Throughout the next day, the only thing Severus could think about was the huge revelation that Crashwell dropped on him. It went beyond just Helena's death on the 'night of the fire'. Now he was realizing that it stretched all the way back to the day when Eileen was engaged to marry Abraxas. Possibly even before that.
Which raised the question what exactly did the Prince family have that the Malfoys wanted so desperately?
Whatever it was, Severus understood that it was enough to cause the Malfoy's to arrange a marriage with their biggest enemy, and even murder Helena Prince, all in order to get what they wanted. And surprisingly, Cornelius was willing to use the opportunity to form a truce, in exchange for the one thing that the Malfoys wanted.
But realizing this only brought up more questions that remained unanswered. If the Prince family had what the Malfoy's wanted, then how did Helena and William come into possession of it, especially when these dark hooded figures were chasing after it as well? And where did the mysterious item rest now, if these adversaries had failed to retrieve it that night? One way or another, Severus was going to find the truth.
As for what to do about Abraxas Malfoy, Severus found himself wondering what the best course of action was to be taken concerning the man. There was a part of him that wanted to see him pay for what he did that night, but he couldn't go to the Aurors. Doing so would expose himself to the Malfoys and reveal himself as an enemy. And he had no evidence to prove that he actually did it. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, the Prince Dynasty was a dead royal family, with no heirs or future.
If he was to go to war with the Malfoys and somehow bring them down, he needed to do it with the element of surprise on his side. He needed to be an enemy they didn't know exists. But he also needed training, someone to train him in ways that the Wizarding World couldn't. He needed help, his own network, his own army. He already had the influence, the wealth, the intelligence, and a new path to follow.
But it wasn't going to be easy. The Malfoys were now in league with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and his network of Death Eaters, so they had backing in ways that he didn't. While it was all rumor to the public, Severus was fully aware of what was the truth. As for Abraxas himself, if he was truly like his father before him, then he was a man to be taken seriously. If not more so.
There was a reason Cornelius wanted to end his family's rivalry with the Malfoys. It wasn't just because of a simple competition or some ancient dispute, it was because of Abraxas's father truly scared him. While Severus never met the man or his son, he heard enough stories to know.
Septimus Malfoy II wasn't just all about family or legacy, he was obsessed with power and fear. If there was someone who could rival anyone in the pure blood beliefs, he was definitely the one who took the win. In fact, he saw the Princes as his greatest enemy. Hence the reason for why Cornelius wanted to end his family's rivalry and protect his legacy. And shockingly enough, it seemed that Septimus was willing to grant Cornelius an end to it, with a price of course.
What Severus had a hard time understanding was what exactly Septimus wanted from Cornelius to begin with. An arranged marriage couldn't be it, nor anything that normally would come with that marriage. Whatever he wanted so badly from the Princes, it was enough to make him agree to a truce. And now it was Abraxas Malfoy who continued where his father left off.
Severus little about Abraxas but more-son of Septimus. During his first year at Hogwarts, he spent some time with Lucius and his little gang of Death Eaters that he led. He never spoke about his family, other than how important and great they were, but there was one time when someone talked about his father, complimenting about how great of a pure blood wizard he was.
While no one else saw it, Severus did. Throughout his whole life, there was one emotion above all else that he could recognize anywhere. And what he saw in Lucius's eyes, whenever his father's name was mentioned, wasn't flattery or pride... it was fear.
Remembering Crashwell's words from before, he understood why.
If a man like Cornelius could handle someone like Septimus Malfoy with confidence, but yet fear Abraxas Malfoy, it said a lot.
But in order to handle the situation at hand, Severus needed time, patience and training in order to prepare himself. He couldn't fully move on with his life just yet, not until the very people who caused his family so much pain were brought down to their knees. If it was ever discovered that he was now the Lord Prince and that he had been there on the 'night of the fire', Abraxas and his people would come for him, just like they did with Helena and William. There was no hiding from this, he needed to prepare himself for the coming war with the Malfoys. He would need a network of his own to fight them when the time came.
And luckily for him, he knew exactly where to start.
After spending an hour of hiring new servants to help Crashwell, Tibby and Dory manage the Prince Manor while he was away in America, Severus made his way to the docks of London, searching for the one man he knew would be of use to him.
Entering the large shipping building complex, he approached the manager's office, entering once he knew the man was alone.
"Sorry, I'm a little busy right now," the man behind the desk rudely growled.
Severus used a dark cloak to hide his face and a spell to disguise his voice.
"This won't take long," he replied.
The man looked up and his expression changed from annoyed to worry, recognizing him as a wizard.
"Who are you?" he demanded, reach into one of his drawers.
Realizing what he was doing, Severus took his wand and silently casted a spell towards him. The man had reached for a wand, but was met with surprise as the spell Severus sent his way knocked it out of his hand.
"No need for that," Severus approached him, carrying a small bag in the hand opposite of the one holding his wand. "If the Ministry were to learn that an expelled, outcast like yourself was carrying an unlicensed wand, they would most certainly send you to Azkaban, Mr. Shaw."
The man known as Ian Shaw studied the mysterious person over, not surprised he knew his name.
"You're obviously not an Auror or any other Ministry official," he continued to observe. "Are you a Death Eater? I've already told you that I don't deal with your kind."
"I assure you, Mr. Shaw, I am no Death Eater or some official from the Ministry," he stopped just a few feet from the desk. "I have need of your talents."
Shaw raised an eyebrow, "I'm listening."
Taking the bag in his hand, Severus tossed it on the desk, still keeping his wand steady.
Shaw looked at the bag and hesitantly picked it up, reaching inside to feel a series of golden galleons. His eyes widened at the feel of them, understanding that if converted to muggle currency, it would mean thousands for him. Looking back at the stranger, he took his seat again, putting the bag to the side.
"Now, tell me, why would someone like you want to do business with me?" he asked.
"Because you're someone outside of the Wizarding World," Severus answered.
"Why?"
"You have smuggled everything known from everywhere."
"Not everything," Shaw interrupted. "I don't traffic human beings against their will. Nor WMDs. Keeping a low profile is how I have been able to stay in business this long."
"And I need you to continue to do so. I won't interfere with your business, you can continue to take jobs and work for anyone, with the exception of the Death Eaters and the Malfoys."
Shaw nodded, "On that, we're in agreement."
"When I call upon you, I expect you to deliver. I know that you have people on your payroll, including those inland."
"Oh, trust me, I have way more people than you may realize," Shaw half-smiled.
"Good!" Severus lowered his wand. "The amount in the bag is more than you make in a month. All I need from you is your loyalty and your word that you will provide when I need you to."
Shaw chuckled, "You'd be a fool to trust someone like me. In this line of business, people backstab all the time."
"Then I highly suggest that you don't," Severus warned. "Because if you betray me in any way, I will expose your operations to the Ministry, and we all know the stories about Azkaban."
Although frightened by the thought of the infamous wizard prison, Shaw nodded and stood up, offering his hand.
"In that case, consider me onboard," he smiled.
Although hesitant, Severus shook his hand, keeping his wand close.
"On the same day next month, and the next following months after that, you will continue to receive payment for your services. The money will be Apparated to your office, whenever you are alone."
With that said and out of the way, Severus left the office and Apparated, relieved that his first employment of Ian Shaw, the same person who helped his mother and aunt escape from their father, went better than he thought it would.
/
For almost the remainder of the day, Severus paid a series of visits to all sorts of different people throughout London. Having spent the previous night investigating possible clients for the network he was building; he narrowed his search to a few short people on his list. Although he still had a long way to go, he was confident that he could start off in the right direction.
Knowing it would be almost impossible to bribe anyone in the Ministry of Magic, unless if it was under the Imperius Curse, Severus decided to stick to focusing on outside establishments, some legal and some illegal. There would be time to infiltrate the Ministry later. Even though he still used the same method he used with Shaw, his next few attempts ended with failure but ended up getting lucky with a certain few.
He managed to successfully bribe a private wizarding estate, which its cover was just a regular estate in the muggle world. The woman in charge of the business was quick to accept his bribe, since the place was in need of financial support. Because of this, he was able to gain control to tons of wizard estates all around England and Scotland. He charged the woman to find the best suitable houses in remote areas, ones that people wouldn't notice, and erase their existence from any records.
Next, he gained the employment of a private wizard investigation company, who could provide information of special cases all over Britain and also investigate anything or anyone he had in mind.
And last, Severus paid a visit to a small group of criminal wizards and witches who specialize in creating untraceable Portkeys and Floo networks. At first, they were not so trusting of the unknown wizard, but instead choose to listen to him once he gave their leader a small bag of galleons to just talk. It was the promise of future payment whenever he needed their expertise that won over their employment to his cause. Thanks to this, he now could create Floo networks whenever he wanted, without the Ministry knowing about it.
Before leaving them, he requested for a portkey to be made, one that would transport him to Salem in America, undetected. It amazed him how quickly they got it done, proving that they were a great investment for his network. He also made another request for a portkey to be made for Santander, Spain. Both of which were to be delivered to the Leaky Cauldron.
As it was nearing the end of the day, Severus was more than ready to finally leave Britain behind and start his new life in America. Even though he would be returning to continue building his network and to handle his family dynasty, he knew that deep down he was taking a big step in leaving everything he ever knew behind.
He used one of the Portkeys on his pendant necklace to be transported back to the Prince Manor, where he said his goodbyes to Crashwell and the two house-elves, giving them permission to use the manor for whatever they wanted, as long as they didn't burn it down. He had a feeling he would probably being needing the place in the future.
Just as he was about to Apparate back to his room at the Leaky Cauldron, the house-elf Tibby ran up to him.
"Master Prince, sir, the goblin known as Clawlock Flooed the house, sir, and asked for you."
Severus nodded in reply and dismissed him, changing his destination to the Gringotts Bank as he Disapparated away.
/
Clawlock waited in his office, expecting Severus Prince to arrive at any moment. Usually, he was gone by that hour, but he choose to make an exception for this one. After talking with his sources over in America, he had managed to locate the person Mr. Prince had asked of him to. At first, Clawlock was worried the search for the man would take a while but ended up surprised a few hours after he had arranged a search for the man.
The door to the office opened and Severus appeared, his expression giving nothing away.
Just like a true Prince, Clawlock smiled to himself.
"Ah, Mr. Prince, I was hoping you would stop by."
"Did you discover the location of the person I asked you to find?" he approached the goblin's desk, his heart racing.
Clawlock nodded and got up from his chair, picking up his folded suit and also a small file, walking around the desk as he handed his client the file in his hand.
Severus immediately had the file opened and looked at a series of moving pictures and a piece of parchment, which had an address and other information of the person it was about.
"So, the man's location is still in Salem?" he asked, surprised.
Clawlock nodded and replied, "It seems he never left Salem in the last ten years. My sources have discovered that he has a wife and two children, a boy and a girl."
"Have you discovered anything else?"
"Only that he is a successful Potions teacher at the Salem school, and very rich. There was a limited time window, so my sources didn't have the time to learn anything else."
Severus nodded in appreciation and shook Clawlock's hand, "Yes, thank you, Clawlock! You've made things much easier for me. I trust that you know what to do once I'm out of the country tonight?"
"Yes, Mr. Prince, I'm well aware of what I'm supposed to do. You just worry about your education from now on. I wish you the best of luck in Salem."
"Before I go," Severus pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it over to Clawlock, "I need a monthly payment to be paid to these four addresses. The number of galleons for each place is to be Apparated inside a bag on this date, every month."
Clawlock nodded and put the parchment in his side-pocket, "I'll make sure these are taken care of in the morning."
Severus nodded back and walked towards the doors of the office, "Thank you once again, Mr. Clawlock. I wish you great fortune."
"As to you, Mr. Prince."
/
Later that night, Severus found the two portkeys waiting for him at the Leaky Cauldron, like he had requested. Taking both, used the one that was in the form of a cup and activated it once out of sight in the streets of London. A few seconds later, he appeared in a hidden alleyway of Santander, Spain.
Severus threw the cup to the side and tightened his grip on his bag that hung from his shoulder. As it was already dark there, he quickly found the small Inn. Despite how little the magical community was, its population still held significance as part of its history.
After getting settled in at the Inn, Severus wasted no time as he began researching at the local library. Although, he was forced to sneak in after closing hours. While he could have waited till morning, he was anxious to get his work done quickly in order to find the location of where his family house once stood. The place of where he was born and raised for the first six years of his life.
Grabbing a couple of books on the history of the small city, while keeping to memory of where he found them, he brought to a table and used his wand for light before beginning to read. He quickly started to look up fires that happened in 1966 or 1967, one that took place a decade before. But the only fire the town seemed to be aware of is the one from 1941, which made him wonder if the wizarding community had anything to do with it or if it was a natural disaster.
While reading, he kept thinking back to what Crashwell had said, only adding more to his desire to solve the mystery surrounding that night. He felt excited and anxious to be so close to finding the exact location of where it happened.
It wouldn't be easy, considering that it was burnt to a crisp. Not to mention if he started asking questions to the wrong people, he might tip-off anyone meant to report back to Abraxas or worse. The thought of someone remaining around to keep an eye on anyone too interested in the lives of William and Michelle Connor seemed very unlikely and farfetched. But if his fears of Abraxas were right, then he needed to play this one safe.
After a few hours, Severus began to get tired and decided to put the books back where had found them before heading back to the Inn to get some rest. Due to the laid back nature of the town, no one suspected a thing.
In the morning, after he resumed his working routine in his room, although he skipped the jogging in favor of going back to the library and restarted his research. While there, he came across some reports of fires that dated back a decade ago from the librarian, but the little details gathered proved that they couldn't be the one of that night. A few came close but upon investigation, he began to quickly cross them off the list.
It was starting to become a frustration for him as the research came up empty-handed.
It was later during the day when he found their answer, though not one from a book.
Once going through the last of the books on the history of the town and the surrounding areas, Severus decided to go searching around the countryside, in hopes of finding the location. But before he could rise out of the chair to head out, he was stopped by a young girl who had been studying him from across the room at a separate table.
"Why are you so interested in fires?" a voice asked.
Severus turned to the teenage girl, eyeing her with suspicious. "And if I am?"
The girl smiled, "Hi, I'm Lucia. I'm sorry for interrupting you, but I just couldn't help but notice you have been in here for a while."
Severus sneered without her noticing.
"Just researching past events. More specifically, houses that were burnt down ten years ago."
"Oh," the girl blushed. "I apologize for prying but why the fascination?"
"Just looking for an old friend of mine who used to live here. He died in a fire, and I've been hoping to find the former home to pay my respects. It's been so long since I've last seen him."
The girl's facial expression softened, "Oh, I'm so sorry. The only fire I knew of was near the coastline when I six. A small family used to live there. Such a tragic event."
"What was their family name?" Severus asked, his anticipation rising.
The girl smiled, "Oh, the Connors! Everyone knew them back in the day."
Severus struggled to control himself, nearly flying out of his seat as he nodded, "Can you tell me more?"
The Lucia nodded, "Well, I didn't know the family personally. But I remember the dad and mom to some extent."
Frustration started to rise within him, but he didn't wish to scare her off. He was even wondering why she approached him to begin with. Even why she was messing with her hair.
"Do you know where their house was?"
Lucia shook her head, "I honestly don't remember. But Miss Beverly would."
Severus nodded, "And do you know where she lives?"
/
The walk to the home of Miss Beverly, by direction of Lucia, took about two hours to reach on foot. During his walk to the house, something in Severus began to sink deeper into his stomach. A frightening feeling that made him almost want to turn back. But he kept strong and forced himself forward, glaring into the distance with every step he took.
He soon came into view of the large cabin, traveling the path towards it. The building sat near the beach, where Seagulls flew above, with the clouds growing darker and heavier, and the sound of waves echoing across the land.
Stepping onto the porch, he knocked on the front door.
A few seconds later, the door opened, and a woman appeared, pushing aside her hair to see her guest.
"Yes?"
Severus kept firm and with his wand by his side.
"I'm so sorry to bother you. But I was wondering if you knew the Connor family."
The woman's eyes betrayed no reaction as she studied him.
"And what's your interest in them?"
Severus took a second to think of a response, mentally berating himself for not coming up with an explanation beforehand.
"I knew them."
The woman known as Miss Beverly narrowed her eyes at him, "Judging by your appearance, you would have been child if you did. So why should I tru-"
Suddenly, she paused as she took a closer look at him and opened the door all the way, stepping out onto the porch.
"Wait- Those eyes, and your face... you look familiar..."
Right then and there, he knew he had to make a choice between deflecting her suspicions or revealing himself. He feared scaring her off or possibly exposing himself to a possible enemy. But there was a possibility that she held some answers he seeks. So, he made a risky choice.
"My name is Severus Alexander Prince. Before that, I was known as Severus Tobias Snape. But if you truly knew my parents, then you knew me by my birth name."
Her eyes widened as tears filled her eyes, a sigh of relief escaping her as she threw her arms around him and held him close to her. Like a gem finally found at long last.
"Eric!"