to sleep. I'll be sure to let your father know where you are."
Severus Snape was interrupted from his lecture by a note that came to him via an owl. The note was from Poppy, stating that Tirza was ill and resting in the hospital wing until after classes let out and not to worry about her until then.
Apparently, she had something called 'chicken pox'. "What in the name of Merlin is chicken pox?" Severus mused out loud…
--------------------------------------
A/N: Chicken pox, LOL. Can you even begin to imagine the havoc? Heavens! Hee hee! Sorry it's short; I started college again this last week, plus working still and my lovely family of course. Be patient and bear with me! Love, Kerry