Chapter Text
It was July 30th and just as he had every birthday prior, Harry waited for midnight to strike. He would be turning 16 in a matter of minutes and so had quietly escaped the Dursleys’ home and was now relaxing on a park bench, glancing at his watch every few moments. He wished desperately he could be with Sirius to share this moment, but, as per Dumbledore’s direction he found himself once again on privet drive.
It wasn't so bad this summer. His ‘family’ now deliberately ignored him after Sirius had apparated into the living room shortly after Harry's arrival. The man had threatened them, easily slipping into his deranged prisoner of Azkaban persona, that if any of them “so much as touched a hair on Harry’s head” they would deeply regret it.
The brunet chuckled quietly at the memory. Of course, neither he nor Black had mentioned that the man was a fugitive and likely would not be able to visit again. Harry’s smile abruptly soured at this thought. The man had barely escaped the ministry with his life after a particularly intense duel with his cousin Bellatrix. Even after the minister had been forced to acknowledge the dark lord’s return, he was adamant that Black could not be cleared of guilt without proof that Pettigrew was alive. Black, apparently expecting this, had managed to escape the building before the turmoil had died down and was in hiding again.
Harry sighed. It was hard to accept that he couldn't stay with his only family, but he figured things would work themselves out in the end.
The teenager was suddenly jolted from his thoughts when the alarm he had set on his watch for 11:59:50 beeped at him excitedly.
Only 10 seconds till I’m 16! He thought eagerly. He may have been the Boy-Who-Lived and the Savior of the Light, but he was still allowed to get excited for his birthday goddammit! Especially with everything that happened the last year, Harry figured he should allow himself to be happy, if only for a few moments.
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seve- “Huh?!” he grunted into the night. Harry was interrupted from his countdown as a feeling akin to a nasty electric shock went shooting from his toes, up his spine finally slamming into his brain.
“AURGH!” Harry spat, now hunched over and gripping his knees to his face. The feeling only grew in intensity after the initial shock. Harry’s entire body felt electrified and had he not had his eyes squeezed shut, he would have noticed he was also glowing with the same erratic, pulsing energy. He couldn't think, couldn’t speak except in grunts and low groans, and couldn’t feel anything other than the intense magic coursing through his body.
As the glow intensified, the body it was emanating from began to shrink. Bone crunched and shifted into new shapes and soft, white feathers started to push their way through every inch of skin. What was once a short, skinny, but identifiable human being, became a churning mass of blood, feathers, and skin.
Harry shrieked in pain and promptly passed out.
Gone were the soft sounds of life in the wood surrounding the wizard. It seemed that the creatures understood, on some level, the danger of such immense power and did their best to hide away and stay silent.
o000o
Harry awoke in levels. At first it felt like he was deep underwater. His limbs and eyelids felt sluggish and he would have easily slipped back to sleep if it weren’t for the voice he heard through the darkness.
“You think it’s ok?” It was a woman’s voice. Harry was puzzled why there was someone he didn’t know in his room. Then a second voice,
“I don’t know,” a pause “Maybe we should call animal control” a second woman mumbled.
Animal control? Why would they call animal control? Harry then attempted to open his eyes but immediately shut them with a groan. The light was way too bright.
“It could be someone’s pet. I’ve never seen anything like it around here. Huh? I think it’s starting to wake up!” the first woman whispered urgently, “You’re right, call animal control. Hopefully they’ll get here before it tries to fly away and hurts itself.”
…FLY AWAY? AND WHY DO THEY KEEP CALLING ME IT? AND ANIMAL CONTROL! Harry was on the verge of panicking but struggled to stay calm and not let on that he was now fully awake. Instead he tried to remember if anything happened the night before.
It hit him like a ton of bricks.
The pain, the confusion, the women whispering over him, and the bright light of the sun. It was all starting to make a little more sense. Last night, someone had obviously cursed Harry causing him to pass out on the bench all night and now probably resemble something, birdlike? What spell could do that, he had no idea, but realized with startling clarity that he needed to get away from these muggle woman before they had him in a cage.
“It’s starting to fidget” the first woman, again, spoke.
“Maybe we should just back away from it.” Before the former woman could protest, “Look, for all we know it could be rabid or something. I’ve called AC and they said they should have someone out here in 20 minutes.” With that the two muggles backed away a bit to sit on the grass and watch the creature in front of them.
Harry’s eyes shot open. Shit I don’t have much time. Ok, make a plan. If I do have wings, maybe I can fly away?
The teenager cringed as his muscles complained loudly at being stirred, but managed to roll over onto his side and move one arm wing out in front of his face to examine it. The appendage was long and elegant and covered in soft, white, glimmering feathers.
I guess I really am a bird then. Oh well. Harry’s own apathy shocked him slightly, but he tried not to think about it and instead slowly rose onto his taloned feet. It was bizarre, standing up and realizing how close he was to the ground. It seemed he had rolled off the bench in the night and now at full height was about a foot taller than it.
I’m a big bird then. Harry thought this with a certain smugness. All his life he’d been on the short side due to malnutrition, but now he must be almost 3 feet in stature. Taller than any bird he’d ever seen! That must have been why the muggles stopped to gawk at him. Surely they would have not made such a big deal about a fallen raven or songbird. Thinking of the two, he glanced over his shoulder. The two women, both in workout clothes, Must have been on a morning jog, were staring at him attentively from the other side of the path. As he stared, one turned to other and whispered something. The other nodded and with that they slowly stood and started walking down the path.
Harry shrugged, it seemed the two had no intention of staying around a potentially dangerous, giant, bird.
Good on them for having common sense. The bird thought, rolling his eyes. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to fly and then I’ll…
Harry realized he didn’t have a plan after that. Obviously he couldn’t stay where he was for fear of being captured, but were could he go? Privet drive was off the list, he was certain his aunt and uncle would have no sympathy for him whether or not he was able to convey that it was himself. Next was to go to Sirius, but he had no idea where the man was. Harry frowned. He was running out of options.
He could always try to go to Hogwarts, but the trip would be long and difficult and he had no idea if he would even be able to get through the magical wards as he was. Thoroughly put out, Harry decided that he should simply focus on surviving at the moment and worry about the details later. With that last thought, the boy turned bird glared up at the trees above and put all his effort into flapping his wings as he would his arms if he were pretending to fly. The motion didn’t quite carry as well as he hoped it would, but it got him of the ground and up onto a high branch.
Harry tried to relax but let out a load, indignant squawk when he started to slip off the branch.
Still haven’t gotten the hang of this I guess. The bird straightened himself on the branch but almost fell off again in shock. Within seconds of his vocalization he was surrounded by the sounds of birds flapping. All around him, some perching on branches some flitting about looking for a place to land, were the largest assortment of birds he had ever seen. The majority were common birds, like sparrows, owls, and crows, but a couple seemed to be more exotic.
Probably pets. Harry thought to himself. He wasn’t quite sure how to react until he spotted Hedwig among those gathered.
“Hedwig!” he called. The snowy owl immediately perked up and swooped over to perch by him. “What’s going on here?” He was pretty sure he wasn’t speaking in English but hoped his friend would understand him.
“You sent out a distress call and all who heard you have come to your aid” the bird cooed matter-of-factly. She didn’t seem worried or even confused about her owner’s new appearance.
“Ok, so my shout as I fell off the branch was what called them, but I don’t understand why” it was starting to unnerve him how calm everyone was around him, when to Harry, this was clearly not normal.
Hedwig stared at him with a somewhat confused look before deadpanning, “You are our lord, of course we will come when you command.”
Harry nearly fell of the branch again. “WHAT?”