Wings?!
Dumbledore sat by Harry's side when he woke up. His green eyes slowly blinking open. "What happened?" Was the first words Harry tried to voice. He didn't know where he was, he couldn't remember what happened or why he was lying down in a bed. The room was almost completely white. The only colour was a green plant in one of the corners. He tried to sit up, but Dumbledore's hand stopped him. Harry tried to speak again. This time a small sound came from his throat. Dumbledore stretched one of his arms out towards the nightstand, and grabbed a glass with clear liquid. He held the glass to Harry's lips and told him to drink. Harry didn't know what the liquid was so he tried to turn his head away. "It is only water" Dumbledore said. Harry opened his lips and the familiar taste of water fills his mouth. He felt the water slide down his throat and now he recognised the dry feeling of not talking or drinking for a long while. Now he felt really thirsty. He tried to drink all of the water but Dumbledore stopped him and pulled the glass away. "What happened?" Harry tried for a third time and this time it worked. Dumbledore's brow furrowed and his light blue eyes stared down at Harry. "You don't remember?" He asked slowly. "No, I don't. What is it I should be remembering?" Harry was really confused. What had he forgotten? He couldn't even find a blank spot where his memory should be.
He'd been out for a walk, last he remembered, it had been such a lovely evening that he just couldn't sit inside anymore. He'd put on his shoes, and walked out the front door. He'd been walking for quite sometime and then he woke up here. There was no blank spot but there definitely was some lost time there. "I was outside walking, and then I woke up. Where am I? What happened? How long have I been here?" Dumbledore didn't answer, he just look thoughtfully into Harry's confused green eyes. "We found you by a lake, two weeks ago." The old man stated. By a lake…but he…there wasn't any lakes even close to where he lived. How could he have ended up by a lake? Which lake? Had he walked so far as to get close to a lake without remembering? He tried to remember, but it was nothing there to remember. Nothing out of the ordinary. No sounds, no spells, no feelings, no nothing. How could there be nothing to remember? Not even Obliviate left no trace. There was always some confusion left from that spell. But Harry wasn't confused. His memory was completely clear. He looked up at Dumbledore again. "Why can't I remember?" His question went completely ignored and the old man turned his eyes away. "How do you feel? What do you feel?" Now Harry was even more confused. He felt…fine…or did he? He hadn't really thought about it. What did he mean with "what do you feel?" What kind of question was that. He tried to feel something. What was he supposed to feel? Had he been injured or something? Harry tried to feel through his limbs. Everything felt fine, even his wings. Harry's eyes went completely round with shock.
His wings?! He had wings? Since when did he have wings? "I have wings?" He whispered shakily. Harry tried to sit up again and this time he wasn't hindered. He twisted his torso and stretched his neck to look at his back. Dumbledore just sat there in his chair, quiet. All the effort Harry put into stretching and turning made his wings flutter. They stretched out from his back, completely white with soft feathers. Harry raised his hand, shaking. He reached out with one trembling finger and softly stroked the feathers. They were just as soft as they looked. He turned his wide eyes at Dumbledore again. "What…? Why…?" His brain couldn't complete a single sentence. It had almost completely shut down.
Dumbledore just shook his head slowly. "We don't know what happened." He said. "As I said we found you two weeks ago. You laid on the shore of a lake in Sweden. You'd been gone for a week and we had searched everywhere." His voice trailed off. Harry just gaped at him. Sweden? How had he gotten to Sweden? He'd never been outside the UK. He didn't even know someone from Sweden. Wait, they found him two weeks ago, and by that time he'd already been gone for a week. Draco would kill him. Draco. Where was he? Why were Dumbledore sitting beside him and not Draco? "Where's Draco?" His voice trembled. "Is he really mad?" The old man shook his head. "I sent Draco home. He hadn't slept for two days and he's been here since we found you. He was angry at first, that you would just up and leave like that, but when you weren't back after a day or so he began to worry. It was he who located you in Sweden. I don't know how he did that, but he did. He's been so worried and he didn't want to go home in case you woke up. He'll probably be here soon."
Harry sank back to his pillow, breathing deeply. Draco wasn't angry with him. That's good to know. But how would he react to the wings? "Have he… seen… the wings." Harry asked haltingly. "When did they appear?" What if Draco hadn't seen them. What if Draco left him because of the wings. Harry started to panic again. What if they were permanent and Draco couldn't live with that. What if Draco found someone without wings instead of Harry. Sure they'd been together for quite some time now but still. Draco had never been one for things being different. He didn't like birds in general. He couldn't stand the owls flying in with the morning paper even. And now Harry had wings. With feathers. How would he survive without him. It's was getting hard to breathe. The air seemed to be to thin. How were you supposed to live when the air was so thin. Why hadn't he thought about it before? It wasn't important. Why should it be. Draco might leave him. That was the important thing. He was going to loose Draco. Draco wouldn't stand for feathers all over the place. He wouldn't come near Harry with these thing still on his back. "Are they permanent? Can we cut them off?" His voice sounded funny. He couldn't breathe. Why was air so important to breathing? He couldn't hear what Dumbledore was saying. He saw the old man moving his lips but no sound got through the panic Harry felt.
Dumbledore stood up from the chair and went for the door. Before he could open it it opened by it self and Draco came in. Harry stopped breathing completely. Draco looked tired, but he was still the most beautiful thing Harry had ever seen. Draco eyes had been on Dumbledore but now they went to Harry's panicked eyes. Draco's eyes widened and he rushed over to Harry's bed. He reached out and Harry flinched. Draco's beautiful grey eyes filled with hurt and Harry couldn't stand it. Quickly he stretched out his hands and pulled Draco close. He didn't even think of his wings when he did that. Just that Draco was hurt and that it was his fault. Harry stroked the fine blond hair beneath his chin. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered in Draco's ear. Draco reared back as if he'd been hit. "You're sorry?" He asked incredulously. "What ever for?" Harry couldn't look at him. Everything was just so screwed up. He was going to loose Draco and he'd hurt him. How was he ever supposed to live like this. "I'm sorry." He tried again. He felt a hand raise his chin. When had he lowered it? His eyes locked with Draco's. They just looked into each other's eyes. "I'm sorry." Harry mumbled and a spark lit I Draco's eyes. He was angry after all. "Why are you sorry?" Draco ground out through his teeth. "Tell me." Harry didn't really know how to say it. How did you apologise for something you didn't know how it happened? Harry tried anyway. "I'm sorry for the wings." And it was like a dam had broken. All his fears came pouring out. "I'm sorry I have wings. I know you don't like birds. And I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I didn't know. And I'm sorry I hurt you. And I'm sorry for everything. Please don't leave me. I can't live without you. We'll cut them off. They don't mean anything to me. I don't want you to hate me. Please don't hate me. I don't want the wings. I just want you. I just want to be with you. I'm so…" a hand over his mouth stopped the flow of words pouring. Draco just stared at Harry incredulously. How could Harry think that he could ever hate him. And sure he didn't like birds but Harry didn't look anything like a bird. How could he even think the wings would be enough to push Draco away. They loved each other. They had loved each other for years. They had lived together almost as long.
"Harry!" Draco said in an exasperated voice. "Think for once in your life. Think of what your saying right now." That was the problem. Harry couldn't think. Draco was going to leave him. It was such a bad thought that nothing else could formulate. "Please don't leave me." He pleaded weakly. Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "Harry, I'm not going to leave you, ever. Now please think." Harry could suddenly breathe again. And with the air came his ability to think back. Oh, how stupid he felt. Of course Draco wouldn't leave him, they'd been through too much together. But that's not all. Dumbledore had been there. And Draco was there. And he had wings. This shouldn't be news to him. And now that he could think again he realised that Dumbledore had had wings too. And Draco had wings. This wasn't news. That had been the norm for at least a hundred years by now. Why had he not remembered that for a minute there? He must have hit his head or something. They'd gotten their wing when they died. And he should have remembered that even though he'd been unconscious for awhile. He still didn't know why he'd been gone or what had happened but everything else wasn't weird.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly to Draco and tried to smile. Draco just rolled his eyes again. This had happened before. Harry had such a bad memory when he was in a panic. Which happened every time he woke up from being unconscious. Which happened way too often even in death. This was just the way it was. Harry disappeared never knowing why or where, they had to find him and then he got confused. But Draco was fine with that. He loved his gryffindor even through the dumb. At least it only happened every ten years or so, so it wasn't every year he had to go through this.
"I know you're sorry. You always are. But could you please try to remember that I love you and would never leave so you don't panic like this the next time?"
"I love you too. And I promise I will try better next time." Harry smiled he would so not remember the next time. He liked to be reassured by Draco after a panic attack.