A Wing And A Prayer Harry/Draco/Severus Rated R 3/?
Title: A Wing And A Prayer Author: amejistuo Fandom: Harry Potter with a hint of a crossover to be reveled at a later date. Pairing: Eventual Harry/Draco/Severus Word Count for this chapter: Rating: R Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. . Warnings/Squicks: Total break from canon after OotP. Misguided!Dumbles, Not so good!Order, bad language and misuse of feathers. Abuse of Chalk Horses. Watch out for a Snickering!Snape as well, although he's usually laughing AT Harry, not with him so hopefully he's not too OOC. Summary: Harry's about to turn seventeen and is planning on making a few changes. Problem is, there are certain changes he isn't expecting, and they'll alter his life more than he could have ever imagined. Find the previous parts here. Beta'd by the wonderful suki_blue. Thank you dearest!
Notes: First things first, while this is a Harry has wings fic, it is NOT a Vanterra or Veela fic. He's got wings for a totally different reason, but the reason will be reveled later on in the fic. You'll figure it out with Harry. I do have to admit that a lot of the ideas of how Harry looks, wingspan, weight, height, all that good stuff, comes from three different sources. One is Warren Worthington III, also know to X-men fans as Angel. Another is Carter Hall, aka Hawkman.
The third is a secret, because I'm using bits of that fandom for a crossover. Not any characters or anything but for historical background.
This is gonna be another slow story folks. I'll be updating about once a month. And yet again I ignore the last two books pretty much altogether. I may use some bits of, say, Severus's back story with Lilly, but there isn't any horcruxes and there was never any oath between Severus and Narcissa to keep Draco safe. Sorry folks, but the last two books aren't my favorite. For god's sake JK made Draco BALD! That's just so wrong.
Chapter Three
"It's about time you got out of the bath, I thought you'd fallen or went down the drain or something, I was about to send one of the Elves to look for you."
Harry blushed and took a seat across from Draco in what looked to be his study. "I got lost. This place seems as big as Hogwarts."
Draco looked at him and harrumphed. "I would have thought maybe those new eyebrows of yours had got in the way. You do realize that when you turn fifty your eyebrows will overtake the rest of your face?"
Harry glared at the blond. "Shut it, git!"
"I supposed whatever changes that happened to you were mostly good though, so I might be able to deal with the eyebrows. I mean, you're no longer a scrawny little prat, you're a big, strapping prat. And I can't call you four-eyes anymore since you don't seem to need glasses."
"Just as well, it was getting old. I would think someone as wonderful as you could think of something original, Malfoy."
"What's wrong with a classic? Still, the wings do give me more options. We'll have to see what you are before I settle on a new put down." Draco looked him up and down. "Still, I think you've finally had your growth spurt. Well, we'd best move to the dining room. Merlin only knows when Severus will be free to dine with us and I'd say you'd welcome a good meal."
Harry found himself blushing and not knowing what to say. To tell the truth he wasn't quite sure what to make of himself. He had grown a lot ; he now stood at nearly 6 feet, and if he had to guess, Harry would say he now weighed 10-11 stone! His waist was trim but his shoulders had broadened. His chest was wide as well, it looked almost as if he'd been lifting Muggle weights. It was an altogether new look for him.
His face and hair was different too. He no longer looked like a carbon copy of James Potter. His face had gone from a round shape to more of an oval shape and he actually had cheekbones now. His eyes were roughly the same, and Harry couldn't help but be thankful for that. His eyes were one of his few links to his mother.
Well, except for the killer eyebrows threatening to take over his forehead. Draco was right, when he got old they'd turn into a giant unibrow and would probably be all wiry.
"Quit daydreaming, Harry, and come along. I've asked for a brunch that can be held warm in case Severus is able to come back, but I daresay you'll be able to actually think once you've eaten. If one can call what happens between your ears thinking."
"Ha bloody ha, you Ferret. I might not have an IQ as high as you or Severus but I have actually had a thought."
"Prove it, Feathers."
As they bickered, Harry followed Draco through the halls of Malfoy Manor and down the stairs until they reached the dining room. It was an ornate room, with a large table – big enough for at least eighteen to twenty people – made of oak with a sort of Celtic boarder with dragons carved into the legs and around the edges. An armless straight back chair with the back and seat upholstered in a forest green and ivory was pulled out for both him and Draco. Harry only hesitated for a moment before sitting down, keeping a watch on Draco out of the corner of his eye to make sure he didn't make any etiquette mistakes.
Hermione had harped at him for a good fifteen minuets once during a school banquet when he’d used the wrong fork. As far as Harry was concerned a fork was a fork, who cared how many tines it had?
Draco must have seen his glances. "Just eat, Potter, I already know you were raised by Neanderthals. At long as you don't pick your nose and eat it I won't be shocked."
Harry bit back the comment that came to the front of his brain. Considering that Draco's two bodyguards had turned against him, a Crabbe and Goyle joke would be in poor taste. "Yeah, well I'll save it and stick 'em under the table, how's that?"
"Eat first, discuss disgusting things later." Draco shook out a linen napkin that not only matched the tablecloth but the draperies and the upholstery of the furniture too, and placed it on his lap. It was then that Harry noticed that Draco pretty much matched the room as well, with dark green linen trousers and a cream button down shirt. He shrugged. It must be a wealth thing. Or a Malfoy thing.
Then Draco knocked on the table and food appeared much as it did at Hogwarts. There was a tray of sausages and bacon, another platter with scrambled eggs with green bits Harry assumed were chives. There was a small plate by his place setting with hot buttered croissants and a small bowl of fresh fruit was nearby. The smell of bergamot coming from a cup made Harry smile.
Draco knew his favorite tea.
Then Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud at himself. As if Draco Malfoy actually cared about what his favorites were. More than likely, it was a tea that Draco himself liked. Snape always did say Harry was too involved with himself, perhaps he had a point.
Harry quickly served himself, taking the platters Draco passed him with a nod of thanks. He would have thought that the Elves would serve them at Malfoy Manor, but perhaps Draco was trying to put him at ease, because it did feel as if he was back at Hogwarts for the moment. Then again maybe for all his airs, Draco wasn't fond of having House Elves cut his sausages into bite sized bits for him.
Breakfast was a quiet affair; neither he nor Draco made any conversation and mostly concentrated on eating. For his part, Harry had no idea what to say. A year ago if anyone had told him he'd be enjoying a nice meal in Malfoy Manor he would have suggested they needed a visit to St. Mungo's.
Now that it had actually happened, Harry was at a loss. No only did he have no idea what to say, his new wings were making it awkward to sit, the high backed chair digging into his bones.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, Potty, you're a wizard!" Draco pulled his wand out of his sleeve and pointed at Harry's chair before he could even flinch. The chair shuddered and then the back shortened itself, coming to rest in Harry's lower back, leaving his wings free.
Harry smiled abashedly. "Thanks. I didn't think of that."
"Is your family the reason you don't think of using magic first?"
Harry paused in the middle of eating a bit of strawberry and then continued. He should have known Draco would want some answers about the Dursleys. At least he wasn't like Hermione, demanding answers and giving her own opinion of what Harry should have done differently. It was a good opening question without seeming too nosy.
"Mostly. You've got to understand, I was punished for anything that went wrong in that house, whether I had something to do with it or not. There were some instances of accidental magic, mostly magics that helped me survive a beating or keep me alive, but I was almost blamed when Vernon didn't get a raise, or his football team lost. When Dudley failed a test or Petunia was snubbed by one of the ladies of her Garden Club. If it rained on a holiday, I was blamed. And I didn't even know why I was being punished until Hagrid came and told me I was a wizard."
"Hagrid? That ... "
Harry glared at his friend and considered throwing a croissant at him, only they were too good to waste. "Yes, Hagrid. I know that he isn't the most reliable wand in the bunch, he couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it and it was entirely too easy for Dumbledore to manipulate him. You've got to understand, he was the first person I ever met from the magical world, and he stuck up for me to the Dursleys. No one, not a teacher, not the police and not that old biddy Figg who was Dumbledore's spy, had ever done that for me before. He gave Dudders a pig tail of all things, and he gave me my first birthday cake and my first ever present, Hedwig. I'd be lost without her."
"All right, I'll lay off the ... Hagrid." Unsaid was the fact that Malfoy was glad the half-giant was across the Channel in France. Harry just nodded. He didn't care if Draco actually liked Hagrid, just as long as the blond didn't give him any grief over him, especially since Harry was planning on sending a message to Hagrid as soon as possible. If anyone knew what Harry was now, it would be Hagrid. Or Snape, although the Head of Slytherin probably knew more about whatever he was concerning potions than anything else. Then again Hagrid might tell Dumbledore and that would not be a good thing. Perhaps it would be better if he waited.
They ate quietly for a few moments before Harry decided to offer more information. Why, he wasn't quite sure. Perhaps it was because he felt he owed it to Draco. Either that or it was the fact that Draco was far enough removed from the situation to see things more clearly. "You know, I don't get why Dumbledore insists on keeping me there, if there were any Blood Wards they would have been bloody useless since ol' Snake Face took my blood at the end of Fourth Year.
"Some days I think the Headmaster does really think my family is fond of me and is trying to hide it or some such rubbish. That, given the chance, humans will be kind to each other, mundane and magical alike, and we'll all hold hands and sing songs and eat lemon drops. Probably thinks that when I wank I ejaculate rainbows and rose petals."
Hearing that, Draco gave a choked laugh and Harry had to pound him on his back to keep him from inhaling the last of his scrambled eggs. "Potter!"
"What? It's not as if the Gryffindor Golden Boy would have something as common as spunk is it? I heard three of the Fourth Years discussing if my piss had magical properties if they bathed in it, disgusting little blighters. As if I don't get enough weirdness with the Creevey brothers stalking me. Granger had the nerve to lecture me for hexing them too. Wonder how she'd like a passel of fourteen year old boys following her to the loo half the time?"
By now Draco was laughing a most un-Malfoyish laugh and Harry found himself chuckling along. Now that a good six months had gone by, it was a funny situation. And Draco had a wonderful laugh when he let go of his Slytherin mask and allowed himself the freedom to be himself.
The smile fell off his face though when he remembered what he was talking about. "Then there are times when I'm sure that all I am to Dumbledore is a pawn, and he placed me at the Dursley's so they could beat the independence and curiosity out of me. So I wouldn't question anything he had to say, I would just follow along blindly. That he's manipulated everything in my life up to and including dropping a few hints in Hagrid's ear so that I'd know that all Dark Wizards came from Slytherin, and how I'd be considered evil if I went into that house even before I stepped onto the train at King's Cross."
Thankfully they didn't go into why Harry hadn't shaken Draco's hand that day. They'd already hashed that all out and had come to the conclusion that even if Harry and Draco had become friends, the Headmaster would have never allowed it and would have done something to create a rift. Then again that had been a conversation held on one of his more cynical days. Perhaps Dumbledore would have felt that Harry could lead Draco to the Light if given the chance.
"I find it far more likely that the Headmaster is somewhere in between those two extremes, although his actions this morning lead me to wonder."
Both he and Draco swiveled around in their chairs to find Snape standing in the door way. Harry barely had time to notice Draco's relived smile when he realized he'd knocked his tea up over with his wings and now his breakfast was soggy.
Those bloody things were going to take some time getting used to.
A few minutes later the mess had been cleared away by Elves and he and Draco enjoyed another cup of tea to keep Snape company while he ate.
"Do I even know what's going on?" Harry could just imagine Dumbledore and his order running around like a swarm of bees in their confusion.
Draco snorted at his question. "Better yet, did the Old Coot do everyone a favor and have a stroke when he found out the bird had flown the coop?"
Harry glared at the blond but otherwise ignored him, but he couldn't help but notice that Snape's lips twitched in what might have been a smile. "Not even the potion I brewed for Potter could make us that lucky. He does have nearly every Order member who can stay seated on a broom up in the air looking for you, Potter. I do hope you used what passes for a brain when you flew away from the comforting bosom of your beloved family."
Draco rolled his eyes and yet still managed to turn his nose up at the same time. Harry was amazed the blond didn't have a facial twitch after that. "He was going to use the Muggle bus, Severus. The one for commoners!"
"And how many wizards would think to look at Muggle transportation, Draco?" Harry looked at his friend, convinced that Draco took the view opposite his just so they could fight.
"None, because it's degrading."
Harry sighed. "Please tell me it's the public part of the transportation that's got you in a snit, and not the Muggle part."
"Potter ... "
"Yes please, do continue Draco."
Snape had an odd look on his face and Harry squirmed in his seat for reasons he didn't quite know. That expression on Snape just made him uncomfortable somehow.
"I just don't get how you can bloody well sit here and joke while you're being hunted by the people who are supposed to be on your bloody side! Aren't you angry? I'd be furious if I was forced into that, that hovel with those people! Even if they were magical they'd still be disgusting!"
Harry gave his friend a tired smile. "Draco, it's hard to keep up being furious. I was angry when I was sent to the Dursley's at the end of my First Year, but by the end of my Fourth Year I was resigned. I was mad when Dumbledore didn't do anything to help me get out of the Tri-wizard Tournament and I was bloody well furious when I realized that the secrets Dumbledore kept from me cost Sirius his life. By this time I am resigned to the fact that the man is manipulating my life. I don't doubt that he's planned my heroic death in battle, up to and including my obituary and eulogy. The only question is just who knows about my new ... condition."
Thanks to the Ministry, and on his more morbid days, he guessed the Headmaster had a hand in it as well; many people with creature blood and half breeds were being forced from the country. Due to this Harry doubted that Dumbledore had known of his forthcoming transformation.
It would be wonderfully ironic if the Savior of Wizarding Briton was forced from his own country thanks to Dumbledore's manipulations.