AN: Thanks you guys for all of your great encouragement! I really do appreciate the community on here. There is a lot of personal angst in this story, I hope y'all don't mind me working out some of my own issues in fanfic. I'm writing Harry in this story a bit different than I normally do, I hope that you like him in this one.

"That's impossible," Snape breathed in anger, his eyes swiftly taking in the document.

"Unfortunately it's not," Dumbledore told him carefully. "I have spent the afternoon talking with different officials and I've just come from a lawyer's office. I'm afraid it's quite serious."

"But they didn't want him!" Snape snapped. "We were both there!"

"They've apparently changed their mind," Dumbledore told him. "They said that they were never properly apprised of the situation."

"We can provide pensieve memory . . ."

"I already have," Dumbledore told him sadly. "I'm sorry, Severus, but it appears there's really very little we can do. Do you know who ran the hearing?"

"Umbridge?" he guessed with anger.

"You are correct."

"But she hates muggles!"

"She hates half-bloods more," Dumbledore reminded him. "And she has never liked you."

"Is there any hope then?" Snape asked, his voice almost a whisper as his stomach twisted. He had not felt this afraid in many years.

"I am going to insist he still comes to Hogwarts," Dumbledore told him gently. "So you will still be able to see him. But there is something else that isn't on this motion that I need to tell you. Petunia is, well, she's fashioning you as rather something of a kidnapper."

"A what?" Severus blinked.

"A kidnapper," Dumbledore continued. "She says you tricked her. Anyway, there is talk of a restraining order against you on behalf of Harry, that you might not be allowed to speak with him beyond what might be necessary for teaching."

"Is there any way to refute these charges?" Severus asked, and then his eyes darkened. "I will fight this."

"That is what is so devious about how they're doing this," Dumbledore explained, his voice kind. "Anything you do to fight, or protest, or anything will add to the picture they're painting of you as an ex-deatheater who took advantage of a poor muggle family who didn't know any better."

"And what could be my possible motive?" Snape snapped. "A surly 13 year old?"

"The Potter fortune," Dumbledore told him firmly.

"You know as well as I that I haven't touched it!" Snape growled. "I have raised him on my own salary."

"I know," Dumbledore assured him. "However, facts can be twisted however the person wants them to be. But that also gives us a possible glance into their own motives."

"But how did they find out about the money?" Snape asked, his eyes flashing.

"And that is indeed the real question here," Dumbledore asked seriously. "There of course is some other power behind this, these muggles are unable to be able to orchestrate this on their own, they would have no idea where to even apply."

"Does the Wizengamot know about Harry having to stay with someone of Lily's blood?" Severus asked.

"They do," Dumbledore said simply. "It was the major argument in why you would be Harry's foster father, and why they haven't been able to remove him from your custody for all these years despite many people's wish to."

"So whomever is really behind this knew that Petunia was the only real candidate that could rival my claim," Snape observed.

"And as a real relative she has a real claim," Dumbledore acknowledged.

"Foster parents have no power," Snape nodded sadly. "Though I have been his father for nearly twelve years and the only parent he has ever known."

"So we need to decide the best tactic," Dumbledore told him. "And we need to be realistic. We can fight, as is morally just, but you will lose. With Umbridge running the trial, you frankly don't have a chance. Any lawyer worth their salt can spin a pathetic story of Petunia not knowing how to navigate the wizarding system to get custody of Harry, and given your childhood connection maybe even throw in that you intimidate her. She also provides a stable, two-parent household in an middle class existence as well as a playmate Harry's age in his cousin. This case would not be hard to win. And the harder you fight the more likely there is to be a restraining order or grounds to not send Harry to Hogwarts."

Snape closed his eyes in thought. He didn't know how to take this information in, an hour ago his biggest worry was how to tolerate Harry's mild behavior while disciplining the worst of it and keeping his temper, and now it looked like he was losing his son altogether. His chest tightened and he found his eyes prickle a bit – a reaction he hadn't felt in his body since he'd lost Lily.

"This is unacceptable," Snape told Dumbledore. "These are not good people. I don't want them raising Harry."

"I understand," Dumbledore told him with such compassion that Snape saw that he really did understand. "You have been such a good father to Harry; this is going to be devastating for both of you. That is why I want to talk about our strategy for how best to handle this so that you get him back."

"Do you think that possible?" Snape blinked. His mind had been dwelling on the worst case scenario, hope shocked that picture.

"Of course," Dumbledore assured him. "But we're going to need time and we're going to need your excellent spy skills. I think if we can find the power behind this motion and if we can expose the motivations for the custody then I think you can gain custody again. I think they have no real interest in the boy, just the fortune."

"Can we make the fortune inaccessible to them until the boy reaches the age of majority for muggles?" Snape asked shrewdly. "We should be able to argue for twenty-one."

"I will look into that," Dumbledore nodded. "It gives us more time if nothing else, and it makes them look bad if they argue against this. They may argue for a stipend or something, but not the whole thing."

"You could always argue that I never touched a knut of the money, not even a stipend," Snape pointed out. "I've always supported Harry from my own salary." In truth he could have withdrawn a reasonable amount for Harry's support, but it had felt too much like taking money from James Potter, an idea which he abhorred. No, they could live happily though a bit humbly on his salary from Hogwarts, and that left Harry's fortune intact for his future.

"So what's your plan then?" Snape sighed. He was nothing if not a realist, and in some ways the happiness he knew with parenting Harry felt almost too good to be true. Facing the grim reality of losing custody to a person like Petunia felt actually far more realistic than actually having a loving relationship with a son.

"You allow Petunia to gain custody," Dumbledore told him. "I know, I know, this seems terrible."

"That is an understatement," he growled.

"I have analyzed every scenario," Dumbledore told him. "I just don't think you'll win. You're a former deatheater with a claim based on a childhood blood oath. She is his aunt and can provide a two parent home for him."

"But I can provide for his magical education . . ."

"He is of Hogwarts age," Dumbledore told him.

"But I am the only father he knows!" Snape told him. "Surely that has to count for something!"

"It should," Dumbledore nodded. "But you know as well as I do that it doesn't."

Snape nodded in acknowledgement.

Before he could craft his next question for Dumbledore, he suddenly became aware of a presence nearby. He realized that the presence was had been occluding his emotions, and suddenly he was feeling panic to the level that they were not able to occlude any longer.

"Harry," Snape ground out. "Show yourself."

"I'm sorry!" he heard Harry apologize as he tumbled into the room.

"I'm sure you are now that you've been caught," he intoned.

"But don't you think the fact that I'm listening in is a little less important than what I'm hearing?" Harry asked incredulously. "Isn't this information you want me to have?"

"Perhaps," Snape told him. "But this is not how I would have had you find out this information."

"How would you have had me find out that you are giving me up without a fight?" Harry asked, tears springing. "Or would you rather your failings as a father was more hidden from me?"

"You watch yourself, young man," Snape told him, low menace in his voice. "It may be a few years since you've been over my knee . . ."

"You can't even talk to me about manners at a time like this!" Harry protested.

"Well if I had talked to my father the way you're talking to me . . ."

"What, you want a reward for NOT being abusive?" Harry yelled, his voice powerful. "Is that the stick we're using to measure?"

Snape, recognizing that Harry was panicking, forced himself not to rise to the bait that Harry was offering. Instead, he forced himself to take two deep breaths before he answered, and when he did he was quite proud that he didn't yell or threaten when he did.

"You will take three deep breaths before you say another word to me," he told Harry in a voice that brooked no disobedience. "Such language is unacceptable, but it is understandable that you are overwrought. Please take a few minutes to get control of yourself."

Harry did as he was told, a little frightened at having just yelled at his father and wondering if the sky was going to actually collapse because he had the audacity to do so. Though his father was right that it had been a few years since he had been over his father's knee as a consequence for wrongdoing, he was under no delusion that it couldn't be a consequence inflicted upon his person at any time. And so Harry obeyed, as he was used to doing, and took three deep breaths. Harry didn't know what to say then, he wanted to say sorry, but there were so many emotions and questions roiling around in his brain he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"More in control of yourself now?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am," Harry replied quietly. "Sorry about that."

Snape nodded. "We have much to talk about. I would have waited for the morning to talk about this with you, but I'm assuming that a good night's sleep is probably not in the cards for you at this point?"

"Probably not," Harry agreed.

"You may read the motion, then," Snape told him.

"Is that wise?" Dumbledore asked mildly. "He is still a child."

"I believe what is about to happen will demand that he grow up in a hurry," Snape observed as Harry read the parchment. "I prefer that he is well-informed about what is about to happen to him."

Harry read the parchment, his face noticeably paling as he read it.

"What does this mean?" he asked.

"It means that your aunt wishes to gain custody of you," Snape answered succinctly. "And it is very likely there is little we can do about it. We need to decide how we spend our energy and capital: in fighting the custody, or subverting it."

"What do you mean by that?" Harry blinked.

"In court, we have very little case," Dumbledore explained. "Professor Snape has a very tenuous claim to you compared to your Aunt, and the courts are not likely to look favorably upon him due to . . . well, other factors."

"Don't I get a say in it?" Harry protested.

"Likely not," Snape told him. "Unfortunately the court is very unlikely to listen to you in this matter."

"That is completely unfair!" Harry protested.

"And what, in your current life experience until now, has made you think that life is going to treat you fairly?" Snape asked him. And then, seeing Harry's shocked face, found himself softening a bit. "I understand, people feel that the world ought to be fair; but let me assure you that it is not."

"You probably want me to go with them," Harry spat. "You're probably tired of raising me."

Snape let that comment sit for a long moment, feeling the pain of what Harry said but also recognizing where it was coming from. Harry wanted reassurance that Snape still loved him, and that he wanted him. He was just asking in the most terrible way possible.

"I would like you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say," Snape told him with a careful, strict tone. "Because you seem to have not paid attention for the past twelve years. You are the most important thing in the world to me, and there is absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do to secure your place in my home permanently. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Harry grumbled, sounding unhappy but not protesting further. He found his father's strict tone soothing in a way, though he would never admit it.

"But you and I are also intelligent and not born yesterday," Snape continued. "What the headmaster is suggesting is that should we engage in a direct fight in the courts, no matter if I spent every penny we have for the best advocate I could find, we are unlikely to prevail. The Wizengamot is prejudiced against me, and there is likely little we can do about that. Not only would we be unlikely to prevail, if I should fight I might be viewed as more of a threat to you and then that might threaten his ability to insist that you attend Hogwarts, or it might give them the ability to put a magical restraining order against me so that I may not speak to you except about schoolwork."

Harry paled. "That would be terrible."

"Yes, it would be," Snape agreed. "So we will have to take a more reasoned approach."

"What is a more reasoned approach?" Harry asked.

"I will make sure you still come to Hogwarts," Dumbledore told him. "You will still see your father there."

"You want me to go with them!" Harry said incredulously. "You want me to leave my father and go with literal strangers just because they share my mother's blood?"

"I don't want it," Dumbledore told him. "Merlin's sakes, Harry, I don't want it at all. I wish we could do anything else."

"And that's it then?" Harry asked. "I just get to see my dad at school but other than that I'm their son now?"

"Surely you don't think I would just let that rest, do you?" Snape asked. "Harry, you're letting your emotions blind you. Our cooperation is merely a smokescreen to lull them into a false sense of safety. Meanwhile I will be working to ascertain their true motives and working to expose them for who they truly are. If my spy skills can't have you back in my care by summer, well, let's just say I'll be shocked if I've misjudged the Dursleys that much."

"And if you fail?" Harry asked.

"You're seventeen in four years," Dumbledore told him. "Nobody can tell you anything then."

"Four years is a long time," Harry blinked. "It may not seem like a long time to you, but it's an eternity to me."

"This is a good time to employ some of that Gryffindor bravery," Snape told him. "And maybe some of that Slytherin cunning. What we are about to do is risky for both of us."

"But we have very little choice," Harry answered, understanding.