Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Bella and I ended up running a few more errands around Diagon Alley. This caused us to arrive at Black Manor around dinner time via the Floo Network. Once we entered, we were greeted by an annoyed Narcissa, who had her arms crossed and her foot tapping the floor.
Bellatrix also crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in Narcissa's direction, waiting for her to say something. Narcissa rolled her eyes and simply looked at me.
"Come on, Sera, Grandpa needs to talk to you about something. He told me to let you know when you got here," Narcissa said before wrapping her arm through mine and starting to drag me.
"Grandpa's looking for her? What happened? " Bellatrix asked as she joined us. Narcissa shrugged.
"No idea, he was out all day, he just got back an hour ago," Narcissa said, wrinkling her nose. "He had some important-looking papers; maybe it's the engagement contract." She added, I made a face but nodded. "And by the way, where were you all day?" Narcissa asked with a hiss.
"We wandered around a bit and went to Diagon," Bellatrix said with a shrug. Narcissa wrinkled her nose.
"Okay, never mind, but you can't monopolize Sera; she's my best friend, so I have rights over her too," Narcissa said jealously. Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"She is my girlfriend, future fiancée, and according to the Company, I am her wife and her slave; I have more rights than you." Bellatrix replied dryly, my cheeks warming slightly, but Narcissa ignored what her sister had said.
"She's mine for the rest of the night, we're having a sleepover!" Narcissa squealed, her expression changing completely to a more cheerful one.
"No! I had something to do with Bella!" I said quickly, Narcissa rolled her eyes.
"You can have sex another day, you're mine now." Narcissa finally said. I looked at Bellatrix for help; she just shrugged and smirked at me. I moaned loudly. Again! I couldn't deal with this.
"This is grandfather's office." Narcissa said as we stood in front of a door after walking through the halls of the mansion. She didn't slow down and just knocked on the door. "Grandfather, it's me, Narcissa. I brought Serena." Narcissa said, barely raising her voice, I almost wondered if Arcturus could hear her from inside. My answer was answered when the door opened.
"Come in." Arcturus said. The three of us walked in and watched Lord Black work on some papers without looking up for a few minutes. When he finally set the papers down on the desk, he looked at me. Then, at Narcissa and Bellatrix, nodding as he did so. Arcturus pulled out several documents and handed them to me.
"Congratulations, Miss Snape, you are now officially Lady Prince."
…
…What?
I blinked several times to understand what he had just said.
"Excuse me, what?" I asked stupidly anyway. Arcturus snorted and pushed the papers closer to me. I took them clumsily and began to look through them. Bellatrix practically glued herself to my body to start reading while Narcissa looked slightly over my shoulder.
"From today moving forward, you are Lady Prince. I went to the Ministry and began to find out some information. You were right, there was no one alive from the main Prince line, so it was easy to get the necessary paperwork filed." Arcturus explained before looking at Narcissa. "I had put myself in contact with that Malfoy boy… no, Lucius, since he was Lady Prince's patron, I required him to sign most of the necessary documents."
"Lucy?" Narcissa asked in surprise. Arcturus smiled slightly.
"It turns out that Lucius has an excellent head on his shoulders. He seemed surprised by my request, but organised everything incredibly quickly. I wasn't expecting to have results for another week, but he moved between the paperwork and the Ministry with the efficiency of someone who had been in the Ministry for at least 50 years. You really chose well, Narcissa. He's a good wizard." Arcturus congratulated Narcissa. Narcissa looked surprised for a few seconds before a huge smile blossomed on her face.
"Thank you, Grandpa!" Narcissa said happily, and Arcturus nodded before looking at me once more. I still didn't know what to say.
I hadn't really thought about the Prince family. Mom... Eileen Prince hadn't been the best of mothers. If she had been, she would have walked away from Tobias, but for some reason, she had stayed with him. Maybe she thought she had no chance anywhere else. She had been kicked out of the Prince family the moment she decided to marry him, so she had no easy option to get out of there. Especially with a daughter, maybe she thought a roof over her head was much better than the uncertainty of fending for herself... but that doesn't make up for anything that happened over the years.
-Wait.
"Excuse me, Lord Black, but… wasn't my mother banished from the family? My grandfather disowned her when she married Tobias-" I practically spat out the name. "- My name shouldn't have been eligible." I asked, and both Arcturus and Bellatrix snorted at the same time. Arcturus looked at his granddaughter and motioned for her to speak.
"Money and influence, Sera, you can remove someone from the family records, but they'll still have their blood. If those records, those papers, that say your mother was disowned were gone… Well, there's no one left in the Prince family to contradict that." Bellatrix shrugged. I blinked a few times and wanted to groan loudly in frustration, of course. Looking back at Severus' memories, I realized Lucius had done the same thing many times.
"Lucius took care of that part, he said he used some of the money from your patent profits from the potions, so you don't have to worry." Arcturus added, and I sighed in relief that at least I didn't owe Arcturus too much; owing Lord Black something was not a good thing. "And this-" he pulled out another sheaf of papers, "-is your betrothal contract." He looked at Bellatrix and me. Bella frowned and took them. "You just have to sign it."
"You prepared this?" Bella asked with a frown, and her grandfather shook his head.
"No, again, Lucius, I had it already prepared. Pretty well prepared and very well done; I just had to make a few minor adjustments here and there, although… He stood firm on the escape clause about this contract being broken if either of you breaks… a previous contract?" Arcturus asked curiously, though it almost sounded like a demand to know what it was about, Bellatrix put down the papers and stared at her grandfather.
"Prince family secrets," Bellatrix said immediately without hesitation, not faltering under her grandfather's gaze. "Serena confided her family magics to me after a non-disclosure contract." She said simply, Arcturus looked at his granddaughter for a few seconds before nodding.
"Very well, this contract says that once married, Bellatrix will be part of the Prince family, and not the other way around, as was originally planned, since Lady Prince has the duty to perpetuate her line." I felt a slight chill at that last point. I really didn't want to think about children in the short term.
"Bellatrix Prince, huh?" Bellatrix hummed before shrugging, "Much better than Bellatrix Lestrange." With that, she set down the papers, grabbed the quill from her grandfather's desk, and quickly signed her name. She handed the quill to me, and I looked at it for a few seconds before sighing and taking it.
I hoped Lucius hadn't put anything too stupid in there. Luckily for me, typically, there was no such thing as unbreakable, magically binding contracts. You could just curse or charm them like Hermione did with Dumbledore's Army list, but if you were aware of said curse, they were easy to break. Things like the unbreakable, magically binding contract that the Goblet of Fire was able to create, which could remove a person's magic, were extremely rare.
"Congratulations!" Narcissa squealed from the side as she hugged first Bellatrix and then me. Bellatrix let out a smile, something I couldn't help but imitate.
After a farewell, we left Arcturus' office. Dinner with the Blacks was much more... tedious; I had to endure many congratulations on becoming Lady Prince and for my engagement to Bella. Luckily, Mother Walburga sucked her teeth and remained silent for the most part throughout dinner.
I was now in Narcissa's room, preparing for an impromptu sleepover with her. Or rather, Narcissa was using me as a living mannequin; I stood there while Narcissa added or removed pieces of fabric. Her red scissors were cutting the fabric as they flew around me. There were even several needles working in unison to make the dress.
Aria was still at my side. I could practically feel her penetrating gaze, even though she had no face, much less eyes. I rolled my eyes. I continued giving her firm orders not to move or start tearing my clothes. I even took the time to explain to her that I wouldn't be wearing anything; it was just a test, but I was still keeping an eye on every piece of fabric on my body.
"I'm not surprised Bella tried to kill all the giants. I'm surprised you were able to stop it," Narcissa huffed once I told/complained to her about our trip. Narcissa seemed more amused than anything as she worked on the dress, and I rolled my eyes.
"That wasn't my fault; she was still on a high from getting dragons as familiars." I huffed, annoyed, and Narcissa giggled.
"Yeah, that would do it," she said playfully. "By the way, you're… like you told Lucius… oh yeah, whipped, you're whipped," she teased. I felt my cheeks heat up.
"Shut up," I threw a pillow at Narcissa with magic, and she laughed happily. When it hit the side of her head, I rolled my eyes while smiling.
"By the way, your problem with those projections, Emiya's, " Narcissa started to say, and I looked at her. "Why would you have to use them?" she asked curiously. I tilted my head, confused, her eyes red. "You can create them or draw them, whatever you want, but it doesn't mean you have to use them. You can, I don't know, give them to Bella or someone else, that Enid Sinclair, could use them?" My eyes widened.
"I… that's a good point," I said, surprised. It hadn't occurred to me. The idea had considerable merit. "It hadn't occurred to me." I said honestly. "And by the way, Enid… she really can't stand blood. We watched the Wednesday series. She literally passed out looking at pictures of dead bodies." I snorted. "She'd practically have an aneurysm or a mental breakdown if she saw Bella and me sparring."
"Yeah, well, you guys are crazy," Narcissa said simply. As if it were a matter of fact, the sky is blue, the grass is green, Bellatrix and Serena are both crazy. I winced, really, after being mutilated for so many hours; I couldn't defend myself in any way.
"Really? A wedding dress? " I asked incredulously. Really, it was a lovely dress, but I could do without the white bow she placed on my ponytail. I rolled my eyes as Narcissa smiled widely at me.
"Well, we need to prepare you for the eventual moment," Narcissa said mischievously. I rolled my eyes as Narcissa giggled. "Aria, you can eat the dress now, memorize it." Narcissa ordered, and Aria practically flew out of where she was leaning, enveloping me. The wedding dress disappeared instantly, and in a few seconds, I was back in my black dress.
"Putting that aside," I rolled my eyes, "I wanted to talk to Lucius. Do you want to say hi?" I asked as I pulled out Potter's stolen two-way mirror. I had given the other half to Lucius; he was the only one we couldn't easily contact while at Black Manor. It was therefore beneficial to have easy communication. Narcissa practically jumped in place.
"Of course! Call him right away! I haven't seen him all day!" Narcissa squealed happily. I chuckled.
"Lucius Malfoy." The mirror vibrated rapidly, and we waited for a few seconds, staring at ourselves in the mirror's reflection before it changed, and a very tired-looking Lucius appeared.
"Lucy! Are you okay?! You look exhausted." Narcissa asked as she brought her face closer to the mirror, a worried look on her face. Lucius sighed tiredly but smiled weakly.
"Hello Cissy, your beauty is always a sight for sore eyes." Lucius said charmingly, and Narcissa practically fainted as usual. I snorted loudly. At this point, I knew they were doing it on purpose; it was just their thing, and it was cute, but that didn't mean it didn't make me want to vomit. "Ah, Serena, as eloquent as ever, or should I call you Lady Prince?" Lucius mocked with a tired smile.
"A warning would have done the trick, Malfoy. I'd rather not be caught off guard, especially by Lord Black." I said dryly, he smirked, and I rolled my eyes. "Now, everything okay? You really do look like shit." I repeated Narcissa's question. Lucius sighed tiredly as he ran his hand over his face, a pained expression appearing on his face.
"I... need the company seal." Lucius said defeatedly. I straightened up, my expression becoming more serious. Narcissa gasped audibly.
"Lucy… your father… him?" Narcissa asked worriedly, and Lucius nodded solemnly.
"There's... a New Year's party, something exclusive, HE will be there. My father... wants to introduce me to HIM." Lucius said. My eyes widened, Voldemort.
"Will he want you to take the mark right then?" I asked quickly, and Lucius paused for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"No, even though my father is in the inner circle, I don't think Riddle would mark me immediately. Although I'm sure my father spoke to him at length about me." Lucius said, looking very confident before sighing. "But meeting him would put me firmly in his sights, if… my father disappeared… I might refuse to meet him for any number of reasons." Lucius added, and I nodded.
"Can you mark him, or do you want me to go and do it?" I asked softly, and Lucius paused before lowering his hand and gritting his teeth.
"…would you?" he asked softly.
"Of course." I said quickly, and Lucius sighed in surrender.
"I know we agreed that we'll be leaving this world for some time: weeks, months, maybe years, and this world will be... 'frozen' until we set foot here again. So it's not really an immediate concern... but... sooner or later I'll have to do it or give up the Malfoy name... but I'm proud to be a Malfoy, even if it doesn't mean much in other worlds. I won't let my father sully that name by making us cattle for Riddle." Lucius said firmly. I paused for a few seconds before nodding.
"Oh, Lucius, I'm so proud." Narcissa cooed. "Do you need anything? I can have Serena take me right away." She added quickly. Lucius smiled more genuinely. He looked like he was about to refuse, but I interrupted him.
"That's a good idea, go to our mansion and spend the night there while I... take care of it." I interrupted. Lucius stood still for a few seconds before nodding. Narcissa immediately stood up and began gathering a couple of things.
"I'll see you in a few minutes, Lucy!" Narcissa exclaimed towards the mirror as she created a portal in one of its walls and crossed it without hesitation. I rolled my eyes.
"I… thank you, Serena, for doing… this." Lucius said with a sad smile. I returned the same smile.
"Don't worry, Lucius, we'll talk later about... everything. Now go with Narcissa and take a break, I'll take care of it." I said simply, Lucius sighed, but nodded before hanging up the call.
I sighed tiredly and considered my options. I had to wait a couple of hours to make sure Lucius's father was completely asleep before creating a portal to sneak in with Aria, completely invisible.
I was about to go to Bellatrix, but I stopped; it wasn't the time for that. I sighed tiredly as I dropped onto Narcissa's bed, pulling out a book. It was going to be a long night.
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