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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters. Rowling is the awesome lady who does own that wonderful universe and all of her amazing creations. In short: Rowling you da BOMB!!! I do own the plotline to this story and a few of the characters that I have thought up on my own.
Thanks be to those who reviewed and to the author alerts and story favs that I have been getting. It has all been encouraging.
In this story: I will have the Lupins being taken to Diagon Alley by Augustus with Lily and Severus who tag along. While at Diagon Alley, Sev meets someone who will be very important to his future.
I have also decided to include religion, Catholic (just like the Wrath of the Half Blood Prince) In short I will be copying off the idea of a Squib Priest.
In this fic Squibs will not only be Priests and even the traditional lower on the totem pole of labourers but a few of the younger ones are starting music groups, authors and so forth as the traditions of the society start to fall apart.
The majority of the freer and up to date squibs will come from the Americas where they have no house elves and are not refined.
In short some pureblood families are having a hard time of trying to keep some of their children away from the newer ideas. After all it want that long ago when Paul, George, John and Ringo hit the scene. As well as a few other music groups. Thus in short, wizarding groups started to copy off certain groups.
I am also toying with the idea of a few of the ancient Celtic or Druid rites that his family celebrated out of tradition. Sort of a mix of both.
The combination of the older wizarding traditions with the newer muggle ones; not only counting religion but also music and other activities such as amusement parks and other muggle inventions that are worming their way into the ultra traditional wizarding society which is why a few of the pure blooded families are up in arms.
Beltane for example will be a rite of growth more than anything toward Severus. Or do you think that is going too far with that?
The person, which Severus meets in Diagon Alley, will be my own invention. Please use the review button to inform me of what you think…
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The next morning, everyone sat around the breakfast table that had magically been extended from four to seat seven. As he did every morning, Augustus rapped once on the table and a virtual feast appeared before everyone's eyes.
There was a virtual bounty of food that anyone could partake in. It was almost all that that anyone wanted.
The breakfast items consisted of three different styles of eggs: fired, scrambled and hard-boiled; toast, bagels and biscuits; sausages, bacon and ham steak; potatoes fried and hash browns; and hotcakes: plain, blueberries and chocolate chips.
While everyone was eating, Augustus was reading the Daily Prophet and was starting to get furious at what he read. He started mumbling behind his paper, as usual.
At the price he read how much Julia paid for a lavish donation party and how much she donated, his face drained of all colour and went white. Then his faculties returned and his face went three shades in quick succession, from chalky white then to a red and finally to a deep purple.
"Great Merlin!!!" Everyone but Severus who was used to an outburst jumped and looked over at the master of the house.
His daughter-in-law was trying to show that she was the humanitarian of the year by trying to out donate Lady Malfoy. If Lady Malfoy donated money to a certain cause, then Julia had to out donate her by five times as much.
Then she would also throw huge lavish parities throwing the Prince Money around and having everyone pay ridiculously high prices to attend one of those social gatherings.
That did not count all of her other little 'items' that she spent her money on. Her spa days would cost the family a fortune for just one hour. Then the clothes that she wore as well as all the money that she shelled out for make up and wrinkle removing crème.
It was not that he was against donating money or much needed supplies or whatever the community needed, but at the rate she was going, Julia was sure to bankrupt the family. It would have been different if Julia cared, but the only thing she cared about was getting her name in the paper and being well thought of.
He put the paper down and uttered a quick 'excuse me' while throwing his napkin down beside his plate and he then left the table post haste to get in touch with his attorney to put a stop of her flinging money right and left. This had to stop and he was going to make sure she did. He was still head of this family and by Merlin, he would put his foot down!
After Augustus left Severus got up quickly and ran to the wadded up paper and examined it. He whistled at the price tags that accompanied the party and what his aunt had donated, "Sweet Jesus."
"What?" Lily stood beside her friend in a trice and tried to see the paper.
"It says that Aunt Julia donated 250,000 galleons to a charity at a sit down dinner that was 1000 galleons a plate that she threw, which cost the family 15,000 galleons to hold. The party had 500 that attended. That happened to be the crème of the crop of the wizarding world!"
"Bloody Hell!!!" Lily breathed out.
"LILY RACHEL EVANS!!!" Catherine was appalled at her daughter.
"Sorry mum" Lily did not sound very sorry about the words that were uttered from her mouth.
"I wonder where you picked that language up?" Catherine gave her husband a hard look.
"Sorry…" Severus and Lawrence said in unison.
Looking up from the paper, Severus gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. Lawrence quickly picked up his coffee and took a swig of it, determined to hide behind the cup.
Catherine looked at both the young man and her husband. She had no idea, which was worse. Severus who was shrugging it off or Lawrence who was trying to look as though he had no idea what she was talking about.
Severus had heard that torrid language all his life and she was sure thought nothing of using it. She knew what he had put up with listening to his father and mother both use those terms. Hopefully Augustus would stop those words coming from his mouth, soon.
Lawrence used to really use that language through most of his life, he being a dockworker until he was able to find a job at the bank. Catherine had heard her husband using that language when he was upset about something or he was watching one of his sporting games, football in particular.
Both of her daughters had picked up on it or heard it used more than just a couple of times. Petunia thought it was vulgar, but Lily was a different story, she emulated her father and her friend.
"What cause did she donate it to?" Titus Lupin asked trying to get off the subject at hand.
Severus turned the page looking through the paper, "It don't say. Just says how much she gave and what she did to…" He stopped and looked hard at the paper, shook his head and looked at it again, "No wait, it is on the back of the last page by an add for the miracle grow gnome control."
Everyone but Mr. Lupin and his son looked perplexed, "Uh, what did she give it to?" Mr Lupin asked.
"Something about St. Mungo's new wing for families with sick children."
"I don't understand, Lady Malfoy already donated enough money to have a new wing built for them six months ago and it was completed two months afterward." Titus Lupin informed all at the table.
Severus put the paper down shaking his head. Throwing money around when there are people who had none or were near the poverty line. It was a waste of money donating something that had already been dealt with.
Seeing that Severus was done with the paper, Mr. Lupin asked, "May I see the paper, Severus?"
Severus shrugged, "Sure, why not?"
Mr Lupin took the paper and looked through it, shaking his head the entire time. When people had nothing better to do than this, he thought that they should take another look about their lives or lack there of.
"My daughter-in-law can not stand to have anyone contribute more or for anyone to do something better than her. That is why she has done this." Augustus walked in the room and sat down at the table.
"I know about her type. Always trying to stay one step ahead of the Jones's." Lawrence explained.
Augustus smiled a very calculated smile, "Now imagine how she is going to feel when she goes to withdraw money from the bank and finds that her allowance is gone because of one of her shopping sprees. By Salazar, that girl can outspend anyone living."
"Cutting off her funds, I take." Lawrence shook his head.
This family was something. Severus would either start to go soft and rich or would remember where he came from and not take anything for granted. He found himself hoping for the later for the boy's sake.
"Can I be in the room when she comes here to talk to you after finding out?" Severus looked up with a grin on his face and a certain unholy glint in his eyes. This would really be something to see.
"Uh, no Severus. I would not want you in the line of fire when she does get mad." Augustus shook his head, how in the world was he going to deal with his grandson when he was like this?
"Pity." Severus committed.
Oh, yes, he knew, now. Watching his parents fight it out had hardened Severus. Eventually, he would get that attitude out of him. HE would get that way of thinking out of his grandson. Augustus was one who did not fail at all.
Time for a different subject, Augustus asked his grandson a question that had been on his mind for a while. "Severus, did your mother take you to church at all?"
Severus's face hardened as he clearly remembered that going to church also involved going into the storehouse for the needy. Nor did he like the idea that his mum got preached at by the Priest for her reading cards to make ends meet. But to get the supplies and clothes that he needed, Eileen went through utter humiliation of that sort for her son.
He did not like that nor did he like the looks he got from some of the neighbourhood boys telling him the rags he wore were what their mother's had donated to the church's donation box for the poor. Although the clothes they wore were not all that good either.
"Severus?"
"We went to St. George's Catholic Church on important days or when we needed something."
Noticing his grandson's cheeks were starting to colour, Augustus decided to tackle this problem with his grandson when they were in his study. A change of subject was defiantly needed.
"Who wants to go to Diagon Alley?" Augustus asked.
"What's Diagon Alley?" Lily asked no one in particular.
"Lily, trust me, you will LOVE Diagon Alley! It is the shopping district of the wizarding world!!!" Severus excited told his friend.
"Really? What type of shopping does it have?" Lily was interested to know if it was like a muggle type of new shopping centre with a mall or regular shops like the old small shops not too far from her house.
"Clothing, parchment and quills, books, almost anything and everything!!!"
"Yeah, Mr Ollivander makes and sells wands, Madam Malkin sells robes for all occasions, Gringotts is the bank, the Daily Prophet is there and so many other shops as well as places to eat at." Remus, who had yet to say anything, listed on his fingers.
"Remus, you know better than to say yeah." Titus lectured his son.
"I mean yes." Remus quieted back down.
Severus looked at Remus a bit then turned his attention to Lily, "So do ya wan'ta come?" He put his working class accent in with the words on purpose looking defiantly at Titus Lupin.
Titus realised what he was doing and inwardly groaned. This was going to be a source of tension between him and his student. The problem also was that if Severus was going to start to wear off on his son, there would be even more problems.
When he took the job, it seemed as though it would be easy, just teach an upper class wizard his subjects. But now, finding out his background from working class muggles, on his father's side anyway, there were bound to be problems.
"Severus…" Augustus apparently caught on to the silent challenge that his grandson was throwing at his teacher.
"What, Grandfather?" Severus looked innocently at his grandfather as he could.
"You know exactly what. Mr. Lupin is your teacher and deserving of your respect."
Seeing that he was not going to get by with that attitude, he turned his attention to Titus, "Sorry Mr. Lupin about my accent. My father worked at one of the factories in Manchester and I got my accent from there."
Hearing no sarcastic remarks or voice from his grandson Augustus called Broli to give him some orders. The Evans and Titus Lupin were not fooled. They knew that he was still being defiant toward his teacher.
The Evans looked at each other and shook their heads while Titus Lupin looked at Severus and caught his eyes. He would stop Severus himself and his little games. He had to or he would not be able to teach anything. The battle lines had just been drawn between teacher and student.
He just had to talk to Augustus about his limitations and what he should do about punishments. Will he be able to punish the boy or will Augustus want to do that himself? Or will the boy get punished at all?
Remus and Lily both looked at each other and grimaced. They both knew that there would be some long hard arguments between both teacher and student.
Augustus was not immune to what Severus did. He knew that his grandson said that to stop him from saying anything else.
Whether his grandson liked it or not, he was going to take him aside and lay down a new law in this house. Severus was to respect his teacher and not to smart off to him. He would talk to him in private they arrived back from Diagon Alley as well as the religion matter.
As well as telling Titus what he was allowed to do as in punishments, later on tonight in front of his wayward grandson. For minor infractions, he could punish him as a teacher would like writing lines and so forth, but for heavy rule breaking, he and he alone would punish the boy.
He would go over everything later. Right now they needed to return to Diagon Alley. Another plan then formatted in his brain.
A good friend of his Socrates Wallace had his grandson, Aristotle Wallace, for the summer. The boy happened to be a pureblood, but he never acted better than anyone. But, like his namesake, he was brilliant and very sure of himself and well spoken. He would be good for Severus and the Lupin boy to be around, since he knew all about the wizarding world.
The only problem was that he was very mischievous when it came to playing pranks, which were made by Aristotle going through different magic books and playing them on certain people that he felt deserved it. The Black's were hit extremely hard.
Socrates' son, Plato, had to abroad to see about diffusing the situation the ministry caused. Socrates passed the family business of shipping to his son.
The family had started from humble beginnings with a small boat, transporting goods from the European mainland to the British Isles around 1548. The business had grown from there into a thriving international shipping empire that it was today. Transporting not only goods but also people to their destinations.
The family had grown rich enough that in 1689, they had started their first ship that was made for comfort for the people to travel on. Then with the popularity of that business, ten years later they added three more ships for Europe, and four to the colonies.
The flagship went up and down the coast of France, another to the Norse countries of the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Norway, the third made a slight jump to the Irish coast and the last travelled the different countries of the Rivera.
An enterprising young man, who just inherited the company from his father in 1728, started a line to the colonies. With how much money and the sheer numbers of people trying to depart there, he added three more. The Wallace family was considered the shipping magnets of wizarding England.
Augustus made a mental note to introduce the children more than just at the party. If they could get together and be friends then all of their attributes could help each other out.
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One hour later,
The Evans family stood looking at the shopping centre of the wizarding world with a mixture of different emotions. Lawrence and Catherine had unbelief and surprise while Lily had the look of wonder and awe.
"This is Diagon Alley!" Severus stated with simple pride.
"This is wonderful!!!" Lily's eyes sparkled with joy and curiosity.
"It will take you all week to see and do everything that is here." Remus stated knowingly.
"Let's get started. First stop will be at Gringot's to set Severus an account and then onto Madam Malkin's for some new robes." Augustus decided.
While walking, Severus saw another alley right before they went into the bank. "Grandfather where does that alley go to?"
"That is Knockturn Alley, and you are not to go down there. Is that clear!"
"But why?"
"Remember what we talked about there being good and bad in everyone. Well, that is where the bad wizards and witches are. Understand? Now quit dawdling." Augustus turned on his heel and strode into the bank with Severus following behind him as fast as he could.
While in the bank, The Evans exchanged some of their muggle money for wizarding money, Augustus got an account set up for his grandson and switched his daughter's account that she would not touch over to Severus when he reached sixteen as well as drawing out some money of his own account.
The next stop was to have his grandson's new tutor and his son provided with a new wardrobe and he even had two robes made for Lily. Since she was done first, Severus and Lily were given permission to go to Flourish and Blotts to look at the books.
While there, they met a young wizard that happened to be their age or a few months older. He had dirty blond hair, light skin, four inches taller than Severus, freckles across his nose and shocking silver piercing eyes. Or bumped into him as he was leaving the store. He couldn't see over the armload of books he was carrying. Books, bags and two boys went right to the ground.
The young man with a distinctive Welsh accent helped Severus up from the ground after jumping up himself. "I am so sorry. Couldn't see over my parcels."
"That is alright. If you think how much you read is bad, then you are wrong. You should see how much he reads." Lily stated with a grin on her face.
"I doubt very seriously that he could read more than I could." All three were trying to get the packages and books out of the way from getting stepped on by the passers-by.
"No she is right, I do love to read." Severus stated as he handed the last package to the boy.
"Thank you, uh…" He then reached out his hand.
"Severus, Severus Prince." Severus took his hand.
"Prince, eh. Your grandfather and mine are friends. Nice to meet you, Prince. My name is Aristotle Wallace. My family has a tradition of naming their first born males after a promminate Greek historical figure."
"Factual I take."
"Either way, it does not matter. You see my family can trace their ancestors to ancient Greece."
"Wow, can you really?" Lily was amazed.
"Well yes, same as the Prince family can also trace their s to ancient Egypt." The boy then looked at Lily critically, "I take it that you are muggle born."
Severus who was a little jealous of the boy standing before them, got mad, "Don't you dare call my friend…"
The boy smiled, "I am not like that. My family made sure of it." Then he turned to Lily, "Welcome to the wizarding world, uh…"
"Evans, Lily Evans." Lily then offered him her hand and he shook it.
"Well, look at the time. I am going to be late to my grandfather. Again sorry for mowing you down and nice meeting you." The boy then ran off.
"Well, Sev, if I am any judge, I would say that boy is going to be another friend for you."
"You really think so?"
"Course. You have two new friends and I don't and you will end up with some more."
"Lily, no matter who are going to be my friends, you will always be my best friend."
"Always, Sev?
"Always."
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The next chapters deal with the party and so forth. But, it will not go quiet right, thanks to Aunt Julia, who ends up the worse for ware after Severus, Lily, Aristotle and Remus get through with her. The Blacks and Potter make and appearance as do the Nesbitt and Weasley brothers.
OK, I guess I owe everyone a bit of an explanation. For a bit, my computer was down and I had to get it fixed then the Midwest, had the worst ice storm in over twenty years and the power to my apartment was out for four days. I believe in my area alone about 15,000 were without power. Now that I am back on sot speak, I can start writing more of my story.