This was a mistake. Why he was going along with this, he had no idea; but here he was, standing with Harry and the Wolf in Mrs. Cook's rose pink and ivory front hallway, handing her their coats.

He hoped he wouldn't have to Obliviate the whole meeting from her head. He was so damn tired, and he didn't trust Lupin not to make a mess of it. He was not going to risk the Ministry getting involved in his affairs, as they surely would, if the woman spoke too loudly about the wrong things to the wrong people.

He'd never been inside Mrs. Cook's house before. She'd asked him over many times, between the time his mother died, and when his father died. Every time she saw him, in fact.

At that time, Severus had often been in and out of Spinner's End. Another obligation he was duty bound to fufill; to ease his father through his last illness. In the end, it had been a much quicker and more merciful death than Severus would have envisioned. One of the reasons the Dark Lord (knowing so little of the maladies that affected Muggles) had presumed that Severus had had a hand in it.

The day old Toby died, Mrs Cook had been there, when they'd taken the old man's body away. She'd asked Severus to supper that night, quite insistently, until he had snarled at her to leave him be. After that, he put Muggle repelling charms on the house.

These enchantments were delicate. When a house was taken out of the Muggle World, one couldn't just make the thing disappear. Commonly, the enchantments just caused the houses to fade from the minds of the surrounding Muggles. Sometimes, older Muggles held on to the memories of places longer than one would expect. Unfortunately , Mrs. Cook seemed to be one of those.

Thinking about it, Mrs. Cook had seemed to pay more attention to Severus comings and goings during the summer, than any of the other Muggles. It occurred to him that she would often speak to him, and each time she had asked him to her home. This was the first time he'd accepted.

Now, the woman would have to be shut up properly, before she started gossiping around the neighborhood. Severus wouldn't like to think that the old lady would get stuck in a nursing home, because she kept on about a house that didn't exist. Worse yet, her daughters might come and verify that the Snape house was still there. Obliviations all the way around, then. Probably, a fine for having broken the Secrecy Statute, to boot.

A hand on his wrist made him jump, "Severus?" Lupin was standing much too close to him, while Mrs. Cook was hanging their coats, "Are you all right?"

Severus squared his shoulders, "Fine." he grunted, tersely. He tried to take a half step away from the other man, but met the wall.

"Come in, through here, lads." the Muggle woman was directing them into the dining room where she had their tea already set out.

He irritably pulled his elbow out of Lupin's grasp, as he followed the elderly woman. He stumbled a bit, but Harry was at his side, and steadied him. The boy met Severus' eyes, and gave him an apologetic little half smile. Severus stared at the boy, suddenly wondering why it had never occurred to him before; Harry's hair, although as tangled and prone to stand up as Lily's husband's, was black as pitch. James' had been a dark honey brown.

No, Lily had not used James' whole hairbrush.

"Sir?" the child said, quietly, "You all right?"

He must look like absolute shite, if both the Wolf and the boy were hovering.

The dining room was, like what Severus could see of the rest of the house, decorated in shades of rose pink. Clearly the woman's favorite color. The walls were painted a soothing off-white, so that the pink never became overwhelming. He couldn't help thinking of Petunia's living room, obviously these pastels were currently fashionable.

Mrs. Cook gave him a long, concerned look, "Still not well, Severus?" she said, "Seems like more than a case of the flu." she pulled out a chair so he could collapse, rather gracelessly, into it.

He wasn't sure what to say, but Lupin jumped in, "Severus was traveling in the tropics this summer. Picked up some nasty bug while he was there. They've only just worked out what it was."

Severus decided that, as lies went, that wasn't a bad one. He nodded, tiredly, "Malaria." he grunted, lest the woman think he was carrying typhoid or something.

She nodded soberly, "Ah. Nasty thing, that. My brother, Reg, had that in the War, you know. Takes ages to get over."

At least her manner hadn't changed after what Lupin had said to her this morning. She still seemed friendly enough.

Severus was too damned tired to be doing this. He still wasn't sure what he was doing here. What he was going to do when school was reopened, he had no idea. Four, five hours of being awake, and he was ready to crawl back into bed for another sixteen hours of sleep. He supposed the stress of caring for Harry after his unsuccessful attempt at hanging himself was catching up.

The boy stood next to him, looking as if he were prepared to catch Severus if he fell over. Damn it.

"I'm fine, Harry," he said, in as civil a tone as he could manage, "Don't fuss."

"Yes, sir." The boy stepped back a bit. He had become incredibly respectful, all of a sudden. Perhaps, Severus should look out the window to see if there were Four Horsemen standing in the road.

Mrs. Cook went out to the kitchen and came back with a plate of sliced meat, "Harry, dear? Would you fetch the potatoes?"

Harry nodded, and headed into the kitchen, coming back out with a bowl of boiled potatoes and something else. Severus didn't pay much attention to what it was.

Harry was as quiet as a mouse while they ate. Perhaps, pretending he didn't exist. Leaving the conversation to the adults. Severus had little to say, so that left Lupin to make small talk with the woman.

It did seem that Lupin was staying away from personal topics, opting instead to answer the woman's questions about himself, "Mm, I've spent the last few years studying in Canada." He was saying, "Only just returned, you see." he replied in answer to one of them.

Severus felt Mrs. Cook give him a speculative glance, and then was surprised to see something like disappointment in her eyes, "Oh, yes?" she said, returning her attention to Lupin.

"And, with school being closed and Severus not being well, he asked me to stay with him until school reopens." Lupin went on smoothly.

It seemed Severus wouldn't have to Obliviate the poor woman, after all. Good, it was damnably hard to remove memories as specific as one conversation. Unlike the Ministry, Severus was not convinced that Obliviations were entirely safe. Especially on older Muggles. He wondered how many poor bastards were walking around with presumed dementia, when in fact it was badly done Obliviation.

When they'd finished, Harry quietly offered to do the washing up.

Mrs. Cook smiled widely, "That would be lovely." she said.

"I'll help you, Harry" said Lupin, genially, standing up and clearing some of the plates. Severus and Lupin had discussed this, this afternoon. They were trying to break Harry's habit of acting like a house elf.

The minute the two wizards were out of the dining room, Severus felt a tingling of magic across his skin. Both the door to the hallway, and the door to the kitchen slammed themselves shut.

Cursing himself and his stupidity, Severus drew his wand from his sleeve. The room was silent.

The old woman didn't seem to notice anything was amiss. Her eyes were unfocused, and she remained perfectly still, "I have something for you, Severus." she said, gently. Her voice was a little hollow. After a second, her eyes focused on him, and she smiled apologetically, "Isn't that curious? I'd forgotten all about it." she laughed a little, as if at herself. She stood up mechanically, ignoring the wand Severus had aimed at her.

Severus kept his wand on her, as she moved to the china cabinet. She opened the glass door, and drew out a box, about the size of a large jewelry case, that was covered in blue velvet.

She didn't try to hand it to him, rather she set it on the table, in front of him, "Eileen gave that to me, before she died, poor thing." Mrs. Cook said, mournfully, "She said I should give it to you."

The blue was his mother's favorite color. Severus extended his hand, then drew it back, warily.

Mrs. Cook sat down again, folded her hands on the table, "She told me to tell you that it was a gift for 'The Half Blood Prince'. She said you'd know what that meant."

The wizard stared at her, shocked, "Did...did she tell you what was in it?" he rasped.

Shaking her head, she said, "No, just that I mustn't give it to anyone else. You see?" Anyone else was presumably Severus' father, or the Ministry..

Severus did see. Or, at least he thought he might. Very slowly, he tapped the box with his wand. The box glowed golden for a moment, and a tinkling strain of music, as from the Muggle music box that Eileen owned, drifted through the air. The tune was a lullaby that Eileen used to sing.

Still moving slowly, he cautiously picked up the box from the table. Nothing exploded. The box was heavier than its size would indicate.

The magic in the room evaporated, suddenly. He heard Lupin banging on the door from the kitchen. The door fell open. Lupin flung himself into the room, brandishing his wand, ready to do battle, "Severus?" he demanded, "Are you..?"

Mrs. Cook was sitting with her hands folded and her eyes unfocused again. Severus gestured helplessly at the woman and then the box, not at all sure what he wanted to tell the other man, "I...it's fine." He snapped. He hastily placed the box onto his lap, and then his wand into his sleeve, wishing he was wearing wizard robes, with their abundant pockets for hiding things.

Lupin nodded tensely, but stowed his wand, as well.

The woman shook herself, "Harry, dear?" she called to the white faced boy, visible behind Lupin, "Could you put the kettle on?" She stood, as if nothing untoward had happened at all, "Now, I have a trifle in the fridge, if you lads are interested." She bustled into the kitchen to make some tea.

Lupin looked back and forth confusedly, between Severus and the kitchen. They heard Mrs. Cook chatting away at Harry, not taking any notice of the fact that Harry was staring through the kitchen door, at his guardian.

"What was that about?" demanded Lupin, in a whisper, coming to stand by Severus chair.

Severus took a deep breath, "Keep your hand on your wand." he whispered back. It was foolish to open it here, before he checked it for curses. But, only Eileen would have known about the Half Blood Prince, and only Eileen would know the significance that particular little song. He braced himself for any number of disasters, as he lifted the hinged lid.

In the box, lay a key, like a Gringott's vault key, an envelope that had Severus' name written on it in Eileen's narrow handwriting, and a golden signet ring embossed with a stylized letter P.

Severus had seen such rings before. It was the ring the heir to an old Pure Blood house might wear. The ring itself had wards on it. Old spells. However, Eileen had been a Snape when she died. The last of the Princes (his grandfather) had died not long before Eileen herself, so the ring should have come to her, and should have had an S.

Severus stared at the ring for a long moment, before the penny dropped. The last heir to the Prince line (now that Severus had claimed the boy), was a Potter.

There was absolutely no chance Severus was going to read the letter here. He closed the box, quickly.

Lupin was still standing tensely by, his hand on his sleeve, "What is it?" he hissed.

"It's fine." Severus repeated. He swallowed, "Something my mother left with her." That would be why Mrs. Cook persistently remembered the Snape house. Eileen had laid a geas on the woman, to deliver this box. In all probability, the minute they were alone in this room, "Go finish what you were doing."

Lupin nodded sharply, went back to help the boy with the dishes. Severus needed the time to pull himself together.

All these years, and he never knew that Eileen had thought to hide his inheritance from the Ministry. His breath caught in his chest and he swallowed against the bite of old anger and old grief.

"Now, Remus, sit down, dear." Mrs. Cook came in with the tea tray. Harry trailed behind her with the trifle, "Severus, are you completely worn out? You look very pale." She set out their tea cups and poured, handing them around. She then scooped out some trifle, "Will you have some?" she looked enquiringly at Severus.

He shook his head, taking his teacup in one hand. He tuned out the conversation again, holding very tightly to the blue, velvet covered box in his lap.

"Sir?" Harry spoke in a very low voice, as Remus talked to Mrs. Cook, "What happened?"

Severus shook his head.

"So, how on earth did you get malaria, Severus?" he realized the woman was addressing him.

"I..." His brain wasn't working fast enough.

"Oh, he was in Africa, doing some foreign aid work, you know." Lupin put in, carelessly. Severus decided he would have to strangle the man for the good of the Wizarding World, at some point. However, it did divert her from asking him anymore questions.

Severus wasn't much interested in trifle, but he was very grateful when Harry took his empty teacup and refilled it.