Like Father, Like Son

Twenty-fifth Chapter

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New Revelations

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"Okay, class," Severus said, eyeing the fifth year Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class. "Today, we are doing the Relation Revealer. You will all receive a blood sample of a person whose possible relation to you is known so that I will be able to evaluate your success. I've chosen them so that we will see all kinds of results."

After writing the recipe for the blackboard, he then started to hand out tiny phials with name labels and the blood samples. "Here's your sister, Miss Patil, you should get the result for a twin... Oh, and your cousin, Mister Magnar..."

As he came to Remy and Hermione's desk, he raised an eyebrow while handing Remy his phial. The label read, "Harry Potter." "As the potion works with genes, we are going for the result of a halfbrother," he told camly. "And as for you, Miss Granger... I'll be very disappointed if you mess this one." He handed her another phial. This time the label read, "Draco Malfoy." Hermione smirked and nodded.

"Okay. So what are the results?" asked Hermione as they both started to brew their own potions. "You see it from the colour of the potion when you've added the blood, right? Now, where did I put that diagram?"

"It's here, I stole it," told Remy with no regret at all. "It says white for a non-relative -- I guess you should get that -- light blue for a second cousin, blue for a cousin, purple for a halfsibling, grey for a sibling, and black for an identical twin or the person's own blood. So, white for you, purple for me," he added them.

Following the instructions Severus had written on the blackboard, they both started to prepare their ingredients. Remy, of course, was doing everything just as precisely as his father would have, his potion being near to perfection. However, the amount of time the potion had to be let to simmer in its third stage depended on the brewer's gender. Therefore, he still hadn't added the few final -- and potentially explosive -- ingredients while Hermione was already preparing hers for the final testing. Making a small slash on her palm with a specifically chosen knife, Hermione let a few drops of her blood fall into the potion.

Remy watched as she added Draco Malfoy's blood into the potion. Then he watched Hermione's potion turn, not white, but blue. Startled, he dropped the phial in his hand -- and it fell right into his cauldron, just where it shouldn't have.

"Nooooo!" was all he could shout before the cauldron exploded, covering the entire classroom with sticky, pink goo.

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"I'm expecting a really good explanation for this, young man," said Severus coolly.

Remy looked at his father, ashamed. Well, at least he was struggling to look ashamed and not laugh out loud. The reason for his amusement was his father's unusual attire.

The pink stuff that had spread from his cauldron had indeed covered the entire classroom and all its contents, including both the students and the teacher. And, unfortunately, all of Severus's clothes were currently in the laundry. And that truly meant all of them. Therefore, he'd had to resort to the one piece of clothing he would have never touched otherwise -- and that was enough to make his son laugh.

After all, it wasn't every day you saw Severus Snape in pink swimming trunks, right?

"I don't think he's really capable of giving any explanations," Sirius said calmly as he walked into the room. "Here, put this on. Maybe he'll then be able to take you seriously." He tossed a robe at his husband. Glaring at him and grumbling under his breath, Severus then pulled the robe on. Being Sirius's, it was too large for him, but at least it hid the horrible garment he was wearing.

"He's never ever worn those trunks before, and I don't think he will ever wear them again," Sirius told Remy cheerfully. "James bought them for him as a joke after he once walked in on us snogging -- after he'd got over the initial shock, of course. It's not like he couldn't accept it, given that he was already drooling at Moony at that point, but I guess it's a bit of a surprise to see your twin brother and best friend trying to suck each other's tongues off."

"Enough!" barked Severus, who had managed to regain some of his dignity now that he wasn't dressed absolutely ridiculously. "I'm still awaiting an explanation."

Now, Remy gulped. Then he said quietly, "Well, Hermione was just finishing her potion... I watched her while she prepared it, it was perfect. But when she added Malfoy's blood, it turned blue... So I was of course startled and dropped some dryad tears into my potion, which made it explode. End of story."

"It turned blue?" echoed Severus, raising both eyebrows. Then, however, his expression turned cunning. "Her Animagus form is a snowy owl, isn't it?" At both Sirius's and Remy's confirmative nods, his smirk got even wider. "Oh, my," he said, sounding positively gleeful. "Get Hermione here, now. I'm going to get a new blood sample from young Mister Malfoy and prepare some Relation Revealer from my own stocks. Then we'll see if my suspicions are confirmed."

"What do you mean?" asked Remy, confused for once. "What suspicions?"

"Not many know this," Severus said, "but Lucius had a sister. However, she turned out to be a Squib, and was sent to the Muggle world. From the family records they saw as she died, and hadn't even bothered to disown her before that -- but it seems that she didn't die without leaving an heiress." With an even broader smirk, if something like that was even possible, he continued, "Fortunately, the Ministry has declared me an officially acceptable tester in family relation cases. And, if my potion turns out to be blue, Lucius will be very unhappy."

Remy's eyes widened momentarily. Then he, too, smirked. "Oh, yes," he said.

*

Hermione stared at her Potions Professor, bewildered. This could not be true. Sure, her potion had confirmed it, Severus's potion had confirmed it, and even a charm casted on her and a very reluctant Lucius Malfoy had confirmed it. Her biological mother, whom she hadn't even known as she'd died in childbirth to give life to her, had indeed been Marielle Malfoy. True, she had always known that the current Mrs Granger wasn't really her mother, although she loved her as such, and had also suspected that she might have Wizarding blood from her true mother's side. But that this would happen... Malfoys were one of the oldest Pureblood families. Well, she most certainly wasn't a Mudblood, now.

"Here." Severus gave her a keyring heavy with keys. "It's your part of the Malfoy fortune, Gringotts vaults from 100 to 217. Your mother was still alive when the elder Malfoys died, but she was ignored when it came to the inheritance. So, this is your rightful share, the one you should have inherited through her."

Hermione gave him a disbelieving gaze. "You're kidding, right?" she asked. As Severus shook his head, she then wondered, "117 vaults? Just how much is that?"

"More than you can spend in all your living days, I'm sure," the Head of Slytherin said amusedly. "Oh, and let's not forget these," he added, handing her some parchments. "Lucius was adamant on keeping the Malfoy Manor, so I got you a couple of castles instead. Oh, and of course some wine yards and estates to make sure that the money still rolls in."

The young witch's eyes widened. "This is some kind of a joke, isn't it?" she still said.

"I'm afraid it isn't," Severus replied. "You are the richest witch alive in Britain. Congratulations." Then, he smirked. "You should have seen Lucius's face when he saw the test results," he chuckled. "Obviously the thought of you being his niece was rather nauseating to the high and mighty Malfoy."

"But... I don't..." Hermione shook her head slowly. Then, she suddenly grinned. "Oh, I can't wait to see my dear cousin's reaction to this!"

"Ah, yes, Draco," Sirius said, smirking. "By the way, this means that you and Remy are now kind of related, too." At her startled expression, he laughed. "No, that does not mean that you and Harry are related," he soothed her. "It's just that, through an unfortunate accident, Narcissa is my cousin. That means that Draco is my first cousin, once removed, which makes you and Remy second-cousins-in-law or something equally weird. At least you have a cousin in common."

"What?" asked Remy, looking disgusted. "You mean that Malfoy's my second cousin? That's -- that's just gross. I can't believe I'm actually related to him!"

Now, however, Hermione smirked. "If you remember, Remy," she said, "I am a Malfoy in a way, too. Should I be offended?" Not waiting for a response, she then started to advance on him. Remy 'eep'ed and ran out of the room.

Sirius and Severus glanced at each other. Then they both shrugged. "Teenagers," they said in unison as if that explained everything. Which, in a way, it did.

*

By breakfast the next morning the rumour had reached everybody. Hermione Granger was Draco Malfoy's cousin -- and had just got half of the Malfoy inheritance! Needless to say, all eyes were locked at the Ravenclaw Table, gossip flying wild among the students.

Hermione began feeling rather uneasy. Remy and Samantha were not there yet, as Samantha had been in an early morning Quidditch practice and Remy had been watching her. With her friends there it would have been a lot easier to bear her newly revealed cousin's hateful and everybody else's wondering glances.

Then she got something else to think about, however, as an owl landed in front of her with a letter tied onto its leg. Curious, she untied the letter and began to read. She finished reading, stunned, just as her friends walked to the table.

Remy frowned as he saw Hermione's expression. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You look weird." During this inquiry, he pulled out a chair for Samantha and sat himself.

"Look," said Hermione, sounding shocked. "This just came by owl."

Remy immediately took the letter she handed to him and started to read. The further he got on the lines of spidery handwriting, the more shocked he was.

"My dearest Hermione," the letter began. "Having heard so much about you, and knowing your great importance to Remus Snape who has a rather weighty role in my life, I find it disappointing that I haven't met you yet. Knowing that you are a powerful and intelligent witch, even extremely so, given your young age, I think that a conversation with you would be most interesting. Also, the recent news of your relation to the Malfoy family has attracted my interest. Therefore, to get to talk with you, I shall invite you to join me on dinner on Saturday next week. In case you weren't too eager to meet me, given my unfortunate reputation, I have taken the liberty to ensure your arrival.

"Eagerly looking forward to meeting you,

Lord Voldemort."

Samantha, who had been reading the letter over his arm, frowned and looked up at him. "Is this some kind of a sick joke?" she questioned.

"I'm afraid not," said Remy gloomily, rubbing his scar annoyedly. "This is indeed from Voldemort himself. And this most certainly is not a joke, but yet another sign of dangerous insanity." Glancing at both his best friend and his girlfriend, he then said, "I believe we should go to tell my fathers... now."

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