A/N: This chapter is not beta'd. Please ignore any minor mistakes...If major errors are present, please e-mail me or let me know in a review.

Most Evil Plan
Chapter 16
Communication is the Key

Severus placed the parchment he received from Minerva on the edge of his desk with a sneer. There would be plenty of time later in the day to peruse that document he thought in disgust as he locked the door to his office and withdrew the journal from its hiding place. For a moment he contemplated the consequences of tossing it into the fire.

Unfortunately he knew that the results would be dire for him once two of the most powerful wizards discovered his actions. The Dark Lord because it was his 'perfect plan' to get to Potter and the Headmaster because it would end Snape's career as a spy, thus leaving them in the dark regarding the Dark Lord's plans. Not to mention that it would interfere with whatever the Headmaster was planning regarding him and Potter, Snape thought snidely.

Snape snorted in disgust. Just once he wished he could do what he wanted instead of responding to the wishes and desires of others.

'Severus, any new information on Potter?'

The potion master sighed as he picked up his quill to respond to the Dark Lord's missive.

'Unfortunately, Potter has taken to hiding in his rooms this weekend. Most likely in an attempt to avoid myself and his more vocal schoolmates.'

'Now, Severus, what kind of father are you if you can't get one teenager out of his room?'

Severus silently fumed as his grip on the quill tightened. He might have been a good father if he hadn't been thrust into it against his will to a fifteen year old boy he disliked.

'I apologize my Lord. I thought it best to humor the boy. After all, this is supposed to be as much a surprise to me as it is to him.'

'I see,' Voldemort responded, 'Any other news?'

Snape's quill hovered over the journal as he debated whether or not he should right this next part. Hopefully it won't become part of the Dark Lord's plan.

'His head of house informed me that she met with Potter Friday evening to discuss his reaction to the news. She also inquired if he wanted to change his name to 'Snape'. She is expecting an answer from him before the end of day.'

'Interesting,' the Dark Lord wrote, causing Snape to almost break his quill. Severus knew that nothing good could come from that one word. 'Yes,' The Dark Lord continued after a pause, 'This could work…'

'My Lord?' Severus questioned warily. Sometimes he felt it was a curse that he was able to read people so well.

'Imagine Potter's response if he changed his name and then realized after the successful completion of my plan that this was all a sham and that James Potter was his rightful father.'

Snape shook in anger. He did not want that spoiled, arrogant brat to carry his name, even temporarily. It was bad enough that the staff was constantly referring to him as his son.

Severus could practically hear the Dark Lord's gloating laugh as he continued, 'And best yet, imagine his reaction when he wouldn't be able to change it back to Potter?'

'But my Lord,' Severus wrote in confusion, 'If he had the rights to it before, why wouldn't he be able to change it back?'

'Ancient Wizarding Law states that you must have the consent of the wizarding family before you can have use of the name.'

'But isn't he Head of the Potter family?'

'If he willingly changes his name to Snape, he will surrender all rights and duties regarding the Potter name, as a result, the Potter name and family will no longer exist. Your potion would show that biologically he is not a Potter, so he would not be able to change it back without consent. The only exception would be if he had a formal adoption certificate signed by James Potter, giving him rights to the name.'

'I see,' Snape wrote. Severus knew that he would be upset that Potter would be stuck with his name if did ever change it, so he could imagine how the boy would feel at such news. Luckily, Severus knew that there was no way Potter would even consider changing his name to Snape, and Merlin knows that there was no force on this earth that could get him to ask Potter to consider it.

'Get Potter to change his name,' Voldemort wrote, breaking into Snape's thoughts.

Slowly Severus closed his eyes in defeat. Okay, so there was one force that could get him to do it. However, he wasn't going down without a fight.

'But my lord, if Potter agreed, it would be my name that would be sullied. The Snape name could never come back after being so connected to that idiotic heroic Gryffindor.'

'What is more important, Snape, your name, your life, or your Lord?'

Do you want my honest answer, Snape thought, before finally writing what the Dark Lord wanted to see, 'My Lord. But-'

'But nothing. I want Potter broken and this is the way to do it.'

Severus paused with quill in hand as once more he had the urge to throw the journal into the fireplace and storm away from the castle and from the Wizarding World.

'Yes, my Lord.'

"Albus, I need your help," Severus reluctantly admitted after sitting in silence in front of the headmaster's desk for a several minutes.

"My dear boy, what is the matter?" Albus immediately asked, after all, it must be quite serious if his potions master was asking for help.

"Are you sure this whole situation is necessary?" Rather than complaining to the headmaster, Severus decided to try another route, "Can't we just retest Potter and show the correct results to the Amevi potion? We could explain this as some rare type of error," Severus said before pausing a moment then continuing, "Yes, that's it. Perhaps his cauldron wasn't completely clean and some of my DNA interfered."

"Won't that raise even more suspicion? After all, the Amevi potion is considered to be tamper proof."

Once more Severus paused in thought, "That can easily be explained that Potter made other errors to the potion. After all, everyone knows that Potter is rubbish at potions. It really wouldn't be that surprising that he made more than one error on his potion. Naturally the concoction that he brewed wasn't a true and pure version of the Amevi potion." Snape nodded in satisfaction of his explanation.

"I don't quite think that would work. After all, you're forgetting about Voldemort."

Snape flinched at the sound of the Dark Lord's name, "If only I could forget about him," he muttered as he rubbed his arm where the mark was covered.

"I know, my boy, I know," Albus commiserated sadly.

Severus sighed realized that the headmaster had a point, "Well, what if we told Potter what was happening? At least that way I wouldn't have to pretend with the boy."

Albus raised an eyebrow, "I think it's too late for that now. If we were going to tell him, we should've done so before Halloween. Besides, I thought you were against that? Wasn't it you who said that you weren't going t trust your life and secrets on the boy's acting skills?"

Severus waved a hand in dismissal, "Better my life than my name."

Knowing that there was more to the story, Albus remained silent. Within minutes Severus was sharing his communication with the Dark Lord to the headmaster.

"At least he agreed that this couldn't be rushed. After all, if I immediately said that I wanted Potter to bear my family name, given the fact that before Halloween we openly hated one another, it would only raise suspicion. Unfortunately, though, the Dark Lord is adamant that this happens."

"Well, then, there you go," Albus stated, "Spend some time getting to know the boy then gradually mention to Harry about changing his name."

"I could kill Minerva for mentioning this topic in the first place," Severus muttered. Then again, perhaps he wouldn't kill the Head of Gryffindor after all; he'll just attack her where it hurts the most…house points and the house cup.

"Now, now, Severus, no reason to take this out on Minerva. After all, she is an innocent bystander in this."

Snape snorted in disbelief as he briefly wondered why the headmaster's eyes seemed to twinkle so brightly. "None of this solves the problem of Potter being stuck with my name."

"You just worry about getting to know Harry. I'll make sure that when the time comes, he can change his name back to Potter if he needs to," or wants to, Albus silently thought. If all went as planned, maybe two of his favorite boys would find what they've both been needing.

"This is great, Harry," Hermione commented after reading the Parent/Teacher Rules of Conduct.

"What's so great about it? All it means is that Snape can now make my personal life hell as well as my school life."

"Actually," Hermione corrected, "I think it'll be even harder for him to do so regarding your schoolwork."

"Really?" Harry asked, sounding more cheerful. "Why?"

"Because there are strict rules in place regarding how he grades your assignments. This is to make sure he is neither too harsh nor too lenient on you."

"Definitely don't have to worry about the latter," Ron said as he stepped out of the shadows, "Not with Snape involved."

"Ron!" Hermione shrieked in fright while Harry remained silent. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough, I guess," Ron answered with a shrug as he took a seaton the other side of Hermione.

Hermione looked happy as her glance floated between her two best friends. "I'll just leave you two alone so that you can talk."

"Hermione," Harry addressed his friend wryly, "You might as well stay since one of us will probably tell you what happens anyways."

Seeing Ron's nod of agreement, Hermione consented to stay, "Well, if you insist."

Rolling their eyes, Harry and Ron looked at each other, not sure how to start.

Taking a deep breath, Ron finally spoke, "Look, Harry, I'm sorry."

Harry just nodded, waiting to see what else Ron had to say.

"I wasn't necessarily upset that Snape's your father," he began, breaking off when he saw Harry's look of doubt. "Okay, that was upsetting, and unexpected, and well, scary," Ron admitted.

"No kidding" Harry remarked sarcastically. "Imagine what it would be like if you found out he was your father."

Ron shuddered as Harry continued, "And that your best friend wasn't talking to you because of it."

"That's not why!" Ron denied. "I was mad because you didn't tell me. I had to find out from Dumbledore with everyone else."

"Well it's not like I expected Dumbledore to announce it to the whole school before I even had a chance to process it. I didn't tell anyone, I was doing my best trying to ignore all the rumors even if they had been proven true."

"Hermione knew!" Ron hissed.

"Because we're in the same potion's class," Harry commented, biting his tongue to keep from adding 'you idiot' onto that statement. After all, that wouldn't be the best way to repair his friendship with the red-haired boy. "And because we used her potion as the base for the Consing-, er, the other potion, which she helped with."

"Consanguinitas," Hermione replied.

"Yeah, that," Harry confirmed with a thankful look at Hermione. "Besides, it wasn't like I chose who was going to be there, I mean, Snape chose Malfoy to help. You know that I would much rather have had you there than him, even if the potion ended up exploding."

"I'm not that bad," Ron commented causing both Harry and Hermione to raise their eyebrows in doubt, "Okay, so maybe I can be, but that's not the point."

"No," Harry agreed, still feeling some bitterness towards his friend, "The point is that you got mad at me for not telling you who my father is when I just found out myself a few hours earlier. You got upset thinking that I told Hermione and others before I told you. When the truth is, if it had been up to me, I probably wouldn't have confirmed the information for anyone but you two. As far as everyone else was concerned, I would've done my best to either deny it, ignore it, or change the subject."

"I'm sor-"

"I think what bothered me the most," Harry continued, not letting Ron finish his apology, "is that you didn't even ask what happened. You just assumed that that was what happened. No, actually, what bothered me more," Harry continued after a moment of reflection, "Was that you didn't even think about how I was handling everything. Even if I had told the whole world before I told you, it wouldn't excuse you. You're supposed to be my best friend and instead of trying to help me in this situation, you created another to add to it. It wasn't your life that got turned upside down, it was mine."

Ron stared at his friend in shock. Harry had never reacted like this before after one of their fights. Usually he just shrugged off his apology and things returned to normal.

"Look," Harry said, correctly interpreting Ron's look of shock, "I can't really say that I'm sorry for what I'm saying, but I am sorry for how I'm saying it. I guess the bottom line is that we," He used his finger to indicate himself, Hermione and Ron, "All of us, need to grow up. I am pretty sure that my life is going to get more difficult as I get older, not easier.

"You guys already know the prophecy, I need to know if I can count on you to be there till the end," Harry stressed, "I don't want to plan on you being there then have you get mad at me because of some real or imagined," he said with a pointed look at Ron, "slight."

"I have enough to worry about between Voldemort, visions, classes, and Snape, I can't always make sure that I'm not hurting your feelings. I'll do my best to share with you what's going on, when I can," Harry clarified, "But I'm going to need your patience and understanding, and if," Harry said before grinning and correcting himself, "when I mess up, I need you to come and talk to me about it. Don't lecture or yell, I don't need a parent; don't get mad and decide to ignore or avoid me for a few days, talk to me about it. You guys are my family, my only family," he stressed, "I need you guys. You are the reason why I put up with everything else and fight Voldemort. If it wasn't for you, I'm not sure it would be worth the risk."

With both of his friends remaining silent, Harry took this time to sneak a look at Hermione. It was actually her he was more worried about right now; she hadn't done anything to warrant such a speech. After all, she usually was the one that stood by him, regardless of what happened. As he watched, she opened her mouth to reply, before she could utter a word, Harry stopped her.

"Look, Hermione, I didn't mean to talk about this now. I hope you're not upset about what I said, I know that you have been there for me, but," Harry said with a small grin and a shrug, "it seemed like the right time to make sure that both of you knew what I needed and how important you are to me."

Hermione met Harry's eyes before slowly nodding, "I understand," she said slowly and quietly. "I do have to admit that I wasn't expecting that. I know that sometimes I can come across as lecturing, but it's only because I care so much about you and don't want you to wind up hurt or in detention,"

"Or worse, expelled," Ron muttered, causing all three to grin at the memory of their first year.

"Or worse, expelled," Hermione agreed before continuing. "I'll do my best to keep from lecturing you, but if I think you're making a mistake, I will talk to you about it. I just hope you will listen, even if it sounds like I'm lecturing."

"Agreed," Harry said with a grin, "After all, since first year you've been like my conscience, I do appreciate your advice, but you have to remember that it is just advice, not a rule I need to follow. Can you remember that?"

"Agreed," Hermione echoed before both of them turned their attention to Ron.

"I-I don't know what to say," Ron stuttered, looking at his hands. Even without lifting his head he knew that the gazes of his two best friends were stuck on him. "I already apologized-"

"And I accept your apology," Harry interrupted, "But what I now need to know is what happens in the future. Will you talk to me if something else like this happens, or will you just stop talking to me and avoid me again? It seems like every other year something happens that alienates us. Sooner or later it's going to get to the point where the friendship can't be rebuilt. You're one of my best friends, and I need you," Harry reiterated. "Not to sound mean, but I really don't have the energy to rebuild our friendship if it's going to continually come crashing down. I want to know if you are in this for the long haul. Do you agree to talk to me when things happen so we can work it out rather than playing childish games? That's what I need to know."

Ron looked between a tearful Hermione and a silent Harry before uttering his answer "Agreed."

"Oh, Merlin," Harry groaned a few minutes later, placing his head in his hands. "Maybe the potion was wrong after all and I am a Potter." Receiving puzzled looks from his companions, he continued, "I just realized how arrogant and selfish that sounded. Exactly what Snape always accused my fath-James Potter of being.

"Why did you guys even listen to me, let alone agree?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"Because you had a valid point," Hermione quietly answered for both of them. "The way it was presented might not have been the best," she admitted wryly, "But I can only imagine what you have been going through since Halloween. I'll ignore the manner of what you said, and perhaps some of the words, blaming it on emotional distress, but Idid hear the message."

"Yeah," Ron echoed in agreement, "What she said."

"And maybe it was a bit selfish," Hermione admitted,"but then again, maybe you have the right to be. We do know what you will most likely face in the future, and you're right, you do have better things to be concerned about then whether or not we are mad at you."

"That's not what I meant," Harry mumbled in embarrassment. "It's just, well, I really do need you guys and I need to be secure that I can trust you and rely on you,but Ialso should've said that I will always be there for the two of you as well. I will, you know, in fact I'll do everything I can to protect you and your families."

"We know you need us," Ron said, with a grin, lightening the mood. "You need Hermione's help to pass your classes, and me to make you look good."

Harry laughed and Hermione snickered at Ron's last remark. Apparently it would take more than the revelation of Snape as Harry's father to keep the trio apart.

An hour after he left the headmaster's office, Severus found himself once more standing before the man with the twinkling eyes. "Albus!" he angrily hissed, after he regained entrance into the headmaster's office. "What is this?"

The headmaster's eyes followed Severus' hand and the piece of parchment that was gripped tightly in his fist. "If you stopped waving it around for a moment, perhaps I could answer," Albus responded eyes twinkling.

"Here," Severus snarled slamming the parchment on the desk in front of him.

"Oh yes, Parent/Teacher Rules of Conduct," Albus recalled fondly. "It's been a while since we had to dig those out of a drawer. I believe the last parent-child set was back in-"

"Albus!" Snape quietly hissed to get the older wizard back on track.

"Oh, yes, I digress. Sorry about that. Would you like a lemon drop?"

"Alb-"

Taking the beginnings of his hissed name as a no, the headmaster repocketed his sweets and answered the question. "It's exactly what it appears to be. A list of rules regarding the conduct of a teacher who also finds himself a parent to one of our students."

Snape just continued to glare at the headmaster.

"It's been in existence for centuries," Albus continued. "I know that you aren't interested in the history, but it has worked well in the past, so I expect it will continue to do so for as long as your son is attending Hogwart's."

"Albus," Severus repeated, this time wearily, "Why weren't these rules," he spat, "mentioned earlier?"

"Why would they be? We just discovered that you had a child attending this fine learning institution," Albus replied, eyes twinkling. "Wherever did you obtain them anyways?"

"Minerva," Snape responded, inwardly referring to her as the new 'bane of his existence'.

"My, she is organized, isn't she? I would've forgotten about them, let alone actually finding a copy."

Bloody interfering Gryffindors, Severus internally snarled.

"I suggest you familiarize yourself with the rules, since you will need to follow them," Albus continued.

"What?" Severus responded in shock. "You know that isn't part of the plan."

"My dear Severus, how could we possibly explain why you aren't following them? As I mentioned, they've been in existence at Hogwart's for centuries."

"These rules," Severus responded after regaining control of his temper, "Allow him to continue to break the school rules without consequence or punishment."

"Now, Severus, if you had read the rules, you'll know that's not true. It just prevents him from being punished twice for breaking the same rules, and only for those instances that a parent normally wouldn't be informed of. After all, we wouldn't want Harry to transfer to another school."

"We wouldn't?" Severus echoed, his tone showing his disagreement of the headmaster's last statement.

"Of course not," Albus stated, eyes twinkling. "It wouldn't bode well for the plan."

Severus looked at the headmaster suspiciously, "Whose plan? Yours or the Dark Lord's?"

"Severus I'm shocked," Albus' tone took on a feeling of hurt, "You should know that I would never work with Voldemort on something."

Snape just glared at the headmaster before turning to leave, he knew that he wouldn't get any additional information out of the headmaster regarding his plan.

END CHAPTER 16

There will be more interaction between HP & SS in upcoming chapters. Also, time will pass quickerin the next few chapters.

I apologize to those who feel that this story is dragged out, I'm trying to 'set the scene' so to speak, rather than just rush into everything. Some info in previous chapters were there for fun, while others might have been there to foreshadow future chapters. As I mentioned, things will pick up now, as time flies when Harry's having fun :)

UPCOMING:
Chapter 17 We are…
Chapter 18 Birds and Bees

5/24/2006