Chapter Thirteen – The House that Built Me
or I get to know who my family is

The first few names weren't that surprising, since they were my parents and grandparents, though Snape did let out a small sound when we came to Fleamont Potter, the father of James Potter, my grandfather. I looked at him and he explained quietly, "Fleamont Potter was the creator of the Sleakeazy Hair Potion. It is a very popular potion today."

I nodded to let him know I understood. Then came the surprise surname for both Rognod and Snape as the Potter family went further back and mixed with the Peverell line. It wasn't such a surprise to me, because I actually expected that. What did surprise me was that even though a Slytherin woman married one of the Peverell brothers, the Peverell line did go up and mixed with Slytherin anyway. This meant that I was actually related to Salazar Slytherin. I was uncertain about being related to Slytherin if there was actually no blood relation, since Slytherin married the Peverell brother and then went on to become the Gaunt family. Wouldn't that mean that I wasn't actually related to Slytherin? But no, Slytherin was also on my family tree marrying into the Peverell family before the three famous brothers. That family line began with the name of Solas Slytherin, since he was apparently the first to be named Slytherin. There were enough generations between Solas and Salazar that Salazar was considered a pure-blood. Go figure.

The Potter line slowed down considerably after mixing with the Peverells and ended up with the single name of Linfred "Potter" of Stinchcombe. I remembered reading about him shortly before I died. From what I've read about him, he was a Herbalist, Potioneer and a Healer. It was surprising that so many of my family members were into Potions and Healing. I was expecting more Aurors, but there were only a few here and there. There were a few Potters that were working for the Ministry or were in the Wizengamot, but most of them were Healers, Herbalists or Potioneers. There were even a few Curse Breakers.

If you're wondering how I know that, there were some notes besides their birth and death dates, like their maiden names for women or their careers and some accomplishments. It was a pretty detailed family tree and I liked it. I wondered if I might get a copy of it and make it into a tapestry.

The parchment finished writing the names and the room was left in a stupefied silence. Well, I wasn't the one stupefied, but the other two were. Rognod probably because he wasn't expecting that my family tree would reveal so many extinct names. There were a few other wizarding families that went extinct that married into the Potter family, but they weren't important enough to mention. Well, except for Blishwick I guess. That got Rognod's attention. Probably because the family was one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. There were also some familiar surnames that married into the Potter family or the opposite, like Black, Malfoy, Prewett, Weasley and even a Prince! That surname made me look at professor Snape to see his reaction. He didn't know that I knew that surname. It was, after all, the surname of his mother before she married his father. I was happy to know that we were actually related through marriage, even if not in blood. I was also happy to have it confirmed that I was blood-related to Sirius and the Weasleys. I could ignore the Malfoys. I'm not even sure if they would deign themselves to admit they were related to me.

Snape looked gobsmacked at the revelations on my family tree. It was the first time I saw him express so much emotion since I've met him. He raised a shaky hand and traced the name of his ancestor before turning his eyes on me again.

"Imeldra Prince was the great-great-grandmother of my mother, miss Potter. It seems that we are related," was all he said.

I couldn't help it and it slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Does that mean I get to call you Uncle Sev?"

I immediately closed my eyes in mortification and hid my face in my hands wishing to all the deities that I could remember names of to come and quickly dig my grave for me.

There was a significantly long pause between that question and Snape's answer.

When it came, it surprised me.

"I would prefer Uncle Severus," he said and, shocked, I raised my head and stared at him with a gaping mouth. I even went to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming when I saw a twinkle in his black eyes. Then his hand descended to my head and he said gently,

"This is a surprise, however it is not an unwelcome one."

I smiled at him, gratefully. I was happy to know that I had some living relatives that were actually happy to be related to me, unlike the Dursleys.

When Snape was sure I had calmed down enough from my embarrassment, he turned back to Rognod who was watching us in silence. He put his clawed hands on the thick folder and looked at it for a moment.

"I would ask that you give me until after the Potter's will is read to compile the new financial information we have just received," he said politely. Snape and I looked at each other and then I turned back to Rognod and nodded.

"Then that leaves us with the bequeaths that people have left you with after the thirty-first of October of 1981."

I frowned at that. "Bequeaths?"

"They either had no heirs and didn't want their estates seized by the Ministry, or they were just thankful that you saved them, I would assume," Rognod said, taking another folder out of the Potter folder. It wasn't as thin as the folder for the will.

"Oh," was the only thing I said.

He opened the folder and proceeded to list the people that decided to leave me with either money, books, artefacts, their shares of the companies they invested in or even their homes. Most of the surnames I didn't recognize, but there were some I did.

When Rognod was done, he closed the folder and told me, "I shall transfer the bequeaths to your trust vault so you can decide which ones you want to keep and which ones you want transferred to your family vault."

"Thank you, Rognod," I said, giving him a grateful smile.

I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't hear about the companies the Potters had invested in over the years, but I would hear about those in a few days, so I wasn't that disappointed. I really hoped I would have shares in the Daily Prophet, that was I could control what they wrote about me and perhaps, anonymously, write some articles that would make the people reading it think, before I begin my political career.

And there would be no doubt about it. If I was reborn into the Harry Potter universe, there had to be a reason for it. I might have Asperger's Syndrome and I might have social phobia, but that wouldn't stop me from changing this world for the better. Like making sure muggle-born or –raised children were not abused because of their powers. I hoped I could establish either magical orphanages or a foster care that would take them under their wings and teach them our ways. And elementary schools as well. I'm not sure if there are wizarding elementary schools at all.

Of course, I still needed to learn about our ways myself. That's why I got all those books. And I'm sure there would be more books on the theme in the school library. I'm also sure I could ask Snap- Uncle Severus to teach me or one of the other professors at Hogwarts. Perhaps even the Steward could help me. I hoped it would be a good person.

"You shall receive a notification from Gringotts when the will shall be read in a few days," Rognod finished and escorted us out of his office.