Harry found that his stay in Loki's "house" was actually quite soothing. It was always cleaned immediately (negating his OCD kicking in), the pantry was always full (allowing him to experiment with recipes, with Loki's full encouragement...particularly in the area of sweets), and the sheer joy of being able to read what he wanted without hearing Hermione's strident voice wanting to know what he found so interesting, Ron's pestering for a chess match to divert his attention, or the odds of Malfoy showing up to annoy him for no other reason than he had snubbed his offer of friendship was an unexpected delight.
He already learned more about magic in that one week span alone than he ever would have had he stayed. And that was just from books.
In fact, he found he enjoyed being in the house so much that the idea of going back simply didn't appeal to him. Sure, he could spy on his friends through the TV but the fact of the matter was that he was having more fun reading and watching normal things than seeing what they were up to.
Loki had promised him once he was sure Harry could handle returning to England that he would kidnap Sirius to do damage control...and hopefully see if he could find a way to make Remus' condition less painful. He wasn't ashamed that his uncle was a werewolf. He just wished Remus felt the same.
Of course that was nothing to the way Loki acted around Harry. He seemed to treat him like his kid brother, and the genuine affection in his voice whenever he called him 'kiddo' actually made him happy.
The only thing that bugged him was the feathers. He knew what a feather felt like on bare skin, and the night he first broke down when he realized Loki wouldn't just hand him back to Dumbledore or his merry band of idiots had that unmistakeable feeling. Yet Loki refused to tell him why the minute he finally felt at peace there was the sensation of being covered in feathers.
It was almost like he was embarrassed about them or something.
Finally, after the third non-answer Loki gave about the feathers, Harry decided to try a different approach.
"I swear you must be a magpie animagus," he muttered.
Oooh...there was the annoyed/amused spark.
"And what...makes you think I'm something as boring as a magpie?"
"Have you seen your collecting habits?" countered Harry with a slight smirk.
Loki looked around his house. Okay, he could see where the kid was coming from...he was something of a hoarder when it came to interesting things. Only the most interesting stayed in the living room however.
Most of it ended up in storage at some point.
Harry rather liked it. It had the chaotic feel of the Burrow, but it had the roomy feel of Hogwarts during the holidays. It felt...lived in, for lack of a better term.
"Of course you could be a niffler of some sort," said Harry with a straight face. "Or maybe some sort of cat."
That was when Loki realized what Harry was really up to, and he smirked.
"Nice try kiddo. Once I'm sure you can handle the truth, I'll tell you."
"...Can I at least see them so I know I wasn't imagining things?" asked Harry.
Loki considered the request for a while. Eventually he realized that there wasn't any real harm in letting the teen at least look at them, and it had been years since he let them out of the binding.
Harry stared at the six massive wings.
"So...you have wings of tarnished gold?" he asked.
Loki bristled a bit.
"They are not tarnished!"
"They're the color of something that came out of an antique shop that hasn't been polished properly in a long time," stated Harry flatly.
Loki growled, but finally pulled one of the wings to where he could see them. His annoyance dropped the second he realized how dirty they were.
"...Maybe you haven't been taking care of them properly?" said Harry.
"It's been a long time since I've even let them out."
Harry's OCD, which had been thankfully remaining dormant until now, kicked into full gear.
"You have two options. Either let me clean them or go into the bathroom to do it yourself. And I don't care if you have wings so long as you don't smack me in the face with them," said Harry flatly.
Loki stared at the audacity Harry displayed before he laughed.
"Kid, I have no idea if you even know how to clean wings properly."
Harry jerked a thumb in Hedwig's direction. Her wings were so immaculate that the only black spots were natural ones. Hedwig hooted imperiously at Loki.
Loki gave Harry a speculative look, hearing her remarks.
"That good huh? Alright kiddo, I'll let you clean the top pair. Depending on how well you do, I might let you do the rest," said Loki.
Five minutes into the cleaning session, Loki was practically purring like a cat. Hedwig had understated his ability to clean feathers...once the kid hit a rhythm he liked, he was good. Harry seemed very amused by Loki's reaction to him cleaning the wings, which were steadily going from a tarnished antique look to a shade normally found when it was still brand new and recently worked into a new shape. It was almost the color of liquid caramel to be honest.
"You really have let them go. The amount of times I've had to change the water for one wing alone," said Harry shaking his head.
Loki continued that weird purring sound in the back of his throat. It was like he couldn't hear a thing while Harry was massaging the dirt out of his wings. Harry filed this information in the back of his head for later.
It was nearly dark before Harry was satisfied with Loki's wings. Why he had them, he had no idea, but frankly he could care less. Loki was only dangerous if you royally pissed him off or threatened those he 'claimed'.
Loki jolted awake when he realized Harry was done. Looking at the wings now he blinked.
From tarnished to a shiny gold, it was a real statement to how dirty his wings had been. He felt great!
"You should probably let them dry, unless you want to do that shaking thing dogs do to get rid of the excess water," said Harry amused.
Loki would have left them out, but he heard something on the air waves he normally ignored unless it was important that someone could sense him again. He did a strange sort of 'vibration' along the wings, drying them out in a hurry before they vanished.
He could hear his brothers confusion towards the fact his Grace was no longer present. At best, they knew he was not only still alive but very much fine.
Loki promptly ignored the immediate demand of Micheal for him to return.
He was a coward, not an idiot. He had heard rumors of an angel 'retraining' group Micheal made to remind the lower angels who dared question heaven's authority of their place. The one leading that particular effort was a sadistic bitch called Naomi who could give Alistair, Hell's best torture specialist, a run for his money. He wasn't going home until he had no other choice.
He was very, very tempted to tell Micheal where he could shove his sword for his demands, but that left the chance that his brothers could track him down. It was so hard not to though...
Loki noticed Harry was in a particularly good mood recently, and a quick look at the calender revealed why. He winced slightly at the fact it would be Christmas soon.
He had taken to walking around with his wings out, though he still had to keep his grace in check. Seeing the kid curl up like a kitten against his wings totally made up for that nuisance though.
Harry, once he got used to the wings, was a total cuddle monster. Loki didn't mind at all, because truth be told, he was too.
More than once he woke up to find the teen curled around him like a giant teddy bear. Originally he assumed nightmares had driven the kid into the room, until he sensed the magic coming from Harry's scar. Then he realized what was really happening.
Voldemort was trying out the connection he hadn't originally known was there to torment Harry.
Loki was nothing if not possessive. So if curling against him blocked the connection, then he would let the kid turn him into a giant teddy bear.
"Where are we?"
"Australia," said Loki with a very fake accent. To top off the image, he was dressed in the most idiotic looking safari hunter outfit Harry had ever seen.
"You look like a dork," said Harry flatly.
"And you look like someone who needs a noogie," said Loki. Harry blanched, but couldn't avoid the tackle by Loki who promptly began to tickle the hell out of him. He couldn't help the peal of laughter as Loki targeted his vulnerable areas.
Loki grinned. It was good for Harry to finally relax.
"So what now?"
"Now I get you so shitfaced drunk that Sirius would be proud, followed by a week's worth of questionably legal activity. After that we'll spend an entire week swimming, surfing and looking at the weirdest fish you've ever seen," said Loki flatly.
Harry's grin nearly split his face.
"You are officially more fun than the twins," said Harry. Loki beamed at him.
"And you are officially way more fun than my other brothers," said Loki.
"How many brothers do you have?"
"Too many to count. Though the older ones are major dicks," said Loki.
"Must be nice...having a big family," said Harry.
"It can be, but more often than not you're fighting with at least one person," said Loki, ruffling the kid's hair. Harry only pretended to try and remove the hand.
Harry would deny it if asked, but he didn't mind Loki's affectionate gestures. Loki never saw him as anything but Harry, and he didn't push him like Sirius or worse, Hermione would have. He gave Harry more space than he knew what to do with, and let him move at his own pace.
Giving him room to breath had done more for Harry than trying to smother him had. Something Molly Weasley simply didn't understand. She was so terrified of losing her children that she coddled them as if they were two.
"Let's get started, shall we?" grinned Loki. Harry grinned back. This would be fun!
"Oh my aching head..."
Loki grinned at his 'little brother'. It was very mischievous and rather evil.
"Aw...can the poor little wizard not handle his liquor?" he snickered. He yelped a second later when Harry hexed him without looking.
"How much did I drink last night?"
"Well you were actually doing better than most first timers...but then you somehow found my stash of mead and well..."
Harry looked down, and winced.
"Do I have a cat tail?" he asked slowly.
"And ears. Though they're more of a panther than a house cat," said Loki cheerfully.
"Why?"
Loki had an unrepentant grin on his face.
"Because it's hilarious?"
Harry hexed him again.
"Bully."
"Jerk," said Harry, before the sun made him groan again. Loki snickered when he saw Harry's new 'tail' curl around him like a sort of belt.
If his hangover wasn't gone by the time he woke up again, he would get rid of it for him. He wasn't that cruel to a first time drinker. He was amazed the kid was able to handle a full shot glass of mead after all the alcohol he had less than twenty minutes before. Most humans couldn't handle even half a glass without getting sick or dying from alcohol poisoning.
By noon Harry was up...but he barely made it to the bathroom before his stomach gave up. Loki winced in sympathy, but once the kid was able to handle not vomiting for five minutes, he got rid of the hangover.
"Why didn't you do that sooner?"
"Easier for you to learn the downfalls of alcohol at least once, than to have you take the danger for granted."
Harry grimaced, but at least he wasn't feeling like shit anymore.
"I gotta say though... you handled yourself better than most grown men three times your age. The only silly thing you did was challenge me to do my worst," said Loki.
Harry didn't even want to look at food with how crappy he felt earlier. Eventually Loki coaxed him into eating some crackers and bread.
He swore then and there never to mix mead with a night of drinking. The after effects simply weren't worth it.