Disclaimer: All the previous disclaimers apply.
Chapter 3
Boadicea had still not come back when Lily woke up at five the next morning. She wondered if Sev had kept her overnight and would send her back this morning. She stretched, yawned and got out of bed, drawing her robe over her pajamas and using her feet to locate her slippers. She made her way down to the kitchen where she knew her parents would already up as they because her dad had an early shift at work and they got up early even on the weekends.
Lily walked into the kitchen, shocking her parents into almost dropping their teacups. "Morning, Mum and Dad."
"Good morning, darling. We're a little surprised to see you up with the sun," Iris said.
"I sent Boadicea with a note to Sev asking if he could meet me at the Leaky Cauldron today after his classes so we could talk, but he hasn't replied so I thought he might have kept her overnight and will send her back this morning."
"Why do you want to talk to Sev, Lily?" Her father asked.
"I ran into him in Diagon Alley yesterday and I told him I had decided to attend the College of Potions rather than the Auror Academy and he made some crack about it being a good thing as I could brew James' potions for him so he wouldn't accidently poison one of his fellow Aurors with his own ineptly brewed potions."
"I take it James' isn't very good at potions?"
"It's not that he's bad, he just get impatient with the whole process, cutting, dicing, or chopping the ingredients in a certain way, adding them in a certain order, stirring so many times one way and so many times another way."
Iris set down a plate of eggs, bacon, sausages, and fried potatoes in front of Lily and sat down next to her husband, pouring them each another cup of tea. "Well, that is the whole point, isn't it? It sounds a lot like cooking as the ingredients have to be prepared in a certain way, added in a certain order, and stirred so many times or the recipe won't turn out tasting right. Of course I don't suppose your fiancé would know that as he as all those elves to cook for him."
Petunia wandered into the kitchen and sat down at the table, yawning widely.
"What on earth are both of you girls doing up so early?" Iris asked in amazement. She poured Petunia a cup of tea from the teapot and got up to get her breakfast from the pans warming on the stove.
"Vernon's taking me out golfing today. He's says I'm doing a lot better as I don't take half the course with my ball when I tee off now."
There was a sudden tapping on the window and Lily looked up to see Boadicea waiting outside. She opened the kitchen window and she flew in. Lily took the note and gave her a piece of bacon. She remained perched on the back of Lily's chair while Lily read her note from Severus. She huffed in frustration and sat back down.
"What's wrong, Lily?" Iris asked.
Wordlessly, Lily handed the note to her mum. Iris read Lily's note to Severus and then flipped the parchment over and read his reply. "Well, Lily, I imagine he is very busy. He told us he was going to school full-time, working part-time and taking another class at your Ministry twice weekly plus he's fixing up his parents' house on the weekends."
Petunia picked up the note and read it. "Why are you so shocked at Severus' answer? I mean you wouldn't accept his apology; you don't speak to him for two years unless you absolutely have to while you're dating his worst enemy. Did you really expect him to come crawling back to you just because you crooked your finger?"
'Petunia makes me sound like an absolutely horrid person. Is that how Sev thinks of me too?' Lily thought in dismay. "Well, I really didn't mean it to sound that way," she said. "I just want to try and patch up our friendship."
"Well, it doesn't sound as if Severus is interested in making up. His reply sounds very terse," Petunia remarked.
"I hope you're not expecting Sev to suddenly become friends with your fiancé and his friends because I don't think that's ever going to happen," Her father said.
"No." Lily shook her head, "Of course not." She sighed. "It's just that I really missed Sev when we …I ended our friendship. I actually wanted to go find him the next morning and tell him I was sorry and that I would accept his apology."
"Why didn't you, Lily" Iris asked.
Lily sighed. "My year mates were always on me about my friendship with Sev right from the first, but Sev changed the more he hung around with the people in his house that were planning to join You-Know-Who. James and Sirius always claimed that Sev would try to hex them whenever he saw them, and my roommate, Mary MacDonald said while one of Sev's friends was hexing her, he was standing watching them and laughing. When he called me a Mudblood, as far as I was concerned, that was the final straw."
"Well, perhaps if you give Sev a little space to figure out what his feeling are, he'll be willing to talk." Iris suggested.
Lily nodded. "You're probably right, Mum."
The next evening Richard was sitting in his favorite recliner reading the evening paper, relaxing after getting home from work. Iris had informed him that James was coming over for supper and he would probably be bringing his other friends too. 'Nothing like having a good meal, your digestion, and your evening ruined by having to entertain those juvenile delinquents,' Richard thought in disgust. He heard three distinct cracks from the park across the street and then heard his daughter's voice raised in anger.
"I told you once, James I choose my own career and it's not up to you to approve or disapprove what I want to do with my life!" Lily said.
"But Lil, I was counting on us studying together and practicing what we learned in class," James whined. "I imagined us fighting against You-Know-Who together
"Remus can help you study and you can practice with Sirius. There's more ways than one to fight against You-Know-Who."
"Yeah, but I can't snog Moony while I'm studying."
"You better not, Mate," Sirius said with his trademark bark of laughter. "Moony might not take too kindly to that!"
"But why do you have to be a Potion Mistress for? If you don't want to be an Auror, why not work for the Ministry? You're really good at Charms and you could work for Arthur in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. He'd be thrilled to have you or you could work on the Committee On Experimental Charms. My dad knew Gilbert Wimple and I could get you an appointment with him easy."
"James, my mind's already made up and I'm not changing it!"
"But Snivellus is going there too and that slimy creep still has a thing for you," James complained.
"For your information, James, he's taking advanced classes and I probably won't even see him. Now come on, Mum has dinner waiting and we're already late."
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Severus came every weekend to work on his house. He had the downstairs done and was pleased with its appearance. He had vanished the old, worn carpets in both the living room and dining room, and then cleaned and polished the oak floors that lay underneath them. The living room was now painted a pale blue and the dining room had pale yellow walls. He had cleaned and polished the chandelier in the dining room and now it shone brightly. He'd transfigured sheers and drapes for the four windows in the living room and the two in the dining room He had stripped the layers of paint off the woodwork and restored the natural wood. Without magic, it would have taken him years to completely restore the house.
In the kitchen Severus had vanished the old, ugly, and worn linoleum and replaced it with a floor of black and white tiles and painted the walls a cream color. He had transfigured the cabinets to a cherry wood with glass fronts and transfigured the worn linoleum counter top into cherry wood also. He used a protective spells to seal it and prevent the sunlight from fading it. He transfigured the lower cabinets to match the cabinets above minus the glass fronts. He had transfigured a log into a cherry wood round pedestal table and four others into chairs. He had gotten four cotton balls and transfigured them into pale brown cushions for the chairs. The only eyesores in the kitchen now were the stove and refrigerator. He wanted to buy new appliances, but he frankly had absolutely no idea how to do it. He looked at his watch and saw it was only seven o'clock, but he knew Mrs. Evans would be up. He left his home, locking it after him and quickly walked the four blocks to the Evans' home. He briefly stopped to admire the flowers in the front yard. Iris was a dab hand at growing all kinds of flowers. He knocked on the front door and a few seconds later it was opened by Richard who smiled widely when he saw Severus. "Good morning, Sev. Come on in."
Severus stepped into the living room and Richard said, "Go out into the kitchen and get some breakfast."
"Actually, Sir, I just need to ask Mrs. Evans something."
"Well, you can give her the pleasure of seeing you eat breakfast while you're asking her. She's constantly fretting about you."
Severus walked out into the kitchen and was engulfed in a hug by Iris. "Sev, so good to see you again. Here, sit down and I'll get you some breakfast." She pointed her finger at him when she saw he was about to protest. "No arguments, Severus. You're much too thin!"
Severus shut his mouth. When Iris addressed him by his full name he knew she meant business. He sat down at the table and Richard sat back down opposite him. "How are things going, Sev?"
Iris sat a plate down in front of Severus filled with a large helping of scrambled eggs, bacon, bangers, and fried potatoes. She poured him a cup of tea and sat down next to Richard.
"Schools going great. I'm in a really small class; there are only six of us. Boris is from the Soviet Union and Kaemon is from Japan; they live across the hall from me. Michelle who's from France, Colleen's from Ireland and then April who graduated from Hogwarts with me. Works going good. We're not too busy right now, but it will be getting really busy in a couple weeks when the Hogwarts shopping starts. My warding classes are going great, too. Mum taught me some of it because my grandfather was a Wardsmith, but I've been learning a great deal more."
"How are the repairs on your house coming?"
"Well, that's why I came by actually. I need a new stove and refrigerator, but I absolutely have no idea how to buy them."
"Well, you definitely came to the right place, Sev. The appliance store here uses Iris to train their new salesmen," Richard teased. "If she can't get you a good deal than it can't be gotten."
"Would you like to go this morning?" Iris asked.
"Well, I don't want to disrupt your morning …" Severus began.
"Petunia and Lily are old enough to get their own breakfasts and if they don't want to cook, then there's cold cereal in the cupboard."
"How about in a half-hour? That will give me enough time to go to Gringotts and get some money out of my vault."
"All right I'll pick you up at your home in half-hour," Iris agreed.
Severus went home and flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and then went into Diagon Alley and to Gringotts. He took as many Galleons out of his vault that he thought he'd need and exchanged them for Muggle money. He was putting the money into a moleskin pouch when another Goblin stepped up to the desk. "Mr. Snape?"
Severus nodded and waited respectfully for the Goblin to continue. His mother had explained to him when he was younger about Gringotts and how for centuries the Goblins had taken care of the vaults and deserved great respect for doing it. He used to think about the stories his mum told him about the Goblins while Professor Binns droned on about the Goblin wars.
"I am Zort and I have had charge of your grandfather's accounts since I was younger. There is something I need to discuss with you."
Severus inclined his head. "As you wish." He followed Zort into an office and sat down. "As you probably already know, your grandfather disowned your mother and generally that would include any heirs, but in this case your grandfather allowed me to use my own judgment."
"How so?"
"Your grandfather had a younger brother who, knowing he was not the heir, left home as a young man to seek his own fortune. I was charged by your grandfather with finding either him or his heirs as they would be his inheritors. In the event I was unable to find anyone, he trusted me to use my own judgment in the matter of the Prince fortune."
"Have you found my great uncle or his heir's? If you have I should like to meet him."
"No, I am afraid not. Since your grandfather's death four years ago, I have searched in many places. We Goblins have many different resources for tracing heirs, but I found not the slight trace of your great uncle, leading me to conclude that he's dead and that he died without issue. In the matter of the Prince fortune, I would hate to see it go out of the family that's built it since the time of Merlin so I have made the decision that the only surviving heir to the Prince family should have it, but I will need to verify your bloodline first."
Severus nodded. "Of course." He held out his hand, knowing Zort would need his blood to verify he was of the Prince bloodline. Zort made a small cut and allowed it to drip on a special piece of parchment. The blood disappeared into the parchment and suddenly the Prince Family Tree appeared on the parchment. "Very well then."
"How large or small is the Prince fortune?" Severus asked as he knew nothing about the estate.
"There are currently twenty-five vaults and the main house, Prince Manor, located in the North York Moors, Yorkshire County plus two other smaller manor houses; one is in Scotland and the other in Wales. All three are warded, unplottable and not visible to the Muggles. Your vaults are located in the high security area. I can take you there now if you wish."
"No, not right now. It's going to take me awhile to absorb all this as it's quite a shock. I do need to visit my personal vault though."
"Of course, Mr. Snape. I'll take you this instant."
Severus followed him to the carts and got in. They rode down to Vault 699 and Severus handed him his key. Zort opened the vault and Severus filled a moleskin bag with Galleons. Zort returned Severus' key to him and they returned to the main floor of Gringotts where he exchanged the Gallons for Muggle money.
"Whatever you're ready you may contact me and I will personally take you down to your vaults," Zort said nodding.
"Thank you very much for your decision regarding me and for taking care of the Prince fortune all these years. Do you wish to continue to be in charge of it because that is my wish?"
"I would be honored," Zort replied.
"Good," Severus said and gave a slight bow. He returned his vault key to Zort. "Please have the contents of my personal vault added to the Prince vault."
"It will be done."
He left and walked quickly back to the Leaky Cauldron and flooed home, He glanced out the front window and saw the Evans' car parked out front. He ran outside and got in. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Evans," Severus apologized as he climbed into the car.
"It's no problem, Sev. I was reading so I didn't even notice the time." Iris always carried a book with her to read whenever she had to wait. She could be seen reading while waiting in the checkout line of the local grocer's.
"I got held up at Gringotts because the Goblin in charge of my grandfather's estate wanted to speak with me." He explained what had occurred. It still hadn't quite sunk in that he was now richer than the Potter's, Black's and Malfoy's put together.
Iris immediately pulled the car over and gave Severus a hug. "Sev, I'm so happy for you! I know Eileen, God rest her, would be so happy too." She pulled out into the street again.
"Could we keep this just between us …well, it's okay if you tell Mr. Evans."
"Of course, Sev, but I would love to see the look on James Potter's face when he does find out."
Severus smiled. "Okay, I'll have to admit that I'd like to see that also."
They arrived at the store and as they got out of the car, Iris said, "Now remember, Sev. Pick out what you want and then let me handle the rest."
Severus nodded and they went into the store. One of salesmen spotted them coming in and immediately hurried up to greet Iris. "George, this my neighbor, Severus Snape and he's interested in purchasing a new stove and refrigerator."
"Of course," George said. He gestured with his hand. "Please follow me this way, Mr. Snape."
Severus was silently thankful that there was no reaction from the salesman when he heard his last name. Apparently his parents had never bought anything from this store so their reputation for not paying their bills wouldn't affect him."
The salesman showed him an array of stoves and refrigerators, but all Severus wanted was a basic stove and refrigerator. Iris did advise him to get a stove that was self-cleaning and a refrigerator that was self-defrosting as those two features were real time savers. He selected the stove and refrigerator he wanted and then stepped back and allowed Iris to take over. He smiled as he noticed the look of resignation on the salesman face. While Iris haggled with the salesmen, Severus looked at the television sets. Maybe he should buy a telly. While he didn't much care for British television, he did like some of the television shows imported from America.
Iris came over to where Severus and told him the price she had gotten for him. Severus nodded, took a roll of bills out of his jacket pocket and gave them to Iris who counted them for him and then scolded him. "Severus Snape, do you realize your are carrying around £2000! You could have been mugged and robbed!"
Severus smiled at her outrage. She'd obviously forgotten he was a wizard and nobody was going to rob him unless they wanted to find themselves the victim of a leg-locker curse followed by being lowered into a dumpster.
Iris came back over after paying for the appliances and gave him his change. He put it back into his jacket pocket. "Okay, I've arranged with them to deliver the stove and refrigerator to you house at four o'clock this afternoon and they're going to take away the old ones."
"They might be able to get a good price if they sell them to a museum," Severus joked.
Iris dropped Severus off at his house and then drove home. As she came in the door, she heard Petunia and Lily arguing. She sighed and looked at Richard. "What are they arguing about now?"
"It started with Potter and at that point I removed myself to the living room."
"Girls, what are you fighting about?" Iris said coming out into the kitchen. She stood with her hands on her hips.
"Mum, Lily won't help me with the dishes, Vernon is coming by at ten-thirty to pick me up and I want enough time to get ready."
"Mum, I told Tuney I could get the dishes done easily with magic," Lily complained.
"And I told Lily she doesn't need to whip out her wand for every little thing. She should learn to do some things our way."
Iris shook her head. "Petunia, I think Lily was just trying to help you so you would have more time to get ready for you golf date with Vernon. Lily, Petunia's right; you should learn to do some things without using your wand constantly."
Satisfied with Iris' answer, both Lily and Petunia apologized for their behavior. Iris put the tea kettle on the stove to boil and got the tea canister out of the cupboard.
"Where did you go this morning so early, Mum?" Petunia asked, drying her hands on a dishtowel.
"Sev came over early this morning and asked me if I would help him buy a new stove and refrigerator. He bought new ones and the store's going to deliver them at four o'clock and I'm going over to make sure the store does everything they promised. That reminds me; you girls will need to keep an eye on dinner while I'm over there. Lily what time is your fiancé coming over and is he bringing all three of his friends with him or just Mr. Black?"
"I don't know, Mum. I'll owl James and find out."
"If he even bothers to answer, that is," Petunia said.
"Well, I've gotten quite a big roast from the butcher in case he does decide to bring his friends and I'm assuming he will as he doesn't seem to want to leave home without them," Iris said.
"I think Lily's going to find that they're going to be permanent guests even after her and Potter are married, Mum. Potter will probably want to take Black along on your honeymoon, Lily," Petunia said with a smirk as she left to go upstairs to get ready for her golf date with Vernon.
"How is Sev, Mum? What did he say?"
"He's fine, Lily. He said school was going really well and so were his classes at the Ministry. He said work wasn't real busy right now, but it would be in a couple of weeks."
Lily smiled reminiscently. "Yes, the students will be receiving their Hogwarts' letters this week so Slug & Jiggers will be really busy for the next few weeks."
"I really think Sev is taking on too much and I don't think he's eating enough or getting enough sleep," Iris said worriedly.
"I'm sure Sev is all right, Mum," Lily replied. "I'll go owl James and remind what time dinner is and find out who else is coming."
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James lay sprawled on the sofa in the library of Potter Mansion. He was restless, bored, and wanted to find some excitement. Sirius walked in just then. "What time are we going over to Lily's? Her mum cooks even better than your house elves."
"She just owled me to remind me that dinner is at six," James pouted. "I don't know what's gotten into her lately. First she decides she's going to be a Potion Mistress instead of an Auror without even talking it over with me and now she's defending Snivellus at every turn after he called her that filthy name."
"Snivvy gotten way above his station since Dumbledore got forced into making that slime Head Boy. He probably Imperiused Dumbledore to get those two awards he won because those should have gone to a Gryffindor too.
"Yeah, it's a good thing we spent so much time in the Head's suite or Snivellus probably would have raped Lily. I asked her if I could sleep on the couch, but she said it wouldn't look proper."
"Shit! Like it looked proper for a Gryffindor to share quarters with a snake," Sirius snorted. "I think we should pay a visit to Snivvy's home after hours, if you get my drift."
James smiled and sat up. "Yeah! That sounds like just the ticket for my boredom, Padfoot! I'll have Meron wake us at 1:00 and we can apparate over and give Snivvy's house a new look."
"Too bad it's such a dump already."
"Lily said he was fixing it up though so we'll give him a nice surprise."
"Even better!" Sirius declared.
They apparated to the abandoned park across the street from the Evans house and walked over to the house. James stopped Sirius as he saw the red Muggle vehicle parked out in front of the house. "Looks like the sister's fiancé is here for dinner too so be polite."
"You mean that fat chunk of squid blubber?" Sirius asked with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, Vernon."
Lily couldn't believe James and Sirius during dinner. They didn't talk about Quidditch; they even listened politely when Vernon talked about his family's drill company.
They both left early saying they had to be up early tomorrow because they had agreed to help Remus get his classroom organized.
"Well, that was quite a switch," Petunia remarked as they cleared the table. "No insults from Black and no talking about Quddodge from Potter."
Lily was suspicious. She suspected James and Sirius were up to something. That business about helping Remus to organize his classroom. More than likely James and Sirius would make it more disorganized if anything.
James personal house elf, Meron, woke him at 1:00. He and Sirius dressed in dark clothes and apparated to the park across the street from the Evans house. They walked quickly down the street to Severus' house. They stopped in front of his house. "Lily said he was fixing this up?" Sirius whispered. "It still looks like a dump to me."
"Yeah, we'll probably just have to pull out one board and the whole thing will fall down!" James replied.
They started forward and ran into the wards Severus had put up. There was a bright flash of light and both Sirius and James were tossed out into the middle of the street. They rolled aside quickly and just missed being run over by an irate driver who stopped his car and yelled out the window, "Why don't you fucking drunks find somewhere else to sleep it off rather the middle of the road!" He shook his fist at them, started his car and drove away.
"Come on let's get the hell out of here, Prongs!" Sirius said pulling James to his feet.
They turned on their heels and disapparated back to Potter Manor
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Severus woke to find his alarm was flashing brightly. Somebody was attempting to breech the wards around his house. He threw back the covers and got out of bed, got dressed quickly and took the floo to his house. He didn't turn on any lights when he got there, not wanting to alert whomever was trying to get inside that he was there. He went to the front window and lifted one of the slats of the blind and peered out. He couldn't see anyone outside, but it was a really dark night. He pulled his wand out of his arm holster and quietly went out the back door. He was thankful he had oiled the hinges on both doors so neither of them squeaked. He did a though search of the back, front and sides of his house, but found nobody. He looked down the street where the Evans house was, but everything was quiet. He looked up at the sky, but saw nothing; no Dark Mark hovering over any houses. Still, he should go down and make sure everything was all right there.
Severus made sure his house was securely locked and then walked down the four blocks to Lily's house. He knocked on the front door, waited while the porch light came on and he saw Mr. Evans glance out the front window. The front door opened and Richard said, "Sev is everything all right?" He opened the door. "Come in."
Severus stepped inside. "Somebody tried to breach the wards around my house and I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He glanced upstairs and saw Mrs. Evans, Petunia and Lily. He looked away quickly, but not before he noticed she had her wand out. At least hanging around with old Pothead had dulled her sense of danger, but he had heard that she joined Dumbledore's little Gryffindor defense club, The Order of the Phoenix or some such stupidity. He pulled his attention back to Richard who was asking, "Do you think it might have been those Death Eater fellows?"
"I don't know. I hope not, but you can't be sure about anything these days." He turned to go. "As long as everything's okay I'll leave because I know you drive a early bus and need to get back to bed."
"Well, I appreciate you coming over and checking on us, Sev." Richard said opening the door for him.
Lily ran down the stairs at that point. "Oh no you don't, Sev!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the living room. "We're going to talk and you're not leaving until we do!"
Richard shook his head and went back upstairs.
"There's nothing to talk about. Your year mates were humiliating me in front of half the school; I lost my temper and called you a nasty name when you tried to help me. I apologized; you wouldn't accept it and told me to get lost; we weren't friends anymore."
"That's because you changed so much, Sev. You were hanging around with those Death Eater wannabees …"
"Don't start that crap again! Do you see Avery, Wilkes, Mulciber, or any of the rest of them helping me now? Did you see any of them at mum's funeral? I had to eat, sleep, and go to class everyday with those fuckheads so it's a little hard to not to associate with them! Maybe, I didn't fancy waking up with my throat cut!"
"Mary told me when Mulciber hexed her you were standing there laughing with the rest of them."
"Merlin's arsehole! I told you I wasn't even there. I was in the library and I didn't know anything about it until Potter and Black decided to make me pay for it, but of course it'd never occur to you that MacDonald would lie!" Severus was practically yelling at this point. Why the hell was she wasting his time going over the same old ground? This was a complete waste of time. He needed to get back to his dorm and go to bed. "You know, Lily you don't have a lot of room to talk. I saw you almost smile at Potter's antics while I was hanging upside down before you suddenly remembered you were supposed to be my friend and started yelling at him. After I called you a Mudblood, you called me Snivellus. I apologized for my mistake, but you never did. Don't you think calling me that name hurt me as much as me calling you a Mudblood hurt you?"
Lily's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "I was just angry."
"And so was I, but somehow my being angry doesn't excuse my behavior. You know what I think, Lily? I think you were looking for any excuse you could find to end our friendship because your housemates didn't approve and you wanted to be popular and you certainly couldn't be that with a slimy, unpopular, snake tagging after you."
"That's not true, Severus Snape!" Lily grabbed him by the front of his shirt. She looked really angry. Her face was flushed, her eyes looked as if they could shoot lightning bolts, her hair fell in a messy wave down her back and he could see the fast rise and fall of her breasts underneath her robe. In other words, she looked so damn gorgeous he couldn't resist and pulled her into his arms and kissed her.