Chapter 189: The Prince
The Princes, like the Potters, have a hereditary royal title. Although they have long since severed their connections with the Muggle world. So, there are no princes, princesses, or princedoms, and they do not rule over a principality.
Severus' mother, Eileen belongs to this family, but she married a Muggle named Tobias Snape. Rare to see in a pure-blooded wizard, although she is not the first.
The Prince family has been in decline for many years. Their golden age ended long ago, and they are losing importance, power, and money in the magical world. Nowadays they could be considered a middle-class family at best among pure-blood families.
Members within the Ministry are few, and their sources of income in the magical world are low. So, they are not in as good a position as the Potters in money matters.
The first time James saw Snape's mother was at his ceremony to become Lord Potter. Eileen is thin, she looks both angry and sullen. She had bushy eyebrows and an elongated, pale face.
At that moment, James spoke momentarily to his friend's mother. For most of the vacations, he did not talk to Eileen, until days before Hogwarts began Snape's mother wanted a meeting with him.
James accepted, thinking that Snape would be there too, but he wasn't. During the last vacation, Snape visited Potter Manor many times with the other marauders.
In this strange meeting, Eileen told James all the history of the Princes and their current state. She also told him about some circumstances and made a peculiar request to James.
Her request was to make Severus the heir and leader of the Prince family. The Prince family had a problem, and it was to prevent their family name not to becoming extinct because of a problem that dates back to when Eileen was born.
In the decline of the Prince family, only one branch of the family remains. Snape's grandparents are on the maternal side. The great misfortune for Eileen's parents is that they did not have a single male child to carry on the lineage. They had three daughters. Eileen is the eldest and twin sisters a year younger than Eileen.
Following patriarchal rules, when Eileen and her sisters married their children would have the surname of the father's family, which would make the Prince's surname extinct.
Under such extreme circumstances, Snape's grandfather decided to pass on the family name through the female line, but only to the eldest daughter, i.e. Eileen.
However, this did not happen as it was supposed to. Eileen married Tobias Snape, a Muggle. According to the story she told James, this was a plan of her younger sisters. They did not want her offspring to be the heir and had to get her out of the way. So, they came up with a plan.
Eileen met Tobias Snape on her own. They had a connection, but she would never marry the Muggle, as her father would not accept the heir having Muggle's blood. What happened? Eileen married Tobias, and they had Snape who has the surname on his father's side.
According to Eileen, this was due to a malicious plan by her sisters. They used a potent love potion to make her accept Tobias Snape's love and decide to marry him. When her father found out about this, he eliminated her from the family tree and expelled her from the family. So she had to live with Tobias in a ramshackle neighborhood of Cokeworth.
For that reason, Severus carries his father's surname. Eileen does not hate her son, but she never gave him the attention he deserved, since she lived without a soul because of her tragic destiny. From her son being able to be the Prince's heir to ending up in a slum in England and living in deplorable conditions. Although her family was not doing very well, they still had a large inheritance, and money was not lacking. She was not used to living in such conditions. Besides, her love for Tobáis was fading away, as she blamed him for all the misfortunes. If she had not met him, her sisters would not have been able to conspire against her.
James was very surprised by the family drama of his friend Severus. What surprised him most was being involved.
This was not the end of the story. Eileen's younger sisters married and had only one child each.
Getting a magician to accept such conditions was very difficult. No one from the most important families would accept that their children carry the surname of another family. So, they had to settle for pureblood wizards of dubious lineage and little or no wealth. They were still better than a Muggle, though, to Eileen's father.
The twin sisters because of their special connection did not sabotage each other. They decided that the best child (in terms of magical talent) would be the heir, and their father agreed to this.
However, fortune did not entirely smile on them. One of the twin sisters was only able to get pregnant once and had a daughter. The other sister had only one son who was to be the heir, but his talent and attitude left much to be desired. Although they managed to solve the problem of the extinction of the Prince's surname with this boy who is only a few years older than Snape and James.
With this panorama, a slight hope was born in the depths of Eileen's conscience when she saw the genius of her son. However, her hope grew slowly, and she had no faith. That is until she learned of her son's great friendship with James Potter. The new Lord Potter.
James' exploits were known throughout the British magical community. A mammoth talent many comparing him to the youth of Dumbledore the strongest wizard of the time. Corporeal Patronus at thirteen, exceptional grades, advanced martial magic, defeating an adult dark wizard and the achievements went on.
Upon meeting James at the ceremony, Eileen's hope reached the highest peaks, she knew that if her talented son was helped by someone so gifted and with a great family supporting him she could achieve what Severus was entitled to. The position of Patriarch of the Prince family.
What would James gain? Having his friend lead an ancient family that could rise again in power and wealth. Which would be helpful against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters.
"That's the way it is," James said, summing it all up to Snape, who had not been a participant in this meeting between James and Eileen. By now they had arrived at Potter Manor and were in James' office.
"Typical of her to talk about things involving me without even asking me," said Snape, sighing internally.
James remained silent. Snape's relationship with his parents was complicated, more so with his father, but with his mother it was no big deal.
"Why would you help in me becoming heir?" asked Snape, who kept the same expression as always. Though inside he was going through a lot of emotions.
What he wanted most was to have a pureblood surname and more so if it was a surname like Prince. Although the family was in decline they were of noble descent like the Potters and had great seniority.
He always gave importance to the lineage and always hated his Muggle surname. Much the fault of his abusive father.
"Your mother said so. You could help me against Voldemort and his followers if you lead the Prince's family and their assets," James replied.
"The Prince's assets are very poor compared to the world scene. They barely keep in the range of a middle-class wizarding family. Why would you go through so much trouble for a little monetary help?" asked Snape. He had previously researched his family on his mother's side. He knew of their economic and power situation.
The living members were his grandfather (his grandmother had passed away), and the old man was retired and was only an expense to the family. He was locked up in the mansion and had no important connections. His aunts worked in Ministry jobs of no importance and no power. They received a normal salary for a monotonous job.
His aunts' husbands were mediocre. She researched them, and it was not difficult to find their names. They were good for nothing. The Princes were desperate to find a wizard who would marry his aunts and accept the agreement that their surname would be the predominant one, so they found the most useless wizards in all of Britain.
As for his cousins, they were still at Hogwarts. They were both in their sixth year. His female cousin was from Hufflepuff House, her grades were average, and her presence was unnoticed by almost everyone.
His cousin the Prince heir was from Slytherin house and was known by many at Hogwarts, but not for a good record. His record had countless punishments, lousy grades, and many more disgraces to the Princes. His OWL exams were a disaster. His expectations for working life were abysmal. Hopefully, he would get a boring and unimportant job in the Ministry. If he decided to work or continue to melt his own family.
This was the Prince's bleak and dismal outlook. At James' silence, Snape spoke again, "Besides being almost lower class, the living members of the Princes are all useless. No one would be of any use to you to help you in the war,"
Not even Voldemort and his death eaters would go recruiting this family that possessed no money, influence, or magical talent in its members.
'What a nice way to talk about your relatives...' thought James, but he knew Snape was right. He did some research on the Prince, and none of them had any good talent. Except one, who had Snape's last name and was sitting across from him.
"I know. I'm not doing it for that. I'm doing it for you," said James, surprising Snape, who was not expecting this answer.
"W-why are we friends...?" asked Snape with clear difficulty at the word friends. That was the only possible answer as to why James would try to help him.
"One of the main reasons is because of that. But it's also very important to your talent. Your magical abilities are incredible, and your intelligence surpasses that of many pureblood heirs," James explained.
"Not yours," Snape said with clear satisfaction in his tone at James' praise.
"It is rare for you to be humble," James said with a slight smile, Snape quirked his eyebrows and said nothing. He was always confident in his abilities and intelligence, but he had to praise someone like James.
"I'm sure if you lead the Prince's they will rise again and get back on their feet. It's your decision, it's not easy to carry the fate of a family on your shoulders. It has to be your wish, not your mother's wish. If you want it, I will help you as your friend, and shortly I will ask for your help," James said in a serious tone. He didn't want his friend to have to carry a destiny he didn't want to carry.
"I will. I expect your help, and when you need me, I will lend you my assistance in whatever you want," Snape said without hesitation. This was what he always wished for in his life. Not a wish from his mother.
"Good. You must promise me that you will not look down on Muggles or Muggle-born wizards. Remember that Lily has a Muggle family. She would be very sad to see supremacist ideals in you," James said.
Snape in the past would have hesitated, but not today, "I'll have the Princes considered blood traitors," he said with a slight smile.
"That's good to hear. The Princes and the Potters will be the two main blood traitors!" said James with a smile and a laugh.
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