Lost in Green

Harry is done with the Dursleys. He read his letter and he knows he can do magic.
Sirius is done with Azkaban. He knew he would get out one day, and he was determined not to fail his child again.
Rated M for graphic violence, and language. Extremely AU but I set it up immediately.
Harry/Luna Metamorphmagus!Harry

Disclaimer: No money will be made from the production of this work. I hold no rights to the intellectual property used in this work of fiction.

Chapter 1
Learning to Fly

Italicized are thoughts/Parseltongue/flashbacks/sarcasm/I'm sure you can figure it out.

The day was here.

The day that I would leave the Dursleys forever. The family was going to the Zoo for Dudley's birthday. Since Mrs. Figg was on vacation they would be forced to take me, lest I stay in their perfect home and ruin it with my freakishness. I could make my escape while we're at the zoo, it would be all too easy to simply slip into the crowd. I had read so many spy novels where the good guy gets away instantly when he walks into a crowded street and changes his jacket. The Dursley's would probably jump at the chance to leave me behind. I'd be more surprised if they didn't 'forget' me than if they actually bothered to check if I was following them or not. It wasn't uncommon for them to forget me when they were forced to bring me places, and then act surprised when I eventually return, hours later.

"Better not burn the bacon, boy!" Vernon was already seated, waiting for his son to arrive while he drank his morning tea ("3 sugars and lots of cream. From the cupboard, not the stuff from the fridge! I want to enjoy my day, somehow.") and reading the newspaper.

"You will not ruin my boy's day, do you understand?" Vernon hissed the words as if I would ever forget. I meant nothing and Dudley meant everything. That was understood from Day One in the Dursley household. I've got dumb, drunk parents who couldn't even raise their own son and the Dursleys are saints for not dumping me on an orphanage doorstep. I had heard the lecture a hundred times, ever since I could cook the bacon I was deemed worthy of the knowledge of my parents. Yeah, Vernon. I understand perfectly fine.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." The reply was monotone and spoken without turning my head. I knew there was no point to say anything else, Vernon would only scold me further, Petunia might even join in at that point, with her shrill voice and angry glares. I was lost in thought, daydreaming of sleeping anywhere that wasn't a dirty little cupboard. I didn't even notice Dudley's entrance until Petunia began to shriek and wish 'Dudders' (and the dreaded 'Duddykins!') a Happy Birthday. I made a tactical retreat to the front corridor to get the mail and avoid the worst of the smothering Dudley would receive. At least I'll never have to deal with that, I don't have a mum to do it. I thought with a sad smile. Hm. This is an odd letter. The yellow-ish paper seemed both new and ancient all at the same time. Even weirder than that, it was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs.

I paused just long enough to consider my options before carefully prying apart the wax seal, without breaking it. The letter contained in the envelope was easily as strange as the ancient paper it was written on. It's gotta be a hoax, right? Maybe, maybe not though. Do you wanna take that chance? I thought about it for a minute and there were definitely some signs of colour in my sepia toned universe. My hair staying at the same length for my entire memorable life for example. Then there was that time I ended up on the roof after hiding behind a dumpster. Also, the little lights in my cupboard that showed up when all I wanted to do was see something after a day or two in there. There was also the time when I had a whole conversation with a snake in the driveway, until Vernon saw it and chopped it in half with a garden hoe. Yeah, there may be credence to this letter after all. And that wasn't even all of the weirdness I could recall off the top of my head. Besides, how would they know about my cupboard without magic? I'd certainly never told anyone, and the Dursley's wouldn't likely mention their nephew in the cupboard in casual conversation. I was just placing the seal back to the paper when Dudley opened the door to yell at me at the behest of his father.

"What's that, freak?" Dudley's voice was nearly as shrill as his mother's when he yelled. So much so that it made me grimace every time I heard it. Bad enough when it's only one of them but when both are going it's like listening to a toddler scratch at his plate with a fork.

"Mail, Duddykins, what does it look like?" I was toeing the threshold with that line and I knew it. If I was too short with the Dursleys they would probably leave me behind in the cupboard and I would never get my chance to live my own life. If I were to appear too excited to go the same thing would probably happen, so I was careful to keep my face neutral as they fell for my lie about not reading the letter. Vernon merely told me that the address actually read Number 5 and the letter wasn't for me. Of course, the buffoon didn't even look at the wax seal twice before ripping it open.

I was told to clean up the table and eat my toast before Piers Polkiss arrived. Their breakfast was over in less than 10 minutes, a fraction of the time it took to cook it. Clean up was faster though. It gave me some time in my cupboard to gather up all of my belongings - and put on a torn jacket that I could drop if I needed to - before they had to leave. It surprised me when everything I wanted to take with me fit into one of the pockets on my oversized jeans. It really wasn't much, a few bird feathers from the park, some interestingly coloured stones, and my most prized possession, something I would never tell anyone about lest it be 'confiscated' from me. One day when I was 6 or 7, I was hiding from Dudley when I found a silver dollar lying in the grass. I picked it up and held it in my hand, watching the light dance around it. Determined to get it past Dudley and into the relative safety of my cupboard, I palmed it and threw a rock at him when he caught me. Dudley never noticed a thing as he was kicking my ribs, and it gave me an odd sense of satisfaction whenever I looked at it.

In the car I was subject to the torture of both boys, who were seated on either side of me. The zoo was a welcome reprieve, the two assholes were too distracted with each other to bother with tormenting me. I was glad I hadn't left them behind yet. I actually got a can of soda when Dudley and Piers got their ice cream. It turned out to be a pretty good day after all, and it wasn't even at the best part yet. The 'Birds of Prey' section was my favorite. There were so many fierce looking birds. Their claws and beaks capable of delivering fatal blows to animals ten times their size. Their powerful wings capable of carrying them anywhere they wanted. If I could be any animal, a bird is what I would be. Wait a mo'. Magic! I bet there's a way. I'm going to bloody find out. But all too soon Dudley became bored with the stoic majesty of the creatures and they moved on. I was thinking about how the transformation from human to a bird would work for the next 2 sections of the Zoo before I would be distracted from my thoughts.

The 'Reptile House' was invitingly cool. The air outside had warmed to a blistering level in the afternoon sun. There's a lot of animals for such a small building, I noted as I walked by the chameleons and iguanas. I paused at the komodo dragons. Those are some deadly looking lizards. Also housed here were the amphibious species. Poisonous frogs, toads, newts. The turtles were interesting, mainly because of their age. They had a 53 year old one and it just sat there sunbathing, occasionally snapping at the other turtles that came too close to his rock. The snakes were what I was looking forward to seeing in this place though. Ever since that first conversation with that snake in the garden, I would take any chance I could to talk to a snake. They were mostly good conversationalists, with a few rather dour exceptions.

Most of the snakes were hidden, probably sleeping. The ones in my neighborhood were nearly always sleeping when I tried to find them. They did not like to be woken up, and I could attest to the fact. I had four white dots on my pointer finger to prove it. After that I made sure to learn the sleeping pattern of snakes and to only approach from afar. I was enjoying myself looking at the snakes, at the moment admiring the pattern of a 'Saw Tooth Viper'. Apparently the thing was responsible for more annual deaths than any other snake.

"I would kill the fat ones first, then the chicken lady and the tall boy. This one would be too scared to do anything." The words were quiet but unmistakably coming from the snake before me. I checked over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching before replying. The Dursleys were pretending not to know me, and were sure to stand as far away as possible. That suited me perfectly well.

"I'm the one you should watch out for, noodle." I barely whispered, but the snake heard fine.

"I am known as Draena. You insolent human. If there were no barrier in between us I would strike so fast you wouldn't even know what's happening. And then I would eat you and grow to the size of a King."

I thought about that for a moment. I might be able to make that happen. Not the eating me part, but the glass was definitely something I should be able to manage. After all, I was a wizard now, right? Although I would have to ask about what he meant by the size of a King, snakes didn't recognize human titles, . Considering my options, I was at loss. I had never been conscious of it when doing magic, and I had no idea how to go about performing it at will. I was determined though, and I searched my mind for any mention of wizards from my years hiding in the library. Deciding to follow the advice of a magician from a book I read about in years ago, I concentrated on the surface of the glass with all my might. I looked at the smooth plane, the slight reflections looking back at me, the glare that made it difficult to see everything inside the enclosure, the edges that were recessed into the wall, the imperfections, where kids smeared their accumulated grease on the glass, and the perfect spots, where you could see through so clearly it was like there wasn't any glass there. I thought about the panes disappearing, about the glass just ceasing to exist, turning into empty space, simple air molecules floating around unimpeded.

I was stood there for a long while, not responding when Dudley called out to me. "Hey, Freak! We're leaving now!" Vernon, always one to capitalize on an opportunity, decided it was time to leave, telling Piers that I had money to take the bus back home, knowing full well I didn't. I didn't even notice, so focused was I on accomplishing this feat. When I finally gave up, some time later, it was to my astonishment. Draena was perched on the edge of her enclosure and leaning on the railway, far closer than what should have been possible. I jumped back with a yell, losing my balance and falling to the floor, to the apparent amusement of the carpet snake.

"Are you all so clumsy, little human?" Draena was wheezing as she spoke, a sign of laughter I supposed. Whatever it was, it was an odd sound to hear from a reptile's throat. I climbed to my feet, glaring at the highly venomous serpent.

"Can you go back into the enclosure, please? I can't get in trouble. I have plans I can't afford to blow. I'm trying to get away without attracting attention!" I was desperately hoping nobody would notice, but at the same time I was barely containing my elation that the magic worked. I'm a wizard! I had never realized that I was doing magic before but I had hoped that this time it might be different, since I was aware of the magic and I was forcing it to happen. A glance around the room proved the urgency of the situation as the few people in the vicinity started to glance in my direction. "People are starting to look!"

I motioned for the snake to go back into it's enclosure when it lunged at my wrist. I froze, knowing that a bite meant certain death and yet not being able to do anything to stop it. I closed my eyes and screwed up my face in anticipation of a bite that never came. Draena was quick to circle around my arm and up to the shoulder, head resting on my collarbone, underneath my shirt.

"Let's go little human." I was surprised to note that Draena's voice was different from this distance, there was more nuance. Her voice was now identifiable as her voice. It was a unique variation of the rather monotone hissing that was what I was used to hearing."No time to waste if you don't want to be caught smuggling the most dangerous snake in the world out of the London Zoo."

There was only a quick moment to consider my options before the amount of looks I was receiving forced me to move on, out of the Reptile House. There was only one choice really, I wouldn't need to fight anyone in the park if I was carrying a dangerous snake, but they would stop me so I needed to leave. I circled back through the Birds of Prey, gazing longingly at the beautiful plumage and regal stature that made the agile predators look every bit as dangerous as they were. Í will find a way to become one of you. I was quick to move on, but apparently not quick enough. I noticed a couple of heads in the crowd adorned with police caps. Moving to the side of the path I was able to get a better view. The officers were talking to some of the people who were staring at me in the Reptile House. Shit.

I started walking the opposite direction, a group of people taking up most of the path concealing my movements. They're still back there, as long as I go straight to the exit I should be able to leave. I used that as a mantra to keep calm as I weaved through people, hiding in plain sight. I was just rounding the Hippo enclosure, when I noticed the officer staring dead at me, walking determinedly in my direction. I knew there was no way I could fight the monster of a man that was bearing down on me at a deceiving speed, so I did the only thing I could do. I ran.

"I can help you, little human." Draena struggled to be heard over the sounds of people shouting and running.

"How are you gonna do that? Grow wings and get us the fuck out of here?" I snapped back without thinking, only focusing on the task at hand.

I turned to the left and began to run. My mind began to run on what I like to call Hunting Mode. Not named for how cool it sounds (Which it does!), but after the favourite 'game' of Dudley's. Everything falls away except the task at hand; Run like a Ugandan sprinter and never. Get. Caught.

"Are you all so stupid? You possess power young one. Use it." Draena spoke as if it were obvious, like I should just turn into a bird and...

"Draena you genius! But I can't control it." I knew what I had to do, but I had no idea how to do it. On top of that, I was focused on not getting both of us caught.

'Clear! Dodge the little girl! Push the souvenir cart over! Clear! Bloody hell, how'd he get over there? Right. Right! Shove past the group of old folks! Left again! Nevermind! There's definitely more than one after me now!'

"Focus within, that is where the power lies. Tighten your coils and strike with one movement." Draena attempted to explain while we ran, but her understanding of what focus and power were, were of limited use. I couldn't feel anything, I had no indication of anything extraordinary happening.

My panting was beginning to drown everything out, so I just focused on that instead of trying to do something I didn't even know how to do. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

Running was starting to become unbearable. My lungs were burning and my legs felt like jelly. From experience, I knew what came next. The cramping in my side that would almost certainly spell doom for my plans of escape. Fuck, what am I supposed to do now? There's one right in front of me!

"Now little human! Focus on getting out of here and strike with whatever power you have!" Draena was coiled tightly around my neck and shoulder, yelling as much as a snake could into my ear.

Thinking quickly, I closed my eyes and pushed off the ground. Leaping with all my might to the side in a desperate grab for freedom. I waited for the inevitable impact of bodies for what seemed like ages, but it never came. Instead, my endless leap gave way to an odd sensation. I could feel the wind changing underneath me, the air currents pushing me minutely in different directions. There was a feeling of hair bending in the wind all over my body. My scream of terror and adrenaline-fueled joy gave way before returning with exceptional force, in the form of a mighty screech. If my voice was loud before, this unnatural sound was like a standing in the middle of a hurricane with a rock concert going on right beside you.

My eyes snapped open and I was transported to an alien world. The colours were not at all like what I was used to. The greens were all much darker than they should have been while everything else was either too bright or too dark to make sense of much. The regular looking brown of Draena was a beacon in a sea of distorted colours when I looked downward and finally spotted something familiar. Looking to my left in an attempt to catch a glimpse of my body, I was able to see far too many fingers where my hand should be. 'Feathers! I'm a bloody bird! Yes! I did it, I'm a fucking magician!' The elation I felt at that moment could have powered Monsters Inc for a decade, until I remembered that I was helping someone else escape their keepers too. 'Oh shit, Draena's falling!' Luckily time seemed to be moving slightly slower as a bird, or maybe my mind was simply registering everything faster and it only seemed that way. Either way Draena was falling and I needed to do something, lest I let my new friend fall to an untimely doom. Luckily we were oddly high up and there would be a second or two before she hit the ground normally.

'I guess it's time to test out these wings.' I flapped once, launching myself well above the wall that would have broken my fall had I not transformed, and careening towards the left. 'That's not it.' My second flap was better, it righted my flight enough that I could angle my outstretched arms (Wings, gotta remember they're wings.) parallel to the ground to try and glide down and catch the snake without hitting the ground. The correction gave me enough time to realize that it would take too long to glide.

So I thought back to the days I spent at the park, with nothing to do but watch the birds fly and the squirrels run. I thought about those birds and the ones I saw today, and about their techniques when it came to diving. The powerful, deliberate strokes of a bird of prey, and the rapid flapping of the sparrows and jays at home. Judging by the first two flaps of my wings I guessed I was probably one of the former. They left their wings out, catching the air and riding it down while pumping their wings to go faster, and then they flare them out and seem to hover in space for a moment before using their huge wingspan to launch them back into the sky as if it didn't even happen. I gave another quick flap to gain height before tucking my wings in a bit, angling towards the ground with wicked looking talons outstretched, hoping they wouldn't pierce the delicate looking scales that covered Draena's body.

'Here goes nothing.' I stuck my wings back out, hoping to slow down my descent and catch Draena. All with enough time left over to recover and get back above the heads of the officers before their surprise wore off. Surprisingly, that wasn't what happened. Instead of smoothing my descent, my shoulders burst into agony and immediately I tucked my wings back into my body. Unable to control my speed, I came barreling into Draena, scraping her scales as she got seized in a death grip. 'I've been through worse. Definitely been through worse. You can do it, Harry. Just get through the-'

The zoo disappeared. I couldn't see anything but darkness long enough to wonder why before suddenly the world came back to me.

'Where am I?'

The thought was enough to bring me back to reality. Not realizing that I was, still in fact, a bird, I crashed to the floor, releasing the death grip I still held around the snake. Draena was thrown from my grip and landed metres away, where she sat spewing profanity for the next hour and a half while I tried to figure out how to stop being a bloody bird so that I could get out of this damn place. Eventually the thought of never leaving the room creeped into my mind and it sparked a panic large enough for me to revert back into my normal body. Crisis averted, I was able to study the room, ignoring the rather creative obscenities from the snake.

Breathing a sigh of relief when I checked my pockets and found my dollar, I checked out the room for the first time with my normal eyes. The room was dim, the only window was shuttered from the outside, only a thin line of light was able to pierce through the grimy glass. Candles seemed to be the lighting method of choice, although there were no matches to be found. Anyways, the candles were giant melted monstrosities that had little chance of containing a wick long enough to burn amongst the piles of ancient wax. There was a fireplace on one wall and a rather dirty looking couch on the other. Everything was in shades of green and black, with a healthy accent of silver. Snakes seemed to be a popular decoration, for they adorned as many furniture pieces as it was polite to include, and a few more than that.

There were two rooms off of this one and both lead to corridors filled with doors of lavishly lacquered mahogany and expensive looking paintings that almost seemed to move. When I noticed the grand staircase at the end of the corridor, I quickly decided that this huge, mysterious place just begged for exploration.

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End of chapter

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AN: So, do let me know your thoughts. This is the first thing I've written that I want to share, so feedback, yeah?