His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine
Diagon Alley
Eileen managed to convince Rose and Mark that Hogwarts would be the safest option for both Sev and Lily. Dumbledore was the greatest warlock in the Wizarding world, and happened to be the only man Voldemort feared. Sev and Lily neglected to mention the death of Ward Arcturo to any of the adults, knowing news like that could change all their minds. Since the timely death of Tobias Snape, ruled heart failure provoked by excessive alcohol consumption, Eileen spent much time at the Evans home, forming her first friendships in quite a few years. August meandered by uneventfully, and aside from writing letters to the Circle of Seven and Molly Prewett (who had eloped with Arthur right after graduation and was now Molly Weasley), Lily and Sev spent their days exploring the west side of Nurren, which had been off limits before because of Tobias.
Sev returned to Spinner's End twice and twice only, to help his mother somewhat in her attempts to finally put the house straight. With her permission, he used magic along with her to clean the kitchen, the living and dining rooms, the bedrooms, the bathroom, until everything was spotless with Scourgify and Terego and the other household spells that Sev "picked up" quickly from Eileen. Later, after looking through old, hidden spellbooks, she managed to recall the wards of concealment so they could use magic to fix up the outside of the house as well. When Sev and Eileen were finished, their house on Spinner's End looked hospitable and welcoming, warm even.
Petunia Evans returned from her friend's house exactly two weeks before September first. She had not forgotten the dirty, unwashed appearance that Sev had had when they last met, and was obviously shocked at his clean presentation of self. His hair hadn't been greasy for about a year—it was soft and smooth, shiny without looking unhealthy—Lily's insistence that they go outside every day had given him a bit of a tan to his pale skin, and on Rose's food, he no longer looked like a twig. The healthy diet gave him a lean look about him that was perfect for a twelve year old. Nevertheless, she stuck her nose up at him and immediately disappeared into her room, where she remained locked and on the telephone with the friend she'd just left.
Despite all of Mark's and Rose's tries to coax Petunia to eat with them at dinner, that Eileen was now a regular guest gave Petunia more reasons to stay upstairs, away from the 'freaks.' Sev noticed that Petunia's treatment of her family had once again made Lily a little downtrodden, and for once it was he who had to persuade her to go with him outside.
It was Sunday the last week of August when Lily came downstairs, accompanied by Sev, to ask Rose an important question. "When are we going to Diagon Alley for this year's supplies?"
Rose glanced up from her book. "We can go tomorrow, if you'd like."
"My mum wants to come, too," Sev said. "She's wanted to since May."
"That's perfectly fine, Sev," Rose said with a smile. Since the beginning of summer she'd begun to think of Sev as a son, practically, even though Eileen came over regularly to be in good company. "She'll be over for dinner tonight so we can arrange everything then."
Eileen knocked on the door at half five, and Sev greeted her. His eyes reflected the relief he felt that he and Lily were almost back at Hogwarts with the Circle of Seven. His interest, however, had returned to James Potter, and even though the former rival hadn't shown any apparent interest in Lily, Sev couldn't be sure. Sev had never loved another woman, and wondered if James would turn out the same way. The thought distressed him, somewhat.
Practically as soon as they sat down for dinner Lily asked, "So what time are we leaving tomorrow?"
Rose sighed. "And have you even told Eileen?"
Lily tinged. "No." She looked over at Sev's mum. "We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Sev said you wanted to come?"
"I would love to!" Eileen replied to Lily with a smile. "I haven't had a good, long trip to Diagon Alley in years. It'll be good to get back into the Wizarding world."
Sev beamed. His mother was finally returning to normal! "Are you going to return to Potions, Mum?" he asked eagerly.
Eileen regarded her son. "I think I might," she replied. "Once I get back into the swing of things I might be able to find a job in the Daily Prophet."
She's going to start working again!
"Now that Tobias can't drink all the money away..." she trailed off, reverting her eyes to her plate. Their poverty had always been an embarrassment to Eileen, who had grown up on the Prince Estate and Manor in Northern England. Spinner's End was a long drop from the tree of wealth.
Dinner continued in moderate silence until Petunia ran shrieking downstairs, being chased by a minute owl that reminded Sev of Pigwidgeon, with a letter attached to its legs. Sev's and Lily's Hogwarts letters came the week before Petunia returned, and so she hadn't been present for that event, but Lily couldn't help but snort when she saw her sister screaming about the little fuzzy owl that belonged to Alice Nelson.
"Merlin's beard, Tuney," Lily drawled in a voice she'd unconsciously picked up from Sev, "it's just an owl." Lily stood and snatched the owl from where it flew in circles, twittering. "Gotcha, Talmar!" Talmar the minute owl hooted as Lily tugged the letter from its legs.
"What is that monster?" Petunia shrieked and everyone except Lily clapped their hands over their ears from the volume. Lily's hands were still full of fuzzy owl, and so got a full blast of hysterical Petunia.
"It's an owl, Tuney, not a dragon. It's just got the post!" She shook the letter at Petunia.
"Girls!" Mark admonished. The second part of Lily's statement registered. "Wait—there really are dragons?"
Petunia gave another, more exasperated shriek, and ran for the stairs again, muttering to herself that her entire family had gone insane, consorting with freaks.
"Sorry," Lily said unapologetically. "If I'd known Alice was going to write I would've told you." She went back to her room and let Talmar out the window, but he flew back inside. Obviously he'd been instructed to wait for a reply. "I can't write now, I'm eating dinner!" The little owl hooted as if he didn't care and Lily placed the letter from Alice on her desk to read after dinner. "Fine, just stay in here until we're done." On the way back downstairs, she laughed at herself for having a one-sided conversation with an owl.
When Lily returned, Rose said, "We will leave here at nine."
Mark glanced between Lily and Sev. "Well? Are there really dragons?" All the kids did was share a glance full of amusement.
Petunia stayed home alone the next day. Actually, the night before, she threw a fit that involved her screeching about how unfair it was that Lily and "that Snape boy" got to have a special trip into London just for school supplies. Rose tried to explain that Diagon Alley was the closest place to Nurren that sold magical school supplies, but at the slightest mention of magic Petunia hustled her mother from her room, slammed and locked the door. This resulted in Mark grounding Petunia from seeing her friends for a whole fortnight.
As before, Mark and Rose could not see the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron until Sev stepped inside the doorway. They disappeared off Charing Cross Road, marveling again at the wonderful concealment of magic, expressing disappointment that the Ministry couldn't just come out and tell the world that yes, magic really did exist, but also understanding that to do so would probably incite the largest-scale war ever seen by history. Magic against Muggle—now that was a battle Voldemort wanted.
Now that the Evans parents were quite well-informed about the goings-on in the Wizarding world regarding the uprising of Lord Voldemort, they had made Lily and Sev promise to owl them about anything big that might affect them in Nurren. Of course, Eileen would be visiting them regularly, but news from Hogwarts would probably be different than news from Eileen. After all, the children would be around Albus Dumbledore almost daily, and what better source of news could there be than Albus Dumbledore?
Tom the barman, much younger than Sev remembered from Harry's lifetime, nodded at all of them until he spotted Eileen. He stopped wiping the glass with his rag and stared at the last remaining child of the Prince bloodline, clearly surprised that Eileen had decided to finally return to the world of magic. He watched as they filed into the back of the pub; Eileen drew her wand and tapped the brick to open the Alley.
"Gringotts first," Eileen said casually. "We both have to change our Muggle money into Wizard currency." With a jolt Sev remembered that he had never seen Eileen enter Gringotts to access her own vault. She always changed money. "Those second year lists look a little formidable, and Severus has outgrown last year's robes."
Sev glowered at his mother even as Lily poked his shoulder.
They entered the towering marble building and went straight for the counters, approaching a goblin who didn't look as busy examining gold as the others. He plucked a ruby from a pile on the counter and examined it, muttering, "Transmuted rock," before tossing it into a rubbish bin behind him. He looked down at the entourage of three adults and two students. "Yes?"
"We would like to change Muggle money, please." She set a small sack of coins and bills onto the counter and gestured for Mark to do the same with their money.
"Names?" the goblin asked Eileen as he counted the money and produced Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. "I require this for our records of transaction with Muggles." He placed the sacks back on the counter for Mark and Eileen.
"Rose and Mark Evans," Eileen said, pointing at Lily's parents, "and I am Eileen Prince-Snape." At this, the goblin looked down at her suddenly.
"I will require a drop of your blood to confirm your family relation to Sir Abraxus Prince."
Eileen stared at him. "My father?" she said, confused. She looked to Sev and the Evans family for help but they couldn't offer any. Nevertheless, she offered her finger and the goblin pricked it with the tip of a sharp dagger. "Why do you need a confirmation of my ancestry?" she asked.
The goblin answered as he took the drop of blood with the dagger and tipped it onto a large, clear diamond he had pulled from a drawer beside him. "Sir Abraxus Prince sealed his will with us, Mrs. Snape. He made it very clear that in the event of your divorce or the death of your husband, his estates go to you and your son. Ah—the diamond has confirmed you." He held up the diamond, which had been infused red with Eileen's blood. "Sign these four certificates to transfer the estates and accounts into your name. I would advise you to sign them as Eileen Prince, as another of Sir Abraxus's stipulations involved you and your son becoming Princes once more. You may sign them now but a visit to the Department of Magical Communities and Affairs is required to legally return your name to Prince. And do notice that the last certificate ensures that half the estates are in your trust until your son turns seventeen."
Hearing this made Sev's heart pound. I won't have to carry the name of that Muggle any longer! Severus Prince instead of Snape! In his previous lifetime the estates had been sealed until Eileen died, and last time he'd only gained access to just one of the many Vaults belonging to Abraxus Prince. Sev's grandfather must have had different stipulations depending on whether or not Eileen divorced Tobias, but obviously Tobias had to be dead or out of the picture either way. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered that Eileen and Tobias hadn't actually died the first time until Sev was well into his career as a Death Eater, and Eileen had died before Tobias. It was becoming harder to grasp these memories, and despite the fact that his mind was young, his mind was full of memories and the older ones had started to fade. Every once in a while he had to remind himself just why he should be wary of James Potter.
Before she gave herself time to think, Eileen signed the papers with an ease and flourish Sev hadn't seen before and handed them back to the goblin. Excitement sparkled in her long-dark eyes. "Do those take effect immediately?" she asked a little tentatively.
"Yes," the goblin replied. "Galpham will take you to the vaults."
Lily mouthed at Sev, Vaults? As in more than one?
Sev shrugged, ignoring the shivers that had started to trickle down his spine. Tobias was dead, his mother was happy, they had been un-disinherited, half of Abraxus Prince's estates would go to him when he came of age, and he hadn't even been back for a year. How strange and wonderful that all it took was one change: choosing good over evil.
"May I ask how you knew my husband is dead?" Eileen asked the goblin as he rang a bell for Galpham.
"Sir Abraxus Prince placed an enchantment on his will that would take effect in the event of the dissolution of your marriage. The enchantment took effect on August first and we have been expecting your arrival since then."
"We'll wait up here," Rose said unnecessarily to Eileen as she held Lily back with a hand on her shoulder. Bending down, she whispered to her daughter, "Maybe next time, darling, but for now let them do this by themselves." The Evans family watched as Sev and Eileen followed Galpham through the doors towards the near-uncontrollable carts. Lily had never been down to the vaults before because all Mark and Rose could do was exchange Muggle money into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, but she knew that the bowels of the bank contained thousands of vaults filled with the riches of Wizarding Britain. She could only look forward to the day she created her own account, but the sooner she could see it the better.
The cart ride began like every other cart ride Sev had taken at Gringotts: fast, wild, crazy, and nausea-inducing. It sped down the tracks at a blinding speed, taking hairpin turns faster than physics could possibly allow, descending deeper and deeper, flying past stalactites and stalagmites and hundreds and hundreds of vaults—until it came to an abrupt halt in front of an enormous door numbered 50. Sev knew that the deepest vaults had the lowest numbering, and since the Princes could be traced back to Merlin, they had actually descended deeper than where the Lestrange vault was.
Galpham turned to them once they exited the cart to stand in front of the door. "Abraxus Prince had twelve vaults in his family name. His will gives them all to you, with six sealed in trust for Mr. Prince." Internally Sev smiled at this new address. "If you prefer, I can show all the vaults to you immediately, or later at your disposal. If you wish only to collect some money that is fine as well."
Eileen shook her head. "No, I think I want to see all twelve of them."
"As you wish. The Prince Vaults number thirty eight to fifty. As we are at fifty I will show you them in backwards order."
The twelfth contained the gems: sapphires, moonstones, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, more than Sev could count or name. The eleventh contained armor, valuable jewelry, ancient artifacts dating back to the age of Merlin and King Arthur, Egyptian relics, and old Chinese vases Sev knew to hold powerful magic. The tenth through the second vaults were filled with mountains upon mountains of gold, silver, and bronze—Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. As if reading his mind, Galpham told him the estimated worth of the Prince Estates: over five hundred million Galleons, and that was just the money; it didn't include the Manors, the artifacts, or the deeds of business. The first vault looked like a file room. Galpham said that it contained the deeds of ownership to the Prince Estate of Eileen's childhood, as well as the instructions on how to access the manor through the wards. A case on the far wall held the wands of nearly every member of the Prince family, kept presumably to prevent from being stolen like Voldemort eventually stole the Elder wand.
Before, Sev only knew that the Prince Fortune was enormous. Just how enormous he didn't fully understand until the moment he saw.
"Do you require the deeds to Prince Manor at this time?" Galpham asked Eileen, who seemed a little surprised at the question.
"Oh, no, I think those can go into Severus's trust. I'm happy with my home."
Sev stared at her. "You're giving me the manor?"
Eileen glanced at her son. "I don't need it, and when you graduate you and Lily will need a place to live, won't you?"
Sev blushed at her insinuation.
"Oh, don't look embarrassed, Sev. You may only be twelve and a half, but I get a strong feeling you and Lily will be together for a very long time." Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
"Mum," Sev whined in an appropriate voice for an annoyed pre-teen.
Eileen ignored him and addressed Galpham. "I would like to withdraw some money from my vaults, please. I think this turn of events deserves some celebrating." She smiled over her shoulder at her son, and for an instant Sev saw a bit of the young Eileen who fell in love with a dashing Muggle. The youth disappeared, however, as nothing that far lost could ever really return. Eileen could never gain back the years wasted with Tobias. When Galpham gave her two sacks of money, Eileen thrust one into her son's hands. "Think of this as your spending money while at Hogwarts. I'm sure you have plenty of friends you can spend it on, and if you ask nicely I may tell you about some secret passages into Hogsmeade." She winked at him.
"There must be a hundred Galleons in here!" Sev protested, partially frozen in place at how different his mother had become. His mother had just given him the equivalent of two and a half months pay of working as an assistant in Flourish and Blott's.
Eileen's face softened. "Surely I don't have to tell you to use it well?"
Numbly Sev shook his head at her. Thirty eight years of near poverty had made him frugal about spending.
The cart ride back up passed in a daze for Sev, who couldn't stop thinking about everything that had just happened.
Lily rushed to him when they emerged back into the marble commons of Gringotts. "You were gone for almost two hours, Sev, what happened?" she asked, half excited, half worried. She snapped her fingers in front of his face when he didn't answer her.
"Twelve vaults," he mumbled. "Half are for me when we graduate."
Lily stared at him in complete shock.
"She gave me the manor."
"You're joking," Lily said softly.
Sev shook his head. "No." A smile slowly emerged onto his face. "I can get us brooms! You know, for the Quidditch tryouts!"
"That's a wonderful idea, Sev, but you don't have to buy me one. Save your money!"
"I want to buy you one, Lil. Think of it as a supplemented Christmas present."
Knowing she would not be able to convince him not to buy her one, Lily remained silent as they all walked down the Alley towards Flourish and Blott's.
They purchased their new school books and moved on down Diagon Alley. Sev bought two brooms from Quality Quidditch Supplies: the new Cleansweeps, fastest on the market but nowhere near as fast as the future Firebolt. They went into Eeylops Owl Emporium and Mark and Rose bought Lily a standard tawny owl; Sev saw a black owl that looked almost identical to his Animagus form and the bird became his. Lily named hers Ares, and Sev named his Artemis. They went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and were refitted for the coming school year. Sev hadn't even touched the ingredients in his precious potions kit from Lily last Christmas, and when they entered the apothecary Sev decided to purchase some supplies necessary to the creation of Wolfsbane potion, so he could begin to help Remus in his transformations. They had lunch at one of the cafes, replenished their parchment and quill supplies, browsed a secondhand book shop for older titles, had ice cream at Fortescue's, and finally returned to the Leaky Cauldron for an early dinner.
Eileen leaned forward in her chair. "Sev and I will have to go to the Ministry of Magic to formally change our names back to Prince," she said, a little excitedly. "I don't know how long it will take—the Ministry is sometimes very bad with customer service. You take the car back to Nurren, I can Apparate Sev and me home."
"How far is the Ministry from here?" Mark asked, intrigued.
"I think the visitor's entrance is just around the corner, actually."
Rose and Mark offered to transport Sev's purchases back to Nurren and Sev obliged, so they returned to the car and loaded it. Sev gave Lily a tight hug before they parted: him to officially become Severus Prince, and Lily to start organizing her school supplies.
Thirty minutes later they were inside the Ministry, finalizing the documents that legally named them as Eileen and Severus Prince. "You aren't angry about this?" Eileen asked once the clerk handed her the documents. They started to the lifts.
Sev did a double take at his mother. "Mum, I couldn't be happier that I don't have to carry that man's name with me for the rest of my life!"
Eileen sighed. "I don't blame you, but I don't regret that I married him."
"Why?"
She studied him. "Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have you."
Sev looked down and didn't answer her. The lift stopped and they entered the Atrium, heading past the fountain towards the fireplaces to Apparate back to the Evans home. With a loud crack they appeared in the warded backyard of the Evans house; the back door flew open and Lily came running at them.
"You're a Prince!" she yelled at him, flinging her arms around his neck. "Merlin, Sev, I don't know why I'm so happy, but I am!"
He hugged her back, forgetting his mother for a moment in Lily's presence. "I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts," he whispered to her. The new year called to them: Quidditch, learning how to duel in DADA, watching as people he once knew come and go...and then there was Dumbledore.
Friday arrived smoothly. Sev packed his trunk the night before, amazed at how much he had acquired over the course of one year in this new life. Mark drove Sev, Rose, Lily, and Eileen into King's Cross with half an hour to spare, and the parents wished the kids a good year. Christmas would be at the Evans home this year, Rose insisted.
This was it. The boarding whistle squealed, the engines began to turn the wheels, and Sev and Lily watched from their compartment window as their parents shrank in the distance. The Circle of Seven filled the compartment, exchanging summer stories, but Sev remained silent until the Hogwarts Express was clear of London. He looked Lily, Remus, Frank, Alice, Sirius, and Peter all in the eyes until silence descended.
"I'm Severus Prince now," he said. I'm Severus Prince.
He grinned.