24 Chapter 24: Pensieve

"Well, there are several ways you can validate what you say, although most of these methods are currently not allowed to be used, there are still some that can be implemented as long as the wizard they are used on agrees."

Severus nodded, "Something like a pensieve?"

At Severus' accurate answer, she looked at him more closely, as if she were looking at a bug under a microscope. "Indeed. If you already know what it is, you should also know that there aren't many pensieve in the magical world, as they are extremely rare and usually difficult to acquire. Just out of curiosity, have you seen any?"

When Severus heard her ask that question he understood his mistake in answering so simply about the pensieve, any normal wizard would not have said such a magical object as they are rare and not usually talked about much even in textbooks, so it was strange that he would think of this as a first choice.

And the truth was that Severus had never seen a pensieve in his life, he only had knowledge of these from his memories of the Harry Potter canon where Dumbledore's pensieve is shown at Hogwarts, so he automatically assumed that Dean Stacy might be referring to the use of one, but he didn't think about what it implied that he knew about it.

"No madam, I've never seen a pensieve in person, but I've heard and read of them and figured it might be the most viable option to validate what I'm saying without having to make use of some illegal object or magic."

She looked at him carefully for a few moments as if analyzing his response and only spoke again after a few moments when she seemed satisfied, "You impress me, mr. Prince, any other wizard would have told me many other less orthodox or logical methods such as using Legilimency to prove what you say, which would not be viable since it is frowned upon in the public eye for a wizard to enter the mind of another"

"I actually thought of that option madam, but a pensieve allows more than one person to see the truth, while Legilimency does not unless more than one Legilimens see my mind, which would not be viable as you say"

"Impressive and very true, lucky for you, the Magicongress has an ancient pensieve in the Department for Magical Security, it is not usually used, but if I personally submitted an application they should allow you to use it to validate your story," the Dean said with Assurance.

"I understand and thank you, but I would not want to bother you with such a request, I know it is a luxury item in the magical world and it will not be easy to have access to it,"

Severus said knowing that it was not as easy to get permission to use the pensieve as the Dean made it seem, few were the wizards who had the chance to see one let alone use it.

Her light blue eyes shot up her forehead, she seemed surprised by the response, but then replied rather impressed and excited, "Oh, I see you're not missing anything, mr. Prince. You are right, it is not something that just any mage is allowed to use, but if I ask for it personally along with a good argument as to why I need it, I can assure you that it will be no problem for me to get the pensive for you for one day, but for that, I must first make sure that what you say is the truth. do you understand?"

"I understand, you want me to allow you to use Legilimency on me, to see the exact moment when I successfully enhance for the first time a potion that already existed, so that I can make sure that what I say is the truth and then ask for the pensive from the Magiconreso," Severus said.

"You seem to have understood everything, it's easy to talk between intelligent people, we don't have to beat around the bush, so how about my proposal Mr. Prince/"

Shrugging his shoulders and sighing, Severus replied, "I have no problem with what you propose, in fact, it makes things much easier for me and I have nothing against you using Legilimency as long as I only see that specific moment and nothing else, I like my privacy after all."

Severus could see a slight smile form on Dean Stacy's face when he answered that.

"You can rest assured, once I see the exact moment you first performed a successful enhancement on a potion I will leave your mind instantly."

"Very well, then let's wait no longer, but before we begin, how did you know that I knew Occlumency?" asked Severus.

Severus knew that she had proposed using Legilimency on him, only because he knew Occlumency, otherwise she would not have made such a proposal.

This was because if one knew Occlumency he could prevent another from reading his mind to a certain extent, or he could make the one seeking to read his mind only see unimportant things from his daily life, therefore, a wizard who knows how to use Occlumency can show specific moments of his life, making the Legilimens not have to search through his entire mind for what he wishes to see.

In short, Severus would show her the exact moment he first improved a potion while she was using Legilimency on him.

But Severus' doubt was how she knew he was an Occlumen, he never mentioned it to her, only his mother and Dumbledore knew he was an Occlumen.

"Well, the truth is I just assumed," said the Dean shrugging with a smile.

"How can you assume someone is an Occlumen, I don't recall giving any clue about it as to why you would assume that."

"Indeed you did mr. Prince."

"Eh?" Severus was very confused at this point, he could have sworn he never mentioned anything to give away that he was an Occlumen.

"Seeing what a brilliant young wizard you are, it was to be expected that you would know Occlumency as the Prince family was known not only for their potion-making abilities but also for keeping their recipes hidden through Occlumency."

Severus was stunned at what he said because he knew it was true.

The Princes were always renowned for being great potioneers, but they were also known for their great skill as Occlumens.

"I must say I had my doubts at first if you were also an Occlumen like your ancestors, after all, you have not long been a part of the Princes, given that if I remember correctly the letter we received at the time to enter the program was submitted by Severus Tovias Snape and only a few days ago it was amended to Severus Prince, confirming your identity as a Prince and probably the heir."

Severus cursed himself again for being so careless, he was supposed to be smarter and more capable after soul-bonding, not that he would become more distracted.

'Merlin definitely hates me or all these things wouldn't happen to me' Severus grumbled to himself.

"Regarding that Ms. Dean, I would like to ask that for a while my identity not be revealed to the British Ministry of Magic, I know that to join the program it was mandatory to update my background, but I don't think it's necessary to inform the Ministry or the Magicongress yet"

"Don't worry, I figured you would have your reasons for not mentioning anything in your name and surname update so suddenly, that's exactly why I didn't mention it before"

"I thank you then for the inconvenience."

"It's no bother, as you said, we all like our privacy, I'm not one to intervene, it's already a lot for me to be asking for authorization to use Legilimency on you."

"Well, but that's more for my benefit than yours."

"But it doesn't take away from the fact that I'm doing it on a whim and enthusiasm to have as a student a young wizard who at the age of 13 successfully improved a potion on his own" smiled the Dean as she winked at him in amusement.

Severus was a little embarrassed, but quickly pulled himself together, "Right, so I guess we're even then, even so, you said you still had doubts about whether he was an Occlumen when you saw he was a Prince a short time ago, what was it that removed your doubts then?"

"Oh, well that's because I remembered that a few years ago there was a small announcement about a young potioneer named Eileen Prince marrying a muggle named Tobias Snape, and then there was also an announcement saying that she had given birth to a male child who is no doubt you."

Severus choked a little at that information but let it go and thought what could that have to do with what he asked her, what she was saying didn't answer his question.

"Yes, I am her son but I don't know what that has to do with it, I doubt knowing that would have removed her doubts," Severus said.

"I had the pleasure of meeting your mother and it was in the same program you are in now."

"You met my mother????!!!" asked Severus very perplexed and intrigued, he knew very little about his mother's past as she refused to tell him about her life or family, she only bothered to teach him magic but never talked to him about her private life.

"That's right, it was the last summer vacation we would have before we started our seventh school year, she was coming from Hogwarts and I was an SWI student at SCoT."

"SCoT, you mean you weren't a student at SCoP?" Severus asked being increasingly confused.

Severus knew that the Dean had studied at the Salem Witches Institute and he was convinced that she had been a student at the Potions College in Salem.

But now she was telling him that she an internationally recognized potioneer who had studied at the best Institute for potioneers, was actually not part of the potions school but was part of the Salem College of Transfiguration, now that he did not expect.

"Right and the truth is my major was always transfiguration, but I loved everything to do with potions, so I decided to try to do the SCoP summer program, I had nothing to lose by trying and being part of an SWI College it was easier for me to get into the program than other students."

"I must say that is very telling, it would never have occurred to me that you were actually better at transfigurations than potions as a young man, after all, you are an eminence among potioneers"

"You flatter me Mr. Prince, but the truth is that part of my success as a potioneer is due to your mother."

"Eh? my mother? I don't know much of the truth about my mother's past, but I do know that she was a great potioneer with a lot of talent but I'm sure she never put much effort into it, she wasn't a lover of study or rules in general, that's why she put everything aside and married a muggle"

"And you're not wrong, if I remember correctly, her mother hated having to attend the SCoP summer program. I just know that her family forced her to go and she had no say in that decision."

"I see and so why is my mother one of the reasons for your success?" asked an increasingly interested and intrigued Severus to hear what the dean had to say about his mother.

"Well, first you have to know that my talent in potions was not comparable to other genius students like your mother, I was quite envious of your mother and all those with great talent in potions" began the Dean.

"One day I was disappointed with the results I was getting in the program and your mother noticed, Eileen had already proven to be a genius in the subject by taking the program with ease. When I was already thinking about giving up and putting aside my passion for potions and dedicating myself to my true talent which was transfigurations, your mother came up to me and comforted/motivated me, she was... how to say... fleeting" said the Dean smiling as she remembered those moments.

Severus listened more and more attentively to the story, he was delighted to learn about his mother's past, he had known her so little and at her worst.

"She proposed to help me and I happily accepted her proposal. By Merlin, if I wouldn't have regretted accepting her help" laughed the Dean confusing Severus.

"You must understand that your mother was a genius and a very good person, but she was lousy at helping or teaching others, she was too fleeting as I said before, she couldn't concentrate on one thing, she wanted to do everything at once and then she didn't end up finishing anything, she was quite a character," she told him as she looked at Severus smiling and shaking her head as she remembered and told what happened.

Severus could only laugh as he understood a little of what the Dean meant, he knew that his mother was very disorganized, she never remembered things and lived in her own world, those were some of the things that his father kept complaining about, unlike his mother, his father was very organized and liked everything to be done in a specific way, Severus was never going to understand how she married that man, they were so different.

"So we spent some time together, in this time I got to know your mother quite a bit and I don't know if we became friends, but good companions. I envied her way of being so free and happy, since I always looked for perfection and organization in everything, and transfiguration was perfect for that, while the positions require a little more ingenuity and creativity, otherwise you reached a point where you were stuck without being able to advance since you can't always follow the textbooks."

Severus nodded at that, he knew better than anyone the importance of being dedicated, organized, and perfectionist when it came to brewing potions, but to really improve and progress as a potioneer, what was needed was creativity, ingenuity, and talent.

"All in all, your mother managed to cheer me up and motivate me, but she certainly didn't help me improve as a potioneer, she was a disaster to dedicate her time to anything and that included me, but one day she gave me a brilliant idea, an idea that to this day has served me to be the potioneer that I am."

When the Dean said that, Severus focused on listening very carefully to what she was going to say, he was very intrigued as to what his mother could have said to help her so much.

"This... what did she say to you?" asked Severus not holding his intrigue.

"Well she told me that if I was so good at transfigurations to just make use of them in potions, that I should use my talent and knowledge in transfigurations to create potions related to them, that a good potioneer must have talent, but that also all talent can be used to make great potions as long as one puts dedication, ambition, and effort into it."

"{"You may not be creative in making potions but you certainly are when you are in transfigurations, use that and see how it works for you, I'm not promising anything, but you can certainly use your ideas in transfiguration to make potions, I don't know just saying"} was what Eileen Prince told me back then and I must say it was quite a success, those simple and nonsensical words opened a whole new path for me," said the Dean smiling as she finished her story.

Severus froze, in fact, he could understand perfectly what she was saying, he just still found it hard to process everything, it was sad to know that someone as free and happy as his mother ended up with a man who mistreated her and judged her every day for being a witch.

"Thank you, now I understand everything a little better, it's good to know about my mother's past, did you keep in touch with her after that?" asked Severus hopeful that he knew more.

"The truth is sadly no when the program ended your mother went back to Britain and even though I kept some contact by letters with her for a while, after graduation she moved away from the whole magical world, she never answered my letters again and we never saw each other or spoke again, the little I knew about her afterward was that she had married a Muggle and had a child, nothing else"

"I understand, thanks anyway for everything, it's good to hear about her, good, I have no more doubts, shall we start now then?"

Before the Dean could say anything, the office door suddenly opened and a young woman started shouting.