Chapter 123 ( Plans)

The shuddering frame in my arms caused me to grit my teeth even as I offered some comfort to it. My mother was strong in some ways and far too weak in others. The scars that litter her frame both physical and mental would take far more to heal. 

The Prince family had been on her mind for decades. The regrets and the fear that have plagued her would not fade with just this. Even if she knew I was far stronger than she thought possible the Prince family would haunt her mind. It was like a shadow that would never really go away but eventually, I would prove to her that they were the weak ones.

“I spend most of my time outside of the magical world so it’s not going to get back to them anyway,” I murmured out to my mother trying to calm her. Even if I did not really mean those words.

I really did not spend that much time in the magical world. My own research and my ability to world hop had me far too busy to concern myself with things happening in magical Britain. Still, even if that thought was true I was not going to leave the Prince family alone. Not after the things I had learned. 

I also had some other things to deal with in the magical world. The Black family was pushing Narcissa to do things she did not want to and needed to help her if only for myself. So even if I did not spend my time in magical Britain I was almost certainly going to have my name whispered for the coming weeks. It was not going to be the Snape name that they would hear but the Prince name also carried a different meaning to me now. 

I was unsure how to feel about that. I hated what Tobias had done and even being related to that man had bile coming out but was the Prince name any better? They may not have struck me themselves but they certainly played their part in making my life into what it was. Whether that part was just one torture session or a series of incidents meant to push my father to the brink I did not know. So would having that name associated with me be any better?

I looked over at Ashley as she fidgeted on the side. She was giving me time to comfort my mother as she saw the state she was in. Ashley gave the Prince name another meaning to me. To her the name was a joke. She used it to tease me and the way she muttered it with such affection had me loving that name in subtle ways.

With that thought, I came to a conclusion. I was going to continue using the Prince name if only because the girl I loved liked saying it. Even if I knew she would be fine with changing her nickname if I explained things. Honestly, using it would be another way of fucking with the Prince family. It was not like they wanted me to have the name anyways. They had been rather clear on that part, so me using it would be another middle finger to them.

My mother let out a bitter chuckle in my chest as she seemed to collect herself.

“Don’t lie to me Severus.” My mother spoke out softly as she looked at me with shaky eyes. I felt my mouth dry for a moment as I was not sure what gave me away. I was lying but I was a pretty good liar. Maybe she was misunderstanding my words and dragged a meaning out of them that I did not intend. Before I could respond she let out a scoff and gave me a sharper look.

“I may not be the brightest witch but I know you well enough. You are raving mad right now. You are not going to ignore them and you are probably going to do something right after we finish speaking.” She let out sharply and I felt my eyes widen. That was certainly an accurate reading of my current mood.

I could not deny that I wanted to blow up where ever the Prince family resided but I figured I put up a calm enough disposition. Maybe my words of not feeling threatened by them gave a more concrete answer than I wanted. Well, I did kind of threaten to strike back at them if they took any actions but I figured that protective motive behind that was enough to mask my intention.

“Well duh,” Ashley muttered out with an expression that screamed she thought that was obvious as well. Thankfully my mother did not hear her muttered comment. Was I really that obvious about my feelings? I thought I kept a rather cool mask in most situations.

“Well, I am rather cross about being denied the name that rightfully belongs to me and seeing you so afraid has me a bit upset but I’m not raving mad.” I let out lightly with a reassuring smile on my face. Ashley took one look at me and rolled her eyes, my mother on the other hand let out a scoff.

“Upset? No, you have crossed upset and landed on murderous. I may not be the best mother Severus but the look on your face is the look you wore when you thought about Tobias.” She spoke out sharply but muttered the last bit. I winced as the feelings I had right now were certainly in the same vein. I did not realize I was wearing a look that screamed murder but my mother hit the mark there and Ashley was also nodding along so I guess I was.

I thought I had a calm but emotionless look on my face but maybe that was the look they were talking about. I suppose when I was trying to hide my murderous intentions I tried to hold back on showing anything. Like how I was able to read Narcissa hiding behind her Occlumency. 

I was surprised Ashley was able to read that off of me. When I was feeling murderous in her presence I was pretty open about it but maybe she just knew me well enough to read me despite me hiding it. 

I let out a sigh and faced my mother as she looked over at me intensely.

“Fine, I am a bit past upset but I think I have more than proved I can handle whatever they throw at me.” I let out darkly and my mother let out a sigh of her own.

“That’s not the point Severus. You are planning something and you were going to hide it from me.” She lightly chided me and I felt some guilt about that. She was right I was absolutely going to hide my actions. I tended to hide most of my life and this would just be an extension of that.

“This is not even about protecting us you are actively going to do something to them. What has you so upset Severus?” She asked with a confused expression on her face and I wanted to flinch away from the comment. I was being rather murderous but that was because I what I had learned from her memories. I could not explain that particular issue right now.

“You should always take care of problems before they become bigger problems.” Ashley let out distracting my mother from me for a moment. I was not sure if Ashley just wanted to pipe in or if she was giving me an out. Either way, I appreciated the distraction.

“It’s better to warn them from messing with us instead of waiting around for them to pop up with their better than you attitude,” I joined in on Ashley’s sentiment hoping that my mother would follow the logic here. My comment dragged my mother's attention away from Ashley and it was focused back on me. 

“That makes some sense but it does not fit what you are feeling. You have always been rather disdainful of our family Severus. You hated that they would not acknowledge you and there was some anger there but right now you look like you want to really hurt them.” She explained as she narrowed her eyes at me. Again I had to give her more credit than I thought possible. She really did have a good read on me.

“Does it matter mother? They have crossed the line and I am going to take care of it.” I let out darkly as I matched gazes with my mother. I was not going to admit to invading her mind. That just screamed needles hurt, so all she needed to know was I was mad and I was going to take care of it.

She looked deeply in my eyes and the firm expression on her faces faded.

“I suppose it does not…” She let out bitterly as if upset which had me feeling worse. She wanted answers but I was not willing to give them and that hurt her. 

“Meh, you are clearly afraid of them for some reason so that is a good enough reason for me,” Ashley spoke out breaking the tension between us again. My mother looked over at the girl and seeing the earnest expression on her face she cracked a smile. Even if the context here implied that Ashley and I were about to do something illegal to the Prince family.

I wanted to join in on the sentiment but that would be a lie. I knew that my mother was afraid of the Prince family to an extent but I had no plans on dealing with it. That knowledge hurt and it told me that I was not really there for the people that needed me. I had only gone into a murderous mood because I what I learned. I should have done something to them already simply because they hurt my mother and me.

I let out a bitter chuckle. Ashley’s motives were far more pure in a sense as her reason really was that my mother was afraid and that I wanted to do something. Granted, Ashley could murder someone for a variety of minor reasons so it was not a big change for her. It still made her reasons better than mine.

“You don’t have to worry about it mother, Ashley and I will take care of it.” I let out darkly and gave Ashley a small smile that she returned. My mother looked back at me with some hesitation but nodded after a moment.

“If you insist on this Severus you can do what you want but the Prince family can do things for you if take a step back. They have contacts that will get you the ingredients you need for research. If you show even a quarter of what you showed me today you will have them throwing themselves at you.” My mother recommended with a listless smile on her face. I gritted my teeth again as she was trying to get me to connect with them.

She was not advocating for them because she wanted her family back. She was playing devil’s advocate for me. She knew that I lived and breathed potions and she was absolutely right about me needing contacts for ingredients. She was putting her trauma and anger aside so I could advance further in my chosen field. It was touching but it was also infuriating.

Even Ashley was giving me a hesitant look. She could tell I wanted to murder something and she wanted to smite the fools that upset me but she also knew how I felt about potions. 

“I don’t need them.” I spat out as if disdainful of the mere concept. Ashley brightened up as murder was back on the menu but my mother looked like she was going to argue again.

“The Prince family is not the only place I could go to mother. I happen to be friends with one of the young Black ladies. The Black family has far more connections so I don’t need the Prince family.” I explained calmly to my mother. The listless look in her eyes lessened but it was still there.

“The Black family might look down on me for being a half-blood but with my power, they will still throw themselves at my feet.” I finished lightly and the light finally returned to my mother’s eyes. I was planning on pushing the Black family to get Narcissa some space so this killed two birds with one stone.

“I’ll take you back to finish your tea.” I let out lightly before she could say any more. I then gripped her shoulder and grabbed onto Ashley to get back to her home. We appeared back into the tea room and I noticed something.

Regulus had not even gotten up from his seat. The stupid lion had been eating cookies the entire time we were gone. He did not even look up from his meal when we got back. He was supposed to watch over my mother but he stuck around here instead of trying to find her.

I don’t know if I should praise him or scold him. It was not like he had any tracking abilities so he would be searching blindly. So it was better for him to stick around so I knew where he was. On the other hand, he did not even attempt to find my mother. He simply shrugged his shoulders and decided to eat some snacks. It was a vexing situation.

I was going to leave him here to guard my mother as he had already integrated himself with her but I was going to take some precautions. I could not trust this guy to get the job done, not anymore at least. So getting Mimpsy to contact me if my mother is ever in danger. The little elf could find me when ever he wished using our bond so having him drag me over would work for protection as well.

With the magical wards I casted on her to protect her she would be able to handle most situations until I showed up.

I set my mother down and waited for her to start drinking her tea to calm her.

“Great, you just finish drinking that and Ash and I will take care of the Prince family.” I let out quickly as I got a hold of Ashley to run away. My mother looked startled as she thought we could discuss more on this but I had reached my limit. Ashley also did not expect the sudden exit but teleportation is a great method of kidnapping so she did not put up a fuss fast enough.

We appeared in Ashley’s mansion. Ashley had a startled expression on her face but it faded as she rolled with the punches. She was looking around the room wondering why we were here instead of hunting down the Prince family.

I had fully planned on taking care of the Prince family right now but I had some issues. I did not know where they were. I had never visited their residence for obvious reasons and my Mother’s memories did not cover that. I was not exactly looking for that knowledge after all. 

I could wander around the magical world and with Fortuna on my side I would find them. 

“So what’s the game plan? Are we going in guns blazing? I’m not the best shot but I can kneecap your grandpa while you pull out his teeth.” Ashley let out with a bright smile on her face. I blinked at the girl before letting out a chuckle. Figures should would find joy in this. I wish I could take the same amount of joy Ashley found in senseless violence…. Okay maybe that is not a good thing to wish but she certainly looked happy about it most times.

“We need to find them first as I don’t know much about dear old Grandpa.” I let out darkly. Ashley looked over at me before blinking slowly.

“Search for something? Is that something you do? Most of the time you wander around randomly until you find the poor schmuck that got your attention.” Ashley question genuinely curious about why I switched tactics. I mean she was not wrong as that is my usual route. I just had a different thought bounce in my head.

“That would work but I do have another idea. A friend of my would know far more about the Prince family and they would give me all the information I needed.” I explained lightly as I started to pen a note. Ashley nodded slowly and tried to see what I was writing.

The information about the Prince family location was not really that important as I had Fortuna but I had another reason for dragging Narcissa in this.

Ashley and I made fantastic killers. We could murder and torture with the best of them and I certainly planned some of that for the Prince Family but that would not be all of it. I wanted to hurt them and while I could do that physically and mentally I could not do it in other ways.

Narcissa was trained to do exactly what I wanted. She would be able to tell me how to hurt the Prince family. Where to strike to deal the most damage to their funds. Where to blow up to humiliate them publicly. My Grandfather had sentenced my mother to a long life filled with abuse and regret. It would be unbecoming of me if I did not return the favor.

I was going to do my regular torture stick but Grandpa and Memaw are going to live the rest of their lives feeling humiliated and in immense pain.

That did mean I had to bring Ashley to meet Narcissa….that should be fine right?