Severus' first thought was that this couldn't possibly be all theirs. His second, more reasonable, thought was that it wasn't, of course. The mammoth-sized building they were standing in front of must house several families, and they would simply be living in a suite of rooms.
Yes, that made far more sense than his mother renting (buying?) a bonafide mansion.
"Well, what do you think?" Eileen asked, giving Severus a gentle push forward, and opening the door with her wand.
Instead of a hallway leading to various rooms, the main one stood in front of them.
Well, perhaps there was a common area for tenants on all of the floors, rather the way the houses at Hogwarts had their common rooms.
It was certainly fancier than anything Severus had expected.
Before he could think of an answer, a small creature wearing a very large, white sheet appeared with a crack.
"Miss Leeny! Miss Leeny is back!" the creature said in a high-pitched voice. "And Miss Leeny, this be your soon, Mr. Severus?"
Severus then recognized the creature as a house-elf.
But who was "Miss Leeny?"
His mum turned to Severus, smiling. "Yes, but he seems to have gone momentarily mute."
"Perhaps Pinky can make him some tea and biscuits?" the house-elf offered, looking hopeful.
"I think that would be a very good idea, Pinky," Eileen beamed. "Come, Severus, you look positively shocked. I'll explain everything once we sit down."
And so they did, in that very room, on one of the softest couches Severus had ever sat on. He had thought that the squashy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room had been the perfect place to take a nap, but this was like sitting on a cloud.
Not that he'd ever sat on one, and he knew that clouds weren't actually soft, but the comparison seemed sound enough in his mind.
Pinky, he learned, as his mum poured him a cup of hot, warm, and truly delicious tea, was one of the Prince family elves. Yes, wealthy families had more than one elf at a time, because long ago, a family would start with at least one male and female elf who were already married, and then children would soon follow. At the time Eileen had reconnected with her family, they had ten elves-although three were very old-and wanted to bestow at least one of them onto Eileen. Pinky had been her favorite as a child, and the elf had very much missed her, so they agreed that Pinky would come to live with Eileen.
"That explains Pinky," Severus agreed, slowly, "but who's Miss Leeny?"
Eileen laughed. "I am. Leeny was my childhood nickname. I outgrew it by the time I was twelve, but Pinky and I had always been close, and I allowed her-and only her-to continue to call me that. As you can see, she still does." She gave Severus a fond smile. "I expect she'll continue to call me Miss Leeny until she's very old. Not that this will happen for quite some time. House-elves, when treated well, can live even longer than witches and wizards."
All right, so the reunion between his mum and her parents had gone well enough that they'd given her her favorite childhood elf. He supposed this was promising. But how in the world could she afford this house? It was hardly a house, really, but a mansion.
Smaller than what James and Sirius lived in, he knew, but it could have swallowed up their own home several times over. At least.
"And...the house?" he asked, cautiously.
Had it been owned by his mum's parents, as well? He knew that some old wizarding families kept numerous homes, as much to have places to go on holiday as for safety reasons. Not that something like a muggle fire could cause a wizarding home to go up in flames, but they weren't indestructible if you had enemies.
Eileen blushed, just a bit. "Severus, do you know about the 1% rule?"
Severus shook his head. He'd never come across this in any of his readings.
"Most wizarding families, like mine, invest a great deal of their money in Gringotts. Of course, nearly everyone with at least some cash on hand puts their money there, because it's safer and because the goblins invest it for them. Goblins are shrewd businessmen, and if you keep your money with them, they ensure at least a 15% rate of return per year. Of course, that means you have 15% more money than you started out with the following year, even if you don't add anything to it," Eileen added, "and many of the wizarding families don't work, but live off of their fortunes. It's part of the reason some don't have many children."
Severus nodded, following along easily. Yes, with that rate of growth, even a modest amount of wizarding gold could grow significantly in several years.
"Once a child reaches adulthood, the father or mother will withdraw 1% of their cash assets from the bank, and give it to them as a yearly allowance," Eileen went on. "Male or female, it doesn't matter. Mind, females are rather encouraged to marry shortly after they come of age, but they receive their 1% even if they remain single. Each year, they receive this 1% as an allowance, and because of the 15% growth rate, the allowance is larger each time."
"What about when the family has more than one child?" Severus asked.
"It's still 1% for each child, once they become of age," Eileen explained. "As long as the family doesn't have more than fifteen children, their wealth will continue to grow."
She said this last part as a joke. Severus didn't think he knew anyone with more than a few children.
"I left my family a few years after I had begun to receive my share of the inheritance," Eileen went on, "and when I returned, I had expected my parents to tell me that they had given it to my brother and sister. They would have been right to do so, as I'd abandoned them. However, my father had kept careful records of what my portion would be at the end of each year, in the event that I returned. This means," she concluded, "that we have rather more money than I can begin to fathom. My family's wealth exceeds fifteen million galleons, so after they provided me with my portion..."
"We're millionaires?"
The idea seemed foreign to Severus.
She nodded. "This house was a couple hundred thousand. My parents helped me find it. I thought it was too large, and no doubt you think so as well. But," she said, with a laugh, "they say that if I'm to return to my family, I must live at least somewhat like a Prince. The rest of the money is in the bank. I'll still be working at the apothecary for a few mornings a week-I love the work-but I won't be relying on any of the money it brings in."
"What sort of work do you do there?" Severus asked, taking a bite of a biscuit.
"A bit of brewing for the shop and research into newer potions. Not unlike what I did before you were born," his mum answered, smiling. "More potions have been discovered since then, and there's quite a demand. But Master Belby and your Potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, had been working together on potions for various ailments, and invited me to collaborate with them."
Severus was impressed. "That's great, Mum!"
"Yes," she said, simply. "Would you like to know what we've been working on?"
He nodded, still chewing on the biscuit.
"As you know, Dragon Pox has been around for about nine hundred years, and while there's a cure, it's less effective on the elderly population. We've been experimenting with modifications of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor's cure to create a potion that can be used on the elderly," she explained.
"How do you test out such a cure?" Severus wondered.
"That's part of the trouble. Fortunately, Master Belby has been spreading word about it, and if anyone who's old enough to contact a severe case of it, they're very willing to be what muggles call a 'guinea pig.'" Eileen studied him. "That's not the only potion we're working on. There's another that may be of particular interest to you."
Severus frowned, unsure of what she meant. His scars were gone, and he had no other physical ailments.
"What do you mean, Mum?"
"Well, not to you, directly, but to one of your friends," she clarified. "I know about Remus Lupin's lycanthropy, dear."
Author's note:
A cliffhanger, yup. More details to follow in the next chapter.
I know that, according to online sources, the Wolfsbane Potion wasn't developed until the 1980's, when another werewolf attended Hogwarts. It was then that Master Belby, working with Professor Slughorn, developed the Wolfsbane Potion.
In this universe? Eileen Snape's adding herself to the mix. And with three minds working together, why shouldn't a cure develop quite a few years earlier?
Rest assured, this will NOT prevent the Marauders from becoming animagi.
Next up:
Adjusting to a new home is never easy, and plans for Severus to meet his grandparents.
As always, if you're enjoying this, please feel free to leave feedback!