How a trip to Gringotts had become a job for all three of them, nobody could say, but since Lily had never actually been to the Potter vault, she was wary of facing the goblins on her own, and asserting her right to it. She asked Regulus to come, and he did not want to go alone with her, and so, the three of them ventured on the task Lily should very well have completed on her own.
It felt truly bizarre for all of them - only Regulus was used to Gringotts, and he was the youngest one, barely of age, yet suddenly it was his experience that was valuable.
The whole while, he muttered: "the goblins will just know you own it, there is really no need for me to be here, honestly, do they not teach you people anything?"
If he hadn't been in the midst of doing her a favor, Lily would have hit him over the head.
Finally, they arrived. The goblins looked at them suspiciously. "They're always like that," Regulus explained to no one in particular. Severus and Lily did not expect anything by way of kindness from bankers. When Lily very uncharacteristically shifted her weight from one leg to the other and said nothing, Regulus sighed and said they needed to enter the Potter vault, that James Potter had passed away, that Lily was his wife. One of the goblins appraised her.
"Very well," he eventually said, and summoned a cart.
The cart zigged and zagged through a descending spiral of vaults, at a speed that caused Severus to put his hand over his mouth just in case. He wanted to shut his eyes but he wanted to see, too. The worst part was the squeak of the wheels and the whooshing in his ears - they were deep underground, yet they were travelling so fast they were generating wind. The cart halted suddenly with a bang. Certain that they were halfway to the center of the earth, Severus stood up gingerly and held his hand out to Lily, who looked equally nauseated. The goblin opened the door and the three of them walked into the Potter vault. It was as big as the Snapes' house, with mounds of gold, silver, and bronze, and various artefacts on high shelves. If Severus had felt sick before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now, meandering between piles of money, each of which surely totaled more than Severus's parents had earned in their lives. No wonder Potter was so arrogant, despite his mediocrity - he could afford it. Lily seemed truly terrified - and Severus knew why. The Evanses might have been better off than the Snapes, but to suddenly be catapulted into such wealth had to be dizzying - or perhaps, she had seen for the first time where the confidence and charm that had attracted her so much had come from? "He never brought me here," she whispered. It was yet another thing she didn't know - she knew he was rich, but she could never fathom how rich. In that regard, Severus at least had the advantage of being thoroughly acquainted with the Malfoys. Lily grabbed some gold and let it slip between her fingers - she had been so impressed with his generosity, and now she saw all these displays were something he had barely noticed. She touched her hand to her belly, for some reason.
Only Regulus was thoroughly bored.
"That's it?" He said. "Honestly, I thought the Potters were descended from the Peverells, they have been in this country nearly as long as we have. Are you sure that's everything?"
Severus and Lily both looked at him as though he was insane.
"How would you know whom the Potters had descended from?" Lily hissed at him, her pride injured.
"My mother made us memorize Wizarding genealogy going back to the Roman Empire," Regulus scoffed. "The pureblood lines, anyway," he clarified. "Did your Gryffindor ever tell you he shares an ancestor with Salazar Slytherin himself?"
Lily did not respond - that James never flaunted his ancestry in front of her always impressed her - he could not be so arrogant, could he, if he never did that - but like everything else about him these days, it now struck her not as modesty, but as refusal to acknowledge his own good fortune. If you had seen him for who he was earlier, you might have talked about this, he might have changed, he might still be alive… Regulus's voice shook her from her silent musings: "So, do you want to see a real vault?"
After grabbing a few pocketfuls of gold, they exited the vault, and boarded the cart again. "I'm already pregnant," Lily muttered, "I shouldn't go on this thing in the first place!"
Severus felt ashamed even at how he had complained internally - of course, Lily must be feeling so awful … but even so, the cart moved backward and then forward, at the same breakneck speed, and if Severus thought they must have been at the center of the earth before, now he was trying to remember what London's antipode was. The Black Vault was not like the Potter Vault - it did not open with a key. The goblin had simply melted the door away with a stroke of his finger. Mountains of gold and precious stones shimmered even in the darkness of the deep, deep vaults. Something had hardened inside him. "I'm filthy rich," Regulus told him, way back when - and he wasn't kidding. He didn't want to touch anything, he didn't want to look at anyone. He wanted to go above ground, where his new respectable clothes and his Ministry job impressed people, and as far away as possible from this place. Money is meaningless, he reminded himself, given that you will die without children if the Dark Lord is not defeated, and you'll have no one to whom to leave your nothing. It was better to focus on what had brought them to Gringotts in the first place. With his eyes fixed very firmly on a bit of bare wall, he urged the others to come back up.
They finally left Gringotts, with James Potter's money lining their pockets.
"Whatever happened to his parents, anyway?" Regulus asked Lily.
"They were really getting on a bit when they had him," she answered quietly. Suddenly, she started talking as though things were occurring to her for the first time. "He said he was worried about their health, that this was why he wanted to get married and have a child really young."
How was drowning me in soap beneficial to their health? Severus asked himself.
"He said they never taught him any better because they were just so pleased they had a child at all, that after they had passed, his head deflated. Well, I'm sorry!" Her tone changed at once when Severus raised an eyebrow. "I told you a thousand times, if I'd known -"
"Yeah," Severus cut her off. He was not interested in what the swine had told her to win her over, especially not now that he had just been to the vault and seen how he was brought up.
Though Potter had been dead for weeks, Severus still choked on the humiliation and helplessness, and he did not want to explore the subject further.
Regulus knew full well that this was all false. He had seen James at his most vulnerable and honest, and his parents never factored into his behaviour at all.
"He did it because he could," he corrected Lily.
"Stop haranguing me, it's bad enough that I know he chose your dratted brother over me."
"That's not what's bad, what's bad is you chose him over Severus, you should have seen how he -"
"Didn't I just ask you to stop it?"
Severus quickened his step. Left foot forward, right foot forward, left foot forward, right foot forward… stay still, and you'll be overcome. He felt like he was trying to stay out of a sleeping predator's territory, lest it wake up and eat him alive. Just because they're talking about him doesn't mean you have to think about it , Severus reminded himself and nearly walked into a lamppost. He wondered when Lily would finally realize she'd been spared a life with him rather than have lost him. Fortunately, a distraction presented itself in the form of the shops they needed.
They went to three separate shops to hide the fact that they were buying the ingredients for a restricted potion.
It had been a month, and the Polyjuice Potion was ready. It frustrated Severus to no end that Regulus still could not reliably cast Confundus, that they would still have to go through with this ridiculous plan instead. Although Regulus had certainly improved, a failed attempt could put both them and Lucius in grave danger.
Regulus pulled a hair out and put it in the platinum cauldron. The potion instantly turned deep red.
I wonder what colour mine would be, Severus thought, and then reflexively added, but no one would ever want to look like you. Are you not bored of your own thoughts already? He shook (imperceptibly to Regulus) and took a sip. It tasted peppery and sweet, and the transformation was surprisingly pleasant. Regulus's appearance seemed to come with a built-in sense of confidence Severus had rarely felt before. He borrowed a set of robes from Regulus's closet and looked in the mirror. He practiced passing the mirror until he could do it without being thrown off by the unexpected reflection.
Regulus smirked as he tipped the content of the cauldron into a flask. "Looking good, Sev. Don't forget to take the flask with you. Cousin Cissy can get chatty, you might need more than an hour."
"I'm already Confunding her, can't I just make her think I've been over for three hours?"
"Trust me."
Severus took another sip and knocked on the door. The Malfoy's elf opened and announced Regulus's arrival.
"Regulus! What a wonderful surprise!" Narcissa flung herself at Severus to his bottomless embarrassment.
"Errr, hi Cissy!"
"Well, what are you waiting for? Come in! You must want Lucius - I'll call him."
"No, I came to see you. You know, we are family after all," Severus said in Regulus's voice, although coming from his mouth, it was a bit deeper. Is that how they talk?
"Finally! Someone who isn't talking about the Dark Lord this, the Dark Lord that - between Lucius and Bella, I'm going half-mad, to be honest!"
She looked around the room and lowered her voice, even though they were alone: "Sometimes, I think they forget - we were fine before he came along!"
"You might have been," he heard himself saying bitterly. You're supposed to be her equally rich, equally noble cousin, you idiot!
"But a lot of other people weren't, and, uh -"
Narcissa raised a knowing eyebrow.
"No need to say more, I know what you mean. Oh, imagine being part Muggle ," she said in disgust.
Imagine, remember, what's the difference, really.
"Oh, where are my manners! You'll have to forgive me, there is a lot on my mind. Dobby!" She barked, and the elf with saucers for eyes, who had opened the door, appeared, scared witless.
Would Reg have said anything? I better not.
"Fetch some drinks and refreshments for our guest, Dobby." The elf disappeared.
"Right, so, is that why you joined the Dark Lord? To help people? I understand you," she answered her own question before Severus could speak - "the Ministry does more to uphold the Statute of Secrecy than to punish the filth that oppresses our kind."
Severus looked around him and wondered who was oppressing Narcissa's kind.
"We pay them enough in taxes and donations, half the beds in St. Mungos are thanks to us, you would think the useless riff raff over there would listen, but no, too busy trying to take down the Dark Lord, I suppose. But I didn't say I'm not a supporter of his! I'm married to Lucius, aren't I? Believe me, you have my full support, I cannot wait for the Ministry to topple over. You've made him very proud, Lucius I mean, both of you have. He had always expected Snape to achieve great things - you know, considering. But you have nothing to be ashamed of either, Regulus, I heard you did very well on your OWLs! Made Auntie Burgie very proud! All my dad wanted to know was when you would settle down with a real witch and stop playing games, but I reminded him it's perfectly fine to not get married straight out of Hogwarts if you don't want to. Look at me, I thought I might not get married at all at this rate, and I could not be happier - it's fine to explore, Reggie, I support you. And of course, Aunt Burgie mumbled something about Andromeda - I don't suppose we'll ever live that down, will we? Oh, Reggie, I'm so glad we got a chance to catch up, just the two of us! You've always been such a good listener!"
Dobby's hand was shaking under a tray of glasses and pastries he had been holding up for minutes.
Severus nibbled on a macaron, mostly as an excuse to not speak, and sipped on some sparkling wine. While swirling it in his mouth, he performed a switching spell, hoping he wasn't starting to change back already, though he doubted Narcissa would notice. The taste in his mouth went from that of wine to the peppermint sweetness of Regulus's Polyjuice.
He was glad it was him, and not the real Regulus, who had to hear this, as Regulus would have forgotten all about the task. He swallowed and coughed a little.
"Yes, I enjoyed catching up with you too. Say, Cissy, may I ask you something?"
"Of course!" She said cheerfully. This "Cissy" was certainly not the Narcissa Severus had always known. Is that what the purebloods are like with each other? He wondered. Is this what families are like?
Her peaceful blue eyes looked at him. Now was the time.
Confundus, he thought, and watched her eyes become unfocused.
"You will order Dobby to bring me the object the Dark Lord has entrusted Lucius with. You will order him to never tell anybody he did this, not Lucius, not even you and me. You will not remember this conversation. Then, the elf will put the object I hand back to him where it belongs, and you will order him to never mention it, say anything about it, or give anyone a clue about it, or try to talk about it in any way."
Dobby returned with a tattered diary. Though it seemed to have been used extensively, its pages were blank. Severus cast Geminio, and Dobby put the counterfeit somewhere in the recess of the Manor, his teeth clattering as he went. Severus vanished some more macarons and wine, to make it seem like he'd been there longer. He broke the charm on Narcissa, and her eyes regained their focus, as if no time had passed at all. What would Regulus ask?
"You should try to pay more attention to your elf," he finally decided to say. "They're… they work better this way," he added, not knowing if it was true at all.
"Good idea! I'll try it, absolutely. Dobby has been an absolute pest. Some of them are just dreadful, you know - don't know their place."
Severus felt extremely uncomfortable again. He did not like relating to a different species.
"Well, I'd better be off, Cissy. Send Lucius my regards, will you?"
As Severus left, Narcissa felt supremely pleased with herself that she had managed to avoid telling Regulus she was expecting. They were planning to share the happy news to the entire family.
"Regulus," however, only rubbed his temples and hoped his headache would go away when the original shape of his head returned.
"Remind me to never trust your cousin with anything important," he said as he drew the diary from his pocket, before the real Regulus's admiring eyes.
"Susceptible to Confundus, cannot shut up, completely oblivious - what a gem."