Harry glanced at his father to see if he knew what was going on, but Severus was still, watching Dumbledore intently, almost quizzically.

Dumbledore frowned slightly, but waved his wand over them again in silence.

Again nothing happened.

After a moment, Harry cleared his throat nervously.  "Um, sir, is something wrong?"

Dumbledore's blue eyes did not merely twinkle; they positively blazed.  When he spoke, his voice was fiercely happy.  "No, Harry.  Something is right!  Very, very right.  I'm not sure why or how it has happened, but the slavery spell has been broken.  You're free."

Harry stared at him in silence, thinking that he surely must have misunderstood.  He shook his head, afraid to hope. 

Dumbledore reached to take his hand and squeezed it hard.  "It's true, Harry."

"I'm free," Harry whispered, turning to his father.  Tears blurred his vision and his voice shook.  "Dad, I'm free."

Severus had been staring in disbelief, but suddenly he stepped close and swept Harry up in a great and joyful embrace.  He didn't say anything but just held Harry close, so tightly that it almost hurt, but Harry didn't care.  He was so stunned and so happy that he could scarcely take it in. 

The slavery spell was gone.  He was free.

A sob rose in Harry's throat as he flung his own arms around his father and hugged him tightly in return.  "Dad, I'm free."

"Yes," Severus' voice was shaky and he stopped and cleared his throat before repeating more firmly.  "Yes, I heard."

Finally they moved apart and looked to see Dumbledore beaming at them, his own eyes suspiciously bright.

Severus cleared his throat again before speaking.  "But how?  How did it happen, Albus?"

Dumbledore was quiet for a few minutes.  "I'm not entirely sure," he said slowly.  "I believe there may be two distinct possibilities, but I'm not sure which, if either, is responsible for breaking the slavery spell."

He fell silent again before Severus said, rather dryly, "Well, perhaps you would care to share your thoughts with us?  Harry and I are a bit curious."

Dumbledore chuckled.  "Of course.  Have a seat."

They all sat down in armchairs before the desk and Dumbledore steepled his fingers together.  "As I said, I'm not certain but so far as I can see there are two explanations.  The first is the simplest, but I believe, also the least likely.  I'm sure you both recall that Harry was grievously injured in the battle of Diagon Alley last summer."

Severus caught his breath.  "Of course!  I should have thought of it sooner.  I can't believe I didn't."

Harry looked from one to the other.  "What?"

"Your heart stopped beating for a moment after Bellatrix cast the sectumsempra spell against you," Severus told him.  "Poppy had to resuscitate your heart.  The slavery spell is broken by death, remember?"

"So I died for a moment and that broke the spell?"  Harry asked.

"Possibly, but I have my doubts," Dumbledore responded.  "For you did not truly die, Harry.  Your heart stopped, and certainly you were very close to death at that point.  You would have died if Poppy had not been able to resuscitate you...but she did, and I don't believe you had truly died, but were still at an in-between state.  It is conceivable that in that moment or two you were close enough to death that it broke the spell."

"But you don't think so," Harry supplied.

"No, I don't think so," Dumbledore agreed.

"So what is the other explanation, Albus?"  Severus wanted to know.

"It is a far more nebulous one," Dumbledore replied.  "The greatest wizards of all time have not been able to fully explain or understand it.  As you both know, Transfiguration is a complex and potentially dangerous branch of magic.  Normally the focus is on tangible items, changing one object to another.  But it is believed that there is an obscure type of Transfiguration that focuses on magic itself, on changing the very nature of a magical spell."

"But this type of Transfiguration is so rare that no one knows much about it.  Indeed, there have only been a handful of known cases that might be examples of it.  A few great wizards have attempted to study it, but with no luck.  It is a rare and powerful occurance."

"I've never heard of such a thing," Severus murmured.

Dumbledore shook his head.  "Few have.  As I said, it is very obscure.  And though in the past a few geniuses attempted to investigate this type of magic, more wizards were frightened by it.  After all, if one could learn to control the very nature of magic, it could have drastic unforeseen consequences for us all."

Severus nodded slowly.  "Yes, it could be used as a terrible weapon."

"Unfortunately, yes," Dumbledore agreed.  "And so any whispers of this strange and powerful magic have been suppressed and hidden, and these days, scarcely anyone has even heard of it."

"But you have," Harry pointed out.  He had become so intrigued by Dumbledore's lecture that even the joyous miracle of being freed had been pushed aside.

Dumbledore's solemnity disappeared as he gave Harry an almost mischievous grin.  "Oh, I suspect that I know quite a few things that I shouldn't."

For a moment Harry could almost see the headmaster as a youngster, brimming with brilliance and curiosity and an impish sense of humour.  He must have kept his own professors on their toes, Harry thought.  It occurred to him that perhaps one reason Dumbledore was fairly lenient with his students was that he himself might have caused some trouble in his day.

His father interrupted his thoughts.  "So you think that somehow the slavery spell has been transfigured?  But into what?"

A finger of ice crept up Harry's spine.  What if the slavery spell had changed into something even worse? 

"What does that mean?" he whispered.  "Am I under another spell?"

"Relax, Harry," Dumbledore smiled at him.  "You are definitely not under any binding spell now.  I believe that when you and Severus came to see one another as family, to love one another as father and son, that it somehow cancelled the slavery spell.  Now, rather than being bound by a magical spell, the two of you are connected through your emotions."

Severus frowned, as if he had had an unexpected result from one of his potions.  "You're saying that our feelings for one another broke the slavery spell?  But that's...well, frankly, it seems ridiculous, Albus."

"Ridiculous or not, I believe that is what has happened," Dumbledore replied.

"I have never heard of such a thing," Severus repeated.  

"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," Dumbledore told him.

"Hmm," was Severus' only answer.

Harry looked at them in bewilderment until Severus explained.  "It is a quote from Hamlet, one of Shakespeare's tragedies."

"Oh."  But Harry was more interested in ascertaining his freedom than in Shakespeare.  He turned back to Dumbledore.  "But I'm really free?  You're certain?"

"Oh, yes.  I'm certain," Dumbledore assured him.  "However it happened, you are most definitely free now, Harry."

Once when he had been in primary school, his teacher had shown the class an old Disney film, Peter Pan, where the children had been able to fly from thinking of joyful thoughts.  Harry felt like that now, that he was so happy that he could have leaped into the air and flown from pure joy.

Harry didn't know how long they sat there, just rejoicing and trying to take it in, but finally Severus remarked.  "Perhaps we ought to finish the adoption ceremony some time today?"

"Of course," Dumbledore happily agreed.  "We had almost finished anyhow."

Harry grinned and he joined his father and the headmaster in standing.  The headmaster said a few words about how he and Severus were now father and son, touched his wand to first Severus' wrist and then Harry's, and then waved it over their heads in a complex motion.  Silver sparks floated through the air, coalescing around their wrists and then forming a delicate cord between father and son before vanishing.

Harry felt a slight tingling and then a pleasant warmth where the sparks had been for a few seconds afterwards, and then everything seemed normal.

"Congratulations, gentlemen," Dumbledore smiled at them.  "You are officially a family now."

Harry beamed at him and then turned to his father.  For once even Severus' calm veneer had cracked and his joy was too great to be contained.  He was openly smiling and his dark eyes shone as he looked at Harry.

Harry moved into his arms at the same moment that Severus reached for him and they held each other close. 

When they moved apart, Harry turned to Dumbledore and, moved by a sudden impulse, stepped close and embraced him too.  "Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore hugged him back.  "You're most welcome, though I haven't really done anything." 

When they moved apart, the headmaster reached to lay a hand on both Harry and Severus' shoulders.  "My dear boys, I am so happy for you.  And thank you both, for forgiving me for my failings and allowing me to be a part of your lives.  You both mean a great deal to me."

"And you to us," Severus told him with solemn dignity.

Dumbledore's eyes grew very bright again.  He couldn't speak, but squeezed both their shoulders tightly.

Harry looked at him and then back to his father, and thought that he had never been so happy.