-Ministry of Magic Britain, 21 August 1976

The third week of August was the day Hermione and Draco Prince were to meet personally with the Headmaster of Hogwarts for their house selection.

Draco hadn't told Hermione, but his insides were in knots by the time they arrived at the Ministry for the sorting.

And no, it wasn't just because they were going to meet Albus Dumbledore.

It was because Draco was a Slytherin, it was part of who he was, but he knew that the moment he became a Slytherin he wouldn't be able to stay with Hermione.

Draco would cut his tongue out before admitting it, but he still needed her.

Things had gotten a lot better for the two of them since they'd arrived, but they were both lonely at this time.

Well... sure Severus knew about it, but he couldn't relate to what they'd been through.

Besides, Severus wasn't interested in getting close to them, in these two months even though their relationship had improved a lot, he was still quite lonely.

Lily on the other hand was the opposite, since she knew that they were alone, she wanted to integrate them by all means.

No doubt Lily was a great help for both of them to feel more comfortable during this time.

If Draco had been asked before if he would go to a Muggle's house, he would laugh at that, but things had changed, and in times of need... blood no longer mattered.

Besides, to Draco, Lily was much more tolerable than Hermione, and that earned her a lot of points.

Draco took a lazy breath as he made his way to the front of the Ministry room where they would be selected, he could feel Hermione's eyes boring into the back of his head.

He turned his head to give her a bored look but didn't when he saw how she was biting her nails from nervousness and anticipation of what would happen.

Draco was the first of the two to be classified and he expected that for Hermione it would look like he was going to be classified in the house he was supposed to be in.

Though he could also be wrong and her nervousness was just about seeing Dumbledore again.

Even though the old man was a total manipulator, he never had any malicious intentions...

Draco even admired him a little for everything he did and how he did it.

'Yeah, no doubt Dumbledore was more Slytherin or Ravenclaw than Gryffindor' thought Draco with a sigh.

"Are you ready?" asked Hermione as they both stood in front of the door to the room where Dumbledore was waiting for them.

Draco took a deep breath and nodded.

She saw him give him a long look but knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a voice, but it wasn't Dumbledore's.

No...

Hermione could recognise that voice.

It was Professor McGonagall's.

When she opened the door and they both walked in first.

Hermione stared at Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall standing next to him.

She saw them look at her and Draco with intrigue, suspicion, and caution.

There was no sign of this on their faces, but Hermione could see it in their eyes.

'Maybe because of our surname like Prince?' thought Hermione.

Dumbledore already knew that Severus was the new Prince heir and that the two of them were his 'distant cousins'.

Hermione knew that the Headmaster would have a lot of doubts but it was nothing new that something like the Prince situation would happen, it was just weird with Severus being involved.

That was why she wanted to be sorted back into Gryffindor, she wasn't blind to the blind bias and favouritism Dumbledore showed to Gryffindor house.

But that could be an advantage as it was a way to gain his trust, it was difficult being cousins to Severus Prince the greatest enemy of the Marauders, Dumbledore's favourites, but it was possible being in Gryffindor.

"Please take a seat," said the headmaster kindly.

Dumbledore looked much younger and that made them feel quite strange.

He was the Headmaster they had known for years, but there was something slightly different about him.

Draco was the first to settle into one of the two empty chairs.

Hermione did the same, they had already agreed that with Severus knowing about them being from the future was enough, and they weren't going to comment on this any further.

But they still had to gain Dumbledore's trust and support along with the Order.

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Draco Prince and Miss Hermione Prince," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, but you should know that already, I trust Severus has kept you up to date with everything you need to know about Hogwarts," he added.

"Well, Severus helped us with a lot of things, but he's not the type to talk a lot..." replied Hermione.

"If we have anyone to thank for telling us all about Hogwarts, it's a young witch we met recently," she added, causing Dumbledore's eyes to widen slightly in curiosity.

"Oh, I see. May I know the name of this young witch?" asked the Headmaster intrigued.

"Lily Evans, she even helped us to get ready for the exams and integrate a little better" Hermione replied, she had already expected him to ask, it was her intention for him to know this.

When Hermione said that name, a glint appeared in Dumbledore's eyes but it was only for a few seconds.

While McGonagall's eyes did widen, she couldn't quite conceal her surprise.

"Well... am I not surprised, Miss Evans is always willing to help, especially if they are future classmates. You should know that you were both lucky to cross paths with one of the most outstanding students at Hogwarts," said McGonagall proud of her student.

Hermione smiled slightly at that, McGonagall was the same way with her.

"So young Miss Evans..., a very lovely and brilliant young lady no doubt," nodded Dumbledore his gaze was no longer as wary as before, but there was still intrigue and doubt.

"So... what do you think if we start?" asked the Headmaster.

Draco and Hermione both nodded quickly.

Draco was the first, he had decided not to participate in the conversation with Dumbledore, it was extremely awkward for him and he trusted that Hermione knew what she was doing, so just like when they met Severus, he was mostly a spectator.

McGonagall's lips twisted upwards as she held the Sorting Hat to the young wizard's head.

She was intrigued to know the houses of these two mysterious young wizards who had recently arrived in Britain as Severus' cousins and furthermore had met Lily Evans.

'Here we go' thought Draco feeling the cloth of the hat lowered over his head.

~~~~~~~

Albus Dumbledore was not as old as some people thought, that is, he was not 200 years old.

He was, however, old, he was already 96 years old.

He had already lived for many years and had experienced things that most people still alive could not remember from memory.

He had also defeated one of the most formidable wizards in the history of the magical world, earning him the respect of the entire magical community as the most powerful white wizard.

But Albus was no longer on his best days, he was now a withered, old, and wise man who only hoped to live a quiet and peaceful life at Hogwarts, where he cherished his fondest memories.

But life did not grant him that luxury.

First, a young girl named Myrtle was killed by a basilisk and a young half-giant was expelled for what Albus knew for certain was not his misdeed.

And now he was about to witness the start of another war led by one of his own alumni who was also leading other alumni who were also at Hogwarts.

It seemed that Dumbledore's dream would not be fulfilled after all.

But still, he rejoices in the little things that happen in his life, in the lives of his students, at Hogwarts, and in the magical world.

Today was one of those moments.

Dumbledore just smiled and looked intrigued at the two young Prince students who were being selected for their future houses.

The Ministry had personally told Albus about Severus becoming the new Prince heir.

It was a great surprise for him to know this and, although he was shocked, surprised, and a little intrigued, he was mostly relieved and happy for young Severus.

He thought that the young man might now have a different life, he was not blind, he knew all that Severus had been through at home with his Muggle father.

Dumbledore also knew of Severus' potential from the day he entered Hogwarts.

But he also knew that Severus Snape was a very complex young man who had been through many things that made him very unstable.

He understood this completely and knew that the boy was quite similar to the old student he had at Hogwarts, a young man Albus had distrusted years before.

Both were intelligent and talented, far surpassing the other students, but they were also very drawn to the Dark Arts, to the point of loving it as if it were their refuge from the real world.

They were both half-bloods with a complicated and sad family history, who hated and despised Muggles because of their Muggle parents, this made the hatred and darkness grow inside their hearts beyond what was possible to remedy.

But they also had their differences.

One was handsome, dashing, sociable, and used his charisma to achieve many of his goals.

Whereas in Severus' case it was different, his appearance did him no favours and his attitudes less so, so he preferred the loneliness of his books for social bonding.

Albus didn't know which was worse, someone who sought to use others whom he considered inferior or someone who simply wanted to be alone while seeing others as inferior.

One became a dark lord who sought blood purity along with his "followers" as an excuse to seek to achieve his desired goals.

His darkness led him down the path of power and domination of others.

Whereas Severus could be even worse, he could end up wanting to kill Muggles and wizards alike if the darkness consumed him.

His darkness could lead him to want to destroy everything without caring about anyone or anything.

But Severus had something that his former student and current Dark Lord did not and that was love.

And it was the kind of love that was only seen in very special situations.

Dumbledore knew that young Severus' feelings were so strong that if he had to use the darkest and most horrible methods to keep the one he loved alive, he would do it without any conscience.

And that scared him because Dumbledore knew that sooner or later Severus and Lily's personalities and very different ideals would clash and no one would know what would happen to Severus.

He wasn't worried about Lily, he knew that the young woman was an angel.

What frightened him was the fact that Severus was a bomb, one that no one could control and a very dangerous one at that.

And although Severus was obviously a brilliant young man, his mental state depended on one person and that sooner or later would bring chaos.

In fact, what Albus knew would happen sooner or later did happen.

Severus and Lily ended up separating, and young Severus didn't seem to take it well from what he saw in his fifth year.

And now that Voldemort was becoming more and more powerful, with a terrifying charisma that interested wizards all over the world and was looking for young wizards to join him in some kind of mad attempt to cleanse the world of Muggles,
Dumbledore could not trust or worry about an unstable bombshell that depended on a single person.

He had to prepare the next generation that would fight and stop Voldemort.

And Severus was not part of them, as his aims were not directed against the Dark Lord, but on his side.

Still, he was glad to know that he had not yet gone over to the dark side after his separation from Lily and that he had been able to move on with his life by obtaining his family inheritance.

That would give him new goals.

It was a relief to Dumbledore to know that Severus had adopted a neutral position as the Prince heir.

The Ministry might not like this, but Albus knew better than anyone that this was the most that could be expected of Severus, he would not be another ally of the Dark Lord to worry about, at least for now.

And now that Albus knew that his two distant cousins had met Lily Evans and had adopted a good relationship with the young witch, he was sure that these two young people could be the key to many things to come.

Now it only remained to wait and see how things would develop at Hogwarts, since Dumbledore presumed that these two young people had not mentioned their meeting with Lily to Severus.

And Lily probably didn't know that her childhood friend was the cousin of the two young Prince half siblings either.

'Hmm... So many possible scenarios...' Dumbledore thought with a smile, the things he couldn't fully anticipate were the ones he liked the most.