On Wings We Rise
Sirius is dead and Harry has no one left he can look up to or trust, but on his sixteenth birthday Harry will discover he's part of vast race of noble creatures. Harry must find a way of controlling his basic urges while still attending Hogwarts and only with help and guidance from his own kind may he fly to victory.
Chapter one
Trust in Pain
The sun was just creeping through the small window in Harrys room at four privet drive when he awoke with a loud groan, he felt like he had just been regurgitated four times over. The moment he moved pain like a thousand needles shot through his back, the side effects form spending hours in his aunt's garden no doubt.
His loving relatives had spent the last three weeks working their nephew like a slave cooking, cleaning, gardening and painting the house inside and out. He was so tired most days that he didn't have time to think not that he wanted to, thinking was more painful.
Standing up with a groan stabbing pain shot up Harrys back and he doubled over in pain, groaning again Harry weighted up the possibility of his aunt agreeing to let him have a day off from their never ending list of chores, his chances seemed less than zero.
Harry grabbed a towel and headed for the upstairs bathroom, hoping that the early hour guaranteed that has relatives where still fast asleep.
The moment Harry entered the shower he cranked up the heat to almost boiling and let out a deep sigh of relief as the room quickly filled with steam. Every single droplet helped soak up just a little more pain and his back relaxed immediately, muscles he was sure never existed before started unknotting and he just stood there lean his head against the tiled wall eyes closed. Thirty minutes went like ten and Harry soon heard one of his relatives begin to stir. Not caring that he hadn't bothered to actually clean himself Harry exited the bathroom draped only in his towel and silently re-entered his room before whoever it was could catch him wasting water.
The sun had fully risen and had illuminated his room, looking around Harry tried to justify its condition to himself, he had been cleaning the rest of the house so much he just didn't have time and besides who cared no one was going to visit him.
It was starting to gain a smell though.
Striding across the room Harry opened the small window allowing the fresh morning breeze to flood into his room it was wonderful, dropping his towel he stuck his naked torso completely out the window glad that his uncle had never reattached the bars from his second year. Closing his eyes he let the soft wind crash on his face rippling through his hair, the morning suns warmth making his face glow with warmth, he felt like he was flying. Leaning out as far as he could without falling he just stood there taking deep breaths of the sweet air and pretending he was high above the clouds.
"What are you doing?"
Harrys eyes flew open in shock he slipped and nearly went head first out the window only stabilising himself at the last moment with his hands desperately gripping the windows ledge. Below him stood Miss something or other in her back yard, a woman in her early twenties who had moved in a few years back with her newborn son. Her son was a toddler now and her continued lack of marriage was good gossip for the older and more prudish woman of privet drive, like his aunt.
"Well" she demanded "What are you doing?"
"Erm" Harry didn't know what to say he wasn't sure what he had been doing it had just felt right to stick his body out a window. "Enjoying this beautiful morning?" Harry smiled weakly.
Miss whatever didn't seem convinced her nose wrinkled in disapproval "What Naked?"
Panicked Harry looked down frantically and was horrified to see that if one extra inch of him had been outside his window Miss disapproval would have been able to see more of him than anyone ever had before, blushing he slowly withdrew his body inside allowing a more modest amount of flesh to be shown.
His face in full blush he returned his attention to the young woman "Erm yeah well… I just had the best shower in my life and well the air felt so sweet against my skin… I… I wasn't thinking straight sorry to startle you" Harry rushed out the last words eager to end the conversation before retreating inside his room completely, he slammed the window shut before she could make an auditable reply.
One day Harry might talk about how absurd this day was and laugh, today was not that day.
Throwing on the first pair on clothes Harry could find, he had only just gotten fully dressed when his aunt came barging into his room
"Boy" she snapped "Get down and make Breakfast now! I won't have you sleeping half the day away!" Harry had to bite back the enormous urge to tell her shove breakfast up her puckered hole as he watched her spin around and march back out his open door.
Harry following his aunt out the door noticed that he must of grown during his year at Hogwarts, for he was sure that he was now a fraction of an inch taller than his slender Aunt and she had never been a short woman, so unless she had shrunk over the past year he must of grown at least a foot.
Entering the kitchen Harry open the fridge deciding to just make another batch of greasy eggs and bacon that he had made many times before without complaint. Grumbling Harry pulled out an egg looking at its smooth brown surface Harry stopped. Eggs where miracles of nature he decided, somehow it creates and sustains life for weeks without assistance, it gets laid than sat on and life is created. This egg was cold and lifeless its purpose was gone now just food for the piggish humans Harry was force to live with.
Crinkling his nose in disgust Harry returned the egg to its chilled tomb and decided to force a more wholesome breakfast on the Dursleys, grabbing out all the fruit he could find alongside milk butter and flower Harry quickly went to work cooking ups a storm, Banana Scones, Blueberry Scones and Pineapple Scones. As they baked he whipped cream and set the table with plates, juice and fresh fruit. Harry had just got the hot scones onto a plate when the last two inhabitants of four privet drive awoke with the smell of fresh scones throughout the house.
Breakfast was a quiet affair and no one not even Dudley complained about the lack of grease so Harry could only take that as approval. After everyone was done Harry cleared the table within second dumping the plates into the sink he scrubbed them clean before leaving them to dry.
Uncle Vernon left work without incident and Harry had just finished wiping down the table when his Aunt Petunia rounded on him her face reflecting her sour personality. "Boy" she snapped "You are to spend the entire day cleaning that filthy room of yours!" she pointed her bony finger up the stairs like Harry had forgotten where he slept "It smells like dead mice and bird droppings! I don't care what filthy conditions pass as acceptable in the school of yours but in this house we don't live like homeless FREAKS!"
Harry could do nothing but nod silently in agreement he room was in a terrible condition even by his own low standards. He said nothing as his Aunt piled cleaning implements and fresh linen into his arms and demanded he not leave his room till it was clean and smelling like roses.
Dreading a day stuck indoors when the outside world looked so inviting Harry dragged his feet upstairs and entered his filthy room with a sigh of regret, how had it gotten this bad? Tiny rodent skeletons were easily seen hiding under the bed, wardrobe and desk. Dirty clothes were scattered about the floor and furniture, empty ink bottles, broken quills and pieces of old parchment laying scattered over both his bed and desk, the aftermath of his many promised letters to the Order of the bloody Phoenix.
Opening up a garbage bag Harry got to work throwing in all manner of rubbish, he almost vomited when he reached under his loose floorboard to find old food from his last summer now mouldy or completely rotten, food that had been forgotten when the order had whisked him away to headquarters, Sirius' childhood home.
Shaking his head Harry focused his brain back to the task at hand ignoring any thought that linked back to his dead godfather repressing his thoughts for a later time when the house was asleep and nobody would hear him cry. Rolling his shoulders as his back began to protest to its continued mistreatment Harry stood once again tying the full garbage bag. He dusted, swept and mopped his room, put his washing in the laundry replaced his bedding and managed to fill three bags full of rubbish.
It was late in the afternoon when Harry finally stood in a sparkling room, his face gleaming with sweat from the summer heat. Realising he had completely missed lunch he returned the cleaning equipment to the cupboard under the stairs. Heading for the kitchen Harry had every intention of begging his Aunt for something to eat only to find it was devoid of life.
A note on the fridge read
We have gone out to dine with your Uncles new boss
Won't be back till late
Your dinner is in the fridge
The house better be standing with you in it when we get back boy
Typical.
Opening the fridge Harry was pleasantly surprised to find cold Chinese takeaway sitting neatly in a plastic container. Harry suppose that his Aunt had picked it up while at the local mall, this was so out of character that Harry was seriously considering poison but after close examination he decided that if the Dursleys where going to kill him they would have done it long before his eleventh Birthday.
He ate in the deserted kitchen cleaning up after himself.
Harry returned upstairs to take another shower this time he made sure to actually us the sickly sweet smelling soap his aunt always buys removing the smell of death and dust that clung to his skin. Drying himself in the bathroom and under the knowledge that the house was completely empty Harry decided to forgo clothing and returned to his bedroom stark naked enjoying the freedom of being alone.
Alone when was the last time he had been alone? The Dursleys had never left him alone before Hogwarts, and at Hogwarts he was always in the company of someone sharing a dorm with four other boys eating in a hall with hundreds of others no you were never truly alone at Hogwarts. Last summer Harry thought he had been alone roaming the streets until late evening but it turned out Dumbledore was having him followed everywhere, order members where probably posted on him right now but Harry had not travelled beyond the front gate all summer and unless it was Mad-Eye they could not see him. For the first time in living memory Harry was alone no one looking, judging or raising him up to be a hero. Standing in his doorway Harry felt his whole body take a deep breath he was alone and it was nice.
Worried that Mad-Eye might just be on duty Harry decided to put on some clean bottoms just in case, walking towards his suitcase to retrieve a pair of pants something caught the corner of Harrys eye in the old broken mirror standing next to his desk. Harry spun around turning himself sideways in the full body mirror and there was no doubting it something was seriously wrong with him.
Along Harrys back where distinct ridges starting at his shoulders and working their way down some straight other curved all seemingly linked together, standing there his breath caught in his lungs Harrys eyes went wide it looked like a second ribcage was growing on his back.
Harry suddenly realised the true cause of his increasing back pain over the last few days, taking a few deep breaths Harry raised a shaken finger over a set of ridges expecting searing pain Harry was surprised that the touch was quite soothing and in some weird way slightly pleasurable. Applying more pressure it soon turned form pleasure to pain but a not unbearably so. Apply increasing pressure Harry was able to move a small ridge slightly down before he was forced to stop, pain simular to someone bending an arm behind your back shot through his spine.
Softly stroking the ridges eased the self-inflicted pain and Harry lowered his hand and suddenly half of the raised skin move to the side seeking the loss of contact. Harry shouted in fright jumping away from the mirror his heart was in his throat and he fell backwards his feet tripping on his suitcase and he landed with a thud on the floor his head banging hard on the side of the bed as he went down.
It was alive, whatever was growing on his back was alive and moving this was beyond bad, fumbling to his feet Harry clutched his head as his eyes watered with pain. This was out of his range of knowledge grabbing a roll pf parchment and a quill Harry was sitting at his desk one hand rubbing the lump forming on his skull the other frozen, quill full of ink clutched between his fingers hovering over a clean sheet of parchment.
Who was he going to right to? Dumbledore… No, no way he didn't trust him anymore, Harry knew he wasn't an evil man but he had shown more than once that he didn't trust Harry not even with important information that directly concerned Harry. He sat on that blasted Prophecy for 15 years in fact Harry had directly asked the man at the end of his first year at Hogwarts and he had refused to answer, if push came to shove Harry had no confidence in Dumbledore to keep him informed and respect his wishes.
Hermione was his next choice but Harry bitterly shot that down too, both his friends had been great after Sirius had died but he still remembered last summer their total lack of information all on Dumbledores order no in Ron or Hermione knew Dumbledore would too.
Mr and Mrs Weasley where out for the same reason, Remus might be okay, he might understand him being a werewolf but Harry wasn't confidant, bitterly Harry thought that even Sirius had on more than one occasion reported back to Dumbledore during Harry fourth year.
Harry had not a single person he could count on keeping his personal information completely private, he looked had he trusted owl Hedwig and sighed he needed help, turning back to his unwritten note he just wrote Help in bold letters grabbing on of Hedwigs fallen feathers he folded up the note tucking the feather inside before turning back to his faithful companion.
"Hey girl come here" holding out his arm she glided over with grace that could never be mimicked by broomstick "I need you to get help old girl, not Dumbledore or anyone from the order just find help, I need help and I trust you. Can you do that for me old girl?" Hedwig hooted softy and held out her leg waiting.
Harry considered if he was going insane as he tied the note onto his faithful companion and sent her out on what seemed like a fool's errand, who in their right mind sends an old with no address and name out with a plea for help?
Rubbing his eyes Harry stood to return to his bed and sleep only to catch sight of himself in the mirror again, grimacing at his back for somehow it looked worse now that he knew that they were alive, quickly throwing on some pants and a thick top Harry crawled into bed confident that should his relatives barge in at some point they wouldn't be able notice anything wrong with him.
As Harrys eyelids started to grow heavy an outrageous thought crossed his mind, the only people who Harry knew who were not in constant contact with Dumbledore where the Dursleys and Voldemort and Harry giggled a little at how absurd it was is that the only people he knew that could count on being totally truthful with him where people who often caused him pain.
Though Harry Potter may be falling asleep inside his room outside on the corner of 4 Privet Drive Tonks was having no such luck.
She had been on Potter watched since 2 pm standing in the same spot invisible for hours and wasn't off until 10 pm another two hours from now.
In her mind this was completely pointless the poor boy hadn't left the front yard all summer and the wards protected him inside that, she like many others in the order was protesting at the instance of keeping Harry with his muggles for so long, he had just lost his godfather and she was with the others like Remus and the Weasleys convinced that leaving him stuck with his relatives was only going to help fester his depression and resentment towards the order that was becoming evident with each passing letter he sent to them, proclaiming he wasn't dead or being starved.
Others like Snape and Moody both who seemed to Have Dumbledores ear where less convince saying that dragging him back to headquarters a place full of reminders of Sirius was not a good idea that that he was just a bratty teenager who was moping about and rebelling like all teenagers.
Harry Potter wasn't a normal Teen and even if he was this wasn't how Teens rebelled, Tonks hadn't seen the boy once all day, the Aunt had gone out come back and gone out again all dressed up with her son and potters head hadn't even looked out a window. Kinsley had seen him this morning almost throwing himself out his bedroom window naked and then interacting briefly with an outraged Muggle woman but that had been at the crack of dawn as he was ending his night-shift. Tonks and Remus before her had only seen the relatives Tonks had heard him fall over earlier and then his owl flown off with a letter but it was quiet now.
The night ticked away and slowly in became time for Tonks to finish her shift, with a soft pop her replacement arrived dressed all in black Snape looked less than pleased to be there
"I thought Kingsley was taking the night shift again?" Tonks questioned as she pulled off one of Mad-Eyes many invisible cloaks.
"He was" Snape sneered at her, like his presence there was all her fault "But urgent Ministry business calls him away and apparently Dumbledore thinks I have nothing better to do but baby sit Potters Brat"
Ignoring his barbs towards the boy she rubbed her eyes tiredly "This is such a waste of everybody's time either trust the boy not to run away or bring him back to headquarters, but they need to stop posting people out here hiding in the bushes waiting to see if he sticks his naked body out a window again"
Snape raised his eyebrow at mention of potter being naked but made no comment on it "I wouldn't trust the boy with a potato he is most likely to run the moment he thinks we're not watching"
Shrugging her shoulders she passed over the cloak "Whatever not my problem now for two days anyway" she turned and started walking away before looking over her shoulder "Nothing to report he sent a letter out just before eight and nothing since then" and with a soft crack she was gone leaving a disgruntle Severus to take her place as the invisible guardian of Potters front lawn
A week went by and it had only made Harrys problem worse, tomorrow was his birthday but he was starting to think he wasn't going to make it that long. Whatever was growing on his back was getting a lot bigger expanding down below his buttocks making walking and sitting close to impossible. Tips of the bony growth had started to press painfully against his skin, thousands of smaller imprints had shown up over the last two days and the large ones had raised up creating deep crevices in-between them.
Harry was now wearing four or five shirt s trying to hide them
His Aunt was no fool though she knew something was wrong so much so that when his had stumbled down stairs yesterday sweating and pale she had marched him back to bed fearing that whatever he had was contagious.
Worst of all was that Hedwig had returned last night as he lay in agony with nothing to show for her journey except another feather this one blue with a light purple edge it was very pretty and holding it somehow relaxed him but he wasn't sure if Hedwig had relayed the urgency that Harry felt to his mysterious feather sender.
I was at that point that Harry reconsidered his stance on refusing to ask the order for assistance but it was too late either way, he could not stand and he was having difficulty moving his arms it was all in the hands of fate now.
Petunia Dursley was down stairs listening to her Husband grumble on about lazy freeloaders without interrupting, she saw no reason to correct him even though they had both seen him yesterday and a blind man would has known he was seriously ill, better to let him vent and go to work than risk an argument. After they had eaten more than their fair shares of breakfast she gather a much smaller portion for her nephew and headed up stairs to force feed him if needed for she dreaded to think what would those freaks do to here family if he died under their care.
Opening Harrys door she dropped the plate and started screaming as it shattered on the ground "VERNON OH MY GOD VERNON COME QUICK!" On his bed lay Harry his face twisted in agony as he lay on his side rocking back and forth, a pillow half shoved in his mouth muffling his screams
Vernon came pelting up the stairs convinced the boy was harming his wife screaming "WHAT HE BLOODYING DOING NOW!" only to step into the room and have his face go ashen "oh my god"
"Dad? Dad!" Came calls from down the stairs "What's going on is Mum okay?"
Blood was seeping through the sheets now and Petunia ripped them off the horrified to see that something was ripping through her nephews back tearing up any flesh in the way
Hearing Dudley walking up the stairs Vernon Roared down the Hallway "DON'T YOU COME UP HEAR DUDLEY DON'T YOU DARE GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN"
Petunia tried to stem the blood that was oozing out of Harrys back with a clean t-shirt but the moment she applied pressure he screamed even louder into his pillow panicked she scrambled back dropping the bloody clothing. Turning around she noticed the writing implements on the desk and hurried over to write a rather shaken note to one Albus Dumbledore
Dumbeldore the boy is sick send help
Send Help I think he's dying
Please
Petunia
Tying it tightly to the boys bird who squawked in protest she picked it up making it look her directly in the eye as she held if firmly between her hands "My sister said that an owl can find anyone" the bird was glaring at her "Listen the boy is sick find a man called Dumbledore he works at that school find him or the boy may die" opening the window she released the bird hoping it would do as it was told Petunia never like her nephew but she had never wished to see him die.
The Dursleys couldn't call an ambulance for whatever was happening was magical and they could never explain it, that day was the longest day for Petunia and Vernon Dursley, Vernon called in sick and deposited an outraged Dudley at a large shopping centre with more money than he could possibly spend before returning to his wife who was waiting silently in the kitchen.
One would go up every hour to confirm he was still alive an watch horrified as whatever had been growing inside his back slowly emerged getting bigger every time they entered, they could do no more any kind of assistance was worthless and just inflicted more pain on their nephew.
Hedwig mad her slow fly to Hogwarts her Master had commanded he not to contact Dumbledore for any reason but she was compelled to make all deliveries so she went slow taking many rest breaks, Yes Dumbledore would get his mail but hopefully real help would get their first.
Snape was cursing Potter wishing he many unpleasant things as he withered in the summer heat hidden under Mad-Eyes stuffy cloak, the Tonks girl was right this was completely pointless he hadn't seen Potter once over the last week he was still in their fighting with his relatives at the moment for the sound of all the yelling in his bedroom he watched as Potters owl left through the boys bedroom door no doubt filled with complaints about his current living arrangements.
Snape snorted in disgust he was counting down the hours till he could return to his potions.
Meanwhile Harry Potter lay in his own blood silently screaming for hours until he passed out late that afternoon.