Chapter 115: Milo's Confrontation About His Identity

Lady Prince Apparated outside of the gates of Hogwarts. She passed through the gates and rushed into the castle. She took out her wand and did a tracking spell, which pointed her in the direction of the library. Perfect, she thought. She headed for the library, ready to take the Heirship ring away from Severus Snape. She still refused to think of him by a different name. To her, he was still Severus Snape, not some kind of made up name.

She entered the library to find the Heir to the Prince family sitting with a bunch of Blacks, a Potter, and... she narrowed her eyes. There, sitting next to the Potter boy, was that girl, Lily. Lady Prince remembered her from before Severus began Hogwarts. She had tried to tell Severus to not hang out with people like Lily Evans, because those people were Mudbloods. Severus, however, had not listened, and kept hanging out with her. It seemed he was still friends with her.

"Severus!" Lady Prince hissed. He ignored her. She tried again. "Severus!" she snapped. He finally looked at her.

"Don't you know my name?" he asked flatly. He turned back to Regulus. "Anyway, as I was saying..."

Lady Prince was not known for being patient. She grabbed her son's wrist, and pulled the ring off his finger.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Milo spat. He wrenched his wrist out her grasp and tried to get the ring back. "That is my ring, Dunderhead!"

Capella tried not to laugh. Calling Lady Prince a dunderhead was amusing.

"You are not worthy of the House of Prince Heirship ring when you have changed your name to fit in with the Prewetts and the Blacks!" Lady Prince said angrily. "You are no longer my heir! You should be ASHAMED of yourself!"

"Ashamed of myself? For what? Wanting to change my name?" Milo asked. "You know, people do that all the time. It's normal, and besides, Ignatius and Lucretia said I could, and they were there with me when I did it, along with some of the Blacks! You know, at one point, you wanted to keep me away from your drunk husband. No, I don't call him Father, because he was no father to me. You let the Prewetts take me in, and suddenly, you're displeased because I changed my name? You do not make any sense!"

Lady Prince glared at him. "I never wanted you to change your name. I..."

"Er, excuse me, but when you let your son be adopted by someone, that means he and that new guardian can decide if his name is changed, not you!" Sirius exclaimed with frustration clear in his voice.

Lady Prince pointed a finger at Sirius. "The Prince family is not like the Black family, so you can shut your mouth, Heir Black!" she shot back. She turned back to Milo. "Now, MILO..." she began, but he cut her off.

"You have no right to call me Milo!" Milo snapped. "That's only for people I respect. You will call me by my legal name, Miaplacidus."

Lady Prince glared at Miaplacidus. "Fine," she stated. "Miaplacidus, I will take this ring, and consider yourself no longer part of the House of Prince." She started to walk away, but Milo lunged forward, trying to grab the ring.

"Unless you want the House of Prince to end with you, I suggest that you give me back my ring," Milo warned.

"Well, what if I don't care?" Lady Prince asked. "Maybe it would be better if it ended with me."

"Is that so?" a voice asked nearby. Everyone turned to find Ignatius and Lucretia Prewett, followed closely by Arcturus and Melania.

"And what would the dark faction think of you if you let your House end?" Arcturus asked. "If I am not mistaken, they would look down at you for making such a fatal decision for your family. Then, you would see other families hand the responsibilities of their families onto the next generation, and you would just be waiting for your family to die when you die. Is that what you want, Lady Prince?"

Lady Prince glared at Lord Black. "Oh, and what about your son-in-law's family? Last I checked, the Prewett family is on its way to its end as well," she said coldly.

"That is where you are wrong," Ignatius cut in. He walked over to Milo and continued, "Miaplacidus, would you like to be my Heir?"

Milo opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was shocked. Did Ignatius just ask him what he thought he just asked? Milo swallowed before responding.

"I would be honored," he responded with a smile.

Lady Prince was stunned. "But, but, he can't be your Heir, because he's not a real Prewett!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, he can, because we adopted him, and therefore, he's a part of the House of Prewett, even if not by blood, he is certainly a part of the family by name, and as you know, it can be blood or name. It doesn't have to be both," Ignatius replied firmly.

Lady Prince hesitated. Finally, knowing she was cornered, she handed Milo back his Heirship ring. "Fine," she muttered. "Have it your way. Good luck, and don't be a disgrace to our family." With that, she stormed out of the library.

Milo put the ring back on his finger and then sighed a bit dramatically. His gaze locked onto the Black Brothers as he questioned, "Why are those types of women so exhausting? The pair of brothers sent him empathetic looks. Then he changed the subject. "When are we going to Gringotts?" he asked Ignatius.

Ignatius smiled. "You certainly know the drill, don't you?" he said. "We'll go get your Heirship ring this weekend."

"Thank you," Milo said, sounding tired. He found himself being surrounded by all of his friends. He leaned into Lily, Regulus, and Lyanna. Sirius threw an arm around him. Capella and James squeezed into the circle.

"No room for us," Mary said to Alice and Remus.

Lyanna and Lily backed away, giving Alice, Mary, and Remus room to come in.

"Hey, Heir Prince and Prewett," Mary teased.

Milo rolled his eyes. "You're all impossible," he grumbled.

"Oh, so we give you a big hug, and you just call us impossible?" Capella teased. Milo snorted. They stayed like that for a while until it was time to go to dinner.

"I'm starving!" James declared.

"Of course you are!" Sirius said with a smirk. "You're always hungry!" They laughed as they exited the library and went to the Great Hall for dinner.

Melania turned to Arcturus, Ignatius, and Lucretia.

"I think they forgot we were still in here," she said with a smile.

"I think they did," Lucretia agreed as they headed out of the library as well.

Author's note: Happy New Year!