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Love, Free as Air	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 32703 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money from this story.

Chapter List
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Title: Love, Free
As Air

Disclaimer: J. K.
Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun
and not profit.

Warnings: Sex,
angst, profanity, a bit of violence. Ignores the epilogue of
DH.

Pairings: Snape/Harry/Draco.

Rating: R

Summary: Trapped
in his Animagus form, Harry stumbles on Snape and Draco, who disappeared from
the wizarding world years ago. His first task is to become human again. His
second might be to help Snape and Draco with the same problem.

Author�s Notes: This
story is being written for heeroluva, who won a
charity auction at gulf_aid_now to raise money for
the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. She gave me the plot, for which I
thank her. I�m not sure how long this story will be, though I estimate
somewhere between 15 and 20 chapters. The title comes from a quote by Alexander
Pope.

Love, Free As Air

Chapter One�On Singed
Wings

�� There was
too much smoke and confusion for Harry to chance changing back. He accepted his
fate with a bob of his head and made for the nearest window, intending to get
outside and then transform so that he could look back on the destruction and
salvage what memories he could to give to the Aurors.

�� The sting
of a spell across his tail was almost intangible until it suddenly blossomed
and wrapped his body in pain. Harry screamed and flared his tail out, but of
course there was nothing there now. The wizard who had cast the curse might
already have fled or succumbed to smoke inhalation.

�� And you�ll do the same thing if you don�t
get out of here right now.

�� Harry flung
himself upwards into the noise of roars and bellows and neighs and screeches,
and then found the window he�d been looking for. Up and up and up, as the wind
boosted his tail and lent strength to his wings.

*

�� Go outside
if you cannot sit still.�

�� Severus had
spoken the words an hour ago, but they still echoed in Draco�s head. He winced
and leaned back against the stone wall of the garden, looking around in a
desperate effort to cheer himself up.

�� He saw
nothing but the same familiar herbs, bushes, and vines that Severus had planted
to serve as his ingredients. They�d had flowers the first year�though of course
never as beautiful as the rose gardens at the Manor�but Severus had refused to have
any the next, stating that petals were useful in few potions. Draco had admired
Severus�s stern self-denial at that point, and had thought he was childish, himself, in wishing for a few bright blossoms, so he�d
agreed.

�� Now he knew
it wasn�t self-denial. Severus simply didn�t care about beautiful things, and
never would if he wasn�t forced to.

�� Draco
closed his eyes. He began the familiar litany of excuses that would soften his
resentment against Severus.

�� You knew when you came with him that he
wasn�t rich. He warned you that he wasn�t a pleasant man to be around, and only cared about potions. You can�t say that he
lied. You could have left when you found out that he wasn�t your perfect dream
mentor. You were the one who tricked yourself into thinking his every word was
wise.

�� But that
litany hadn�t worked for some time, not unless Draco repeated it for hours and
wore himself into agreement with Severus through sheer weariness. Yes, Severus
had told the truth, but he also had been able to see, had to have seen, the hero-worship shining in Draco�s face, and he�d
done nothing to discourage Draco�s impressions of his activities during the war
or during his trial.

�� He could have said that he really didn�t
love or care for anyone, that he only cared about himself, that he�d never had
human warmth and didn�t miss it, Draco thought, opening his eyes and
staring at a clump of morning glory vines that Severus had trained to grow
along a trellis placed against the wall. I
gave him plenty of opportunity to say that. Instead, he smiled at me with this
dark glint in his eyes and hinted that maybe I was the one who could teach him
love.

�� Draco
snorted. What a fucking joke. He�s
devoted himself to abstract ideals like pride and skill for so long that he
probably wouldn�t recognize love if it fell out of the sky and landed at his
feet.

�� A sharp
crashing noise in the nearest tree startled him. Draco looked up and blinked,
then rose to his feet when the crashing didn�t stop. Angry birds sometimes battled
for the fruit on the high trees that Severus had planted, but they went away
after one sting of the guardian wards around the tree trunks. Perhaps this was
a more stubborn or desperate bird than usual. They were getting into late
summer, and Draco thought he vaguely remembered some birds reared a second
brood then or something.

�� At the very
least, it was a diversion from his thoughts and his absolute lack of any
occupation.

�� How sad, Draco thought as he walked
along the curving stone path to the back of the garden and the source of the sound, that this has become my life.

*

�� Harry
raised his head and shook it in a daze. He already knew that something was
wrong. He did his best to control the instincts of his Animagus form and stop
thrashing with his wings against the invisible net that held him so that he
could number all his problems.

�� First, he
had aimed at the nearest source of powerful magic, thinking it would be the
encampment of Aurors who were waiting for his report. But either they had left
or he had been carried further by the kidnappers than he had expected. This
place had its own wards that he had pierced with several jabs of his beak, but
from inside, it was not the camp�unless they had managed to build stone walls
and plant an extensive garden overnight.

�� Second, the
spell one of his captors had cast at him as he escaped was causing random
flares of pain throughout his body. Wherever this place was, Harry thought he�d
have to stay for a while. He couldn�t fly if he was burning with agony.

�� Third, the
spell had another effect, the one Harry had feared it
did. When he found himself within a net of air and magic, he had tried
instinctively to change back. The transformation would have ruptured the spells
meant to contain an animal and he�d have fallen to the ground. Not very
dignified, of course, but at least it would mean that he could get help from
whatever wizards these were.

�� But he couldn�t change back.

�� Not
surprising, since the kidnappers he�d been investigating were highly skilled in
Transfiguration, and had been snatching wizards�especially wizarding
children�for months and changing them into rare and expensive animals to sell.
It made sense that they would have developed a spell that would keep anyone
from reverting to their human form, whether by accident or accidental magic.

�� But it was
inconvenient as all fuck right now.

�� Footsteps
sounded below. Harry twisted his head. With luck, this was a wizard now, and he
would be able to explain the situation as soon as they got him out of the net,
even if he couldn�t change back. There were advantages to being the specific
kind of bird he was.

�� He almost
changed his mind when he saw the pale face peering up at him from below. It had
been six years, but he hadn�t forgotten what Draco Malfoy looked like. If
nothing else, the posters in the Auror Department that showed his face and
promised a reward for information on him would have reminded Harry. Malfoy had
fled on the eve of his own trial, and helped the condemned criminal Severus Snape
to escape as well.

�� It didn�t
matter that Harry hadn�t agreed with the Wizengamot�s conviction of Snape or
its probable conviction of Malfoy. The point
was that there was such a thing as the law, and running away from it solved
nothing in the long run.

�� Now,
swaying in the net, Harry had to wonder whether it wouldn�t be to his advantage
to keep quiet and try to find someone else to change him back. He really only
needed the spell stopped and his wounds healed, and a few days to recover. Then
he could take to the sky again.

�� In fact,
that was so much the best course that Harry was sort of impressed with himself
for thinking of it. He usually wasn�t very sensible. He kept still and silent
except for a few involuntary flaps as Malfoy studied him. His form could hang upside-down
without trouble, but that was under its own
power and not hanging from meshes he couldn�t see in the midst of the air.

*

�� Draco
stared.

�� The bird
above him was the size of a small crow, or so Draco thought. It kept moving
just when he had his eyes focused on it. But its feathers were grey, and stood out around its body so much that Draco
thought it might actually be bigger than it looked, or smaller.

�� Ash-grey. That was
an unusual color for birds, Draco thought. He�d seen doves that were near it,
but this wasn�t a dove. Apart from anything else, it had a bright red spot on
its tail. And it was screaming in a manner that made Draco wince. Any dove that
had a voice like that would get pecked to death by all the other doves around
it.

�� A hawk?

�� The feet,
when Draco could see them�the bird was head-down in the net that Severus had
set up for thieves that didn�t learn the first time�did look like talons. It
might be a hawk.

�� Draco
raised his wand and cast the spell that would cut the net and bring the bird
down still tangled up in it. He didn�t want those talons and that heavy beak,
which he could see in flashing glimpses, getting close to him unless he had no
choice.

�� The net
fell, the bird screaming indignantly all the way, and Draco caught and balanced
it in his arms. The bird thrashed around until it was staring at him, drawing
shallow breaths all the while.

�� Draco
blinked. No, the head didn�t look like any hawk�s head he�d ever seen. The face
was white, with big, unexpectedly green eyes with intense black pupils. The
pupils changed size while he looked, as if the bird was trying to focus on him.
And the red feathers weren�t just a spot of color; the whole tail was red, a rusty color that Draco
had last seen in the worse class of sunset.

�� What are
you?� Draco murmured. He was starting to think that this wasn�t a bird native
to England, and that meant it had probably escaped from a Muggle zoo or pet
shop. He turned the net over, trying to get a better look at that flared tail
and the heavy feet. Now that he could see them, they were far too small to be a
hawk�s talons.

�� The bird
screamed again and snaked its neck around in an unexpected maneuver, sinking
its curved beak into Draco�s thumb.

�� Draco swore
and pulled his hand back, a steady stream of blood running down past his nail.
The bird flailed enthusiastically and nearly broke free, but Draco cast a weak Immobulus and
froze it in place. Then he cast a charm that would make the net hover in the
air while he healed the wound. The bird, apparently not completely frozen,
rolled its eyes at him malevolently.

�� Draco
recognized it now, and felt rather stupid for not doing it earlier. On the
other hand, you didn�t actually expect a parrot to turn up in your garden, not
in this climate. He and Severus had lived in a few places where�

�� He cut off
that memory before it could become uncomfortable and stepped forwards to study
the bird. �You�ll be lucky if Severus doesn�t chop you up for potions,� he told
it. �I think he�d like to try your heart with a base of raven feathers and see
what happens.�

�� Idiot,�
the bird said.

�� Draco
jumped, the voice was so clear. Someone had owned this bird, he was sure, and
probably had done some experiments of their own to teach it to talk. He shook
his head and studied the bird more closely, looking for some kind of
identification marker. He had heard that Muggles put things like that on their
pets, though it was possible that it had been destroyed by the wards that would
give free passage to animals but not to Muggle devices.

�� He found
nothing unusual except a jagged white streak across the bird�s forehead, hard
to see because of the pallor of its face. There were bent and singed feathers,
too, as though the bird had just barely escaped a fire. �Whoever had you last
didn�t treat you well,� he murmured.

�� I�m Harry
Potter,� said the bird.

�� Draco
laughed. �You did have a conceited owner. Or perhaps someone who was a Potter
fan?� He tried to remember if he�d heard what Potter was doing these days.
Severus had a subscription to the Daily
Prophet under a false name�which had been ridiculously easy to set up�and
Draco remembered a story that Potter had gone through most of Auror training
but decided not to become an Auror. He had no idea if he�d read anything more
than that, though. About the only thing he was sure of was that Potter hadn�t
become a professional Quidditch player; there would have been more stories
about him if that was the case.

�� I�m really Harry Potter,� said the bird.
�Let me go.�

�� Draco shook
his head. �You�re an intelligent bird, but everyone knows that parrots repeat
what they see and hear.� He paused, a bit of doubt coming to life in him.
�Unless��

�� He cast the
spell that should force an Animagus to resume its human form. The bird did
nothing but struggle and scream. Its voice was piercing, Draco thought,
resisting the urge to plug his ears. He still didn�t think that warranted the
parrot�s previous owner setting it on fire, though. You shouldn�t own a bird
like this unless you were prepared to deal with its voice in all its aspects.

�� I thought
so,� Draco said. �A clever bird, and your owner was a
Potter fan, which tells me that he was a wizard, but nothing more.�

�� He stood a
few minutes studying the parrot, and ignoring the idea that crept into his head
until it was fully formed and he could regard it without embarrassment.

�� If the bird
had belonged to a wizard�and it would have been a fantastic coincidence for it
to belong to a Muggle or Squib who just happened to have heard of the wizarding
world�then there was no way for Draco to get it back home. He couldn�t reveal
where he and Severus were. Even if he left Severus, as he sometimes dreamed of
doing lately, he wouldn�t deliver his former lover to the Dementor�s
Kiss.

�� That meant
he was going to keep the bird, and whoever had owned it last could go hang.

��

�� Draco had
never before thought of adopting a bird. On the other hand, he was so desperate
for a change and a bit of relief from his boredom that he would accept anything
that dropped into his lap.

�� It looks
like you�re stuck with me for right now,� he told the bird. �I�ll have to think
of something to name you.� He waved his wand, removed the last of the Freezing
Charm�which obviously hadn�t been that effective, but then again, it probably
wasn�t meant to work on animals�and floated the net towards the house.

�� Let me go,
you bastard,� said the bird.

�� Draco shook
his head. �Your former owner was foul-mouthed in addition to everything else,�
he said. �A pity. Well, you�ll hear better language
here, if not always of the sweetest or lightest kind.�

*

�� There were times that Harry
hated the Animagus form his magic had chosen for him, useful as his wings and a human voice were.

�� He had
thought of calling Malfoy by his name, to see if it would make a difference,
but then again, the git already seemed to have discarded the suspicion that
Harry could become human when his spell failed to break the curse on Harry. The
mention of his name when there was no possible way a parrot could know it might
have made him paranoid and determined to kill Harry.

�� And there
was no way that Harry could resist or escape the magic as long as he was in
this bloody net. His best hope for the moment was to wait for Malfoy to release
him and then find the nearest window.

�� If I can.

�� Harry
flexed his wings as soon as Malfoy released him from the Immobulus Charm. They ached. An attempt to turn himself
right-side up in the net made his breastbone�always heavy�flare like an
old wound. Harry closed his eyes in a slow blink and ruffled his feathers.
Maybe he did have to rest before he
flew again.

�� On the
other hand, if Malfoy got him into a cage, what was he going to do? A wizard
could add charms around the bars that would give no normal bird a chance of
escaping, and Harry was essentially a normal bird as long as he was under this
stupid spell and as long as no one would believe him.

�� Gnawing the
problem the way he wished he could gnaw Malfoy�s fingers, he looked up only
when they left the bright light of the garden and Malfoy swept him into the
stone house that Harry had been distantly aware that the garden surrounded.

�� The first
room was huge and shaped rather like a box, lined with dark wood that made
Harry wonder exactly how Malfoy and Snape had afforded this. The furniture in
the room seemed to consist entirely of two couches and three chairs, all of
them piled with books. Harry saw dust lining the edges of the deep blue
curtains and was glad that birds had no sense of smell.

�� Malfoy
deposited the net on the floor and crouched to look at him. Harry opened his
beak in a prolonged hiss. That might decide the prat against keeping him as a
pet or as a source of mobile potions ingredients, which now appeared the
likeliest options.

�� You�ll
need a cage,� Malfoy said, as if to himself. �A large
one, since you�re a large bird. And a perch to sit on.
And�what do parrots eat? Seeds? Nuts? Crackers?� He trailed off, but not as if he was puzzled. He
was staring at the far wall instead, and Harry thought that he was probably
reliving a memory.

�� While he�s doing that, I�m floating here,
tired and hungry and needing to spread my wings. Harry spoke again, though
by now he had lost hope that that would actually make Malfoy pay any attention.
�Seeds. Nuts. Fruit.�

�� You are a good mimic,� Malfoy murmured.
�Maybe you�ll eventually speak the way I do, rather than the way your former
owner did.�

�� Harry would
have liked to be in a cage at that moment, if only so he could bang his head
against the bars in frustration.

�� A door opened
somewhere down the corridor that appeared to connect the boxy room with the back
of the house. Malfoy scrambled to his feet and moved in front of the net as if
he wanted to shield Harry from the sight of whoever was walking towards them.
Harry shifted to the side, beating his wings a little so that he could regain
his balance, and incidentally sending small white feathers flying everywhere.

�� Hush!�
Malfoy whispered at him.

�� Under the
impression that he should do everything he could to inconvenience someone who
refused to believe he was an Animagus, Harry flapped harder and screamed. The
footsteps paused and then came further along, proving to belong to a tall, pale
man wrapped in black robes and with a familiar irritated expression on his
face.

�� Harry
stared. He had assumed that Snape would have changed somewhat during the six
years since he last saw him�even Malfoy had, if only to grow taller�but Snape
might have walked out of the holding cell where Harry had last seen him. He
fixed Harry with an inimical dark eye, but there was nothing new about that,
either.

�� Harry
unexpectedly relaxed. It was as if he had come home.

*

�� Severus did
not bother asking where Draco had found the parrot. Draco regularly had small
�adventures� as if he were still a child and needed such things to divert his
imagination. He directed his gaze at Draco, however, only after he had examined
the bird for long enough to ensure that he knew what kind it was. It would not
do to look stupid in front of the one person who had always depended on his
knowledge.

�� What are
you doing with an African grey parrot, Draco?� he asked, and had the
satisfaction of seeing Draco�s jaw fall and his eyes light up. It would be a
black day when he could not manage to startle and impress Draco.

�� Is that
what it is?� Draco breathed, looking down at the parrot as if it had suddenly
sat up and performed a trick. �The really smart ones, the
ones that can say all sorts of things? I didn�t know. I thought it was a
crow at first, or a dove. I didn�t know that it was a parrot until it bit me,�
he added, holding up his thumb for inspection.

�� Severus
glanced at it because he knew he must, and then turned his attention back to
the bird. It was watching him with bright, mad green eyes that somewhat interested
him. As far as he knew, most African greys had golden
eyes. �I want a feather or two from its tail to test in that Draught of
Readiness. Is it a Muggle pet?�

�� Draco shook
his head. �And not an Animagus, either. It mentioned Harry Potter, and it seems
to know plenty of other words, but there�s no way that we can send it back to
its owner. I�m keeping it.�

�� Severus
stared at him, surprised that Draco would think he cared about a proposition so
astonishingly irrelevant. Draco had his chest puffed out and his cheeks
slightly flushed, as if he assumed that he would have to defend his choice of
pet. Severus shook his head. �I do not care, as long as it does not disrupt
me.� He crouched down and reached for the bird�s tail, trusting that it was
caught well enough in the trap that it could not move.

�� The parrot
managed to flip itself over and snapped its beak at him. �Don�t touch the
tail,� it said.

�� Severus
could see why Draco might want the bird. Its voice was astonishingly clear, and
it moved as if it knew what it was saying. He cast a weak charm that would hold
the beak shut and then plucked the two feathers. The minute
he released the magic, the bird shrieked and spasmed as if it were dying.
Severus winced and rose to his feet, making a mental note to redouble the
soundproofing charms on his lab.

�� You may
put the cage in here, if you would like,� he said indifferently to Draco. �I
have one belonging to a rat that you could enlarge.�

�� Draco nodded, his eyes on the floor. Severus gritted his teeth.
Sullen moods like this sometimes took Draco, even after his generous offers�in
fact, most often after his generous offers�and Severus had not found the answer
why after six years of living together.

�� He left to
go back to his lab, already testing the consistency and strength of the
feathers. They bent under his finger too easily to be of use in the Readiness
Draught, he judged, but he would try them with the raven-feather base and see
what happened.

*

�� He never
even asked what I was going to name you, or why I wanted to keep you,� Draco
told the bird dully.

�� It looked
up at him with one eye, cocking its head to the side, and Draco shook his head.
It wasn�t as though the bird knew anything about his situation or could help
him. And really, did he deserve to be
helped? The confrontation with Severus, as it always did, had left him feeling
like an adolescent. Severus cared about deep things, important things. What was
Draco�s desire to adopt a pet against his experiments that were making his (assumed)
name rich and respected in the outside world?

�� I think
I�ll call you Compensation,� Draco muttered, and followed Severus to find the
cage.

�� What could
he do? There was nothing for him to go back to if he left.

�� Increasingly,
though, he was feeling as though there was nothing for him to stay for, either.

��
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Love, Free as Air