"How many times…" Severus began with a sigh as his office door slammed open.
"About a billion! Sorry dad!" Tirza giggled and quietly shut the door.
"Hmph, you should be!"
"Grumpy bear; no goodies for you."
Severus looked up at his noisy child. "Goodies?"
Tirza nodded. "Yep; I had more cooking lessons tonight, remember? I've got pancakes and fried eggs. And I promise they are ok and not poison or anything."
"Well I would certainly hope so! Now, are you going to share, or do I have to order you out of my office so I don't have to smell the food while you eat it?" A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"I'll share, but for a price," she decided.
"A price? Such as?" His eyebrow quirked.
"A hug!"
Severus couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, I think I can afford that. Now put down your food so I can hug you."
She happily complied, setting the tray down on his desk and letting him squish her in his arms while she squished him back.
"You have flour in your hair, did you realize?"
"I do? Oh well! Now eat mister!"
"Now, you girls really are behaving down there and not causing havoc, correct?"
Tirza groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yes dad, stop worrying so much. I don't go around causing trouble as much as I used to."
"Hmph, that I know of missy," he responded with a wink. "You might just be getting trickier in your ways!"
Tirza giggled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah dad, I'm secretly messing with your head so that you don't notice reality and I'm slowly destroying the school and will later set fire to your classroom."
"Right alongside those Weasley twins I suppose!" He growled and grabbed her, beginning to tickle her.
"Nooooo! I surrender!" she squealed with laughter.
"Good, now let's see to eating that wonderful-smelling food of yours!"
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"So how is it going with that new tutor of yours?" Hermione asked at breakfast one morning.
"We hardly see you around anymore!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Sorry about that. Dad won't let me off grounding until I get a B on a test, which is still another week away. My assignments have been good, coming back anywhere from B- to a B+ and if I can make a B on a test, it will average out to a B grade," Tirza explained.
"But my tutor is really nice; Alaina Russell in Ravenclaw, she's fourth year."
"Oh, I've seen her around the library a lot! She's really good in her studies I bet," Hermione commented.
Tirza nodded. "I help her with some of her charms work, it's a good exchange. I really want to get off grounding SO bad! Plus, she's super nice and she makes it fun too. Then we can hang out a lot more. I've missed you all a lot."
"We've missed you," Maddie assured her. "But you've still done really great at the quidditch matches. Another two weeks till the next one. Does Oliver drive you lot really hard?"
Tirza shrugged. "He's tough, but not really tough or mean about things. He just encourages us a lot- mostly to kick Slytherin's butt! The usual practice makes perfect sort of thing. He's a great captain."
"I wonder who will take over when he graduates this year," Hermione commented. "I mean, it might be Harry even, I don't know the age rules."
"I don't either," Ginny added. "But I think you have to be a certain year to be captain. Anyone you'd like to take over, if you could pick Tirza?"
"I'm not sure! I'll miss Oliver a whole lot, and I haven't really thought of what will happen next year, you know? Maybe I won't want to do quidditch or something. It's hard to tell, next year seems like ages away!"
"You and Oliver have been close for a long time, haven't you?" Maddie asked.
"Yep; since I first came here to live with my dad we have. He makes a really great surrogate older brother, if that makes sense," Tirza told her.
"Yeah, it does. I love my older brother a lot, and he's way older then me," Maddie paused to think. "Nine years older then me. He's from my mum's first marriage."
"Anyone looking for older brothers can have some of mine!" Ginny offered with a giggle.
"Haa haa Gin," Ron rolled his eyes from a few seats down. "And anyone looking for a pesky sister can have you."
Ginny rolled her eyes back and giggled. "Nah, there's good times with big families. Some bad times too of course, but I like my family just as it is… I'm not counting Percy of course."
All the girls nodded their heads at that. Nobody was really a fan of Percy, other then his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater.
"I don't know if I'd ever want a little brother or sister," Tirza admitted. "Of course, that's if my dad ever got married, which I don't know if I'd want that either! I like just the two of us."
Hermione smiled. "You and your dad are close, everybody can tell. Even if he did get married or something someday, you know he'd never neglect you or any such thing."
"I know. It would just be really strange. Wouldn't it be strange if you went home and Christmas and your mom said 'I'm pregnant, yay!'"
"Definitely!" Hermione decided. "Classes are starting soon; we'd best hurry up so we aren't all late." She finished her breakfast in record time. "See you girls later!"
"Gotta love Hermione," Maddie grinned. "She's so silly when she wants to be, but a lot of the time she's fun and really super serious."
"It would be creepy if Hermione changed," Ginny decided. "If she ever changed, we might think she was… oh those things in muggle movies that take over the muggles bodies?"
"Aliens," Tirza supplied.
"Yes, that's it! Taken over by aliens!"
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Oliver Wood couldn't sleep and found himself wandering down to Gryffindor common room. Most nights, by the late time of 1 in the morning, the common room was empty and dark, save for any ghosts and of course the fire which never seemed to go out completely.
Tonight, however, the common room wasn't empty. Oliver could see the outline of a small person on one of the sofas near the fireplace. He went over, intending to strike up a conversation, and was pleasantly surprised to see his surrogate little sister!
"Tirza, what are you doing still up?" Oliver asked, ruffling her hair as he sat down by her.
"Hi," she greeted, instantly moving closer to him and hugging him. "I couldn't sleep. Guess I was too wide awake or something."
"Thinking about anything in particular? Worrying about anything?"
Tirza shook her head no. "Just not very sleepy."
Oliver smiled at her. "I'm goin ta miss you when I graduate at the end of this term. I won't get to see ya every day or be your quidditch captain any more."
"I know. I'm going to miss you too! You won't, like, disappear forever, will you? I mean, we'll still hang out sometimes and you'll come to my birthday parties and stuff, right?"
Oliver frowned at her. "What a thing to say! Shame on you! Of course I'll always come to your birthday parties and still hang out with you!" He hugged her and ruffled her hair again.
Tirza blushed as he scolded, but happily returned the hug. "Just checking!"
"You owl me this summer, and we'll plan a day together. I'll have my apparating license and I'll be able to take you anywhere you'd like," Oliver told her. "Go see a muggle movie or make a day trip to Paris or something."
"Why would we go to Paris?" she asked.
Oliver grinned. "Just because we could, and could say we did!"
Tirza laughed and hugged him again.
"That hasna been worrying you, has it? My abandoning you or some such silliness?"
"No," Tirza told him. "Or at least not really. I've actually got a potions test tomorrow and am quite nervous. My first one since I got grounded, and if I do really well on it I'll finally get off grounding!"
"Have you studied well?"
"Yep. I actually feel comfortable with the stuff this time, I'm just nervous about taking the test and screwing up again. Cross your fingers for me?"
Oliver nodded solemnly. "I'll do that. Hadn't ya better get some sleep then? You need to rest your brain up so it's fresh and ready!"
Tirza smiled. "Yeah, I guess so." She hugged Oliver tight. "Night; thanks for the hug!"
He grinned and ruffled her hair again. "Anytime; sleep well Tirza." Oliver watched as she hurried up to the girls' dormitory, smiling as she went. He really would miss being able to see her all the time once he graduated. She was a special little kid.
----------------------------------------------------
"What's it say?" Ginny asked peeking at the note Tirza had received. "Wait, they didn't even sign it!"
Tirza giggled. "That's cuz it's from my dad, silly, and I know his writing." She looked up towards the teacher's table, trying to catch her dad's attention. See me before class, the note read; that could be either good or bad. When she couldn't get his attention, Tirza shrugged.
"Your dad does write funny," Maddie concluded. "It's fancy for a man's writing, but hard to read too, but I bet it makes perfect sense to him. Unlike my writing! Half the time I can't even read it!"
The girls laughed and finished their breakfast.
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"Hi dad! I got your note," Tirza said as she entered the office.
Severus nodded. "Apparently. Come here."
Raising an eyebrow and giving him a suspicious look, Tirza went over to where Severus sat. "What?"
He looked at her intently for a moment before speaking. "I want you to know Tirza that I know how hard you have been studying. I'm very proud of how much work you've done, both with myself and with your friend Alaina. You've been very responsible and serious about getting your grade up."
Tirza beamed at his praise and nodded. "Thanks dad."
"Hush, I'm not done," Severus told her with a smirk. "And I want you to also know that, considering what I just said, I promise not to be angry, upset or disappointed in you should you not get the grade you are expecting too. No matter what your grade is, I will be proud of you. I might keep you on studying so diligently, but I won't punish you for your grade for this exam, no exceptions."
"Really?" Tirza asked excitedly. When Severus nodded, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"Thanks daddy. That takes like a huge weight off me! You're the greatest, really you are!" She kissed his cheek and continued to hug him.
"All this mushy affection," Severus teased, hugging her just as tightly as she hugged him. "I may melt; cease and desist!"
Tirza merely giggled and added another kiss. "I'm going to stay in the dorms tonight, but I'll come say goodnight to you before the curfew, k?"
"Of course. Try not to stay up chattering too long with your friends though; your sleep is important," Severus lectured her a bit.
"I know, I know. I'll try not too. I should head into the classroom. Bye dad!" Tirza bounded out of the office and into the potions classroom.
She grinned at Ginny and Maddie as she took her usual seat. "I think I'm really, really ready this time girls. I can just feel it!"
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"Miss Snape, is there a problem?" Severus tried hard to keep the smile from his safe as he watched his daughter fidget in her seat.
"No Professor, I just want my grade," Tirza answered.
"Well, do try not to be such a distraction. When I call your name, come forward and collect your test. I am not going to waste my breath telling the lot of you how disgusted I am with the results of this exam. There are those who did well and those who did not. Make improvements class, as you are required to take and pass this class before moving on to your third year," Snape lectured.
When he started calling names in alphabetical order by last time, Tirza thought she'd just die with curiosity! Snape was so far down on the list and she wanted to know her grade now!
"Miss Snape…"
Tirza jumped out of her seat and ran forward, practically snatching the exam from his hands. She scanned it quickly for the grade.
"YAY! YIPPY! SCORE!" Tirza shrieked, pumping her fist in the air.
Severus merely raised an eyebrow, though inside he was cheering right along with her. "I take it you are quite pleased with your grade Miss Snape. Please calm yourself and return to your seat."
Tirza grinned at her father and teacher and did just that; she grinned like a fool as she set the exam down on top of the desk and looked at the grade once again: B+