Key:

"talking"

'thinking'

Text/reading

"Parseltongue"

[Parcel text]

{Mind speak/occluency/legilimency}

*** SS/LV ***

After being given a moment to sit and digest the bombardment of information and expectations that have been laid before me, My Lord moves back towards the closet to complete getting himself ready as well as acquiring my attire for the evening. As he comes out in full resplendence, I am handed my attire for the evening, and stand to dress, as the snakes begin to beg the Dark Lord to see if they will be allowed to accompany us to Gringotts.

As I finish getting dressed, I turn around and raise an amused eyebrow as I see Nagini wrapped around him, and Nagelfar doing a victory wiggle in the chair beside him. "You lost to the snakes?" I remark in amusement as I move forward to let Nagelfar wrap around me, reeling at how uncomfortable it is now to be wearing shoes after only a few days of being barefoot.

"We will not speak of this, Pet." Is the only reply that I receive as we head out to the wing hall and down to the receiving room so that we might floo to the Goblin bank.

As we enter the receiving room at Gringotts, we are motioned to follow a more decorated Goblin.

As we head towards our destination, I try to subtly take in my surroundings. Gold. Always, always gold. As we enter into the opulent office, I feel the cleansing and registering wards washing over us. Nagini and Nagelfar are escorted to the side so that they are not picked up within the bonding magic, and I follow the Dark Lord to the Goblin that is situated in the center of the room.

"Today we are to join Lord Slytherin with Lord Prince in the official, not breakable, Goblin marriage magickes. Do you concede?"

"I do." My Lord and I answer in tandem.

"Then let us proceed." The doors are then sealed, and the lights dimmed, as the runic pattern on the floor beneath us begins to glow a killing curse green. "There will be no end to this beginning. There will be love and light eternal. Dominus and Subminire*. Alpha and Submissive. Guiding hand and Gentle Touch. Let the two halves be made whole. Let life bring forth no test that will be able to rock your foundation. As they are already bound in body and on paper, let they now be bound in magic and soul."

"So Mote it be." "So Mote it be."

With a blinding light, I hear a crack in the air, and dual thuds as my lord and I fall to the ground and then float 5 feet above it as our magics are wound together so intricately that even lady Fate would not be able to separate us.

As this finishes up, we are lowered to the ground gently, and I feel a deeper peace than I have even in the last few days.

I am helped up by Sylvaneous, as our ever-energetic snakes make a mad dash towards us.

"Are you okay, my human?" Nagelfar questions as I lift him to wrap around my shoulders. He and Nagini are then shrunken to hide the true extent of their size and to cause less panic as they are with us in public, and the Dark Lord is guiding me from the room with a hand on my lower back.

"We are fine, Nagelfar. Thank you for your concern" I acknowledge, giving his head a light pat as we make our way into the main entrance of the bank to wait in line and be granted access to our vaults.

"I still don't understand why we are even friends with the tosser," I hear what is – undoubtedly – a Weasley behind me. Ever the loud and brash sort.

"One, keep your voice down. And two, because, if we weren't his friends he wouldn't trust us. And if he did not trust us, Dumbledore wouldn't have a reason to keep paying us. And if Dumbledore doesn't keep paying us, we will not have very much of a future once all is said and done…." Someone – most likely the know-it-all – mock whispers behind us.

{Maybe someone should write a book on the intricacies of whispering. Do you think she would pick up the subtle art and utilize it that way?} Harry dryly replies through our link, letting me know that my Lord had clued him in when they began speaking behind us.

{Subtly will never be her forté} I drawl in response as we all shuffle forward one space closer to the counter.

"Now, do you have the will that Dumbledore drafted up for Snape? The one releasing all of his funds to us as his favourite students?" She self-importantly over-whispers- yet again.

"Yes, I have it. Hopefully the git has something worth selling, or all of this effort will have been for nothing."

{I have never wanted to throttle a Weasley more. And I have taught Percival, and the twins…} I snarl through the connection. Honing all my occlumency skills in order to keep from showing an outward reaction to the impudence behind me.

{Easy there, pet. They will never be able to get ahold of your money} the possessive hand on my lower back warms me, along with the slight release of magic he lets off.

{I am really wishing we had an excuse to be behind them. I desire to see them be publicly humiliated…}

{we shall ask the Goblin if we might be present for the…affair… before being escorted to our vaults.} The Dark Lord concedes as we are then allowed to step to the till.

"What might we do fir you?" the almost polite tine throws me off marginally.

"Good afternoon, my consort and I would like an escort to our vaults if someone has the time." It was a request, though barely.

"Grimrock will escort you," was the simple reply as he motioned for a goblin to immediately come to our aid.

"thank you," we both reply as we move to the side to be beside Grimrock.

"I am assuming you would like to stay for the show?"

"If you would be so kind?" the feral smirk on Sylvaneous' face shows just how ecstatic he is for the offer.

With some skillfully crafted Goblin magic we are soon back beside the teller we had originally spoken with and ready for what we knew to be a public humiliation.

"What?" The teller all but snarls at the two as they step pompously before him.

"We received this from the ministry this morning, what do we do from here to claim our things?" the muggle-born bitch imperiously claims, amping it up so that she can "subtly" catch the attention of those close by.

"I will need to verify this," the Goblin comments while disdainfully looking down at the document in his hands. "Normal protocol is for them to send us a copy as well, so we will have to verify the validity of this claim."

There are several snickers as the Goblin moves from his spot towards the back of the teller station.

There is a buzz as everyone begins to gossip amongst themselves as the two begin to fidget mildly while trying to seem confident in the situation.

The teller goblin returns with a neutral face. "We here at Gringotts are saddened to inform you that there appears to have been some mix up with the shipping from the Ministry. We have been assured that people on that end will be valiantly working to see what allowed this to happened." "I… wait… but what is the mistake? What is going on?" The frizzy haired Gryffindor questions as though she is completely an innocent party in all that is happening.

"Severus Snape is not dead. Out contacts within the ministry have confirmed that no death date has been added to his life globe. How you were sent a will we are unsure, and apologize for crushing your spirits. After all, as his favourite students to the point that he would will everything to you, you all must have been close…"

I snicker at the lack to tact or respect that is being used by the goblin. The public humiliation is no less than they deserve.

"Oh please," comes the arrogant drawl of my Gordon. "if they are his favourite students then I am the bastard child of my mother and a hit wizard…. My godfather could barely stand to be near them in the classroom, let alone harbouring a desire to socialize with them outside of what is absolutely necessary…"

How I wish I could kiss that boy.

"What would you know Ferret Face?!" The redhead goes off like clockwork, thus further humiliating their cause.

"Well, considering that the man is my godfather I should hope that I would be more informed of his character traits than you are…" there is a dramatic eyeroll included at the end of the statement for the crowd.

"Oh yeah, well…." The bushy haired witch places a hand on his arm to stop the verbal diarrhea that he is known to spew.

"Let's just go Ronald. Like the goblins said, there was a mistake. We should figure out what happened. Come on…" The witch tries to move the redhead towards the exit, but he is having none of it.

"No, Hermione! He can't just think that he can get away with speaking to us like that! We earned that man's respect. We deserve what he is offering us!" The redhead just never knows when to shut his mouth.

"You mean, you deserve the ability to try and scam my godfather from his earnings? Or the ability to try and circumvent the witnessed and signed will that was done just three weeks ago with me present? So you're telling us now that you are so close to him that you were only mentioned after that will? Am I even in the will?" Draco's bored drawl as he effortlessly spills out half-truths makes me so incredibly proud to be his godfather in this moment.

"Well… to be honest, I didn't actually read it. I was just so shocked and devastated that the letter with it stated that the professor had passed that I was just… numb… and then Ron suggested that we come to the bank to see what this was all about…"

I will give her credit. Her acting skills are adequate. Though she would have had to be at least semi-decent to be able to keep up the façade of friendship with Harry as long as she was able to.

{Don't give her that much credit, Severus. She really is subpar the longer she is allowed to speak} The Dark Lord interjects my thought train.

{Yup!} Harry chimes in, popping the 'p' {the longer she is allowed to speak, the more full-of-herself that she gets. She begins thinking that everyone has bought into her so much that they won't see through her.}

"Do you honestly expect me to buy that paltry act that you are putting on currently, Granger?" Draco interrupts what she was rambling on about in a snide manner. "Just face it. You know that the documents are false, and now you are trying to gain sympathy from the surrounding crowd so that you look like the victim. I will admit. It is a positively Slytherin plan. Make people feel sorry for you and they will ignore the fact that you were attempting to perform a form of line theft against my godfather…" He trails off in that superior way that only a pureblood knows how to manage.

"Oh please. Like you are so special because you are a Slytherin…" 'The Weasley male remarks in what is meant to be a vilification of Draco, but instead now has being thinking that maybe the Malfoy heir was thinking along the correct veins.

"N-no! That is not what we were attempting at all Malfoy! We were honestly just so shocked to hear the professor-"

"Yes, yes. 'the professor died, and I – the current Hogwarts know—it – all that currently quotes textbooks at people wouldn't have known of the laws and forms and protocols that are in place for this sort of thing. I was just sooooo in shock that I rushed to the bank with a superior air – but it was all shock and sadness – because the professor that I have all but verbally publically denounced is now deceased, so everything I have been trying to prove about myself since I was born is now no longer my character'…. Or was that not what you were going to say?"

"You know nothing about my relationship with Snape!" The witch snarls, vehement upon trying to vilify Draco now.

"What is his first name?" No preamble. No attitude. Just a simple question.

One that leaves the witch floundering for a few moments.

"It is Sev…..erin…" The witch stumbles.

"Incorrect. That will be 10 points from Gryffindor…" Draco announces in a mocking of my character that I will allow only this singular time. "You know… you might want to add potions knowledge to your repertoire. If you did, you might have had that question correct. Now," He pantomimes clearing invisible lint from his immaculate robes, " If you are quite finished making a mockery of yourselves, might you move along so that those of us whom actually have money here might gain access to a teller?"

The straightening of his back is a clear imitation of his father to all present, though it has the desired effect as the witch blushes and turns back to the teller.

"Please let us know what you discover on this. I really hope that the professor is alright and this is just some sort of a mishap." She puts just enough concern behind her tone that the Hufflepuffs in the group are beginning to cave in sympathy to her plight. Ever the loyal bunch….

"We have just heard back from the ministry. This seems to be a false document and we will be taking this in for inspection so that we might trace the origin and proceed with the appropriate penalties. This is – as Heir Malfoy so kindly stated before – a form of line theft. One which we here at Gringotts take very seriously."

"O-of course. Thank you for your time." The witch all but drags the youngest Weasley male out of the bank.

And if her complexion is a bit pallid, well…

No one bothered to comment on it….

~~~ SS/LV ~~~

*Submire = sue-bee-near

*Dominus = dough-me-noose