Monday, June 25, 1976
Severus got up early (6:00 am) and left his dorm room to do morning exercise as he always used to do since the merging of their souls.
He had decided to do an hour workout regimen every morning to improve his lean and tall physique.
Breakfast was in the main SCoP room at 8:00 am, so he had plenty of time.
Upon returning to his dorm at 7:15 am, Severus noticed that his roommates were still asleep.
He decided to shower and then get ready to go to breakfast.
When it became 7:30, Ethan and Sasaki were already up.
"Good morning, I trust you slept well" Severus greeted both of them as he finished changing into his black robes.
"One day" Sasaki greeted dryly.
"Hello, looks like you at least have some manners to greet properly" Ethan scoffed because yesterday they had both ignored him.
"Yeah sure, whatever you say, I'm going to head to the main hall for breakfast, see you later," Severus said goodbye quickly so he wouldn't have to start an unnecessary argument with Ethan, every time Severus saw or heard him he felt that he was a lot like Potter and Sirius.
"Tch, maybe I should ask for a dorm change" Ethan complained as he watched Severus leave without even following the conversation and Sasaki being in his own world, ignoring the others.
Even though all students in the SCoP summer program are considered Salem students, they are not yet officially part of the institution, so Severus and the others don't have to wear the institute's regulation dress so they can wear their own robes.
Upon entering the main hall where breakfast would be spread out, Severus noticed that unlike Hogwarts which has only four tables, one for each house, at SCoP there were several tables spread throughout the room and one could sit wherever they wanted as long as there was room at the table.
Severus wasted no time and sat down to read at an empty table waiting for breakfast, luckily there weren't many students yet because it was so early so he could choose where he wanted to sit.
By 7:45 the room was already starting to fill up with people.
"Severus!" a young witch was heard to say.
Severus who was concentrating on reading a book suddenly heard a female voice so familiar call his name and immediately looked up only to see Freyja who was the one who had called his name.
"Good morning Freyja, it's good to see you, I didn't see you anymore since we parted on the ship" Severus greeted.
"Yes, well..., I looked for you but you were gone and then I fell asleep for the rest of the trip," Freyja said shyly and embarrassed, but happy to see Severus again.
As Severus was about to answer her, another young woman spoke first.
"Oh, you two know each other already?" asked a young witch standing behind Freyja.
Severus looked at the young woman who suddenly spoke and was surprised to discover that it was Gwen Stacy, the dean's daughter.
"That's right Gwen, Severus and I met at the port, he's the friend I told you about who explained a lot of things to me on the trip to the institute" Freyja answered him a little embarrassed to have called him a friend, she really hoped they were.
"Severus this is Gwen, my new roommate, and friend" Freyja happily introduced.
"It seems that we didn't find Prince again, first with my mother and now with our new mutual friend, it seems that destiny is wanting to tell us something, don't you think so?" said Gwen amused.
"Yes, it seems that way, miss Stacy, although I'm not good at interpreting or guessing, maybe you'd like to tell me what you think about it," answered Severus playing along.
"Mmmm too bad, I'm not good at those things either, that's why I was hoping you would tell me" replied Gwen feigning frustration while smiling slightly.
"Uh, this... Severus, Gwen do you two know each other?" asked Freya confused by the turn of things, but happy to hear that the two of them also consider her a friend.
"Well, yes, Miss Stacy is an exemplary student of this institute and you could say that yesterday she offered to give me a tour of the institute's facilities" Severus answered her.
"Of course, as he said, we met yesterday, and to clarify, I didn't have much choice at the time but to agree to give you that tour. By the way, I didn't expect him to be that friend you told me about
Freyja" Gwen said smiling as she looked at him.
"That means we are now officially a group of friends" Freyja commented extremely happy as she looked at both of them and waited for their responses.
Severus and Gwen were a little surprised by what she said.
They never mentioned that they were friends, they had barely spoken a little yesterday, you could say they were good acquaintances, but nothing more.
Whereas Freyja was the exception because they both felt that she was too pure and good to deny them their friendship, they had both accepted her as a friend even though they had only known her for a day.
"Ah of course we are Freyja, we are a group of friends now" Gwen quickly replied to keep Freyja from getting depressed.
She noticed right away that Freyja was very excited about having a group of friends and Gwen already knew that Freyja didn't understand much about friendships and only seemed to know what she read or was told.
Severus noticed this too but was slower to react so Gwen gave him sly nudges so he would hurry to answer in the affirmative.
"This... cough, yes, yes, yes, sure Freyja, a good group of friends " Severus finally replied making the smile on Freyja's face grow bigger than it already was.
"Great, it's my first group of friends!" Freyja told them cheerfully.
"But this... what do friend groups do?" asked Freyja a little lost on how the supposed group was supposed to continue.
"Well, friend groups tell each other things about their lives, support each other and do different activities together, like studying for example," Gwen said as she elbowed Severus again for confirmation of her words.
"Exactly, as Gwen says, it's supporting each other, so if you need anything Freyja don't hesitate to tell us" replied Severus.
Freyja nodded happily having understood that he was making a group of friends.
But the truth was that neither Severus nor Gwen had ever had a group of friends, so neither was speaking from personal experience.
Gwen didn't directly have friends, she maintained a good relationship with everyone else but nothing very close.
And Severus was friends with Lucius and Narcissa, but it wasn't a group or anything like that, they were more individual friendships like the one he had with Lily but less deep.
As for his group of fellow Slytherins he used to hang out with, they weren't friends, they just had ideas and interests in common and supported each other.
That could be said to be the closest thing to a group of friends.
And like Benedict, he used to be a nice guy who got along with everyone, but he didn't have very close friends.
"Now that we're friends, you can call me Gwen," Gwen commented to Severus.
"Very well Gwen, then..." began Severus.
"Oh no, no, Prince is fine with me, I like calling you that" Gwen interrupted him.
Severus looked at her for a few seconds feeling cheated by having him call her by her first name but her still calling him by his last name.
"I guess that's fine, whatever you like" Severus replied downplaying what they called each other.
'If I get into an argument over this I'd be no different than Hermione" Severus said to himself remembering how serious Hermione had been when it came to what to call each other.
Gwen nodded smiling as if things had gone her way.
"So Severus, do you mind if we sit with you for breakfast?" asked Freyja.
"Not at all, sit wherever you like, it's always good company" Severus replied kindly.
"Especially when we are two beautiful ladies no?" Gwen said jokingly.
"Of course, that scores points" Severus replied smiling not caring about the joke at all, after all, it had some truth to it.
They both blushed a little but said nothing more and took a seat.
Then they continued talking about random things for a while until finally, it was time for breakfast.
To Severus' surprise, breakfast was not appreciated at the table like at Hogwarts, instead, each witch and wizard had to stand up and go get what they wanted and then return to their seat.
After the three fetched their breakfast, they returned to their table and continued to chat as they ate.
Then a female voice was heard throughout the room which Severus could distinguish as Dean Stacy's.
"Good morning dear students, I hope you are enjoying your breakfast. I am passing by to let all those students in the SCoP summer program know that you will be able to find your class
schedules at the entrance to the main hall. Greetings and have a great first day of school," commented the Dean's voice to everyone in the room.
After finishing their breakfast, Gwen, Freyja, and Severus left the room and looked at their class schedule.
Monday
-10:00 - 13:00 am: Types of Potions.
-15:30 - 18:30 pm: Recipes and Techniques of Shaking and Bottling.
Tuesday
-10:00 - 13:00 am: Study and Properties of Magical Ingredients.
-15:30 - 17:30 pm: Magical Chemistry.
-19:30 - 20:30 pm: History of Potions and Potioneers.
Wednesday
-10:00 - 13:00 am: Poisons and Antidotes.
-15:30 - 18:30 pm: Potions Preparation.
Thursday
-10:00 - 12:00 am: Magical Physics.
-15:00 - 17:00 pm: Magical Metaphysics.
-19:00 - 20:00 pm: History of Potions and Potioneers.
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off Students may choose to stay at the school or take a boat to Boston's Magic Harbor. The ship sails from the institute to Boston Harbor on Friday at 9:00 am and returns to the institute on Sunday at 17:00 pm.
"It looks like today we have Potions Types first and later Recipes and Stirring and Bottling Techniques, pretty basic at first glance to start with I suppose" commented Severus.
"At first glance?" asked Freyja.
"Yes, I suppose they want the program to start with the basic subjects so as not to scare off the trainees with those more advanced ones, although they all have their own complexity and importance, these first two are more applied to what one has to know to start brewing a potion so it may seem somewhat simple at first glance, but it is most complex when looking to innovate a technique, recipe or potion. You could say it's the easiest step, but it ends up being the most difficult," Severus explained to an even more confused Freyja.
Freyja was a great potioneer, not leaving her house much, she enjoyed reading and making potions to pass the time, now she even makes her own potions to keep the change in her ears, but she lacks in what is specific subjects and studies in potions, so all these subjects are quite new to her.
"Don't listen to him Freyja, that's how all potions obsessed people tend to be" Gwen told her as she saw his confusion.
'Funny to think that when I asked my mother why the order of subjects, she told me exactly the same thing he did' Gwen thought smiling at how alike he and her mother were.
Freyja just nodded.
"Right, now that we are a group of friends it is Prince's responsibility as a potions lover to help us both in the program," Gwen said tentatively.
"Well, this... I don't want to take up Severus' time or bother him" said Freyja unable to fully agree with her friend Gwen.
"Oh but Prince is a potions genius from what I hear, I'm sure he would make a great teacher, how about practicing your teaching skills with us, it wouldn't be bad would it?" insisted Gwen making pleading eyes at him.
"I suppose we could do a study group, but for the record, you owe me one Gwen," said Severus making Gwen nod quickly while smiling triumphantly.
"This... and me Severus?" asked Freyja shyly, she wanted to be included.
"You don't owe me anything Freyja, I would have helped you anyway without you asking, but since Gwen specifically asked she owes me one," Severus said amused as he watched Gwen's
smile slowly fall off.
"Hey, that's unfair" complained Gwen feigning anger.
"So you'd rather no study group then?" asked Severus raising an eyebrow.
"Alright, fine, I accept, cheapskate" agreed Gwen sticking her tongue out in mock anger.
After arranging the schedules of the study group the three of them were going to do together, they continued chatting until the start of the first class of the day.
Once they entered the classroom for Potions Types class, the three of them sat in rows in individual seats.
After a while, the class teacher entered.
"Good morning dear students, I am Professor Caroline Spilman, I will be teaching the subjects: Types of Potions, Poisons and Antidotes, and History Potions and Potioneers, today it is our turn to see Types of Potions, let's begin," said the teacher who appreciates being a witch of only 30 something years old, with brown hair and a calm and kind attitude at first sight.
The first class was just a general explanation of the subject and the basics of what he would be doing in the course of the program.
For Severus, it was nothing new, but for many others, it was, among them were Gwen, Freyja, and Ethan who were not entirely clear about everything She said they would be doing on the subject.
After the first class which ended at 13:00, they had lunch at 13:45, so they decided to go straight to the main hall to wait for lunchtime.
As with breakfast, for lunch the system was the same, everyone had to get up and get their food.
When they finished eating, they moved on to their next class.
"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Katrina Scott and I am the teacher in charge of teaching you the subjects: Recipes and Techniques of Shaking and Bottling, Study and Properties of Magical Ingredients, and Preparation of Potions," said the teacher of about 40 years old, with dark hair, critical eyes and a green dress who spoke sitting at her desk and crossing her arms as she spoke to the students in the program.
"Pleas leave your wands put away you wont need them for today, In today's class you will learn the correct way to prepare potions following specific recipes and using different magical ingredients to create them," continued the professor, giving more than one to understand that, unlike Professor Spilman, she was much stricter when it came to teaching her classes.
Once the class was over, Gwen decided to give Freyja a tour of the institution, while Severus, who had already taken the tour, decided to stop by the Dean's office to finish yesterday's unfinished business.
Severus said goodbye to Gwen and Freyja and headed for the Dean's office.
After Dean Stacy corroborated through Legilimency that Severus had indeed successfully modified and enhanced his first position at the age of 13, her enthusiasm for Severus increased dramatically.
The process was quick and simple as she used Legilimency to see the memories and Severus used Occlumency to show her specifically which memories she needed to see to corroborate that everything he said was true.
After finishing and being convinced that Severus was an unparalleled genius at potions, the Dean immediately sent a letter to the Department of Magical Security at the USA Magicongress asking for permission to use the Pensieve in her possession.
"Well Mr. Prince, now it only remains to wait for them to respond, but I can assure you that in a few weeks they should give us access to the Pensieve, when that time comes you must come with me to the Department of Magical Security" the Dean informed him with a big smile that highlighted her good mood.
"I thank you, madam" Severus thanked her for her trouble, though she seemed to be more excited than he was to prove that he was the first 13-year-old wizard to do such a thing.
"There is nothing to thank, I only hope you will entertain the idea of transferring to our institution, we would be delighted to have you as a SCoP student."
"I... I'll think about it," Severus said a little unsure, he was already thinking about the possibility of staying as a student, but he still wasn't sure about doing it.
If he got into 6th year at SCoP, he would be the only male in his year and even though it would be every young man's dream to be in a school surrounded by only women, he had to admit that it wouldn't be so nice and comfortable to be the only male in his year despite how beautiful that sounds.
'Maybe it would be more convenient to transfer only in the seventh year just like most students' Severus thought.
"Very well, that's all I ask of you."
As Severus was about to leave the office the Dean spoke again.
"Just a moment Mr. Prince, I almost forgot to inform you, I don't know if it would interest you, but this year there will be two important competitions taking place in the USA that you can sign up for if you wish."
"I heard about the potions contest to be held on July 10th at the Salem Witches Institute, it was mentioned in the letter I received along with my acceptance to the program, but there was no mention of another contest in the letter," said Severus remembering that he had thought about entering the potions contest.
"Yes, as you know, the potions contest is at our institution and that is why it was mentioned in the letter, while the second contest I am talking about will take place at Ilvermorny school and it is a competition for duelists under 18 years old, I don't know if you will be interested in participating in duels, but it is not out of place to tell you that currently, SCoP hired a specialist dueling teacher who will be giving preparation classes for the incoming contest."
Severus had already heard of these dueling competitions.
A duel in the magical world is a common practice as it is part of the magical culture.
In a duel two or more wizards or witches engage in combat, using only magical means to do so.
Wizards often duel for many things, to the point where it became a sport in the magical world and the participants of this sport began to be called duelists.
Outside of the everyday combat for which dueling is used, a duel began to be held as a friendly sporting competition between wizards from all over the world.
During a duel, wizards and witches face each other face to face as duelists and bow as a sign of respect to the opponent, then take the conventional combat position and try to subdue their opponent in different ways - disarm, stun, paralyze, injure, among others, including killing if the duel is more extreme - to leave them completely unable to continue the fight.
The duelist who manages to prevail over his opponent is declared the winner of the duel.
Severus considered himself a great duelist, he had spent most of his life fending off Potter's group of bullies on his own and as much as he hated to admit it, Sirius and Potter had great magical abilities so it was quite an accomplishment to take them both on alone.
He had even created his own unique spells to deal with the marauders, still, he didn't know if he could win the contest, but it didn't hurt to try, now he was more confident than ever in his abilities.
"If I wanted to sign up for the contest and the professor's classes you mention, where should I do it?" asked Severus.
The Dean was a bit surprised, despite Severus having excellent grades in charms and DADA, she didn't expect him to really be interested in dueling, that's why she hadn't mentioned it to him before, she just told him as a formality.
"Well, if you wish to participate in the new teacher's dueling classes just fill out this registration form and report to your classes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 19:30 to 20:30," said Dean Stacy as she handed him a paper with the data to fill out for registration.
Severus nodded, took the paper, and enrolled.
"Very well Mr. Prince, it seems that from now on you will be busier in your days at the institution and the program, but I trust that won't be a problem for you."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, I can assure you that my performance will be more than acceptable."
"I don't doubt it, Mr. Prince, I don't doubt it. Very well, I advise you to leave for your first dueling class, you don't want to be late" said the Dean showing him the time on a large clock in the office.
Severus saw that it read 19:10, twenty minutes to the start of the dueling class he had just signed up for.
Severus was about to say goodbye and hurry to his next class, but he instantly stopped and realized that he had no idea where the class was, although he could guess by logic where it was.
Dean Stacy seemed to notice Severus' doubts and confirmed his thoughts, "As you must assume, the classes are in the SCoP dueling room."
Severus nodded gratefully, waved to the Dean, and headed for his next class.
On the way, he complained in his head about the fact that he hadn't been given more notice about the dueling classes, but he also knew that if he had read the entire institute program more carefully on his own he would have heard about it, only he had been busy with Hermione during that time and only looked at the essentials of the program, overlooking other unrelated things.
A few minutes later, Severus finally arrived at the SCoP dueling hall on time.
He was surprised to find only 5 wizards and 11 witches participating in the dueling classes.
'Well, considering SCoP is for potioneers, understandably, there aren't many witches interested in dueling and the 5 wizards are all part of the summer program' Severus reasoned in his thoughts.
"Prince, what are you doing here, don't tell me you plan on participating in the dueling contest" a blond wizard mocked him.
'Merlin, I would have loved not to have to cross Ethan in this class, but it was to be expected that he would take it given his personality' Severus thought in frustration.
"Brilliant Ethan, congratulations, you figured it out, yes I come to the dueling classes to take part in the competition," Severus said wryly since it was obvious that those who came to these classes were because they were interested in taking part in the competition.
As Ethan was about to start an argument with Severus, the teacher entered the classroom.
"Alright students, please settle into your seats, the class is about to begin, I am Defense teacher Ava Hale, I will be teaching the dueling classes to prepare you for the dueling contest on
Saturday, August 14th" started saying the young and beautiful blonde haired teacher.
Severus recognized the teacher from when he had to sign up with Freyja to enter the ship that would sail to SWI, Ava Hale was the one who signed them up back then.
One of the witches raised her hand rather excitedly, this witch had the SWI uniform, so she was already a SCoP student and Severus didn't remember seeing her in the summer program classes.
"Yes tell me Miss..." said Professor Hale.
"Hardman, Rachel Hardman, I wanted to tell you how much I admire your career Professor, to think that a witch only 24 years old was crowned winner of the All USA Wizard Dueling Contest by defeating the favorite wizard, Thomas Dess, with a flawless Aqua Burp charm!" said the young woman excitedly as she named the Professor's accomplishments.
"That's right, I hear some people call her the Water Queen."
"Yes, and it is said to be because her water magic is the best in all of the USA."
"Impressive"
"She is internationally recognized for her proficiency in DADA and being a great duelist."
"Yes yes, she is known to have won many duels at her young age."
"And recently she was the champion of the USA dueling competition for wizards."
"I also heard that the dean was very interested in her services as a teacher at DADA despite her young age and that's why she offered her the job"
"I had heard that it was because in SCoP most of us tend to perform poorly in DADA and the dean wanted her to motivate us to improve."
"Yes it's true, we always tend to do poorly in duels compared to students from the other SWI colleges."
"Surely they sought out the Water Queen who is the recent champion of the USA dueling contest, so she will help and motivate us?"
These were just a few of the many whispers Severus got to hear from among the students present.
"Well, I appreciate your support Miss Hardman, but now we are not here to talk about my career, how about we start with the classes?" seeing that the class was getting off-topic, Professor Hale said quickly waving her wand and making several training dummies appear throughout the dueling room.
The class was entertaining, but Severus found himself a little disappointed when it was over.
Professor Hale didn't have them face each other, they just tried different stances, strategies, and spells against the dummies in the room, but not a real duel, which was what Severus was looking forward to.
'I hope that in the next class we will move on to duels between wizards' Severus thought.
"Alright, duelists, that's all for today, now wait a second so I can take a roll call of those present, please just raise your hand when you hear your name," said Professor Hale.
"Anders Rudolf" she began by saying.
"Ethan Hale," she said after a few names had passed and Severus saw his roommate Ethan raise his hand.
Severus was a little surprised because he didn't know Ethan's last name was Hale since he hadn't asked, Ethan hadn't mentioned it either and Severus admitted that he hadn't noticed him much either since he ignored him most of the time, if he looked at the nameplates on the door of his room he would see that Ethan's last name was Hale, but he hadn't given that much thought before.
Now that it was known that he was Hale that left the possibility that the teacher and he were families or related.
Many thought the same thing and whispers were again heard throughout the room commenting on the relationship the two of them might have, luckily the teacher calmed everyone down and continued naming students with a silence that would not last long.
When the teacher finished taking the list, she said goodbye to the students and the moment she left the room, the whispers started to be heard again everywhere, Ethan didn't seem to be in the mood and decided to leave the dueling room quickly without giving any answer, giving, even more, to talk about to everyone.
Severus didn't think too much about it, as he wasn't that interested, and simply headed to his dormitory to get ready for dinner.
When Severus went to his bedroom he did not find Ethan or Sasaki.
He didn't linger long in his room and left a few moments later for dinner.
When he arrived in the main room Severus sat down again at the same table he had been at before.
After a while, Freyja and Gwen joined him at the table for dinner.
"How was your tour?" asked Severus to them after a while when he saw them sitting at the table.
"It was amazing Severus, did you know that this institute has 7 colleges and each college has its own dean and professors, it's crazy, Gwen also told me that SWI is attended by witches from all over the world," Freyja told energetically while Gwen next to her only smiled seeing her excitement.
"Well then, I'm glad you had a good time. I knew a little something about it, the Dean gave us all a brief introduction about the institution."
"Yeah well, this, I missed that explanation, I fell asleep on the boat heh," Freyja said sheepishly.
"Ah okay now I understand, well it's lucky that the exemplary student Gwen Stacy was able to give you the tour then," Severus said jokingly.
"Oh come on Prince, couldn't it be that you were left wanting another tour?" said Gwen with the same teasing tone.
Severus just denied amused and changed the subject, "We better go get our food, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."
Gwen pouted feignedly but nodded as did Freyja and so the three of them went to get their dinner for today.
An interesting fact about SWI is that, unlike Hogwarts which has house elves making the food for the wizards, SWI hires squibs, for the most part, there are even some expert witches in the culinary area of magic who prepare dishes made from magical animals or plants.
SWI's menu is quite varied to satisfy the witches who come to study from all over the world, you have to eat both magical and muggle food from all over the world, something Severus admits is impressive.
It will be a small detail that is overlooked by most, but for those who are used to eating foods other than what they eat in the USA, it is a relief to at least have something to eat that is familiar to them.
Once, Severus, Gwen, and Freyja had chosen their dinner, they went back to sitting at their table.
Shortly after everyone sat down to dinner, the ceiling of the main hall was filled with owls of all kinds.
Severus even spotted some eagles and hawks among the owls.
Apparently, not everyone preferred owls as messengers.
The birds began to descend and leave each student their correspondence.
At the table where Severus' group was sitting landed two Owls and an Eagle.
"Bao!?" she was heard to say to Freyja who seemed surprised by the arrival of the small owl that she apparently recognized.
Severus and Gwen looked at Freyja.
"That's a beautiful beautiful owl Freyja, is it yours?" asked Gwen as she watched the little Owl hand Freyja the mail.
"This... no, no, Bao is my daddy's māotóuyīng" clarified Freyja.
"Māotóuyīng?" asked Severus in confusion.
"It's owl in Chinese and the name Bao means precious" explained Gwen surprising Freyja and Severus who looked at her confused.
"Wow, that's telling, I didn't know you knew Chinese" commented Severus.
"Well yes, my father is head Auror and has the responsibility of being able to communicate with wizards and witches all over the world, so he knows several languages or the basics at least most of them, he taught me from a young age several languages as he thought they would be useful to me in the future" explained Gwen seeing the doubts in Severus and Freyja.
Severus only nodded in understanding, his mother had also made him study many books on potions and ingredients since he was a child.
"That's amazing Gwen, I didn't know you understood Chinese," said a cheerful Freyja.
"Well, it's just the basics Freyja," said Gwen a bit flustered by her friend's enthusiasm, not that she could speak the language perfectly, she could only understand various things.
"Still it's great that you know the language of my country" insisted Freyja with a big smile.
"I'm glad you think so Freyja. So, Prince, that's your Owl?" asked Gwen seeing Severus' Owl and taking the opportunity to change the topic of conversation, she didn't like to talk about her much.
"It is, beautiful don't you think?" confirmed Severus as he stroked the half brown, white, and black mottled plumage his Owl had along with bold black stripes on its chest.
"It's very big," Freyja said as she compared Severus' Royal Owl to her father's which was small in comparison.
"I must say it looks good on you, a Royal Owl matches the surname Prince, all that's missing is a name like Queen or Princess and it would look perfect," Gwen said jokingly.
"Yeah, well actually she's called Queen," Severus said with some embarrassment, it now seemed obvious to him why Hermione had proposed that name for the Owl, after hearing Gwen say that, it was obvious.
"Pfff haha, sorry, sorry, that's a beautiful name, I wasn't expecting that at all" laughed Gwen having hit him.
"Merlin, I knew I shouldn't have listened to Hermione when naming her, I'm sure she went through the same logic as Gwen and found it perfect" sighed Severus as he understood why
Hermione had proposed calling her Queen, he had been fine with the name and he didn't care much either, as long as she did a good job of delivering the mail on time he was satisfied.
"Hermione, is she a friend of yours Severus?" asked a confused Freyja but still very excited to meet Severus' friends.
"That Prince, tell us who this Hermione is," Gwen said jokingly but still very intrigued, from the tone of voice Severus had used she knew she was not his mother, so she could only be a friend, girlfriend, or relative, but Gwen knew from her mother that the Prince family had no other descendants besides Severus.
"Well, Hermione is my distant cousin, but it's complicated to explain, I didn't know her until a week ago" Severus explained not knowing what else to say.
Severus still didn't quite know if Hermione was from the future or if she was really his distant cousin and everything was really just a coincidence, meeting Gwen Stacy only generated more doubts for him because he knew there was no Spider-Man or Oscorp Industries.
"Wow, a week before coming to the program, that doesn't happen every day?" said Gwen quite surprised by the fact that Severus had a distant cousin, apparently her mother didn't know all the descendants of the Prince family, but that was normal in old families.
"That's very cool Severus, it's always nice to meet family, no matter if it's distant," Freyja said with a longing face.
She wasn't allowed to meet her relatives, so she only had her parents as relatives she knew.
"Yes, well, she comes from a squib family and apparently her ancestors are also squib and for that very reason they had to separate a long time ago from the Prince family, she as a witch told me her situation and well, since then I decided to make her part of the Prince's again."
"That explains a lot of things, it wouldn't be surprising that something like that happened, the old families of Europe were always quite closed in the past and even in the present" commented Gwen.
In the magical world of the USA, these things happened too but it was not as common as in Europe, the acceptance of squibs, muggles, and demi-humans was always greater by the MACUSA along with wizards and witches in general.
Freyja did not comment or ask about this.
She already knew from her father about such things, plus she had sought more answers about it by asking Severus during the trip her doubts, so she understood the bigger picture.
"Does that mean she's a Prince now too?" asked Gwen.
"Yes, I added her to the family tree, although for now, the British ministry is not aware of all this, in fact, they don't even know about me and I prefer that for a while it stays that way" replied Severus.
"I see, I suppose it has to do with the current conflict in Britain" nodded Gwen in understanding.
"Conflict in Britain, what happened?" asked a confused Freya.
It was understandable that she didn't know, since only wizards and witches who lived in Britain really know what was going on with Voldemort.
And only a few wizards and witches who have access to more information than ordinary wizards know about the new Dark Lord.
"I heard from my father that apparently a few years ago a dark wizard emerged who has a large following terrorizing the British magical community, but as far as I know, the British minister has the situation under control, right Prince?" Gwen explained in a small way so that Freyja would understand, although the truth was that her father knew that the situation was getting out of hand for the British ministry, but she would never say that.
'Yes, of course, it's something like that" Severus nodded.
'For now' Severus said in his mind, he knew it wouldn't be long before things took a drastic turn for the worse.
Britain's only current strong supporter was Dumbledore.
"A dark wizard, like the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald ?" asked Freyja.
"No, no, Gellert Grindelwald was the most fearsome and powerful dark wizard in the entire magical world, whereas others dark wizards are just imitations who seek to use the dark arts to cause harm to others" explained Gwen trying not to scare Freyja with this information.
"Oh, okay, I understand" Freyja nodded quietly to Severus and Gwen's relief.
"By the way Gwen, your eagle is also very beautiful, this is the first time I have met someone who prefers eagles over owls" commented Severus about the bald eagle who had left Gwen's correspondence and then left the room right away, unlike the Owls who used to stay in the room for a few moments.
"Mmmm in China eagles are not allowed to be used to send letters, they are said to be too hostile to do such things" added Freyja.
"Well, indeed, it's not easy to tame, but once you do it's an extremely faithful and protective animal," said Gwen.
"Is he yours?" asked Freyja excited as she used to be whenever she discovered something new.
"Mmmm, it's my father's, he as head Auror had to follow the customs of using a bald eagle to carry his mail and over time we all in the family became attached and thus decided to send a mail with it" explained Gwen as she grabbed The New York Ghost newspaper that the eagle had dropped for her.
"I see, representing the symbol of the USA, it's understandable. I didn't know there was such a custom in the American magical community," said Severus.
"Only a few choose to follow it, that's why it's not as well known, my father is, well, he's quite formal about such things and sticks to the customs a lot" Gwen explained before settling down to read the paper.
Freyja nodded and like Gwen began to read her correspondence.
Severus had several letters, but only one mattered to him at the moment and that was from Hermione.
...Letter from Hermione...
Dear Severus,
I hope you don't mind me writing to you so soon.
I am writing to you because I have finished the summary you asked for of all the Prince family investments along with the total value of each.
I thought you would want to have it as soon as possible so I prepared it after you left.
I am leaving the separate file labeled "Liquid Cash and Investments."
{Severus could only deny being amused as he read that. It was typical of Hermione, in the short time they had been together he could already tell she was a nut for hard work, punctuality, etc, just like the Hermione Granger of canon}.
I also wanted to thank you for the "dreamless" potions you gave me before you left, though I'm confident I can sleep without the need to use them. Don't worry, if I find I can't deal with the nightmares I promise to use them right away.
Well that's all I had to write you, if you want and it's not too much trouble I would like you to tell me a little about the program and what it's like to be in SWI, it must be something impressive, I'm dying to know the institution.
However, I will understand if this is not something you want to talk about, or if you have a lot to do in the program and don't have time for such things. No need to write again if you don't want to.
Sincerely,
Hermione.
...Fin letter...
Severus just smiled and appreciated Hermione's gesture in sending him the summary so quickly, the sooner the better for him.
Quickly Severus wrote his reply and sent it off with the Owl.
After completing the letter in response to Hermione, he went on to read the "Liquid Cash and Investments" file that Hermione had set aside in the letter.
He opened the file and flipped through the summary of the Prince account information.
He discovered that the Prince family had approximately 1,751,000 galleons in liquid wealth.
He owned 27 properties:
Old Prince Manor in Ireland: Value 77,000 gal.
Prince Manor in Great Britain: Value 350,000 gal.
Manor in France: Value 107.000 gal.
Manor in the USA: Value 84.000 gallons
Manor in Australia: Value 76.000 gallons
Potion store in the Republic of Ireland: Value 17.000 gallons
Potion store in Australia: Value 11,000 gallons
Potions store in Spain: Value 14.000 gallons
Potions Store in Great Britain: Value 18,000 gallons
Potions Store in South Africa: Value 10,000 gallons
Potions Store Canada: Value 9,000 gallons
Potions Store Argentina: Value 7,000 gallons
Potion Store Brazil: Value: 15,000 gallons
Total of the 14 houses scattered throughout the magical world: Value 73,000
Also owned 51% of the shares of the Prince Potion Factory in the Republic of Ireland: Value 487,000 gallons (51% if sold).
9 % of Daily Prophet: Value 62,000 gallons
17% of Kwikspell Compan: Value 25,000 gallons
20% Queenbee's: Value 43,000 gallons
7% GalloLoans: Value 77,000 gallons
11% Cleansweep Broom Company: Value 85,000 gallons
15% Le Son Hotel: Value 7,000 gallons
32% La Soñada Hotel: Value 21,000 gallons
24% Leaky Cauldron: Value 40,000 gallons
13% of Borgin and Burkes: Value 36,000 gallons
'Wow that's more than I expected, but taking into consideration that most magical families have most of their fortunes invested to generate silver constantly it is understandable that the liquid wealth is several times greater than the gallons that the Princes had in the bank' thought Severus when he saw the vast amount of shares and properties that he had.
All right, now I just have to decide how to continue with the investments and how to use the money left in the bank' thought, Severus.
After finishing reviewing the file and thinking about some future investment plans, Severus decided to finish dinner.
After dinner, he spent some time talking with Gwen and Freyja until he decided to go back to his dorm to rest.