March 1993

Severus woke up that morning far earlier than he needed to and blamed it on wanting to be as prepared as possible, but in reality he was simply too nervous to sleep. They filed all the right paperwork, went through over half a dozen interviews - together, separate, friends and colleagues, anyone the ministry thought they could get away with asking. The Ministry of Magic Department of Children's Services had stopped in unannounced more times than he thought possible; luckily he had completed the renovations at Spinner's End early in the summer holiday - otherwise there was no way he would have allowed Harry to stay there in the first place, even before the thoughts of adoption were in his head.

They asked him about his career plans, examined his all financial statements, questioned him every which way on why he wanted to adopt the Boy-Who-Lived, and more specifically why they should allow a "supposedly-former" Death Eater to adopt the Boy-Who-Lived. He had no idea what they asked Harry in his private interviews because he respected his, hopefully, future son's privacy and never asked. All that mattered was that after all the grueling work, he was able to circle the 5th of March on his calendar as the day it would all be worth it and that day had finally come.

He was dressed in a new set of dress robes, appropriately colored black and white and had bought Harry a new set for the occasion. Even though it was a weekday, he had Harry sleep in his room in their dungeon quarters the previous night so the 12-year old had plenty of time to get ready that morning. Both of them had been excused from classes for the day. Severus walked into the kitchen to a table already set for breakfast with a wide assortment of foods and a note next to it all saying:

Best of luck today Severus and Harry.

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore

Severus shook his head, but silently thanked his mentor for thinking ahead about such a small detail. He heard Harry's door open, announcing the young Gryffindor awake, and then the start of the shower proving that he was indeed getting ready. Severus poured himself a cup of tea while helping himself to some porridge and fruit from the center of the all the food.

"Morning Severus," Harry called as he entered the room still trying to tame his black, wild, damp hair, wearing his new set of navy dress robes.

"Good morning," the professor greeted Harry, pouring Harry a glass of pumpkin juice. "Have some breakfast; the Headmaster arranged it."

Harry picked up the card, read it quickly, then started making up a plate with eggs, bacon, and buttered toast. When the small boy first lived with Severus, he was underweight even after a year of Hogwarts' large and balanced meals. It was a constant battle of how much he should be eating and even now, when Harry was at a much more acceptable weight for his height and age, he sometimes needed prompting to eat.

"I promise I will only ask you this one more time, though I'm sure you'll get it much more throughout the day," Severus said calmly, "are you sure this is something you want to do? It's not too late to change your mind, but after today it will be permanent."

Harry smiled, "Yes Severus. I really want to do this."

"Perfect," that was the only word he needed to say to explain all the feelings flowing inside of him, most of which he thought dead long ago.

As predicted, the day had been long and tiring. Each section of the adoption proceedings had to be reviewed in-depth yet again. And though no one said so and he didn't ask, he guessed the extra measures had more to do with him having the dark mark than Harry being the Boy-Who-Lived. In the end, the recommendation from Albus Dumbledore had been one of his solicitor's best decisions because no matter what objections the Ministry came up with, Albus had previously negated them in the memory shown of him giving his recommendation. It was the first time in the whole process Severus had gotten to see the recommendations they had received from Albus, Minerva, and Pomona. It was also the first time he'd seen the testament of Arabella Figg on Harry's treatment at the Dursleys. By the end, it was the closest he'd ever come to crying besides Lily's death.

They were both brought back into a large airy office where Severus sat with Harry by his side, and they signed what had to be dozens of documents. Some needed his written signature, where others needed his magical signature as well. Each one was read prior to him signing it by his solicitor and it was all going smoothly until they reached one titled "Petition for Official Name Change of a Magical Child".

"Will there be a name change with the adoption?" their case worker, Marie who was an older woman in her 60's with short grey hair and a kind smile, asked directly to Harry.

Harry furrowed his brows in deep concentration; they had not discussed if Harry would take the Snape surname.

"Oh... Erm," the young Gryffindor stuttered.

Noticing his young charge's discomfort, Severus immediately spoke up with, "No, he'll still remain Potter. If that's ok?" The last part was meant for Harry.

"Yes," Harry said relieved, "thank you."

Marie nodded her head and asked Severus to sign one more document. Then with a last wave of Marie's wand over the documents, all the ink dried, the parchment was duplicated into five copies, and then they were rolled and tied. Just like that, it was official; Harry was adopted and he was now Severus's son.