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Author's Note: So this didn't turn out quite how I wanted it, but that seemed a decent place to stop it.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts 2.0 (T05); RAVEN (2025); MC4A (Sp-Yr8)
Individual Challenges: Wings (Y); Anti-Puzzle (Y); Red Instead (Y); Delilah (Y); Main Show; Feather Head; Purple Scholar; Feathers & Such; Dreamers [x4]; Magical MC [x4]; Student [x4]; Ethnic & Present [x3]; Hold the Mayo; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion [x3]; Hogwarts MC [x4]; Booger Breath; Finders; Lunar Era; Castle Time; Rainbow Connection; Sandbox (Y); Cinematic; Reader; Gamer; In a Flash; Bucket Listing (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Exchange; Greatest Gift; Outer Limit; Two Cakes (Y); Vial Collector
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Term 05 - Assignment 07
Subject [Task (Prompt)] : British Traditions [Task#4 ('fireworks' (figuratively or literally)]
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Library [Backyard Bird](Wings AU); Frenzy [GoT#3]("Not Today"); Center [63 - Kermit](Awkward Situation); Pokemon [377 - Regirock](fawn); Apr House [Peek#19](confusion);
RAVEN Challenges: A [32](Grabbing); Traits [13](Confused); Colors [13](Carrot); Items [29](Feather); Settings [12](Castle)
Other MC4A Challenges: Chim [Jolene]("Isaac" - Bear's Den; Race Bent); Hunt [Sp WD (Woman)];
Representation(s): Desi & Autistic Harry Potter & the Patil Twins; Phoenix Harry; Wings AU; Chim Song Prompt
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Found Family; Nontraditional; Machismo; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still); Chorus (Pear-Shaped; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi); Demo 1 (Spinning Plates; Muck & Slime; Corvid Brain; Most Human Bean; Over the Hills; Where Angels Fear; Lovely Coconuts; Casper's House; Bad Beans; Under the Bridge); Demo 2 (Tomorrow's Shade; Head of Perseus; Hot Stuff; Misshapen Pods; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; Creature Feature; Sitting Hummingbird)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Intercept); O3 (Oust); SHoE (Terse; Oblique); Once (Santa Fe; Moses Supposes); Mea (Ennui; Rampant); Wings (Bower); Share (Ameliorate; Dragoman)
Space Address (Prompt): SpB 1E (Fire); TrB 2A (Birds of a Feather)
Word Count: 640 words

(Ø)
Birds of a Feather
(Ø)

Harry had always hated his wings. They were always smaller than the wings of the other children around him. To be fair, so was he, but even taking that into consideration, Harry's wings were small. They were so small, in fact, that Harry couldn't keep up when the flying lessons in gym class advanced beyond stretches and strengthening exercises. His wings just weren't enough to provide him any lift at all.

Even Dudley could manage to glide a bit.

Harry's wings were plain, too. Instead of the variety of colors that everyone else had, his were just a boring fawn color with the occasional speck of a slightly redder fawn. Even the other children had fun colors and patterns, even in muted juvenile ways.

Finding out that magic was real had given Harry hope that maybe it was normal for magical children to have boring wings which were too small. That hope turned out to be as false as his parents dying in a car crash. Hogwarts was just an extension of his primary school, with everyone having wings large enough to at least glide with. Everyone had interesting colors and patterns, too.

He would have despaired entirely if it weren't for the Patil twins. Parvati had practically squealed the first time that she had gotten a good look at his wings. Harry was certain that it was because of the state of them. Even hating his wings, Harry had tried to take care of them. There was just some grooming tasks that needed to be done by someone else. The Dursleys all helped each other, but Harry had been left on his own for them.

He knew he had spots where his feathers were mangled and still partially in the pin sheath. Judging by the itchiness, there was likely dried out or dirty areas. He had already spotted the sprayers and scrub posts in the dorm's bathrooms. Given enough time, he could probably get his wings to something better resembling presentable, even if he would never be able to match the glossy shine that Parvati had on her perfect cranberry wings.

Parvati still offered to help him groom his wings. It didn't seem connected to anything related to the Boy-Who-Lived myth either. Even Ron had asked about his scar before anything personal. But Parvati had seen his boring wings and her reaction was to offer to groom them.

Harry had almost rejected the offer. Ron had certainly been huffy when she had made it, his own carrot orange wings flaring out in challenge. Harry had looked between the two who had been locked in a staring contest.

He didn't know what to do. They were both strangers, if he had shared the entire train ride with Ron. His hands twisted around each other. He could feel his small wings fluttering against his back.

"Please," Harry whispered, the words barely wheezing past the lump in his throat. "It's fine. It's definitely not worth fighting about. Not today. Not the very first day."

Surprisingly, the tension was broken by Parvati's sister swooping in like some kind of avenging angel. Her rose red wings snapped wide as she wrapped her arm around Harry's shoulders. One of those large wings draped over him like a feathery cloak as Padma led them away from Parvati and Ron.

"Let's find a nice nook," Padma declared as calm as the middle of a storm. She pressed a feather-soft kiss to his cheek. "Maybe a cranny or crevice." Then she reached up and gently tugged a crumpled fawn feather out of the tangled clump that was always just out of his reach. Her grin turned particularly toothy. "How do you feel about aeries?"

Harry still didn't understand what the Patil twins saw when they looked at his wings, but he was willing to give them a chance.