Severus Snape was sitting back in his wife’s desk chair and glaring daggers at his daughter. What was mind boggling, however, was the fact that Eliza knew that the third floor in his house was by no means open to her. She was a sensible person, after all, so why on Earth did she feel the need to deliberately go up there? Probably because it was off-limits, Severus’ mind supplied. She’s as curious as a monkey, no wonder. But that’s still no reason to disobey a set in stone rule, Severus argued with himself. “Do you have anything to say?” he asked suddenly.

Eliza’s head snapped up—she had been suddenly been taken with the designs on her mum’s rug. “Sir?” Well, I suppose no time’s better than now to start being respectful, Eliza thought with a laugh.

“Do you have any plausible reason for deliberately disobeying me and wandering into the third floor of the house?” Severus asked coolly. “And you two,” he said, turning to the two boys. “You knew that the third floor is strictly off-limits, and you knew she was going up there, but you didn’t tell anyone?” Jack bit his lip and willed his chair to swallow him whole.

Jacob was doing much of the same, but couldn’t understand much of why Jack was so…terrified? The worst-case scenario was that Professor Snape would give them detention for the next month and notify their parents and take off points…oh. Parents. Suddenly Jacob understood why Jack was visibly willing his chair to swallow him whole. Jacob’s father never really liked the professor, so Ron wouldn’t be too bad about the whole situation. But my dad isn’t Professor Snape’s son, Jacob thought to himself. Okay, now this makes sense.

“It’s not their fault, Daddy,” Eliza finally said. She met her friends’ eyes and gave them an apologetic look. “I mean, they knew, but they didn’t go up there, it was just me. They didn’t even help with the map!” she told him.

“Well, then. Jacob, you may go. I need to speak to these two alone. Will you please go fetch Harry from the dungeons? I shudder to think what he could be doing down there.” Jacob nodded and quickly left. Eliza sunk lower into her chair, causing Severus to reprimand her. “Since you are adult enough to break the rules, you’re adult enough to take the punishment.”

“Yes, sir,” Eliza muttered as she leaned again the back of the chair. Soon enough, though, Harry walked through the door.

“What’s with the glum faces, you two?” Harry asked, perching on the desk. He had a freakish habit of doing that. Then he noticed the look on Severus’ face. “Can some one tell me what’s going on here?”

“Your sister here has decided that she wanted to see what I’ve been keeping on the third floor.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “What does Jack have to do with this, though?”

“Nothing, really. I just decided that he should see what the consequences of his actions are.”

“What actions?” Harry asked, leveling a glare at his son. “If he was on that level of the house…”

“No, no. He couldn’t have been. Nothing like that, nothing like that. He just seemed to know of Eliza’s plan and didn’t tell anyone.”

Harry raised an eyebrow at his son and then turned to Eliza. “So, you finally worked out that map? I thought I said for you not to leave that map open for any reason other than the fact you’re using it.”

“Harry! You knew about Eliza going onto the third floor?” Severus asked, indignantly. Was his family planning some kind of mutiny? First his daughter is uncontrollably mischievous, then she breaks possibly one of the most strictly-enforced rules in her existence, and HARRY KNEW ABOUT IT?!

“Well, I knew she wanted the charm to make a map like the Marauder’s Map. I didn’t know, though, she was going to make one of Snape Manor. Or that she was going to use it to sneak up there. If she really wanted to know, I would have told her.”

Eliza sunk down into her chair. Now she just plain didn’t care. She knew she was in some serious trouble, but now that a new way to get information had been uncovered, she was in more trouble. After all, her father did say that next time she purposefully chose the stupid way to get information, she’d be in some serious trouble. Plus, she’d wager that all of her parents’ trust in her was now located down the drain.

“Harry, take Jack and deal with him. I don’t care, just deal with him. I need to talk to Eliza,” Severus finally said.

Harry stood up and signaled for Jack to follow him. Jack sighed and got up, but not before humming the death toll for Eliza.

“Shut up Jack!” Eliza said, irritated. “Come up with a new hum.”

When the door shut, Severus dropped his head in his hands. “Is there any particular reason why you’re being unbelievably difficult?” he asked. “I expected this from Harry, 18 years ago. I don’t expect my only daughter to be another Weasley.”

“What’s wrong with being a Weasley?”

“Nothing. They’re a fine family. But I don’t like this constant path of blatant disregard for authority that you’re displaying.”

“Can I go or are you going to say more?”

“Well, since you’re so interested in what I’ve got up there, don’t expect to do anything this summer.”

“What?”

“You’ll be spending your summer up there helping me catalogue the library I keep. While you’re cataloguing the library, you’ll be taught everything in all those books. When you’re finished cataloguing the library, you’ll be assisting your mother with your brothers.” Eliza’s chin dropped and her eyes started to tear up. “You should have thought about what you were doing before you did it, Miss Snape. You’ve brought this punishment upon yourself,” Severus said before he left.