Good or bad, does it matter?

For some time after the departure of the female part of the Black family, the two men only exchanged silent glances, until Orion finally took the floor "You surprised me very much with your knowledge, Mr. Prince. I have also read all your books on BZiZ, and although this is only an analogue of the Muggle discipline, I must admit that you have done a great job. Honestly, I did not even believe until this day that they came from your pen, so I apologise for doubting you," the head of the family nodded softly, smiling slightly.

"I understand everything, I myself would not have believed that a seventeen-year-old boy could write something like that," he answered calmly, smiling, looking towards the window, outside which it was already beginning to get dark, "But you didn't want to discuss books, did you?" 

"That's right…" and a frown appeared on his face, "How serious are your intentions?"

"So directly? I thought that you would gradually lead to this, but okay…" and his half-smile also disappeared from his face, "I would like to ask you for her hand in marriage, but…"

"But?"

"It's too early to think about a serious relationship, I love your niece, but I can't say whether she will be able to reciprocate, and forcing her…" the young man began to stroke the back of his head embarrassedly, "… is not in my principles, I want her to want it herself, and we are in no hurry."

"Aren't you afraid that she will be taken away or I will decide to marry Bella off to someone else?" Raising an eyebrow, Orion asked calmly, smiling slightly. 

"There will be one less wizard in Britain, what difference does it make when they kill themselves almost every day," taking a glass of wine, Severus sipped it and took a sip, "But from your tone I can tell that you are not so against this marriage, which of course cannot be said about your wife," at the mention of the latter, Orion's face wrinkled. 

"First of all, as the head of the family, I am obliged to elevate it above the rest, to protect and defend the members of the family, to observe the rules left by the ancestors and the fact that I do not mind giving away my niece already violates one of them, but nothing can be done about it, and it is already difficult to call our family a "family" when we and the parents of Bella, Narcissa and Andromeda, working in another country, are the only one still alive…" sighing tiredly, a cigarette appeared in the wizard's hand and, no matter how strange it looked, in the other - a Muggle lighter and, noticing the thoughtful look of "Severus", he smiled crookedly, "In Germany, I mainly worked with Muggles and it is inconvenient to use magic in front of them, and then erase their memory, so I got the hang of using this Muggle invention,$ in response, the Prince nodded silently, "Where I stopped... Oh, yes, soon, there will be no more of us left…"

"So let Regulus have a harem, in the southwestern countries it is the norm," having heard this sentence in such a bored tone, Orion's eyes trembled, but... he thought about it, "He will have three sons and they will get themselves wives, and here you have the restoration of the family, of course, because of this, civil strife may begin, but with the right upbringing, the children will support each other and will definitely be able to elevate the family above all others."

"This is... an interesting thought, so you too…"

"No, I am not very interested in this, as well as the Prince family itself," Severus waved his hand languidly, "I was forced to accept this surname so that I could receive all the property of the family, personally, I was fine with "Snape", I am not so susceptible to this "aristocratic" influence."

"I am sure that your mother would be upset to hear this."

In response, Severus only grinned at the aristocrat and a rather ironic laugh escaped his mouth,from which the man raised his eyebrow in puzzlement, not understanding what was funny about it. 

"I beg your pardon, if my mother found out that her family had disappeared and her clan was almost extinct, then I doubt that she would have been very upset, you yourself said something interesting earlier... I'll remind you: "it's strange that she decided to run away with a muggle, because I remember that she met with an aristocrat and it seemed like everything was serious between them..." he quoted him, from which a shadow crept over Orion's face, the man quite quickly realized what had happened, although he had guessed before this, but it was difficult for him to believe that someone could do this to a member of his own family and the next moment, the man's back was covered in cold sweat as he looked up Severus' face. 

'Could it be that it's him…' one terrible thought appeared in his head, remembering the death of the entire Prince family. 

"Do you want to ask something?" Severus asked innocently. 

"No, I couldn't even imagine that they could treat her so harshly..." he tried to hide his thoughts behind a smile. "As for your idea, I'll think about it."

 "I was joking... but, in your case and in most other clans, I think that this is simply a necessary measure," Orion nodded in agreement, because most of the ancient clans have already sunk into oblivion and only a few are somehow still staying afloat and, having sipped a glass of wine... "And I would recommend marrying him to a Veela" and after these words, the head of the clan choked on wine and stared in shock at the Prince who calmly sipped the glass, "In addition to beauty and charm, your descendants will become much stronger in magical terms ."

" No~Ahem!~Ahem! So…"he covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed.

 "I'm not kidding, your family, in order to cure some ancestral curses, will need a renewal of blood, and the calm and gentle nature of the Veela can weaken the madness and hot temper of the Blacks," Severus added in the same ordinary voice, "I understand that you consider this "disgusting", but you simply have no choice, and a boy born from a Veela cannot be distinguished from an ordinary one."

 "I'll... think about it..." tiredly massaging his temples, the head of the clan sighed, and although the words of the young man in front of him sounded quite reasonable, he simply could not accept a Veela into the clan, not even a half-breed, it was even worse than a Muggle-born wizard, and if this ever comes up, they will never be able to wash themselves of this shame.

"Okay, I won't meddle in your family, it's none of my business, as for Bella, my intentions are the most serious, but I'll wait for the day when she herself wants to open up to me and of course, you can try to marry her to someone- then, but in this case, as I previously expressed, there will be one less wizard in Magical Britain and I will not treat them as gently as I did with the Lestranges," from his cold voice, for the second time the man felt a chill in his spine.

 'Such a character simply cannot belong to a young man who is not even twenty…' no matter how strange it may sound, he was a little frightened by the "boy" sitting not far from him, and much more,than Voldemort, with whom he had once met, because, although he was a madman, it was still clear from him what could be expected, but for the boy sitting in front of him, no matter how hard he tried, it was almost impossible to read, with the exception of the moment that concerned Bella and his mother

'So young, but such a terrible young man…'

"I will also ask you not to interfere in our relationship, I don't want to offend or insult you, let Bella decide everything herself, you must admit that when the feelings are mutual, it is much more pleasant than if your wife is cold towards you or even hates you."

 "You're right," the man said with a wry smile, remembering his first year after his wedding with Walburga and the indifference with which she looked at him, although over time they fell in love with each other, he still remembered those days, "Okay, I won't do that, but I want to offer something in return."

"I have all your attention," folding his hands in front of him and putting on a "professional" half-smile, Severus concentrated his attention on the clan head. 

"As far as I understand, you still have the rights to your books?"

"Certainly."

"What do you think about releasing them in other countries? I'm sure they'll bring in a lot of Galleons…"

__________

 Only after an hour or so, they finished discussing further plans for publishing books abroad, because the Blacks had many shops in many countries bordering Britain, and some of them were engaged in selling books.

In the end, they came to a unified decision to split the profit fifteen to eighty-five, where Severus would receive fifteen percent of each book sold, and Orion would do everything else so that it could see the light of day in other countries. 

The Prince himself was not very concerned about this, and he was no longer particularly chasing after Galleons, because he had a fortune in his account, which would be enough for several lives ahead, and there would still be some left after that, and establishing good relations with Bella's family was also expensive. 

And when it was already deep night outside, and it was eleven o'clock, Severus began to get ready, although the head of the Black family, under the burning gaze of his wife, offered him to stay for a while longer, but the Slytherin still refused, because Nagini was waiting for him at home, to whom he promised to return early. 

And having said goodbye, leaving them a gift in the form of an artefact that he made when he was working on the ring for Bellatrix, which had about the same effect as it, but weaker, the wizard apparated home, but Severus had to admit that this day turned out to be quite productive in terms of relationships, and by the end of the meeting, even Walburga, who had been eavesdropping on them all this time through the house elf, warmed up to him a little, and the idea of a harem for her son to continue the ancient Black family made her think, like Orion ...

***

At the same time, one young man, who had just finished his homework and had already gone to bed contentedly, suddenly opened his eyes, feeling a trembling all over his body and anxiety that came from nowhere...

*** 

Finally appearing in the living room, in which there was twilight, Snape lowered his gaze to the sofa, where Nagini lay curled up in front of the burning TV, next to which stood a small bucket full of popcorn and his heart was pricked with a feeling of guilt.

"I think nothing will happen if tomorrow I postpone work on the ritual..." smiling softly, he squatted down and tenderly ran his hand over her head, "I'm sorry, I'll try to make sure this never happens again..." in response, as if hearing him, she grunted displeasedly through her sleep, which caused a much more cheerful smile on the wizard's face and, raising her with the help of magic, so as not to accidentally wake her up, they headed towards the stairs, where the bedroom was located on the second floor... ___________________________________________________________________________________

* Veela is a creature , in a calm state, looking like a beautiful, charming woman. The veela's voice, movements, and gaze make others look only at her, as if at the greatest miracle.