Yeee-eeeaah, I know, I'm late. Very sorry, but I have exams and this is the only time I have to download this (I wrote, like a paragraph a week pretty much, just to fit into my schedule.) And I ask myself, why am I uploading this two days before my bio exam and 4 days before my chem? Because I am a procrastinator! The world's largest one!

Heh, anyway, enjoy the chapter...the Malfoy's riches are explained :O

JKR owns all recognisable characters. Ama is mine goddammit! ditto for Malfoy family home.

Snape nearly stumbled as he dropped to the floor. Brushing back his hair, he studied his surroundings and was duly impressed. He had heard of the Malfoy’s wealth, but he didn’t expect a house quite so large. The floors were of the highest grade white marble and the hallway in which he had landed was lined with massive mirrors and the chandeliers were made from pure quartz. Every few metres a statue stood against the wall, depicting family busts or mythological scenes. He felt oddly colourless in the house entirely awash with light and art. A young house elf with large bat-like ears and great green eyes appeared beside him.

“Would sir like to leave his coat with Dobby?” The house elf bowed magnificently.

“Uh, no, I’ll keep it with me.” He stuttered.

“Follow me, dear sir.” Dobby indicated and trotted off down the hall. As they drew closer to the end of the hall more people came though off side passages and through doors, all led by house elves. They were all beautiful; all tall; all graceful. Immediately, Snape felt resentful, feeling like a crow amongst peacocks. The line of chatting people was led into the ballroom. He raised his eyes and was once again awed by the sheer magnificence of the room: the roof seemed to go on into infinity and crystal orbs of light floated around the room; the black marble floor was so highly polished that he felt like he was walking on water (this was confirmed to be real water as he watched several schools of jewel-like fish flit benath the surface); he was very interested in the large paintings of dancers lined the walls, and the subjects of these pictures were the Malfoys of many generations, continuously dancing through one frame to another, all happy and smiling.

“Every Malfoy, when he’s come of age or married into the family, is painted onto a portion of the canvas.” A silky voice said behind Snape. He didn’t even have to turn around to know that it was Lucius Malfoy speaking.

“Lucius.” He smiled briefly. The only son of the prestigious Malfoy family was perhaps the most magnificent peacock of them all; bedecked in dark blue velvet with gold trimmings and any available space was sparkling with jewels, “It’s been a while.”

“Years; you’ve grown a fair bit. You were still a shrimp when I last saw you.” Lucius guffawed. Snape’s face darkened a little.

“Still, it was still a shrimp that saved your sorry ass four years ago. Wandering around in the Forbidden Forest at night wasn’t the greatest of plans.” He said smoothly.

“Hey, how was I supposed to know that there were dirty great spiders in there? It was a dare after all. I’m just glad you could whip up a potion in time-”

“No need to explain. I’ve heard it all before. I just wish the idiotic pair James Potter and Sirius Black would walk right into the forest and never come out.” Snape gritted.

Lucius gave a non-committed nod, “So you’re still fighting with them? I wouldn’t insult them if I were you, Potter’s family is here for one thing…”

“Wait, Potter has family?” Snape frowned. Lucius quirked an eyebrow and gestured over to a couple further down the hall. They were elderly but still very handsome, and very definitely James’ parents. But James was nowhere to been seen, “Where is the Potter boy?”

“Seems that he didn’t come this year. Both Sirius and James came every year and managed to cause some mischief each time. Perhaps it might be quiet for once. Severus, come, there’s some people who I want you to meet” Lucius grabbed his arm and walked over to two couples. One couple was very elderly and the other was tall and stern, “Severus, these are my parents Abraxas and Lucinda,” he gestured to the stern couple, “and these are my grandparents Cordelia and Marcus Malfoy. Everyone, this is an old friend Severus Snape.” Snape bowed gracefully.

“What a charming young man.” Cordelia, the elderly woman, fluttered her fan. Her husband nodded, “I haven’t heard the name Snape before; I say, young man, where do you come from?”

“Uh, I come from North England…” Crap Snape thought She’s trying to find where I fit in the Pure Blood Scale, “…but you might not have heard of our family; we’ve travelled many places; mostly Eastern Europe. I’m the first generation of the Snape family to be brought up fully in England…”

“You do look Eastern European, possibly Romanian in your blood, but Snape sounds so English.” The old woman stuttered, speaking mainly to herself.

“It’s anglicised; I won’t even attempt to pronounce our full family name; even I can’t get it right most of the time.” Snape smiled, hoping that the old woman would take the bait. She did and tittered, fluttering her fan.

At that moment a familiar scent wafted by, signalling the arrival of the nightingale amongst peacocks. Ama, bedecked in brown and red, swooped by and gave the old woman a tight hug.

“Hello grandma,” She sang sweetly, then releasing the old woman to hug the old man, “granddaddy.” Lucius came up behind her and swept her off her feet.

“Amarylilly Smallkid, my favourite ickle cousin. I haven’t seen you in ages.” Lucius hugged her.

“Gah! Put me down, Luci,” she struggled, giggling, “I’m fifteen now, not eight.” Lucius put her down gently, “Luci, it took me ages to do my hair.” She sighed.

“And what is this about Ama being your favourite cousin, Lucius?” An older boy asked, coming from behind. Snape knew instantly who they were: Ama’s three elder siblings, Pyrus, Malus and Belladonna. Pyrus was still at Hogwarts as a seventh year and the twins Malus and Belladonna were having successful jobs as Obliviators in the Ministry of Magic. Snape heard Lucius retort, but all light, sounds and movement stopped as he looked at Ama.

Both Ama and Snape were rooted to the spot, but the air between them was electric. Both pairs of dark eyes conveyed uninterrupted thoughts to the other; of sorrow; of despair; of secret desire; of triumph. Snape watched Ama’s lips part and mouth four words and as he saw those words he felt Voldemort’s red fire sear through his heart, reviving the red dragon of desire.

He took a step forward and lifted his hand, reaching for her. A shy smile crept across her lips and she also stepped forward, only to look over his shoulder in fear. A shadow had definitely fallen over him; he turned ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of a larger man.

Rudolphus Lestrange had arrived at the little gathering with Bellatrix Black, but the young man had his attention on Ama. Snape faced directly to Rudolphus and was drawn to the images presented so boldly in front of his eyes: Ama, crying and naked in the dirt, all innocence lost. Snape didn’t have to see much more for the red fire to burn within him again. He raised his fist ready to fight when Rudolphus turned, called away by Bellatrix.

Snape was struck hollow and lowered his fist. He turned to Amaryllis, expecting to find her memories swimming on the surface but was surprised to find none. She was standing there, angry and a little scared, but she had no memory of those events.

“Ama,” He started, but her look shut him up.

“He won’t go near me now,” she whispered to him, “He’s engaged now.”

“What?” He growled. What did he see in those eyes? Memories? Remnants of dreams? A fantasy? A false illusion? “Engaged?”

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you. It is to be announced tonight.” Ama said, pulling him away from the group, “Let’s dance; it’s easier to talk this way.” Snape gulped as she grabbed him rather tightly on the shoulder and twirled into the middle of the dance floor. Despite the fact that most of the pureblood families were dying out, there were still certainly a huge number of people on the dance floor. And more importantly, he was far too aware how close he was to her body, occasionally colliding into her as they waltzed.

“Who is Rudolphus engaged to?” He asked as he dipped the dark haired girl.

“Bellatrix Black. It was an arranged marriage; a deal was struck down ages ago between the Black and Lestrange families that the first Black girl was to be married to the first Lestrange boy. Now since Rudolphus is of age, he has to marry her.” She said it with a great deal of glee that Snape had to think what she was so happy about.

They swooped past a couple that turned out to be Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, both were gazing into each other’s plae blue eyes. “I guess Narcissa was happy it wasn’t her that was getting married to Rudolphus.” Snape remarked.

“Yeah, remember the fights they managed to get into? Narcissa was such a spoilt turd and Rudolphus couldn’t do anything because he knew she was his sister-in-law-to-be.”

“At least they look satisfied.” Snape looked over at the pair, who seemed like they were tolerating with each other.

“They better have to be. The marriage is bound by magical contract…they’re pretty much stuck together whether they like it or not.” Her grin was malicious.

“So, I see why you’re so happy to see them together…”

“…because he’ll never try to touch me ever again.” She said with such finality that he kept silent. They moved together, just swaying on the spot.

“Did he ever try to touch you…after that incident a few weeks ago?” He finally asked her. She looked at him surprised.

“No. No, not at all. I haven’t even seen him for the past week. Why do you ask?”

“Oh no, nothing. I was just concerned about.” Snape shook his head. Ama smiled and Snape felt happy.

“Did you see something, Sev?” She demanded, suddenly frowning, “Did you see something in Rudolphus?” She grabbed the front of his dark grey robes. He stuttered, “Did you?” She gritted.

“I-I don’t know.” He gasped, pushing away, “I don’t know what I saw. He was most likely stirring me up on purpose…a false image…I didn’t see any corresponding memories to verify what he saw,” he pulled her back in and forced himself to dance as they had turned a few heads, “I have to ask you…have you had any blank moments in the past week? Time jumps? Anything?”

“N-No,” She shook her head furiously, “Nothing…I remember everything that’s happened.”

Snape was visibly relived, “He was just being a prick. Don’t worry, nothing has happened Ama.” Ama looked at him confused and hurt. She laid her head on his chest, frowning. Snape was troubled too, but could help thinking about her soft chest as it pressed against his.

What the hell? He thought, Why am I feeling things for her now after all these years I’ve known her? We’re only supposed to be friends. I have a bloody girlfriend now! Lily! He pushed away from her, still holding hands. The red light disappearing from his mind. She blinked, confused once again.

“Let’s go to the balcony, I haven’t seen outside yet.” He said, not to alarm her. She nodded and walked out the tall glass doors. The air was still and calm and steep hills rose up on either side of the mansion, there were large gardens and a lake below and above the stars twinkled dimly, something didn’t seem right to Snape, “it’s too dark and too warm out here. The moon is not out and the stars are different.”

Amaryllis giggled at his confusion, “Take a look at those hills in the distance, it might answer your question.” He did so obediently. The hills, he noticed, curved right up so high…

“Oh God, we’re in a cave!” He exclaimed, “It’s massive!”

“If you listened closely to Professor Binns, you might remember the origin of this place: long ago, a kingdom of goblins, elves and dwarves lived in caves here and right across Europe, mining jewels, gold and living in harmony for several millennia,” Amaryllis pointed at the roof, which glinted with a more precious glitter, “it was a paradise, but later both the dwarves and the goblins were fighting with the elves being caught in the middle, the origin of the dispute is unknown to wizards. The war raged on for many centuries until the ancestors of most pure bloods today took advantage of the situation. In short, the dwarves were exiled, the goblins had lost all their magical power and the elves were so indebted to humans they became servants. The ancestors of my family, the Malfoys, chose this cave and have been rich ever since. The Gringotts had the largest cave and used it to their advantage: Gringotts bank.”

“Wow, I wish I did pay a bit more attention…when did all this happen?” Snape arched his neck back so he could see a vein of gold more clearly.

“About…two thousand years ago. Most of the original families didn’t have much gold in their caves or mines, so some of them are poor now, like the Weasleys and the Gaunts.” She replied. Snape looked behind him for a quick look at the crowd. No red-heads, “Don’t bother looking for them, the Weasleys haven’t been invited for the past three centuries: They married a series of Muggle-borns back then and haven’t been forgiven, otherwise they would be here and with some money too. We have a habit of giving money to our families who aren’t well off; the Blacks are one of them.” She nodded towards Regulus and his parents. There was a crystal tone of a bell signalling the beginning of dinner.

“Are there many pure-blood families left?” Snape asked as they headed to the massive dining room. Ama shook her head.

“Most of the English ones are here: Littlechild; Black; Malfoy; Crouch; Nott; Avery; Diggory; Crabbe; Goyle; Lestrange; Gringott; etc. But in reality we are all one family…and as dinner proceeds, you’ll see what happens as our family gets together.” She said sourly. Snape looked at her quizzically, but shrugged as he settled down for the banquet.