Chapter 26: Announcement

-Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, England, 11 August 1976

Wiltshire is in the south-west of England, and one of Britain's most powerful families: the Malfoy family manor is located there.

Malfoy Manor is a huge and gloomy mansion.

The current owner is Abraxas Malfoy, one of the most powerful and richest people in Britain today.

And although the British magical world is currently in a bloody storm due to Voldemort and his death eaters, the Malfoy's were as calm as ever as if the war that was going on in the shadows of the country did not affect them in the slightest.

Today, Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black were quietly enjoying their breakfast in each other's company.

A few moments later, Malfoy and Black's royal owls arrived to deliver today's correspondence to both of them.

They both took their correspondence and began to read quietly and elegantly like typical nobles.

Narcissa read some letters she had first, while Lucius went on to read the news in today's paper first, as all Malfoy's used to do.

The most important thing for a Malfoy was to always be informed so that he wouldn't be taken by surprise, he always had to be aware of everything.

That was what Abraxas Malfoy taught his son Lucius.

After a while, Lucius finished reading the newspaper and began to read a letter from his father.

It was then that Narcissa noticed his face frown and his eyes widen in surprise.

Something rather unusual for a Malfoy who was always refined, no matter the situation.

"Lucius, is everything alright, what happened?" asked Narcissa, knowing it must be something very important for him to react like this.

Lucius seemed to react to what Narcissa said and quickly recovered, returning to his elegant and calm posture.

Then, without replying, he took the letter from his father and passed it to Narcissa calmly.

Narcissa took the letter in confusion and began to read.

After a while, her eyes widened in shock.

"This can't be true!" she muttered, but Lucius heard her.

"I agree with you..., but apparently our dear Severus has been doing quite a few things since he finished his fifth year at Hogwarts..." Lucius said calmly as he took his cup of tea and sipped it elegantly and calmly, almost making it seem as if he didn't care in the slightest about the situation.

But Narcissa knew him and she knew that he was just as surprised as she was.

They both knew that Severus was a half-blood.

Although he didn't usually talk about it as he was ashamed of his situation, all they knew was that he was a relative of a wizarding house.

They both knew that since every Slytherin usually went through a background check and although Severus had no history in the magical world, he was a half-blood.

Severus may never have had an inheritance test, but Slytherin had their methods of knowing if someone was a pureblood, half-blood or muggle-born.

Severus was clearly a half-blood and everyone thought he never said anything about his house because he was ashamed of his situation.

Now Lucius and Narcissa knew the reason.

They hadn't suspected anything a few weeks ago the moment they read "Severus Prince" in the news, they never thought it was the "Severus" they knew.

But if Abraxas Malfoy was saying that Severus Snape really did become the Prince heir, then they knew it was true.

Apparently, Abraxas had found a small, old announcement about a young girl named Eileen Prince marrying a Muggle named Tobias Snape and later an announcement saying that she had given birth to a son.

Severus' mother, Eileen Snape, formerly known as Eileen Prince had been erased from the magical world and her family tree, so no one thought that his mother was in fact the daughter of the former Lord Prince.

But if there's one thing the Malfoy's are good at, it's finding things out and gathering information by various means...

Usually money.

And the Malfoy's clearly succeeded as they found out all about the Prince, even the things that Prince had buried with great care...

Like a disinherited daughter who had supposedly...

Died.

"Looks like that littlesmart somehow kept a secret like this and now inherited his legacy," Lucius commented, he didn't know whether to be angry or proud of how well Severus had gone unnoticed all this time.

"Merlin..., I never expected this to happen..." sighed Narcissa with a headache, she was happy for Severus, but the Princes were a family that supported the Ministry.

Although they knew that the Prince had recently adopted a neutral attitude to the whole current conflict.

"Yes, I must say it took me by surprise myself. It seems the Ministry didn't take too well the neutrality of the Prince's, otherwise, that article wouldn't have reached my father so quickly..." Lucius replied.

He knew that Severus had managed to piss off some important people in the Ministry and now they were taking revenge behind the scenes with little tricks.

'Classic...' thought Lucius.

"Lucius, what does your father pretend to do now?"

"Oh, I'm sure he's already thinking about how to benefit from all this, and I'm sure it must be something he needs my help with..." he answered.

"Otherwise he would just wait for me to find out on my own that Severus Prince was my dear friend..." Lucius added.

"Looks like it's going to be a... complicated conversation," Narcissa said.

" It will be, I don't doubt it, but there's not much I can do about it. Now all that remains is to wait and see how my father decides to proceed..."

"But knowing him, he may want Severus to enlist the Prince family in the cause, leaving his state of neutrality in the matter, so that he can gain even more favour with the Dark Lord..."

"I know, you don't need to say anymore," Narcissa sighed worriedly.

'In Merlin's name, Severus, I thought I shouldn't worry!' complained Narcissa internally.

"You don't have to worry so much, Narcissa, my father never included Severus as part of the Death Eaters and now he probably won't say anything to the Dark Lord until he is sure that Severus will be part of his followers" commented Lucius trying to calm her.

"Lucius, if this information has reached your father, it will not take much time before it reaches others and many Death Eaters know about Severus, if they tell the Dark Lord about him, he will be very unhappy and not only Severus is at risk, but your father as well for not mentioning him sooner," Narcissa informed him.

She knew that Severus had just dropped a bloody bomb on the entire magical world that would make a huge explosion.

'Damn it, Severus, didn't you tell me you wouldn't do anything to put yourself in danger?' complained Narcissa.

'If you want to overcome or impress Lily, this wasn't the way Severus!' Narcissa growled in her head again.

She naturally didn't approve of Severus' love for that mudblood.

But she could never get Severus to see sense about it, Severus' devotion to the mudblood Evans was unwavering.

Though from Narcissa's perspective, the Evans girl treated him like a house elf who did whatever she asked and pursued her constantly.

When Narcissa discovered that Severus and Evans were no longer friends, she was very happy for her friend.

But when she discovered the reason behind it all, she nearly threw up from how much her stomach churned with anger, disgust, disappointment, sadness, and worry.

The news that Snape had practically begged the bloody mudblood had reached her, he had gone so far as to wait for her outside Gryffindor tower for many hours, enduring taunts and insults from everyone.

He had lost all decorum as a Slytherin, he was a disgrace to his house.

Even though Narcissa was disappointed and angry with Severus for this, she didn't blame him, she knew that in his eyes the mudblood was everything.

If there was something Severus had ever shown any real interest in it was her, the dark arts and potions, nothing else really entered his eyes.

And if there was one to blame it was the little mudblood Evans, she was convinced it was all her fault.

The only thing the mudblood Evans did right was to keep Severus away from her constant manipulations.

Narcissa still smirked at the fact that he had begged her forgiveness and she hadn't forgiven him.

She knew that Severus had always instantly forgiven her no matter the situation and usually even he ended up apologising or changing the subject even though Evans had been the one who had said or done the wrong thing.

All because he didn't want to lose that mudblood Evans and he was a despicable git for being so hopelessly in love with her.

But Narcissa couldn't help but admire Severus's mind despite all that, the cunning he had, his ability to learn and see things from such a different perspective than others, he was quite unique.

And above all, he was a great friend who, unlike all other men, never took an interest in her or wanted to approach her with ulterior motives.

As Narcissa thought about all this, Lucius processed it all for a few moments.

This news had shaken him deeply and he hadn't been able to finish processing all the consequences of the whole thing.

It was then that Lucius quickly found the positive side to all of this.

'Hmm, if my father fails to convince Severus and loses the Dark Lord's favour, it will be my time to act quickly to re-establish the Malfoy name in the eyes of the Dark Lord and then I could be the next head sooner than I had planned...' thought Lucius with a faint smile that confused Narcissa.

"Don't worry, this situation may benefit us, for now, it's best to stay out of it and be spectators. I won't go to my father, he will have to deal with this issue, but it doesn't affect us, so you can rest assured," Lucius commented.

He already planned to use this golden opportunity to the fullest.

'My father has already lived a long and full life as head of Malfoy house, it's time for a new generation to replace him...' thought Lucius with stars in his eyes and a faint smile.

While Narcissa was still worried about Severus.

She quickly picked up a letter and began to write to him angrily.

'You'd better explain yourself to me!' growled Narcissa.

Lucius, on the other hand, was not worried about Severus.

He had come to appreciate Severus and share like-minded thoughts, the little Slytherin was great company and over time they had come to get on very well and trust each other.

But still, they were both Slytherins and he knew Severus understood that he wouldn't risk his head for him, any more than he expected him to.

It was a golden rule between them and it kept their friendship going.

They both benefited from each other and when the opportunity arose they supported each other, and if it was a problematic situation, each had to handle the situation in their own way.

As with Potter and his group, Lucius never intervened because it was up to Severus to overcome those problems, but he helped him integrate into Slytherin and gain contacts that would allow him to move on.

Just as young Severus had helped him in more than one situation with his incredible ideas and accurate recommendations.

It was the perfect relationship, and even though Severus was in love with a mudblood, Lucius hadn't decided to intervene.

It was Severus' problem and he knew that the bloody idiot wouldn't react well if he said anything against her, so Lucius never mentioned her so as not to anger his friend.

But certainly, he was very happy to know that the friendship between Severus and the mudblood was over.

Although he was pissed off and disgusted by the situation and the way Severus reacted, but it was certainly made up for by the fact that Evans was no longer in Severus' life.