Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does as we all know.
A/N: This is my first fanfic. Although I've read fanfics for years, I've never had the courage to write and publish one, until now. I basically wrote this on the spot, so it's definitely really bad. I just had to get this off my chest after taking a bad exam. Enjoy.
Harry watched his mates from the shadows. They looked so happy without him, the outcast. The only lion in a group of snakes. Tom, who usually did not express his happiness, had a small smile on his face as Severus sat in the armchair opposite to him, silently reading a Potions book. Next to Tom was Draco, who was snuggled next to the powerful wizard and was dozing off. Without him, they looked like the perfect picture of happy lovers.
Harry's bond to the three Slytherins came with his creature inheritance - the Potter line had married a Phoenix hybrid at one point, so although he was not a full hybrid, he had some qualities of the Phoenix hybrid, which was how he came to discover that he was mated to the three men. But the three wizards, who were already in a loving relationship before Harry's inheritance, did not welcome their newly created bond with the Boy Who Lived. Even with his soul healed, Tom still hated Harry Potter just as much as he did when he was Voldemort. Severus too could not find it within himself to let go of his hate for Harry, for the years of bullying from James Potter and the rest of the Marauders left a bitter taste in his mouth. Draco, who enjoyed being the youngest in the relationship, did not appreciate that there was another lover his own age, let alone Potter. Not only that, years of rivalry have made it impossible for Draco to see Harry Potter as anything but a nuisance, so he had no desire to consider Potter as a lover.
And Harry knew all this - he knew that there was no chance of being loved by his mates. But if there was anything the Dursleys have taught him, it was to appreciate what he was given, and Harry did. He finally had a taste of what it was like to have a group of people that was destined to love him. Harry was grateful that he had a bond mate at all, let alone three bond mates. So even though they did not want him, he was content with the fact that a bond existed between him and the three men. It was alright if they ignored him and insulted him, it wasn't like he wasn't used to it. As long as they were his and he was theirs, Harry was more than satisfied.
But he could not help the sharp pain that shot through him every time he watched his mates be affectionate without him. As much as he told himself that he should be happy with what he had, Harry couldn't help but wish for his mates to love him just as much as he loved them. He had tried so hard, and still does try hard, to change his mates' mind about him.
He tried to show him that he wasn't the spoiled Boy Who Lived that they thought he was, constantly putting himself in danger to seek glory. He found as many rare books he could find from the Black library at Grimmauld Place to give to his mates, who all loved to read. He started a garden for potions ingredients for Severus, found elegant heirloom pieces from the Potter and Black vaults for Draco, and managed to find the Resurrection Stone, which he fashioned into a ring, for Tom. They accepted his gifts, but they made sure that he knew that he still had no chance with them. In desperation, Harry had cooked and cleaned for them, taking care to learn his mates' favorite foods. But once they found out that the food was not made by the house elves but by him, they refused to eat the food he made.
Despite having his heart torn to pieces several times, Harry couldn't find it in himself to give up. They were his bond mates, meaning that Fate had decided that there was something in the three Slytherins that made them perfect for Harry and Harry was determined to find that.
Little did Harry know, Tom had already discovered a way to break the mate bond with Harry. It had taken months of searching through old tomes at the Malfoy's library, but he had eventually come across a ritual that made it possible to severe the connection between a Phoenix hybrid and its mates. The ritual was not created for the mates themselves to be able to cut the connection. It was actually a ritual made by enemies of Phoenix hybrid wizards who wanted to find a way to harm the creature, which was through its mate. The magic of a Phoenix hybrid was strengthened as a result of its bond to its mate and their magic is known to increase in strength if the creature has to protect its mates.
However, Tom also discovered that although the Phoenix hybrid itself receives a boost in magical power from its mates, the bond mates also have an increase in magical strength. So as much as he despised Harry Potter, Tom couldn't pass up the opportunity to have stronger magic. Tom had revealed his discoveries to Severus and Draco and they all agreed to keep their bond to Harry Potter for more power.
And they only had to wait one year until Harry went through a physical transformation as the final step for his creature inheritance. According to Tom's readings, phoenix hybrids would gain the same attributes as phoenixes themselves, meaning that Harry would grow life-sized wings of Phoenix feathers and would cry tears with healing properties. Both the feathers and tears would prove to be extremely useful to them - especially to Severus who could make rare potions without paying hundreds of galleons for phoenix ingredients.
But even though they agreed to stay bonded to Harry didn't mean they had to act like they were bonded to him because they genuinely did not want him. In their minds, trying to love Harry Potter was quite literally asking them to do the impossible. They did not have an ounce of desire to change their minds about Harry and just wanted the year to pass already so they could reap all the benefits of being the mates of a Phoenix hybrid, before cutting off all ties with him. The ritual for severing the bond did not specify what the effects were on the creature itself, all they knew was that they would come out of the ritual scot-free, and that was all that mattered.