Chapter 69: Addams/Prince

Hi, my dear readers.

Well, I came back to continue with this story after many problems...

The truth is that I was close to abandoning this because after losing the drafts I had for the continuation of this story it was very frustrating and every time I wanted to start writing and trying to rewrite what was in my drafts it only made things worse...

Why? well, it's a horrible feeling to feel that things that were there before are missing or that everything is much worse than what you had written before...

Yeah, it was hell trying to remember and rewrite everything.

So I decided not to do that.

I preferred to just use what I remembered to help me keep writing but it won't be the same, so I made a lot of changes in the future story that I had already planned before, but well, I hope everything looks good and that you like it.

Naw..., just as before, this week I will upload a chapter every day except Saturday and depending on how many power stones this story gets by the end of this Saturday, will be the amount of chapters I will upload next week.

Every 300 power stones will be one chapter for the next week.

Good luck to everyone and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

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-Prince Manor, December 18, 1976

It was 8 o'clock when Hermione called Severus for breakfast and then left.

After breakfast, the two met in the living room of the mansion to travel by portkey to Boston harbor.

From there they would travel by ship to the port of Salem.

They were supposed to leave at 11 o'clock, they had to be there an hour before the ship left at 12 o'clock, but Hermione, as always, wanted to arrive even earlier...

Severus and Hermione were taken by the portkey to a port in Boston which is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and one of the oldest cities in the United States.

Severus had heard from Hermione that Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of both the muggle and magical regions and is sometimes unofficially referred to as the "Capital of New England"

Now they were at a major seaport located in Boston Harbor and adjacent to the city of Boston.

"Severus do you know that this is the largest Muggle and magical port in Massachusetts, as well as being one of the main ports on the east coast of the United States?" asked Hermione excitedly as she looked around the port.

"I see..., how interesting..." replied Severus lightly knowing that she was probably going to keep talking about it whether he wanted to or not.

"Yes, it's fascinating, Boston harbor was historically a point of entry for many magical immigrants and it was also one of the reasons for the significant growth of the city of Boston..." commented Hermione.

As she went on and on about everything she had read, Severus looked around and saw a group of no more than 70 wizards and witches who seemed to be from all over the world, he suddenly felt very comfortable with his decision to come to the potioneers' meeting, it was a unique opportunity as Hermione had told him.

After a few minutes, it was time to board the ship, so everyone present began to walk to the ship.

When Hermione and Severus finally arrived, they could see a large ship with the shiny SWI school crest on it.

Seeing everyone else present start to board the ship, they decided to follow the crowd.

As Severus and Hermione were about to join the group, all the people present began to walk up the ramp and onto the deck.

Noticing this, they both decided to walk up the ramp along with the others.

After a while, Severus noticed that they were moving slowly because they appeared to be making a line that led to one of the tables at the end of the ramp where all the presents were checking in and signing their names in large books.

Behind the tables sat several young women who couldn't have been more than thirty years old.

In the row, Severus and Hermione were standing in sat a young witch with straight blonde hair and light blue eyes that made her look quite beautiful.

Next to the tables were other rather beautiful young women as well who were smiling exaggeratedly as she quickly and enthusiastically indicated to the people who finished checking in at the tables which section of the ship they should go to.

The line moved, though not as fast as Severus would have liked, as the people around him were already talking to other people and didn't seem too interested in making small talk with him.

But Hermione curiosity and constant babbling kept him quite busy and entertained.

When Severus and Hermione arrived at the table, the young woman quickly caught his attention.

Severus let Hermione pass first.

"What letter does your last name begin with, miss?" the woman behind the table was heard to ask Hermione.

"P for Prince" Hermione replied quickly.

"It's alright Miss Prince, you can sign this book here," the woman pointed to the book in the middle of the table, and Hermione quickly signed her name.

"Thank you, now they will direct you where to go!" the woman said pointing to the helpers around the tables.

"Excuse me miss, he and I are coming together," said Hermione to the woman behind the table as she pointed at Severus with her gaze.

"Oh, right, my mistake, very well, there should be no problem sir..."

"Prince, Severus Prince"

"Right, well, here Mr. Prince, sign and you may continue"

Severus quickly signed and thanked her, "Here you go, thank you, Miss-"

The woman looked at him for a few seconds and then replied with a smile, "Celia Hallen and I hope you have a good trip, Mr and Miss Prince"

"Oh I see, thank you very much then, Miss Hallen, likewise to you," Severus said with a smile.

"Yes, thank you for everything," said Hermione too.

After saying goodbye, Hermione and Severus were taken together to their assigned cabin on the ship along with the other presents.

Each person had his or her own cabin with a window and a thin door.

After a good while, all the people and staff seemed to have boarded so the ship finally set sail on its way to the island where the Salem Witch Institute was located.

Severus knew por Hermione that the SWI has located on an island 300 km from the city of Salem, this was an island that Muggles considered uninhabited, but in fact, several witches had settled here many years ago and they had covered a whole part of the island with a magical barrier that prevented the entry of Muggles, eventually, these same witches created an organization and then formed the Salem Witches Institute, which is the first magical institute in North America.

Yes, he listened to Hemrione's babbling, she may have talked a bit too much for his taste, but at least she said things that were interesting and could even be very informative.

...

Time flew by and A few hours later, the ship finally arrived at the island where the SWI was located.

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-Potioneers Meeting Hall, SWI, Salem, Massachusetts, USA.

-18 December, 1976

Severus finally attended the Potioneers meeting with Hermione as his companion.

Each of the guests could be accompanied by one person and since Hermione was taking over the administration of the Prince's business in the wizarding world, Severus thought it was most convenient for her to be there...

Of course, her constant insistence on going to a meeting where the most renowned potioneers of the time were going to be present also played a part in Severus' decision to take her with him.

Yes, as long as she would stop blabbering on about it he had been more than willing to have her accompany him to the meeting.

At the meeting, they both met several well-known figures in the wizarding world, either for their famous potions or for their business in creating and selling them.

Severus looked around the place and noticed everything from wizards and witches dressed in formal robes to wizards and witches in very ancient or strange robes.

There were many wizards interested in talking and clearly negotiating with Severus who was the representative of the Prince Potion Factory.

But Severus was smart and decided to use Hermione as a shield for all these people.

He only focused on talking to the people who were of interest to him at the meeting.

While the rest, well, Hermione was a good talker.

That's right..., every time someone he didn't find interesting approached him to talk business, Severus would tell him to talk to his companion, Hermione, about those things.

So a few hours passed in the meeting without anything very interesting happening for Severus.

It was after talking to some potioneer from the US that a man approached Severus.

"You're Severus Prince, of the Irish Prince, aren't you?" the man asked as he quietly smoked a cigarette.

Severus blinked at that, "Yes, and you are...?"

"Oh, my mistake, I'm Gomez Addams, and I must say it's wonderful to meet the new head of the Prince family," Gomez said as his hand shot out grabbing Severus' and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Yes... delighted," Severus said quietly, not exactly sharing the man's enthusiasm.

It was then that Severus remembered that some of the wizards he spoke to today had warned him to be wary of the Addams, an extremely wealthy family with a lot of business but rather strange and shady people, apparently most wizards preferred to avoid them unless it was some very important business they could do with them.

But what caught Severus' attention the most was that the man in front of him called Gomez was a squib.

'Interesting, a squib at a meeting of wizards... he must have come as someone's companion' thought Severus knowing very well that the status of squibs in the magical community was very low.

"You know young man, the Addams have had trade relations with the Princes for generations, but it's been many years since the trade agreement between our families ended, of course, if you're interested we could renew it," Gomez said with a smile as he smoked casually.

"Well... To be honest, I had no idea about that, in fact until just recently I knew almost nothing about the Prince family and even less about their old business..." said Severus.

"But I am interested in doing business with your family, I've heard you have businesses in all sorts of things all over the world" he added, after all, a family with so much money and business could be a great way to make even more money.

"Oh, I understand perfectly... hmm, I know!, come to my house tomorrow to meet my family and talk about business, that way we will get to know each other better and there will be more trust between us to get back to the Addams/Prince business like in the old days, I insist"

"Fine, just tell me the place and time, and I'll be there" Severus replied thinking that it couldn't be all that bad to go to the Addams house and a good business deal clearly interested him.

"Splendid, here's my address, come by tomorrow between 7/8," said Gomez with a big smile as he handed him a card with his address and home phone number on it.

"I'll be there," said Severus calmly.

"I'll be waiting for you," said Gomez offering his hand for a handshake.

Severus just nodded and shook Gomez's hand.

Then the two parted and continued talking to others in the room.

After his conversation with Gomez Addams, Severus focused on getting information about them from the other wizards present.

And he discovered some rather interesting things about the Addams.

Apparently, they were an extremely rich and ancient magical family, but now most of them were squibs and the only one who could still practice magic was Eudora Addams, Gomez's mother who was already in her nineties, but as the Addams were fanatics of the old ways, Eudora Addams never went to magic school and never used a magic wand...

Even so, Eudora Addams had a great talent for potions, few were those who had been able to try her more unique potions, but everyone knew of the amazing effects they had and for this reason, she always got a place at the potioneer's meeting held every four years.

Yes, everyone expected her to sell them her potions or get her to make them for them, but with the Addams being a rich family, it was unlikely that this would happen unless she was interested in selling her potions herself.