DISCLAIMERS: I don't own anthing other than the plot. J.K. owns the characters and I just borrowed them to play with.
A/n: Re-posted 08/17/2013
italics = Thoughts
Chapter 13 - The Prince Family
"The Prince family descendes from the youngest son of Salazar Slytherin," Severus began. "His name was Simon, and he had three daughters but no son. He knew he wouldn't be able to continue with the family name, so he made sure all of his daughters were married into families of good reputation. The oldest of his daughters was called Samantha, and she was the most beautiful of them. Simon wed her to the heir of the King Family. The Kings were said to be the descendants of Arthur's throne, and they were a very prestigious family at the time. Now, the Kings had something of a curse on their line, they were only able to produce one child every generation, a son. But when Samantha married into the family she broke the curse, giving birth to twin boys. Growing up, the family couldn't say which of them was the oldest, so the fortune was divided equally between them. So that the brothers didn't fight, the Prince family was created.
"The Kings died generations ago; they were like Salazar, meaning that blood purity was the most important thing, so they ended up producing squibs or being sterile. When the last King died, the fortune went to the hands of my great-great-great-grandfather, Severus Prince.
"The Prince family also believed in blood purity, but had a different vision of what it means. Since Samantha Slytherin, all their marriages were arranged so they could be sure to find a consort with magical blood that wasn't too closely related to them. When I say magical blood, I'm including not only the self-proclaimed pure bloods, but also half-bloods and even a few muggle-borns. What mattered to the Prince's was a marriage between two powerful beings with a strong magical blood. Until my grandfather, Sirus Prince, that is what happened. He had two children, a son and my mother. My uncle, Sinope Prince died before marrying, so my mother, Eileen, became the heir to the family.
"She was supposed to have married Abraxas Malfoy, but she hated him and how he behaved around her. As soon as she finished Hogwarts, she ran away to the muggle world. It was there that she met and fell in love with my father, Tobias Snape, and she married him without telling him about being a witch.
"Because she married a muggle, my grandfather blocked her from the family inheritance by making a clause stating that the next heir to the Prince family had to be a male direct descendent of the Prince blood and with 2 magical parents. Seeing as my father was as muggle as your relatives, I was never eligible. You, on the other hand, fit all these specifications perfectly," Severus completed his explanation.
Harry didn't know what to do with all the information he'd just been given. A thousand things whirled through his mind, and he didn't remember which parts he had understood and which needed more clarification. At last, he decided to tackle the veiled confession made.
"As muggle as my relatives?" He asked in a murmur.
"Exactly like your relatives," was the serious answer. "That is one of the reasons I blame myself for not realising, I should have seen how alike we are. A lot of the things you did over the years that irritated me, now make much more sense. I'm not saying they were the right thing to do, but I can relate on why you would think they were."
Several minutes of silence passed while they both absorbed all that had been said in the conversation. After paying for the food, they made their way back to Spinner's End. A whole new level of understanding growing between them, making the silence that can often be oppressive actually quite comforting.
When they arrived home by floo though, they weren't met by the silence they were expecting, but by two exasperated voices.
"Where is he?" asked one of the voices. Harry's eyes grew huge when he recognized it.
"I don't know son, but I doubt Severus will be out for long," answered the other voice; more aristocratic, but still easily recognizable.
The green-eyed boy was completely paralysed in front of the kitchen floo gate, and Snape – concerned – didn't see the small tremors that shook Harry when the man passed him, going to see to his visitors.
"Lucius, Draco, to what do I own this unexpected visit?"
"Uncle Sev!" said Draco, and he and his father turned to look at the still open doorway that showed not only Severus, but Harry, who was still rooted to his place in the kitchen.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Lucius said threateningly. In a second, he had his wand out and pointed at Harry.
Harry closed his eyes sure he was going to be hexed. I knew it was all too good to last, was what went through his mind.
"I've never threatened your son, Lucius, so I would appreciate it if you were just as kind to mine," Severus's voice was almost a hiss.
"Son?" exclaimed Draco "since when?"
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