Snape and Lily lie under their favourite tree, by the bank of the river, but buried in a copes large enough that they are difficult to find. Snape has fitted himself between two roots, back against the trunk, while Lily is on her back, head turned to her companion and one hand trailing in the water.

"Sev, will you please tell me again about Diagon Alley?"

"What else do you want to know? I told you everything I could think of yesterday."

"Can't you tell me more about Gringotts?"

"I don't know much about Gringotts…"

"You must know something… what does it look like?"

"The outside is large, with big pillars and all made of white marble, but I don't know what the inside it like."

"But you said it was where all the witches and wizards keep their money; you must have been in!"

"No."

"Then where do your parents keep their money?"

"They don't have any money that needs looking after." He wants to change the subject. He doesn't want to give her any reason to think that he isn't a good person to be around, but he also just wants to hear her voice lull him into calm. "I tell you stories every day, don't you think it's your turn?"

"I don't know…" She sounds nervous, but mostly he can tell that she just wants to know more about the magical world.

"Please?"

"Oh, fine. But only because I like you." Her words make his heart light and her next words, "I'll have to tell you a muggle story, because I don't know any others" make him want to comfort her, because she sounds so afraid that he will think her stories mundane and not wish to continue.

He reassures her with words, as best he can. "A muggle story sounds great, Lil. Maybe something your mom tells you as a bedtime story? My dad's a muggle, I don't know if you knew that, but he's never coherent enough to tell be stories before bed."

"I didn't know that at all!" She sounds so surprised. "I didn't know witches and wizards could marry muggles."

"I'm not sure if they're supposed to, honestly." He hates admitting that he doesn't know, but this has confused him for some time. "Normally, when my father is mad, mom doesn't try to respond. But once, when he was yelling but he was already leaving, so he couldn't hit her, she yelled back about how if she'd known how awful muggles could be, she would have listened to her parents and married a pureblood like she was supposed too. I think it might just have been her family, but I really don't know. She won't talk to me about it."

"What does that mean for me? I'm a muggle born! Will people not want to marry me?"

"You're a witch Lil! You have nothing to worry about." He has to resist adding that he would be happy to marry her.

"Promise?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"No…"

"Then can we move on?"

"Yeah."

"Will you tell me that story now?"

"Sure. Why don't I tell you a story about a prince?"

That brought him to full attention. He had always assumed that his mother had been a pureblood, just because of what she had yelled at his father. "Sorry, there are muggle stories about my family?"

"Ummm… I don't think so…"

Clearly, they are not on the same page. It is then that he remembers something Lily said to her sister while he watched them one day; something about them being trapped in a tower and the Prince being on his way to rescue them. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, because it had been immediately followed by Lily conjuring a burst of fire to act as the dragon that was grading them. "Explain to me exactly what a prince is to muggles?"

"He's the heir to the throne or the son of a monarch."

"Oh. That's odd. My mother's maiden name is Prince."

"Well, there you have it! You really are my Prince. My half-blood Prince!" Lily giggled before settling back down to tell her story. But Snape like the way the words had sounded, like a real title of honour, and he loved that she had given them to him.

Piece