Solace | Sirius Black

~ Chapter Three ~

Cassiopeia knew the letter would make an appearance sooner or later, but that didn't, by any means, ensure her preparation for it. She automatically knew who it was from by the gorgeous black Eagle Owl she knew so well. She was one of Cassie's favourite owls ever. The entirely black feathers with a single white star on her head made her look almost fictional, yet still very beautiful.

But despite the beautiful owl flying through her window, Cassie was still dreading the actual letter. Severus has been invited round by Madame and Mister Black to help Cassie organise through her belongings before school started.

In spite of being a rather open character, Cassie had a very big secret. She didn't attend Hogwarts like her sisters; the Quill of Acceptance had ironically not accepted her and neglected to write her name with the future Hogwarts students. Instead, her acceptance letters had come from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The Headmistresses of both schools had sounded nice enough but Druella Black had not wished for her daughter to be too far from home, leaving Beauxbatons as her only option.

It had, however, been the dream of the three friends to all attend Hogwarts together and be in Slytherin and do everything at school together. Jyneari has been the most hopeful of this, considering her home was in Ireland left her with few playdates. Cassie wasn't happy about being shipped off to France and being so far from her dear friends.

Even though Cassiopeia has been attending Beauxbatons for four years, she still hadn't discovered the courage, nor the willpower, to disclose to Jyneari that she was attending Beauxbatons, and would hardly see her.

Opening the letter, Cassie found exactly what she thought she would find. She read how excited Jyneari sounded for Hogwarts and didn't want to take that way from her.

"What do I tell her, Sev? I can't bear to have her upset, but I must tell her."

"You can only be honest, Cassie, she will understand; she has a kind enough heart. I doubt she will even be in Slytherin, she has the kindness of a Hufflepuff, the brains of a Ravenclaw and the courage and passion of a Gryffindor. She only has the family reputation and bloodline of a Slytherin."

"I know I must be honest, I'm sure she will understand, but it pains me so to see her sad. Although I definitely agree about the houses."

Severus chuckled before burying his best friend's head in the crook of his neck, even though she was almost a head taller than him. Anyone could tell he loved her like a sister, Jyneari too.

"What about you? Anything new happening lately?"

"Uhh... I met a girl, if that counts?" He blushed.

"Ooh, a girl!" Cassie teased

"Shut up, Cass, she's a muggleborn, but she's really pretty and I sorta rescued her from her muggle sister. She's called Lily." He looked down.

"Muggleborn? Sev, that's dangerous water! If that gets to mine or Jyni's parents, they'll stop us being friends with you, they're already on edge, what with your mother loving that muggle." Cassie warned him.

"Yeah, I know! I can't believe my mother, a Prince, loved a filthy muggle! And had me with him!" He scoffed, annoyed with his mother leaving him without a future, due to getting disowned by her family for becoming a blood-traitor and tarnishing the Prince line. It was fair to say that Eileen Prince had ruined Severus Snape's childhood.

After sending Jyneari a letter, to meet at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley in the afternoon the next day, the pair started looking through photos.

Cassie's eyes glossed over as she came upon a specific one. One where everything had been perfect; the calm before the storm. The three friends had taken a trip to Paris when Cassiopeia was eleven with her parents. While Jyneari and Severus didn't know the real reason then, it had been a trip to go and see Beauxbatons Academy. The three had gone along to the school - Cassie telling her friends that it was to see the different culture - and looked around. Afterwards, they had bought ice creams and sat in front of the Eiffel Tower, Jyni with a blob of ice cream on her nose, and all of them laughing heartily.

"Look here, Sev," Cassie murmured. "Remember this?"

"Yeah," he reminisced. 'Merlin, that seems like a lifetime ago,"

"He were so innocent, and everything was so much easier. I-we had our entire lives to figure things out. Where did all the time go, Sev?" She sighed.

I don't know how much of Severus's story is true or if anything about Eileen Prince is accurate or even a genuine thing or even if that's her name or if I've just made all that up but...

If that isn't true about Eileen Prince then you can ignore that part and let your imagination think about Severus Snape's story or you can just let me create a story for him and Eileen Prince.