Ame's Insanity (amejisuto) wrote in the_playground, @ 2008-03-07 12:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | ame's fics, hp/dm/ss |
A Wing And A Prayer Harry/Draco/Severus Rated R 1/?
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: 4377
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.
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 One
Harry Potter had never had an easy life. Oh, that first year and a half he had spent in his parents' care were probably everything a baby and toddler could ask for, but with the exception of his parents' deaths brought back to him by the presence of Dementors, he couldn't exactly remember it.
Hagrid rescuing him from the Dursley's on his eleventh birthday had been, what Harry had hoped, a new start. That was not to be, for as soon as he stepped into the Wizarding World he learned that he was a mass of contradictions. He was The-Boy-Who-Lived and hailed a hero, yet he had grown up in a cupboard and had been abused and called a freak.
Now he was turning seventeen, and everything seemed to be changing without Harry's consent. As he got older, it felt as if instead of the control he imagined he’d have over his life, everything was chaos and confusion.
Hedwig helped. Being a Snowy Owl she rarely hooted or anything so common, but she had a repertoire of coos and hisses, not to mention the snapping of her beak, that got her point across quiet clearly. This summer he had been even more isolated, the Dursley's house warded so he couldn't even step more than five meters away from the door.
It had been a shock to say the least. He wasn't even able to do his usual outdoor chores. Vernon and Dudley seemed to enjoy it; Harry couldn't even escape outside to avoid their verbal -- and physical -- abuse.
Petunia, oddly enough, seemed to realize that Harry wanted to be there even less than she wanted him there; Harry wasn't trying to ruin their otherwise perfectly normal lives, it was just a by-product of the Headmaster once again enforcing his will on those around him.
Not that Petunia did much to stop Vernon and her precious little Dudders when they started to abuse Harry, but she did curb her own tongue, which Harry valued, and allowed him to eat a bit more. Oh, and she missed every time she swung at him with her cast iron skillet, something Harry's skull appreciated to no end.
This was sure to be his worst birthday ever. Well, at least his worst one since he turned eleven. Hedwig never left the day before and had been hovering over him most of the day. Usually she left and would bring back Granger's gift since the Muggleborn witch had no owl of her own.
There would be no gifts from either of his so-called best friends today. No Quidditch related book, no chocolate frogs, no NEWT study guide. All because Harry pulled his head out of his arse and stopped seeing the world in black and white.
At the end of Fifth Year, Harry had been grief stricken and angry. He returned for Sixth Year more interested in studying than playing games of chess or flying on his broom. He even frustrated Granger by not studying for classes so much as reading everything he could get his hands on that might give him the edge over Voldemort.
He hadn't been the only student returning for Sixth Year with a changed attitude. Draco Malfoy had come back quieter somehow. Oh, he was still his snappish, antagonistic self but there had been something missing. After watching his school nemesis, Harry finally approached the other young man while they were both avoiding the Halloween Feast.
Amazingly enough, Draco was breaking the Malfoy Family’s ties to the Dark Lord.
They didn't talk often, but once in a while books on the Dark Arts would appear in his messenger bag, hidden at the bottom under crude drawings of his friends and characters of himself. It was too dangerous for them to even try to really become friends, especially since Draco was trying to keep the Malfoy lands and vaults out of Voldemort’s hands and if there had been a hint of their ... relationship someone would inform ol' Snake Face.
So Harry did the only thing he could do, he ignored Draco and tried to keep Ron on a leash around the blond Slytherin, without it being obvious.
As the school year passed, Draco became thinner and even his glamors couldn't hide the shadows under his eyes. Everything came to a head in the spring when word leaked out about his true allegiances, and his Father broke out of Azkaban prison.
At the time Harry had been stuck at Hogwarts, and only Professor Snape knew of his friendship with Draco. He'd been terrified that the elder Malfoy had been planning to do something to his son. What made things worse was that Draco had gone home, and had been ordered to attend a session of the Wizengamot in regards to his title.
What happened was worse than anything Harry imagined. He had thought the elder Malfoy would take his revenge on his wayward offspring. That had been proved wrong when Voldemort himself appeared at the Ministry, killing people left and right in order to reach the Malfoy Heir.
When the dust settled, Lucius Malfoy had died to protect his wife and son, Severus Snape was discovered as a spy and tortured, and Narcissa Malfoy had thrown herself in front of the Killing Curse to protect her son. Fifteen innocent bystanders died in the attack and in the space of an hour Draco Malfoy was an orphan.
After that, everything seemed to change. The Headmaster seemed to be put out that Snape had revealed his true allegiances, despite the fact that if he hadn't, Draco would have been killed. Harry found himself bitterly wondering if the Old Coot would have been just as pissed if it was Harry Snape had saved, or if the old man just didn't give a bloody fuck for the young blond.
Slytherin House became a House divided. Most of the upper years turned on Malfoy, while the younger ones who didn't have older siblings and family to influence them seemed to look up to Draco and their Head of House. Meanwhile Snape and Draco had to fend off attacks from within Slytherin and outside.
The worst came one overcast day in May, when Ronald Weasley decided to torment Draco about the loss of his parents. Normally Harry would have tried to just stay out of it, knowing his support of Draco wouldn't exactly help the blond, but listening to someone who was supposed to be his best mate pick on someone about their mother throwing herself in front of a curse meant for Draco, well Harry just snapped and he found himself cursing Ron with one of the borderline Dark curses he knew.
Oddly enough he wasn't the only one. Neville Longbottom, who had his own unique situation with his parents, chose that moment to let loose his own hex on the red head they'd both considered a friend, giving Ron plant-like tentacles for hair that seemed to be trying to strangle the boy as he doubled over in pain, the curse Harry was using making his bollocks crawl up into his stomach cavity.
To tell the truth he'd been halfway expecting it of Ron, but what really hurt was to see Hermione and Ginny turn on them. Luckily Luna wasn't quite as Loony as she seemed, and probably knew more DADA than Hermione did, despite her younger age. She managed to produce a shield to protect him and Neville while at the same time hexing the two other girls: Ginny's blouse had a life of its own and pulled up over her head, showing off her tattered underthings while Hermione's nose got so big she had a hard time not falling forward.
Of course things never went right for Harry, or his friends. When all was said and done they had to listen to a lecture by both McGonagall and Dumbledore, and they had lost Slytherin and Ravenclaw fifty points each, while Gryffindor lost one hundred.
They also had two weeks worth of detention with Snape, but oddly enough the Slytherin Head of House seemed to actually admire the three who defended Draco, tutoring them in their studies and going so far as to help Neville with the potion that had turned out to be on the final.
And that was part of the problem, Snape actually unbent enough to compliment both Harry and Neville in Potions Class – not the same one obviously, it wouldn't do to give them too many ideas – while at the same time giving both Weasleys and Granger as much vitriol as he could. Even the Headmaster had tried to curb Snape's tendencies after two weeks of it, but the Slytherin sneered and reminded the Headmaster, in the Great Hall no less, that he had his approval to make the Gryffindors life a living hell. "After all," he said, "it wouldn't do if his brave Lions didn't have a villain to fight against."
By the time Harry had left on the Hogwarts Express, House rivalries were at an all time high, and the Headmaster had decided to punish Harry by incarcerating him at the Dursleys. Joy.
Harry had thought the Weasley parents would have understood. Even if he hadn't formed a relationship with Draco, it was the right thing to stop Ron's teasing. They were supposed to be better than the Death Eaters. Harry and Neville knew the pain of growing up with no parents, and Luna had lost her mother. Maybe it was because Ron, Ginny and Hermione still had their parents that made them not understand but it just wasn't something to taunt someone with.
Not even your worst enemy.
But Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been disappointed in him, and wondered where he had learned such an "Evil Curse". Harry hadn't said anything, unwilling to point out it was an old Pureblood curse that the ladies of certain families used when a man was pressing his 'unwanted attention' on them. For one thing the book had come from Draco.
And for another, Harry didn't want to admit he’d used a curse that was usually reserved for Victorian ladies. Bloody embarrassing that was, despite the fact that it gave him spectacular results. It was doubly embarrassing since Draco knew where Harry had gotten it and had taken to teasing the Gryffindor about being a Lady.
Draco may have refused Voldie and they had some sort of weird truce, but he was still a prat.
The clock in Harry's room counted down the last ten seconds of July 30th and Harry waited for the last few ticks of the clock. When midnight struck he let out a slow breath. He had halfway expected something big to happen, the Old Man had hinted around at some sort of magical inheritance, but when nothing happened other then Harry becoming a legal adult in the Wizarding world, he couldn't help but feel relived.
The first thing he did was take his wand out from its hiding place under the floorboards beneath his bed and cast several charms to air out the room and clean himself up a bit. Vernon refused to allow the "freak" to use the shower so he'd been washing himself in the sink in the kitchen. Harry had a few plans about what happened now that he was of age, but they all depended on Dumbles. However nearly all of them included finding somewhere safe to stay, with or without the Order's approval, and spending a good hour or two in the bath.
The next thing Harry did was use his wand to open his window. The bars that had appeared before Second Year were long gone, but Vernon had not only painted the window closed the year before, but nailed it shut as well. Instead of trying to undo all of that, Harry simply made the glass vanish. As it was his room was unbearably hot, and Harry would rather deal with a few flies and gnats than the heat.
Maybe he could cast Engorgio on the flies and set them on Dudley when he left the loo. It would be wickedly amusing and ironic.
As Harry was dreaming of giant flies carrying his cousin away, a barn owl, a gyrfalcon, a raven and a Bali Myna bird all approached his window, and Hedwig gave a trill while moving over on her perch to allow one of the birds to land as the others found perches.
Seeing them made Harry's heart a bit lighter. After all, he hadn't expected anything for his birthday this year. Both Remus and Hagrid had been forced to leave the country the summer before, Dark Creature and Dangerous Crossbreeds that they were.
Some days Harry wondered how Fudge put on his trousers in the morning, and then he remembered he had Percy the Boot Licker there to do it for him. The prat probably adjusted him too. Remus and Hagrid couldn't even chance sending mail, the Ministry was examining all owls that came from other countries, looking for Death Eaters. Never mind that most of the DE's were Brits who considered everyone else below them, or the fact that only the law abiding citizens who were unwilling to go to Voldemort for protection were forced from their homes.
All Fudge did was sway more people to Voldie's cause. With friends like him, who needed enemies?
Harry sat up on his bed and petted the Myna first. It was a medium sized white bird with a blue mask around her eyes and a habit of playing with his hair. Her name was Sparkles and she was Luna's bird. Well, it was more like Luna was her girl. Luna had taken a holiday in India the summer before and the rare bird had followed her home. Sparkles doted on her girl and could often be found perching on her head, blonde locks used for nesting materials.
Harry didn't ask. Some things he really did NOT want to know about.
Sparkles had a scroll attached to his leg, that when unrolled put on a small fireworks show and sung Happy Birthday, and gave Harry a gift certificate for the Magical Menagerie. Harry grinned and thanked Sparkles, wishing he had parchment or even some post-its to be able to write a proper thank you note. Sparkles didn't seem to mind though, and flew out the window after nipping at Harry's ear.
Harry turned to the gyrfalcon next. His name was Magus and he belonged to Draco. He was an officious looking bird, but Harry had discovered the few times the bird had delivered books to him that he loved being scratched in the middle of his back. Harry did that now and the falcon all but purred, his hooded eyes closing in rapture.
While Magus melted into a pile of feathers and goo, Harry relived him of his burden. There were no fireworks or even a card, but the book and bird let Harry know who it was from. Grey Magics and Barely Legal Curses the Ministry Doesn't Want You to Know. Just reading the title made Harry laugh, honestly who named these things? Then again he supposed there was something to say about truth in advertising.
Next came Bran, Snape's raven. He'd only seen the bird once before, but from that short meeting he saw that the bird was much like his human companion, and Harry found himself handling the bird with great respect just in case Snape could see out of its eyes.
Or it was Snape himself in Animagus form. Really, Harry wouldn't put it past the former spy.
As with Draco's gift, there was no note. Simply a small potion bottle with contents the color of gold.
Felix Felicius.
Harry couldn't help his indrawn breath. The potion in small doses gave confidence as well as good luck. He wasn't even sure what went in it. He heard Hermione talk about it once but he had turned her out once she explained that only a Potions Master could make it accurately and give it full strength. The ingredients were costly as well, making Ron complain that only someone with money could make it and therefore they didn't need luck all that much if they were rich.
Harry had money, even if he'd never been given access to most of it, but considering that he was trapped in his relatives’ house with one madman after his blood and a manipulative old bastard trying to manage his life down to what clothes he wore, he needed the luck more than the money.
Harry reached up to carefully stroke Bran. "Thank you Bran, for bringing this. And thank Professor Snape for me too? This means ..." Harry swallowed a lump in his throat. "This means a bloody lot to me, Bran. Thank you both."
The raven didn't say anything, even though Harry halfway expected it to talk. He seemed to nod though, and took off to share Hedwig's perch, the white owl giving him a welcoming trill.
The last owl was Neville's, and was very familiar since Harry himself had bought the owl for his friend before school ended as an early birthday present. He just hadn't thought it fair that all of his other friends had birds and Nev didn't. Neville had named her Phantom, since her large wings made little or no noise as she flew and she was as pale as a ghost.
"Hey there, girl, what did Neville send?"
Phantom gave a short hiss and held out her leg. There was a box that once he opened he found a selection of Honeydukes' chocolates and a book, The Healer's Helpmate. Harry had to grin at the book; Neville had decided at the beginning of Sixth Year that since he'd been in the infirmary so often he might like to become a Healer.
Probably surviving his Potions OWLS helped him make that choice.
He was doing pretty good too. He'd healed Harry of his black eye after an encounter with Ron right before Finals. Like Harry, he had become much more studious last year, and Harry though his quiet friend might be holding out hope that someday he might be able to help his parents. If anyone could do it, it would be Neville.
Like Sparkle, Phantom left as soon as Harry had thanked her for the gift, silently gliding out the window. Bran and Magus stayed though, the raven settling on the top of Harry's old wardrobe and the falcon perching on his desk. Magus seemed as if he was offended by the décor of his room and it made Harry laugh.
The bird was such a snob.
"Magus, if you think it looks bad now, you should have seen where I used to stay."
If anything, Magus looked even more disgusted and Harry laughed and picked up the book from Draco and started flipping through it, occasionally pointing out a hex or curse he'd like to try on someone. He did this out loud, a silencing spell on the door so Vernon and Petunia wouldn't hear, mainly so he could hear his own voice. The three birds were good companions though, and Bran especially liked the idea of hexing his family as well as the Headmaster with a curse that caused everything they ate to taste like shite.
Finally though, it was time for him to sleep and Harry turned off the light and shut the book. A wave of his wand provided water for his avian friends since they didn't seem inclined to leave. Before he could go to sleep though, Bran swept down and picked up the potion bottle his master had made for Harry, dropping the Felix Felicius on Harry's head.
"Ow! Ruddy bird. You and Snape are as bad as each other." For the first time that night the raven gave voice to his thoughts, giving Harry a through scolding in his raucous voice.
"All right, all right, I get the message! And here I thought it might be a good idea to save it when something big was happening, like Voldie showing up, or NEWTS." The raven continued to berate him as Harry took out the stopper and carefully placed only one drop on his tongue.
Despite it being such a small dose, Harry's mouth burst with flavor. It was the first potion he'd taken that actually tasted good. What was curious was the fact that he couldn't pin point and say what the taste was. It was like the best chocolate or the finest roast beef and the tastiest butterbeer and the freshest bread. Harry had been a bit hungry, but now he felt full, as if he'd eaten at one of Hogwarts grand feasts and while he was still sleepy he wasn't that bone deep tired that one felt after a day of hard work. It was like standing in the sun after a long winter. Or a hug from someone who really cared and wasn't just hugging him to prove something.
It was the best feeling Harry had ever had in his lifetime. Or at least as far back as he could remember. Maybe his Mum and Da have given him a feeling like that, but he couldn't remember. It was better than the first time he flew or the first time he had a Christmas pudding.
Harry gasped, it felt so good. "Merlin!" Bran and Magus both watched him, a sense of amusement coming from them while Hedwig looked on worriedly. "Bloody hell! If that potion made me feel any better I'd have to damn well wash the sheets." Hedwig took to scolding him while the other two seemed to be laughing at him.
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh, you ruddy birds." Why he'd said that he didn't know; when it came to sex, Harry seemed to be behind all of his year mates. He wasn't sure if it was because he wanted to wait until he cared for someone, was stunted thanks to the Dursleys, stunted thanks to Voldemort or just damn well picky.
Not something he wanted to think about when he was alone in his room.
Instead he turned over and pulled the bobbly sheet over his head. "I'm leaving the window open in case you guys need to leave before morning. Meanwhile, I'm going to sleep. Night guys. Night Hedwig."
Hedwig gave a trill and he could hear her putting her head under her wing. Snowy owls were active during the day for the most part which was nice because that gave them the same schedule. Magus and Bran didn't say anything really. The falcon merely clicked its beak as if he was keeping himself quiet. As Harry looked at the battered clock on his bedside he saw it was just after one in the morning as he settled in for a few hours of sleep.
What Harry didn't know was that he was born at 3:16 in the morning. So he only managed a couple of hours of rest before his eyes snapped open and his entire body felt like he was being tortured.
The last thing that went through Harry's mind was the fact that he thought magical maturations were a load of bollocks.
Looked like he was wrong.
*****
"...don't worry. He should be out for a few more hours. We used four Stupefys to make sure he'd stay out."
Harry listened to the voices in the hallway, and what he heard froze him in his tracks. He kept still and quiet, unwilling to let anyone know their so-called stunners were crap. Normally Harry didn't wake up so quickly, at least not unless dear ol' Vernon was banging on his bloody door, but not this morning. This morning he was wide awake.
"I don't understand, Headmaster, how did this happen? I didn't think the boy had any creature blood in him."
"To tell the truth, Kingsley, I'm not sure. I know James never showed any signs. Perhaps Lily wasn't as human as she seemed."
"Always knew there wouldn't be anything good coming out of him breeding with a Muggleborn."
"Now, Alastor ..."
The voices moved down the hall, which was a good thing since Harry was itching to use Draco's book and test out how legal some of those hexes were. The first voice he hadn't recognized, but Shacklebolt, Dumbledore and Moody were in on whatever was happening.
Unfortunately, he wasn't surprised or even shocked. If anything, Harry was resigned. Something big was happening in his life and it seemed as if the Headmaster was working out how to manipulate him while he was unconscious.
Harry figured it was the drop of Felix Felicius that caused him to wake up when he did. That had indeed been a stroke of good luck.
He waited a few moments before cautiously opening his eyes. Luckily there was no one in the room but Hedwig, and she was keeping quiet while glaring balefully at the door. If owls could imitate Snape's Death Glare, Hedwig was accomplishing it.
That was when Harry really noticed his surroundings. His head was to one side but he was lying on his stomach, something he'd stopped doing back when he was young and Dudley was small enough to sneak into his cupboard and would sit on his head, trying to smother him. He might have been scrawny but being able to bite had stopped Dudley from tormenting him that way at the very least.
He very cautiously stretched, trying to make sure whatever had happened hadn't damaged him permanently. Before this he had been considering leaving Privet Drive, he'd just been unsure of if he'd be physically able to. Now Harry knew he was going to try. He figured he couldn't end up any more screwed.
As he was stretching, he noticed something brushing the back of his legs. Slowly he turned his head to look over his shoulder, and it was only his fear of the fact that the other wizards in the house might hear him that kept him from swearing out loud.
Sometime during the night, Harry had grown wings.
******
Additional Author's Notes: I thought y'all might like to know where I got the inspiration for the title of this story. Yeah, it's an American song but I couldn't help myself!
Greatest American Hero (Believe it or Not) by Mike Post and Stephen Geyer
Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
It should've been somebody else.
Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.
It's like a light of a new day-,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,
Making all of my wishes come true-.
Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.