Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Beneath a Shattered Fountain ❯ Wings Underfoot ( Chapter 3 )

Wings Underfoot

As he followed Harry through Hogwarts, Draco stumbled several times, kept off balance by the chains locked around his hands and throat. With every step, the metal jingled like jewelry, deceptively light but as strong as any prison chain. Harry didn't help matters by using his chains as a leash, pulling Draco down the hall. He knew better than to complain, though. He never complained as Voldemort's plaything, preferring pain and possible death than the dark lord's attention and, though Harry seemed a far kinder master, Draco knew he had a frightening temper.

"I'll be keeping you with me at all times, but I don't want to have problems keeping you in line. I don't want to cast Imperio on you," Harry said sternly. "I like you better this way. But I'm not going to put up bars on the windows, so you better not try to run."

Draco quickly shook his head.

"You swear you can't fly?" Harry demanded.

"I swear," Draco said. "My wings are far too weak."

Pulling him closer, Harry touched one of his wings, following the fragile bone to the tip. "Fine. Maybe a spell that just keeps you trapped." Harry sighed. Finding a specific spell took research, which he hated, or asking Hermione, who would give him that look before going off onto a long explanation that he didn't want to hear.

As Harry frowned, Draco watched him carefully. He knew that look from the few times Voldemort appeared in the bedroom exasperated, something that happened more and more frequently as the war turned against him. Those days were the worst. If he was just angry, the dark lord took out his frustrations on his slave but at least his anger usually wore off quickly. When he couldn't figure out a particular problem, however, he whiled away long hours tormenting his toy, piecing together his solutions between Draco's screams and sobs and wracked breathing.

"You don't need a complicated spell," Draco said softly. "Just chain me to something, a wall, the floor."

His master slowly looked up at him. "Like a leash?" He let go of the chain and slipped his hand in Draco's, bringing it up so he could look over the manacle around his wrist. "You've already got chains here. Another one would get in the way."

"Put it around my ankle, then. There are several chains in the dungeons, aren't there?"

"Mm." With a kind smile, Harry kissed the back of his hand and looked back up at him. "And why are you so eager to help me lock you up? I would think you'd try to convince me to let you go."

A dozen pretty lies sprang into Draco's mind, flattering falsehoods to charm Harry into being gentle with him, but he discarded them in an instant. Lying to a dark lord who considered him nothing more than a noisy toy was one thing. Lying to Harry, who treated everything he said as potential lie, seemed suicidal.

"I do want you to trust me and take the chains off," he said, lowering his head. "But I don't want you angry, either. You might..." He let the sentence hang, realizing that calling attention to Harry's faults wasn't wise.

To his relief, Harry nodded once. "I might hurt you? Silly thing. I wouldn't hurt you for no reason. You're not a toy. You're more like...mm, like a pet that I need to housebreak. So if I hurt you, it's not because I'm angry but because you need disciplining."

"...oh." As Harry stroked his face and hair, Draco wondered if living as Harry's pet would be easier than living as Voldemort's toy or even harder. Voldemort hadn't been trying to change him, after all. While that thought ran through his head, he found himself tilting his face towards his master's cupped palm, letting Harry's thumb pull his mouth open and run across his lower lip. Hoping he wouldn't react badly, Draco gently closed his teeth over Harry's thumb and sucked on it for a moment before letting it slide out again.

Harry's hand slid under his chin and held him still for a kiss. "And speaking of discipline," he murmured, "maybe you'll tell me why you've been keeping secrets from me."

Draco froze, eyes wide. That deceptively sweet voice held a threat underneath. "Secrets?" he whispered.

"Like how you killed so many Death Eaters. You didn't have your wand. You were pinned under rubble. You could barely move. So how did you survive?" Harry tightened his grip on Draco's chin, forcing him to meet his eyes.

"Harry--"

"I was hoping you'd tell me yourself, but you've been remarkably quiet."

"I...I..."

"Either you tell me right now," Harry whispered in his ear, "or I'll rummage around in your memories until I find it. Your choice."

Flashbacks of Voldemort's raking his memories burst into his head. Cold chillls ran down Draco's spine as he imagined what the punishment would be if he held silent, and in a rush he poured out an explanation, broken and incoherent in his fear. "Veela...I'm half-veela, I can't use magic like that--I mean I can but not like that, not with a wand--it's different, I can't--it's hard to control--"

"Shh, calm down," Harry soothed him, softening his grip and nuzzling his cheek. "Just tell me how you did it."

"I don't know," Draco said. He pressed his hands to his mouth, trying to stop breathing so fast, but Harry took his bound hands and held them, kissing his fingers as he put an arm around Draco, holding him close. Draco leaned against him, pushing his face against Harry's neck as if he could hide. "I made them jealous. I don't know how. I made them all want me and they started killing each other. When the spells stopped, they were all dead and the hall was in pieces."

"How did you get so deep into the Ministry?" Harry asked, holding his veela so he didn't shiver. "I thought Voldemort had you prisoner."

"He did, but..." Draco wished he could put his arms around Harry as he remembered. "He never locked me up or even closed the door."

"Then why didn't you leave?"

"I couldn't. He hurt me so much I couldn't move. The last time I saw him was--I don't know how long, but the pain went away enough that I could leave the bedroom, find a fireplace. I tried to go home but I went to the Ministry instead."

"Yes, they'd changed the floo to take everyone there," Harry said. "I'll have to fix the network. Anyone who takes it now will end up under a pile of burning wreckage." After a small sigh, he patted Draco's head and kissed his throat. "I suppose you were afraid of telling me about your abilities, that I might think you were too dangerous?"

Draco nodded wordlessly.

"I understand," Harry said. "You're still afraid of me." He stepped back, holding Draco at arm's length as he brushed the tears from his eyes, and he spotted the scar on Draco's left arm, an ugly crescent that looked like a bite. "I promised you I'm not another dark lord, but...you do realize you should have told me?"

Another nod.

"And that you need to be punished for keeping it a secret?"

"No, please, no--mmph--"

Harry grabbed the chain on his hands, holding them tight as his other hand clamped tight over Draco's mouth, fingertips pressing painfully into his skin as he forced him down to his knees. With a shove, he pushed Draco down and put his foot over the chain, holding his head close to the floor. His veela's wings started beating in a panic, hitting the floor with every stroke.

"Don't argue. Next time you think about keeping secrets from me, you'll remember this." Still keeping his foot on the chain, Harry knelt down and lay his hand on Draco's back, holding his wings down so he wouldn't hurt himself. Long moments passed as he waited for his slave to calm down and stop hyperventilating, and finally Draco fell silent and relaxed, resting his head on the floor at Harry's foot.

"Walking is a privilege," Harry said. "I'll let you back up when I think you've learned your lesson. For now, you'll crawl beside me. Understand?"

Quietly nodding again, Draco looked up as his master stood and started walking, patting his hip to call him like he would call a dog. He pushed himself up on his hands and knees and crawled at his heels, and after a few minutes he grew tired of holding his head up and let it drop, staring at Harry's shoes as they left the dungeons and headed upstairs. Not surprisingly, the length of his manacles seemed designed to let him crawl easily. Although this was meant to humiliate him, he only felt relief that Harry wasn't going to hurt him. If this was as bad as his master would be, then he could bear it.

"Looks like you need a leash," a new voice said.

Something in the tone of that voice, cold and amused at once, made his heart clench. Before he even recognized Hermione's voice, Draco hid behind Harry's robes, drawing his wings up tight to make himself smaller. While Harry paused to talk, he crouched close behind him and tried to keep his chains from making noise. He swallowed reflexively, afraid to even peek around his master.

"Not really," Harry said. "He obeys me pretty well already. There's just some rough edges I have to work out."

"Really?" Hermione smiled. She hefted her armload of books, all of them blood-stained and singed from the various burning homes of Ministry officials she had rescued them from. "Where'd you find him anyway? Caught him scurrying around in what's left of his home?"

"Found him in the Ministry," Harry said. "With a bunch of dead Death Eaters. I told you I'd find a survivor."

"Death Eaters?" she asked, conveniently ignoring Harry's jibe at how wrong she'd been. "He killed them by himself? Why was he still down there, then?"

"Because one of his wings was pinned to the floor." Harrys' voice turned amused as Hermione frowned. Opportunities to one-up her came so far and few between that he savored the confusion on her face. "You must have noticed his wings. They're almost as big as he is."

"Those are real?" Hermione whispered.

"Why would I put fake wings on him?"

"I don't know," she said. "I thought maybe you'd gone kinky. You've already dressed him up like a sex toy, wings aren't much of a stretch."

"If I put fake wings on him, I'd use demon wings, not angel wings. They're real, Hermione." He smiled at her awed look. "He says it's because he's part veela."

"Not so pureblooded after all?" she said, her smile returning. She put her books down on the floor and came closer. "Can I see? I've never heard of any veela hybrids with wings before."

"Sure. Draco, come around."

When Draco hesitated, Harry reached down and hooked his fingers into his veela's collar, pulling him forward and turning him around. Draco put his hands on Harry's for leverage, but when he felt Hermione touching his back, he held onto his master out of fear. He'd seen Death Eaters crazed with curiosity slicing up living creatures in the name of research, and the mudblood had the same gleam in her eyes.

"Make him spread his wings," she said.

Draco didn't wait for Harry to tell him. He unfurled them slowly, fighting his own instincts to hold them still as she ran her fingers over his feathers. Not at all like his master's touch, her hands were heavy as she gripped the edges to feel his bones and prodded the joints where his wings met his back.

"How odd," she murmured, tracing a spot with fewer feathers. "This is where it was pinned?"

Harry nodded. "I had to move a large stone that had fallen on him."

"He's lucky it didn't break his wing. Wait..." she narrowed his eyes at Draco, and even though he couldn't see her, he knew that tone and closed his eyes. "If he's half-veela, why don't I feel attracted to him? Shouldn't I be promising him the moon and the stars?"

"Don't know," Harry said. "He told me he made all the Death Eaters jealous so that they'd kill each other. Maybe he can hold it back, too?"

Hoping he wouldn't be hurt for speaking out of turn, Draco gave a tiny shake of his head. "I can't control it. I...I think it's because you're here."

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Well, you have shown resistance to spells like imperio," Hermione said. "It could be similar."

"No," Draco said. "It's not that."

Keeping a good grip on Draco's collar, Harry knelt down in front of him and put his hand on his veela' s face. "Are you hiding something else from me?"

Too afraid to look at him, Draco kept his eyes shut as he shook his head. "I don't know for sure, I just feel it. People around me always got jealous, but...she's not. And you're here. Maybe if I tried, I could make her jealous..."

"Instinct," Hermione said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I'll have to look it up to be sure," she said, "but from what I know about veela and other magical creatures, I'd guess that before you found him, he used that veela charm subconsciously to influence people around him. When he met you, though, whatever you did to him made him stop."

"I don't get it," Harry said. "How could I affect his magic without knowing it?"

"Magic isn't just waving a wand," Hermione said. "If you impressed him suitably enough, he may have responded like a full veela and...well..." A giggle escaped out of her, but it didn't sound nice.

"And what?" Harry demanded.

"Veela must be impressed by their mates. They don't really have a choice in the matter," she said quickly, her smile fading as Harry started to frown. "It's just the way they are. I guess him being half human meant that he could be impressed by humans, too."

"So...I'm his mate? For how long? Is it like mating season or something?"

"No, Harry. Veela mate for life." She gave a little shrug. "What do you care, though? You've got him completely under your thumb, and if you get tired of him, it's not like throwing him away would hurt you."

Draco's hands tightened around Harry's but he didn't say anything.

"Would it hurt him?" Harry asked slowly.

"Well, a veela that loses it's mate doesn't go insane or die, but they do mope about for several years. Hmm. Of course, they usually have a big flock to take care of them if they do lose a mate. Since Draco's half human and all alone, I suppose it's possible he might starve to death."

Even though they continued talking, Draco didn't listen to them after that. He knew so little about his own physiology and Hermione's words frightened him. The thought of starvation didn't scare him as much as the thought of losing Harry and he didn't know why. Harry had enslaved him but the cold knot of dread in his stomach didn't come from any thought of punishment his master might force on him.

A soft hand touched his head and stroked his hair. He leaned against Harry's legs, resting his head on the hand that still held his collar. His wings drooped and settled on the floor. For a moment Harry continued to pet him, but only for a moment. He let go of Draco's chain and stepped around him so he could continue down the hall. To Draco's surprise, Hermione was gone, probably to her library.

"Well, come on," Harry said over his shoulder. He waited for Draco to catch up and then led him farther upstairs, taking him up to the tower. Draco didn't pay attention to where they were until he was climbing up a ladder and Harry pushed open a trap door for him, leading him not into the astronomy lab but into the divination room. Untouched by war, the classroom looked like something from another life.

"I'll come back up here soon," Harry said. "While I'm gone, start moving the desks and chairs to the door so we can get rid of them." He put his hand on Draco's ahir, gently petting him and stroking his face. "You can stand while you're cleaning. And clean out all these crystal balls and cards and things. Hermione wants to have a big bonfire tonight."

Bonfire? Draco winced. "She's going to burn it all?"

"Mm-hmm. Some some books on divination and muggle studies. Said they're useless."

"Is she burning anything else?" Draco asked, too afraid to ask if they were burning anyone.

"Madame Pince," Harry said. When his veela gasped, he wondered why for a moment before understanding. "Oh, it's okay. Hermione already killed her. Said she let so many good books rot away that she couldn't stand it, but I think she really just got tired of Pince ranting when she took the library."

Even the Death Eaters had treated death as something important, something to be savored. Harry and his friends treated it so casually. The smallest infraction could warrant death and they'd hated him for so many years. How could he even hope to survive a few weeks, let alone a few years? There was no hope. He sniffled and put his hands against his mouth. He would die, they would kill him--

"You're so excitable," Harry sighed. Turning to face him, he snagged Draco's collar and forced him to look up. With his head tilted so, two tears slid down Draco's cheeks. "I won't let anyone kill you. Would I go to the trouble of disciplining you if I was just going to throw you away?"

Draco gave a little shake of his head.

"And I've already said I don't want to break you."

Draco nodded again.

"Then see, nothing to cry about." He wiped away the tears with a fingertip, then traced it around Draco's lips. "Now, I think you can put that mouth of yours to better use than sobbing."

Later on Draco knew he would find new ways he could serve Harry, would show the other boy that his talents and knowledge could serve him far better than as a mere sex toy. For now, however, this was his only use and perhaps his only means of keeping Harry pleased enough to keep him around. With a quiet nod, he pushed away Harry's robes and found himself confronted with muggle jeans. He took a moment to figure out how they worked, during which Harry chuckled at his ignorance, but he stopped laughing when Draco hooked his fingers into Harry's jeans and slowly undid the button with his teeth.

Draco'd found that his chains were the perfect length for crawling, and now he found that they were the perfect size for this. He suspected the chains magically shortened for whatever purpose his master desired, as now he was restrained with just enough space between his wrists to grasp both sides of Harry's pants, and his head was held far enough away to pull on the zipper but too close to shy away as Harry's freed shaft grazed his cheek, leaving a thin trail of precum just below his eye.

"I-I've never done this before," he whispered.

"Neither have I," Harry said. "Go on."

Hesitating, Draco looked at it for a few more seconds before leaning forward and kissing the head, then opening his mouth and going down. At first he went a little too fast and it hit the back of his throat, making him gag, but with a few tries he found a pace that worked. He closed his eyes and tried going as far as he could without gagging, tried rolling his tongue around in circles, tried anything that made his master groan. Harry's hands came down around his for a few seconds, holding him tight, but quickly moved down his arms and behind his head, tangling his fingers in his hair.

Draco didn't fight when Harry forced him to go faster, but when he felt him starting to lean backwards, he extended his wings for balance. Although Harry's groans grew louder, Draco was still surprised when Harry held him suffocatingly close, shuddering violently in his mouth before he came. Swallowing quickly, Draco gave him a few final licks and leaned back, looking into Harry's face. To his relief, Harry smiled back.

"Not bad for a first time," Harry said. He took hold of Draco's chains and pulled him to his feet, raising an eyebrow at how short the chains had become, holding his veela's hands close to his throat. Not sure if he could, he tugged on the chains, and he gave a small nod of satisfaction as the chains lengthened as far as he wanted.

"I'm sure you'll get better with time," Harry whispered.

Draco was just glad he would have that time.

End