Eileen Prince had always been a proud woman, once.
She had been raised in the Ancient and Noble House of Prince, a family that valued intellect, ambition, and tradition. But unlike many pureblood girls of her time, she had been more interested in alchemy, potions, and the intricacies of magic than in society and marriage prospects.
She had once been considered a rising star among potion masters, admired for her keen mind and delicate craftsmanship.
And then… she had thrown it all away.
She had told herself it was love, at first. That he had been different from the stiff, cold pureblood men she had met at family gatherings. That he was passionate, unrestrained, a man who challenged her in ways no one else had.
But passion was not the same as love.
It had taken less than a year of marriage for that lesson to sink in.
At first, Tobias had merely been frustrated with her. He struggled to find work, hated that the world was changing around him, hated that he was just another nobody in a system that crushed men like him underfoot.
Then came the resentment.
The muttered words of "freak," the way his jealousy twisted into anger every time she did something he couldn't understand.
And then came the violence.
Not all at once. Slowly. Subtly.
A slap here. A broken glass there. A shove into the wall.
She told herself it wasn't as bad as it could be. That it was her fault for pushing too hard, for reminding him of what he lacked.
And when Severus was born, she had clung to the hope that a child would fix everything.
That Tobias would see his son and find something to love.
Instead, he saw his own failure reflected in the boy's existence.
And Eileen had stood by, frozen in fear, as her son suffered under the same hands that had once held her with love.
She had wanted to leave, a hundred times over.
But where would she go?
Her father had cast her out for marrying a Muggle. She had believed herself disgraced, alone, unworthy of returning to her family's home.
And so she had stayed, because she knew no other path.
Now, Severus sat across from her in the Leaky Cauldron, looking like a prince of old—his posture straight, his presence commanding, his once-dull eyes now shimmering with the deep indigo of the Shafiq bloodline.
Her son had risen beyond the life she had doomed him to.
And he had done it without her.
She could barely look at him without feeling ashamed.
She had dreaded this conversation the moment she read his letter.
Severus had always been sharp—far too intelligent for his own good. But she had never imagined he would unearth the truth of his lineage, claim it, and transform himself into something far beyond what she had ever been.
She barely recognized him.
And when he pulled out the emancipation forms, her heart clenched painfully.
"If I sign these," she said, voice trembling, "I lose you forever."
For years, she had been the only constant in his life, even if she had failed him.
If she signed these papers, she would have no claim over him anymore. He would be gone, truly and legally.
It would be as though he had never been her son at all.
Severus' black-and-indigo gaze held her in place.
"You lost me the moment you let us suffer for a man who hated both of us," he said, voice calm but sharp.
Eileen flinched, but she didn't look away. "I was scared."
"You still are," Severus stated, softer now. "But you don't have to be anymore. You have family."
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
He leaned forward, voice firm. "Arcturus Prince reinstated you into the family after Grandfather died. You could have gone home at any time."
Eileen's breath caught in her throat.
She had spent years believing she had no one left—that the name Prince had been forever stripped from her.
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Her brother had welcomed her back?
Severus' voice softened. "Reach out to him, Mother."
Her fingers trembled as they hovered over the quill.
Could she truly return to the family she had abandoned?
As she looked at her son—the man he was becoming—she knew she could not cling to the past anymore.
She had failed too many times already.
With a shaky breath, she picked up the quill and, with one last glance at Severus, signed the emancipation forms.
The moment the ink dried, she felt it—the legal severance of her parental authority.
Her son was no longer bound to her.
Tears burned in her eyes. "Severus…"
His expression remained unreadable. "You can still be my mother, if you choose to."
Eileen swallowed hard, clutching the signed papers.
"I'll write to Arcturus," she whispered. "I promise."
For the first time in years, Severus nodded at her in approval.
Perhaps… this wasn't the end of everything.
Perhaps… it was a new beginning.
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