Chapter 15: Prince

18 June 1976, England, Great Britain.

Town Cokeworth, Severus Snape's House.

'Looks like I'm about four years younger, I must be about 16 years old. It seems that Professor Snape was not mistaken' she now knew that she had traveled in time and if she was not mistaken, she was in the house of a young and unsociable Severus Snape, she had to think well about what to do next, she had some ideas of how to start, she knew that nobody could find out that she came from the future so now she was alone and without any support, despite everything she had learned in her two years of apprenticeship with Professor Snape, she knew that it would still cost her to get used to all this new change of time and life.

She knew that she had to integrate into the school with the rest of the Hogwarts students so that the plan she had designed against Voldemort would go perfectly as she could not afford to fail in stopping the Dark Lord, she had to be meticulous in every step she took and in the arduous task of finding the Horcruxes that existed at this time.

She tried to get up and move as she did not want to be seen and found by young Severus Snape in this condition in her home.

When Hermione tried to stand up, she felt a great pain throughout her body due to the burns she had that prevented her from doing so, without giving up she tried again, but this time she also felt a severe headache and dizziness.

Seeing that she could not get up, she decided to lie down and check her mental barriers with her occlumency, it was then when she realized that she had to calm her nerves and her anger for what had happened in her time, she cried for one last time for all the fallen in the war, her friends, the loved ones of all those who helped in her cause, she vented all her frustration and once ready she closed with her occlumency all her mental barriers and tried again to get up.

After a while, she managed to stand up, but despite her great effort to resist the headache, the dizziness, and the physical discomfort she had from all the burns, she finally gave in and collapsed, falling unconscious to the ground.

When she awoke she was lying down and her body felt much better, it seemed that most of her burns were gone along with most of her headache.

"I see you finally woke up, now, I would like to know who are you and what is a witch doing in my humble home, I don't usually have guests and even less in the deplorable state I found you in" Hermione didn't have time to continue thinking because she immediately heard the question coming from a very deep voice, that voice so cold, dry and hard couldn't be from anyone other than Professor Snape.

She turned around and saw sitting in front of her a young Severus Snape about 16 years old who was looking at her in an intimidating and fixed way with his dark and penetrating eyes that judged her as they used to do before with the adult Snape, but now she could see more intrigue and doubt in those eyes, no doubt it was Severus Snape but adult Snape was much more intimidating than the current one, Hermione wanted to laugh at the young version of Professor Snape, now the young man in front of her was much cuter than the bitter, judgmental, dark and intimidating adult Snape she knew.

"I...I, I'm Hermione...Tos Tos, well, you see, I'm Hermione Prince. Are you Severus Snape son of Eileen Prince?" he said and asked Hermione realizing her almost mistake as she stared at the young Severus Snape.

She was in a complex situation, not only did she not have her wand, but she also came within an inch of saying the wrong thing, luckily she reacted in time and corrected her almost mistake.

The young Severus in front of her no doubt still had the same cunning and ability to get the truth out of one as the adult Snape she knew back in the day, it seems that from a young age Snape had that ability to intimidate people with those black eyes and that unique voice.

Now Hermione was determining how to proceed with young Severus Snape in front of her, she already had an idea of how to get his attention.

Anything to change the future that awaited the world, she had to be strong to stop Voldemort, whatever it took.

Hermione noticed amused how the young Snape was extremely shocked by her answer, she could see how those black eyes of his were looking at her trying to decipher her, she was sure he was starting to search for answers and draw conclusions, his mind sure was working at full speed to process what she said, it was amusing and unique to see the immutable and stoic Professor Snape so confused.

"Oh, Excuse me, but I must have misheard, you said your last name is Prince?" he asked without giving her any answer to what she asked, as expected from Severus Snape, it seems that from a young age Snape had that personality.

"I am Hermione Prince and I am looking for Eileen Prince's son, as for why I was in that condition, I can only tell you that in my trip to this house I suffered some altercation that left me in that condition, I can assume that you took care of my injuries, I thank you in that case," said Hermione and thanked him without explaining much more, she wanted to see the confused young Severus Snape for a while longer, she had already planned how to deal with him and how to blend in this time without raising too many suspicions, questions or problems, certainly one of the best options she had was the young Severus Snape in front of her.

"I see,..., but what a strange thing, isn't it, last time I checked there was no living member besides me in the Prince family Miss Hermione. Oh, excuse me, I didn't introduce myself, I'm Severus, Severus Snape, nice to meet you, as for your injuries, there is nothing to be thankful for, I couldn't just leave you lying in the room in that state, I could be accused of some crime if so" the always distrustful Severus Snape told her dryly, another thing in common he has with the future Professor Snape who used to use that same mocking and sarcastic tone that indicated how funny and silly he thought others were when trying to say what to him was an obvious lie.

Hermione was impressed with the many similarities that this young Severus Snape already had to the future Professor Snape, despite seeing and knowing the young man's life in front of her, she hadn't paid particular attention to his personality at this time, she only saw the important events or ones that intrigued her, she hadn't probed much further than that when she entered Professor Snape's mind.

"Oh I see, thank you anyway for attending to my burns, and to answer your question, I am a distant relative of the Prince family, you must be Eileen Prince's son, right?" replied Hermione again not giving a thought to the obvious teasing tone the young Snape was using in front of her.

Hermione had already decided how to blend into that time and enter Hogwarts with an identity that would not raise many questions about her person or at least have credibility.

No one could know about her future, so she could only count on her wits from now on, and to achieve everything she wanted to accomplish, the first step was to convince the young Severus Snape in front of her.

She knew it wouldn't be easy, she knew Professor Snape well and she knew he was an extremely distrustful person of others and his young version was no doubt very similar, but apparently, he was more approachable than the adult Snape, which allowed Hermione to convince him to help her and she already knew what she could offer him to get his attention, she didn't know if it would work at all, but it was her best option and no doubt the young man in front of her would think twice before refusing what he would offer her for her help.

"Oh, a distant relative of my mother you say?" Severus raised his eyebrows intrigued with what the young witch in front of him would continue to say, to Severus she had already been identified as Hermione Granger, unless there was some logical and valid reason that would make him believe otherwise.

"That's right, my grandfather and father bore the surname Prince, their ancestors were part of the magical Prince family, but apparently my ancestors were disowned long ago by the Prince since our ancestry was squib (non-magical children of wizards), that's how we were taken out of the family tree and banished, losing any relationship that validates our ancestry as part of the magical Prince family, my family remained and mixed with the muggles ever since."

"Mmmmm I see, now Miss Hermione, as interesting as your story is, I don't have to trust your words unless you have proof and besides you still haven't told me your purpose in coming and entering my house uninvited, it's not enough to say you were looking for me, you need to be more specific," said Severus already a bit more tired of playing along with Hermione, he knew she was making it up as she went along and he had to give her credit for such a well-done story, but she certainly wouldn't fool him with this alone.

"Well, that's what I was getting at, you should know that the Ministry of Magic doesn't keep birth records for Squibs, a sign of general indifference from magical society towards them, and the only way to check if a person is related to a squib in any family is to use the names of the squib's parents, which in my case is impossible since we were all erased from the Prince family and taken out of the family tree" Hermione wasn't bothered with Severus' impatient behavior, in fact, she expected it, she knew he wouldn't be a pushover, but she already knew how to handle things, the adult Snape was much worse.

"Let's get down to business Miss Hermione pleas" Severus was about to lose what little patience he had left, the whole story Hermione was making up was making him impatient and the worst thing was that he almost believed it, if he didn't know that she was Hermione Granger, he certainly could have fallen right into what the young woman was saying.

"Well, if you let me finish I assure you we'll get to what you want to hear faster," said an amused Hermione, despite being in an unfavorable situation without her wand, she couldn't miss the opportunity to see young Snape so lost.

Severus at this point wanted to curse the young woman in front of him, she was getting on his nerves, but he controlled himself and put on the coolest and most stoic face he could to continue listening to the young witch.

"Well, as I was telling you, there is no record of me actually being related to the Prince magical family and currently my family is no longer with me, I don't have any kind of background in the ministry of magic or other magical schools since all my life I was homeschooled by my squib father and my muggle mother, without having much contact with the magical world in general, and I also don't think I meet the amount of blood necessary to be validated as a possible heir of the Prince family, After all my family has been mixed with muggle blood for many generations without having magical descendants, I am the first in all this time and if I want to integrate into the magical world I need an identity that will allow me not only to enter Hogwarts but also to get a good position in the British magical world and I know that you can help me with that Severus Snape son of Eileen Prince who is a direct descendant of the former head of the Prince house".

"Look, first of all, I don't know why you think I should believe a young witch I just met who comes claiming to be a Prince, you may have a lot of information about my family but that's not enough for me to believe you and secondly, as much as I came to believe you, I have no way to help you, my mother may be a direct descendant of the former head of the Prince family as you say, but she was erased from the family tree just like your supposed ancestors, so I am not listed as an heir to the family, now if you're done with-" Severus was cut off before he could finish his sentence by Hermione's answer that left him with his mouth shut and with many doubts.

"I know where the Prince family ring is with which you can do the inheritance test to be the next heir," said a calm Hermione cutting Severus' dialogue, it was then when she saw the reaction of surprise, intrigue, doubt, and complete shock of young Severus Snape, she knew that now she had gained his full attention.

Hermione was not sure at first if mentioning that would work to win the favor of the young Severus Snape, she did not know if he was interested in his maternal family inheritance, she only knew that Professor Snape had investigated his family for a while until he found the ring, but being older and not being able to obtain the inheritance he stopped giving importance to the matter, the adult Snape didn't seem particularly disappointed by it, it seemed more like a simple passing disappointment, so Hermione didn't know how much this inheritance might appeal to Young Severus Snape, but from the reaction he had, she was sure that the current Severus Snape cared very much about this matter.

Now that Hermione was thinking it through, she may not have paid much attention to Young Severus Snape's personality and only focused on the important situations that the adult Snape went through throughout his life, but considering that Young Severus wished to be a Death Eater, along with him hating his Muggle father and even going by the alias of Half-Blood Prince, it was quite obvious to assume that being the heir to the Prince family could be one of the biggest dreams that the current young Severus Snape could have in front of her, and this was even more beneficial for her.