Chapter 5: Lucius Malfoy

Once Severus sat quietly eating his breakfast, he decided to continue thinking about what he should do next.

'Well..., apparently I have just over two months before I have to enter Hogwarts and be pressured to join the ranks of the Death Eaters, thus taking the Dark Mark...., something I am clearly not going to do' Severus thought.

He had this information thanks to his dear friend Lucius Malfoy.

It was Lucius who told him that his father had spoken highly of him to the other Death Eaters so that they could soon integrate him as a Potionist among their followers, as Severus' talent was quite unique and they could make good use of it.

Severus knew that Lucius' friendship along with his teachings in the Dark Arts had been in part a ploy to groom him for the Dark Lord's ranks.

He previously as Snape had wanted so much to be recognised for his achievements that he had enjoyed the older Slytherin's praise and teachings, dismissing his friend Lily Evans' concerns as unfounded.

But Severus could also honestly admit that his friendship with Lucius Malfoy was true.

Although it had been partly a plan to groom him as a future death eater, that was more on Lucius's father's side.

He and Lucius had always maintained a friendly and cordial relationship.

Lucius had helped him a lot over the years, more than anyone else, so Severus couldn't help but consider him a friend now, regardless of whether his ideals were now different or the fact that he almost led him in a wrong direction.

After all, it was his own interest and curiosity in the Dark Arts that had begun to lead him down a twisted and dangerous path of self-delusion.

Each new spell Snape learned fed his ego and reinforced his belief that he was the one who controlled the darkness and not the other way around.

'As if I could have done that with such a basic knowledge of the Force,' Severus scoffed to himself at the thought.

The wizards of this world didn't even know what the Force was, they called it 'Magic', but it was undeniable that what wizards achieved with their wands and spells was something every Jedi or Sith would envy.

Severus also knew that Lucius supported him thinking that he was helping him and at the same time gaining the favour of a very capable future wizard, so it was a win-win, something Severus could understand, he was part Slytherin after all.

'Well..., the upside to all this is that until the Malfoy's talk to Voldemort himself and he accepts me among his followers, I shouldn't have any problems... and obviously the only reason Malfoy's father hasn't yet spoken to Voldemort to include me in his ranks is because of my obvious and not at all discreet love for Lily' Severus thought.

"Looks like my obsession is paying off again," Severus chuckled in amusement at how illogical that sounded.

His obsession never resulted in anything positive, but now he had managed to find two things that were currently helping him.

Since all the blood purists and death eaters considered Lily Evans a mudblood unworthy of being a witch, Malfoy couldn't afford to introduce Severus to Voldemort, not as long as his obsession with her continued.

'And everyone knew that I would never leave Lily Evans..., Lucius Malfoy's father considers this a big problem because in the future this could play against him if I end up betraying them and that would only make Lucius' father look bad in front of Voldemort' Severus thought with a faint smile.

'That's why until Malfoy was sure that I would give my absolute loyalty to the Death Eaters and Voldemort, he wouldn't risk integrating me fully' Severus concluded.

'Now... What can I do to avoid the Death Eaters and Voldemort?' Severus asked himself as he ate his breakfast.

'I could just kill them if they push me too hard, but I'm still too weak..., I need time to train and improve this pitiful weak body...'

"Time, that's all I need..." muttered Severus.

Now he just had to think of what to do to buy the time needed for him to be ready to face any problem.

He might not back down from anyone, but that didn't mean he was stupid enough to go head-on against something he couldn't deal with yet.

He had to be smart, buy time, and gain strength before facing whoever stood in his way.

'Hmm... I could take my family heritage from my mother's side, House Prince is one of the most important noble houses in Britain, if I did that, the death eaters would have a harder time pressuring me to join them as the whole magical world will know about me, making my face a public knowledge'

'That would prevent them from being able to pressure me into joining so easily, which gives me time and monetary power that I currently don't have...'

'...But the biggest problem with this is that my mother was disowned by her family, she was even erased from the House Prince family tree and I understand that all my maternal relatives died, so it is impossible to appeal to any of them, now the only thing I can do is go through the House Prince family inheritance test...' analysed Severus, his situation was complex, with no money, a weak body and dark wizards behind him.

He knew that the inheritance test is usually done when a pureblood family is left for some reason without direct heirs, then one who is a young wizard can take the test as long as they have the blood of a direct descendant of the family as well as the ancestral ring of the house in particular.

At Gringotts, the test of inheritance left by the great pureblood houses is usually only a mental test and a blood ritual.

If a young wizard manages to withstand/pass the test and ritual, then he or she is considered the new heir to the lordship of the House.

'I am currently the main and perhaps only pretender to inherit the lordship and the entire family inheritance.'

'Not only do I fulfill the blood clause, but I am half Prince with direct descent from the daughter of the previous lord of the Prince family and even though my mother was disowned and removed from the family tree, I am a direct blood descendant, I am more than acceptable to take the Prince surname, so I am more than qualified to take the test of inheritance...' Severus concluded.

There may be other distant relatives who are of the Prince family, but before they can even think about being heirs, Severus would have priority at Gringotts as the only living direct descendant.

'The problem is that I've never heard of the Prince family ancestral ring... I have no idea where it might be, I had asked Gringotts if they knew anything, but apparently, they had no idea where it might be either, and without an ancestral ring...'

"...No proof of inheritance," sighed a tired Severus.

Things weren't getting any easier for him.

'Looking for a bloody ring all over the planet is not a possibility, so inheriting the Prince name along with the lordship doesn't seem to be an option at the moment, inheritance will have to be left for later...' sighed Severus wearily.

"Merlin..., why can't things be simpler, can't I get some good news?" complained Severus under his breath.

After tiring of thinking of unfeasible options to get away from the influence of Voldemort's followers, Severus proceeded to pick up Britain's magical newspaper, the Daily Prophet, which was the only newspaper young Severus usually read along with some potions magazines.

Severus proceeded to read the news of the magical world and looked annoyed at the front page of the Daily Prophet.

Before, he usually used to scoff at the crazy headlines and false gossip stories that this tabloid newspaper produced.

But despite the lies and bad journalism, he read it every day to keep up with events in the magical world.

But unlike before, when he scoffed at what was written in the paper, Severus was now irritated and angry at what he read.

While Voldemort and his followers the Death Eaters were terrorising the magical world with their attacks on the Muggle-born with raids on Muggle villages and destruction of shops in Diagon Alley, the Prophet only played down these attacks and wanted to reassure its readers of the strength of the Ministry of Magic and its enforcement of the law.

Idiots, what they should be doing is reporting every life lost and every new dark spell, potion, and poison so that magical citizens could increase their vigilance and protect themselves with counterspells and antidotes against death eaters' Severus shook his head at the thought of how idiotic political leaders could be.

Why politicians if it's the newspaper?

Because Severus wasn't stupid enough to think that the Prophet wasn't influenced by the Ministry of Magic.

Severus read on and saw that the paper only wrote stories about the magical upper class and the Ministry with its new bureaucratic laws.

'No wonder the British magical community currently didn't have enough followers and members to stand up to Voldemort when most wizards and witches closed their eyes to the start of the war in their world, while the Dark Lord continues to add followers to his ranks day by day' Severus thought with a grimace of disgust.

Not wanting to read further about how dumb politicians could be, Severus decided to put the paper down so as not to get more irritated than he already was.

'It seems that no matter what galaxy you're in, politicians are still the same,' Severus said to himself as he remembered the senators of the republic.

'Well..., at least the Minister of Magic doesn't seem to be a sham like the Supreme Chancellor' the instant he thought that, Severus remembered Palpatine was actually Darth Sidious and his mood only got worse.

Clearing his mind and calming down, Severus decided to stop thinking about it and continue reading his correspondence.

"Severus!" said a young, female voice just as Severus was about to proceed to read one of the letters that had arrived to clear his mind for a while.

Severus recognised the voice immediately and was a little surprised.

"Narcissa!?" asked Severus raising his head to look at the young woman who spoke to him.

"Oh, Severus..." said Narcissa in a thin, pained voice, she was standing in front of Severus looking at him with a hint of pity in her big blue eyes.

Severus wondered in confusion if her voice had always sounded so thin and pained.

"Narcissa, it's a surprise to see you..." said Severus as he stood up to greet her properly.

"...What are you doing in the Leaky Cauldron? It's not a place I'd expect to find you," asked Severus a little surprised.

Narcissa pursed her lips.

"I heard what happened, Severus. I know about your little muggle-born friend, Evans," Narcissa said with distaste at the mention of Lily, but with clear concern in her eyes.

"I see, I'm not surprised. You know, I'd rather not talk about it now, I've left it in the past and I have no interest in reminiscing," Severus replied now understanding why she sounded so strange.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,

I plan to upload the next part today as soon as I finish editing it.

Greetings to all and leave your comments about what you think of the story or what you would like to see in it.