18 June 1976, England, Great Britain.
Town Cokeworth, Severus Snape's House.
'Looks like I'm about four years younger, I must be about 16 years old. It seems that Professor Snape was not mistaken' she now knew that she had traveled in time and if she was not mistaken, she was in the house of a young and unsociable Severus Snape, she had to think well about what to do next, she had some ideas of how to start, she knew that nobody could find out that she came from the future so now she was alone and without any support, despite everything she had learned in her two years of apprenticeship with Professor Snape, she knew that it would still cost her to get used to all this new change of time and life.
She knew that she had to integrate into the school with the rest of the Hogwarts students so that the plan she had designed against Voldemort would go perfectly as she could not afford to fail in stopping the Dark Lord, she had to be meticulous in every step she took and in the arduous task of finding the Horcruxes that existed at this time.
She tried to get up and move as she did not want to be seen and found by young Severus Snape in this condition in her home.
When Hermione tried to stand up, she felt a great pain throughout her body due to the burns she had that prevented her from doing so, without giving up she tried again, but this time she also felt a severe headache and dizziness.
Seeing that she could not get up, she decided to lie down and check her mental barriers with her occlumency, it was then when she realized that she had to calm her nerves and her anger for what had happened in her time, she cried for one last time for all the fallen in the war, her friends, the loved ones of all those who helped in her cause, she vented all her frustration and once ready she closed with her occlumency all her mental barriers and tried again to get up.
After a while, she managed to stand up, but despite her great effort to resist the headache, the dizziness, and the physical discomfort she had from all the burns, she finally gave in and collapsed, falling unconscious to the ground.
When she awoke she was lying down and her body felt much better, it seemed that most of her burns were gone along with most of her headache.
"I see you finally woke up, now, I would like to know who are you and what is a witch doing in my humble home, I don't usually have guests and even less in the deplorable state I found you in" Hermione didn't have time to continue thinking because she immediately heard the question coming from a very deep voice, that voice so cold, dry and hard couldn't be from anyone other than Professor Snape.
Hermione didn't have time to continue thinking because she immediately heard the question coming from a very deep voice, that voice so cold, dry and hard couldn't be from anyone other than Professor Snape.
She turned around and saw sitting in front of her a young Severus Snape about 16 years old who was looking at her in an intimidating and fixed way with his dark and penetrating eyes that judged her as they used to do before with the adult Snape, but now she could see more intrigue and doubt in those eyes, no doubt it was Severus Snape but adult Snape was much more intimidating than the current one, Hermione wanted to laugh at the young version of Professor Snape, now the young man in front of her was much cuter than the bitter, judgmental, dark and intimidating adult Snape she knew.
"I...I, I'm Hermione...Tos Tos, well, you see, I'm Hermione Prince. Are you Severus Snape son of Eileen Prince?" he said and asked Hermione realizing her almost mistake as she stared at the young Severus Snape.
She was in a complex situation, not only did she not have her wand, but she also came within an inch of saying the wrong thing, luckily she reacted in time and corrected her almost mistake.
The young Severus in front of her no doubt still had the same cunning and ability to get the truth out of one as the adult Snape she knew back in the day, it seems that from a young age Snape had that ability to intimidate people with those black eyes and that unique voice.
Now Hermione was determining how to proceed with young Severus Snape in front of her, she already had an idea of how to get his attention.
Anything to change the future that awaited the world, she had to be strong to stop Voldemort, whatever it took.
Hermione noticed amused how the young Snape was extremely shocked by her answer, she could see how those black eyes of his were looking at her trying to decipher her, she was sure he was starting to search for answers and draw conclusions, his mind sure was working at full speed to process what she said, it was amusing and unique to see the immutable and stoic Professor Snape so confused.
"Oh, Excuse me, but I must have misheard, you said your last name is Prince?" he asked without giving her any answer to what she asked, as expected from Severus Snape, it seems that from a young age Snape had that personality.
"I am Hermione Prince and I am looking for Eileen Prince's son, as for why I was in that condition, I can only tell you that in my trip to this house I suffered some altercation that left me in that condition, I can assume that you took care of my injuries, I thank you in that case," said Hermione and thanked him without explaining much more, she wanted to see the confused young Severus Snape for a while longer, she had already planned how to deal with him and how to blend in this time without raising too many suspicions, questions or problems, certainly one of the best options she had was the young Severus Snape in front of her.
"I see,..., but what a strange thing, isn't it, last time I checked there was no living member besides me in the Prince family Miss Hermione. Oh, excuse me, I didn't introduce myself, I'm Severus, Severus Snape, nice to meet you, as for your injuries, there is nothing to be thankful for, I couldn't just leave you lying in the room in that state, I could be accused of some crime if so" the always distrustful Severus Snape told her dryly, another thing in common he has with the future Professor Snape who used to use that same mocking and sarcastic tone that indicated how funny and silly he thought others were when trying to say what to him was an obvious lie.
Hermione was impressed with the many similarities that this young Severus Snape already had to the future Professor Snape, despite seeing and knowing the young man's life in front of her, she hadn't paid particular attention to his personality at this time, she only saw the important events or ones that intrigued her, she hadn't probed much further than that when she entered Professor Snape's mind.
"Oh I see, thank you anyway for attending to my burns, and to answer your question, I am a distant relative of the Prince family, you must be Eileen Prince's son, right?" replied Hermione again not giving a thought to the obvious teasing tone the young Snape was using in front of her.
Hermione had already decided how to blend into that time and enter Hogwarts with an identity that would not raise many questions about her person or at least have credibility.
No one could know about her future, so she could only count on her wits from now on, and to achieve everything she wanted to accomplish, the first step was to convince the young Severus Snape in front of her.
She knew it wouldn't be easy, she knew Professor Snape well and she knew he was an extremely distrustful person of others and his young version was no doubt very similar, but apparently, he was more approachable than the adult Snape, which allowed Hermione to convince him to help her and she already knew what she could offer him to get his attention, she didn't know if it would work at all, but it was her best option and no doubt the young man in front of her would think twice before refusing what he would offer her for her help.
"Oh, a distant relative of my mother you say?" Severus raised his eyebrows intrigued with what the young witch in front of him would continue to say, to Severus she had already been identified as Hermione Granger, unless there was some logical and valid reason that would make him believe otherwise.
"That's right, my grandfather and father bore the surname Prince, their ancestors were part of the magical Prince family, but apparently my ancestors were disowned long ago by the Prince since our ancestry was squib (non-magical children of wizards), that's how we were taken out of the family tree and banished, losing any relationship that validates our ancestry as part of the magical Prince family, my family remained and mixed with the muggles ever since."
"Mmmmm I see, now Miss Hermione, as interesting as your story is, I don't have to trust your words unless you have proof and besides you still haven't told me your purpose in coming and entering my house uninvited, it's not enough to say you were looking for me, you need to be more specific," said Severus already a bit more tired of playing along with Hermione, he knew she was making it up as she went along and he had to give her credit for such a well-done story, but she certainly wouldn't fool him with this alone.
"Well, that's what I was getting at, you should know that the Ministry of Magic doesn't keep birth records for Squibs, a sign of general indifference from magical society towards them, and the only way to check if a person is related to a squib in any family is to use the names of the squib's parents, which in my case is impossible since we were all erased from the Prince family and taken out of the family tree" Hermione wasn't bothered with Severus' impatient behavior, in fact, she expected it, she knew he wouldn't be a pushover, but she already knew how to handle things, the adult Snape was much worse.
"Let's get down to business Miss Hermione pleas" Severus was about to lose what little patience he had left, the whole story Hermione was making up was making him impatient and the worst thing was that he almost believed it, if he didn't know that she was Hermione Granger, he certainly could have fallen right into what the young woman was saying.
"Well, if you let me finish I assure you we'll get to what you want to hear faster," said an amused Hermione, despite being in an unfavorable situation without her wand, she couldn't miss the opportunity to see young Snape so lost.
Severus at this point wanted to curse the young woman in front of him, she was getting on his nerves, but he controlled himself and put on the coolest and most stoic face he could to continue listening to the young witch.
"Well, as I was telling you, there is no record of me actually being related to the Prince magical family and currently my family is no longer with me, I don't have any kind of background in the ministry of magic or other magical schools since all my life I was homeschooled by my squib father and my muggle mother, without having much contact with the magical world in general, and I also don't think I meet the amount of blood necessary to be validated as a possible heir of the Prince family, After all my family has been mixed with muggle blood for many generations without having magical descendants, I am the first in all this time and if I want to integrate into the magical world I need an identity that will allow me not only to enter Hogwarts but also to get a good position in the British magical world and I know that you can help me with that Severus Snape son of Eileen Prince who is a direct descendant of the former head of the Prince house".
"Look, first of all, I don't know why you think I should believe a young witch I just met who comes claiming to be a Prince, you may have a lot of information about my family but that's not enough for me to believe you and secondly, as much as I came to believe you, I have no way to help you, my mother may be a direct descendant of the former head of the Prince family as you say, but she was erased from the family tree just like your supposed ancestors, so I am not listed as an heir to the family, now if you're done with-" Severus was cut off before he could finish his sentence by Hermione's answer that left him with his mouth shut and with many doubts.
"I know where the Prince family ring is with which you can do the inheritance test to be the next heir," said a calm Hermione cutting Severus' dialogue, it was then when she saw the reaction of surprise, intrigue, doubt, and complete shock of young Severus Snape, she knew that now she had gained his full attention.
Hermione was not sure at first if mentioning that would work to win the favor of the young Severus Snape, she did not know if he was interested in his maternal family inheritance, she only knew that Professor Snape had investigated his family for a while until he found the ring, but being older and not being able to obtain the inheritance he stopped giving importance to the matter, the adult Snape didn't seem particularly disappointed by it, it seemed more like a simple passing disappointment, so Hermione didn't know how much this inheritance might appeal to Young Severus Snape, but from the reaction he had, she was sure that the current Severus Snape cared very much about this matter.
Now that Hermione was thinking it through, she may not have paid much attention to Young Severus Snape's personality and only focused on the important situations that the adult Snape went through throughout his life, but considering that Young Severus wished to be a Death Eater, along with him hating his Muggle father and even going by the alias of Half-Blood Prince, it was quite obvious to assume that being the heir to the Prince family could be one of the biggest dreams that the current young Severus Snape could have in front of her, and this was even more beneficial for her.
"This... Cough cough, did I hear you right...did you say you knew where the Prince family ancestral ring is?" this was quite a shock to Severus, he couldn't believe that Hermione Granger knew this.
'Could it be that the whole story she told me was true, maybe she wasn't the Hermione Granger of canon, but it's too much of a coincidence to rule it out, but it's also impossible that she could know where my family ring was otherwise' Severus began to question internally.
'Mmmm maybe her relatives knew and before they died they told her or had it in their family records, damn, I don't know' Severus was almost convinced that she was Hermione Granger, her way of talking, acting, her need to explain everything, she matched the description of Hermione Granger and she also looked identical.
'It could be that it was all just a coincidence, a dirty trick that Death was playing on him as he was two people in one body in this world, and maybe since the union of their souls things had already started to change in the canon of this world. Damn, too many unknowns and she's not helping me solve any of them' Severus had so far verified that everything had happened just as described in the canon of Harry Potter's world and it had only been a few hours since the union of their souls, how was it even possible that so many things had already altered in the world, none of this made any sense to Severus.
"Oh, it seems you are interested in my story now aren't you? Severus Snape" Hermione couldn't help but control herself and tease the confused young Severus a little in front of her.
Severus was getting more and more confused, he couldn't understand well anything that was happening, he knew that it was impossible for someone who wasn't related to a pureblood family to know where the ancestral ring of the family was, his mother never told him anything about the Prince family ring, not because she didn't know, but because she was denied to everything related to the Prince family.
And now the person Severus was sure was Hermione Granger from the future, she comes and tells him that she is a distant relative of his family and that she also knows where the ancestral ring of the Prince family is, with which Severus could become the heir, that without a doubt was more than enough to believe that she was a distant relative as she said, that obviously if it were not because she is the exact replica of Hermione Granger and that she also has the same name, many coincidences, but now Severus did not know what was possible and what was not.
He couldn't rule out the possibilities that all this was a complete lie, but it could also be all true and that scared him more, because if everything she said wasn't a lie and she wasn't from the future as he thinks, everything he knows about canon could be starting to vary without him doing anything, because if it was true that she was his relative things would only get more complicated, now Severus would have to be careful to see what else changed in canon with the union of their souls.
But for now, he had to leave that for later and think about his current situation with this supposed Hermione Prince who claims to be a cousin of him.
'Mmmmmmmm if she was from the future maybe she got the information from the adult Snape, yes, maybe Snape in the future discovered the location of the ring and told her, but that was highly unlikely considering the dislike he had for most people in canon, especially towards Hermione Granger, unless my future self was forced to tell, he wouldn't mention or give the location of the Prince family ring to others, no matter what his future self was, he could tell that it was almost impossible for him to say something so intimate about his life under any measure and considering that Hermione's current age is the same as his(he knew this thanks to the magical scan he did of her body), there wasn't much chance that Hermione in her 5th year at Hogwarts would have gotten future Severus to reveal something so important to him.
Obviously, there was also the variant that the future was different from the one he knew, and for some reason, Hermione traveled to the past, but it was still hard to believe, especially if one also took into account that time travel so many years into the past could not be permanent, it was an unbreakable magical law and as long term as the one he would be witnessing in case she was a Hermione Granger of the future.
Unless she decided to travel and then return to her time and die for the added years, which had no logic.
There were many possibilities and nothing certain, for now, Severus had no choice but to wait and take his time to listen to the young woman in front of him, and then he would be discerning the truth about the whole thing, if she was from the future, sooner or later she would have to return to her time, it is a fixed rule in time travel, now if not, he would have to consider more things, but for now, it loses nothing to play along and believe her version of things.
"Well, first, you can call me Severus, and second, I'm going to be very honest with you Miss Hermione, I find it very hard to believe your version of things, but I can't deny that it has surprised me and even made me question the things you say, now I'm starting to believe that it could be true, but for now let's get back to the matter of the Prince family ancestral ring, what exactly do you want in exchange for telling me where it is? " admitted and asked Severus in his usual cold voice, but much more sociable than before, his tone had stopped being so dry, direct, harsh and intimidating, he didn't need to get information out of Hermione anymore, he knew he won't get more than what she already told him, so there was no need to keep acting harsh and intimidating in front of her.
To say that Hermione was surprised by the sudden change in young Severus' attitude is an understatement, she was very confused, she hadn't expected the young man in front of her to be acting intimidating and irritable on purpose, she would have sworn that young Severus was just like the adult Snape, with some small changes, but no, she was wrong, he was not only more sociable and open when talking now, but he also didn't seem to be bothered one bit by the fact that she was a squib-born mudblood.
'Come to think of it in the whole conversation he never showed any signs of displeasure at the mention of my squib family mixed with muggles and etc, he just looked irritated at my constant explanation, but nothing else, how odd'
Hermione knew he was a half-blood but like Voldemort, he did not consider his father's blood his own, Voldemort called himself a pureblood and abhorred him who was not or did not believe in blood supremacy and it was her understanding that Severus believed in the same ideals as the dark lord, Severus hated his father and compared all muggles to him, that's why he wanted to serve a powerful wizard-like Voldemort, but apparently he wasn't that way, or didn't show much interest in it at least.
'Maybe he only appeared that way on the outside, but inside he was never really like that' Hermione began to question herself, remembering the different scenes in which she saw a young Severus Snape behaving like a typical blood purist.
She could now tell that the Severus in front of her was very different from what she thought he would be, not only did he deceive her with his attitude at first, but now he was completely different.
Yes, Severus was still cold and quite dark, but much more relaxed when talking, to the point where he told her what he had been thinking, something the adult Severus would never do, Professor Snape always kept his thoughts and doubts to himself, always being mysterious, cold and dark, never letting anyone know what was going on in his head, but Hermione was now in front of a young Severus who was admitting his doubts and leaving himself open to talk like more sociable people, he even told her to call him by his name, that was almost unthinkable for Hermione, to call Professor Snape by his name, that was only done by Headmaster Dumbledore along with a few others.
"Miss Hermione?" spoke Severus again interrupting Hermione's inner thoughts, who apparently had been thinking longer than she should have, making Severus a bit nervous who thought that maybe she was thinking about what to ask him in return for telling him about the location of the Prince family ancestral ring.
"Hermione," she said directing a serious look at him.
"EH?" Severus was quite confused by the serious look she gave him, he didn't understand what she was meant by saying his name so seriously.
"If I'm going to call you S-Se-Severus, it seems logical to me that you call me also just by my name" Hermione answered quite seriously as if she wanted to validate her logic and the importance she gave to this matter, she made mention of Severus' name with a bit of difficulty, but strangely pleased to be able to call him by his name and not as Snape or professor.
Severus who saw the serious look on Hermione's face as they talked about such a mundane matter as names and how to address each other, couldn't help but laugh.
Seeing Severus laugh so suddenly surprised Hermione even more who was not expecting these reactions from him.
"Puff, sorry sorry sorry, I didn't expect that to be such an important matter, I expected another answer from you when I saw that serious look on your face, I don't know, like something related to what you wanted for the ring or anything else really, it just surprised me," Severus said trying to hold back his laughter.
Hermione was dumbfounded, she could swear that not even in her wildest dreams or thoughts could she ever see this scene before, but now she was seeing the stoic, the unchanging, cold, dry, hard, and dark Severus Snape laughing and apologizing like it was nothing, worst of all his laughter was so unique, he had a deep and cold tone of voice that when he laughed created something unique and very pleasant to listen to, that day Hermione realized that Severus when he laughed, was quite charming, but she was brought out of her thoughts again by Severus Snape's call.
"Hermione?" Severus called her name in his deep, cold voice, making Hermione freeze.
It was so strange for her to hear that unique voice of Severus Snape's calling her only by name, but Hermione had to admit that it wasn't unpleasant at all.
"Yes?" she replied without thinking too much.
"I'm still waiting for an answer, I don't want to be nosy either but I would recommend you to stop getting so lost in your thoughts, otherwise the conversations you have will become quite awkward" Severus spoke again and suggested good-naturedly to her to stop thinking so much while talking.
This made Hermione fall again that the young man in front of her could be very similar to the future Professor Snape, but no doubt he was completely different now and that could save him, he couldn't be a death eater again, something she would make sure wouldn't happen in this time.
"Sorry..., this, well, it tends to happen to me quite a bit and thank you, I will take your advice into consideration. Regarding what I want for the location of the Prince family ancestral ring, I partly already told you, so you can guess a bit already" he apologized and thanked Hermione a bit embarrassed and surprised.
"To sum up, what I ask Severus is that you integrate me into the Prince family as a distant cousin of yours, I want to be able to appear as Hermione Prince as part of the Prince magical family from now on, also that you as the next head of the Prince family give me your absolute support with all the paperwork that I will be doing at the Ministry and also enter Hogwarts, Hermione needed all these things to be able to integrate in this time.
If Severus accepted her conditions, it would make a lot of things easier for Hermione, since it was the best way to integrate into this era without anyone knowing about her past life, and having the head of an important family like the Prince family validates everything she did was without a doubt the best option she had to avoid problems and questions she couldn't answer, Besides, being able to have the Prince surname being from a distant branch of the family was like having the status of a half-blood and this gave her more freedom at this time, something that a squib-born or a muggle would not have, whether she liked to admit it or not.
This was because sadly British and European magical society, in general, was always very attached to the traditions of purebloods and the great magical families, especially in this time of war.
"Mmmmm, I understand" Severus began "In short, in exchange for the ring you want me to add you to the Prince family tree once I am the heir, even though you are a witch I have just met of whom I only know what little you tell me of your story which may or may not be true, along with giving you my word that I will not revoke your Prince surname for any reason."
"Well, yes..." Hermione knew she might be asking a lot, but she needed it and she wasn't going to bargain for less than that.
"Well, what you're asking for isn't going to be a problem. We have a deal Hermione" Severus said surprising Hermione, she was already expecting a negotiation or threat of some sort, after all, she was helpless at this point.
"I may not be entirely convinced of your story and your side of things, but I couldn't refuse to be the heir to the Prince family, so we have a deal" Severus continued.
Severus knew that she was asking for something unthinkable for any other member of a family as important as the Prince's, but right now, he didn't care about these standards of pureblood wizards, being able to inherit the family was above all things, maybe he would have refused before without even wanting to listen to what she had to say since he would feel blackmailed by someone he considered mudblood, but now he couldn't care less about that if to be the heir of the Prince family he had to grant her the family name along with the background that she is a distant part of it, swearing also not to revoke her family name and also support her in her proceedings with the Ministry, Severus would now do it a thousand times more, the political and economic power he would gain being the heir of the Prince house is worth that and much more for him at this moment, especially because he needs to stay away from the death eaters and get money for his many future ideas.
Initially, the inheritance from his maternal family was Severus' first choice before he gave up and decided to accept to go to the SCoP program at SWI USA.
He had dismissed the inheritance idea because he didn't have his maternal family's ancestral ring, but it seems that life is smiling on him a bit now, things may have taken an unexpected turn, but he is benefiting from it.
Hermione on the other hand was very surprised by the quick acceptance of his request, she thought it would be much more difficult to convince young Severus, after all, as the son of the descendant of the heir of a great family like the Prince no doubt any wizard in the same position would have a lot of pride regarding that subject, No wizard descendant of important families would put in the family tree of his ancestral family for anything in the world to a person they just met and of whom they were only given a version that this person is their relative, no matter that they could not be the heirs if they did not accept the deal, they would look for other options before doing such a thing or at least they would try to negotiate things.
But Severus didn't even flinch, he accepted without thinking twice, or discussing anything.
Hermione isn't going to complain though, if things are easier for her she doesn't have to give the matter any more thought, with a magical oath she can be unconcerned about any attempt of him breaking his word.
"Then it's a deal Severus and thank you, truth be told I'm glad and reassured that I don't have to negotiate much about this, I thought it was going to be quite a hassle" Hermione honestly spoke her mind, she was quite grateful that Severus was more open than she expected, she thought he was going to threaten her or look for some method to extract the information from her, but he accepted her terms without any problem.
Hermione was much more relaxed now than at the beginning of the conversation, between not having her wand, having to credibly explain a whole made-up story, and also trying to reach an agreement with Severus to be able to join this time, she was under a lot of pressure, despite her good handling of the situation on the outside, she was still a bundle of nerves on the inside.
"Well, I also preferred not to discuss the subject any further, I knew I was going to end up agreeing to it one way or another, so why waste time. Besides I noticed your teak determination to get what you asked for, so it would only be a wasted effort to try to convince you otherwise" Severus replied just as sincerely.
"Unless you use methods less ... Cough well ... less conventional ones to get the location of the ring" scoffed Snape and also laughed a little seeing the nervousness barely present in Hermione when he said that "But I better not, I have no intentions of doing such things, too much work and time I don't have at the moment."
"You..." Hermione realized that he was just teasing her and she wanted to give him a strong reprimand, but she controlled herself, he was not a friend she could do such things with. But despite not saying anything to him, she gave him a sullen look to let him know that she didn't think his comment was funny.
"Okay, okay, okay, don't look at me like that Hermione, it may have been an unnecessary comment and maybe I went a little overboard, my mistake, now then you seem to give our word that we will honor this deal and that it will not be divulged to other wizards about it."
Hermione seemed to accept the apology, she was very nervous at the moment without her wand which made her feel so helpless, that's why she was so angry at young Severus' joke.
Hermione replied in a calm tone, but inside she was happy that everything turned out better than she expected "I agree S-Severus."
She still found it hard to just call him by his first name, but she knew she could get used to calling him that, he was much nicer than Professor Snape.
"Very well, I will start with the vow and then it's your turn to follow," Severus said as they both linked their forearms "I swear by my magic that once I get the ring and the Prince family inheritance I will integrate Miss Hermione as a distant cousin, giving her the Prince surname for life, I will also give my absolute support as head of the Princes for the processing of her identity along any matter related to it both at the Ministry and at Hogwarts and by all this, I swear"
Hermione was very pleased with his oath.
She merely looked at him before speaking. "I swear by my magic and pledge to give you the Prince family ancestral ring, I also accept the obligation to keep the secrecy of this oath. Thus binding our words."
Wisps of light faded in and out of sight over their linked arms.
Severus had not sworn oaths that could be avoided before, only once had he been forced to swear for the sake of staying at Hogwarts. And that had been a horrible experience for him.
But now in a more convenient and relaxed situation, he could say that it was a unique and interesting experience, involving many things about magic and the power of the word itself.
Hermione had already sworn many oaths in her life, so she didn't pay much attention to this and separated her forearm quickly.
"Ready, so Hermione, how about we start discussing well the details of the ring along with the future paperwork I'll have to support you with, I'd rather go ahead with some things and see what I can do to make things easier for us."
"This..., well, sure, I would love to discuss the details, I have several things to consult you and several ideas that I want to know if they can be implemented for my integration as part of the Prince family to the British magical world, this if you don't mind, of course, the deal was just your support in the paperwork, you don't have to waste your time in helping me."
"Oh, lose, but given that I will surely have to intervene as heir of the Prince family to get your identity papers from the Ministry, I would like to be well informed about the matter, I don't tend to wait for others to tell me what to do or how to do it, besides, this way it will be faster for both of us, don't you think so Hermione?"
"I... find your logic very reasonable, thanks for the help, then..." Hermione wasn't expecting that answer, she was used to finding out everything on her own and then relaying it to others.
The two continued to talk about many things about the future paperwork she would have to do and the best ways for both of them to avoid problems and save time, she would also need to take the exams given by the ministry and Hogwarts to validate her private studies at home.
Hermione began to think that she could get used to young Severus, she liked talking to intelligent people, it was refreshing and she could almost feel that young Severus was a male version of her, albeit rather darker and colder, but compared to the adult Severus, the one now was much more approachable and she believed that the two could be good friends, or should I say, good cousins?
After discussing the final details of the deal well, along with several questions that Hermione had, Severus let Hermione rest easy because she still had to recover to be completely well, the headache and the occasional burn had not yet healed completely, so they were still bothering her and he had to make sure that his patient was well.
Even though she grumbled because she didn't want to lie in bed anymore, Severus treated her like a patient and wouldn't let her move from the bed until at least the headache was gone. He had learned a lot about medical magic and patient treatment, all thanks to Madame Poppy Pomfrey who was the magical nurse that used to attend him at Hogwarts, whenever he finished some quarrel with the marauders she was the one who was in charge of helping him, which was quite often, she was always very professional in her work and Severus respected the woman for that and learned a lot from her in all these years.
Severus decided to spend the rest of the day making various potions for Hermione to take so that her headache and her more persistent burns would improve as the days went by.
Severus also proceeded to give Hermione back her wand, he had taken it before just to avoid trouble, but now that they had reached an agreement under oath, it seemed reasonable to give it back to her, a wizard without his wand always feels naked and helpless, so it seemed the right thing to do as a show of trust between the two of them.
Hermione was very grateful for the fact that now Severus trusted her enough to give her his wand, when she woke up she knew right away that she didn't have it, she tried not to be too alarmed at that moment, but she knew that he could hex or threaten her at any moment and she couldn't do anything, so she went on to talk, explain and answer things so calmly to Severus, she tried her best to sound confident and not show her concern, but even so she was very uneasy without her wand, she knew she was in a dangerous situation, she was a witch without a wand at that moment, she was at Severus' mercy, and to make things worse, she was looking to reach an agreement in those conditions with a wizard like Severus Snape, he had everything in his favor to threaten or torture her as long as she gave him the information without the need to agree to any deal, clearly she would not give that information even under torture, but he did not know that.
As Hermione was in a disadvantageous position, the best option she found for that moment was to present herself as a distant cousin of his, this would make Severus suspicious but it would also make him more curious and open to listening to her.
Hermione had already thought of several ways to blend in at this time without raising much suspicion about her person, one of those options was to use the Prince family along with Severus to validate her identity at the Ministry and Hogwarts, but she also had more options to turn to, she would have liked to have more time to think about the best option, but given her disadvantageous meeting with Severus before even being able to think things through, she proceeded to choose the option that best suited the situation she was in.
She knew Severus wanted answers as to why an unknown witch was lying unconscious in his house with burn wounds all over her body, she could come up with many excuses, but nothing very convincing, so she decided to use the option involving Severus and his family, she luckily had already thought of a believable backstory for that option.
One of the reasons why she could relax a little and seek to reach an agreement with Severus Snape despite being at a clear disadvantage without his wand was that she knew from the memories of the adult Snape, that he had no living relatives, And if he had any distant relatives, he would not know about them since he had never met his maternal family in person, and his mother had never spoken to him about them, so there might have been a relative who, like Snape's mother, had been disinherited and erased from the Prince's family tree.
Another reason was that she also knew from Professor Snape's memories that he would not go so far as to torture her for information, at most he would threaten and frighten her in various ingenious ways, but he would not resort to physical violence, That is somewhat because Severus Snape always considered himself intelligent and capable enough to be able to get the results he wanted without the use of torture, he felt it was unnecessary to extract information through torture or suffering, he felt he was above such acts, he would use his wit, intimidation or a potion if necessary to get the same or better results.
Despite his wit, talent, and his good ability to read people, Severus could not quite see the emotions Hermione was going through, this was because she not only had a quite believable story, but she also appeared outwardly quite calm and confident when speaking even though inside in her head she was a mess.
Hermione knew that this was due to her training with Professor Snape, she had learned how to deal with difficult situations in the best way possible without showing weakness or uneasiness.
Once Severus had left to let her rest, Hermione who when she woke up had instantly noticed the lack of her wand and Severus' treatment of her burns, belatedly fell into another small detail she hadn't noticed before, she was wearing only an apron and Severus had treated her burns, so he had undressed her.
Hermione turned red at this thought and was quite furious as no one had seen her naked before, but she calmed down quite a bit when she realized that he had left her at least in her underwear and had also apparently covered her on top with magical bandages that had rolls of celluloid over it to convey more peace of mind, this was a way widely used by the magically ill to let the patient know everything that happened in the procedure of tending to their wounds.
A magic bandage is used that has a roll of celluloid that will record everything the medical magician does on the patient's body during the treatment, so one can see a film of how the whole treatment process went.
Once she saw the filmed content from start to finish, Hermione relaxed noticeably at how professional Severus had been in attending to her burns, but she was still a little red from the awkward situation she was in, she was glad that young Severus didn't have second thoughts or maybe he just didn't find her attractive, she couldn't tell.