Father wanted the wedding to happen sooner rather than later.
"We'll do it before the start of term," he told Mother one morning over breakfast, as if deciding the ti of day to prune a hedge. "I don't want another year slipping through our fingers. I've missed too many already."
Mother only nodded in response, her teacup hovering silently between her fingers. Her expression was unreadable, but I could see it in the slight curve of her lips the ghost of relief. She agreed. She was tired of waiting too.
When Grandmother Prince heard the news, she looked as though she'd been hexed. "A wedding? In a week? Eileen, that's absurd. Do you even have robes? What about the guest list? Food? Flowers"
"I don't want flowers," Mother said gently, as if she'd rehearsed the words. "We'll keep it here, in the manor. Just close family. Simple."
"Simple?" Grandmother scoffed. "You're getting married dear, not hosting a tea party."
The irony was thick enough to bottle. A simple wedding, after a week of full-blown scandal? Simplicity had long since slipped out the window.
Just days ago, the Daily Prophet had plastered the entire matter across its front page. Not just the announcent of the wedding, but the revelation that I Severus Snape was, in fact, Alphard Black's son. That my na was being changed, officially and magically, to Severus Black.
The headline had scread across the magical world like a Howler:
The Daily Prophet – Special Weekend Edition
ALPHARD BLACK TO WED HOGWARTS SWEETHEART HIDDEN SON REVEALED AFTER THIRTEEN YEARS
By Marla Drummond, Senior Correspondent
London, England High society was positively rocked this week by news from one of the most controversial branches of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Alphard Black, maverick bachelor and high-ranking Ministry official, has announced both his engagent and the existence of a long-hidden son sending pure-blood circles into a tailspin of gossip, disbelief, and scandal.
In a developnt no one in high society saw coming, Alphard Black prominent Ministry official mber of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was one of the largest, oldest, and wealthiest pure-blooded wizarding families in Great Britain, has formally announced his engagent to Eileen Prince, daughter of renowned potioneer and industrialist Eldric Prince.
But that's not the only bombshell shaking the foundations of wizarding lineage today.
"I have a son," Alphard Black told The Daily Prophet exclusively, "and I'm proud of him. I intend to give him the na he always should have had."
Yes, readers the son in question is Severus Snape, a third-year Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, known for his academic brilliance, talent in Potions, and reserved deanor. But he is, in fact, no Snape at all. He is a Black.
Even more astonishing: the couple's son, Severus, long thought to be unconnected to wizarding nobility, has now been formally acknowledged as Severus Black, heir to both the Black and Prince legacies. Now formally recognized by the Ministry of Magic through a paternal inheritance ritual, Severus is being legally renad Severus Black and will be listed in all pure-blood registries as Alphard's heir. The paperwork was finalized just days before the announcent of Alphard and Eileen's upcoming marriage.
to understand the scandal, we must go back over a decade, to the days when Alphard Black the rebellious, free-thinking younger brother of Walburga Black fell for an unusual girl: Eileen Prince, a quiet but sharp-witted witch from an old pure-blood family
The pair were reportedly inseparable during their final years at Hogwarts. But when Eileen mysteriously disappeared shortly after graduation, the Black family, ever obsessed with bloodline purity, was quick to quash all whispers.
For years, Alphard remained unmarried. So said he was disowned. Others whispered that a Muggle-born lover had stolen him away. But the truth, as it turns out, is far more complicated and far more scandalous.
Born to Eldric and Ellara Prince, Eileen was grood from childhood to one day take the helm of the Prince family business Prince Alchemica, an international giant in high-grade potion exports, with factories as far afield around Europe , Asia and Arica
"She was ant to be the jewel of the Prince legacy," one unnad associate at the Ministry of Potions Regulation confided. "Bright, disciplined, brilliant in the lab. Eldric was grooming her to take over the firm."
But all of that ca to a catastrophic end shortly after her graduation from Hogwarts.
Sources confirm that upon learning of her romantic involvent with a Muggle-born laborer Eldric Prince disowned her publicly, severing all familial and financial ties.
Once disowned and exiled from pure-blood circles due to her youthful elopent with a Muggle, Eileen Prince has now reconnected with her family following years of estrangent. Sources close to the Prince household confirm that Eldric Prince himself has welcod his daughter back into the fold, citing "regret for past decisions" and "respect for the life she has built."
The scandal made minor waves at the ti, dismissed by the Prophet as "a private family matter." But today, with her reergence into the public eye and her son's na change set to ripple across wizarding Britain, it's clear the matter was never quite so private.
"He told her she was dead to him," says one forr Prince employee who asked not to be nad. "No money, no contact, no return. She was erased from every record in the company."
Alphard Black and Eileen Prince were a Couple of their day They were seen together constantly in their final year, and rumors swirled of an elopent or secret engagent. But when Eileen abruptly vanished from wizarding society, most assud the relationship had ended in heartbreak.
The couple, once known for their closeness during their school days, were separated shortly after graduation due to unfortunate circumstances and personal choices that led them down different paths. Sources close to the family cite pressure from both sides, societal expectations, and private disagreents that ultimately kept them apart.
Their upcoming wedding, set to take in a week, has beco the talk of wizarding society both for its romantic undertones and the rging of two powerful bloodlines once torn apart by scandal and tradition.
I'd stared at that article for an hour the day it ca out. I must have read it ten tis, barely able to breathe. The photos flickered and moved Father with his usual cool smile, Mother looking weary but calm, and then a school photo of I hadn't known existed, taken from the side, as if I were being watched.
The whole Wizarding World now knew. My na, my bloodline, the wedding, the scandal.
It still felt unreal. To look at a piece of parchnt and see the na Severus Black. As if I'd stolen it. As if I didn't belong in it.
And then, of course, there was the other truth. The one that lingered like a hex on the tongue.
Sirius Black is my cousin.
Yes, that Sirius. Gryffindor'sdelinquent. Head full of cursed pride, mouth full of trouble, wand always at the ready. The boy who once turned my cauldron inside-out because I outscored him in Potions. The boy who used to sneer "Snivellus" in the halls.
And now... family.
Because Father, Alphard Black, is Sirius's mother's brother. Which makes Sirius my first cousin. Which makes everything infinitely worse.
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