Chapter 28
It had been two weeks since Severus had visited Gringotts. As soon as classes had finished the next day, Severus raced to the library to looked at every book in the library about marriage and legally binding documents and wills. All of them had enforced the same thing meaning that there were no loopholes or a way to get out of it. All magical binding laws follow different rules compared to muggle laws. They cannot be created by mere words nor be left for interpretation. They were created by following the Laws of Magic which can never be altered or changed. It is as it is. This was why there are no divorces and why the Unbreakable Vows is forbidden. It is magical binding. Should you break the vow, the magic will kill you as a consequence.
There was a whole level dedicated to the theory of magical bonds through marriages, wills, and even the binding that Severus had found himself in since he entered as champion for the Triwizard Tournament. They are created by combining magic. To fight against it is not possible: for every action there is reaction. To fight it can lead to destructive outcomes which is why the Ministry enforces the laws to prevent those outcomes. He was stuck in this situation. He cannot alter the will as it was created by the will and magic of the previous Head of the Prince Family and should he marry, he will stay married for all reasons and purposes that is stated in the marriage contract. These contracts are usually modified to fix and allow flexibilities of the marriage for both parties to prevent death. But with no Head of House to make these alterations; there was nothing can be done.
Once both parties accept the terms of the contract, they must follow it, creating a magical binding contract. Severus had signed the documents of the will and was now magically bind to fill out the request of the will. Should he decided to not get marriage, he will eventually die or lose all his magic since he signed for him to not only inherit the wealth but the title Lordship given if he is able to. Severus is technically able to when he gets married. Should he not, then he breaks the binding of the contract and he will die. According to the time frame, he has four years to marry before someone can challenge him.
Despite the will stating that he has until he is much older to marry, the day of magical inheritance will be when he is twenty-one. By then, he is responsible to be a proper member of society and will have to take the duties of his family. There usually a gap between coming of age and the magical inheritance to allow the heir time to breathe and get a custom to their duties. It was also the time to let the family arrange a marriage if one wasn't already made. All of this were part of the finer details of the will, something that wasn't directly said but is always understood by pureblood families and didn't need to be written in plain English.
The more that Severus thinks about these rules of the contract that were seemingly left out by the Goblin, the worse it seemed to inherit anything. He truly only had one option.
It didn't help that everyone was talking about it now since several students had seen him reading books about marriage. Within a matter of hours, everyone was wondering who on earth he was planning to marry or, perhaps, who had been daring enough to proposed to him by the time dinner started. It was just a passing rumor that didn't have any value other than to keep them occupied. Severus let it passed, never confirming or denying anything. Lily didn't believe the rumors either, but she knew that he wouldn't be researching about marriage if it wasn't important.
He had yet to tell her what had happened that fateful day, but he could not gather the courage to tell her. As close as they were, it would still be rather awkward to talk to her about his relationship with Potter and Louis. Severus was sure that she was aware about Potter's possible feelings for him, but Severus had yet to confirm it. Plus, if he did tell her, she would somehow worm her way to get him to reveal everything.
He didn't even tell her about the kiss, for Merlin's sake! Of course she had wondered what had happen that had caused the shift in his and Louis's relationship, but she did not press for answers, thankfully. But that did not mean that she was not curious. Severus had been holding off for as long as he possibly could, but he would eventually have to talk to her about it.
He had to tell someone. He could not bare to hold this weight on his own. It was always so easy to talk to Lily. She would ask questions that he would not know the answers to, but she accepted it and often help him lead to a possible answer. It was probably for the best, but Severus still needed to wrap his idea on several matters before the conversation takes place.
Luckily, the rumor died down soon enough with the month reaching its end. The second task was near and everyone wanted to know what it was going to be about, but all of the champions had been tight lipped about the clue and nobody could figure out what the task would be. There were several guesses, many of which were quite stupid in his opinion. None of them were even close to what it actually was, but that was probably for the better.
It was barely going to be February in a little over a week and even then they still had to wait until the end of the month for the task to start. It didn't help that Severus had yet to tell Louis of the task. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but there always just seem to never be enough time. While they might have made up from their conversation, they rarely saw each other outside a classroom setting. And from the pain looks that Lupin has been giving out is telling enough that the full moon is near. None of them dared to ask, but Severus had already began to brew the wolfsbane potion for him. Severus wasn't able to work on finding a cure for it, but he was very capable of making this one potion for Lupin.
It was surely a complex potion that it even had Severus on edge, but he was sure in his abilities to properly brew it. In all actually, this would be the first time that Severus would be able to brew the potion for him. He had thought about it of course, but he was always in the hospital wing during the week of transformation that he was never given the chance to make it let alone give it to Lupin. Severus had to give to him the potion everyday for the week leading to the full moon otherwise it would all be useless. The ingredients to make the potion were also quite expensive, but with his mother's money and his inheritance, money was no longer a problem for him. It was always because he didn't have enough time.
When he had presented the potion to Lupin for the first day of the week, he looked at Severus with such awe and surprise that it made Severus sick.
Unable to control himself, Lupin nearly cried tears when he had hugged Severus in a deadly grip. Severus pushed him off with all the strength he could muster (despite Lupin looking scrawny and weak like Severus, he was as strong as wolf), and took several deep breaths since Lupin had cut off his air supply. He waved off Lupin's words of gratitude and watched as Lupin uncorked the potion without hesitation and downed it all in one go. He made a face filled with disgust since the potion had such a foul taste. Both Black and Potter looked at him with surprise.
They all knew that Severus was aware of Lupin's condition, but it never failed to surprise them when they remembered that little fact. With a few more minutes of breakfast left, they all gathered their things and made their way to class.
Severus watched as Black and Potter shared a look with one another. With a nod, Severus and Black watched as Potter dragged Lupin towards class, leaving them alone with each other.
"Look, Snape. I know that I apologized to you with that declaration a while back, but after talking a bit more with guys, I realized that you aren't as nasty as I thought you were. I still think you are jerk and I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you. But this whole time, I couldn't see why Lily would ever want to hang out with you. As a Slytherin, I thought you were just as no good as the rest of them. My hate for my family had led me to take it out on you and I am sorry for my childish ways. I know now that while you like to play with Dark Magic, you're not a terrible person. What I did to you last year was unforgivable. I don't expect you to forgive me for that nor I will ask you to.
Even now, you continue to surprise me. When James started to hang out with you, I got so mad because I just couldn't figure out what he saw in you that I didn't. He hated you just as much as I did, but I reckon it was because that you guys are soul-... the point is, that thing with Remus, giving him that potion, you didn't have to do that, yet you did. So thanks"
"As sentimental as that was," began Severus. "I thought we got past this."
"We did, but in all honesty, I felt that declaration was more of a show than a meaningful apology. Not that I didn't mean it! But I felt that this was more...true."
Severus nodded in understanding and made his way inside, passing Potter and Lupin who were waiting for them by the door. When they entered, there were some of the few early students that had already entered. Lily was already there of course and she waved happily to Severus as soon as she saw him. They sat down and Lily went off a tangent about the letter she had gotten from her sister. It was pleasantly normal and Severus made a few comments that made Lily laugh in glee and had hit him on his shoulder when he was being a little mean towards Tuney. But the smile on her face proved that Lily knew that he was joking.
The rest of the day was spent the same. They dealt with classes and school work. They ate their meals and spent their time in the library to work on homework and prep for the second task.
Lily and Lupin both tried their best to help Potter and Black with their work, but they seemed to be indulging in their plans for another prank to care about anything else. It was a useless attempt and Severus didn't even bother. He had finished his coursework before anyone else. He mostly spent his time reading or looking out the window while the rest talked amongst themselves or finished their work.
Before they knew it, the library was closing and they were gathering their stuff to leave. Black, Potter, and Lupin were planning to go to Gryffindor Tower to play a game of Chess, but Lily told them that they would join them later. Severus didn't recall making such plans, but he didn't say anything and simply followed Lily to the courtyard. It was still snowing and the air was quiet cold. Their robes were thick and warm, but Lily still placed a heating charm to fight off any lingering chill.
They sat underneath the moonlight and spent their time gazing at the stars and enjoying the breeze and peace.
They usually didn't take nightly strolls since they much prefered the comforts of the shade beneath the tree by the lake during the day, but there were the rare times when one of them needed to clear their head a bit and would find themselves here in the courtyard before bed time.
It was nice to be here, but Severus didn't think that they were here for Lily since she was the one who had lead them there. No, Severus knew they were there for him.
The silence was to allow a moment of peace, but it was also an offering to allow him to make the decision if he wanted to talk to her about anything that was bothering him. He knew it was for the best, but he wanted to keep his secrets to himself. However, he needed some sort of advice and there was no one better than Lily that he could ask, seeing that the only other people were part of the situation in the first place.
"Lily," he began. His voice was light and quite unsure, but he continued despite it. "I went to Gringttons a couple weeks ago to finish some paperwork left my mother and her family, and I found some rather interesting news."
Lily listen attentively as she kicked her feet back and forth, watching the snow rise and fall with every move. She didn't dare interrupt.
"And well, I found out that since I am the last one of my mother's line, I am the only one that can inherit the title and fortune of Prince. My grandparents, while I never met them, left me a lot of money and land. However, there is a catch. To keep the fortune, I need to also inherit the title of Prince which would usually just be given to me immediately if I were a pureblood, as are the rules of the Prince family. However, since I am a half-blood, I must marry a pureblood of the same social standing so that they can hold the title in my stead. The will says I have until my thirties to marry, but by the laws of magic and by magical inheritance, I only have until my twenty-first birthday to be married otherwise I break the binding of the contract and will either lose all my powers or, more likely, I will die.
"If that wasn't the worst part, should I choose, for whatever reason, to renounce my name and title as Prince, all the powers and fortune will go to the next available kin: the Malfoys. As of right now, I am a temporary heir and head of the Prince family until the day I married. As such, anyone with the blood of Prince is allowed to challenge me for the title of Prince. Should I lose, which I doubt I will, they will become the head and I must follow their every wish and command. There are no limits to how many times they can duel me. However, despite my confidence, there are no spells forbidden in an arranged match. Only the killing curse is not permitted, but anything else is free game.
"According to the Goblin, the bank will never tell any of the possible candidates this unless they are legally allowed to do so, by through other contracts and wills or notes kept in families about such things. As of now, only I and now you are aware of this predicament."
The speech was long and a far better summary of what the goblin had provided. Of course, there might be something that he missed since this was never something he's done before. The best action was to talk to a pureblood. The best choice would be Narcissa. Of course she would tell him more things clearly but ever since he had become champion, they had to stay away from each other for their protection. A letter would do, but Severus could not risk such a thing. The next choice would be Black and despite their understanding, it wasnt something that he wanted him to know. He would much rather keep it all under wraps for the time being.
Of course, he couldn't tell Potter or Louis despite them being the best candidates to help him with this predicament, but he was sure that they would jump at the chance. While Louis was no Gryffindor by name, he was all by nature. They would not allow such a thing to happen to him, rushing in head first instead of thinking it through. He couldn't allow such a thing to be made under such short notice not too quickly. Besides, by the goblin's word, he should have time to make a thought out decision and plan.
Either way, advice from Lily would greatly be appreciated even if all she offers is comfort and an ear.
Throughout Severus's briefing, Lily had remained silent and continued to play with snow. She was biting her lip and fiddling with her fingers. Of course she was thinking about his predicament. After what felt like hours, she finally spoke.
"Well, it seems that you found yourself in quite a pickle. I don't know what to say. I would marry you if I could and I'm sure Louis would jump at the chance, but right now I'm not so sure."
She of course was referencing about what had happened even if she didn't know what had transpired. "Even Potter would do it for honor alone. I'm sure his parents would be exasperated for the reason of a union, but will accept you all the same. Those are the two you would ask if it came down to it, aren't they?"
Severus was silent since he knew that Lily was right. There wasn't anyone that fit that he could ask.
"What do you feel for them, Severus? Despite the consequences of the will, getting married is still a big deal. You can't just marry anyone for the wrong reasons. I know you know it's for life, but I guess that's why you are telling me, isn't it? You're unsure of who to choose. Well, I can't tell you who to marry. It is your marriage and your life. The only one who can pick is you. I'm sure that both would honor you and cherish the marriage, but will you be happy with just anyone? Are you sure you can live with this one decision for the rest of your life, with no regrets?"
Lily was watching him but he did not reply. He was sure he could live and possibly love Louis in the end, but he didn't love him now. He was fond of him, but Louis wanted love and Severus was not sure he could provide it the end. Potter was a mess all on his own. Adding Severus to the mix would just be a disaster. He didn't know if he could grow to love him either.
At least by Lily not saying anything against a marriage with Potter was proof enough that they weren't together and she had somewhat given her blessing, but as secretive as Severus was, Potter had never said he loved him. That kiss, a drunken action with no conviction or true meaning could not be a source alone. Perhaps Potter didn't love him either. Maybe he was just guilty and only wish to restore what he had destroyed. Could he even pick Potter? At least Louis did not hide his emotions and told him directly how he felt, but something in Severus had always seemed to fall back to Potter. There was always something drawing them together. Whether it was because of Lily or not, when they were in the same room there was always a shift in the air.
When they battles each other in the halls the air would become tight and their magic, while they clashes in anger, would mold into each other to stop them from every parting. It was an attraction, dark as it was or magic-based it might be.
Of course, a lot had transpired between both parties. Several important things were unknown to Lily. And so he told her. He told her of the kiss and how Louis had found out and how that had caused them to drift apart for a short while. He told her what he told Louis and how he replied back to it. He told her all of his emotions. How he wasn't sure of what he felt for both of them. They spent the whole night talking, eventually laying on the snow in the dark. It was way past hours before they found themselves in the Tower. Severus still did not have an answer which Lily told him was fine. He still had time, she reminded him. She told him too that while he could be happy with Louis, he was right in saying that he could not guarantee his love in return. She didn't speak much of Potter, not that Severus didn't think that she knew he would be a good match as well, but she never denied, clarified, or agree to any of the emotions Potter might feel for him. She said that he should be the one to tell him himself, but that would mean telling him about the marriage contract and that wasn't something he wanted to do either. But like she said, he didn't need to know this very second. If anything, he should worry about the second task otherwise he might not be alive to have a wedding yet.