Severus stared at him in speechless horror for a long moment. It was one of the rare times in his life that words eluded him. Visions rose in his mind; himself and Potter bound by some archaic spell for the rest of their lives, having to bring the boy to his home, never having a respite from the brat's irritating presence...

Then another thought occurred to him and he glared at his old friend. "Oh, very good, Albus. You got me. I'll admit that was one of your better pranks. Now, what's this really about?"

But Albus was already shaking his head, still looking very troubled. "Severus, I wish it were a joke. But I'm afraid it isn't. The spell is actually quite straightforward and easy to understand once it's been translated. It's an enslavement spell that binds its victim to the first person who touches him, or her, after being cast. You were the first person to touch Harry after the spell hit him, so Harry is now your slave."

Severus leaped from his chair, scattering pieces of parchment and the Malfoy book in his wake. "Well, you just find a way to undo this, Albus! Because if anyone thinks for one moment that I'm going to..."

"Severus, I have spent the past three days desperately searching for a way to undo the spell," Albus' voice was quiet, but it commanded attention. "And I will continue to search. But I have to tell you, that at this point, I doubt I'll find anything. The book," he indicated the text lying open on the floor. "is ancient. We have precious few materials left from that era, and I've never seen anything that mentions any type of slavery curse or a counter to one. Not for a slavery spell that applies to wizards."

Severus stalked around the room, trying not to succumb to the raging panic that threatened to overwhelm him. There had to be some way out of this. He just had to remain calm and think logically, and a solution would present itself. It had to.

He stopped and turned back to the headmaster. "Wake Potter up, Albus, and I'll simply give him a pair of socks or a tie, and then we'll be done with this ridiculous..."

"I don't think that will work, Severus," Albus interrupted. "This spell is different from the magic that binds house elves, and I doubt that giving Harry clothes would free him. In fact, I do believe that there is something in the book that mentions the master being responsible for providing for all basic needs, including clothing."

He Summoned the book and his notes, and read through them for a minute before nodding. "Yes, here it is."

"Well, why don't we..." Severus began.

Albus shook his head. "We can't just randomly experiment, Severus. It could kill Harry. You see, when you caught him, the spell accepted you as his master. There is a magical contract binding you and Harry, and if we're unsuccessful in trying to free him, then the magic might interpret it as Harry attempting to escape. The book is very clear on the conditions of slavery. If the slave tries to escape or to physically harm the master, the magic will kill him instantly."

Severus stared at him in silence. His tumultuous feelings gelled into a kind of horrified weariness. He walked back to his chair and sank down into it.

"Tell me everything you know about this spell, Albus."

***

Harry Potter lay sleeping peacefully in his bed in the infirmary while Albus, Severus, and Poppy stood gathered in a huddle nearby. It was late afternoon. Albus and Severus had spent most of the day discussing the specific conditions of the slavery spell and making preparations. Now it was time to wake Potter and destroy his life.

"But if he's going to wake up, Albus, I'll need to be here, to make sure he's all right," the medi-witch argued.

"Harry should be fine when he wakes, Poppy," the headmaster told her.

A few minutes later is when we'll need to worry. Severus thought dryly. He was surprised to discover that he felt an ounce of pity as he looked over at the boy's small form. As upsetting as the news had been to him, it would be much, much worse for Potter. Severus, at least, still had his freedom...if one could consider being chained to Potter for life freedom.

He realised that Albus was still speaking. "Poppy, I assure you, there's no reason to worry. Harry will be fine. Now, you go on and wait in my office, and Severus will be along in a few minutes to explain."

He and Severus had agreed that the enslavement spell should be kept secret from as many people as possible, but Poppy was an exception. She knew all of Potter's medical history, and as Severus now had custody and complete responsibility for the boy, she would need to notify him if Potter needed her care during the next school year.

Poppy looked from one to the other and then sighed. "Oh, all right, then."

She Flooed away, and then Albus pulled a sheaf of parchment and a quill from the pockets of his silvery robes.

"Right then, Severus, you wake Harry, and then step of sight. I'll get him to sign the paper and then give it to you. You take it to my office, sign it, and explain the situation to Poppy. I'll bring Harry as soon as I can."

Severus knew then that in spite of his outward calm demeanor, Albus must be feeling anxious. He didn't usually go over plans aloud once they'd already been settled.

Severus gestured towards the parchment. "He's going to feel like you've betrayed him, Albus, once he learns what that paper is. Perhaps I should be the one to get him to sign it."

"I doubt he'd sign it for you, Severus, whereas he trusts me," Albus sighed. "And he likely will regard it as a betrayal, but we can't take a chance on the spell punishing him. I don't know how much of a timeframe it will permit once he's awake."

He paused and looked steadily at Severus. "And at this point, I'd rather have Harry angry with me than with you. I know this is shocking and distressing, but for it to become bearable for the both of you..."

Severus' veneer of calm snapped. "It will never be bearable for either of us!"

Albus gazed at him for a long while, and Severus had the impression that the headmaster wanted to say a great many things. Probably all about letting go of the past, and how he should give Potter a chance, and how this spell could end up being a blessing in disguise. But he remained silent. Luckily for him, Severus thought angrily, because if Albus dared to try to find a silver lining in this disaster, Severus might just have to hex him and he couldn't see that going well for any of them.

Instead Albus finally said, "Perhaps we should let Harry sleep for another day or two, Severus, until you've had some time to accept the situation. I don't know that we should wake him while you're still so upset about it yourself."

Severus glared. "It will take more than a day or two for me to accept the situation. But Potter will be perfectly safe in my care, Albus. I'm not going to coddle the brat or cater to his whims, but I won't beat him or starve him."

Albus stepped close and placed a hand on Severus' arm. "Oh, Severus, I never thought you would."

Severus felt as if he were on the verge of losing control of his emotions and he turned sharply away. "Let's just get this over with, Albus."

He went to Potter's bedside and waved his wand in a complex motion over the boy's body while muttering the old Latin incantation. He hoped he'd done it right. He'd practiced for half an hour in Albus' office that afternoon. Apparently the master was the only one who could awaken the slave from the magically induced stupor.

He must have performed the awakening spell correctly for almost immediately, Potter stirred and blinked. Severus faded into the background as Albus came to sit on the side of Potter's cot.

"Harry, I need you to do something for me," the headmaster's voice was soft and soothing. "Can you sign this parchment?"

He pressed the quill into Potter's limp hand.

The boy yawned. "What...what is it?" He mumbled sleepily.

"All in good time, Harry. Just sign here."

Severus watched as Potter scrawled his name where Albus indicated, and shook his head. It was unfathomable to him how anyone, even someone Potter's age, could just sign a contract without reading it first. But then again, it was Albus urging him to do so. Potter trusted Albus. Once again, Severus felt a twinge of pity as he thought of how Potter would feel when he understood what he'd just done.

Not that there was any real choice. It was a lucky thing that the boy had signed. If he'd insisted on reading the parchment first, he'd have thrown a fit and then they'd have had to waste valuable time explaining the situation and trying to get Potter to accept it...time they might not have if the magic translated his behavior as an attempt to break the contract.

Albus held out the parchment to him. Severus took it and silently slipped away. He Flooed off to Albus' office, feeling very thankful that he did not have to witness the coming scene.

***

Harry yawned again and relaxed against his pillows. He still felt a fuzzy vagueness and he didn't know why he was in the infirmary, but he did feel more rested than he had in a long time. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dumbledore rise and take a couple of steps away from his bed, almost out of Harry's vision, and he thought he saw a dark blur move close to the headmaster and then away.

But it happened so quickly, and without his glasses, it was hard to tell for sure. Then Dumbledore came back and sat on the edge of his bed again.

"How do you feel, Harry?" The old wizard reached for something on a small side table and handed it to him.

His glasses. Harry slid them on and instantly the world came into sharp focus.

"Um, all right, I suppose, sir," Harry murmured, avoiding Dumbledore's eyes. He hadn't had much contact with the headmaster since Sirius' death, and he felt awkward and embarrassed about the way he'd destroyed Dumbledore's office, though Dumbledore himself had been very understanding about it all.

"Good, good." Dumbledore fell silent for a few minutes, and it struck Harry that the old wizard seemed uneasy as well. It was so unlike Dumbledore that Harry risked a glance at him and saw such grief on the headmaster's face that it frightened him.

"Sir? What's happened? Is it Ron or Hermione?"

"No, Harry. All your friends are fine." Dumbledore patted his hand reassuringly. "Tell me, my boy, do you remember why you're in the infirmary?"

Harry thought about it, and the memories began to come back...standing outside the Great Hall, debating whether to join his friends for the feast, deciding against it and starting to leave, then Draco Malfoy appearing.

He frowned. "Malfoy hexed me when my back was turned, that cowardly little..." He broke off, remembering he was in Dumbledore's presence. "Sorry, sir."

"That's quite all right, Harry. I'm very unhappy with Mr. Malfoy myself right now, though to be fair, he didn't realise what the spell did. I'd like to think he wouldn't have cast it if he had."

Something in the headmaster's tone made a cold lump of fear settle in Harry's stomach again. But he felt fine. Nothing hurt and in fact, he felt better than he had since Sirius.... But he didn't want to think about Sirius right now. Remembering his godfather brought on a flood of emotion that Harry just couldn't deal with in front of anyone, so he resolutely pushed those thoughts away.

"What did the spell do?" He asked, forcing himself to look back up at Dumbledore.

There was another pause and once again Harry thought that Dumbledore seemed anxious and unhappy, as if he truly dreaded having to tell Harry. But if all his friends were all right, then what could possibly be so bad? What could be worse than what Harry had already been through the past couple of weeks? He began to feel queasy.

Finally Dumbledore said, "I don't really know how to tell you, Harry, but I suppose the direct approach is best. The spell that Draco cast against you was not just a simple hex. It was an enslavement curse, and it bound you to the first person who touched you after the spell knocked you unconscious. Professor Snape is the one who caught you immediately after, when you began to fall."

Harry blinked at him. Enslavement curse? Bound? To Snape? Slowly he shook his head. "No."

"Yes, Harry. I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid for right now at least, it is true. I've been trying to find a way to undo the spell, or to free you, but I haven't discovered anything yet. I'll keep searching, of course, but in the meantime..."

Dumbledore's voice went on and on, Harry was dimly aware, telling him something about an old book from the Malfoy's library, about how he and Snape needed to try to make the best of things, and then starting to tell him that he couldn't try to run away or to do any kind of harm to Snape, or the magical contract would...

But Harry couldn't pay attention to him. His mind kept replaying those terrible words over and over. He was a slave. He was Snape's slave. The queasiness got worse and worse until Harry knew he couldn't hold it back anymore.

"I'm gonna be sick," he said, just before getting violently ill all over his bed and Dumbledore's robes. The headmaster immediately drew his wand, Vanished the mess, and conjured a plastic tub for Harry to finish retching into.

Then he moved to sit beside Harry, gently rubbing circles on his back until Harry closed his eyes and fell back against his pillows. Then Dumbledore Vanished the bucket and Summoned a Stomach-Calming Drought, a glass of water, and a damp cloth. He bathed Harry's face with the cloth and then handed him a vial of light green liquid.

"Here, drink these. The Drought first, and then the water," Dumbledore said softly. He waited until Harry had gulped the Drought and was sipping the water before going on.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I know this is very hard for you. But it isn't the end of the world. Professor Snape is not going to mistreat you..."

Oh, yeah? Just like he hasn't mistreated me for the past five years? And now I'm his slave, just like Dobby was the Malfoys' slave.

Harry couldn't stop himself from remembering some of the things that Dobby had said the Malfoys had done to him, and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick again.

"How do you know that?" He burst out. "He hates me! He's always hated me, from the moment he laid eyes on me. Just because I look like my dad. He's always been mean and unfair, and now it'll be a million times worse."

Harry stopped abruptly because suddenly there was a huge lump in his throat and he knew that if he said one more word he would break down. He wasn't going to do that. He just wasn't.

Dumbledore began rubbing his back again, and Harry wished he would stop. It was much harder to hold back tears when Dumbledore was being so kind.

"I do know that Professor Snape has not treated you fairly, Harry, and I'm sorry for that, too. But he is not a monster. I can see by your face that you're imagining all sorts of horrible things, but I can promise you that, as unpleasant as he may be at times, Professor Snape is not going to physically abuse you." Dumbledore sounded very sure. Harry could only hope he was right.

After another moment of silence, Dumbledore went on. "I do need to tell you some things about this spell, Harry, for your own safety. There is a magical contract between you and Professor Snape. You absolutely cannot do anything that would risk breaking the contract. If you do certain things, the spell will kill you. If you do others, it will punish you. I don't know exactly how it would punish you, but I imagine it would be unpleasant, and we certainly don't want to find out by experience."

"You must not try to run away or do anything to attempt to free yourself. You must not try to cause any physical harm to Professor Snape. If you do either of those two things, the spell will kill you. Do you understand that, Harry?"

Harry bit his lip and nodded.

"You have to live with Professor Snape, for at least nine months of the year. I imagine the creators of the spell gave three months' leeway, in case the master wanted to send his slaves to travel for him," Dumbledore continued.

"You cannot own any property or money. Everything must be in Professor Snape's name."

Almost without being aware of it, Harry began shaking his head in denial again. Everything? Everything he owned was now Snape's? His Firebolt? Hedwig? His invisibility cloak and his photo album with the pictures of his parents and friends? Knowing Snape, he'd probably destroy them out of pure meanness, and then Harry wouldn't have anything from his parents.

"No," he whispered.

He felt Dumbledore's hand rest lightly on the top of his head. "I'm sorry, Harry. But the spell will punish you if you don't turn it all over to Professor Snape."

"Maybe I don't care!" Harry shouted. Anger washed over him and he let it. It was better to feel angry.

"Harry, you don't know the kind of torment a broken contract can inflict, and I pray you never do," Dumbledore's voice went stern for a minute. "But believe me; you don't want to play around with this spell. Imagine pain like the Cruciatus curse, lasting for hours, perhaps days, with no one able to stop it or help you. You would be helpless until the spell itself decided to quit punishing you. I don't know if that's what this spell would do, but I do know of magical contracts which cause that kind of consequence, and I would hate for you to have to suffer like that."

Harry swallowed hard and ducked his head. "Fine. I'll give everything to Snape."

Dumbledore sighed. "Actually, you already have. That was the paper I had you sign earlier. It was a statement giving all your possessions to Professor Snape."

As Harry turned to look at him in hurt resentment, Dumbledore sighed. "It had to be done, Harry, and I didn't know how much time the spell would allow before it decided you were breaking the rules. I wasn't sure if there would be enough time to explain everything to you first."

"The last condition," Dumbledore continued. "is that you have to obey Professor Snape, or he has the right to punish you as he sees fit. But remember what I told you, Harry. He's not a monster."

Harry snorted. It was rude, but at that moment, he just didn't care.

Dumbledore placed an arm around his shoulders and squeezed gently. "I'm so sorry that this has happened to you, Harry. I know it's not fair. But I also know that you're very strong, and very brave, and I truly believe that you and Professor Snape can make this work. But Harry, please do try to be respectful and remember that this is hard for Professor Snape, too."

Harry turned away. How could this possibly be hard for Snape? He got everything! He had all the power and control. He owned Harry's bank vault and all his other belongings. And worst of all, he had Harry, and Harry had to live with him and obey him or who knew what awful things could happen?

Despite Dumbledore's reassurances, Harry wasn't at all convinced he would be safe from Snape. He remembered the man's rage after catching him in the Pensieve. Snape had almost lost control then, and now Harry was completely at his mercy. He felt himself breaking out in an icy sweat.

It had to be some kind of terrible nightmare. Surely he would wake up in a few minutes, and then he could tell Ron and Hermione all about it, and they would all laugh in relief and exclaim about how crazy Harry's imagination was.

Except he wasn't waking up.

Dumbledore was talking again. "Harry, if you're feeling up to it, let's go on to my office. Professor Snape is waiting to take you home."