"Do you want to talk about it?"

Corvus Augustus Prince simply made a noncommittal noise as he thought the question over. It had been plaguing him for some time, the newly developed situation in Slytherin, and it had even encroached on him in the blissful moments after climax. He also apparently hidden it from his face as well as he had first thought. Still, another person in on the problem might help, and he could trust Amelia to keep a secret.

She would have done rather well in Slytherin.

"That depends," Corvus kept his eyes closed as he spoke. The Room of Requirement had lowered the intensity of the lights to a bare minimum, in the name of setting the mood, and he was all too comfortable in his current position. Amelia had a very comfortable lap. "how much time do you have until your patrol is over?"

"About… two hours." The sound of a wand swishing through the air was faint. The thud it made as it was tossed back on the bed even fainter. "A little more if Grace can't get her eyes off of her book. Did you know she's planning on becoming an Animagus?"

"I did not."

"She barely even looked up when we started our patrol." Amelia chuckled and Corvus felt the vibrations through his head. "And no doubt she hasn't moved from that corner since the start of curfew either."

"Mmm."

"But enough about that, we have plenty of time to talk about your little problem, unless you want to spend it doing something else?" He felt her hand ghost its way up his arm. Slender fingers soon reached his bare shoulder, tracing along his collar bone, and coming to rest under his chin. He cracked open an eye and met the mischievous blue orbs looking down at him.

"As tempting as the offer is, I'll have to take a rain check," Corvus didn't want to, he could feel his body coming to attention, but he had a lot of work to prepare for and a good night's sleep might help in that regard. He sat up in the bed, and moved to stand, but was held back by Amelia's hand which had shifted so that she had her arm wrapped around him. "Amelia?"

"I…" Corvus looked over his shoulder and met her gaze. He didn't even need to use Legilimency to see the gears turning behind her eyes. Thinking. Organizing. Trying to put thoughts into words. He had a feeling that he knew where those thoughts were leading to. "I was wondering… since neither of us are involved with anyone else and we're in our seventh year, that you and I… I thought that we could..."

Oh Morgana. Corvus thought as he watched Amelia blush scarlet and avert her gaze. Her cheeks turned a brighter shade of red than her hair and her arm remained is hold on him. So confident when it comes to sex, but the moment emotional intimacy comes around, she's timid and stumbling.

He found that he liked it.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" He couldn't help the grin that came to his lips. Amelia blushed even brighter but did not let go. Her hand had slid down his chest and rested on his abdominals. It still didn't give her enough confidence it seemed.

"I…"

"How about the first Hogsmeade weekend? It seems like a right of passage to have a first date down at Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. So, what do you say?"

"Yes!" Amelia said suddenly, the word bursting forth like a rampaging bull, and then her hands were on his face which were quickly followed by her lips. Corvus was startled at first, it had been such a sudden shift, but he simply went with it and kissed her back. Amelia only came up for air and she had somehow managed to get into his lap. "Yes." Then she smacked him. "You utter prat. I've been waiting since our fifth year for you to ask."

"Well, I was rather occupied with other things at the time," Like trying to subtly prepare for an incoming war as well as lay the groundwork for my cousin's years at Hogwarts. "and you had plenty of chances to ask me yourself. We met here at least once a week last year."

Amelia bit her lip as she averted her gaze. Corvus couldn't help but chuckle at the sight and wrapped an arm around her waist. She had his dress shirt on, unbuttoned and a couple sizes too large, which contrasted greatly with the way her skin flushed. It dawned on him that he was taking even more of a risk, embarking on an emotional relationship with her, instead of keeping it purely physical.

But I've already managed to keep all three of my brothers safe from physical dangers as well as our grandfather's backwards world view. It shouldn't be too hard to add Amelia to that group. As well as Severus, and maybe Lily Evans as well now that I'm thinking about it, and this is actually getting rather complicated rather quickly.

He gave Amelia a kiss before depositing her back on the bed, ignoring the pout that she gave him as he did so, and stood up. Naked as the day he was born, he quickly retrieved his boxer briefs, and his slacks soon followed. The socks and belt went on after that, and when he snapped the buckle in place and turned back towards the bed, he found that Amelia had done nothing more than lean against the pillows and watched as he dressed.

She immediately blushed when his attention was back on her.

"We don't have to go right now." Amelia stretched out on the bed, wearing his dress shirt and nothing else, and exposed a wide expanse of muscled legs as she did so. It seemed that her confidence had returned to her. "The night is still young after all."

"And as much as I would like to simply stay here, we both have to get up rather early tomorrow, and you more so than I." Corvus picked his wand up and summoned Amelia's discarded clothes from where they lay on the ground. The brassiere and knickers were made of both black silk, smooth to the touch, and he tossed them to her in a rather undignified manner. "Now come on, get dressed."

"Oh, very well." Amelia stood from the bed and Corvus couldn't help but watch as she took off the dress shirt. What followed was a torturously seductive display of dressing, which he had found surprisingly arousing, while Amelia seemed to revel in the attention. Indeed, by the time she finished buttoning her shirt, Corvus found a certain part of himself standing at attention and was very much considering taking her up on that offer.

"Come on then, pretty boy," She said and walked towards the door, his dress shirt in her hand. "we don't have all night after all."

Corvus simply grinned as he gathered up the rest of his things and followed her to the door. The way she sashayed in front of him didn't help the tightness in his pants. He did however repay her in kind, grabbing a handful of arse just before she could open the doors, and got cute squeak with a defiant look. She returned his gesture, but while she was palming at his arse, he managed to swipe his dress shirt back.

Then he opened the doors and was out of the Room of Requirement, cackling as he hastily threw on the rest of his clothes while bounding down the hallway, with Amelia laughing without a care of being heard as she followed close behind.

Oh yes, things were getting rather complicated, but not all complications had to be bad.

"Okay, that does sound like a good suggestion, but it might be better if we put you on the right wing instead of the left. With Bjornson and Kensington graduated, our diamond formation is rather weak, so we need a strong right wing."

Alexander Julius Prince pointed at the piece of parchment they were all huddled over to emphasize their point. As captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, he had to devise new strategies every year, less the other teams get too comfortable. Too predictable. The only predictable the team should be was unpredictable.

"But I've always been on the left." Higgs said. "I only know all the routes when I'm on the left."

"Then you better start learning them on the right side as well." Alexander tapped the parchment again. "We need a stronger right wing, and since none of the incoming second years are big enough, it's going to have to be you."

"We could always try to recruit some of the others." Chambers said. She was their Seeker, and the only girl on the team, who was also only a third year. Some of the older guys still hadn't quite come around to the idea of her on the team but Alexander had managed to suppress any unrest for the time being. She was the best Seeker they had. "There's a couple-"

The sound of the entrance to the Common Room opening interrupted her. Alexander looked over with the rest of the team to see who it was, since first patrol wasn't over yet, and Narcissa and Malfoy – the sixth-year prefects assigned for second watch – were still sitting by the fireplace. At first, they didn't see anything since it was rather dark, but soon enough a figure entered into the soft glow coming from the fireplace and the various candles spread about, and Alexander found a grin suddenly adorning his lips.

His older brother, Corvus Augustus Prince, had just walked in and he did not look as well put together as he had when he left. His tie was no where to be seen, his waist coat was entirely unbuttoned, he was not so much as wearing but holding his robes, and he had a rather pleased look about his face. It was quite obvious what he had been up to while breaking curfew, and it made Alexander grin, as the twins now owed him a considerable number of galleons.

"Enjoy the late-night stroll, brother?" Alexander called out, several of his teammates hiding grins, or a blush in Chambers' case.

"Indeed I did, mon frère bien-aimé, et maintenant je te souhaite une bonne soirée." Corvus said back and didn't even break stride as he headed towards the dorms.

Alexander simply laughed as the door leading down to the dorms shut with a click. Whenever Corvus really got into his French, it always meant one thing, and Alexander made a note to himself to congratulate Bones the next time he saw her. About fucking time too. "Anyway, now that I know he's enjoyed his night and I've won the bet, let's get back to quidditch."

Severus Snape woke up early that morning.

He pulled back the curtains of his four-poster bed, saw that none of his dormmates were awake yet, and quietly made his way towards the shared bathroom that was connected to the dorm. It was a rather big bathroom, showers with dividers between them, as well as different toilet stalls and sinks. There was also not a spot of dirt to be found, even though Severus was sure that they had tracked some dirt in last night before they had headed off to bed.

Deciding that it really didn't matter, Severus went through the morning routine that his mother had insisted on, because he was a big boy now and needed to maintain personal standards when he got to Slytherin. Make friends with your dormmates, she had said, but be prepared for some of them to not be so friendly, Slytherin House is highly competitive. It was something that he had found to be true rather early on, not even after the feast had ended in fact, and when he walked back to his bed, he made sure keep his distance from Rosier's bed.

While his other dormmates were friendly enough, Evan Rosier had made it clear that they were not friends, and that he didn't particularly care about half-bloods.

It had made him frown during the Welcoming Feast when they had all introduced themselves, and a night's sleep hadn't changed much, so Severus quickly changed into his school uniform and headed up to the Common Room with his bag in hand. Mother had warned him that something was going to happen. That someone was going to bring up his blood status and that he had a Muggle father. He just hadn't expected it to be on the very first day he had arrived.

When he opened the door to the Common Room, he found that he wasn't the only one who had woken up early, and suddenly he felt some of his confidence slip away.

There were several older students sitting around the place, some occupying couches by the glowing fireplace, while others were sitting at ornate looking desks. Only a few turned to see who had come up from the dorms, most of their expressions turning bored almost immediately after seeing him. Severus worked to stand straight as he walked over towards one of the desks. Slytherin House was competitive, the fifth-year prefects and his own mother had made that clear, and apparently, he couldn't show any weakness.

It already seemed like a lot of work to maintain such an act at all times.

But that was the choice he had made, even when the Sorting Hat had offered to put him in Ravenclaw, and there was no backing out now. Of course, if his decision hadn't already been set in stone, Lily's Sorting was what solidified it into reality. His best friend – only friend, a small part of him said – was in the same house that he had always wanted to be a part of. It had sounded like a great idea at the time, for both of them to be in the same house, but reality soon came knocking.

Severus sat at the desk and pulled out one of the textbooks to look over. He had already read ahead, doing so the moment he had returned from Diagon Alley, but his thoughts were drifting. Lily was Muggle-born and Slytherin did not have Muggle-born students. Ever. It was like a rule of the school. One which had been broken when Lily had been Sorted. The feeling of nervousness that had previously left him came back with full force.

One wrong word, a single mistake in front of the wrong person, and Lily's secret would be exposed.

He didn't even know if it was possible to hide Lily's blood status for all seven years.

"You're Severus Snape, right?"

Severus turned at the sound of his name and found an older boy standing next to his desk. He had black hair and those grey eyes looked at him with interest. The clothes he wore looked far better than what Severus wore, more expensive, and freshly pressed. He also had textbook tucked under an arm that was twice the size of Severus' Transfiguration textbook.

"I am." Severus tried to sound as confident as possible.

"Well, its nice to finally meet you cousin," The older boy then offered a hand. "my name is Tiberius Marcellus Prince, but please just call me Marcellus."

Severus froze as they shook hands. Prince? The older boy in front of him was a Prince? He found that he was unable to speak as he looked at Marcellus in a new light. His cousin seemed impossibly taller than him, his clothes looked far nicer than they had a moment ago, and his eyes now looked like the same shade that mother had.

They are your family, Severus. Mother had said to him the night before they left for the Hogwarts Express. I know my brother enough that his sons won't look down on you for your blood. We're all Princes after all, even you, and it doesn't matter if you don't bear the name. Blood is thicker than water.

"It's good to meet you too." Severus managed to get out once his tongue no longer felt like a lead weight.

"I'm sure this has come off as quite the shock." Marcellus took a seat down at the desk next to Severus, the textbook placed on the fine wood. "Learning that you have cousins and all. I'm sure you have plenty and more questions for me and my brothers, I certainly would if our positions were reversed, and I'll be more than happy to answer some of them right now. We do have some time before everyone starts to wake after all."

"I… but I'm a half-blood." Severus whispered, and a part of him braced for ridicule, for rejection. "Why do you want to talk with me?"

Marcellus frowned before he spoke. "Because you're still family. Because blood is thicker than water. The fact that you're a half-blood doesn't change any of that. If you asked me, the entire concept doesn't make any sense, and has little to no supporting evidence. But don't say anything about that to anyone who isn't family. This is still Slytherin House, Severus. Purity of blood matters here. So, keep quiet about it, okay?"

"I understand." Severus said and couldn't help the smile that came to his face. He had family here. Cousins who didn't care that he was a half-blood. It felt nice. But then reality came rearing its head again. "Wait." It felt like a risk to even mention. But they were family. He could rely on Marcellus for help, right? "Can you help me with Lily?"

"Lily?"

"My friend." He thought over how to tell his cousin that Slytherin had a Muggle-born witch without it sounding completely ridiculous. Would Marcellus even believe him? Slytherin House never had anything other than purebloods and half-bloods before. "She's my friend, and she's a first year like me! I… she was my first friend before Hogwarts. I don't want her to get hurt."

"And why would she get hurt?" Marcellus had his wand out and did something. Severus didn't recognize the incantation he had said and didn't notice anything overtly different. He had certainly felt the magic though. "I activated the privacy wards on the desks. No one outside will be able to hear what we're saying."

Oh, that was good, and very useful sounding. That didn't make it any easier to tell his cousin. "I…" Dammit, mother said that he could trust them, so Severus just ripped the Band-Aid off and told him. "Lily's a Muggle-born!" He glanced around even though he knew no one else could hear. "You have to help her! I… I don't even know why she's in Slytherin, but she is, and if the truth got our she'd…"

Marcellus blinked at him. A silence hung between them as Severus trailed off, not knowing, or not wanting to say what would happen. Had he made a mistake? His cousin simply toyed with his wand, rolling it between his fingers, his eyes never leaving Severus'.

"You are sure she's a Muggle-born?" Marcellus suddenly asked. Severus nodded his head. "She doesn't have any magical relatives? Do you know if either of her parents are squibs?"

"I've known her my entire life." Severus said. "She's the only one in her family that has magic."

It only made Marcellus frown. Around them the Common Room was starting to fill up, more and more students waking up and getting ready for the first day of term, and among a group of girls he spotted her. Red hair like fire, green eyes like grass, and a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Lily was speaking with a blonde-haired girl he remembered as Abagail Pucey as they walked into the Common Room, and neither of them noticed him and Marcellus.

"Fuck." Marcellus muttered to himself. "That certainly changes things." Before Severus could say anything, Marcellus had already gathered up his textbook and stood from his seat. Severus quickly followed. "We'll talk more about this later, Severus, I've got to speak with my brothers about it first. Just make sure your friend keeps it quiet. I don't want to hear about any… Just get her to keep her mouth shut."

Then his wand was waved, the magic around them vanished, and he was walking towards the dorms. Severus watched him go and felt more than a hint of dread in his stomach. It didn't leave as he took up his Transfiguration textbook and stuffed it into his bag. It didn't leave as Lily called him over when she had spotted him. It certainly didn't leave when she introduced Abagail Pucey and Lavinia Nott, both of whom were very much purebloods, to him as the new members of their friend group. All he could do was smile nervously as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast as a group.

When they took their seats at the Slytherin long table, Lily and Abagail did most of the talking, while Severus was too nervous to truly add to the conversation, and Lavinia mostly ate and scrutinized them with those piercing blue eyes.

"I like Transfiguration the most." Abagail proudly stated. "Both father and mother have a Transfiguration Mastery, and I'll get one as well. Not even Jason is getting one."

"What's a mastery?" Lily asked. Severus felt the hint of dread get a little heavier as Lavinia slightly narrowed her eyes at Lily. That wasn't something that could expose her, right? He didn't even know what a Mastery was either.

"Its what you can get after taking your N.E.W.T.s." Abagail said after taking a bite of her toast. "You don't have to get one to graduate, its not required, but it's a mark of excellence and prestige. It shows that you were able to pass the E.A.G.L.E. and have true mastery over a subject."

Lily looked surprised for a moment before going back to eating her breakfast. Severus kept an eye on Lavinia as Abagail started to tell them all about the amazing subject that was Transfiguration. He couldn't tell if she had figured out Lily's secret or not. The girl simply ate her breakfast with all the prim manners that he had been told to expect from a pureblood. Not at all like how the rest of them were eating. It was almost mechanical in nature.

"I think Potions sounds nice." Lily said after Abagail had prompted her with a question. "To just drink something that could heal an injury in seconds sounds amazing."

"What about you, Severus?" Abagail turned her attention towards him. "Which class are you looking forward to?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts sounds interesting." Severus said. "Potions and Charms as well. I guess I'll just have to wait until we take them to see which I like more."

"Arithmancy." Lavinia said simply, her eyes on Lily the entire time, as if she were watching for something. Wait. Did she say Arithmancy? But that-

"I thought Arithmancy was an elective?" Lily had her brow furrowed in thought. "Can we even take it in our first year?"

"No, you can't." A new voice said. They all turned to see one of the fifth-year prefects from last night, Viola Shafiq, standing behind them with a pile of parchment tucked into the crook of her arm. Severus saw Lavinia narrow her eyes at Lily again. "Arithmancy is an elective for third years and up. Firsties like you lot just get the Core Classes and clubs. Here are your schedules, don't lose them, ask Professor Slughorn for another when you do lose them."

Then they found four pieces of parchment thrown at them and Prefect Shafiq hastily walking over to another group of first years.

"Oh, we have double Herbology first." Abagail sounded put out as she looked over her schedule. Severus looked over the schedule as well. Double Herbology with Gryffindor right after breakfast. Then Transfiguration with Ravenclaw. Lunch. "Why do we have Flying right after lunch?" Then Defense Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff and Charms with Ravenclaw to end the day.

"Well, it sounds interesting. I did a lot of gardening back home with Petunia." Lily said. Severus remembered the Evans Family garden being one of the best in the neighborhood. He wondered how much of that was actual gardening skills and how much was accidental magic making the flowers grow better.

"You have a sister?" Abagail asked and Severus realized what had happened far too late to stop it. Lily had mentioned Petunia, her older sister, who was not at all magical. It was going to get out. What was he-

"First years!"

Severus thanked God that someone had interrupted them all. They all turned and found that it was Thomas Bletchley, the other fifth year prefect, who was calling for them. He was standing at the end of the long table and motioned for them all to come to him. It was only after they had assembled into a clumped group did they learn that they were to head to their first class.

Breakfast wasn't even over yet.

"For the first week of classes," Bletchley spoke to them in a loud voice. "either Prefect Shafiq or I will be escorting you to your classes so that you all don't get lost. Make sure to memorize where they are. After the week is done, you're on your own. Also, make sure to travel in groups of at least two, and always keep your wand on you. I don't want to hear any reports of Slytherin firsties being sent to the Hospital Wing."

After that speech, they were off, and Severus wondered why they needed to travel in groups. It became rather evident the moment they stepped out of the Great Hall, when the entire group ran into what looked like a hexing match between a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor boy, and it looked rather painful. There was a lot of hissing and some cursing. Bletchley gave both boys detention and took twenty points from their respective houses for setting a horrible example to the many first years he was escorting.

"I better not hear any of you doing something like those idiots were." Bletchley said as they left through the front doors of the castle. Apparently, the greenhouses were outside and separate from the rest of the school. "If you have to hex someone, do it in private, or at least in a secluded corridor. You don't want to be the one who loses points for the house."

They reached the greenhouses to find that they were still locked. Professor Sprout hadn't arrived yet and so they all just stood around. Their prefect guide decided to fill their time with some last-minute advice.

"Always get to your classes early," Bletchley as saying "and if you have a problem with someone from another house, bring it to one of the prefects. Now, when I say problem, I mean an actual problem. If you get hexed by someone, I don't want to hear about it, just send a hex right back at them. Do you all understand?"

They replied in the affirmative. Bletchley left them after that, heading towards his own class, while in the distance they spotted the Gryffindors in the distance. Some of his fellow Slytherins started to whisper amongst themselves, their groups basically splitting by gender, and Severus decided to stick with Lily and the other two girls. They were supposed to be his new friends or whatever. He might as well make a show of it.

"Oh no, Evan's going to do something stupid." Abagail said and they all turned and watched as Evan Rosier walked up to the approaching Gryffindors. He had Mulciber and Wilkes by his side.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. There were three other Gryffindor boys who were coming up to meet Evan and his group. Two of them looked familiar while the third didn't.

"That's Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew." Lavinia said with a sneer marring her face. "It's going to be about Black's Sorting. He was supposed to be a Slytherin."

"Why?"

"Because all the members of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black are Slytherin." Abagail explained somewhat sadly as the two groups came to a stop in front of each other. "It's a tradition that Sirius broke by getting Sorted into Gryffindor."

"Does it really matter though?" Lily looked concerned as they watched the two groups started to argue about something. They were too far away to truly hear. "It's just a house."

"Its not just a house." Lavinia snapped. "Its tradition. You don't just walk away from it like it was nothing and then spit on it. That is what Sirius Black did when he got himself Sorted into Gryffindor."

"Lavinia." Abagail said as Lily flinched back. Severus subtly put himself between in front of her. "You don't have to sound so mean when you speak. We're all friends."

"Right, friends." Severus added, attempting to draw attention away from Lily as much as possible.

Professor Sprout then appeared just before the argument between Rosier and Black got out of hand. She chided the six boys about fighting on the first day. Lavinia turned her gaze away from the professor to look back at them all for a moment. "Tradition matters." Then she was pushing her way into the greenhouse.

"Don't worry about her too much." Abagail said to them as they joined Lavinia inside. She was already sitting next to Alexander Avery. "She's much nicer when you get to know her."

Severus doubted that, but didn't say it aloud, and simply took a seat next to Lily. The rest of the class made their way into the greenhouse and soon everyone was sitting down. Severus noted the way that Evan Rosier and Sirius Black sat as far apart from one another.

Those two were going to be trouble, he could feel it, much like his own problem was going to be if he didn't find a way to solve it.

He needed to talk with his cousins.