Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Severus was dying. He knew he was. The pure lava that was flowing through his veins, courtesy of Nagini’s venom, was worse than any crucio and yet he was unable to make a sound through his shredded vocal cords. it felt like he was stuck in that agony for lifetimes before the pain finally ebbed away as his consciousness left him.

The next thing he knew he was watching his life play out in front of him, like he was an observer. It was strange he knew the emotions that he should have while seeing it but it was like there was something separating him from them. 

He watched memories of events he didn't even remember from when he was only a toddler. He saw how his parents had grown to hate each other over the years. How his father worked long shifts while his mother stayed home. He watched as the house was slowly neglected due to his mothers inability to clean or really do anything without magic, while also refusing to use magic to help her. He saw her continuously wasting food as she burned meal after meal. He saw as his father came home and had to look after Severus, tidy the house, redo chores his mother had messed up and cook them food.

Seeing it, Severus almost felt bad for the man. Almost. He watched as the resentment in his father grew further  after years of Eileen never even bothering to learn how to cook a basic meal. And Severus watched as a smaller him finally went to school and found books on things like food preparation and cooking. He watched as his younger self learned as much as he could from the library so he could help his mother and stop his father from yelling at her.

He watched as his father slowly calmed down as he came home to a marginally cleaner home and dinners that were at least edible. It was going well till he came home early one day and saw Severus cooking. To his shock Severus did remember this, but he didn't remember it in the same clarity as it was being shown to him now. He had remembered his father being angry at him and yelling but Severus never understood why until now.

His father was furious. Furious at his mother. Not him. He yelled at her for making their son do work he expected her to do. He went to work everyday and he clearly didn't expect all that much from his wife. After all, Severus's pitiful attempts to help had been enough to mollify the man when he thought it was Eileen doing it. His father knew she had been raised in wealth but he had expected her to at least try. 

Seeing it now Severus honestly understood. At this point his mother mostly stayed in her bedroom for the entire day; she hadn’t supported the man nor could she claim that she was looking after Severus because she wasn’t. Don't get him wrong he still couldn't stand the man, his drinking and gambling only caused more problems, not to mention the physical abuse he had put both of them through. 

As the weeks passed and there were no changes to Eileen's behavior his father grew more angry and aggressive. To Severus's horror he started to notice that whenever his father started shouting Eileen would move so that Severus was between them. She would place a hand on his shoulder and at the time Severus had thought that it was her way of comforting him, but now he could see it for what it was. She was using him as a shield. The image of his distant but caring mother was being shattered. His mother had been one of only two people he had really cared for in his short life. 

He watched the first time he stood in front of his father as he went to strike his mother. The look of genuine betrayal on the man's face as Severus stood against him. The betrayal turned to anger and he followed through backhanding severus for the first time. It continued like this playing the miserable years of his past until he met a young girl with flaming red hair and grass green eyes. He told her she was a witch and told her about the magical world. 

Severus felt a crack form in the perfect image of Lily as he watched her tell him not to talk to her while they were at school. She brushed it off as the others not being allowed to know about magic and Severus felt something in his gut twist. He watched as day after day Lily would ask questions about the magical world and Severus, happy to have anyone talk to him kindly, would tell her all she wanted to know. He watched as she walked away whenever her questions had run out. He watched as they got to Hogwarts and the marauders started picking on him. He saw her not interfere until he tried to fight back, then and only then would she step in telling him off for trying to hex them. it didn't matter that they hexed him first.

Severus had always thought that he gave as good as he got. that he was a blight on the marauders life as much as they were on his, but seeing it all again made something in his chest ache. The amount of times that he had been literally doing nothing only for them to hunt him down for a laugh. He had always thought that he was  just as bad, just as nasty as they were, but in reality he hadn't ever struck first and that was honestly a massive blow to his pride. 

He continued to watch as Lily only met up with him to do homework, as he helped her understand the material she struggled with. He coached her through all the spells until she got them perfect. Laid out all the theory so she could understand it and when fourth year came around he showed her how to adjust simple charms to impress their teacher. Like changing the color of a lumos. He watched as he spent all of his time tinkering with potions, improving the recipes only for Lily to take their sample up to Slughorn once it was done where she would explain the changes like she was the one who came up with them. 

He had never taken notice of it before, all too happy for his friend to see the value in his work. Merlin, he had been so naive but he could see it now. The people around him saw her brilliance and when they looked at him they only saw someone hanging off her coat tails dragging her down. All of his achievements were credited to her and the worst part was that he had been fine with it, happy even. 

Jeering laughter brought his attention back to the memories and his heart sank at the sight of one of his worst memories. He watched Lily as she stood there watching impassively while he was lifted into the air by his ankle and only when his underwear was about to be removed did she intervene. And he watched as she stormed away after a single bad word was said in a moment of weakness. He watches as every attempt to talk to her was viciously shot down by cutting words far crueler than the one he had used. And his perfect image of Lily Evans shattered. 

Severus continued to watch the rest of his life play out in a numb haze. He felt like an idiot. Throughout his entire life he had been used by one person after another. His mother used him as a house elf and human shield, Lily used him for his knowledge, Lucius used him to gain favor with the dark lord, the dark lord used him to… Severus paused at the realization that the dark lord's usage of him felt the least tainted. Merlin that was an awful thought. But Severus had always known he was being used by the dark lord, the man had never claimed otherwise, everyone else however…

He watched as the memories restarted. Watched again as his mother used him as a meat shield, as lily used him to excel at her work. watched as a lonely boy sits in a train compartment by himself on his way to his fourth year of schooling. The year Severus began to teach Lily his improved potions recipes as well as the charms adjustments. He watches him as he reads his potions textbook and suddenly he is falling, falling and lurching forward, off of the seat and on to his hands and knees. 

Severus takes a shuddering breath as he looks around himself. He knows in his very soul that this is no illusion or dream. No, lady fate has given him a second chance at life. He knows it as if she had sat him down and explained it to him. The textbook he had been reading is sprawled on the floor in front of him and as he locks his eyes on to it he can't help the manic laughter that bubbles out of him. He almost can't believe it. He somewhat doesn't believe it. But he can feel in his soul that it's true. He has a second chance. A second chance to live for himself and Merlin he is going to take it. 

After having his rose tinted glasses ripped away , and wasn't that horrible? to think that his miserable life had been worse than even he allowed himself to believe. He truly had no one and for once in his life he was glad. He no longer had the all consuming desire to find somewhere he belonged, to find people who would appreciate him, his only goal now was being left the fuck alone, earning back the three masteries he had obtained before, and becoming an inventor specialising in potions and Runes. 

That last point was the only issue. He needed someone to bankroll him for something like that so finding a way to make money would be his priority. He paused, having money would also fix a number of other problems. As an adult he realized that he had restricted his opportunities by the way he had presented himself. No one cares if you're not particularly handsome but if you're unkempt and clearly have no interest in your own wellbeing what does that say to others, especially anyone who's considering investing in your future. 

He conjured a mirror, staring at his reflection he blinked in confusion. He looked… well not handsome but far less gruesome than his older counterpart. His nose had a bump on the bridge from where it had been broken once, but it wasn't crooked and swollen yet from being broken repeatedly. His teeth also were less crooked from the lack of blows to his face. His father still only hit him when he got between him and Eileen. That changed after his fight with lily. When his attitude to everyone and everything turned downright aggressive. 

His teeth also weren't completely discolored from the constant use of dreamless sleep he had relied on after the war. They were a little stained from lack of hygiene but it's not too late to fix. His hair was greasy and brittle, not from being unwashed as most thought, but from using body soaps instead of shampoo since they didn't have the money to spare. At home they had one kind of soap and it was used for everything from washing dishes and surfaces to washing their hair and bodies. 

In his old life his misplaced pride had never allowed him to take handouts, or even try to look marginally better just to please other people, and by the time he was an adult his looks served him better the way they were so he had never bothered to change, but now… now all he wanted was his potions mastery and his own apothecary where he could sell and invent potions. Away from the war and away from his old masters. 

He stared down at his robes. They were too short and the fabric was threadbare from the amount of size adjusting charms he had used. They were the same set he had had since first year after all and he had stretched them as far as they would go. He took a deep breath and focused back on his face. His skin was tinted with a sickly hue, courtesy of the polluted air of coakworth. His face was also littered with acne and discolored patches from the harsh soap he had to use on the delicate skin of his face.

His eyes continued to catalog his appearance until he looked himself in the eye and startled. Those… those weren't his eyes. His eyes had always been black as tar, but as he looked at them now he could tell they were different. They were still dark, dark enough to be called black but as he looked to the center of his iris, around his pupil you could see that they were purple. Such a dark purple that they could be mistaken for black. 

As he shifted, trying to get a better look, the light caught them just right and they flashed a brilliant royal purple. Severuses mind brought up memories of brilliant purple irises set into swearling silver sclera and he had to close his eyes at the slight throbbing in his head. The memory receded and just like how he was brought here he innately knew that it was lady fate. She had marked him as hers. He stared at them for a long time before the headache started to return and he managed to force his gaze away. 

If he wanted to be able to live a relatively decent life he needed to, and he hated this plan, catch Slughorn's eye. He needed an invitation to the slug club so he could schmooze with other potions masters and people who might be willing to bankroll him. Last time it took him till the end of fifth year to achieve while lily had been invited by Christmas this year. so he will need to either work on his own, or with someone who can’t claim his work, i.e not Lily. 

He looked in the mirror again. He also needed to make himself presentable. He would never be handsome and he would never care to be but he needed to look less like a dirty urchin. He vanished the mirror and sat heavily in his seat contemplating how he could go about this. He needed basic things like shampoo, soaps, and lotions. Not to mention new robes and he has no money. He let his head fall back against the seat as he thought, then it hit him. The room of requirement. 

Whatever students left in the dorms at the end of the year was vanished by the castle and stored in the room of requirement. People had to have left things like shampoo and soap behind. Maybe if he was lucky someone might have left a set or two of school robes behind. He would skip the welcome feast and go straight there. It's not like anyone would notice his absence. Lucky for him it was also Friday meaning they had the weekend before any classes would start. That should give him sufficient time to create a proper plan after he got all the little minor things out of the way. 

He nodded to himself. for now the plan was good enough. He stared down at where his textbook was still lying on the floor. As he bent down to pick it up he felt the train start to slow. looking out the window he found that they were at hogsmeade station. He pocketed his book and left the compartment making his way into the first carriage he got to, uncaring of the other students who were clearly displeased by his presence. 

He gasped as the carriage made its way through the gates and on to the grounds as he felt the wards welcome him back, not as a student but as the headmaster. He could feel the wards, feel the presence of every living being within them, and he could feel Dumbledore's connection to them as well. Immediately he cut off the man's ability to sense Severus or his connection to the wards.

In the long run it wouldn't do a lot. Dumbledore was currently keyed into the wards as a secondary headmaster similar to a deputy, while Severus had primary control, and he knew that Dumbledore would definitely notice. Oh Merlin, he was so screwed. Why had the wards recognised him? That implies… that implies that it isn't only his memories that got sent here but his magical core too. 

The second he could get away he needed to check his occlumency, have a look around his mindscape, and check his core to see what's happening with it. As soon as he was in the castle he ran to the seventh floor and took several deep breaths to calm himself and organize his thoughts. First he asked for a room filled with all the clothes and cosmetics that the room had access to. He walked in and his jaw dropped at the sight in front of him. There were literal mountains of clothes to his left and piles of bottles and tubs of beauty products to his right. 

“When was the last time someone cleared this room out.” Severus got a vague negative feeling from the castle and guessed that that was a ‘never.’ Moving forward he noticed that every pile was organized. The clothes had a pile specifically dedicated to school robes, all of which were currently all black indicating no house affiliation. That would change as soon as Severus claimed any. There were also other piles of shirts, trousers, socks, Pants, jumpers, casual robes, and a rather small pile of dress robes.

Severus was honestly shocked. How in magic's name did people forget this much stuff. Granted a lot of it looked rather old or a little worn but still. Almost all of it was better than what he was currently wearing. He wasn't going to touch the pants and socks, thank you very much. But everything else was fair game. 

He rummaged through the piles for at least an hour and by the end he managed to find seven sets of uniform including shirts, slacks, and robes, honestly he probably could have found more but it was entirely unnecessary. Even seven felt a bit over the top, but the room itself said that no one ever came for this stuff so why shouldn't he use it. He had also managed to build himself a better wardrobe out of any of the other clothes that would fit him. He now had a decent number of casual shirts, jumpers, slacks, and robes for the weekends too. 

After he had neatly folded and stacked his new wardrobe at the side of the room he moved over to the bottles. He found that they had the same organization style, with shampoos mounded together, perfumes mounded together, moisturizer mounded together and so on and so forth. He picked his way through the piles collecting enough bottles to last the year. None of them were full, obviously, but when he found several of the exact same thing he would pour the contents together so he didn't have to take so many bottles. 

In the end he found shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, face wash, body soap, and several creams to help with removing acne and moisturizing. None of it would be an instant fix but it will all help in little ways. People don't realize how much they judge others based purely on appearance. This should be enough to stop any instant dislike when he finally managed to get an invitation to the slug club, and if he was honest that was most of the reason he was doing this at all. 

Setting the bottles aside he realized that he would need a trunk to carry all of this. Instantly he felt the room shift and a pile of trunks appeared. Once again Severus found himself asking how. There was no way that someone just forgot their trunk. So where did these come from? He went over and started looking through them. The realization suddenly hit him when he opened one of them and recognised the name on a few of the items. Andrew Cartwright was his defense professor in his first year. The man fell while on the stairs, landed wrong, and broke his neck. These were trunks from people who didn't leave the castle alive.

Hopefully he could find one that was actually forgotten. It felt wrong just going through other people's belongings like this when the reason they were here was because they died. He found one that was both good quality and relatively plain. There also wasn't a lot left in it bringing his hope back that it had just been abandoned. Judging by the style of robes left inside it was also rather old. He emptied it of most of the contents, only leaving the extra quills, ink, and parchment that had been in there, before loading it up with his new supplies. 

He paused realizing that he would need dress robes if he intended to join the slug club. He had already looked through the pile the room had brought him and wearing any of them would be worse than just turning up in a school uniform. His gaze flitted over the pile of trunks. A few looked rather fancy so they might have dress robes but… he didnt know how he felt about going through a dead person's things. He sighed, he needed dress robes and it wasn't like they were using them anymore.

Making up his mind he moved over to the fancier looking trunks and started to riffle through them. In the end he couldn't stop himself from taking two very nice winter cloaks on top of a few sets of dress robes. One was a charcoal gray and the other was a nice navy blue. 

Once he was done he packed the extras, closed the lid, sat atop it with his back to the wall, and closed his eyes. Slowly he evened out his breathing, pulling and pushing his magic so that it fluctuated in time with his heart beat, and dove into his mindscape. He opened his eyes and found himself looking at a rather bland office. His mindscape and defenses were the same as the ones he had had in the future, which he guesses makes sense. 

He walked over to a nondescript mirror that hung on the wall next to the door. It was a bland and boring piece of decoration. Something completely uninteresting to anyone who came snooping. Definitely uninteresting compared to the heavily warded bookcases at the back of the room that were filled with nothing of any substance. He walked up to it and stepped through the glass and into his true mindscape. It was an exact replica of the forbidden forest and his core was at the heart. 

He walked along well trodden paths until he reached the grove that housed his core. He stopped, staring at them in shock. There were two cores. One was far larger than the other and seemed to be trying to absorb the smaller. That settled it. His magic had also come back with him. But he didn't just possess his older magic. He had his older core on top of his younger core. He was already considered a rather powerful wizard in his last life, now however, having the combined power of two cores might put him on the level of Dumbledore and the dark lord.

Chapter Text

Severus shrunk his new trunk, stuffing it into his pocket before leaving and heading down to the slytherin dorms. Once there he realized that he had no clue what the password was, groaning he was about to turn around when the wall slid open for him without any prompting. Abruptly he remembered that he was keyed into the wards as the headmaster so no password was necessary. 

He walked through the common room finding it entirely empty. The feast must not have finished yet. He walked down to the fourth year dorms and upon opening the door to a smaller common room he remembered that this was the first year that they didn't all share a single room. The little common room had doors lining the walls so there were only two to a room.

From fourth year till sixth they shared in pairs and in seventh they got their own rooms. However, there was an odd number of students in his year, so Severus was stuck together with Avery and Mulciber, two of the worst death eaters he had ever met. Even at this point in time they weren't people you wanted to associate with. Avery was a psychopath who liked watching the effect some curses have on people while Mulciber was just sick in the head. He liked his victims young. the older he got the younger his victims. 

Severus shivered and took a deep breath. They hadn't done anything like that yet in this time and they wouldn't if he had anything to say about it. Even Bellatrix had found them distasteful and if that didn't tell you what you needed to know then you were an idiot. Severus had actually been rather close to Bellatrix; they were the only ones capable of dueling with the other and not coming out mortally injured. Because of that he knew that she wasn't as insane as she let people believe.

He walked over to the door that had been his hell for the next three years but found his name missing from the plaque. He looked around and found that instead of two twos and a three. There were three twos and a single. He got the single. He was happy but also suspicious. Why had this changed? He pushed it to the back of his mind for the moment, pushed the door open, and froze.

In front of him was a small living room with a kitchenette to his right, a fireplace with a cluster of armchairs to his left, and bookcases lining every part of the wall that wasn't taken up by doorways leading to other rooms. It looked like a perfect replica of the quarters he had had as a teacher. 

He opened the first door. In his previous life it had led to his private potions lab and it would seem the same now. Though it wasn't stocked with equipment and ingredients like it once had been. Leaving the room, he walked over to the second door which led to a spacious bedroom with an ensuite and walk-in closet. If anyone saw this it would definitely raise questions. Questions he really didn't want to answer.

placing his hand on the wall, he begged the castle to make a few changes. It complied, so now the door off the common room led directly to the bedroom and the doors leading off the bedroom changed so they no longer resembled doors. The door to the ensuite was now a floor length mirror while the living room was hidden behind a large bookcase. The closet stayed as it was.

He was sure that his yearmates would probably throw a fit about him having the single but he honestly didn't care. Not to mention that there was literally nothing anyone could do about it. The castle worked in mysterious ways and no one could or would fight with a millenia old sentient building that had a penchant for being petty.

Severus remembered the boy who had tried to carve his initials into one of the stones. He graduated the year before last and was constantly brought up as an example of why you dont fuck with hogwarts. During his years here he found that the staircases would change to inconvenience him, loose floor slabs would shift and trip him, doors would close in his face, and seemingly random things would fall on him from time to time. Most notably was a homoerotica novel that smacked him in the face during dinner making the boy blush to the tips of his ears. Hogwarts was petty, so what the castle says, gose. End of discussion. 

Finding his original trunk at the end of his bed he walked over and opened it. He immediately scrunched his nose at the contents. The clothing inside was in a worse state than his original school robes and Severus felt the urge to just vanish the lot of them. He pulled them out so he could get to his books which he then proceeded to place on the bookshelf. Pulling out his parchment and stationary he packed it into the desk at the edge of the room. 

Looking down at the clothes on the floor he was about to put them in the wardrobe, but then decided to shove them back into his old trunk, shrink it, then yeet the entire thing into the closet so he didn't have to see it again until next summer. It took him a grand total of twelve minutes to unpack completely. That was somewhat depressing. He moved on to his new trunk, unpacked everything then decided to take a shower with the new products he had managed to obtain. 

Severus spent the next two days between the room of requirement and his little apartment. The ROR was an absolute treasure trove of items and he was milking it for all it was worth. He had found thousands of books, granted a lot were textbooks and duplicates but a number of them were dark, banned, restricted,or his favorites, mastery level. 

He had also cleared out most of the potions equipment he found there and to his utter shock, disbelief, horror, mild anger and absolute incredulity, he found a solid gold cauldron. There was some kind of tar-like substance caking the inside and when he tried to vanish it he found that it was resistant to magic. Which was probably the reason it was thrown away but all it took was a little soap and water for it to be cleaned. Trust a wizard to throw something away simply because they can't clean it with magic. Merlin forbid they do it by hand. He had found that to be the case with a lot of the potions equipment he had found actually.

He had also found a never ending supply of stationary there. Not really but there was enough parchment, quills, and ink there to last him through all his years at Hogwarts and then some, so it may as well be never ending. Among his favorite finds were a set of fountain pens, which he now kept in his pockets at all times, and two never ending journals. A journal charmed with infinite pages. 

He had decided to use one as a sort of grimoire, writing down all of his improved or new potions recipes as well as a few that he didn't create himself but also didn't exist yet in this time. While he used the other for his research and experimentations. He had already written out the things he had been working on in his last future, hoping to continue his research here. But that would have to wait until he had the ingredients to spare.

For now though he was currently sitting in one of the plush leather armchairs by the fire in his quarters, reading a book on the uses of Egyptian hieroglyphs and how they share similarities to elder futhark runes. He was interrupted by a rather loud knocking. He had made it so that if someone knocked on the door he would be able to hear it from anywhere in his quarters. Quickly he got up and went to the bedroom, making sure the bookshelf hiding the doorway was firmly in place before he opened his door.

Regulus black was standing there, arms crossed, and staring impatiently at him. Severus was just contemplating slamming the door in the boy's face when he spoke up.

“Lucius is wondering if you'll be joining the house for lunch today?” Ah lucius was demanding his presence. Well, it sucks to be him.

“No I won't be.” And with that Severus slammed the door. Not a second later Regulus was pounding on the door again. He opened it again, smiling pleasantly. “Can I help you?” Regulus was glowering at him.

“What am I supposed to tell him when he sees that you're not with me?” Severus rolls his eyes.

“Simply tell him the truth. I. Am. Busy. Simple.” And again he slams the door in the other boy's face. Severus swore he heard a growl but was content to ignore it. No one else interrupted him for the rest of the day and Severus found himself so inordinately grateful for his little kitchenette that was constantly stocked with ingredients so he could make himself meals whenever he wanted. It removed the need to go to the great hall, preventing his housemates from having reliable access to him.

He had survived as long as he had in the snake pit by being agreeable and quick to obey the hierarchy but severus as he was now could not, would not bow or cower to anyone. Not to the dark lord, Not to Dumbledore, and most certainly not to a bunch of children with an inflated sense of self importance. And if they tried anything… Well, Severus could protect himself. 

On Monday morning Severus woke early, a scream  on his lips as he clutched and clawed at his throat. Checking the time he realized that it was too late to go back to sleep so he made his way to the shower. He stood under the scalding spray for a good twenty minutes, his eyes closed and forehead pressed against the cool marble tiles while he took deep calming breaths. 

That was the first nightmare he had had since coming back to this time and he doubts it will be the last. He needs a way to get more ingredients. He could really do with a stock of calming draught and dittany essence. He pressed his fingers to the abused skin of his neck feeling it sting slightly at the contact. He had some bruise balm he had found in the ROR but it would do little for the open wounds.

Once out the shower he cast an episkey tracing the wand tip down each scratch, healing it over enough to close the wounds, and leaving fresh pink skin behind. He dabbed the bruise balm over the rest soothing it slightly but doing little else. After brushing his teeth and using a quick charm to dry his hair Severus got dressed in his school robes. It was about ten minutes until the hall would be open for pre breakfast tea and coffee so he decided to pack his books and make his way down.

They would be receiving their schedules today which is why he had even bothered to show up for breakfast at all. In the future he would make it a point to show up for meals sporadically throughout the week just to keep everyone guessing. It wasn't much of a shock when Severus found himself as the first person in the hall. He took a seat at the end of the slytherin table furthest away from the professors and pulled out his potions book. 

He was itching to annotate it but didn't want anyone else to be able to take it and follow the instructions. Instead he pulled out his personal grimoire and started writing down the new recipes until he got to a recipe that he had never altered in his past life. Doxycide, if he remembered correctly, had just been revised so he never had the opportunity to tinker with it.

Pulling out his research book he began to write down each step of the potion, how the ingredients were prepared and why, what he thinks should be changed to make it more potent, adding a stir here and maybe an extra Streeler shell, ground finely instead of coarsely, and… he was shaken out of his pondering when the book was ripped away. Lucky he hadn't been writing at that moment so the page hadn’t been splattered with ink. He looked up, finding Lucius attempting to remove the anti-spying spell he placed on it.

“Good morning to you too.” he snatched the book back, and packed all three of them into his bag. He hadn’t really been worried about anyone breaking through the charms. Just because they would be able to see the page doesn't mean they would be able to read it. He had developed a way of writing things out so even if he had to show his memories to either of his masters they would never be able to see what he was writing. First he wrote in ancient Greek but replaced the Greek alphabet with the Latin counterpart making it look like jiberish, then he used a simple Caesar Cipher to confuse it further. He had been writing like this for years and by this point it was basically second nature.

“You weren't at any meals yesterday.” Or the day before, but clearly Lucius had no need for him then. With his things packed away he poured himself a cup of coffee and began placing toast, eggs, and bacon on his plate. Surreptitiously he scanned the hall. It had gotten a lot busier, almost all the tables were full now. 

“Well?” He turned back to Lucius.

“Well what?” he asked, one eyebrow raised. “I didn't hear you ask a question.” the blond's left eye twitched.

“Why weren't you at meals yesterday? I was under the impression that you wouldn't be able to afford to miss meals while you were here.” the little lilt in his voice when he said ‘afford’ made Severus clench his jaw. Lucius was a bastard. Visibly though he showed no outward sign that he was affected by the other boy's words.

“Didn't Regulus tell you? I was sure I told him to tell you that I was busy.” Malfoys face turned a delightful shade of red but before he could say a word, Slughorn walked over with their timetables. He handed Severus his without a word while engaging Lucius in meaningless smalltalk. He took the chance he was given to walk away from the table and made his way to his first class.

At the end of the day was potions and Severus walked into the classroom making a beeline for the free seat next to Avery. The other boy turned to him, his eyebrows creasing into a scowl. “Snape, I sit with…”

“Mulciber, I know, but he doesn't ever show up until one minute before the class starts. I swear I'll move before then.” Rosiers scowl turned into curiosity and Severus knew the moment that Lily had noticed where he was sitting. Rosier was looking over Severus's shoulder and smirking. He pretended not to notice.

“So you're ditching Evans, huh? I don't know why, doesn't she drag your grades up? I always hear Slughorn praising the quality of her work.” Merlin, even the slytherin bigots who called half bloods mudbloods think lily was the one doing the work. Severus grit his teeth.

“You’ll see why.” After Evans had sat, and was sufficiently distracted by the future Mrs Longbottom, Severus stood and made his way to an empty desk at the back of the room. There was an uneven number of students and he was counting on that to convince Slughorn to let him work alone. 

Slughorn entered the room and explained that they would be brewing calming draught in pairs today. Severus thanked lady fate once more because he would be able to bottle the rest of his cauldron and use them for himself. He started to prepare his station when Slughorn appeared in front of him.

“You don't have a partner?” Obviously.

“No Sir, There are an odd number of students in this class and I'm happy to work on my own, prefer it even. And it's not like we can have three people working on one cauldron, that would just be a disaster.” He saw Slughorn grimace, more mistakes were always made the more people you had working on a potion. 

“And don't you think it's for the best that I'm the one who's on their own? After all, I received the top mark in potions last year with a 99 on the end of year exams." Slughorn's bushy eyebrows raised, clearly shocked. He eyed Severus for a moment, clearly trying to remember if what he said was true, before the man gave one terse nod and walked away.

Severus continued prepping his work space, setting out a larger cauldron than was asked for and started to prepare his ingredients. He started with the chamomile petals which he placed in the cauldron before using a pestle to ever so slightly crush them, turning them from a white to a light grayish brown. He then added the water and set it on a low heat. That would form the base of the potion. The chamomile petals weren’t used in the original recipe but Severus had found that it counteracted the peppermint later on allowing you to add more, increasing the potions effectiveness. 

***

Rosier was intrigued. Snape was… Different, not in a good way but also not in a bad way. He was avoiding Malfoy, which was honestly fair enough, the poncy blond was annoying at the best of times, but he also avoided Evans, which was odd. He turned to see said Mudblood waving her hand to get Slughorn's attention. The man quickly walked over and she pointed out that ‘Sev doesn't have a partner.’ and batting her eyes at the man practically pleading for him to do something about it.

Slughorn's interaction with Snape was enlightening. Everyone was under the impression that Lily Evans was at the top of their class for potions. She had bragged about getting a 97 on their final exam; she also received top marks on her practicals during the year. 

Rosier turned his attention back to Snape where he was setting up his cauldron which was triple the size everyone else was working with. What was he doing? Rosier watched as the boy worked. Five minutes in and Rosier was sure the boy wasn't even paying attention. He didn't have any book out to follow a recipe from nor did he even seem to be following the recipe. He put something in the cauldron before he even put the water in. and whatever it was didn't look like any of the ingredients the potion called for.

Snape leaned over the cauldron to start stirring but quickly leaned back when his hair almost went into the mixture. Without seeming to think about it the boy tied his hair away from his face with a deep blue ribbon that he apparently kept around his wrist. He shrugged off his robe that, now Rosiers attention was brought to it, looked a lot nicer than what he used to wear. The sleeves of his crisp white shirt was the next thing he changed, rolling them up to his elbows before he went right back to brewing.

Rosier wished he had a camera because no one who saw this would believe that boy to be Snape. Hell he barely believed it. His hair was soft looking and curled slightly at the ends. With it pulled away from his face it revealed a strong angled jaw. His once sallow skin was now fair and unblemished. What the actual fuck. Had he always looked like that under the permanent scowl and greasy hair. 

Rosier noticed that he wasn't the only one watching him; many other people in the class were watching the boy brew. It was captivating. Like watching a master in their element. 

***

Severus could not tell you the number of times he had brewed this potion for poppy over the years. During one memorable year she had dared him to make it using the largest cauldron he had. Unknown to her at the time, that turned out to be a 15 liter cauldron. He had done it but Poppy had laughed her ass off the entire time. ‘You look like one of those witches out of a muggle story book.’ She had told him repeatedly. He really had. The cauldron was too big to place on a workbench so he had to make a fire pit on the floor and stir it with an enlarged stirrer. The batch had lasted for almost the rest of the year. And while Poppy asked him to do it every year after that, he always refused.  

The 15 liter cauldron wasn't really meant to be brewed with; it was more of a ritual cauldron. The largest cauldron he ever brewed with normally was 5 liters. Right now he was brewing with a 3 liter, or standard size 6, pewter cauldron. Cauldrons went up to standard size 10 or five liters and no further. Anything above that was considered custom. 

He tuned back into what he was doing, swiping a stray lock of hair that had fallen out of its tie, back behind his ear. The potion was bubbling a bright sky blue, taking the cauldron off the heat he added a small pinch of powdered porcupine quill and stirring five times clockwise. With every stir the potions color softened until it was a pastel baby blue. The fumes coming from it were a soft lilac and smelled strongly of lavender with a cool menthol undertone. 

He decanted the potion into crystal vials he had taken from the ROR, stoppering them and leaving them under an anti tampering charm on his workbench. He had gotten 30 vials out of it and would be keeping 29 for himself. He cleaned the rest of his equipment before packing it away. Deciding to wait to hand in his work, he pulled out his research book and continued his alterations to the Doxycide he had been working on that morning.

Bright red hair caught his attention and he watched lily hand in her work. Slughorn's smile became slightly fixed as he took her potion. It was a muted cyan with shimmering silver vapor. It was extremely good, especially for a first attempt. But it wasn't the perfection that she used to give in. Severus quickly averted his eyes, hiding his smirk with his book when he saw Slughorn's eyes briefly flick to him. 

The man wasn't a slytherin for nothing. He was cunning, smart, and had been recruiting talented people for decades. He knew what to look for and Severus was now officially on the man's radar. He watched Slughorn give her empty compliments, the man's attention no longer fixed on her or her work as he eyed Severus sitting at his workbench reading. He stood, shooing Lily back to her table and made his way over.

“Mr. Snape, it appears you're finished. May I?” He gestured to the rack of vials and Severus handed him one. He held it to the light before uncorking it watching the lilac vapors rise from the opening. He took a sniff.

“There might be a little too much peppermint in there my boy, it smells a little strong but…”

“No Sir.” Severus cut him off. “I made the base with something that will counteract the effects allowing me to add more peppermint and in turn more lavender. While the freshness should remain, the burning should no longer be an issue.” Slughorn was watching him with sparkling eyes.

“You wouldn't mind me testing that would you?” At that Severus raised an eyebrow. The man was going to take what was, from his point of view, an untested experimental potion made by a fourth year. Slughorn didn't wait for an answer before downing the potion. He smacked his lips together a few times.

“You did well Mr Snape. This is a perfect potion. Better even than the recipe in the book. I can take the extra vials to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey will be pleased to have such good quality stock.” Severus frowned at the man.

“Sir this potion was made using the ingredients in our potions kits not the student stores. Therefore you have no right to the potion that I brewed with my own ingredients. There is a reason I made a larger batch and it wasn't for madam Pomfrey. If you would like me to brew for the hospital wing then I expect to be compensated for my work.” He pulled the vials out of the man's reach before gently packing them away.

Chapter Text

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore does Not panic, therefore, clearly, he is not currently panicking. He is just uncharacteristically concerned over the ward's change in status. He had been thinking about it since he felt the wards shift just before the start of term feast, which was friday. It was now Monday morning and he was still thinking about it. At first he thought that someone had managed to sever his connection to the wards but that hadn't been the case. It was more like someone held a higher authority than him, which left him two options. 

First, was that there was an Heir to one of the founders amongst the first years. Second, was that one of the now seventh years claimed a founder's Lordship over the summer. Either of these seemed possible but the latter seemed more plausible. It was unlikely that an Heir would have any control over the wards, so he was looking for a seventh year.

He surveyed the hall as the heads of houses passed timetables out. There was a little scuffle towards the end of the Slytherin table but he ignored it. He was sure he wasn't looking for a Slytherin. Tom didn't have children and if one of them was the Heir of Slytherin, Albus was sure everyone would be aware. And with that thought he was almost certain it wasn't a Gryffindor either. It was unlikely they would keep their new status quiet.

No, he was looking for a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. He sincerely hoped it was one of the badgers. Albus was aware that Tom already had his claws in the house of the eagles and the last thing he wanted was for the dark to have any say in the running of Hogwarts. 

***

After his potions class Monday Severus had been doing his best to avoid everyone. And when he says everyone he means everyone. Lily was looking for him, The marauders had been trying to hex him, he had mistakenly helped one, One, singular hufflepuff third year with their potions homework and now he was apparently considered safe so he couldn't go to the library without a hufflepuff asking for help, so, naturally he was avoiding the entire Hufflepuff house. Lucius was getting on his very last nerve with his attitude, witch led to him avoiding Lucius’s entire clique and even the teachers were trying to talk to him about his work by the end of the week. Who did he have to kill to be left the fuck alone?

He had found a book on how to become an animagus in the ROR and had decided that if the marauders could do it so could he, but no one would fuck off for two minutes so he could gather the ingredients. The only person who didn't seem to have any interest in him at the moment was Albus but that in itself was slightly unnerving. He was clearly plotting something but if it had nothing to do with him then he couldn't care less. 

He had just walked out of the castle and towards the forest when Pomona walked out of the greenhouse. It was only her second year of teaching and she looked so much younger than when he had left her. She must only be in her late twenties or early thirties. Though as the only teacher who was in Hufflepuff she immediately became a head of house. He tried to continue walking, as if he was just taking a stroll and not going into the forest, but to his chagrin she stopped him.

“Mr Snape.” He stopped and barely managed to hold in his grown of annoyance before turning to face her. “I hear you’ve been helping my badgers recently.” He tried to hide his annoyance but clearly he didn't do a good enough job as her smile grew to show teeth. “I understand that they can be a bit much, especially when they are in a pack.” her smile softened.

“But I would like to thank you for helping them, while I'm good at herbology I am rather terrible at potions and Slughorne is a barely competent master let alone teacher. I was wondering if you would be interested in a trade.” Severus was immediately wery; he had known Pomona for many years now so he knew just how slytherin this woman was. Oh she didn't look it, but she was far more cunning than any snake. 

“What kind of trade?” there was a glint in her eyes as he asked and he couldn't help but feel he was already trapped.

“Green house five is my personal greenhouse. I will give you access to anything in there within reason, basically don't kill any of my plants or strip them bare and we’ll be good. If you need an entire plant or the roots you can ask and I may give them to you. Any and all plants I decide to remove I will give to you for your potions making and I will actively try planting things that can be used as potions ingredients.” 

“Right? And what do you want in return?” she smiled pleasantly.

“Your saturdays. That's all.” Severus shook his head.

“No. What Exactly do you want from my saturdays.” Pomona scoffed.

“You Slytherins can never just take a good deal can you?” he raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘I'm not stupid’ and she huffed. “Fine. I want you to be available for potions tutoring on Saturdays. closed tutoring, available to my badgers only. Starting from the end of breakfast and ending at the start of dinner. What do you say? They’ll leave you alone during the rest of the week and you’ll have access to a greenhouse full of ingredients.” she held out her hand for him to shake.

He shook her hand and she grinned like the cat that got the cream. He had a feeling he would regret this.

***

Severus regretted everything. Fuck Pomona and her stupid deals. He should have specified a limit to the number of people that could be in his presence at any one time, because now he was stuck with almost forty eleven to thirteen year olds all shouting questions at him. Merlin damn it he hates teaching. He started hitting his head against the desk over and over again until he realized that the room had gone utterly silent. He looked up, finding all forty pairs of eyes looking at him in concern. 

“Are you alright?” the smallest and youngest badger asked him tentatively. 

“Just fine. Now that you're all quiet.” a few of them looked a little sheepish at that. “What do you want tutoring in?” immediately a cacophony of noise hit him and he had to use a sonorous to be heard over the group. “Raise Your Hands!” One by one he went through the group, some dropped their hand when others said what they wanted to and by the time he reached the middle there were no hands left. 

He looked at the bord where he had written everything down. Quite possibly the worst was that they didn't know the difference between chopping, dicing, slicing, or minced, crushed, and ground. This was brought to his attention by a third year. A fucking third year. Two years of not knowing how to properly prepare potions, how had no one died yet? He smacked his head against the blackboard and without removing it from where it rested, he pointed to where it said ‘what's the difference in preparation.’

“Raise your hand if you do not know the difference between chopping, dicing, slicing, or a dob, a drop, a pinch, or minced, crushed, and ground.” he waited a few seconds hearing the shuffling of fabric before he turned around. All bar three had their hands up. He regretted everything. 

That evening he trudged into the slytherin common room and over to the stairs that led down to the dorms.

“Oi Snape!” he groaned before turning around. “Where have you been?” 

“In a literal hellscape complete with little yellow clad demons who don't understand what the word silence means.” Carrow was looking at him in utter confusion before he seemed to just barrel past what Severus said in an attempt to keep on track.

“Well Malfoy has been looking for you.” Carrow grabbed him by the upper arm and physically dragged him to where Lucius was sprawled by the fireplace surrounded by other future death eaters, including the Blacks. Severus took a deep breath willing himself not to curse anyone. While he wasn't going to play their games he didn't need to actively antagonize any of them. 

“There you are, you know you're rather hard to find.”

“Not hard enough, apparently. Way too many people seem to be bugging me these days. I’ll have to try harder.” meaning he was not leaving his room unless he really had to from now on. Now that he thought about it, if the castle was capable of just changing rooms and corridors as it pleased, would she give him a few secret passageways if he asked nicely? It was definitely worth a try.

 “Snape! Are you even listening.” Lucius’s face was a bright red as he glared venomously at him. 

“Oh, um no, I wasn't really listening, I might have just figured out a way to fix my current problem though.” he spun on his heel and strode quickly to his room, once there he walked through the bookcase and into his living room. 

“Oh great lady, might you be willing to give me a few secret passageways please. Just a few to make it easier to traverse the castle undetected.” Severus was actually shocked when the wall next to the fireplace opened. Quickly he stepped through it and into a dimly lit corridor. As soon as he passed the threshold wall sconces began to light one by one.

The corridor was riddled with dust covered cobwebs and the air was stagnant with mildew. He couldn't see an end to the corridor whether he looked left or right it seemed to just trail off into darkness. The walls were covered in carved archways that appeared to have been bricked up several hundred years ago, the stone matching seamlessly with the rest of the wall. There were decorative crests perfectly carved into each arch with excruciating detail. 

He walked down the corridor to see if there was an opening somewhere when he heard stone scraping against stone, turning around he saw the arch he came from closing up. He started panicking and ran towards it but it was too late the arch was bricked up too. He pushed magic into the castle begging for it to open again and just like that the bricks moved aside. He looked at it a little dumbfounded. Then turned to the other archways with renewed interest. 

He went to the one directly opposite to where he was and looked over the detailed crest. It held a shield with a dragon in its center. The shield was surrounded by oak leaves twisting and curling up from the bottom and ending as it brushed the bottom of a large and elaborate crown  framing the top of the shield. He pushed his magic into the castle asking for it to open but nothing happened. He moved down one not taking notice of the crest but again nothing happened. 

He heard the shifting of stone again and watched as the archway to his rooms closed again. This time he noticed another crest decorating his archway. It was similar to the first but instead of a dragon it was replaced with an alicorn and the crown was much smaller. It was more of a circlet than a crown. He looked to the third door he had tried to open and found almost an identical crest to the one on his doorway, but this one had a Phoenix in place of the alicorn. 

He continued down the hall observing the carvings, he had a feeling that they had more importance than just being decorative. Some had more than one crest, some crests repeated, but he couldn't find a pattern. He recognised a lot of the crests since some were the individual Hogwarts house crests or the Hogwarts crest itself. One looked very similar to the Hogwarts crest and this was the one that had Severus making some connections. 

It had the usual shield split into quarters with a lion, badger, snake, and eagle in each quarter, but to either side of the shield was an alicorn and a phoenix, and resting on top of the shield was a magnificent crown. This made him realize that every crest was made using a combination of seven symbols, a Snake, an eagle, an alicorn, a crown, a phoenix, a badger, and a Lion. The Snake, eagle, badger, and Lion were obviously the founders but he didn't know what the other three were.  

After analyzing all the crests and combinations he decided to test out a theory. He walked up to one of the archways holding the crest that had all seven symbols and asked for it to open. It did and he stuck his head out of the hole finding that it led to the seventh floor, right by the ROR. Okay, now that was handy. 

He walked back into the corridor and looked for another that held all the symbols. He assumed that since his room held the alicorn symbol then he would be able to open anything with the matching symbol but he hadn’t yet found another door that held just the alicorn. But so far any that didn't have it on wouldn't open for him.

He finally found another archway that held all seven symbols again and once again it opened. He heard a slight gasp and moan, focusing he noticed that it opened into an outcove that was currently occupied by two ravenclaw girls who were gaping at him with kiss swollen lips and flushed cheeks.

He immediately backtracked, quickly urging the castle to close the passageway, muttering apologies for the intrusion the entire time. He was just going to assume that his theory was correct and that he could only open the doors engraved with the alicorn symbol. Still he was a little curious where that outcove had been. He'll find out another time. He walked to the next archway willing it to open this one led outside to the greenhouses. 

This singular corridor led from the dungeons to the seventh floor and out to the grounds. What spatial magic was this corridor constructed with?and why was he given access? Surely this goes beyond the wards recognising him as the headmaster. He would almost think it was about family magic due to four of the carvings being a lion, eagle, snake, and badger. but the prince family has no affiliation to an alicorn. 

He pushed it to the back of his mind and made his way back to his rooms to sleep. He used the entirety of Sunday to map out the corridor. The crest that held all seven symbols seemed to lead to public spaces and he had noticed the same crest scattered around the castle. He was sure they would come in handy in the future. Honestly they already had both the marauders and lily had almost cornered him and would have if it weren't for the passages. 

Severus woke gasping, his head was filled with purple irises, silver sclera and a golden alicorn. Fate was trying to tell him something. Something she seemed to think was important but he couldn't grasp what it had been

***

It had been a week and no matter how many enquiries to the goblins or occasional legilimency prods Albus used he couldn't find a thing. The goblins insist that the founders' vaults are still sitting dormant but when he asked about the Heir and Lord status they informed him that he wasn't authorized to access that knowledge. And wasn't that suspicious? The Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, and Headmaster of Hogwarts wasn't allowed that information.

Clearly they were hiding something. So while the vaults aren't currently in use something was happening with the Heir and Lordships. And whoever it was was keeping it extremely quiet. He had been in almost every Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs head, yet he had found nothing. It was infuriating.

***

Another Monday rolled around and it was once again time for potions. He sat down in his usual seat at the back of the class and it was only a few seconds later when the seat next to him became occupied. He flicked his eyes over and only needed a fraction of a second to know exactly who was sitting next to him. Only one person he knew had that exact shade of red hair.

“Lily, what are you doing over here? Your partner for the year is… um.” the future Mrs Longbottom. What was her name before that? “Um, Alice? Right?”

“But Sev we always partner in potions.”

“Lily, you spent the entirety of summer telling me how much you missed your friends and that you were thinking about partnering with one of them in potions. I didn't want you to feel obligated to sit with me like you kept saying, remember?” Severus paused, looking at her pitifuly, knowing that everyone was currently listening in on their conversation.

“You kept saying how you were neglecting them by partnering with me in all the classes you could, and I realize now how much I was monopolizing your time. That's why I made sure you wouldn't feel obligated to do that this year. You can spend time with the friends you missed so much over the holidays. I understand that we get far more time together so don't feel obligated to partner with me or to make time for our usual study sessions. I’m sure that your time would be better spent doing other things. I'm so sorry that I was pressuring you so much. we can just meet up whenever.” 

Severus made his voice seem as soft and sad as he could as if he was just concerned that he had truly inconvenienced his best friend. It was obvious that everyone bought it because the Gryffindors looked both shocked and moved at his show of empathy, while the Slytherins looked disgusted. All except Rosier who had a manic twinkle, bordering Dumbledore level, in his baby blue eyes. At that moment Slughorn bustled in and turned to the class, he immediately noticed Alice sitting on her own.

“My dear, where is Miss Evans?” Alice tried to subtly look to the back of the room but Slughorn noticed and his eyes flicked over. As soon as he saw where she was sitting a frown marred his features.

“Miss Evans, I do believe Miss Fortescue is your partner.” He gestured for her to move but she stayed seated.

“But me and Sev are always potions partners.” Lily wined and batted her eyes at him.

“Yes, I am aware that you’ve both been partners every year till now. I do believe it's time for a change, don't you? Now Miss Evans please move back to your desk and we can begin the lesson." His voice was no longer pandering or kind but lined with a steel severus had never once heard from the man. Lily quickly moved.

At the end of the class Severus stayed behind to ask Slughorn if he had any spare ingredients that he would be willing to give to him for experimental purposes, but the man wouldn't give him something for nothing and anything he asked for was far too high a price in Severus's opinion. Merlin, there was only so much he could do with plant based ingredients that he could get from either the forest or greenhouse five. At this point he was seriously tempted to hunt down one of the bloody acromantulas. Just so he could work with a little bit of venom or the eyes. Acromantula eyes might make a good substitute in the eyesight correction potion or if added with a catalyst it might actually be an improvement. Oh merlin he was seriously considering hunting acromantulas.

He continued to make his way back to the common room mind whirling with all the things he could do if he just had access to a bit of money or an acromantula. As soon as he stepped through the wall to the common room Mulciber was standing in front of him.

“You disgust me and disgrace our house, simpering and groveling at that mudbloods feet. You…” he was interrupted by Rosier full on belly laughing in the middle of the room.

“Oh Ha, Merlin, Hahaha, none of you have a fucking clue. It's just… Ha so funny. You can't see it.” Mulciber was starting to look angry at his roommate while everyone else looked a little confused. “You idiots, he's finally ditched her, and now you're mad.” Severus used Rosiers' distraction to move away and back to his dorms. He really needs to remember to use the secret corridor so he doesn't have to interact with anyone anymore.

Chapter Text

James Potter was confused. Snivellus, Severus Snape, the Slytherin who was always stuck to his precious Lily flower's side and dragging her down, was suddenly gone from Lily's presence. He started to notice it in their first potions class. Of course he did, how could he not when lily didn't immediately go to sit with the greasy git, but instead sat with Alice. 

James looked to the other side of the room and immediately scowled at the sight of Snivellus cozied up to one of the other snakes. Lily too was scowling over at them making James even more incensed. He didn't like the boy and was honestly glad he wasn't near lily for the period but how dare he snub her like this. He watched Snape look over and seeing that Lily was distracted he moved to one of the back tables and James's anger turned back into confusion.

Snape was deliberately avoiding Lily and James wanted to be pleased by that but he was also incensed, and if he was really honest with himself he was absolutely baffled. He knew that Lily meant a lot to the other boy so James couldn't get his head around what was happening. He ran out of time to ponder though as Slughorn bustled into the classroom and quickly started an explanation of what they were going to be doing in that lesson. 

Even not when partnering with Snape however, Lily still showed her concern for him, bringing his lack of partner to Slughorn's attention. Slughorn had immediately gone over to speak to the boy and James's confusion grew further throughout their conversation. He had not expected Snape to point out that he was the top potions student in their year, nor had the rest of the class, judging by the look on everyone's faces. The only person who didn't seem surprised was lily. She looked annoyed.

He knew Snivellus was good at brewing, it was the boy's favorite subject after all, but he had always assumed that Lily was bringing up his grade. Now that he thought about it he hadn’t actually assumed that, He distinctly remembered Lily saying she needed to partner with him to help him with his work. The way she spoke about it, like it was a task she was obligated to do, had annoyed James to no end thinking Snivillus was using Lily's good will to increase his own grades. But the conversation between Snape and Slughorne implied that that was far from the truth.

Then he watched the boy brew and his astonishment grew further. James was the son of a renowned potions master and was fully aware of what he was seeing. The slightly glazed look in the other boy's eyes told him that he was preparing a potion he had made so many times that it was practically instinct. He also wasn't following the recipe, he could tell, even from the other side of the room. But that led him to wonder why he was so adept at making calming draughts of all things.

He turned back to his own work and watched as Lily took her potion up to the front. He was once again amazed at the incredible quality of her work, he doubted anyone could do better. James bristled slightly when Slughorn did not agree with his assessment, giving her empty compliments and distracted praise before ushering her away.

Sure the potion hadn’t been perfect but this wasn't an easy brew and they had come as close to it as a fourth year could get. He was being unnecessarily harsh in his assessment. James knew that in the past Lily's potions had always been above perfection but  like he said this was a complex brew and her end result was well beyond the level of a fourth year.

He watched Slughorn move to Snape's workstation. The boy was scribbling notes in a journal. It looked like he had been done for a while and when James saw the boy's potion he almost dropped his stirrer. It was perfect, the kind of perfect that only masters could achieve. He may not be much good at potions himself, but it was difficult not to know these sorts of things when he grew up around his father.

For the rest of the week James made a point of watching the other boy and to James's surprise Snivelus hadn't once sought out Lily nor had he been hanging around any of the other snakes. In fact he had caught him hiding from them. For some reason he seemed to be rather popular with some of the older years, almost all of whom were from dark families. He had caught one or two conversations about Snape's current attitude being unacceptable. Considering James caught him helping a Hufflepuff that one time, he assumed that's the sort of thing they were talking about. 

And that itself had also been strange. James was in the library, for once actually there to do work, so he wasn't with the other marauders , when he saw a small first year straighten and steel herself before walking right up to Snapes table. She placed a book down and pointed to a paragraph before saying ‘I don't understand it and Slughorn wouldn't help.’ 

James was sure he was about to see the firstie get hexed into the new year but to his surprise, after Snape read the passage the boy groaned and demanded to know who had told them to read that book. According to Snape it was written by someone who wouldn't know knotgrass from belladonna. He then proceeded to harshly but effectively teach the small hufflepuff the correct way to prepare the potion .

It had been an eye opening experience for James to see Snape not sneering or being generally awful. It made James wonder if the other boy wasn't as bad as he had always thought. Sure he was harsh and cruel to them but if James was honest they weren't exactly nice to him either. That week he seemed overly aware of snape and just how bad Sirius was about targeting him. The second he saw the other boy he was planning a prank or throwing a jinx. Snape wasn’t even doing anything.

He shook his head clearing it of the unhelpful thoughts as he made his way to another potions class. He watched lily practically run to the greasy gits side. He scowled, they had already set their partners for the year in their last class. Why was she over there? Lucky for him, someone asked that exact question.

“Lily, what are you doing over here? Your partner for the year is… um.” did he not know Alice's name? The girl in question clearly looked offended by that.“Um, Alice? Right?” James had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to tell you her surname if his life depended on it. Though that was a little strange considering they all used last names unless they were friends. He supposes that lilly could have talked about her and only referred to her as Alice, but still. 

“But Sev we always partner in potions.” James felt his nose wrinkle without thought. He had never heard her whine like that.

“Lily, you spent the entirety of summer telling me how much you missed your friends and that you were thinking about partnering with one of them in potions. I didn't want you to feel obligated to sit with me like you kept saying, remember?” James's jaw fell open. 

“You kept saying how you were neglecting them by partnering with me in all the classes you could, and I realize now how much I was monopolizing your time. That's why I made sure you wouldn't feel obligated to do that this year. You can spend time with the friends you missed so much over the holidays. I understand that we get far more time together so don't feel obligated to partner with me or to make time for our usual study sessions. I’m sure that your time would be better spent doing other things. I'm so sorry that I was pressuring you so much. we can just meet up whenever.” 

James had never heard the other boy's voice so soft. He was genuine in his apology and that more than anything confused him. He had never heard him apologize. In fact he remembers hearing Lily talk about several nasty things he had done in the past. She said that when she had just asked for an apology he had laughed at her saying he never apologized to anyone and he wouldn't start now. But now that he thinks about it, that kind of thing doesn't match how Snape has ever spoken to Lily because, yes, James had noticed how soft the other boy was around Lily.

When Slughorn bustled into the classroom he immediately noticed Alice sitting on her own since she was in one of the front desks. James felt bad for alice. It was clear that Lily had ditched her for Snivellus even when the other boy had made sure Lily wouldn't feel pressured to partner with him.

“My dear, where is Miss Evans?” James could tell that Alice tried her best not to look but she clearly failed and Slughorn immediately noticed. As soon as his eyes settled on the pair at the back of the class he frowned. 

“Miss Evans, I do believe Miss Fortescue is your partner.” James straightened at the man's tone. He hadn't heard Slughorn sound that stern ever.

“But me and Sev are always potions partners.” Lily wined and again James couldn't help but scrunch his nose at the grating sound. He never thought Lily would be capable of speaking in a way that he would ever dislike but that whiny tone really didn't suit her.

“Yes, I am aware that you’ve both been partners every year till now. I do believe it's time for a change, don't you? Now Miss Evans please move back to your desk and we can begin the lesson." His voice hardened further and Lily finally seemed to notice that she wasn't getting anywhere. She quickly picked up her things and moved back to alice.

By the end of the class James watched Lily hand in yet another good quality potion while Severus handed in another potion that was far beyond perfect. James scowled down at his chopping board. Snape's potions were better than anything he and Lily had given in the years before while Lilies were worse. He knew what the evidence pointed to but he just couldn't believe it. And that leads him to wonder, if she had lied about how much she had helped Snape in potions, then…

What else had she lied about?

***

Severus finally, finally! had the ingredients to make the animagus potion. But unlike the marauders he had no wish to become one illegally and there were only two ways to do it legally. 

The first was to register your intent to undergo the transformation with the ministry, then they will throw a bunch of paperwork at you, and upon seeing that you don't have a transfiguration mastery, they will hold you up with so much red tape that you just give up your desire to even try to get through it. 

Or there is option two, which very few people even know about, register your intent to undergo the transformation with Gringotts. They will deal with it for a small fee. As they are permitted to handle legal documents on behalf of their clients, you can tell them your intent, take the potion in front of them and have all of the paperwork handled by them. They only need to file the correct documents with the ministry, not gain permission for their client to undergo the transformation. 

It was obvious that the second one was the better option. The only problem was the fact that he didn't have a Gringotts account, meaning he wasn't a client. To get a Gringotts account he needed money and enough to pay the fees. He sighed. 

In his last life he had never actually set up an account. Since his mother died before he finished school he inherited hers, not that there was much of anything in it but at least he didn't need to go through the process of setting one up. He pinched his lip as he thought.

So far the ROR has been very helpful. Maybe he could sell some of the books if there were any duplicates. Or maybe there were other things in there that held some sort of value. There were those fancy trunks he saw last time, they might hold a few pieces of jewelry maybe. He highly doubts it. He can't sell potions without a license and he can't get a license till the holidays. If he went to the potions guild now they would definitely contact Hogwarts asking why he was out of the castle.

He continued walking to the great hall. He had decided to eat lunch with his housemates today. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings until he felt the static of active magic brush across his skin. On instinct he erected a nonverbal, wandless shield and turned just in time to see something yellow splash across its surface. He raised an eyebrow at the sight in front of him.

Sirius Black had his wand pointed at Severus, not an uncommon sight, but Potter was gripping the boys wand arm as if trying to stop him. Black and Pettigrew were scowling harshly at Potter while Lupin appeared to be trying to diffuse the situation while clearly also being on Potter's side.

What the fuck. They didn't seem to be paying any attention to him so he turned to leave only to find about three Hufflepuffs standing at his back glaring at the marauders, who still hadn't noticed the audience to their argument. Severus looked to the side. They were outside the Great hall and just to his left on the wall was a carving of a seven symboled crest.

Fuck eating with his housemates. Why did he even bother? He walked over to it and before he could even ask, the passage opened for him.

***

Severus was really starting to get annoyed. Lucius would not leave him alone. His only saving grace was the fact that Lucius seemed far more annoyed than him. Apparently Severuses new attitude was unbecoming of the half-blood trash he was. Several members of his house were close to straight up attacking him and Severus couldn't wait to put them in their place. 

They would soon learn that they weren't facing a snot nosed kid but the dark lord's right hand man, a double agent who survived through two wars… or mostly survived… kinda. The point was he was one of the most feared duellers within the darklords ranks. The only reason Bellatrix was more feared than him was because of her well known appreciation for torture. They would rather be cut down by Severus quickly than endure a session with her. 

Speaking of dueling, he had been practicing in the ROR every day since he came back to the castle. While this body was far weaker than he was used to, something he was fixing with his daily dueling practice, his magic was stronger than he ever remembered it being. Every time he checked on his cores, the closer they were to completely merging into one. He reckoned it would take another week till they were fully merged.

One good thing had been his classes, he hadn't sat next to Lily in a single one, and that had actually benefited him in more ways than he ever would have thought. There was something about Lily that just seemed to get people's attention, this includes the teachers and while he was not going to hold back in his classes it didn't mean he wanted to be noticed. So while she had everyone's attention he was able to sit at the back of the class and go unnoticed. 

That was until the homework was handed back and Minerva of all people gushed, actually gushed, over his essay. He wished that she would just stay quiet. He could see both Lily and Potter glaring at him and he really didn't want to have to deal with them sooner than he needed to. He had things to do this weekend that did not involve playing hide and seek with the marauders. 

He hadn't had a single night this week that he hadn't had some kind of dream. Either it was a nightmare of Nagini or visions from lady fate. At the beginning he couldn't remember what she was trying to tell him. He would wake up with visions of purple irises surrounded by swirling silver. But more recently he had been waking with that and mild feelings of what she wanted from him, and apparently she wanted him to go to Gringotts. For what purpose? He had no clue, but if she wanted him there then it was probably safer to make his own way there before she got involved. 

He was already in the process of attempting to get an account with them anyway. He just needed her to be patient. He needed enough money to cover the fees to open the account, enough to cover the minimum amount to keep in the vault and to cover the fees for the animagus procedure. In total he needs about fifty galleons. Fifty galleons he did not have.

For all he knew it might be more. From an educated guess it was about ten galleons for the initial opening of a vault, if you had no previous dealings with the bank, which he didn't, twenty galleons as an initial deposit, and another twenty, possibly more, for the animagus fees.  

He walked through the secret corridor and over to the archway that led to the seventh floor. He just stood there for a moment, not sure what to ask for. Eventually he settled on just asking the room to provide anything of value. Upon opening the door he found the room of hidden things completely unorganized and unfiltered. It was just a mass of objects stacked in precarious piles.

He realized that it was very unlikely that the castle knew what held value to him so just provided him with everything. He sighed.

“Could you at least organize all of this into piles of similar objects?” he felt the castle's magic bristle, then what felt like irritation and a… stamped foot? Was she throwing a tantrum? “I appreciate how much you have already helped me and I apologize for my snappy attitude. It was not meant to be aimed at you great lady." The castle's magic still felt like it was pouting at him but she complied with his request and within a few moments the room was organized.

He made his way through the stacks seeing if he could see anything that he could sell. Technically he could sell most of the stuff in this room but he didn't want to have to make too many trips into the alley to sell stuff off. It would only increase the chances of being seen. 

He was walking past some bookshelves when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He went to the small gap between them and peered through to the other side. There laying in a heap on the floor was a small mound of wands. Why the fuck there were wands in here, he had no clue but he did know that second hand, unregistered wands without the trace, could be sold for a decent amount of money. 

He moved through the shelves, knelt by the pile, and began to count them. There were 36, these alone would easily make him the fifty gallions he needed. in nocturn wands like  these would sell for ten gallions at minimum. The average price was around thirteen gallions though so Severus was certain he would be able to get seven gallions a piece.

He decided not to waste any time and scooped up the pile. With his connection to the wards Severus could apparate in and out of the castle at his leisure without anyone the wiser. knockturn also had its own apparition point so he wouldn't risk being seen in the alley and while the term was in session the trace was deactivated so his magic wouldn't be detected while he was there.

He rushed out of the room, down the hallway, and over to the crest that marked the entrance into what he had mentally dubbed the spatial corridor, due to its incredible use of spatial magic. He made his way to his room, once there he grabbed his charcoal gray cloak, pulled the hood up, and apparated to knockturn alley. 

Severus stepped into the alley pulling at the edge of the hood to try to cover more of his face, before stopping in front of a storefront that was entirely painted black. Its windows were smoke stained and dirty, obstructing the view of the interior from any passers by. It's only identifying marking was a small sign that squeaked as it swung in the wind. Its design was chipped and peeling but you could just about make out the image of a golden key. While there was no official name for the shop, the people in the know called it the Lethal Key. 

The ministry had tried many times to shut the place down but there was absolutely no proof they were doing anything illegal. They could get you anything if you had enough money and they worked on request, which meant that nothing of interest was kept on site, so there was never anything the auror’s could use to shut the place down.

One of the things they were most well known for was their unregistered wands which is why Severus was making his way inside. The interior of the store was just as dilapidated as the exterior. There were a few magical knickknacks and various trinkets scattered around the place that Severus was sure hadn't been touched in at least a decade.

He walked to the counter and just before he reached it someone stepped out from the back. They wore a long dark red cloak with a deep hood that shrouded their features in shadows. 

“You here to buy or sell?” Their voice was deep, raspy, and somewhat menacing. 

“Sell. I have a collection of wands.” he pulled the bundle out and laid it on the counter “there’s thirty six in total.” The person behind the counter nodded.

“I’ll give you two hundred gallions for the lot.” Severus frowned before countering.

“Three hundred.” the man scoffed as if it was ridiculous. “That's a little over eight gallions a piece. When I know you're going to sell them at ten gallions minimum and thirteen on average my pricing is reasonable. Don't act like me not allowing you to swindle me is some great offense.” the man seemed startled before a terrifying grin spread across his lower face. The rest was still covered in shadow making the expression extra creepy.

“You know your stuff kid, alright, three hundred it is.” It took everything in Severus not to gape. He had expected to haggle down to about two fifty, not have the man agree to his first offer. It felt like he was walking into a trap. He narrowed his eyes at the man like he would be able to see the deception if he tried hard enough. To his frustration he could not.

Three hundred gallions was counted out and handed over the counter. Severus quickly made his exit, almost jogging to the apparition point. Something about all of this was sending all sorts of alarm bells running through his head. He only relaxed when he was back at the castle lying face down on his bed.

Chapter Text

Severus found himself apparating to Diagon Alley that saturday. He decided that he would go during the night. The bank was open all hours of the day to cater to all types of clients. But it was unlikely anyone going there during the night would report a student out of Hogwarts. Even if someone did he would keep the hood of his cloak up to obscure his face.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. Mostly because he was suspicious about the gallions in his pocket. They weren't leprechaun gold or they would have already disappeared but he didn't know if something else was wrong with them. Goblin forged gold was notoriously difficult to tamper with though, so he couldn't be sure.

He took a deep breath to steal his nerves before making his way into the bank. There were fewer tellers here now than there were during the day but there were even fewer patrons. Two to be exact. Both appeared to be creatures. There was an older lady he was sure was a hag. She was dressed in tattered clothes, her toxic eyes snapping to him momentarily the second he stepped over the threshold. 

The other was a man with immaculately styled hair and pristinely pressed clothing. His skin was so white it seemed to glow and severus had a hard time trying to look away. He was more than likely a vampire or less likely a male veela but those are rather rare so he highly doubts it.

He walked past them, his steps rushed but confident, head held high but tilted in a way to keep his face obscured. He stepped up to the free teller and waited to be addressed.

“What can I do for you today, child?” Severus had to hold back his instinct to sneer at being addressed as a child, but he was currently fourteen and was definitely considered a child. He took a breath before taking out the pouch of coins and placing it on the counter.

“First, I would like to know if there's anything potentially wrong with these coins. I sold something down knockturn and got the impression something had been done to them.” the goblin raised a sardonic eyebrow at him.

“I don't know what you think could have been done to goblin cast gold but I can check them over.” he opened up the bag spreading the opening as wide as he could before passing a hand over the pouch. The goblin went stock still. Before repeating the action more hurried than before. 

His face morphed into a vicious snarl and Severus guessed he found something. The teller barked some kind of command at one of the guards who ran off immediately after. They came back with a well dressed goblin that he guessed was a superior. The superior performed the same test before turning to severus.

“Where did you get these from?” It was not a question, it was a command and severus was not going to disobey. 

“I sold something in the lethal key. May I ask what is wrong with them.” The goblin seemed to deliberate with himself before speaking.

“Simply put, someone used goblin ritual magic to blood bind the coins, meaning they can recall them with a simple ritual. How they found out how to perform this ritual I do not know. I do know that if these made it into someone's vault they could be withdrawn at any time. Meaning they would be capable of stealing from gringotts.” The goblins all looked furious, glaring holes into the pile of coins. 

“We will switch these coins out for new ones, remove the magic then put them back into circulation. We thank you young one for bringing this to our attention. We will be ready if this happens again.” Within a moment the coins were swapped for new ones and he was left alone with the teller again.

“I assume that wasn't your only business here today.” Severus shook his head.

“I would like to open a vault.” the goblin nodded.

“Is your magical signature on file with us or must we start from scratch?”

“From scratch. I haven't interacted with Gringotts other than exchanging muggle money for gallions a few times.” the goblin nodded.

“Alright, we must take a sample of your magic to create an account with us. We can do this in one of three ways. An identity test, this will cost five gallions and show your name as well as your mother and fathers names. A heritage test, this will cost eight gallions and show your family tree going back six generations. Or a full inheritance test, this costs thirteen gallions and shows a family tree as well as matching your magical signature with our archives to see if you are entitled to claim anything.” 

“I’ll just take the identit…ah” he pressed his hand to his temple attempting to push the stabbing pain away. Fate was not happy with his choice. This was the reason she wanted him to go to the bank and of course she wanted him to take the most expensive option. The implication of that suddenly hit him. 

He did not want to take that test and find out that he was the heir to the Prince house. He had reached out to them some time during his third year and they had thoroughly rejected him. In his later years in the last timeline they had told him to prove himself worthy. Yet even after becoming the youngest potions master in Britain it hadn't been enough for them. He knew nothing would be good enough to erase the half-blood status looming over him. He did not want anything to do with them. His achievements would be his alone. He scowled as he felt fate nudge him again. He didn't want to but he didn't really have a choice. He sighed

“I’ll take the inheritance test please.” The goblin was looking at him strangely but nodded.

“That’ll be thirteen gallions.” Severus placed the coins on the counter and watched the goblin scoop them in to a pouch. He jumped down from his counter, leading Severus to a small outcove at the edge of the room that gave the client the illusion of privacy. The outcove held a perfectly polished dark wood table with a single chair either side.

He sat in the chair closest to the archway while the goblin sat against the wall. He shuffled around for a minute collecting a few things from the draws and placing them on the desk. Once the goblin was ready he pushed a small silver dish across the table followed by a silver knife.

“I need you to bleed into the dish.” Severus nodded, picking up the knife and pressed it into his wrist until blood started to bead along the edge. He pulled the knife away and watched the little dish fill with the thick red liquid. The goblin gave a small cough and severus pulled back his arm. He went to draw his wand but paused.

“May I use my wand to cast a healing spell?” The goblins did not allow the use of wands in their bank, but if you were respectful and asked nicely in circumstances like this they would normally give permission.

“You may but if you cast anything other than a healing spell you’ll regret it.” Severus nodded, pulling out his wand and running it over the wound. His every movement was scrutinized by the goblin until his wand was back in its holster. 

After Severus had tucked his wand away the goblin pulled the small dish of blood over to himself and placed a calligraphy brush into the liquid. He then proceeded to quickly and efficiently draw out an extremely complex runic circle onto a large piece of thick cream coloured parchment. Once the circle was done strings of small runes were painted along every edge of the parchment. 

As soon as the last rune was complete it began to glow as the blood was absorbed into the parchment. Any blood that was left in the dish was then poured in the center and absorbed with the rest. It was placed in front of him and he watched as golden words started to scrawl themselves across the parchment.

Severus Tobias Snape (Pureblood) 

Sire: unable to locate magical signature. (Muggle) 

Bearer: Eileen Berenice Snape nee Prince. (Pureblood)

Bringer: Decima Lachesis Lefay. (Lady Fate)

Titles Via Bearer.

Provisional Heir Presumptive of the Noble House of Prince.

Titles Via Bringer.

His Grace of the Regal and most Ancient House of Lefay, Duke of Avalon. 

Severus stared in shock at the parchment. He was the heir to one of the Royal houses. What the fuck. Was this why lady fate wanted him to come here? To accept the title?With this little bit of parchment he was now considered to be of higher status than even the Blacks who were currently at the top of high society.

Severus just took a moment to stare at the golden words.what was he supposed to do about this? The last thing he wanted was for all of the Purebloods to suddenly care where he was going, who he was seeing, and what he was doing. He just wanted to regain his mastery’s and spend the rest of his days experimenting in an unplottable laboratory where no one could find him. Was that too much to ask for? 

However , now that he thinks about it, the house of Lefay must be wealthy enough to fund his dream. Plus if he managed to do anything that actually caught the eye of the Prince family, having this title would protect him. They wouldn't be able to demand a single thing from him, not to mention the look on Luciuses face when he finds out would be priceless.

Severus placed the parchment back on the table without a sound, still trying to comprehend the fact that he would soon be the head of one of the Royal Houses. He would be one of the first to claim  a Royal house in over four hundred years. This would be front page news if it ever got out.

The goblin gave a small cough and Severus looked up, finding an impatient looking goblin glowering at him. He silently slid the parchment over to him and waited. If Severus was shocked he had no doubt the goblin would be also.

He had not expected to be gifted something by Lady Fate, maybe he should call her Decima since she is technically down as being one of his parents? Decima. Nope, he takes it back, he’s not doing that. He was not going to call lady fate by her first name no matter what relation he now had with her.

Now that he thought about it, how did her being a third parent suddenly change his blood status? It doesn't make sense.

“Um, How am I a pure-blood? I have a muggle father. It's even on the parchment.” He looked up at the goblin who was staring slack jawed at the parchment. The beings head snapped up and he closed his jaw with an audible snap. It took a minute for the goblin to comprehend what Severus had asked before he answered.

“That would be from where… ahem, Lady Fate essentially overwrote your fathers magical signature. So magically it's as if Lady Fate and Mrs Snape had a child. but biologically you are still your fathers child. It's like the opposite of a blood adoption. If you would please follow me, Your Grace, I will call the Prince and Lefay account managers.” 

“No.” the goblin paused, looking at him in concern. “Just the Lefay manager is fine. I want nothing to do with the House of Prince.” the goblin nodded before leading him down the halls and into a large office. He was gestured to one of the ornate chairs facing a large rosewood desk and asked to wait.

He was only waiting around five minutes when an older goblin walked in, giving a shallow dip of his head then sitting behind the desk. 

“I am Rockjaw, the Lefay accounts manager. Am I to assume that you are the new head of house Lefay?” instead of answering he just handed over the test and waited. Rockjaws eyes skimmed the parchment  quickly before he spoke again. “I assume we’re waiting for the Prince manager then? I expect they’ll be here shortly.”

“No. The prince manager will not be joining us. I have no intention of having anything to do with my mothers birth house and the second they try to pull rank on me they will find themselves in a rather unpleasant situation.” the goblin smirked. 

“Well then our first order of business would be for you to claim the headship. Normally due to your age you would claim the Heirship, but according to magic it wants you as the head of house Lefay now. Understand that while you have access to all of the holdings as well as other privileges such as emancipation, you are still not permitted to use magic outside of school until you receive five or more OWL’s, nor are you able to sit on the Wizengamot until you turn seventeen and hold at least four NEWT’s.” 

Severus nodded he hadn't expected any of that anyway. Well, he hadn't expected any of this at all so there was that. Before he could give any verbal confirmation the goblin rose from his seat and walked over to a painting on the back wall. It swung open revealing a safe that was quickly opened and a large circular leather case was withdrawn. Everything was closed and the leather case was placed on the table in front of him.

The case was about eleven inches in diameter and six inches tall. He stared at the box for a moment then back to Rockjaw who gestured for him to open it but Severus just continued to look at it in confusion. Clearly rockjaw got bored of the inaction and reached forward. 

“Your Grace, the Royal houses of Pendragon, Lefay and Emrys are not Lord houses, as such you do not claim headship through a Lord ring. This…” he opened the box. “...is the Circlet of Avalon.” Sat in pale lavender satin was a fucking crown and Severuses mind short circuited.

“I… I don't have to wear that all the time, right?” the goblin let out a bark of laughter before shaking his head and gesturing towards the box again. 

“You are required to wear the circlet to accept the Dukeship but it can be replaced after with the ring in the center.” Severus lent forward, looking closer he noticed that in the center of the satin inlay was a ring of silver with a singular oval Amethyst at its center trapped in place with tendrils of silver. It was delicate but also large enough to be masculine. 

The crown was made similarly with thick rods of silver all looping and twisting around each other in a way that reminded him of the roots of a tree. Wrapped within the tendrils at the front were several small purple Amethysts cut into perfect ovals the same as the ring. Severus honestly thought that it looked like something an elven king would wear and was extremely glad that he didn't need to wear it constantly.

He was just about to reach for it when gnarled hands plucked it out of the satin and it was held above him by Rockjaw. He slowly placed it on Severus's head and he could feel the deep flush of embarrassment that was spreading down his neck. He wanted to hide his face in his hands but thought better of it and just waited for it to be over. 

As the circlet was held over him he could feel the magic pouring off of it. It poured over him like a waterfall soaking through his clothes leaving him drenched and no part of him untouched. As the weight of the circlet settled on his head the magic increased. It weighed him down as if he was being held at the bottom of the ocean. He couldn't breathe with the pressure holding him down like this. 

Slowly he felt the crushing pressure seeping through his skin, filling his veins like an electric charge till it bled into his muscles, making them feel too big for his skin. Then it went past that pressing into his bones till they creaked and ached, before it settled amongst his marrow. When he thought there was nowhere else for it to go it reached deeper, bleeding into his core until there was no space left. With a sudden snap the pressure was gone and he gasped in lungfuls of air. 

He convulsed and spasmed a few times, feeling the magic surge as if shifting to get more comfortable. Slowly he blinked open his eyes. He had no clue when he closed them but as he opened them he found himself staring at a white marble floor. This close he could see wisps of gold and silver lacing through the dark gray that ran through the otherwise pristine white stone. Pushing himself up, he noticed the deep red drops marring the surface of the same stone and lifted a hand to wipe at his nose. It came away red. 

“Your Grace?” Severus looked up, finding Rockjaw standing close by looking more worried than he had ever seen a goblin look before, which honestly wasn't much. Several other goblins lingered nervously around the edges of the room. Rockjaw snapped his fingers and one of the other goblins came forward offering a handkerchief to Severus. He took it gratefully and wiped off the blood as best as he could.

“It has been a long time since anyone has been able to claim the Lefay Dukedom. My grandfather warned me of the magical backlash but I was under the impression he had been exaggerating in his old age. I apologize for not giving you any prior-warning.” Severus finally maneuvered himself back into the seat he had been sitting in and waved away the apology. 

He could feel his hands shaking from the overwhelming amount of magic currently coursing through him. His body spasmed and with every spasm the tips of his fingers would give off purple sparks. He was so full of magic that it was overflowing and worse was that he could feel his core producing more.

“May I…” Severus gasped as another surge of magic ran through him. “May I cast a spell please, anything I just need to get rid of some of the magic.” Another spasm ran through him and his hands sparked.

“We understand but we would need to agree on the spell being cast, Your Grace.” Severus racked his mind for the most magic intensive and least harmful spell he could think of, then it hit him.

“Patronus. May I cast a patronus?” It was magic intensive but harmless to those around it. The goblins all nodded.

“We give permission for you to cast a patronus.” Barely waiting for rockjaw to finish his sentence, he pulled his wand out and cast. The buzzing pressure within him drained to a manageable degree and he took a gasping breath. Like he hadn't been able to breathe before.

He focused properly on his patronus and gasped. It was fully corporeal, as solid as the real thing would be but… it was no longer a deer. Standing in front of him was a beautiful alicorn. Its hooves produced purple sparks as they hit the ground. And while it was mostly the mystical silvery blue color all patronus are, its horn was tinted a slight purple.

It was honestly the most beautiful patronus he had ever seen. Was that vain? He didn't think it was. He would have said the same no matter who it belonged to.

“An appropriate patronus for the Duke of Avilon.” Rockjaw spoke up and Severuses attention was diverted to him.

“What do you mean appropriate?” Rockjaw looked at him oddly.

“What on earth are they teaching you at that school? The royal house's coat of arms, do you not know them?” Severus shook his head. He only really knew of the royal houses in passing. Since they hadn't been around for so long it wasn’t really necessary to know anything about them. Rockjaw sighed, before pulling a piece of parchment from a draw and sliding it across the table.

At the top was a golden design painted at the top of the parchment. A shield with a dragon at its center, a phoenix to the right of the shield, and an alicorn to the left. The entire thing was framed by oak leaves and resting on top of the shield was a very familiar crown.

Rockjaw pointed to the phoenix. “The Royal House of Emrys, Dukedom of Broceliande.” Next he pointed to the dragon in the center. “The Royal House of Pendragon, Kingdom of Camelot. Or if you’d prefer, King of magical Britain.” his finger slid over to the alicorn. “The Royal House of Lefay, Dukedom of Avalon. With all three together this makes the Royal Crest.”

Severus just stared at the very obvious answer to the spatial corridor he had been missing. How had he not thought of the royal houses? He kind of felt like an idiot. The crown was a massive give away, yet it hadn’t crossed his mind once. Not to mention who else, other than the founders and royals, would have private spaces in the castle. If he had just thought about it for two seconds he would have had the answer. Though, him being a part of the equation had tripped him up a bit since he never expected him of all people to be part of a royal house.

“Your grace, are you alright to continue with our business or do you still need a moment?” Severuses attention snapped back to Rockjaw. 

“I’m alright to continue. Thankyou for your patience.” Rockjaw nodded before shooing all the other goblins out of the room.

“Originally you came here to open an account with us. Would you still like to do so or would you like to go over the Lefay estate?”

“I would like to go through the Lefay estate please. The only reason I wanted an account was to be considered a client so I could use Gringotts services to facilitate me becoming an animagus. Now though it would seem unnecessary.” Rockjaws eyebrows raised. 

“You wish to become an animagus? Well, we will be able to help with that after we have gone through the important points you should be made aware of. Firstly the account has been inactive for over four hundred years. However, the last Duchess Lefay, separated half of their entire fortune into an investment account, giving gringotts full control over its usage for a small percent of the proffits.”

“Since then my clan and more specifically my direct family, has been managing the account. I am pleased to inform you that we have more than quintupled the Lefay fortune, including adjusting for inflation. Without adjusting for inflation we have more than decupled the Lefay fortune.” Severus almost dreaded to ask but he was curious.

“How much exactly is in the Lefay accounts?”

“The last audit was done at the beginning of this year but the total should be…” he shuffled through a few documents to the side of the desk. “…175,652,236 gallions. That's just your liquid assets, this doesn't include the properties or artifacts you own.” Fucking hell, that is an obscene amount of money. no one needs that much. Not even someone who wants to spend his life experimenting with potions. 

“We never allow the amount in the investing account to go over the amount we were originally given. Anything that does go over gets placed in the main treasury.” Severus just nodded numbly.

“Ok that's… um, fine. That's fine. We’ll just leave it as it is. I trust your clan to continue managing it with the same efficiency you have shown over the last four hundred years.” honestly he didn't care if they continued or not, there was no way he could spend that fortune in his lifetime. But stopping the investments would definitely upset the goblins and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Add another million to the investment vault and continue to do as you please with it. Oh, actually the contract was made a while ago, are you still alright with the amount you're being paid to handle this?” The goblin was looking at him a little stunned.

“Yes, we are still satisfied with the contract. It is rather generous to us. I assumed you would like to look it over and change it now that there is a head of house once more." Severus waved a dismissive hand.

“Am I losing money?” Rockjaw flinched in his seat.

“No! Of course not! We would never allow…”

“Exactly. Since I am not losing money and I have less than no interest in managing my own investments, I am paying you to handle it for me. I trust that this isn't a problem for you?” Rockjaw just shook his head. “Good, because if I had to handle it then I would definitely be losing money.” Rockjaw let out a rasping chuckle.

“You are an interesting young wizard, your grace.” Severus scrunched his nose at the formality. 

“Just call me Severus. I don't really appreciate the formalities.” oh that reminded him. “Will anyone else be alerted to the fact that one of the Royal families has been revived?”

“Not unless you decide to leave here still wearing the circlet of Avalon. It might be a bit of a give away.” he gestured to Severus's head and he felt the heat rush to his cheeks. He had completely forgotten that he was still wearing it. He lifted his hands to remove it but Rockjaw stopped him.

“You need to don the ring before removing the circlet.” He gestured back to the leather case that was still sitting patiently on the edge of the desk. Severus quickly plucked the ring out of the center then placed it on his right ring finger. A surge of magic rushed from the crown and into the ring making the amethyst look almost opalescent. He reached up pulling the circlet off his head before placing it carefully back into its case. Once he let go of the circlet he could feel the magic linking the ring to it. The ring seemed to act almost like an extension to the crown.

“If you ever need or want it, the crown can be summoned back to you through the ring.” Severus had no doubt that he would not need or want the thing any time soon. “Moving onto the next topic we should discuss, the last Duchess Lefay didn't know who the heir was, only that there was one, so she planned for the house to be dormant for a while. She placed every property under stasis, other than the cottage she was living in which she willed to her best friend anyway. So every one of the properties is currently under stasis and should be as good as the day it was placed under.” He pushed a stack of parchment across the desk. Along with a beautiful silver box. 

“That's all the information regarding your properties, the addresses, floorplans, number of rooms, list of house elves at each property, they were placed in stasis along with the house, all that sort of thing. The box is all of the portkeys for your properties. Not all of them have portkey’s but a lot of them do. That’s also listed in the house information. There is also a gringotts portkey in there. It will transport you directly into this office, where I will then be alerted.”

“I thought people couldn't portkey or apparate into the bank.” Rockjaw grinned toothily.

“Call it a royal privilege. Now then, that was everything that needed your immediate attention. Shall we move on to the animagus procedure?”

Chapter Text

“Usually we offer three packages for the animagus transformation. One is where you would come in after the potion is completed and take the finished potion in front of us. We will then fill in all the documentation and file it with the ministry.” He paused, allowing Severus a moment to think it over before he continued.

“Second is, we will provide you with all the ingredients for the potion. You will then go away and return once it is finished. Once the potion is finished you will take it in front of us where we will then fill in all the documentation and file it with the ministry.” So it was the same as option one except you buy the ingredients from the goblins.

“Number three, we give you a mandrake leaf today. You come back after a full lunar cycle, give back the leaf, then come back again after a week where we will provide you with the potion that you will then take in front of us and we will  fill out all the documentation and file it with the ministry.” 

so it was, do it completely yourself, get the ingredients from them but make the potion yourself, or get them to do all of it. It sounds simple enough. He already had the ingredients collected so he may as well choose option one since it was likely to be the cheapest.

“Or we can offer you a fourth option. One we don't usually mention. I'm not sure if you're aware of how long the animagus potion has been around?” he tilted his head slightly questioning whether severus knew the answer. Which, of course he did. Potions trivia was his thing. And obscure runic languages but not many people knew about that one.

“It was invented around one hundred and fifty years ago.” Rockjaw nodded in affirmation.

“And yet magicals have been undergoing the animagus transformation for many millennia now.” Severus paused at that trying to remember any knowledge he may have on how the transformations were done before the potion was invented. He came up blank. He didn't know a single thing and that intrigued him.

“Originally the process was a ritual, however, one of the key components was a magically charged storm. Something that can only be created with weather magic. Do you see the issue?” Severus nodded. He did in fact see the issue, not that he understood why they were talking about this anyway, but he still answered the question.

“Weather magic was outlawed in 1809 when a coven caused massive damage to England's infrastructure and Agriculture. The coven of Lumar created storms that caused such extreme flooding that the muggles created the Thames flood wall a few years later to mitigate any future disaster.” Another thing Severus had random trivia on was banned magics, especially anything classified as ‘dark’. Though Severus wondered why Rockjaw was bringing up a ritual that would be illegal to complete. 

“Weather magic was outlawed in many countries during the early eighteen hundreds, though to this day it remains legal within the goblin nation.” Severus froze, was Rockjaw suggesting to complete the ritual here within goblin territory to circumvent British law?

“You will find the ritual differs from the potion. While people will often struggle connecting to their creature with the potion, it is the opposite when you use the ritual. The potion forces you to shift despite having no connection to your animal. You will then build upon the bridge that was forcefully created, making it easier to connect as time goes on.”

“The ritual however,will naturally open a pathway to your creature and only after you have taken the time to bond with it will you then be capable of transforming. After the first transformation the pathway will then be open to you. Learning to close that path will be where you might struggle.” Severus thought on that for a minute before asking a question.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘i will struggle closing the path?’” he looked at Rockjaw who seemed to be contemplating how exactly he should explain this.

“During the ritual you will interact with your creature and by the end you will have completed the transformation. Once that is complete you will then have to rain in your instincts long enough to be able to transform back into a human. However, even when you're a human that link will be open and you’ll have to learn to block it off to keep your instincts at bay.”

Severus nodded in understanding, the ritual was literally the opposite to the potion. You had to close off the connection to become more human rather than build the connection to become a creature. It sounded interesting and he thought that his talent with occlumency may help mitigate the worst of the effects. 

“I think i’ll go with option four.”

***

Severus sat in silence watching as goblins bustled around him. The air in the room had started to thicken with magic about two minutes ago and Severus could almost feel the storm in his bones. His magic would pulse with every flash of lightning and humm as the thunder reverberated through the room. The magic was pressurizing the room pushing him down into the stone floor where he sat in the center of the elaborate runic circle.

“Once we have all left the room you can start meditating.” The oldest goblin, and the one who was clearly in charge told him as the others started to file out of the room. She nodded at Severus then began to light the incense that had been placed in each corner of the room before she too left.

Severus took a couple of deep breaths to  center himself before picking up the silver ritual knife and making a small cut on his thumb. This was the tricky part: you had to choose a rune, or set of runes, that you think would be appropriate in this situation. Severus hadn’t just picked the normal futhark alphabet either, he had decided to use his favorite runic script. commonly known as shadow runes it's a vampiric script that Severus had been lucky enough to learn. The lines were elegant and bold, and far less clinical than the futhark alphabet.

With the blood from his thumb he drew the first rune over his right eye. It looked like a swearling n transferring into an upside down capital T, it was the rune meaning fortitude. The next rune went between his brows and looked like a z ending in a flick, it was the rune meaning Equilibrium. The last was placed above his left eye and was the rune for guidance. It was by far the most difficult to draw, consisting of several intersecting loops and swirls.

After he was done he took another breath and slowly sank into his mindscape. It was as easy as breathing for him but he wanted to make sure he got this right. If he didnt then he could be stuck in this sleep-like state for longer than he should be. Lucky for him he at least thought ahead so he had over twenty four hours until he needed to be back in the castle. And due to his usual avoidance of the general student populace  he would not be missed during sunday.

He focused back on his mindscape and opened his eyes to the usual boring office he used as a front. However it currently looked like it had been ransacked. The chair behind the desk was tipped over, the desk itself was shoved to the wall, papers from the filing cabinets were scattered across the room and the mirror leading to his true mindscape was shattered. 

He stared at the destruction in slight horror wondering what exactly had happened. Then he remembered the crown and the Lefay magic altering a fundamental part of his being and figured he maybe should have checked on his mindscape before attempting a ritual of this magnitude.

He sighed before getting to work picking up and refiling all the documents, righting the furniture, and picking up and reassembling the mirror piece by agonizing piece. It all had to be done by hand, he would not take shortcuts with his mindscape especially during a ritual like this one. Everything had to be perfect. 

After placing the last piece of glass back in the frame and watching the cracks slowly meld together, he stepped through the now completed mirror. He let out a long groan at the sight that greeted him. The forest was overgrown and you could barely see through the thick canopy above. The closer he moved to his core the warmer it got. By the time he was able to see his core, the forest around him that was usually on the colder side had turned into something that resembled a tropical rainforest. It was hot and humid with colorful plants everywhere. He barely recognized his own magic.

Once he finally reached his core his jaw dropped open. His core was a deep purple ball floating a couple of meters in the air and where wisps of magic used to trickle out and seep into the surroundings, now a purple water like liquid gushed from its center like a waterfall, it created a perfectly circular lake beneath it. The lake was at least ten meters across and its surface shimmered like moonstone as it rippled. 

He realized now that the extra magic had caused the two separate cores he had before to merge into this one massive core. The lake itself was beautiful and as he looked across it something caught his eye. Lounging by the edge was a rather large animal. Its fur was pitch black and its eyes were a vibrant purple that stared at him. 

If Severus was honest he had expected his animagus to be a bat. But if he had really contemplated it properly he would have known that it was destined to be a feline. He had always liked cats. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone, or admit to the time he had tried to pet Minerva when he was a first year. 

He just appreciated their complete disregard for others opinions, personal property, and seating preferences. So what if Severus liked to take other people's seats when they get up for something. It was amusing to see their annoyance when they realized their seat had been taken. It was a power play. Cats also cared nothing for the people or things around them. And Severus admired them for that.

So seeing the large black panther laying by the magic pool his core was creating was maybe less surprising than he thought it would be. The large black feline was staring right at him with intelligent purple eyes. As he got closer the big cat shifted from its lounging position and onto its paws. Its posture was defensive, ready to lash out at the smallest provocation, so severus slowed until he stopped completely. 

At this point the cat was crouched low to the floor ready to strike any second. Severus slowly, ever so slowly lowered himself to the floor until he was sitting cross legged on the plush grass right next to his core's lake of magic. He hadn’t allowed his eyes to stray from the purple ones across from him for even a second until he was fully seated. 

The feline's posture was less tense now that the ‘threat’ had stopped advancing and made himself comfortable. Only now did Severus take his eyes off of the creature. Cats liked the people who left them alone. The best way to get them to interact was to acknowledge them then ignore them until they deemed you worthy of their time. And they would make time for a human who dared not to acknowledge their superiority. So Severus settled in to read a book. Obviously it was one he had already read but at least it was something to do to pass the time.

This was actually the book he had found on the Voatanuin runic alphabet or more commonly known as shadow runes. It was a little hand sized book bound in a forest green cloth cover and the entire thing had been hand written in blood. He had found it in a second hand book store while he was  in Vaslui, Romania, at a potions convention. He had bought the strange little book not knowing what it was. It took him over a year to decipher any of it and only because he had brought it with him to a death eater meeting. The vampires there had smelled the blood it had been written in and severus had reluctantly shown them. 

A few of the vampires had paled when he showed them what was written, but the… he didn't want to say leader, but maybe the highest ranking in the group? had offered him an opportunity to meet someone who would be able to help him with it. Severus had cautiously agreed. Less than a day after that meeting he was contacted by a vampire elder who eventually taught him the script. The only reason the elder had even considered teaching him was because Severus had an affinity with it. 

It was during their sort of internship where Severus found out exactly why he had such a strong tie to it. Apparently the prince family was descended from the old Vampiric royal family. One of their children was born with both vampire and wizarding magic but was not afflicted with the vampire curse. He went to Durmstrang and while he was there almost everyone was constantly referring to him as prince, since he was a prince of the current vampire royal family. It spread through the school until someone called him Mr Prince assuming it was the boy's last name.

Later he met a woman on his travels and eventually he followed her to England making a family for himself there. This was considered the start of the house of Prince. Every few generations someone within the family was born with the creature inheritance and though a few of the students in later years had spread rumors of him being a vampire, Severus himself never received the inheritance. Something he was thankful for. 

Suddenly a massive paw swiped down on the book and severus looked up to see the panther now infront of him sniffing at the book he had batted out of his hands. Severus hadn't noticed with how far apart they had been but now the creature was in front of him he realized that it was much larger than its mundane counterpart. Or was he still not used to how small he was as a teenager? 

He looked over himself remembering that while in his mindscape he was actually still his adult self since it was how his mind still saw him. So no, the creature was definitely larger than it should be. Severus was brought out of his contemplation by a massive paw softly batting at his face. He jerked away and the paw retreated.

The panther was sitting primly in front of him, its long tail swishing softly through the thick grass as piercing eyes watched him. Now it had decreed Severus worthy of its attention the man was a little stumped on what to do. Before he could give it more than a second thought a paw was reaching forward again. It was placed gently on the book still in Severus’s lap before claws emerged catching over the edge of the book and dragging the book away.

Once the book was on the floor it placed its front paws on the open pages and lowered itself attempting to curl up on the too small book. And this is what he meant about cats' disregard for others' property. Severus wondered if he should attempt to interact with the creature but decided to just pick another book and start reading again.

He was about halfway through the new book when a paw was again in his face. It lasted for only a second as the paw landed in the space between his crossed legs, then a second paw joined the first and the panther smooshed itself down into the space between severus and his book. It crushed one of his arms against his leg as it layed itself in Severus's lap as much as it could. Apparently the creature was over being ignored.

Tentatively he reached out the hand that wasn't currently crushed and scratched around the big cat's ears. A rumbling started up and severus froze momentarily until he realized that it was purring. He continued petting the creature for a while until he was able to eventually pull his other hand out from under the panther. He had been looking over the creature this entire time  learning the shape of its face and the flex of its muscles until he thought he knew enough.

He pushed his hands into the fur of its back closing his eyes and he felt the muscles move and flex beneath his fingers. Then he pushed them further in, feeling the flex of claws retracting in his hands or paws? He felt the swish of his tail over the grass and could smell the distinct scent of petrichor, ozone, and sage that denoted his magic, permeating everything around him.

When he opened his eyes it was to see the stone walls of the ritual room. The chalked runic circle was chipped and peeling under his paws. The door to the room clicked and his ears swiveled at the sound before his head did. He came face to face with several goblins that had clearly been alerted that the ritual was complete.

The next ten minutes was a flurry of activity. The goblins were trying to note down everything about the transformation. They gave a description of what he looks like, took a few magical photos, noted down his identifying feature, (his eyes) and measured every part of him. Or should he say they tried to measure every part of him.

Severus's panther self was having none of it. There were salt trails along the floor that his human brain was registering as part of the rune circle, but his panther brain thought it was delicious. Then he caught wind of a smell that was coming from one of the corners and he needed to find out what it was.

He padded over and got on his hind legs before batting down the small metal dish that was on the shelf. It smelt floral but there was something else, something satisfying about it. He couldn't get enough of the smell. He rubbed his face against the scattered contents of the bowl as his human mind identified the herbs. Lavandula angustifolia, Mentha, Salvia officinalis, and Nepeta cataria. 

The herbs were quickly vanished by the wrinkly little creatures around him and he hissed at them. His hiss was cut off by a bonk to the nose given by one of the creatures, goblins, his mind supplied. And just as a tape measure was about to be placed next to him he ran back to lick at the salt lines. 

Something flicked in his peripheral vision and he attempted to lunge at it but it was too fast. It was still flicking in his peripheral vision as he chased it. He never managed to get a good look at what it was as it was always just out of his line of sight but he tried for a good while. The only reason he stopped was because he ran into the wall. 

Just as he went to turn back to the room, hands grabbed his face and started to run their thumbs over his ears and he felt like melting. They reached back and began to scratch at the base of his ears and he was gone. He had no brain function left to do anything but rumble his constant approval at the ear scratches. The scratches stopped and he whined.

“Your Grace?” His ears flicked over at the sound and he slowly opened his eyes to look at the little creature, dimly remembering that ‘your grace’ was a form of address someone once used for him.

“Your Grace, you need to attempt to turn back. Do you remember? You are human.” Theoretically Severus understood this, but practically he was a panther and didn't understand why this small creature was telling him something so stupid. He smelt the air and caught another whiff of the nice thing he had smelt earlier. He turned ready to find it again when the little thing spoke again.

“Your Grace, Severus Snape.” he looked back. There was a different little creature this time. One he vaguely felt was familiar. “You are Severus Snape, Head of house Lefay, Duke of Avalon, child of Decima Lachesis Lefay, and  lady fates apostle, gather your wits and change back.” There was a small prod at the back of his mind when the last two titles were spoken clearing just enough of the fog to remind him that he was human and needed to turn back. 

He closed his eyes and attempted to focus his mind. He was deep in the forest surrounded by thick underbrush. He didn't know which way to go till he caught the sound of flowing water and followed it. It led back to his core where it was still steadily pouring magic into the pool beneath it. Sitting next to the pool cross legged in a meditative position was himself but human. The closer he got the more he could feel the pull towards his human self until he was close enough to put their foreheads gently together. He opened his eyes with a gasp as he stared down at his now human hands.

“It only took you forty five minutes to turn back. That's impressive for your first time." Severus looked over to Rockjaw and he felt his face flush as he remembered his behaviour while he was a panther. Why the hell did there have to be catnip in the herb mixture? He let out a soft groan as he buried his face into his hands. Merlin that was embarrassing. He had chased his own god damn tail… then smacked into a wall. Just kill him now.

With a little bit of coaxing Severus transformed again but this time he had sectioned off a portion of his mind to allow the panther to roam around without allowing it to take over entirely. He had been easily distracted but kept a modicum of human thought and when he was told to turn back it only took him twenty eight minutes to do so.

He tried a few more times until he was able to choose for himself to turn back. It still took a good ten minutes to change but he was at least confident that he wasn't going to get stuck as a panther if he did this on his own. After the fourth time transforming back to human he was not so gently prodded out of the ritual chamber and back into rockjaws office. Rockjaw had left the ritual room right after Severus had turned back into a human the first time and had clearly been busy since.

“Ah, Your grace, while you were away I took the liberty of collecting all of the documents for the estate you will need.” he pushed across a rather thick folder. “It is now around four in the afternoon so I think it best to wrap this up lest someone find you missing and report it.”  Severus nodded, he was tired and needed sleep anyway. He could come back if he needed anything else but first…

“Could I take a trip down to the vault before I head back?” Rockjaw nodded and the door swung open.

“Rockblade will take you.” Rockblade made a small bow and waited to escort him out. Severus nodded to Rockjaw, .

“Thank you for your assistance today manager Rockjaw. May your endeavors be fruitful and your gold abundant. He gave a small nod of his head, fisting his hand over his heart. not expecting anything back, he turned to leave but was surprised when Rockjaw brought his fist to his chest and spoke.

“May your magic be absolut and your enemies blood plentiful, your Grace.” Severus was slightly shocked by the blessing but didn't show it as he followed Rockblade out of the office.

Chapter Text

Severus was led along the stone corridors of gringotts until the path opened to the cart platform, where he was ushered into a cart that looked a fair bit nicer than the others he had used before. They quickly started moving and severus was taken deep into the bowels of the bank. 

It was by far the longest cart ride he had ever experienced. They passed hundreds of doors and as time slowly went on the more barren the tunnels became. The light grey of the stone walls became darker the deeper they went. Soon he began to see the glitter of gems embedded into the dark stone walls as they passed. They eventually came to a fork in the tracks and they began to slow down.

“Your grace, if you could release some of your magic so the ward on the tracks may identify you?” Severus was a little confused. He had never been asked to do something like this while on the carts before but he complied without complaint. Once he had released some of his magic he saw the track ahead of them switch to the rightmost tunnel. The cart immediately sped back up hurtling even deeper into the earth. 

Eventually the cart began to slow again and Severus's jaw dropped at the sight before him. The tunnel they were in opened out into a cavernous space lit with, what must be thousands of luminous pale blue stones embedded into the cavern walls. The floor of the great space was water so still it mirrored the walls and ceiling giving the illusion that they were amongst the stars.

In the center of the water were a set of magnificent golden gates. They were massive, at least three stories tall from what he could tell, though they might be bigger. The cart railes skimmed the surface of the water all the way up to the gates that had a small dock made of dark stone attached to it. It wasn’t long before the cart stopped in front of the gates and again Severus was shocked to realise that this was the end of the track. Many people speculated that the tracks just went on forever and that no wizard would ever see the end of it, so seeing it felt a little strange. 

Severus stepped out of the cart and onto the black marble of the vault platform. He started to walk over to the gates and as he got closer he realized that the gates were shaped like feathered wings. The intricate details of each feather had been crafted to absolute perfection. Above the gates was the Lefay crest, again cast in gold. He slowly walked closer and once he was close enough the feathers shuddered and the wings folded in, granting him entrance. Rockblade stepped quickly into the space revealed and sconces around the room lit up.

“Welcome to the LeFay treasury, your Grace.” The room they were led to was circular in shape and had several more golden doors leading off it. These doors were not small by any means but they were smaller and a little less ornate than the gates he had just walked through. The floor was a perfectly polished black marble with veins of gold and silver running through the stone. The walls were a pristine white stone with pillars made of the same stone interspersed between each of the doors. 

In the center of the room was a marble lectern decorated with intricate golden filigree. Resting atop it was a massive tome, the cover was made of a royal purple leather, the corners each capped with gold. Severus walked over to it. The cover was embossed with the LeFay crest.

“That, your grace, is the LeFay family grimoire.” Severus stroked his hand across the cover. His mind was racing. Seeing the title on his inheritance test had been unexpected, receiving the crown had been overwhelming, but this… 

being given the knowledge only ever granted to a family head was what made it all so real. This was his family, his heritage and his legacy. 

No one could take it from him. 

No one could use and abuse it. 

It was his. 

Severus turned away from the book, there would be time for that later, for now he needed to get a move on. It was getting later in the day and he would soon need to get back to the castle. The goblin clearly noticed his switch in attention and began to gesture at the doors.

“To the left is the armoury.” he gestured at the door he was referring to, then to the next. “The next is the gallery. Then you have the vault.” he gestured to the door directly opposite the gates. “Next to that on your right is the Artifact hall, then lastly you have the archive.” Severus wasn’t sure where to start. He had said he wanted to have a quick look at his vaults but… 

He stared at the five doors around him. He just needed to be back by midnight right? He turned to Rockblade. “Teller Rockblade, I don't wish to waste your time but this might take a while, is there a way…”

“Your Grace, while you are within the confines of the bank I am to assist you. While you are not within the bank I am to assist Rockjaw. Those are my only jobs, as such you may take as long as you like. Also for future reference my status is Assistant Rockblade not Teller." Severus just nodded. He was not used to this level of care from the goblins, though he doubts anyone within the last hundred or so years has received this level of service.

He shook it off and walked towards the first door, the goblin had said it was the armoury. A simple press of his fingers and the golden doors swung open. He stepped over the threshold and stared around in awe. As the name implied, the room was filled with various weapons from daggers all the way to double handed war hammers. 

On his left was a large number of shelves and racks, all of which were filled with wand’s, and staff’s. By each were little plaques that had names written down for who used them. Quite a few had more than one name. As Severus walked along the shelves he saw everything from a white wand to black. From pink to green. One of the staff’s was even a kind of scythe hybrid that Severus actually really wanted to take. 

Past the racks of magical foci at the back were sets upon sets of armour in every fashion you could think of. From full plate armour to a small pink armoured skirt that severus was seriously questioning. Further along the back wall he found mount armour. Most was the normal horse armour but there were a few sets for abraxan and pegasus. Then it started to get odd like the set that was meant for a mooncalf, which was definitely not a mount, or the one for a nundu, because of course someone needed to make a nundu more fearsome. 

His mind started to wonder as he thought about someone not only taming a nundu, but then giving it armour and riding it into battle because yes, he had seen the built in saddle for the armour. For some reason he kept thinking about Potter junior. Merlin, that is so something the boy would do. Why was he thinking about this? The boy wasn't even here and yet Severus felt like he needed a drink. 

Coming out of his thoughts he decided that for his sanity he needed to leave this particular area. Before he could though his eyes caught on something else, a rather large something else. He felt his jaw drop at the sight. He moved closer and… oh merlin, there was a saddle. Why were these people crazy?

“Ah, that would be the armour for Selina LeFay’s familiar.” Severus stared incredulously at the goblin that was now standing next to him. 

“She rode a fucking dragon in to battle?” Rockblades grin was manic as he nodded sharply.

“That she did. She was also one of the first people to set up a Dragon reserve. One I still think you own to this day. I believe it's one of the Faroe islands.” well that was certainly something he didn't need to think about right now.

“Right…” and with that, Severus decided to walk back towards the doors. There was still something he needed after all. He walked over to the display cabinet closest to the door. This one held the more ornamental weapons. It is a tradition for both Heirs and Lords to carry a blade with the house crest. It used to be a sword though nowadays people prefer daggers. He would need one just in case.

He perused the selection of daggers and decided to take the only one with a thigh holster. It would be easily accessible but covered and unlikely to be seen. Most Heirs had theirs on display on their belts, though a few have theirs strapped to their forearms, But as soon as they take their robes off they’re very visible. With the dagger being a representation of your house and standing it is considered completely improper to conceal it by magical means, so he had to hope and pray that no one noticed it, hence the thigh holster. 

He picked it up so he could look it over and check that it was suitable for his uses. The holster was a rather plain black. The wrap around the handle of the dagger was a dark purple, the LeFay family colour, and the metal accents were silver. Though, now with a closer look he wasn't so sure that it was silver. He unsheathed the blade and blinked a few times. He was right, it wasn't silver, it was mithril. Which was… he sighed.

It looked plain enough from far away if someone noticed it, it should be fine. The blade itself had the LeFay crest etched on both sides. Like he said it was rather plain but the fact that the entire blade was made from mithril made it worth more than any sword covered in precious gems would be. 

He re-sheathed the dagger and strapped it to his leg, over his trousers. It had to be over his trousers, just like if it was strapped to your arm you had to have it strapped over your shirt. It had to be visible if someone was looking for it, which was annoying. But at the end of the day most traditions were annoying.

Now that he was a Lord though it added a lot to his to-do list. Before, the clothes he got from the ROR were fine, but now he needed to get a new wardrobe so everything was within the family color scheme. He also had to wear at least one piece of family jewelry, that isn't an Heir or Lord ring, every day. Basically they make it as hard as possible for someone to hide their status.

Merlin damn it. He scrubbed a hand over his face and took a breath. He had to play the pureblood game but he would do it his way. He would not be caught disregarding tradition but he also wouldn’t make it easy for anyone to work it out.

He walked out of the armoury and over to the next door. He looked at Rockblade. “This was the Gallery right?” he nodded. He’d leave that for another time then. The next door was the vault. He tapped the door and they swung open. Revealing way too many piles of gold. He turned back to Rockblade.

“Is there a way for me to get gold other than coming all the way down here every time?” the goblin nodded and turned to a small pedestal to their right. There was a small book and a small leather pouch that could be connected to a belt.

“This…” he held out the pouch to severus. “...is a money pouch. They are only provided to our highest level clients so not many know about them. You would just need to put your hand in, think of the number of gallions, sickles, and knuts you need and it will appear. you will need to place a drop of blood onto the buckle for it to be tied to you.” Severus took the bag and using his new dagger he pricked his thumb and smudged the blood on to the buckle.

“This…” Rockblade held out the small book. “...is a cheque book. It can be used for any purchase over one hundred gallions. Fill it out first with the amount of money and then the store identification number, that they will tell you, then press your finger to this little square. It will take the smallest amount of blood to confirm the transaction. After the blood has been taken it can no longer be tampered with so it must be filled out before." Severus nodded then put the book away.

He walked back out of the vault and stared at the other two doors. He wasn't going to brave the archives today, that would take far too long but he needed Jewelry, at least one piece so he wouldn't be considered a blood traitor if someone somehow found out.

He pushed open the doors to the artifact hall and gaped at the shear size. He couldn't see the end wall. He shook his head. Today was not the day for exploring. “Could you show me where the jewelry is?” he questioned Rockblade who began to walk briskly into the shelves. As they walked he looked around, seeing many pieces of furniture, a crystal chandelier that was bigger than he was, a whole stained glass window for some reason, and a whole row of brooms and flying carpets.

They abruptly stopped and Severus focussed back on his task. He looked over and felt his jaw go slack. There were so many display cases it wasn't even funny. There were shelves, plural, of crowns, tiaras, and circlets: entire cabinets of necklaces and bracelets, and almost all of it was just so pretentious. He was directed by Rockblade to a cabinet to the far left of the cluster and saw several smaller pieces.

“I’m afraid anything less than this wouldn't count as family jewelry, most of this would also be pushing it.” He knew rockblade was right but it didn't mean he liked it. He looked through the cabinet and pulled out a beautiful pocket watch. It was clearly one of the newest things within these cabinets, not that that meant it wasn’t old, and Severus was fairly sure it had been made by the dwarfs, since at the time of its creation they would have been the only ones capable of creating clockwork to this scale. It was clearly embossed with the LeFay crest but he still decided to take it. 

Looking through the rest of the cabinet he found two sets of cufflinks; one was silver with square cut sapphires while the other was platinum squares with small strips of alternating diamond and amethyst. They were about as small and subtle as he could get it while still following tradition. He was going to leave it at that but Rockblade presented a box to him.

“You are no Heir, your Grace.” Severus eyed the box suspiciously for a second before he took it. When he opened it he found a collection of hair sticks. Most Lords and Heirs kept their hair long. Heirs had theirs to their shoulders while lords grew theirs longer and almost always tied it back in some way. So while hair sticks were often associated with females in the muggle world, in the wizarding world it was very common to see men wear them, more often than women in fact.

There were three hair sticks inside, two were made of silver while the other was a light gold. He noticed that most of the LeFay jewelry was made from silver coloured metals over gold. One of the silver was patterned similar to a unicorn horn in the way it twisted around itself. The other silver was engraved all over with patterns of ivy. The last light gold one was embedded all over with many little amethysts.

He stared at them for a while contemplating whether he should wear them. Technically he should since he was a lord but it would just make it that much more obvious. Or would it? No one would expect him to be a Lord so if anything it might throw them off. 

“Uggghhh.” He didn't know how to do all this. He would just take them with him and decide later. Better to have them and not use them than not have them and need them. He nodded to himself before packing them away along with the three other items. He then left the hall. as soon as he crossed the threshold his eyes locked on to the family grimoire.

“Rockblade, what protections are there on the grimoire if I remove it from the treasury?”

“The grimoire does not leave the vault; what can is the protean charmed copy which is steeped in family blood magic, intent wards, and is also blood bound to this vault. No one who isn’t the Head of house LeFay will be able to read it. Anyone who touches it with the intent to take it or destroy it will be severely injured. And if somehow the book is still taken from you it can be brought back with a simple ritual. All while the original is still safely stored here.” 

“Where is the copy I can take?” Rockblade gestured to the pedestal.

“That is the copy. The original is hidden in the base, just in case.” That was maybe overkill but Severus wasn't going to say that out loud.

He moved forward and plucked the large book off the plinth before stuffing it into his bag. He walked out through the gates and watched as they closed. As every feather slotted into place he heard the soft clicks of lock's fastening. He wondered exactly how many there were. He shook himself out of his thoughts and walked back to the cart.

***

It was six thirty when Severus finally got back to Hogwarts so he decided it would be best to go to dinner. He was sure no one had noticed his absence but he thought it best to show himself just to be safe. He made his way into the great hall. Most people were already there but unless it was one of the feasts it didn't really matter what time you showed up.

“Where in Merlin's name have you been?” Regulus hissed next to him and Severus rolled his eyes.

“Working.” he answered succinctly. Black looked absolutely furious but before he could say anything, Slughorn started to waddle over. Severus went back to his food, sure this had nothing to do with him.

“Severus, my boy.” oh for fuck sake. This was why he didn't eat in the great hall on a regular basis. He turned to his professor and attempted to look attentive. “I noticed you weren't at breakfast or lunch today. Was there a reason? You really mustn’t skip meals, my boy.” Damn it, the last thing he wanted was Slughorn keeping an eye on him.

“Sorry professor, I went to breakfast early, you hadn't arrived by the time I left.” Slughorn always had a late breakfast on Sundays so it was plausible. “As for lunch, I got carried away in research and ended up being too late. I grabbed a quick sandwich from the kitchens though.” Slughorn clearly took his excuse at face value and asked no further.

“I suppose that's where you’ve been all day then? I did ask several people but everyone said they hadn't seen you, no matter, I caught you now didn't i?” the man chuckled to himself. “Well I won't take up too much of your time. I just wanted to give you this.” He handed Severus a scroll tied with a green ribbon. “You see I tend to have a few get-togethers throughout the year to liven things up. This is an invite to the one I'm hosting next week. I look forward to seeing you there.” and before Severus could say a thing the man was gone.

He stared down at the scroll. “Yay.” he deadpanned and Rosier snorted his pumpkin juice. Whoops he didn't mean to say that outloud. He stuffed the scroll in his pocket without opening it and went back to his food. It wasn't even another two minutes when he was interrupted again by someone dropping heavily into the seat next to him. The table's volume slowly died and Severus looked at who took the seat only to do a double take.

“Lily?” He was sure the incredulity he was feeling was showing on his face but he just couldn't mask it. She had never sat at the Slytherin table throughout all their seven years last time, yet now, here she is, when all he wanted was to be distanced from her. “Why are you here?” he asked cautiously. 

“Are you saying you don't want me here? How could you say that?” her eyes were already filled with fake tears. “I just wanted to see you. You're always too busy for me now, it's not fair.” Severus raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed.

“May I remind you about last year when you lectured me on the fact that I couldn't sit with you at Gryffindor because it was ‘against the rules’. Then you proceeded to tell the people around you, after I left, that I would never leave you alone no matter how many times you asked.” lily had gone slightly pale upon realizing he had heard that. In his old life he had brushed it off and still clung to her. Not this time.

“Even though that was the first time I was hearing anything like it. You had never asked me to leave you alone before but there you were telling that to everyone. Well I've done as you’ve asked, I left you alone and now you're yelling at me while sitting at my own house table, which I thought was ‘against the rules’.” he spoke calmly and factually, a contrast to the way lily had spoken to him.

Lily's face was now red with anger but she didn't say a word, instead she pushed away from the table causing the bench to screech as she stood, then stormed out of the hall. A Gryffindor sitting at the Slytherin table had caused most people to pay attention to the conversation, and Lily's volume had only allowed the eavesdroppers to hear her words more clearly. While a few people were sending him nasty looks, many more were frowning at Lily while she stormed out.

“Little miss perfect’s not seeming so perfect anymore. Is she?” Avery drawled and Snape smirked.