Draco looked at the girl he recognised as Lily Evans.
Her face was oval and seemed to emit light, she had big beautiful bright green eyes, she had long silky red hair, she was quite tall and very white.
Draco suddenly felt as if his stomach was turning inside out.
'No, no, no, she's Lily Evans, Potter's mother, I can't think of her like that.'
'But... that smile, those lips that...'
Lily turned her gaze towards the door to the entrance of the Potions shop as she heard someone enter and realised that there were two young people about her age staring at her.
The male was looking at her with his mouth open and the female was smiling slightly.
Lily could see a few tears in the young witch's eyes.
Surprisingly, this grey-eyed male looked rather like Severus' Dark friend Lucius, but without Malfoy's characteristic blonde hair.
'Who are they? well... I'd better introduce myself first' Lily thought.
Lily smiled warmly at them both and approached them.
Lily tried to remember this girl's face, but nothing came out.
She had never seen her face before and she couldn't find any resemblance to anyone else either.
"Hi, I'm Lily, Lily Evans. I don't think I've seen you around here before," Lily greeted kindly.
"Certainly..." replied Draco automatically causing Lily to give him a confused look, but after a moment Hermione nudged him to shut up.
Hermione was surprised to look up and see Draco gawking at Lily.
'I almost thought that the reason Draco was gawking at her was...'
'No, Draco couldn't, he couldn't, fall in love with her' Hermione thought but Draco's gaze was still fixed on Lily.
" Nice to meet you. Hermione Prince is my name, and this is my half-brother Draco Prince."
"Prince?" asked Lily.
"I've never heard of a student with the surname Prince at Hogwarts and from what I can see you two must be close to my age" she added intrigued.
"That's because we've both always done homeschooling," informed Hermione.
"So you two just do your studies at home?" asked Lily.
"Yes," they both nodded.
"Wow..., but doesn't the Ministry require wizards to validate their homeschooling by attending a magical school in their final year?" asked Lily again, very intrigued by these two wizards she had never seen before.
She had heard of homeschooling, but never knew anyone who did it.
"Yes. Although we plan to go into 6th rather than 7th year so that we have an extra year to adjust to the wizarding school," replied Hermione.
"So, are you planning on attending Hogwarts?" asked Lily.
"Well, we still have to take the admissions exams, but yes, Hogwarts is the school we're hoping to get into," explained Hermione.
"Yeha It was the only option as my sister doesn't like Durmstrang," commented Draco jokingly wanting to join in the conversation as he felt left out with Hermione being the only one to speak.
But his joke had the opposite effect than he intended as Lily was quite surprised and tense when she heard that he was considering going to Durmstrang.
Suddenly, Lily straightened up and said: " You know that Durmstrang teaches Dark Magic, don't you?"
"Of course I do..." started Draco but again he earned a nudge from Hermione who shushed him.
"My brother's just joking, we never considered going to any school other than Hogwarts," commented Hermione truthfully as that was just Draco's invention and she really wanted to smack him for being so reckless.
Lily was relieved to hear Hermione's sincere words and understood that her brother was really just making a bad joke like James and Sirius used to do.
"And I apologize, Draco still doesn't understand that England's current state against Dark magic is no joke," Hermione said with clear irritation in her voice as she looked at Draco, letting him know that the two of them would have a long talk later.
Draco just sighed wearily, there was no worse punishment than listening to Hermione lecture you.
"My mistake," Draco said reluctantly, he didn't think a simple joke was such a big deal, but knowing that Hermione wouldn't stop complaining later if he didn't say something to correct himself, he decided to just take the more convenient course of action.
Lily just shook her head and then smiled again.
"Don't worry, you're not the first one I've met who does that..., in fact, I think you'd probably get on quite well with them..." commented Lily.
'Though I hope James doesn't dare add another one to his Marauders, my head hurts enough with only four, hell let alone five' thought Lily.
Draco didn't pay attention to who the people she was referring to were, but Hermione did, and she knew she was referring to the Marauders.
'Draco and the Marauders?..., no, no, that wouldn't be possible' Hermione laughed lightly at the thought of Draco with James, Sirius, and Remus.
" By the way, you're not from around here right?" asked Lily.
"Huh?, why do you say that?" this time it was Draco who spoke looking at Lily with intrigue.
"Hmm, well, even though I can definitely judge from your accents that you're locals, but I've never seen you before," replied Lily.
Draco and Hermione looked at each other and finally, it was Draco who answered as he figured she wouldn't want to lie to her.
"Uh-oh, that's because we were born here, but then our family moved outside and just recently we moved back to England," said Draco.
" So, why did you move here, to go to Hogwarts?"
"Yes and no..., our family died and our only living relative lives in England. So we moved here," Draco said calmly.
Lily shifted slightly, feeling awkward for asking this.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." apologised Lily in a slightly broken and regretful voice.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Hermione said quickly not wanting her to feel bad for them.
Then they were silent for a few seconds.
"So... Do you know which House you want to go to yet?" asked Lily again trying to pick up the conversation that had become a little awkward.
"Definitely..." Draco was about to automatically say something but instantly fell silent and then looked at Hermione doubtfully.
'Should I go to Slytherin or should we both go to the same house, Hmm Granger in Slytherin..., yeah right, like that's even possible' Draco denied not knowing what to say now.
"We haven't decided yet, but personally I would like Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," said Hermione seeing that Draco didn't know what to say.
Lily nodded in agreement with her, those two houses were the same ones she had thought about joining her first year and luckily ended up in Gryffindor.
"Then maybe we'll be house mates since I'm in Gryffindor, it would be nice to have someone fresh in the group, of course, if you agree," smiled Lily.
"That... yes, I would like that" nodded Hermione with a hint of happiness in her voice.
"Great, then we'll just have to wait, although if you get into Gryffindor I recommend you watch out for Marauders..." said Lily.
"Marauders...?" asked Draco suddenly as if he remembered something about them.
"Yes, a gang of four troublemakers and irresponsible people who love to play pranks... although they're good boys, but they don't know how to control themselves. Except for Remus, he's actually nice enough and smart," Lily remarked.
The three of them chatted for a while as they looked at and bought different potions.
Hermione was delighted to be able to meet and talk to Lily Evans, while Draco didn't know how to feel, but he took an active part in the conversation.
They could both admit that Lily was kind, respectful, intelligent, funny, and humble.
Her character seemed to show and want to find the beauty within all things and people when she spoke, almost without focusing on the outside.
And Hermione and Draco concluded that Lily had that beauty not only on the outside but also on the inside.
Lily kindly offered to guide them through the rest of Diagon Alley, and they accepted even though they already knew it.
After going through various shops and buying everything they needed, they finally said goodbye to Lily but she made them promise to talk to her so they could meet up and go over everything they needed to get into Hogwarts.
Lily was quite persistent in helping them practise everything they needed to know for the entrance exams, saying that as a Hogwarts student she could tell them what they would need to know more accurately.
Plus she already considered Hermione as a future Housemate.
Although Hermione wanted to refuse, to her surprise it was Draco who accepted Lily's invitation and she had no choice but to agree.
-Edinburgh, England, 4 July 1976
-Heir Prince's Manor
A private manor to which only the Lord Prince had access.
Heir Prince's Manor was in a magical area isolated from Muggles in the centre of Edinburgh, opposite Princes Street Gardens.
From the Middle Ages until the 19th century, the Prince's Manor used Nor Loch for testing dark potions, making corpses disappear, and other witchcraft.
The Princes were one of the main reasons for the unhealthiness of the Muggle community in the city and the ongoing diseases that decimated the Muggle population.
When Draco and Hermione left to Diagon Alley, Severus decided to go to the Heir Prince's Manor for the first time.
This Heir Prince's Manor looks like a sumptuous, luxurious-looking home with recreational areas, a large garden of its own, and excellent amenities.
But it is much smaller and less luxurious than the main Prince Manor in Britain, but that is understandable since one is the size of a huge house for personal use and the other is the size of a palace for the entire Prince family.
When Severus arrived at the entrance he was greeted by a small house elf dressed in a very elegant black robe.
"Master! Your most loyal elf, Popper, presents to you!" said the elf bowing respectfully.
"Popper, didn't I tell you that there is no need to bow every time you speak to me, come on, get up!"
"Popper thank the Master," said the elf standing up and respectfully handing him some papers.
Severus took them quietly and read them.
He had arranged for Gringotts to give the Prince family an official identity in the Muggle world as an ancient and heirloom rich family that had recently found an heir, and he, Severus Prince, was the heir to all the wealth of this family.
And today he had sent Popper to bring him his manager's report on the matter.
From what he read, it was not difficult as Severus already had a Muggle identity and the Prince family had left a record of his existence in the Muggle world many years ago when they were in Ireland.
Doing so now allowed Severus to enter the Muggle market which was afloat and growing, unlike the magical market which was very stagnant, thus leaving the once powerful and wealthy magical families as if they were mere commoners compared to some wealthy Muggles.
After finishing reading, Severus nodded to Popper and noticed that he was looking at him shyly.
"Anything else you want to inform me of?"
"Popper reminds you that Popper isn't allowed in here, if you wish Popper can wait outside as long as you need."
"Uh-oh... yes that, I almost forgot, don't worry Popper, I'll take care of the rest, you can go back to the Manor Prince," Severus said.
Popper nodded and with a respectful nod disappeared.
'I still can't get used to this," sighed Severus.
He had wanted Popper to be a free elf, as he didn't agree with slavery, he had lived it himself and knew what it felt like.
But Popper was simply stubborn, and his mentality was too strange.
When he found out that Severus wanted him to be free he almost beat himself to death thinking he had done something wrong.
No matter how many explanations he gave the elf, he just took it as if he had done something wrong.
Once Severus got tired of arguing with the elf, he let Hermione explain things to him since she felt the same way he did, but even she had to accept it.
And so he stopped insisting that Popper be a free elf.
'Although Hermione is still trying to reason with him,' Severus thought, amused at how insistent the witch could be, even though it was obvious that her words weren't getting through to Popper.
Playing it down, he finally entered the manor.
Severus was surprised to discover a wide variety of magical objects throughout the manor.
He even discovered a forbidden section.
This forbidden section was in a secret room and was the last room he discovered.
This secret room stored all sorts of books of dark magic, dark potions as well as many unique and sinister items.
Severus sent a message to Draco and Hermione that he would not be returning to the Manor Prince for a while as he was too busy with other things, so the magic practice would be postponed.
As usual, he didn't elaborate and they didn't ask many questions, that was the relationship the three of them had, even though they got along well, they didn't share their day-to-day life as friends or family.
-17 July 1976
In the last few days, Severus had been researching everything at Heir Prince's Manor and the things he had found on his own in the forbidden section had caught his interest.
Among all these unique items in the secret room, there was one that Severus had been using constantly since he found it.
This item was a small sand timer that he found among all the things in the room.
It was a very old time-turner that had been acquired and kept by the Prince family.
Severus knew that time magic was one of the most mysterious fields of magic, as well as one of the most dangerous.
He still didn't understand how wizards could make the Force do such a thing, he was sure that any Jedi or Sith would be quite impressed with these time-turners.
Although he wasn't that impressed as he now knew that an adult version of Snape had managed to send two young people 22 years back in time and considering the consequences of his actions he wasn't very interested.
Little is known about magic involving time, which is why there are so many regulations when it comes to using it.
The Time-Turner Severus found is quite old but still performs the same functions as the current one.
His only problem is that it doesn't have the time reversal spell set by the British Ministry of Magic, so if one is not careful one could travel in time for longer than one's body can handle, dying upon returning to one's own time.
Severus knew that the maximum time to safely time travel was 5 hours, so he stuck to that time.
He also knew that he could use the Time-Turner any number of times, but his body couldn't take it either, so after a series of tests, he discovered that the number of times he could use it without putting too much strain on his body was twice a day if he wanted to use it every day without any problems.
Thanks to this, all his days now had 10 hours added to them, in which he spent his time training, meditating, studying his family's magical books and other things.
Today, Severus was looking in detail at the documents passed to him by his manager Dorbuck at Gringotts about the income he had made from the sale of various family heirlooms, treasures, and family items.
These documents recorded the proceeds of all the items, family heirlooms, and family treasures that Severus had decided to sell.
Severus had already asked his house elf, Popper, a few days ago to gather all the valuables from the various Prince' houses and mansions.
And since the Prince family is a typical old family of pure-blooded wizards, all the decorations in all the mansions and houses are hundreds of years old and have great value today.
When Popper had finished gathering everything, Severus spent some time looking at all the objects Popper had put in the magical boot he had given him.
Severus listed everything on a list, ranging from ancient armour and goblin-forged swords to all sorts of jewellery and magical silverware.
He then consulted with his finance manager at Gringotts about the approximate value of these antiques and discovered that they were almost priceless, so when the time came to sell them he would have a large number of interested buyers bidding for them, especially if he extended the deadline to sell abroad.
It was then that Severus understood that it was not the number of gallons a family had at Gringotts that made them truly rich, but their most valuable possessions.
In the magical world, older families may have a large number of gallons, but other, more recent families have managed over the years to match their wealth in gallons.
But Severus now understands that an old family is not defined by the amount of gallons they have, but by the priceless possessions that others wish they had.
Wizards are very proud and have a lot of invaluable heirlooms, it is a sign of power and wealth in the magical world.
That's why for the great families it's not only the gold, but their personal belongings, as well as the books and secret/prohibited objects of each family that are really worth.
Severus decided to sell everything that was of no use to him or would be of no use to him in the future.
So he contacted the goblin manager of the Prince family to take care of auctioning all the items he listed to all the interested wizards in the world.
The things Severus decided to keep were mostly things that represented the Prince family, many of which were gathering dust from years of storage.
All of these things were entrusted to Popper to clean and use as the new decorations for the Prince family mansions and houses.
Other things he kept were books, magical items, ingredients, and potions that he would later research.
Returning to the sale of the antique items, Severus noted that so far less than a quarter of the total he had put up for auction had been sold, while the rest was still up for auction.
But these sales alone had already brought in almost the same amount of gallons that he had at Gringotts when he inherited the Prince family.
But Severus did not stand still and invested the money he had earned in creating an industry in the Muggle world.
And with this, he managed to acquire several companies and metal smelters and he also made many important investments in technology.
He had not yet created anything on his own because he was busy with other things, but he had already planned to start by creating the first droid of this world, only that it would require time because the current technology of this planet was very limited.
So Severus would have to do everything from 0.