"That seems a little unlikely."
"It is, I assure you, far more likely than your insane interpretation." Snape shrugged again. "Harry, there are literally dozens of possibilities. Wizard Family Services has a policy of follow-up visits. They want to be sure you are adjusting well to your new situation. Perhaps one of these goes awry. Frankly, I am surprised the casewitch hasn't dropped by uninvited already. I suppose Albus must have told them to allow us a little breathing room."
"Uninvited?" Harry echoed.
Snape waved a hand. "Random inspections," he lightly sneered. "They want to see slices of normal family life. As if there is any such thing." The man frowned. "Perhaps the 'unfortunate circumstances' refers to something she becomes aware of during a visit, and I have to sign an acknowledgement that our status is being reviewed."
"But how would that fit in with the talk of someone not wanting you to take 'such a step?'"
"Who can say? That's not the only possible scenario, Harry. Maybe a solicitor discovers an error in the adoption paperwork, and correcting it involves some less-than-legal maneuvers. Or, perhaps someone decides to challenge the adoption. Shall I go on?"
Harry shook his head. "I see your point, sir... Father. But none of those scenarios really fits the dream just so, you know. Well, I suppose the name one comes closest... but I just can't imagine changing my name."
"Precisely why, should it become necessary, I would change it for you and inform you afterwards. You see? It does fit."
"No, it doesn't. None of your ideas explain why I'd be packed and ready to leave, or why you'd give me back my vault key."
"Maybe it wasn't your vault key at all. Maybe it was Draco's."
Harry snorted. "Draco doesn't leave his vault key laying around. And what reason could he have to seal it in an envelope? I'm pretty sure he's got no intention of owling it off!"
"Maybe it was the key to Black's vault, and Albus had sent it down here to you."
Harry supposed that was remotely possible, but still protested, "Then why was I packed?"
A little impatiently, then, Snape retorted, "I want you packed, Harry. I want you back in Gryffindor where you belong, with these friends who are your strength. I begin to suspect that being so isolated is interfering with your access to your magic. You have told me that you need your friends; evidently this is quite true."
Harry huffed a bit. "Well, that's just great. I need to be around my friends to get my magic back, but I'm not allowed to be around them much until it already is back? That's a.... um..."
"Paradox," Snape supplied. "Conundrum. Catch-22."
"It isn't funny!"
"It also isn't as dire as you make out. You will recover your magic."
Harry flushed. "Draco's right; I haven't been trying as hard as I should have. But I've started to practice every day, now. There's got to be some magic down inside me. I mean, I can Floo just fine. But..." He swallowed, then went on, "I almost wonder if I should stop trying. What if getting my magic back somehow starts some chain of events that means you have to unadopt me? I don't want that."
Snape leaned his head back and studied the ceiling for a long moment. "Harry, you won't have to choose between a father and your powers, because I am not going to unadopt you. Now, I have no doubt whatsoever that you will fully recover your magic, but I have no notion as to when. You think it will be by the time the casewitch brings me legal papers, but this is mere supposition on your part, based on a belief that you were packed to leave. Perhaps you weren't. Assuming the dream is true, something which I do not assume, by the way, all we really know for certain is that your things were put away for once."
"They couldn't have been," Harry protested. "My things don't all fit in my trunk, remember? And it was my trunk I saw in the dream, not some new one with wizardspace inside."
"Perhaps you had lent your things to someone."
"Sure," Harry mocked.
"Harry, I am not going to unadopt you!" Snape insisted, raising his voice and pulling his feet in against his chair. "I know you find adults to be undependable, but this, you may depend on! Shall I swear a blood oath as well as sign a contract, or can you simply trust me?"
Harry flinched a bit. "I do trust you, all right? But that doesn't solve anything... Listen. Right after my operation, I bet you'd have shouted from the rooftops that you'd never, ever hold me forcibly down and pry open my eyelids so Lucius Malfoy could blind me with needles, right? But you did."
Snape's fingers curled into claws as his breathing became a hiss. "I thought you had forgiven me that."
"There's nothing to forgive," Harry stressed, leaning forward to stare intently at the Potions Master. "Nothing, do you understand? Sometimes things just line themselves up in a certain way and you end up doing things you'd normally never dream of doing. That's what I'm afraid of, actually. What if you have to go through with an unadoption because it will save me somehow? What if something awful happens and I'll end up in Azkaban if I stay tied to a former Death Eater?"
"That is absurd."
"Oh yeah? Well, what would you have said in October if I'd told you what you were going to do to me on Samhain?" Harry challenged.
Snape sighed. "I do see your point, Harry, loath though I am to admit it. Nonetheless, I do not believe your dream will come to pass, at least not in the form you envision. I cannot conceive of it."
"I didn't want to believe it either," Harry admitted. "I really didn't. But then I realized..." Not knowing how to explain, he ventured, "Do you remember that night you were so tired and you decided to... um, run a little family counseling session with Draco and me?"
The Potions Master huffed. "I did no such thing. I presume you mean the night the two of you needed a stern talking to."
Whatever, Harry thought. "Right. Anyway, you asked Draco if he thought a family was... uh, a paper stamped by some Ministry idiot, something like that, and ... well, this'll sound awfully stupid, I bet, but up until then, I sort of did think it was the paper that had made you my father." He gave the man a rather somber glance. "You were right when you said that fifteen years with the Dursleys really took a toll. I wasn't wanted there, and short of you being willing to do something as serious as sign a contract, I don't think I'd ever have believed I was wanted here, either. But... well, I think I'm past that now."
"Meaning?" Snape inquired, one eyebrow raised.
Harry tried to organize his thoughts. "You and I don't need a certificate embossed and suitable for framing. I mean, you don't have one for Draco, do you? That doesn't make him any less your son."
"No, it doesn't," Snape drawled, sounding pleased that Harry knew as much. "Be that as it may, I for one rather like having things between us be official."
"Yeah, me too." Harry flashed his father a slight smile. "I like the idea that this is more than a private arrangement; you've got the legal authority to go tell Fudge to take a flying leap. I know you'll do what's right for me no matter what the Ministry has to say about it." He drew in a bracing breath. "But if something's going to happen to wreck that... well, I think we'll still be all right. You'll still be my father where it counts most."