"What we would need is that you integrate us into the Prince family as your distant relatives, it would be convenient to be able to appear as Hermione and Draco Prince, part of the magical Prince family'," said Hermione seriously.
"And also that you as the next head of the Prince family support us with the necessary paperwork that we will be doing for the Ministry and to join Hogwarts," Hermione clarified seriously.
They needed all these things to be able to integrate in this time and she already knew that it was not convenient to try to persuade or deceive Severus, it was better to be sincere and maybe he would not complicate things when he saw her honesty.
If Severus accepted Hermione's conditions, he would make things much easier for them.
Severus nodded contemplatively.
"I understand, that's what you need to be carefully integrated into our time," he commented, wondering if it would be a problem what they were asking of him.
He understood that the best way and option for them to integrate into this age without anyone else knowing about their past lives was to have the head of an important family like the Prince family validate their history.
This way they could avoid a lot of problems and questions that they could not answer.
Besides, giving them the name Prince was like giving them the status of a half-blood wizard from an important family and this would give them more freedom.
Something an average muggle-born or half-blood would not have.
Since British and European magical society, in general, was always very attached to the traditions of the purebloods and the great magical families, especially now that the magical world was at war over this issue.
"Hmm, in short, in exchange for the ring you want me to add you to Prince's family tree once I become the heir, even though you are not part of my family even though Draco is clearly related to the Malfoy's..." said Severus.
Hearing that Draco tensed slightly, but Hermione knew it was obvious to anyone with a brain to assume that he was related to them.
By Merlin, he was identical to his father.
"...Oh and you also want me to help you with your backstory in the magical world," he added making her request sound really absurd.
"Well, it sounds a bit bad like that, but yes..." she nodded.
Hermione knew she might be asking a lot, but they needed it and they couldn't negotiate for less than that, she had to be strong and try to convince him somehow.
Draco on the other hand was very doubtful that what Hermione asked for would happen, he knows that no wizard descended from a Noble Family would willingly put someone who is not part of their family in their ancestral family tree.
No matter the reason.
Even if a wizard lost the chance to be the heir to his Noble Family if he didn't accept the deal, Draco was pretty sure that a wizard would look for any other option before agreeing to such a request.
'Luckily he implied that he wouldn't do anything to us' Draco thought in relief, he knew that Snape could be very intimidating and he had always been lucky enough to have the professor on his side, now with the young Snape he didn't have that benefit.
And that terrified him.
"What you're asking for could be a big problem..." Severus said making Draco sigh knowing he was right, while Hermione was just worried about what to do next.
'Looks like this is going to get complicated' Hermione thought tiredly.
"Very well, I can agree to what you ask, but in return, I want not only the Prince's ancestral ring, you must also show me the magic you know of the future," Severus said.
" Everything that doesn't already exist" he clarified making Draco and Hermione look at each other for a few moments thinking about what he asked to them.
"So..., Do we have a deal?" asked Severus.
Draco nodded to Hermione and she just sighed tiredly knowing that most of the work would fall on her.
But she didn't know that Severus would also ask Draco to tell him everything he knew about dark magic, Lucius may have lent him a lot of books, but never anything unique to his family.
If Severus wasn't wrong in assuming that Draco had something to do with Lucius, then he could get unique knowledge from the Malfoy family or another family that the young wizard in front of him was related to.
"That's acceptable..., it's a deal S-Severus, and thank you, you have no idea how much you're helping us," Hermione nodded and thanked him.
'And you guys have no idea how much you're helping me' Severus thought amused.
Severus knew that she was asking something unthinkable for any other member of a noble family as important as the Prince.
But at this point, Severus didn't care about these pureblood wizarding standards, and he took advantage of that not only to gain the Prince's heritage, but also a vast amount of knowledge of future magic.
Magic that could be fundamental to his future plans.
And his plans were above all things.
He must start by improving his physicality, and his control over the Force, but many other things required money and a good social position.
Creating the technology required to travel into space would not be easy.
And to make matters worse, he wanted to go to another galaxy, it would be a long time before he achieved all this, so he could not waste time.
Maybe a part of him like Snape had wanted to refuse because he felt blackmailed by someone he considered inferior, but now he couldn't care less about that.
It would be foolish not to take so many benefits just for the sake of purebloods' pitiful pride and noble family bullshit.
If in order to be the heir to the Prince family and get magic from the future, he had to concede to Hermione and Draco the Prince surname along with the backstory that they were both distant relatives of him so that they could do the paperwork with the Ministry and get into Hogwarts.
Severus would do it now without even thinking about it, he had other priorities, Lily may have been a lost cause, but Padme wasn't.
'Twenty-two years' Severus thought.
'I'll have to figure out somehow how time travel affects other galaxies...' he contemplated.
"Well, I must say I'm surprised but glad and more relaxed now that you've agreed, I thought you would never agree to those terms," Draco commented honestly since he in his position wouldn't do it.
Both Hermione and Draco were grateful that Severus was more open than they had expected.
They thought he was going to threaten them or that he would find some method to get the information out of them, but he accepted their terms.
Although they would have to teach him magic that shouldn't exist in this day and age, but considering that they would already be using this magic, it wasn't a big deal to teach Severus.
Hermione was much more relaxed now than she had been at the beginning of the conversation, between not having her wand along to having to try and come to an agreement with Severus, she was under a lot of pressure and despite her good handling of the situation on the outside, she was still a nervous wreck on the inside.
"Well..., I can surprise," Severus replied calmly.
"Now what do you say about giving our word that we will honour this deal and that we will not divulge to other wizards about it," he added, wanting to get it over quickly.
" That would be the best thing to do," Draco nodded quickly.
"Yes, I agree S-Severus," Hermione replied in a calm tone, but inside she was happy that everything was resolved.
She still found it awkward and strange to simply call him by his name, but she knew she could get used to calling him that, it was much nicer than saying "Professor Snape".
"Perfect, I'll start with the vote, and then it will be your turn to follow," Severus said as they just nodded.
After a few moments of Severus having to help Draco and Hermione sit close to him, the three of them finally interlocked their forearms.
"I swear by my magic that once I get the ancestral ring and the Prince family inheritance I will integrate Hermione and Draco as a distant cousins, officially giving them the Prince surname, I will also give them my support as head Prince for the paperwork for their identity at the Ministry along with their admission to Hogwarts and by all this, I swear it," Severus finished his part of the oath.
Draco and Hermione were satisfied with their oath.
She and Draco looked at each other for a few moments before speaking.
"We swear by our magic and commit to giving Severus the Prince family ancestral ring..." began Hermione.
"...We also accept the obligation to teach him magic from the future that we have knowledge of..." added Draco.
"By all this, we swear," they both said together.
"Thus binding our words and the secrecy of this oath," said Severus ending the oath.
Threads of light appeared and disappeared from view over their intertwined arms.
Severus had not sworn oaths that could be avoided before, only once had he been forced to swear to stay at Hogwarts.
And that had been a horrible experience for him.
But now in a more comfortable 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 and Draco had already done some oaths in their lives, so they didn't pay much attention to this and parted his forearm quickly.
" Done..., it looks like we just have to do our part now," commented Severus.
"Yeah, at least that's one less thing to worry about," sighed Draco, he wasn't ready for so many responsibilities.
"Don't worry Draco, we just have to finish the deal," said Hermione putting a hand on his shoulder trying to make him relax.
"Right, now, how about we start discussing the details of the ring along with the future paperwork I'll have to support you with?" asked Severus, making Draco and Hermione look at him with different emotions.
"I'd rather get on with some things and see what I can do to make things easier, I don't like to waste time" he clarified.
"This... I don't know..." Draco just sighed and shook his head, he just wanted to get some rest, he still had a headache and his body was too weak, he didn't care about other things right now.
"Yes, sure, I'd love to discuss the details, I have several things to consult you on and several ideas that I want to know if they can be implemented for our integration as part of the Prince family," Hermione said quickly without letting Draco finish speaking.
She, unlike Draco, seemed very excited to get started as soon as possible.
"Well..., all this if you don't mind, of course, the deal was just your support on the paperwork, you don't have to waste your time helping us" she added a little embarrassed as she realised his outburst.
'How the hell does she have so much energy in that state' Draco wondered as he looked at her like she was insane.
"Since I'll probably have to intervene as heir to the Prince family to get your identity papers from the Ministry, I want to be well informed on the matter, I don't usually wait for others to do it for me, besides, it'll be quicker for everyone, don't you think?" said Severus.
But the great truth was that he simply didn't like being told what to do or not to be aware of what he had to do.
"I... yeah, sure, I find your logic quite reasonable, thanks for the help, so..." Hermione hadn't expected that answer from him, she was used to finding out and doing everything on her own and then passing it on to others.
The two continued to talk about many things about the future paperwork they would have to do and the best ways for them to avoid problems and save time.
While Draco returned to bed and left the two nerds to discuss these things.
Hermione began to think that she could get used to young Severus, she liked talking to smart people, it was refreshing and she could almost feel that Severus was a male version of her.
'Well... a bit darker and colder, but compared to Professor Snape, he's much more accessible' Hermione thought, she believed the two of them could be good friends.
'Or should I say, good cousins...?' she smiled amused at the thought.
"So are you two planning on taking the Hogwarts exam at the Ministry of Magic to get into 6th year?" asked Severus to Hermione, that would be the same year he would be.
"Yes, I and Draco are currently 16 years old physically so that would be the correct year," nodded Hermione.
"And we both need to prepare to take the exams given by the Ministry and Hogwarts to validate our knowledge and supposed studies at home," she added, excited about the idea of the exams.
"With the knowledge we have, it's more than enough, I wouldn't worry about it," Draco snorted from his bed.
"No, our grades are very important and if we want to integrate into this time, we have to do everything we can, these exams are an opportunity we can't afford to waste," explained Hermione seriously and excitedly.
"Granger, you're the only person I know who gets excited at the thought of an exam," Draco complained and decided not to continue talking to her, he couldn't agree on that with the Gryffindor.
But Draco knew that if they weren't at the level that young wizards of their age should be, they wouldn't be accepted at Hogwarts, so it was true that they should prepare themselves at least a little.
Still, he would not agree with her, there was nothing worse than doing that.
After discussing the final details of the deal properly, along with several questions Hermione had, Severus let Hermione rest quietly as well as Draco who didn't waste any time and went to sleep.
They still had to recover to be completely well, the headache and some of the burns still hadn't fully healed.
Even though she complained that she didn't want to rest, Severus treated her like a patient and didn't let her argue about it.
They would both stay in bed until at least the headache was gone.
Severus decided to spend the rest of the day thinking about his future plans and if there was one thing that helped Severus think calmly, it was when he was making potions.
So he decided to go to Diagon Alley to sell the parts he had taken from the Acromatulas he killed and with that to buy various ingredients for potion making.
He had already planned to brew the potions he owed Borgin for the sword and Severus would also make several potions for Draco and Hermione for their headache and for their more persistent burns to improve as the days went by.
He had learned a lot about medical magic and patient treatment, all thanks to Madame Poppy Pomfrey who was the magical nurse who attended him at Hogwarts.
Whenever Severus finished a fight with Potter and his bullies, she was the one who was in charge of helping him.
Madam Pomfrey was always very professional in her work and he respected the woman for that, he learned a lot from her over the years.
Once Severus had left the room to let them rest.
Hermione, who when she woke up had instantly noticed the lack of her wand and Severus' treatment of her burns, belatedly noticed another small detail she hadn't noticed before.
She and Draco were wearing only an apron and Severus had treated their burns, so he had undressed them.
Hermione blushed at the thought, she was quite embarrassed and furious because no one had ever seen her naked before.
But she calmed down quite a bit when she realised that he had at least left her in her underwear and that he had covered these parts with magical bandages.
It was still embarrassing, but Hermione relaxed noticeably at how professional Severus had been in attending her burns.
She couldn't be angry about it, but she was still a little red-faced at the awkward and embarrassing situation she was in.
-20 June 1976, England, Great Britain.
-Cookeworth City, House of Severus Snape.
The next day, when Draco and Hermione awoke, Severus proceeded to give them back their wands.
He had taken them before just to avoid trouble, but now that they had come to an agreement under oath, it seemed reasonable to give them back.
A wizard without his wand always feels naked and helpless, so it seemed the right thing to do as a show of trust between them.
Draco and Hermione were very grateful that Severus now trusted them enough to give them their wands.
When they woke up to be questioned by Severus, they knew immediately that they didn't have their wands.
They both tried not to be too alarmed at the time, but they knew that he could hex or threaten them at any moment and there was nothing they could do about it.
That was one of the reasons why Hermione couldn't help but talk non-stop, explaining and answering things as calmly as she could to Severus, it was her way of calming down.
Draco, unlike her, preferred to be quiet in a difficult situation.
During the conversation, Hermione did her best to sound confident and not show her concern, but still, she was very uneasy without her wand, she knew she was in a dangerous situation, she was a witch without a wand at the moment, and she was at Severus' mercy.
And to make matters worse, she was looking to make a deal under those conditions with a wizard-like Severus Snape, he had everything in his favour to threaten her or torture her so that she or Draco would give him all the information without the need to make a deal.
Clearly, Hermione wouldn't give any information under torture, but Severus didn't know that and she didn't trust Draco to be that strong either.
And since Hermione was at a disadvantage, the best option she could find for the moment was to present herself as his distant cousin, 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 with Draco at that moment without raising too much suspicion on them.
One of those options was to use the Prince family along with Severus to validate their identities at the Ministry and Hogwarts, but she had more options as well.
She wished to have had more time to think about the best option, but given her unexpectedly disadvantageous meeting with Severus before she could think things through, she proceeded to choose the option that best suited the situation she found herself in.
Hermione knew Severus wanted answers as to why two unknown wizards were lying unconscious in his house with burn wounds all over their bodies.
She probably could come up with a lot of excuses, like death eaters, but it wasn't entirely convincing, so she decided to go with the option involving Severus and his family, fortunately, she had already thought of a credible backstory for that option.
At that point, Hermione was a little reassured because she knew from Professor Snape's memories that he would not go so far as to torture her for information, at most he would threaten or frighten her in various ingenious ways, but he would not resort to physical violence.
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 physical violence or suffering.
He was above such acts, Severus would use his wits, intimidation, or a potion if necessary to get the same or better results.
But Hermione was wrong to think that young Severus would believe anything she said, she thought to use her distrust and intrigue to get him to listen to her all the way through, but he didn't even give her time to explain things, she had expected him to be so distrustful, but not that he wouldn't let her keep talking.
He simply shut her up with a spell and proceeded to talk to Draco and it was then that Hermione gave up hope that her alibi would work.
'Luckily it all worked out pretty well..., not as I expected, but it could have been worse' Hermione thought.
"Alright, take this, it'll help ease your headache," Severus said, handing them a potion that looked awful.
But neither of them complained, they just nodded and took the potion.
"And this for your burns, it will accelerate the recovery process," he added, handing them another potion that looked and smelled even worse.
Hermione and Draco looked at each other for a few seconds thinking that maybe he was just trying to poison them, but they shook their heads and took the potion.
"Bloody hell, this is disgusting, it tastes like Troll shit," Draco complained as he took the potion.
Despite Hermione thinking the same as Draco, she didn't complain out loud.
"What Draco means is thank you, Severus," said Hermione thanking Severus and looking at Draco with an angry and disapproving look.
It was good enough that he was helping them without them complaining now.
"You're welcome, now to the important thing, you two are still in no condition to move around," Severus began.
"So, to save time, it would be best if you tell me where the ring is now so that I can do all the paperwork at Gringotts," he finished.
Draco and Hermione agreed with that, although the deal was that the responsibility of giving him the ring was theirs, but if they gave him the location at his request and Severus got the ring, it didn't affect the oath.
Finally, they told him where the ring was and Severus wasted no time in going to look for it on his own.
It was only a few hours before Severus got the ancestral ring of the Prince family.
It wasn't hard to find the ring, which was in an old abandoned castle in the Republic of Ireland.
Draco and Hermione knew the exact location, so it wasn't difficult for him to get to the castle and get it out of the place where it was hidden.
After taking the ring, Severus headed for Gringotts Bank, which was in the middle of Diagon Alley.
Gringotts was always a very imposing building.
Severus climbed the white stairs that led up to a pair of tall silver doors manned by two goblin guards.
He was very interested in learning the techniques the goblins used for the security of Gringotts, as Severus wanted to protect his own laboratory so he could experiment with all sorts of things in peace.
When Severus reached the main hall after passing through the silver doors, he saw many rows in the corridor, each with goblins sitting at high tables doing their work.
He also saw many wizards and witches waiting patiently in line.
Severus had rarely been to Gringotts as he had no business at the bank due to his limited income, but he knew the inner workings.
He walked to one of the lines where he found a smaller queue and lined up for his turn.
When it was finally Severus' turn, he saw that the goblin was writing something down without paying attention to him.
"Excuse me," he said trying to get the busy goblin's attention.
The goblin looked up clearly annoyed at being interrupted, then looked him up and down for a few seconds.
"What do you need, wizard?" he asked.
Severus didn't mind the goblin's behaviour, he already knew they all had this attitude.
"I am here to take the inheritance test and register as the only direct heir," Severus said and gestured to his ring.
"Hmm..., right... What is the name of the House?" the goblin asked, staring at Severus' ring.
"Prince," Severus replied calmly.
The goblin looked at him for a few more seconds and then began to leaf through a thick book on his desk.
"Let's see...Prince... Uh-oh yes, right, the House has no heir..." the goblin commented.
"So you want to go through the verification and proof of inheritance?" he asked, looking at Severus.
"Yes," Severus nodded.
"The requirements..."
"I fulfill all the requirements to restore my pureblood status and become the heir to the family," Severus said quickly, confident and calm, he didn't want to waste time.
"Correct, Dorgob!" he said and another goblin approached the desk.
"Call Master Korgad for a blood verification and an inheritance test," the goblin ordered once he arrived.
Dorgob nodded and ran quickly, shortly after he returned with another goblin.
"Follow me, wizard," the new goblin named Korgad said to Severus the instant he reached his side.
The two of them walked through the vast marble hall, many wizards and witches were lining up to withdraw some gallons or exchange currency.
Finally, they reached a private cubicle that was apparently Korgad's office.
"So, a blood test and an inheritance test, right?" asked the goblin in his usual rude manner.
"Yes, I want to take the Prince family heritage and lineage test, to be the heir" Severus just nodded and explained again.
"Very well, first will be the test of inheritance. That would be 5 gallons for the blood lineage verification" Korgad informed with a bored look and voice.
"Here..." Severus calmly handed the five gallons to the goblin.
Although a part of him wanted to curse the goblins for this scam, 5 gallons was a lot of money for a wizard.
Especially for someone like Severus who had lived his entire life on this planet with the bare essentials.
The goblin took the gallons complacently and then handed him a parchment along with a small sharp object.
"Here, take this and cut your finger," instructed Korgad who was clearly more interested in the coins than in the matter of Severus.
Severus made a small cut on his finger.
Then the goblin placed the parchment in front of Severus and told him to put a few drops on it.
Severus did as he was told and stared at the unusual changes in the form of codes on the parchment.
It looked like a machine processing the information it had just received.
Korgad took the parchment in front of Severus and stood analysing the changes just as Severus did, but he seemed to understand everything that was going on, unlike Severus, who only saw strange codes.
After a few moments, the parchment seemed to have begun to finish the blood analysis.
"Hmm... it looks like you can pass the heredity test, Wizard," Korgad said holding out the paper in front of Severus again.
The parchment had information about Severus' blood heritage:
Severus Tobias Snape
Age: 16 years old
Father: Tobias Snape
Muggle Bloodline
Mother: Eileen Snape (née Prince)
Magical Bloodline
- Prince family (50% blood)
'Wow... 50%? That means my mother had already passed the heredity test before she was kicked out of the family' thought Severus rather surprised.
Severus thought that he must have only 25% of the Prince's blood, as he hadn't expected his mother to have taken the inheritance test.
The children of the more orthodox and older pureblood families usually go through an inheritance test before becoming the next heirs, this test is actually a blood ritual in which the wizard strengthens the blood of his family's bloodline, thus converting the 'blood impurity' he has from another family to only pure blood of the family's bloodline, making him a pureblood wizard with a pure bloodline.
To perform the blood ritual, a mage must have at least 15% blood of the family lineage, be under the age of 18 and have the ancestral ring of the family in question.
The higher the percentage of blood in the mage, the greater the likelihood that the blood ritual will be successful.
Although blood rituals are forbidden and penalised by the Ministry of Magic, as this is an ancient tradition of pureblood houses to maintain and strengthen their bloodlines, the Wizengamot approved and allowed this ritual to continue to be performed under the strict supervision of Gringotts who are responsible for taking all necessary measures to avoid problems during the ritual.
It can be said to be a fairly safe ritual as it does not compromise anyone's life under the supervision and measures of Gringotts.
It managed to avoid the death of the wizard who goes through the inheritance test in case of failure.
"Very well, would you like to take the blood test now?" asked Korgad, ignoring Severus' surprise at seeing the details on the parchment.
"Yes, that's what I came for," Severus replied.
An uneasy feeling came over him as he saw the goblin's eyes begin to glow brightly and his mouth curl up.
'Well, who would have thought..., now I know why they are always so serious...'
'...If they always smiled like that they wouldn't have a single customer, it's creepy' thought Severus amused.
"Follow me, the chamber for the Inheritance test is a bit isolated from the main facility," Korgad said as he led him through different corridors of Gringotts bank.