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Snape continued to stare at baby Tirza, who held her arms out toward him. When he didn't pick her up, her eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip began to quiver. She opened her mouth and began to cry. "Professor, she wants you," Draco urged, holding the very loud baby out to Snape. Snape wordlessly took Tirza and cradled her in his arms; she looked so tiny in her now very large clothes. As soon as Snape held her, Tirza stopped crying and patted his cheeks with her chubby hands. "Poppy," she said. Snape shook his head and she grabbed his long black hair, pulling hard. "Ouch! Tirza, stop that!" he shouted. She started to cry again and struggled in his arms; her wailing was almost ear piercing. Snape struggled to hold her still as she continued to wail; suddenly Tirza caught sight of the other students and she waved, nearly smacking Snape's face in her enthusiasm. Snape shook his head and gave a frustrated sigh. "Apparently I will not be able to teach until Tirza is back to normal; will someone watch her while I go find a replacement?" "Um, I will," Draco piped up, to the surprise of everyone in the room. Snape gladly handed Tirza back to Draco. "Make sure she doesn't kill herself," he warned as he stalked from the room. Tirza looked up and Draco and giggled. "Bunny?" she asked, pointing to him. Everyone laughed, including Tirza, though she had no idea why. "No, I'm not a bunny." Hermione came over to them and pulled out her wand. "Hold her up and I will shrink her clothes to fit better." Draco nodded and stood her up on his lap and Tirza excitedly began trying to walk on him. "Draco, hold her still!" Draco shot her a nasty look. "I'm trying!" After several minutes of struggling, Draco was finally able to settle the squirming Tirza down. Hermione said the spell and Tirza's black jeans and blue shirt shrunk to fit her properly. "There, now you look much better," Hermione decided. She reached over and pushed the mess of black curls out of Tirza's face. Tirza eagerly grabbed a hold of Hermione's long hair with both hands. "Ow, let go sweet baby," Hermione cooed. Tirza ignored her and continued to yank. An idea struck Draco and he began to tickle Tirza's tummy; Tirza giggled and released poor Hermione's hair.

"And why do you need me to take your classes Severus?" McGonagall asked. "It's difficult to explain," Snape answered grumpily. "I would like to know before I agree." Snape glared at her. "Fine, follow me and I will show you." Snape and McGonagall could hear laughter as they approached the classroom. They entered and found Tirza being coddled by most of the girls in the class. She was perched on top of Hermione's desk while Lavender Brown brushed the baby's curls. Someone had shrunk a Gryffindor school tie and put it around Tirza's neck. Tirza finally noticed Snape standing there and pointed at him. "Poppy!" When he said nothing, Tirza started to cry. Draco stalked over and pushed his way through the girls and picked Tirza. "Here, you come back to Uncle Draco now," he said in a soft voice. "Uncle Draco?" Hermione said, giving him a funny look. Tirza stopped crying and patted his cheek. McGonagall suddenly burst out laughing and Snape glared at her maliciously. "However did this happen Severus?" she asked while still laughing. Jinn Jinn suddenly hopped over Snape, who picked her up. "Blame her," he said, pointing to the rabbit. That only made McGonagall laugh harder. "Bunny! Bunny!" Tirza shouted. Draco brought Tirza over to Snape and he took her chubby hand. "Pet bunny like this," he gently rubbed her hand over the rabbit's fur. Tirza giggled as she pet the bunny, then leaned down and kissed Jinn Jinn's head. "Pwitty," she said as Draco helped her to pet Jinn Jinn again. She suddenly looked up at Snape. "Pwitty?" she asked. McGonagall finally stopped laughing and dried her eyes. Tirza held her hands out to McGonagall, who took her from Draco. "You're a sweet baby, aren't you?" Tirza only giggled. "And you're going to drive your father insane, aren't you?" "So will you take my classes or not?" Severus snapped. Tirza's bottom lip began to quiver again. "Severus, speak softly or you'll scare her," McGonagall scolded and Snape swore under his breath. "And as much as I would love to help you, I'm afraid I can't. It's my week to teach DADA." Snape nodded; they had all been taking turns week from week teaching DADA since Dumbledore had been unable to find a teacher as of yet. "So I'm afraid you'll just have to make do." Tirza held her arms out towards Draco, who gladly took her back. "Apparently she seems attached to Mr. Malfoy; perhaps that can help." McGonagall kissed Tirza's chubby cheek. "Goodbye baby." She turned and left the room. Snape groaned; this was going to be a long two days!

Snape came back from returning the rabbit to its cage and found Tirza once again sitting in Draco's lap. "Can you say Draco? Draco? Druh-A-co?" Tirza wrinkled her little button nose. "Ducky?" she asked. Draco rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. Even Snape couldn't suppress a small chuckled over that. "I'll take my daughter now, Mr. Malfoy," Snape demanded. Draco sighed and reluctantly handed her over. Tirza wrapped her arms around Snape's neck and gave him a slobbery kiss. He grimaced at the drool on his neck, but had to admit to himself that she was adorable. Snape sat and plopped Tirza down on top of his desk. Tirza spotted his black quill and grabbed it, smashing the feather in her tiny fist. "Pwitty!" "No, you cannot play with that," Snape said. He attempted to open her fist and retrieve his quill, but Tirza had other plans. "No!" she shouted. She held tight to the quill with both hands; when Snape again tried to rescue the quill Tirza shouted "No!" and let go with one fist, hitting him with it. The class laughed and Snape scowled at them. "Silence!" he shouted. Tirza dropped the quill and covered her ears with her hands and started screaming. "Merlin," Snape complained to himself. "AHHHHH!" Tirza continued to scream. Snape shook his head and gathered her in his arms and kissed her head. "Hush, it's alright," he said softly. Tirza lowered her hands, than looked up at him and laughed.

"Uh Professor," Hermione interrupted. "Are we going to be doing any work today?" The class groaned; leave it to Hermione to remind Snape about school work! "I have a feeling I will be much too occupied to conduct classes; you may use this period as time to study and catch up on work for other classes," Snape replied. Tirza reached her little arms out towards a book on Snape's desk. "You want to look at the book?" he asked. "Book!" she yelled. "Must you shout everything?" Snape asked as he handed her the book. She giggled and opened it, then leaned against Severus and popped her thumb in her mouth. Snape suddenly remembered the Gryffindor tie around her neck. "Let's get this off," he decided and started to remove the offensive tie. "No!" Tirza said with a scowl and Snape chuckled; was she already showing defiance at this age? (Hee hee, he doesn't know much about babies, does he?) She started to scream again as he tried to remove the tie. "Alright, alright; let's at least change the colors," Snape gave in with a sigh. He pulled out his wand and changed the tie to Slytherin giggled and dropped the book on the floor. Snape reached down and grabbed it, returning it to her. Again she giggled and dropped the book; and again and again. "No more books," Snape said putting the book away. Tirza frowned and yelled "No!" Just then the bell rang and Tirza screamed, covering her ears. The kids reluctantly left Snape and the baby and continued to their next class; a moment later, the next group of students filed into the room. Tirza began to get restless in Snape's lap and struggled to be put down. "Child, hold still," Snape ordered, growing more and more irritated by the minute. Tirza stuck her tongue out at him and tried to slap his hands away. Fourth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws sat at their desks, some smiling at the baby, others not paying attention. "Bye bye!" Tirza said, waving at the entering students. "Um, Professor, who's the baby?" Oliver Wood dared to ask. "This is Tirza; she was crawling under the desks in my last class and an age regression potion was spilled on her," Snape answered. Oliver shook his head; that certainly sounded like something only Tirza would do! Snape explained that the class could use this time for a study period and left the room to quickly find some things to keep Tirza occupied.

Back at his quarters, he set Tirza on the floor. "Stay put," he said; a giggle was his reply. He went into Tirza's room and grabbed several books form her shelf; she'd probably enjoy looking at the pictures. He also took her coloring books and crayons. "Is she old enough to color?" he thought. "I'm sure I'll quickly find out if she's not!" "Mowy!" Tirza yelled from the sitting room. Snape rolled his eyes. "Why can't babies talk normally?" "Mowy!" she called again. Snape looked around her bedroom; what in the world was a 'mowy'? It was suddenly strangely quiet in the sitting room and Tirza was never quiet, even at her proper age. He felt strangely nervous and went to the door, looking out; Tirza was not where he had left her! He started to panic; ten year old Tirza got into enough trouble and an approximately two year old Tirza could get into much more! Snape dumped the things he was holding onto the couch and looked underneath to see if she was there. As he looked up, he saw her. Tirza was walking on wobbly legs toward her room; Snape suddenly smiled, thinking that this must be like the first time she walked for Ariel. "Tirza," he called to her softly. "Tirza, baby." Tirza turned her head and looked at him with her large black eyes. "Come here baby; come to daddy," Snape cooed. He instinctively held his arms out and Tirza slowly turned around to face him. Slowly, one wobbly step at a time, her little bare feet padded across the floor towards him. "Come on sweetie, I know you can do it. Come to daddy." A wide smile, revealing several tiny white teeth, broke out on Tirza's face. Snape continued to hold his arms out to her as she made her away across the room; finally she reached his arms and he gathered her into a hug. "Good job my darling! You're daddy's big girl, aren't you?" he cooed. Tirza giggled and gave him another slobbery kiss. "Mowy?" she asked. "Where is Mowy?" Snape replied; he was surprised that he no longer felt like an idiot when he cooed to her. "Mowy!" she yelled, pointing to her room. Snape carried her into the bedroom and Tirza started to struggle against him. "Mowy! Mowy!" she yelled, looking at her bed. Suddenly it dawned on Snape; 'mowy' was Molly, the stuffed lion with a pink nose. (Ten points to the house of the person that figured it out before Snape did!) Snape picked up the lion and handed it to Tirza, who hugged it tightly. "Mowy!" she squealed with delight and kissed all over the lion's face. Tirza turned Molly around toward Snape. "Poppy?" she asked expectantly. "What?" Snape asked. Tirza held Molly out to him. "Poppy!" Snape felt very confused. "Tis mowy!" it took Snape a moment to figure out that she wanted him to kiss the lion. Snape looked at the drool covered face of the lion and shook his head. "No." Tirza frowned. "Tis mowy!" she demanded. "No," Snape told her firmly. Tirza scrunched up her face and started to wail; Snape could feel an enormous headache starting. "Baby kiss molly," he said. Tirza suddenly stopped crying and followed his suggestion, adding more slobbery kisses to the lion's face. Snape gathered the things from the couch and put them into a bag and headed towards the door.

Tirza had insisted upon walking, holding Severus' hand with her left and holding Molly by the hair with her right hand. Snape figured that she probably wouldn't make the whole walk, but she was determined to try and he had to giver her credit; she certainly was no little quitter! He saw McGonagall coming down the hallways towards them, carrying something large. "Bye bye!" Tirza shouted, waving her hand (and Molly as well!). "hello sweetheart," McGonagall cooed as she approached them. "Dumbledore asked me to bring this to you," she said, holding the large object out towards Snape. "What is it?" Snape asked. "It's a playpen; you can put Tirza in it and she can play or nap." Snape nodded and inspected the playpen. "Where did he get it?" McGonagall laughed. "After I told him what happened to Tirza, he rummaged around for a large crate and did several spells and charms to turn it into this." The large crate certainly did not look like a crate; it was very large with smooth sides (inside and out), little white rabbits decorated the side and inside was very soft blue velvet material. A white lacey pillow and matching blanket had been shrunk down and placed inside. "Bunny!" Tirza shouted, pointing at all the rabbits. Tirza, still holding his hand, tried to walk closer to the bunnies. "Minerva, you have to see this," Snape said suddenly. He handed Molly and the bag to her and released Tirza's hand, than went forward a ways. "Come here baby; come to daddy," he called. Tirza giggled and started to slowly walk towards him. McGonagall watched as Tirza made her way towards Severus on tiny, wobbly legs and smiled at the smile on Snape's face and the delight in his eyes. Tirza finally reached his outstretched arms and Snape hugged her tight and kissed her. "That's my girl; that's daddy's girl," he cooed. With McGonagall's help, Snape took the playpen, the bag of playthings, and Tirza to the classroom.

Luckily the students were diligently studying when Snape entered the classroom; or they were as soon as they heard him coming down the hall! Ether way, Snape thanked them for staying put and quiet, which earned him several strange looks from his students; had Snape really just said thank you? He set up the adorable playpen beside a bookcase near his desk and plopped Tirza inside, along with Molly and her color books and crayons. Thinking she would be quiet and behave herself for the next while, Snape sat at his desk and opened his record book and began entering recent grades. Tirza however, had no plans that include behaving herself or being quiet. (What two year old does had those kinds of plans?)