Chapter 77: Black/Malfoy

Hi, my readers,

Well, for all those who have doubts about the personalities of the characters and the relationships Severus has with each of them, let me make it clear that they are teenagers.

I don't know about you, but my adolescence was a fucking chaos of romantic emotions, and a lot of nonsense.

I try to give the most realistic touch possible to what adolescence is in this story.

On the other hand, I didn't change anything in Hermione's personality, if you think that because she's smart, brilliant, and calculating she can't have the weirdest crushes, you're wrong. In fact, for me she is the most susceptible person to fall in love and think about her future with that person, starting from if she would get married or have children because if even I have done it with the person I liked I can't imagine that Hermione Granger who thinks about everything wouldn't do it.

However, I don't claim to be an expert on everyone's adolescence, but I know my own and those of my acquaintances, so I base my history on that.

I hope you can understand it and not jump to wrong conclusions.

On the other hand, I don't plan this story to be a harem, yes there will be many love interests but the idea is that Severus ends up with only one female.

Mostly because I wouldn't know how to make a world like Harry Potter allow something like a Harem.

Now, enjoy the chapter and peace.

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-Greengrass Manor, 21 December

"Um Olivia, may I ask a question?" asked Hermione suddenly, who looked a little intrigued as Olivia led them through Greengrass Manor.

"Sure, as long as it's something I can answer it shouldn't be a problem"

"Why Puzzlegreen?"

"Uh-oh that..., well, my family thought it was appropriate because of the huge forest surrounding the manor, one would have to know every part of the forest perfectly in order to find it" replied Greengrass.

"I see..., like a puzzle, if you don't fit the pieces together you won't be able to fit them all together and you'll never complete it," commented Hermione understanding the reason, the forest was the pieces of the puzzle and to successfully locate Greengrass Manor you had to first complete everything correctly.

"Yeah, something like that..." said Olivia.

"Alright, here we are," she added once the three of them found themselves in front of an elegant and huge dark brown door with dark green borders.

She slowly opened the door and then let Hermione in along with Severus.

Naturally, in the great room, Greengras's parents were already waiting for them.

Both were dressed opulently but at least they were very simple clothes, Lord Greengrass wore a white shirt with a black coat with green trim and the Greengrass house crest on his chest and Lady Greengrass wore a black dress that like her husband's coat had elegant green trim, which made their clothes complement each other.

"Lord Charles Greengrass and Lady Arabella Greengrass, it is a pleasure to meet both of you. I appreciate the invitation to your residence," Severus said politely, bowing slightly as he stared at them both, and Hermione at his side did exactly as he did.

"Lord Prince, I am glad you accepted our invitation and honoured us with your presence," said Lord Greengrass, replying Severus' greeting.

"Well, Olivia was very convincing," Severus commented, looking at the beautiful young woman in green.

"Oh I trust it was Lord Prince," smiled Lady Greengrass looking at her daughter with amusement while Olivia just rolled her eyes as she listened.

"Please call me Severus"

"Uh-Oh yes, Olivia mentioned that you might prefer that..., well, in that case, you may call me Arabella in private, however, I must warn you that my husband loves the formalities," Lady Greengrass joked with a soft, elegant laugh.

"I will not deny that my dear, but we can save the formalities as long as we aren't in public, only Charles will be fine in private," nodded Lord Greengrass smoothly.

"I'm glad to hear that," nodded Severus.

"Now, I would like to formally introduce my cousin, Hermione Prince, without her it would have been quite impossible for me to obtain the position of Lord Prince and she is currently in charge of several of the family businesses," he added, introducing Hermione at his side.

"Of course, well met Miss Prince," Charles greeted.

"Well met as well, Lord and Lady Greengrass," replied Hermione by giving them a formal bow of greeting.

"A pleasure my dear. Then how about we sit down and talk more comfortably," said Arabella with a smile to which they all nodded.

......

"Would you like something to drink?" asked Lady Greengrass as she led Severus and Hermione to comfortable and elegant guest seats.

"Tea would be fine for me. You Hermione?" replied Severus quietly.

"I'm fine for now, thanks anyway," Hermione said politely though a little uncomfortable with all the formality, she wasn't used to dealing with people as refined as the Greengrass, it was a good thing Severus wasn't one for formality, otherwise this meeting would be even more awkward for her.

"Tonney, prepare and make a tea for our guest," Lady Greengrass suddenly said to nothingness itself but instantly a house-elve appeared at her side in clean and presentable clothes, though he was nothing fancy, he almost seemed to stand out in his simplicity from the rest of Greengrass Manor.

'I'm glad to see that at least the Greengrass have their house-elves in better condition than the Malfoy's' thought Hermione as she saw the poor house-elve in front of her.

"Tonney will do in a moment, Lady Greengrass," the house-elve replied politely and quickly, and instantly disappeared again.

"Now, Severus, before we talk business, how about telling me what you think about this..." said Lord Greengrass as he held out a golden letter in his hand that was stamped with the Malfoy seal.

Hermione and Severus noticed instantly that it wasn't just any letter, it was actually the Malfoy's letter of invitation to their annual Yule Ball.

How did Severus and Hermione know that?

Well, Severus as Lord Prince received a similar letter, of course, Lord Malfoy, Abraxas Malfoy, stated very clearly in his invitation that only he would be allowed to enter the Malfoy Manor, therefore he could not invite a partner to go with him, neither his family's members, which would clearly put him in a bad position in front of the rest of the families present.

A small revenge by Abraxas after all that happened, maybe as Lord Malfoy he could not afford not to invite the current Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Prince when all the other Ancient and Noble Houses were invited, the Malfoy's Yule Ball would only lose credibility if they did that, but he could still do some small things to discredit him in front of the rest.

On the other hand, Severus in the past when he was still Snape had been invited to the annual Malfoy Winter Ball.

Of course, this was different from the Yule Ball, the Winter Ball is also in the Christmas holidays but this one is before Christmas and only all the pure-blood supremacists and death eaters are invited.

"Lord and Lady Malfoy has once again invited us to their annual Yule Ball taking place in their Manor, only this time the invitation is a little... special," Lord Greengrass said as he stared at Severus as if he expected him to understand why it was different/special.

"Um, indeed it is, although I don't think you are referring to the engagement between Lucius Malfoy and Narssisa Black, after all, it was already known about the two of them, it's just that this time it was formally announced," commented Severus lightly.

"That's right, as you said, the Black/Malfoy alliance is something already known to everyone, but even so, the Malfoy's decided not only to suddenly formalise it at this year's Yule Ball but also to invite all the pure-blood British families, without excluding any of them," clarified Lord Greengrass.

The Malfoy's used to be quite selective about which pure-blood British families they invited to their annual Yule Ball, the only ones that were always invited, regardless of the relationship between the Malfoy's and them, were the Sacred Twenty-Eight and all the British Ancient and Noble Houses.

At that precise moment, the house-elve called Tonney appeared with a cup of tea and then respectfully approached Severus and handed him his tea.

Severus took the cup calmly and nodded to the house-elve who disappeared again.

" And I suppose it's not exactly like the Malfoy's to do this at their annual Yule Ball," Severus said quietly as he took a slow taste of his tea.

"Correct..." nodded Lord Greengrass looking suddenly at his wife beside him.

"As you have recently become Lord of the House of Prince you must not know this, but usually the invitation to the Malfoy annual Yule Ball is only for the Sacred Twenty-Eight and those considered respectable pure-blood British families," explained Lady Greengrass as politely and courteously as possible, she and her husband knew very well that no pure-blood would like to lose credit or be underestimated by being told that they did not have enough knowledge as the heir of their house.

During Christmas holidays the Malfoy's used to hold two balls, the annual Winter Ball which was before Christmas for all the blood purists, death eaters, and all future members or possible supporters of the "cause" and on the other hand the annual Yule Ball to which only the Sacred Twenty-Eight and the "respectable" pure-blood families were invited.

Of course, the Yule Ball was just a formality that served the Malfoy's as a cover for the real meeting which was the Winter Ball where all the followers and supporters of Voldemort gathered, this was a very useful way of recruiting wizards and meeting without the Ministry really being able to do anything unless they had proof.

"You are right Lady Arabella and I thank you for mentioning this to me..., now you also mentioned that it is usually that way, which means that there have already been exceptions like this year," Severus replied making both her and her husband nod at his words, even Olivia Greengrass who was standing next to him nodded in agreement.

"Only when a new heir of the Sacred Twenty-Eight was introduced," Lord Greengrass clarified.

"So a new heir to the Sacred Twenty-Eight is going to be introduced?" asked Hermione suddenly a little intrigued.

The Greengrass family turned their gaze to her and Hermione almost felt a little intimidated by them but she kept her gaze steady despite her discomfort, which only earned an amused smile from Severus.

Hermione watched as he seemed amused by her discomfort and silently cursed him.

"That's a good question, Miss. Prince," Lord Greengrass finally said.

"But the Malfoy letter doesn't say anything about this, so this time it's different because it only makes it clear that the invitation is to formally announce the Black/Malfoy matrimonial engagement," he added.

"It might have something to do with Sirius Black and Regulus Black," Hermione commented.

"That's what my daughter said and we think so too. It's quite possible that the Blacks don't want to formally mention anything about Sirius Black who was the supposed heir but not now," Lord Greengrass nodded.

"They intend to present Regulus Black as the heir so that everyone will take Sirius Black for granted without having to actually mention anything," Hermione said, slowly understanding the situation.