Round Robin: The Post-Grad Prince: Part 1 ***COMPLETE***
"Actually… I don't think we'll find them at the Three Broomsticks Inn. You were staying at the Leaky Cauldron, why would they go to Hogsmeade to look for you?"
Lily let out a sigh and Severus noticed her biting on her lower lip. He had noticed long ago that this was a habit of hers, something she did when she was considering her options and finding it difficult to decide which to choose.
"I think I should talk to him before we leave." She said finally. "Or at least send him a message that we'll talk when I feel ready, so he doesn't crash our meeting. I don't want to make a bad first impression on your grandfather."
Once again Lily surprised Severus with her reply, causing him to blink as he looked away from her. He hadn't expected her to care about the impression she made on his grandfather.
"Why would you care?" His eyes were on her again.
"Why wouldn't I want to make a good impression? He is your grandfather, Sev. I don't think it would be good for the future to make a bad impression on him. It could affect his opinion even if he gets to know me better later."
Severus noticed Lily pulling down the sleeves of the jumper she was wearing, her fingers toying with the hem, another habit he knew only too well from their younger days. That little detail told him that Lily was nervous, probably even worried.
"Everyone who has met you loves you, Lily." He said with a smile as he reached out with a hand and grabbed hers, stopping her from playing with her sleeve.
Big green eyes suddenly looked straight into his. "Not everyone, Sev..." She muttered and he saw the uncertainty in her eyes.
"Lily, you're the most intelligent witch of our Hogwarts year, maybe even the decade. But you're not just intelligent. You're funny and caring, understanding when a joke is needed to lighten the mood, but also when you should just listen to someone. You've been the centre of every Slug Club party, and not just because you're beautiful.” He took a deep breath. “And anyone who doesn't like you is an idiot and has no place in my life.”
As soon as he said that he felt how she squeezed his hand, a smile on her lips while her eyes seemed to sparkle.
Almost as soon as the smile appeared on her face, it vanished. She quickly pulled her hand away, as though realizing what she was doing. "Anyway," she said, "I'll send a letter and... are you busy today?"
"Aside from the meeting tonight, not really," Severus answered. "I thought about finding a job somewhere in Diagon Alley, so I was going to look around a bit beforehand."
"Ah." There was an awkwardly long pause. "About last night.... do you remember when I...?"
"... kissed me?" Severus offered.
"That was the alcohol," Lily explained, turning an even deeper red. "It... can we pretend it didn't happen?"
"It wasn't that bad, surely."
"I just didn't expect to.... anyway, we'll meet up at the Three Broomsticks then. 7:00?"
"7:00," Severus confirmed.
"You should probably go now," Lily said, looking over her shoulder. "I don't want to upset Tuney more than I have."
"What did you do?"
"Magic."
"Oh." Severus nodded and stepped back. "I'll be leaving, then. See you later."
"Bye." Lily shut the door, leaving Severus out front on his own.
Severus made his way back to where he and Birby had Apparated to, and he whispered, "Birby?"
Birby reappeared almost immediately. "Sir?"
"I need to return to the Leaky Cauldron. I don't think I'll be calling on you until tonight's meeting."
"Of course, sir." Birby extended his hand, which Severus took, and the two Disapparated from Little Whinging.
Severus had spent the full day looking around Diagon Alley, only to find that there were no job openings at any of the major retailers (at least, not the ones he was interested in). He'd found a few smaller stores, but given tonight's meeting, he thought it best to hold off until he'd made a decision regarding his grandfather's offer. And so, here he stood, just outside of the Three Broomsticks, at 6:50 in the evening.
Severus didn't have to wait long for Lily to join him outside the Three Broomsticks.
"Hello Lil-" As soon as his brain had processed what she was wearing, it had also decided to take a brief break, preventing him from even finishing her name.
And who could blame him when Lily appeared in an emerald green dress that seemed to have been tailored for her. As if the fit wasn't perfect enough, tight in all the right places, there was also silver stitching to accentuate her perfect figure, her curves. The dress was neither too short nor too long, ending just above her knees. Black stockings covered her legs and ended in a pair of black heels.
Sure, they had Yule Balls at Hogwarts, but Severus had never seen Lily dressed like that.
"Hey Sev." Lily said to him after a moment with a small smile on her lips. Severus just now noticed that she was wearing a deep red lipstick and that her red hair was draped over one shoulder. He swallowed once before his brain finally decided to return to a functioning state.
"Hey Lily, you look beautiful." He said in his deep baritone voice with the warmth that had always been reserved for her, just for her, as his eyes met hers.
"Thank you." Severus was sure that the smile on her lips grew a little wider and that a blush appeared on her cheeks, but Lily had looked straight down at the ground, hiding her face from his view.
"I think we should go inside, my grandfather should be arriving soon and I would like to get a table with a bit of privacy." Finally, Lily looked up at him again and gave a small nod, the smile still on her lips as she started to move towards the door.
Severus walked beside her, opening the door for her to enter before him. The Three Broomsticks was always packed to the rafters during Hogsmeade weekends, but today it was nearly empty.
"What do you think of this table?" He felt Lily's hand on his elbow and looked at her as she nodded to a table in the far corner that would give them a perfect view of the door.
"Perfect." Was all he said, earning a bright smile from Lily as she started to walk towards the table with her hand still at his elbow.
He added, "You're rather... dressed up."
"I want to make a good impression on him," Lily said as they sat down. "Is it too much?"
Severus looked down at his own clothes, the best he could find in his trunk: a white button-up shirt, black slacks, and black shoes. "I hadn't thought about what I ought to wear," he lied. "I assumed it would be casual, but now that I think about it...."
"It'll be fine," Lily said reassuringly.
Severus nodded as he surveyed the room once more, not sure if the lack of patrons would be better or worse for a private conversation.
After a few minutes passed, the front door opened, and an old man stepped in, followed by Birby. The man was relatively tall and thin, with heavy silver brows that were almost translucent on his pale face. He stood and walked with a straight back, his head held high as he surveyed the room around him. Turning his head, the man laid eyes on Severus, and the coldness in his demeanor immediately shifted to one of surprise. A warm smile spread across his face as he walked over to Severus and Lily, looking over the two of them.
Severus instinctively stood from his seat, followed by Lily, as he held out a hand. "You must be my grandfather," Severus began.
Aurelius stood quietly for a moment before putting his long-fingered hands on Severus's arms, looking him up and down. "I finally see you in the flesh," he said in a baritone voice. "Mia always focused on your nose."
"Mia?"
"I'll explain later." Aurelius turned to Lily and took her hand. "And you must be Lily Evans!"
"Y-yes, sir," Lily replied, giving Severus a confused look.
"I've heard you're quite talented in Potions and Charms. Horace speaks fondly of you."
"You know Professor Slughorn?" Lily asked.
"Second-hand knowledge," Aurelius said with a wink. "Shall we sit?"
The three of them sat down at the table while Birby walked over to Madam Rosmerta.
"Now then," Aurelius began, "let's discuss your future."
"I've been looking for work in Diagon Alley," Severus began. "The larger stores aren't looking for workers, but there are a few smaller shops--"
"Hold on a moment," Aurelius said, interrupting him. "With your grades, you would be satisfied with working as a... a shop clerk?"
“I don’t think I can be picky about this.”
“Well, what if you could,” Aurelius leaned forward conspiratorially.
“I-”
What would he do?
He never had options before.
He was naturally always left behind and had to fight tooth and nail for any recognition. He usually made his own opportunities and was never handed a thing. It never occurred to him to waste time and imagine what it would be like to already be in a position of power and wealth.
He felt a foreign presence brush against his mind and stiffened.
What was that?
“My apologies,” Aurelius offered a tight smile, “I couldn’t hear anything but I could tell you had a lot to say. It was as if I’d gone deaf. It was very impressive. I just took a little peek just to see what all the silence was about.”
Severus gaped. “You’re a legilimens.”
“Guilty as charged.” He chuckled. “I see you’ve inherited the mind arts too.”
A flash of cold sweat cascaded down Severus’ body. He nervously met Lily’s eyes finding hope within her confused one.
He didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.
Aurelius continued undeterred. “You have so much potential. Don’t waste it away on menial jobs.”
Severus felt shaky as if the chair was swept from under him. He was suddenly acutely aware of how Lily would take the conversation if it took a turn and he confronted his grandfather. There was something about Aurelius’ transparency that gave Severus the impression the man knew he wouldn’t make a scene with Lily there.
It was manipulative. Very Slytherin.
“What would you have me do?” Severus asked neutrally.
“Why, take over the family business.”
Severus blinked. “The family business?”
Aurelius looked like someone insulted him. “You mean you don’t know?”
“It has become apparent to me there is a lot I don’t know.”
Aurelius’ hurt expression did more than just validate the annoyance he felt for his mother and her secrets, it even the playing field. The oppressive and manipulative force he felt lifted at his grandfather’s unguarded expression.
No true Slytherin would risk showing such expressions unless they wanted others to manipulate their reactions.
It was a small victory at his expense, but it was a small price to pay to feel in power again.
Aurelius pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long exhale. “There is much to discuss.”
"Perhaps you should start at the beginning?" Severus offered. "I think it would be quite interesting to know why you had a house-elf looking after me, but never considered helping me? Not by interfering with Hogwarts, but perhaps by sending me a set of robes when mine were far too small and all patched up. I'm sure Birby told you about that, didn't he?"
"Your grandmother and I thought you should learn to understand that you can't spend more money than you have. Even if you're buying books from it, which is very admirable as other teenagers waste it on more pointless things, you should think twice about whether you really need them." His grandfather replied in a gentle tone.
"And you thought the best way to teach me this lesson was to let me grow up in poverty? With second-hand textbooks so old that the page on the blackboard was never the one I needed?" With a raised eyebrow, he looked into his grandfather's eyes, which were as black as his own.
"I sent your mother a key to a Gringotts vault, and each year your grandmother and I filled it with more than enough money for you to buy everything you needed for a new school year. Starting in your third year, we also added money for the Hogsmeade weekends. The goblins used to tell us that the vault emptied rather quickly after we filled it. The man replied in an honest tone.
"If that is true..." Severus closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he shook his head. "It really shouldn't surprise me..."
"What?" It was Lily who asked the question that made him open his eyes again, his grandfather nodding to indicate that he had wanted to ask the same question.
"My mother probably took everything in there and exchanged it for Muggle money for that drunk she calls a husband." The words were accompanied by a low growl as he tried to control his emotions.
"You think your mother did this?" Lily asked breathlessly and Severus gave a brief nod as his grandfather sighed.
"It wouldn't be the first time Eileen stole from her family..." His grandfather said, and it seemed as if the man had aged a few years. "She stole from your grandmother and me more than once and when we confronted her about it, she ran away."
"... I almost thought she was the good parent," Severus muttered.
"I had some suspicions," Aurelius continued, "which is why I had Birby report to me on your condition. He was more limited when you were at home; your mother always had a sense of paranoia. And of course, I had to come to an arrangement with Headmaster Dumbledore when it came to checking in on your well-being."
"What arrangement?" Severus asked.
"He was averse to Birby... perhaps, we should discuss that particular point later, assuming you wish to take me up on my offer."
"That offer being to take over your business?"
"Precisely." Aurelius paused as Birby brought a tray of drinks to the table: a bottle of red wine, a bottle of firewhiskey, and a pitcher of butterbeer. There was another pitcher for water. "Now then," he said as he poured wine into his glass, "we should go over what exactly the Prince family does these days. We're primarily investors and property owners, so much of our business involves funding businesses in which we have shares, and developing properties we own and rent out. Much of Diagon Alley is under our name, given that our ancestors funded its building."
"You built Diagon Alley?!" Lily exclaimed.
"Funded," Aurelius corrected, "although, owning much of the property there was a factor. We've been managing the area ever since."
"How did you even afford it in the first place?" Severus asked.
"Much of that has to do with descending from Linfred of Stinchcombe. The Princes were once merchants dealing in potions, and one of us decided to hire a witch from the Potter family. Long story short--"
"Stop." Severus's blood ran cold. "... we're Potters?"
"Very, very distantly," Aurelius said in a calming tone. "And for the record, I'm aware of your business with James Potter."
"You knew?!" Severus felt his blood rush through his veins, his heart pounding while his knuckles whitened as he gripped the table to keep himself from exploding here and now.
"I -" But Severus wasn't about to let his grandfather confirm what he'd just said.
"You go to Dumbledore and make some sort of arrangement so that you can check on my well-being, but when you know that I'm being bullied, tormented, since day one, and that none of the teachers give a damn about it... Then you do nothing?" Though the words were spoken quietly, they were sharp as a blade and full of accusation.
For a moment, Severus actually considered getting up and leaving the Three Broomsticks, but then he felt a soft hand on his hand, trying to get him to let go of the table. It took a moment, but when he finally let go, he felt the small hand slip into his and give it a gentle squeeze.
"Listen to your grandfather, Sev, please." Lily looked at him with those damned doe eyes and, as always, he couldn't say no, just nodded with a sigh as he looked back at his grandfather.
"Thank you." A small smile graced his grandfather's lips as the man's eyes moved from their intertwined hands up to Lily's eyes. "I see what my grandson does see in you."
Severus' eyes moved to Lily, noting the blush that covered her cheeks and how she looked down after giving his grandfather a small smile in reply.
"As I was going to say, Severus... I didn't know you were being bullied. I was told that you and the son of Fleamont had a prank war that neither of you ended, always having to one-up the other." His grandfather looked at him again, the black eyes showing sadness. "I would have intervened if I had known you were being bullied, that it was that bad. But I was led to believe that it was nothing more than two boys having a crush on the same girl and trying to outshine each other to impress her."
Lily squeezed his hand harder as soon as his grandfather said that and Severus turned to her, noticing that her cheeks had turned an even darker shade of red while she was still looking at the table.
"Who told you it was nothing more than that?" Severus asked.
“Your Headmaster. Dumbledore.”
Severus sneered, exchanging a look with Lily’s worried one. “He would.”
“I sense hostility.” Aurelius said in an inquiring tone.
Severus clenched his teeth to refrain from saying more.
He was hesitant to trust another adult. He had years of experience to show that nothing good came from it. It did nothing but aggravate and amplify his miserable life.
No. He was no longer a schoolboy who needed saving. If it ever came to it, he would deal with Dumbledore on his own.
Lily glanced between the two and used the heavy silence to intervene. “Dumbledore made him vow not to say-”
Severus pulled his hand away from Lily’s in agitation, ignoring her hurt look.
She was butting in again. Why couldn’t she trust him to handle his own affairs?
“I see,” said Aurelius, fixing Severus with his beady eyes.
Severus’ face warmed.
The look was a warning.
He was being reprimanded like a child.
Was he entitled to feel anything? Or did he have to go his entire life fitting some type of societal norm no one followed? Why was he always the one who was nitpicked?
“Birby has relayed your most recent tale from your meeting last night.” Aurelius’ attention turned inward seemingly trapped in a memory. “He was a friend… Although, as of late, our relationship has grown strained. I’m half attempted to cut ties if we didn’t run in the same social circles.” He sighed. “I have failed you. I’m sorry.”
Still feeling a bit sour, Severus remained silent, eyes glued to the empty pint glass in front of him.
As if that was an answer in itself, Aurelius nodded and placed a coin purse in the center of the table.
“It won’t undo my shortcomings but I feel it’s a start in correcting what should have been.” He took a long sip of his wine before standing up, readying himself to leave. “I will no longer call on Birby. He is yours but I reserve the right to house him until you’re ready to rehome him.”
Severus stood as Aurelius reached out to shake his hand.
“I’m going to scoot off. Please consider what we’ve discussed.”
Severus nodded.
“It’s been a pleasure.” Aurelius said as he took Lily’s hand.
Lily stood. “Likewise.”
When Aurelius finally left the Three Broomsticks and disappeared into the crowd Severus leaned back against his seat and exhaled.
He glanced over at Lily, whose face still showed signs of hurt from what he'd done. He took one of the glasses that Birby had brought for them and poured her some firewhiskey.
"I'd rather have the butterbeer," Lily muttered, her hands now resting in her lap.
Severus finished pouring the glass, which he claimed for himself, before taking another glass and pouring a butterbeer for her. "I didn't want to make a scene," he said, trying to explain as he handed her the foamy drink. "God knows how he would've reacted."
Lily took a wordless sip, her eyes dulling.
"... I shouldn't have done that--"
"No, you shouldn't have," Lily said, her eyes now burning. "I was trying to help."
Severus bit back a response, knowing that arguing would only damage what little relationship they'd managed to restore. Instead, he took a long sip of whiskey to steady himself. "I'm sorry."
"Does Master Severus require anything more of Birby?"
Severus nearly leapt out of his seat, having forgotten the house-elf's presence. "N-nothing yet," he replied. He heard a sound come from Lily, and he turned to find that she was covering her mouth with her hand, hiding what he knew was an amused smile.
"You're letting your guard down," Lily said as she took another sip, her cheeks red.
"I was caught up in the moment," Severus replied. He was glad to have taken her mind off of his slight, even if only temporarily. "And I meant what I said. I shouldn't have pulled away like that. It's just something I don't like talking about."
Lily seemed to soften, although she still seemed slightly tense despite her amusement. "Wrong place, wrong time?"
Severus nodded.
"What do you think about his offer?"
"I'm not sure," Severus admitted. On the one hand, joining the Prince family would certainly get him the funds and connections he needed to make something of himself; on the other, he wasn't sure if he could trust Aurelius with his well-being, given how little he'd known and done despite having spied on him... and this wasn't including the fact that he'd spied on him. Which choice would help him escape the deal he'd made with Lucius? Which one would help him make things right with Lily? "... I might agree to the deal."
"Really?!"
The door opened suddenly, followed by loud, energetic voices.
"We'll go looking after we-- Lily?!"
The End of Part 1
