Eliza stomped out of her mother's office and fled to a broom closet only she and Argus Filch knew about. After placing several locking charms on the door, she down and cried. "He can't take away my summer! He just can't!!" Eliza wailed into her arms. "It's just not faiiiirrrrr," she sobbed out, curling into a tight ball. She continued crying for at least forty-five minutes, alternating between "He can't take away my summer! I won't let him!" and "It's not faiiiirrrr!" By the time she cried herself out, her eyes were nearly swollen shut from puffiness, her nose could rival Rudolph's, and it looked like the Seine had just drained down her face. Finally, she uncurled and took down all of the charms, then walked out of the closet. To her utmost distress, Harry was sitting there, waiting for her to come out. And Jack was with him. "Is there some plot against me to make my life a personal hell? If so, do tell me now."

"Trust me, I'd rather Hermione giving you this speech than me," Harry said. "I've already given it to Jack, and I don't need to repeat it again," he told her. Noticing the overall puffiness of his sister's face, Harry handed Eliza a handkerchief and continued. "As I've told Jack, you deserve everything come to you. In your case, you deliberately broke a rule that was in place since I was a teenager. Dad doesn't appreciate anything but the complete, total, unerring truth and strict adherence to the rules. By making that map, you totally went against everything he's for and presented yourself to be punished boxed, wrapped, and with a BIG bow."

"Are you trying to make Daddy less of a bad guy? If you are, it's not working," Eliza sniffled, wiping her face. "He took away my entire summer.  He knows I hate learning and doing bookish stuff. But now he's teaching me everything in those books and making me catalogue them. And then he's making me help with the triplets! I bet you didn't punish Jack half as bad as that!"

"Jack isn't the one who broke the rules, Eliza," Harry said, finally just picking her up and carrying her to a slightly more comfortable place to continue the conversation and hopefully change Eliza's apparent "I hate my dad!" attitude. Then, Harry remembered that Jack was sullenly following him. "Jack, go up to your dormitory and owl your mother. Tell her you're going to Granddad's for the Easter weekend and that she'll be getting an owl from me shortly."

"Yes, sir," Jack replied. Eliza was right; his punishment wasn't as bad as hers since he hadn't actually been there, but it was pretty bad. Well, pretty bad by Harry Snape's standards because he usually didn't punish people. Jack had to write a very sincere letter of apology to his grandfather and when he got home for the summer, he was grounded for the first two weeks. Harry had promised to take away his broom, close off his fireplace, and take away his owl. Of course, Jack had reacted in the same manner Eliza had reacted, minus the crying. And all he did was keep his silence.


In Severus' private quarters, Harry was setting Eliza down on the bed in her room. Instantly the thirteen year old grabbed for the stuffed dragon she kept on the bed. Charlie had given it to her at her christening and she rarely went anywhere without it. She had a replica for up in her dorm. Also instantly, Hermione head appeared in the fireplace. She did not look happy.

"Eliza Snape what on EARTH were you thinking, young lady? You could have gotten hurt while exploring up there. Not to mention, you also broke one of the cardinal rules in the house!" the disembodied head yelled. "Well?" At this, Eliza broke down in a whole new round of sobbing.

"Um, Hermione, I think maybe this isn't the time to berate her. Dad did that about an hour ago and she's only just stopped crying. I think she gets the point."

Hermione glared at one of her best friends and huffed up. "Are you presuming to tell me how to raise my daughter?"

"No. I'm presuming to defend my little sister against her irate mother who happens to be one of my best friends. Really Hermione, she's had a rough morning. Especially after what we did to her..."

"What did you do?"

"Remember that enhanced Polyjuice?"

"Vaguely. What about it?" If Hermione's head had arms and hands, her head would have been resting in the palm of her hand, itching to hear about her enhanced potion's role in the upcoming story.

"Well, Dad took a clip of my hair and I took one of his and we both down some of that stuff. When Eliza arrived here "I" met her in Albus' office. While "Dad" was down in the dungeons teaching, "I" was talking to her about the map and such things and requested she go to your office after class. Well, during that meeting, the Polyjuice wore off like planned, and instead of me being there, Dad was."

Hermione's jaw dropped a few millimeters and her eyes widened. "You two did that? Oh, poor Eliza."

"Poor Eliza?" Severus asked, walking in on the conversation. "Hermione, she totally disregaurded our rules and ventured onto the third floor! And you're saying 'Poor Eliza'?"

"Yes. That's so horrible. Now she's never going to trust you two again."

"You guys can stop talking about me like I can't hear you," Eliza finally said through sniffles.

"Young lady, you're in enough trouble as it is, don't push it with disrespect," Hermione said sternly. Maybe the hormones from having the twins were finally kicking in?

"Sorry Mum. Look, can I go to DADA? Uncle Remus is finally back and I've already missed three days. You guys can talk about me then. Oh, how badly is Jack punished? You never told me," Eliza asked.

"If you want to know, ask him."

Eliza stuck her tongue out and left to go to her DADA class with Remus Lupin.