Chapter 1
Little Whinging, Surrey
4th of August 1985
Four years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys’ front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Petunia Dursley was shuffling around in the kitchen before she woke up her nephew to finish making breakfast while she went to wake up her son kissing Vernon’s cheek as he passed her in the hall while she went into Dudley’s room only to stop in the doorway. Looking at all of the toys floating in the air she let out a quiet cry as she covered her mouth knowing that Dudley was just like her sister and nephew and that they all wouldn’t be able to stay once Vernon found out. She walked forward and collected all of his toys, putting them into the toy chest and closing it before she even woke him up.
“Come on Duddykins, it’s time to get up for breakfast sweetums.” She says carefully as Dudley shuffles under his blankets before sitting up and rubbing his eyes before getting off his bed. As she sent Dudley down to the kitchen she walked into her bedroom and opened the closet finding the box she had used to send letters to the magical world, for her sister when she had been in school. Quickly penning a letter to the only man she knew in that world that she would trust to help her before she sealed the envelope and placed it in the box with his name written across the front of the envelope.
After Vernon left she turned to her nephew and pulled him into her arms along with Dudley and began to cry quietly scaring both boys. A few minutes passed until she heard a crack from outside and she begged both boys to forgive her before she stood up and walked towards the door and pulled it open before the man had even knocked.
“You sent me a letter.” The man says as both boys look around the corner curiously before Harry frowns confused as he looks between the man and Dudley.
“He looks like you Big D.” Harry whispers and Dudley pouts and walks over to his mother who was nodding.
“I’m so sorry for asking this of you Severus, I have no idea how to raise one magical child let alone two.” She whispers before looking down at Dudley who had reached for her hand glaring at the man, thinking he was the reason she had been crying.
“What do you mean two, Petunia?” He asked her confused.
“Harry come here please.” She says quietly and the man's eyes widen as he spots the second child.
“He’s been with you this whole time? Why? Albus said he was being raised to be just like his father.” The man says stepping inside and shutting the door as he walks over to Harry.
“That man cares not for the boy, told us we could abuse him all we’d like but to keep him alive.” She says and the man whirls back to her his hand coming up between them holding out what looks like a stick to both boys. Dudley stands in front of his mom protectively and yells no, making the stick fly from the man's hand making him blink in shock down at the boy.
“Leave Aunt Petunia alone.” Harry says, pounding his little fists against the man's leg.
“He has magic.” He says his eyes are still on the younger boy cowering in front of his mother.
“What can I say? He takes after his father.” She says softly, picking up the wand from the floor and handing it back to the man and his eyes lift to her hers.
“His father? You expect me to believe that the whale you married has magic.” He asks and she looks away.
“Vernon isn’t his father.” She whispers quietly. “You are Severus.” She says.
“I can’t possibly be his father Petunia.” Severus says.
“Vernon and I had been trying for a year with no luck and I had a slip of judgment at my sister’s wedding with you and next thing I know I’m finally pregnant.” Petunia says and his jaw stiffens as he looks in her eyes for any trace of a lie. “Please Severus, Vernon will kill all three of us if we stay here. I know my sister left stuff for Harry in your world. I just need help getting there.”
“Gringotts has a test. It’s a blood test, just a few drops of blood and proof that Dudley is mine and it’s where Harry’s money is.” Severus says and Petunia nods. “I’d rather we don’t apparate so I’ll call the knight bus after you pack some stuff to bring with you and the boys.” Severus says and Petunia nods, heading up the stairs and grabbing what she could. Packing it into several suitcases and grabbing one of Dudley backpacks to put some of his clothes into. She goes back down the stairs to see floating lights in the living room with both boys watching them change colors and chasing them around. Severus sitting on a chair and creating more with his wand.
“We can leave now, Severus.” She says and he cancels the spells and heads out the door after shrinking her suitcases and placing them in his pocket. He holds up his wand after placing a notice-me-not spell around them and the bus arrives. Snape puts Harry in his lap and sets Dudley next to him with Petunia on the other side and warns her to hold tight as the bus shoots off towards the Leaky Cauldron in London. Upon their arrival Severus led them in carrying Harry in his arms as they headed towards the large white marble building at the end of the alley that loomed over all the other buildings.
“Now before we enter, this place is run by goblins, hold your tongue and be respectful as their culture differs from ours.” Severus says and she nods, holding onto Dudley’s hand as his head keeps whipping around to look at all sorts of store fronts. They all enter the building and Severus begins to lead them to a desk until a goblin steps in front of him blocking his path.
“You’ve finally answered my summons, Prince brat.” The goblin growls at Severus who looks down confused.
“I’m sorry but I don’t know what it is you’re talking about. I haven’t received a summons.” Severus says and the goblin straightens before turning to walk away.
“Follow me Sir Prince and his guests.” The goblin says walking towards the long hallway and into an office.
The goblin behind the desk pulls out a large scroll and hands it to Severus who looks at it and blinks confused as he sees dates and realizes it’s a list of missives sent to him that he had never received. “I haven’t received any of these.” He says and the goblin frowns.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch because you are the heir to the Prince family and thus have Wizengamot seats and estates that need tending too.” The goblin says pulling out a velvet box and opening it turning it to Severus who sits in shock.
“My mother was disowned.” Severus says and Petunia inhales quietly.
“Are you saying he had a family that could have protected him when he was younger and being abused?” She asks quietly and the goblin nods.
“His grandparents disowned their daughter Eileen Prince for breaking the betrothal contract and getting pregnant from a muggle to try and access her full inheritance before she was old enough.” The goblin explains. “However, they had been looking for you for years, trying to find you to raise you as their heir.” The goblin says, looking at Severus.
“I’ll take up the lordship. I need the Potter account manager as well. I’ll need two inheritance tests for the boys as well.” Severus says and the goblin nods and hands over the Lordship ring ensuring that Severus is the Prince Lord before heading out to get the other account manager. “When Gnaagbelk returns with I believe Ragnok was the last account manager for the Potter accounts, we’ll do the inheritance test on you boys. It requires just a few drops of your blood on a scroll.” Severus explains and the boys both nod at him.
“How do we put our blood on the paper?” Harry asks.
“Heir Potter, welcome to Gringotts.” Ragnok says with a bow to Harry as he enters and Harry bows his head back from Severus’ lap. “For the inheritance test we’ll hand you a gilded knife of goblin origin to prick your finger on and then just squeeze seven drops of blood onto the paper. Your guardians will be able to heal you after that.”
“I’ll go first. That way Dudley knows it’s okay.” Harry says, holding out a hand to the goblin.
Ragnok pricks his finger with the knife and Harry puts his hand over the scroll before squeezing his finger as several drops fall. Snape brings his hand close to his face as he uses his wand to seal the small cut and Dudley watches Harry’s skin stitch itself back together before slowly holding out one of his hands towards the other goblin. Gnaagbelk repeats the process with Dudley who holds his hand close to his face and Petunia’s eyes widen as Dudley’s hand begins to glow and his finger stitches itself back together surprising Severus as well.
“Oh… a natural healer.” Gnaagbelk says.
“With a grey core.” Ragnok observes the scroll for the inheritance of both. “Looks like we’ll be needing quite a few other managers for Heir Potter.” Ragnok says showing Gnaagbelk.
“My office is not big enough for this, could we go to one of our conference rooms?” Gnaagbelk asks and Ragnok nods.
“I shall get the others and inform King Drylkaq of the inheritances of Mister Potter and the young Heir Prince.” Ragnok says leaving the office.
“Heir Prince? I just took over the Lordship though.” Severus says turning to Gnaagbelk.
“Yes, which makes your son the Heir Prince.” Gnaagbelk says and Severus turns to Dudley and Petunia.
“Looks like we’ll be raising the boys together.” Severus says and Petunia nods.
“I did tell you he was yours.” She says.
“Gnaagbelk will lead you to the conference room.” Gnaagbelk says walking out with everyone following. He walks into a large conference room and sets the inheritance tests on the table gesturing for them to sit where he placed the tests. Severus looks at Harry’s and Dudley’s before picking Harry’s up.
“Oh no.” He says and Petunia looks at him.
“What is it, Severus?” She asks as several goblins walk into the room.
“I am Khul, the Gryffindor account manager.” A female goblin bows at Harry as an older female goblin steps up beside her.
“I am Loirkez, the Slytherin account manager.”
“Sroisac runs the Peverell family accounts.”
“Hegkat looks after the Gaunt family accounts.”
“Gornuk handles the Black family accounts.”
“I am King Drylkaq, and I run the accounts of our most ancient wizarding lines, those born a direct descendent of Lady Morgana and Lord Merlin. I run the accounts of Emrys and Le Fay.”
“Hello I run the Hufflepuff accounts. I am Nylx.” A female goblin finishes bowing at Petunia and Dudley unlike all the others who bowed to Harry being held by Severus.
“Oh, he has so many accounts…” Petunia says and Snape nods.
“Indeed. It would seem that should he defeat the Dark Lord completely then he will then inherit every family name of those who pledged themselves to the Dark Lord.”
“Uncle Sev, what’s a will and why does it say that it’s blocked on my scroll?” Snape looks down at said scroll with a frown.
“Can we go about unlocking his parent’s wills to have them be read?” Severus asks. “Why were they even blocked in the first place? I know both Lily and James made wills to help Harry have a better chance of survival.”
“We can unlock the wills after we do a health checkup. Both boys being raised in the muggle world could mean all different complications in their systems as neither is a muggleborn.” King Drylkaq states. “If you have a wizarding healer you would prefer for them to go to we can set up another meeting in a few days and if either of the boys needs a cleansing ritual we have the means to do it privately here.”
“I do have a healer in mind to help with a check up.” Severus nods. “Could we get an itemized list of the contents of every vault available? I would also like to look at any estates that we may be able to move into as I have a feeling my current home is being monitored.”
“That can be arranged.” King Drylkaq says before turning to all the other goblins and speaking in Gobbledegook. After speaking all of them leave to gather the lists for Severus.
“I don’t think Nylx is one of Harry’s account managers.” Petunia says.
“Nope, it seems she was looking at you and Dudley.” Severus agrees. “I’m also confused as to why they insinuated that you had magic as well.”
“They insinuated that I have magic?” Petunia asks. “I can’t possibly have magic, I never got a letter.”
“Just like I haven’t received any missives from Gnaagbelk.” Severus says and her eyes widen and she looks at the inheritance tests.
“Is there a way I could find out?” Petunia asks and Severus nods.
“The inheritance test is one way or you could do a family tree test that will go back a few generations to find any magicals in your bloodline.”
“Who should I ask for that?” She asks.
“I think Nylx would be the best option.”
“Mom, can we look at the stores?” Dudley asks.
“We need to get some money and find a place to live first and then if we have enough time, I suppose we could stop at a few.” Petunia says.
“One of the places we will be stopping at is the Apothecary’s as I will need ingredients to make the potions for the boys after the healer makes her diagnosis.” Severus says and Harry looks up at him.
“What’s a potion, Uncle Sev?” Harry asks and Severus looks down at him.
“Potions are brews of ingredients together imbued with magic.” Severus says.
“Lily was always good at potions. She mentioned that she was the second best in her year.” Petunia says and Severus nods.
“I was the only one better than her.” He says and Petunia looks over surprised.
“Does that mean you know what both mom and dad’s best classes were?” Harry asks.
“Yes, your father was particularly good at transfiguration. Lily was amazing at Charms.” Severus says and both boys look at each other confused as these weren’t classes that they had heard of before.
“What’s the difference?” Dudley asks.
“Transfiguration is the use of your magic to transform things whether they are living or not. Charms are small easy spells to make life a bit easier like levitation and cheering up.” Severus explains and they both look excited about these classes. “I may have to find a tutor for the boys to catch them up to where they should be for being born wixen as opposed to muggleborns.”
“Nylx has returned with the Hufflepuff lists.” Nylx says upon coming back into the conference room with Gnaagbelk and Ragnok.
“Thank you Nylx. We were wondering if you might be able to help us out with a family tree test for me.” Petunia asked.
“I can be helping.” Nylx says after she places the Hufflepuff list in front of Petunia and Dudley. She walks back out to grab the test. The other goblins set down several stacks of papers in front of Severus and Harry.
“These are the lists for all of Mr. Potter’s vaults and properties that he’d be able to use.” Ragnok says and everyone stares at the gigantic stack.
“These are all the Prince properties and a list of the investments chosen by your grandparents to continue funding for you.” Gnaagbelk says. “You also have several house elves. Just call Flippy, he’s the head elf for the Prince family.”
“Do any of the other’s have elves?” Severus asks looking at the stack in front of Harry while Petunia is preoccupied by Nylx reentering and explaining to her how the test works.
“I believe the Potter’s and Black’s are the only ones that still have House Elves. The Potter’s house elves are at the Potter Manor. The Black’s have one House elf at Grimmauld Place in London and the rest are all with their Master Arcturus who is dying.” Ragnok explains.
“Thank you Ragnok, if you don’t mind we will be having a look at all of these and shall ask a guard for you when we figure out where we will be living and what to do with all these accounts.” Severus says with a small bow to the goblin.
“What exactly is a squib?” Petunia asks Nylx as Severus turns to her.
“A squib is a person who has small amounts of passive magic. You could do potions and some forms of magic but you would not be able to wield a wand like the wixens.” Nylx explains and Petunia looks to Severus for confirmation in which he nods.
“I could teach you potions and some small charms that you should be able to do wandless.” Severus says.
“You would be able to get a job here at Gringotts as well.” Nylx says and Petunia’s eyes widen.
“I could get a job?” She asks.
“Only if you want too.” Severus says. “Best to wait until the boys are attending Hogwarts as well.”
“I shall think about it, thank you.” Petunia bows to the goblin. Petunia and Severus begin to look over all the properties and itemized lists.
“I do believe that Harry is richer than the Malfoys at this point.” Severus sighs before looking back at the Prince Estates paperwork. “Flippy.” Severus calls and an elf pops up in front of him.
“A master has called for the Prince Head Elf.” The little elf bows and Severus nods.
“I apologize for the delay in calling you. I was not aware that I was accepted into the House of Prince after my mother was disowned.” Severus explains before holding out the hand that the signet ring sits upon. “I have taken up the Lordship and my son has taken the heirship.” He explains. “We are hoping that the Prince Estate has the availability to let us live there.”
“Of course Master. Flippy will get the other set to work making sure the house is set proper.” Flippy says bowing.
“Thank you Flippy.” Severus says. “You may return to the House and I will call for you again to come and collect some ingredients from our shopping and if you could bring these back to the Estate.” Severus says taking the shrunken suitcases out of his pocket to hand to the elf.
“Flippy will ensure everything is ready for his Master and family.” Flippy bows and with a pop disappears.