It was warm, really warm. Not unpleasant or anything like that; in fact it was actually quite nice, like being enveloped in one of Mrs. Weasley's bear hugs. Just comforting, without being smothering. That's how Harry felt right at that moment. In complete and utter safety…
… If it weren't for the fact that his ass was hurting.
Wait… track back… his ass was hurting? And… why was he so damn warm?! What he meant by that was, that normally his room wasn't warm. Heck, his room was the coldest place in the Dursely home (after Vernon took it upon himself to cut the lines). This new mystery only made him even more curious as to what was going on.
Tentatively he opened his eyes; a part of him didn't want to leave this warmth, while another part of him was more curious to find out what had happened. Sadly he then wished he had chosen the latter, because this was not what he was expecting.
The amazing protective warmth turned out to be a pair of strong arms wrapped around him. You might be wondering why Harry wasn't panicking yet about waking up in some stranger's arms, but his brain was slow to get to work that morning, so forgive him. The next thing that Harry noticed was that his back was spooning against another body (well of course, the arms had to be attached to something), and the body didn't feel particularly, how do you say… feminine? Yeah, that would exactly be the right wording, because those definitely weren't boobs he was feeling against him. The next thing he should probably be worried about was the fact that he was buck-naked…
Yup, naked, in his birthday suit, a naturist, a free-spirit, his ding-a-ling out there for the world to see…
"OH MY GOD!"
Yeah, see there, it took some time, but now Harry was officially panicking!
He tried wriggling out of the stranger's arms, but they only tightened around him. When he tried to pry them off, a growl was his answer; needless to say Harry was stuck, and not in a good way either.
'Okay calm down Harry, think about this. You don't just get into these situations randomly; there is always some kind of follow-up. So think back, what happened last night?' So he thought.
He vaguely remembered waking up in the middle of the night… he had been depressed because it was his birthday, and he would be spending it on his own. Then he recalled pain… lots of pain.
Slowly he tilted his head down towards his body; there were swirling markings all over him like vines tattooed against his skin. He was sure that he was taller, although from this angle it was difficult to tell. Hesitantly he touched his face and gasped, he couldn't feel the cold metal of his glasses (now that was just a bonus), but reaching further up, he felt something hard protruding from his skull…
Oh Merlin, did he have HORNS?!
"Shit…" he managed to murmur. Now he was beyond panicking, he was freaking out!
Movement alerted him, he felt a sharp pain on his neck and then he blacked out.
Blearily green eyes opened to see a very familiar ceiling of a very familiar Infirmary. "Ugh… what happened now?" moaned a very grouchy golden boy.
When Harry tried to sit up he found himself not being able to move, something was holding him down. Slowly he turned to his side, and gasped in astonishment when he saw that he wasn't alone in his bed.
It was a man, well as much of a man as he could tell; he had a human face (and a handsome one at that) with short platinum blonde hair, and horns… (he tried to ignore those for now). Swirling markings covered his well-built body, and it was his strong arms wrapped around Harry's waist that kept the raven from moving. He should have been used to this kind of stuff happening by now; after all, since he entered the wizarding world, nothing has ever been 'normal'. And this thing didn't seem dangerous, for now at least. Good thing they both were covered with blankets, although he couldn't help but think that there was nothing underneath them.
The clicking of shoes grabbed Harry's attention; he turned his gaze away from the stranger and saw Poppy hurrying towards him.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, I'm glad to see you awake, wait here and I'll go get the headmaster."
"Sure, not like I'm going anywhere…" he sighed heavily and tried shifting in the man's grip.
After a few minutes of struggling he noticed that he was lying against something and his back ached terribly. He felt under himself trying to pry away whatever was poking him, but as soon as he touched the leathery object sharp pain shot down his body. He tried it again and the same thing happened. Yet before he could investigate further, Dumbledore stormed into the room, followed by Snape and McGonagall; did the teachers live in the school?
He didn't notice how wide-eyed and pale they all looked at the sight of him.
"Ah, Harry, it's good to see you, my boy."
"Cut the pleasantries headmaster, why am I here and what is this… thing hugging me?"
Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle; Snape snorted. "Like a pot calling a kettle black," the potions master muttered.
"What?"
Dumbledore acted quickly; he gave Severus a warning glance and then conjured up a mirror. "Well Harry, things may be easier to understand when you look at yourself in the mirror."
Harry frowned at them; he turned to look at the mirror and gasped when he saw his reflection. Suddenly the memory of last night flooded back to him. He had changed overnight into… into- A FREAK! And he had slept with this creature; he remembered it clearly. At least now he knew why his backside hurt so much.
"Bloody hell…" Harry couldn't help but blush crimson at the thought.
"I see you recall what happened?" Dumbledore asked. The raven could only nod as a reply.
"Now Harry I don't want you to worry, this is actually perfectly normal-"
The teen snapped. "How is this 'normal', I don't see any of you gallivanting around here looking like some kind of monster! I got fucking horns! I look like a freak-"
"Mr. Potter calm down-" McGonagall tried, but Harry wasn't listening. He was beyond furious.
"Don't tell me to calm down! Why the hell does this kind of crap keep happening to me? Do I have a sign that says 'ruin my life' or something? I don't deserve this!"
"Harry I understand, but you really have to-"
"No, I don't have to do anything…" while Harry was venting, the occupants in the room didn't notice the stirring behind them.
The dominant was awake, spurred by the confused and scared emotions leaking out of his mate. A growl ripped through his throat, catching everyone's attention. Silver eyes shone with anger as he glared at the three occupants who were a threat to his mate and snarled at them, spreading his wings and standing on his hind legs with Harry pushed behind him protectively. The raven was stunned; a part of him however was preening at the display, and for the life of him he couldn't understand why.
"I think we should come back a bit later," Snape suggested; the other two nodded, eyeing the angry dominant, and slowly backed out of the room.
Now Harry was alone with the creature. He couldn't help but swallow nervously; this however only diverted the man's attention to Harry. Silver eyes stared at him, with something akin to worry, and he moved his head down, butting his nose against Harry's skin. Sniffing, inspecting him to make sure that his mate was alright. Not that Harry understood that; he thought he was going to be eaten! He tried to back away, but the bedpost stopped him.
The dominant was worried; his mate still hadn't calmed down, this wouldn't do at all. The threat was gone and his mate should be fine, but for some reason his emotions still screamed 'fear'. He couldn't help but let a growl of frustration escape. Slowly he moved towards the smaller and picked him up, ignoring the squirming before putting his mate on his lap while he leaned against the wall.
Harry was even more perplexed now as he was placed firmly in the larger creature's lap, the hands wrapped around him, the wings providing a half-shelter by just obscuring the room from view, and then the monstrosity started to- PURR?!
Yes, he was purring; the rumbling vibrations travelled all down Harry's body, and he was once again reminded of that protective warmth from before. He knew that a part of him should be afraid, but he couldn't help it, and soon he had fallen asleep again.