Disclaimers: As much as I may want to claim ownership of these two productions, I can't because both Harry Potter and Flock of Angels belong to a whole lot of different companies that I can't remember the names of at the moment. Any characters that appear in this fic that are not a part of either original series, belong to me so don't take them without asking first.
Timeframe: The Harry Potter part of the storyline in the prologue takes place seventeen years after Voldemort's attack on the Potters; while the Flock of Angels part of the prologue takes place six years after the storyline begins, so Harry is a fourth generation Angelosis case.
Author's Notes: For those of you who haven't read the three book Flock of Angels manga, the storyline takes place is modern times. There is a disease that appeared all over the world because of a meteor that flew over Earth over one hundred years ago. The disease was named Angelosis, mainly because everyone who caught it back then became hideously deformed and also sprouted what looked to be 'angel wings' on their backs. Over the decades since then, the mutation part of the disease died out and future Angelosis cases were left with only the wings. It's not contagious, but permanently locked in peoples DNA, and can remain dormant inside of them for the rest of their lives, but recently there are chances that it'll activate and the first signs of it appearing are two painful bumps appearing on the victims back on their shoulder blades.
Warning: Minor spoilers for the Flock of Angels series.
Word Count: 5,224
Summary: (FoA crossover) What if, 12 years ago the Dursley's abandoned four year old Harry Potter at a hospital after taking him in for a checkup on some strange bumps forming on his back? (Independent!Smart!Gray!Harry) (HPxOC)
On A Wing and a Prayer
Prologue: Finding a New Home
By: Sakura Lisel
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~-December 15, 1995~-
Five year old Harry Potter sat alone on a swing set in the middle of a school yard, as he lazily watched the other children run around playing amongst themselves. Harry had been brought to the academy over a month ago after his Aunt Petunia had given up guardianship of him to the government, after his aunt Petunia had signed away guardianship of her nephew, to the government after it was discovered that he had somehow contracted the Angelosis virus.
'Am I really a freak like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always say I am? Why else would they leave me? Normal people don't grow wings. But everyone else here has them too...' Harry thought unhappily to himself, as he glanced behind him at a pair of pure black wings that were protruding from his back through openings in his white t-shirt, and were the bane of his current situation, 'If I didn't have these stupid wings I'd still be back home. But then again, this place is a lot better than the Dursley's place. At least I'm not beaten here, and I get a meal everyday...'
It had all started about five months ago, it had been two weeks before his fifth birthday when Harry had come into the house in tears, complaining about his back hurting while doing his chores, and she had gone to punish him for being lazy and making up lies in order to get out of doing his chores, and had laid her hand on his back just above his shoulder to swat him on the right side of his back, when her hand came in contact with what had felt like a bulge that hadn't been there the night before.
Confused over what she was feeling on her nephew's back, Petunia had felt around her nephews back until she felt a second bulge on the left side of his back in the same area, and had Harry strip off his oversized shirt, and turn around and that's when she saw two large bright red bulges that were looked like they were trying to push it's way through his skin and were right over his shoulder blades.
Worried that whatever it was might be dangerous to her family, she bundled up both Harry and Dudley in the car, and drove to a nearby clinic to get Harry's bumps checked out. After being in the clinic for an hour and a half as tests were run on Harry, the end results of the tests were not what they had been expecting.
~-Flashback~-
"WHAT?! You have to be kidding!" Petunia shrieked as she stared at the doctor in open disbelief, as he gave her the news of her nephews condition, while Harry was in the next room getting dressed, while Dudley sat next to her, "Please tell me your joking about this, Dr. Raymond, and that my nephew is not really growing bloody wings out of his back!"
Dr. Alexander Raymond was a middle aged man in his late forties, with tanned skin and graying black hair and gray eyes, dressed in a black shirt and matching pants, with an open white lab coat adorning his shoulders. He worked for a government organization that helped dealt with the Angelosis cases. His family owned the clinic and was helped funded by the government, where he worked part time at the clinic whenever he had a spare moment.
Alexander had just come into the clinic to do his rounds when Petunia had brought Harry in, so he had taken on the job of examining the four year old, and had realized what was wrong immediately upon seeing the bumps forming on the boys back, and, and the results of the tests he had sent up to the lab that had come back only proved his suspicions.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Dursley, but the test results are not wrong," Dr. Raymond said, as he looked pityingly at the woman before him, as he glanced down at Harry's medical charts for a moment, before looking back at her once more, "Young Harry is in the early stages of the Angelosis virus, and it will only be a matter of time before his wings will come out."
"Is it contagious? I think I remember hearing about it on the news awhile back, but I never thought it would happen to anyone in my family!" Petunia cried out as she glanced down worriedly at Dudley who was swinging his legs back in forth in his chair looking bored as he looked around the office, and Petunia missed seeing the angry look that appeared on the doctors features at her words, before it quickly disappeared when she turned her gaze back on him once more, "I don't want anyone else in my family catching it and turning into a bunch of winged freaks!"
"I assure you Mrs. Dursley that the Angelosis virus is not contagious, though your family might carry the gene for it. Reports show that nearly sixty percent of Earth's population carry the virus in their DNA," Dr. Raymond said, as a forced smile appeared on his features as he stared at the woman for a moment, as he watched a panic look appeared on her face at his words, "but some people would go their entire lives without it activating, but as you've seen in your nephew, he's one of the many who's Angelosis has started activating these days, so there might be a chance that your own son might even develop it someday if not at all."
"I'm sure my little Diddykin's won't become one of those winged freaks." Petunia said as she preened a bit as she smiled down at Dudley once more, before turning a disgusted look towards the doctor once more, just as the door to the room Harry was in opened and the four year old silently made his way into to the room, and stood off to the side a few feet away from where Petunia and Dudley were sitting, as she shot an accusing glare at him, "I want to arrange to have the boys wings amputated as soon as possible whenever they come in. We have to nip this deformity in the bud before any of the neighbors gets the chance to see them."
"I'm sorry Mrs. Dursley but I won't be able to do that for you." Dr. Raymond said, the anger already starting to show itself in his voice as he spoke, as he watched her through narrowed eyes, "In fact no doctor in the world would be willing to amputate Harry's wings. It will put your nephew's health at high risk if they did so."
"Why not?! My husband and I will be willing to pay anything to get rid of those things," Petunia demanded, impatience filling her, as she tried to understand why she was being refused her request, as she shot an angered look at her nephew who flinched away from her gaze and looked away from her, "I'm sure there are lots of people besides me who would prefer having their wings cut off rather than..."
"Mrs. Dursley, even if there are, ever since news of the Angelosis virus has been made known to the public, doctors will be given a hefty fine and possible prison sentence, if they were to amputate someone's wings, since it has been revealed that removing the wings on someone with Angelosis," Dr. Raymond said, cutting off Petunia's rant with a slight wave of his hand, as he folded his hands in front of him on his desk, as he started explaining what he knew about the virus, "often causes a psychological imbalance on the subject, and also shortens their lifespan. Even if they do survive the procedure they will have to go through ongoing medical therapy for the rest of their lives. Now if you want, by law I am supposed to contact someone who can help your family cope with the changes your nephew is going through and..."
"Help us deal with it?! Forget it, it's bad enough my family got dumped with him because his parents deaths and I've put up with enough of his freakishness for the last three years to last me a lifetime but this is the last straw!" Petunia cried out as she let out a laugh, as she pushed back her chair and made to stand up as she reached out to grab Dudley's hand as the overweight boy stumbled up out of his chair, while reaching out to grab hold of Harry's hand and starts pulling both boys out of the room, "The very idea. What would my neighbors think if they saw him with wings?! The brat is going to the nearest orphanage as soon as possible. If I can't have those wings removed, then somebody else can deal with his abnormality."
"Auntie 'Tunia, pwease don't get rid of me! I'll be good." Harry cried out, finally speaking up after being silent for so long as tears welled up in his eyes as Petunia announced that she was sending him away, "I'll do whatever you and Unca Vernon want if you..."
Whatever Harry was about to say was abruptly cut off, as Petunia smacked him hard on the back of his head, causing him to cry out in pain from the blow as he fell over onto his butt and looked up at his aunt with tears in his eyes, as Dr. Raymond rushed forward to see if he was okay.
"Be quiet you freak! After everything my family has done for you all these years, you have to catch a disease that'll make you an even bigger freak than you already are!" Petunia shrieked, her face turning a bright shade of red as she glared hatefully at her nephew for a moment, completely ignoring the fact that she had an audience to what she was doing, as she started to reach for him again, "Well no more. You are out of here. You'll be in an orphanage within the next half hour if I have my way."
Before she could lay another hand on him, she found her hand blocked by Dr. Raymond who had hurriedly gotten up from his seat and rushed to Harry's aid as soon as he saw Petunia smack the child, and quickly got in between the two.
"Mrs. Dursley you don't have to do that. If you truly don't want Harry with your family anymore, the government is prepared to take him off of your hands," Alexander said as he got in between the two, as he tried to placate the woman, as he relaxed a bit as she turned her gaze on him once more, "We have special facilities for people like your nephew around the globe where they can go live in peace, and learn to adjust to their new circumstances."
"Oh? So this place you're talking about can take the boy off my hands?" Petunia asked as she eyed the doctor warily for a moment as she shot an angry look at her nephew, "How much do I have to pay to send him there?"
"You won't have to worry about paying for him to stay. The facilities are fully funded by the government," Dr. Raymond said, as he turned away from Petunia for a moment to check Harry over, and the look on his face darkened as he saw the red handprint that was already forming on Harry's cheek, as he pull out a clean handkerchief to dab at the four year olds tears, "If you truly feel strongly about not wanting to take care of Harry anymore because of his condition, all you will have to do is sign some papers and your family will never have to see him again after today."
"Well then, I'll sign over my rights to the boy and you can take him to this facility of yours. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned." Petunia said, smirking a bit at her stroke of good luck at getting rid of her freak of a nephew once and for all, "I hope the facility will be able to compensate us for the trouble all of this caused and..."
"Mrs. Dursley, I have to say that if you think you're going to be 'compensated' for whatever trouble Harry supposedly gave you, you have another thing coming. If you try and force the issue," Dr. Raymond said as he stood back up and turned back around to face Petunia once more, as Petunia took an involuntary step back as she saw the angered look on his face, "I'll call Child Social Services, and have you explain to them about the bruises. I've seen leftover marks from what looks like a belt covering his back, and a fist sized bruise on his left side. I found covering Harry's body including the slap you just dealt him."
"What?! You can't do that! You have no right!" Petunia shrieked, her face turning a bright shade of red once more, as she stared at the doctor in disbelief, as both Harry and Dudley watched the exchange with wide eyes.
"In fact I just might call Child Social Services right now anyway. People like you make me sick on how you treat a defenseless little boy like Harry. You shouldn't take whatever problems you have out on him," Dr. Raymond continued, acting like Petunia hadn't said anything at all, smirking a bit as he saw the panicked look appear on Petunia's face as he spoke, as he walked back to his desk and opened a drawer where he pulled out some papers, while shooting a pointed look at Dudley who was looking bored by the whole situation, "Plus, it's obvious that you've abused and neglected him in other ways, seeing how he's underweight and malnourished, and he's too small for a boy his age, especially when compared to your son who's horribly overweight for a boy his age..."
Shortly after the confrontation with Petunia in his office, Petunia quickly signed the forms without further fuss needed to release Harry into Dr. Raymond's custody, along with the forms for the facility that gave her permission to place him into one of the special facilities, before the woman hurried out of the office with her son, as Harry sat in one of the vacated chairs with an icepack pressed to his injured face.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Dr. Raymond said, as he watched Petunia leave his office, as he picked up the papers she had signed and stacked shuffled them and checked them over to make sure everything was in order as he tried to get his anger under control once more, "What kind of person is she to treat her own nephew like that?"
"Doctor Raymond?" Harry's quiet voice called out, causing the older man to turn his attention to the younger boy, as Harry blew his nose on the handkerchief that the doctor had given him, "Why did Aunt Petunia leave me here with you? I want to go home..."
"Harry you won't be seeing the Dursley's ever again." Doctor Raymond said, as he walked over to Harry and looked down at the young boy for a moment before kneeling down so that he was now at eye level with Harry, as he reached out to touch the young boy only to freeze for a moment when Harry flinched away like he was afraid of being struck, and Doctor Raymond could feel his anger at the Dursleys grow once more, "As of today you'll be going somewhere new to live, where there will be people who will treat you better than your relatives ever did. Since you came into the room while I was telling your aunt what was wrong with you, do you understand why you've been left behind?"
"Uh-huh. I'm sick, and Aunt Petunia doesn't want me anymore, because I'm becoming a bigger freak than ever by growing wings because of my illness," Harry said, looking down as he refused to meet the older man's gaze anymore, so he missed the angered look that appeared on Dr. Raymond's face at hearing what he said, as he squirmed a bit nervously in his seat, "It's because I'm a freak and a monster, I don't deserve to be with normal people anymore..."
'Okay, now I'm definitely calling Child Social Services. That little speech sounds like he's practiced saying it a lot,' Dr. Raymond said with a silent snarl of anger as he listened to Harry's explanation, as he stared at Harry worriedly for a moment, as he stood back up from behind his desk and moved towards Harry once more, 'this sounds worse than I thought it was. What kind of people would treat a child like this.'
As he reached Harry, he reached out to gently touch the top of the boys head, only to stop when Harry automatically flinched away from his hand, like he was trying to avoid getting hit.
"Don't be afraid, Harry. I'm not going to hurt you. I swear to you that no one's going to hurt you again. Harry you're not a freak or a monster. You're just a normal little boy just like anyone else." Dr. Raymond said, as he gave a small smile at the young boy as Harry looked up at him uncertainly for a moment, "Having Angelosis will only make you even more special. The only real monsters are those people you had to live with. And thankfully you won't be seeing them again, and I promise you that they'll be punished for what they've done to you. Here let me show you something cool."
Pulling away from Harry, Dr. Raymond stepped in front of him so that Harry could have a better view of him as he started unbuttoning his lab coat. Once the coat was fully unbuttoned, he pulled his arms out of the sleeves and turned around to put his coat his coat on his desk, when a startled yelp caught his attention, and he turned around to see Harry now staring at him with wide eyes causing the doctor to smile. What had caused Harry to gasp, was because he had spotted a pair of folded snow white wings pressed against Dr. Raymonds back that had been hidden by the lab coat.
"So what do you think Harry? This is what you can expect to when your wings finally come out. I've had Angelosis for the last ten years and I don't consider myself a freak or monster, at least not anymore anyways." Dr. Raymond said, smiling as he spread out his wings out to their full length, and flapped them a bit causing himself to lift a few inches off the floor to show that they were indeed real, before he flew over and sat down on the edge of his desk to face Harry once more, "Now tell me. Do I look like a monster to you because of my wings? You can touch them if you wish."
"No, sir. Your wings look cool and their so soft and fuzzy!" Harry said his eyes lighting up a bit at the sight of the wings as he reached out slowly to touch one of the wings, and gently rubbed his hand over the length, though his voice still sounded a bit timid as he stared in awe at the white wings that were protruding from the doctors back, as he tentatively reached a hand back to rub one of the bumps on his own back, "Am I going to have wings like that? And can you fly with them?"
"Yes you will have wings just like this any day now. And yes I can fly with them." Dr. Raymond said, chuckling a bit as he watched Harry's antics as the boy rubbed his wings, as he felt a small shiver of pleasure spread through him from the rubbing of his sensitive wings, "You'll be able to fly too, once your wings are strong enough and have reached the proper size to hold your full weight in the air."
"Am I really not a freak?" Harry asked, uncertainty in his voice as he glanced up at the doctor for a moment, and flinching a bit when Dr. Raymond reached out again to lightly pat his head, "and I'll really never have to go back to the Dursleys?"
"Not if I can help it. Your no more a freak than I am, along with anyone else who has Angelosis," Dr. Raymond said determinately, as his eyes narrowed a bit, as he continued to smile down at Harry for a moment, before suddenly bending down low and enfolding Harry in a tight hug as he lifted him off the floor, "I promise that, you'll be properly cared for at the facility, and won't be hurt ever again. I'll promise you that."
Harry let out a startled squeak in surprise as he found himself being lifted up off the floor by the doctor, who then wrapped his wings around their bodies in a sort of cocoon, as he held Harry. For a few seconds, Harry squirmed a bit in Dr. Raymond's arms, when a sudden sense of calmness swept through him, that seemed to radiate off of the doctor's body, as he felt himself start to relax.
"Are you feeling better now, Harry?" Dr. Raymond said as he refolded his wings behind his back smiled down at Harry as the boy looked up at him with a confused look, "I'm sorry if I scared you like that, but I was only trying to make you feel better."
"I feel fine now. What did you do?" Harry asked, as he nodded his head at the doctors question, as a small yawn escaped from his lips.
"You can call it a power our kind have. We can instinctively sense when each other are feeling stressed or tired," Dr. Raymond said as he gently carried Harry's over to a lounge chair and carefully laid the boy down on the mattress, "After what your aunt did you were giving off your stress in waves that I could feel. I only used my power to calm you down so you wouldn't make yourself sick."
"Okay... Why do I feel sleepy all of a sudden?" Harry asked, as a small yawn escaped from his lips as he blinked up at the doctor.
"You just need to sleep for awhile to recuperate from today's events," Dr. Raymond said, as he turned away from Harry and went back to his desk, and picked up his phone and started punching in numbers as he continued talking, "Just get some sleep while I make some calls, and hopefully by the time you wake up we'll already be on our way to your new home."
~-End Flashback~-
True to Dr. Raymond's words, the next time he awoke, Harry found himself strapped in to the front seat of the doctor's minivan as the doctor drove them to a government facility, where Harry was introduced to children and adults of various ages who all had wings, where he was currently still living.
When Harry's wings finally came in a week later, everyone was surprised when they saw the color of them. When he asked what the problem with his wings was, they told him that it was unusual for someone like him to have gotten black wings after contracting Angelosis.
A few years back, knowledge of the Angelosis virus had been kept a secret from the public for over a hundred years since it first manifested around the world, since there hadn't been that many of people catching it and growing wings in the hundred years since the virus first made it's appearance and the infected were taken in and hidden away from prying eyes of people who might abuse or manipulate them. But then as more and more people starting sprouting wings and became harder to keep it hidden from the public anymore, it was decided to have the info was finally leaked to the public to help people handle things better.
It wasn't until later that it was discovered that there was a nearly extinct small tribe of people who lived in hiding, who were born with black wings who could make their wings completely disappear so that they could look normal when they were in the outside world, who claimed that their tribe had been around for centuries since before the day a meteor passing over Earth brought the arrival of the Angelosis virus that gave people white wings came around over a hundred years ago.
The problem that the tribe was facing now, was the lack of young women being born into the tribe. The men in the tribe were unable to get the women pregnant, so to keep their tribe alive, the women would leave the tribe and get pregnant with an outsider's child, then come home with their unborn child to raise, but as the years went by the tribe was giving birth to more boys than girls who could continue the tribes bloodline as the current women got too old to continue having children.
Over the decades some of the tribesman had left the village to start new lives, and some even got married to regular women and discovered that they could have kids with their new wives, but the children that were produced from the unions were born without the black wings on their backs, so the fathers kept their children's true heritage a secret from them.
The tribe had been starting to lose hope of being able to save their people, when a sudden outbreak of newborn babies that were born with wings on their backs for the first time in history since the Angelosis virus was first discovered. Most of the first generation of winged babies had been born to parents who had caught the Angelosis disease and unknowingly got together with the children of the men from the black wing tribe, and the new babies were born with either black wings or had the trademark white wings growing from their backs.
The only theory the doctors at the facility could come up with was that somewhere down the line in Harry's family tree, from either his mothers or his fathers side, one of the women in their family must have met up with someone from the tribe and got pregnant, and the gene had remained dormant until now when Harry caught the Angelosis virus, causing him to grow black wings instead of the usual white ones.
The academy was government run facility, that had been started up five years ago that took in abandoned, or abused kids like him who had contracted the Angelosis virus and took care of them until they were old enough to leave and taught them everything they needed to know about their new life.
As his wings became larger and strong enough to support his full weight, he was enrolled into flying lessons with other kids his own age, which had been scary at first but became fun after awhile as he quickly mastered the art of flying after a few weeks of training with the instructors.
_I guess being here isn't that bad. Anywhere has to be better than the Dursleys,_ Harry thought silently to himself as he flew through the air happily with another group of kids that lived there, as they played a game of aerial tag with each other, as a bright smile appeared on his featuers, _I don't have to be afraid anymore of anything, and I can finally be happy..._
To Be Continued...
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Author's Notes:
SO how do you guys like the story so far? Like it? Hate it? Please tell me, though rude flames will not be tolerated. I've also changed the year this story takes place, so Harry is five years old in 1995, instead of 1985..
If anyone is wondering about what the doctor was telling Petunia, I got the info about what happens to people who get their wings cut off from book two in the Flock of Angel's series.
I'm heading off to the San Diego Comic Con in a couple of hours, so I might be offline until Sunday. I was hoping to release the next chapter(s) of some of my other stories that I've been working on that's already on the website, but I've been busy getting ready for Comic Con, that I haven't had time to complete the other ones. This story I'm posting, I wrote a long (years) time ago, but never actually got around to completing though it was already nearly completed when I stopped writing it, so I thought I might as well post something, and finished the minor parts of the chapter and just post it now after all this time.
I promise that the next time you guys see an update from me, hopefully there will be more than one chapter for different stories coming up, including maybe FINALLY updates to currently one chapter stories I have up if I ever to get around to them when I come back from my trip.