Hmm... Chapter 29 was really short, and Chapter 30 was one of the longest, so I took half of 30 to add to 29 to make this chapter... and now the next chapter will be short... unless I add some of the next chapter to it... which I probably will, but I guess we'll all find out on Thursday, huh? ^_^ But since there's only 35 chapters all together, originally, we're getting close to the end. Actually the next chapters are all fairly long, so it'll probably be another 4 or 5.

Thanks to Xikum for the wonderful betaing job!

Oh, and I don't own anyone.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry woke to the sound of his own screams echoing through the fifth year dorms and the feel of a hand on his shoulder. He reacted violently, swinging at the hand even as he grabbed his glasses and tried to move off the other side of the bed. Just as he got his glasses onto his face, he heard and recognized the voice calling him.

"Harry! It's okay, mate!"

"Ron?" Harry asked, confused, even as the hand that placed his glasses on his nose went up to press against his scar.

"Yeah, Harry, it's me." Ron said carefully.

Harry looked around to see all of his dorm mates gathered around him with worried expressions on their faces. "Sorry, I didn't mean to forget the silencing charms," he said with embarrassment.

"That's okay, Harry. But what was all that about?" Dean asked.

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but then his face paled. Without another word, he grabbed his wand and raced for the door, pushing past Seamus and Neville without even a 'sorry'. Ron ran after him, never considering letting him go on his own in this condition.

Harry exploded out of the portrait opening, ignoring the Fat Lady's protest just as he'd ignored everything else in the last few minutes. All he could think of was getting there in time, stopping *him*. He ran to the closest stairway, the one that led into the Stair Hall, the cavernous corridor with room for all of the moving stairs to shift as they chose. There, heading towards the front doorway, stories below, were two figures, both in black.

"Wait!" Harry yelled, but the two figures didn't hesitate. With no time to consider, he ran toward the stairway, but instead of going down the stairs, he climbed over the railing, and threw himself into the open air.

"NO! HARRY!" Ron ran after his best friend, wand out, to watch with his heart in his throat as Harry's body changed. He calmed down as he noticed the wings on Harry's Animagus form, only to start shouting again as he realized he wasn't opening them up.

Harry dove, going faster and faster as he fell, his wings still held tight against his feline body. Twenty feet above the floor, he finally snapped them open, changing his trajectory from straight down to curving, his paws coming down to hit the floor as it came more than a bit too close for comfort. With no wind to help keep him afloat, it took everything he had, every bit of strength in his highly muscled body, to keep from meeting the floor headfirst. Still, he somehow managed, hitting the ground running and charging straight towards the two men who were turning at the sound of claws behind them.

Harry didn't stop. He ran straight at the two men and pounced on one of them, knocking him down. His beak clacked right in front of the Potion master's face as he panted as best he could through an eagle's mouth.

"Harry!" Severus snapped. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Harry, we've got to go," Lucius admonished.

Harry looked up, still panting and gestured with his head for the other man to go on.

"Severus needs to go, too."

Harry shook his head.

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you'd change back and tell us what the problem is," Severus said in a cold, hard voice. He was obviously getting very impatient, his voice showing what his words didn't.

If gryphons could be said to look sheepish, Harry somehow managed it. He quickly changed back into human form, still pinning Severus. "Vision," he panted. "Voldemort knows you're a spy. He doesn't know about you, Malfoy, but be careful... and... I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly.

"My loss?" Lucius demanded, instinctively looking towards the dungeons, before realizing there was no way Harry could have been speaking of Draco. "Do you mean Narcissa?"

Harry nodded, finally getting up. "I don't know what proof she had, but she convinced Voldemort about Severus. But he was already so angry because of a raid that went wrong... he killed her anyway."

He noticed the rage that infused Lucius' face before he wiped it off. No grief, though. It wasn't surprising. From what he knew, the elder Malfoys did not have a very close relationship, but she was still a Malfoy, and should not have been touched. Not even by Voldemort.

Severus rolled to the side, checking his limbs as he got up. "I'll see you there," he told Lucius.

"Wait a minute!" Harry argued, getting ready to pounce him once again, feline body or no feline body.

"In my other form," Severus continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.

Harry calmed down. Going as a shadow phoenix was acceptable. "Alright, I'll go deal with the potion, then." He hesitated. "Draco isn't..."

Lucius had already headed out, but Severus shook his head. "We decided to use the time-turner when we came back instead of waking one of you."

Harry nodded his understanding. He did not want to have to be the one to break that news. He watched as Severus swept out of the doorway, knowing he wouldn't change while all of the portraits could watch. It was bad enough Dumbledore would now know about Harry's transformation ability, he didn't need to know about anyone else's.

As he headed down the hallway, he heard steps running up behind him. He turned quickly, only to see a panting and red-faced Ron Weasley heading toward him. "Hey, Ron."

"'Hey, Ron?' 'Hey, Ron?' You jump out of bed like an acromantula is after you, scare me half to death by *diving* off the railing and almost killing yourself, and once I finally get down here, all you've got to say is, 'Hey, Ron?'" Ron screamed.

Harry blushed. "Sorry about that," he muttered.

"Don't tell me sorry! Tell me what's going on! Why did you attack that person then let them go? Why aren't we telling Dumbledore what you saw?"

Harry sighed and started walking, Ron right next to him. "Voldemort knows that Severus is a spy."

"Severus...? You mean *Snape*?"

"Do you know any *other* spies?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"So you were..." Ron started.

"Stopping him from walking into a trap," Harry finished.

"Why? And since when do you call him 'Severus', anyway?"

"Why?" Harry echoed. "What do you mean, why? Because I don't want him getting tortured and killed, obviously."

Ron thought about that for several steps before sighing. "I guess I don't want that either," he finally said reluctantly.

"I know you don't like him, Ron. And okay, I was the same way before this year. But he's really helpful when it's just us. And I don't want anything to happen to him"

"And you don't care if anything happens to you? You could have killed yourself trying to keep him from getting killed!"

Harry looked thoughtful as they walked into the room in which the potion was bubbling away. "It's probably a good thing he didn't see me," he said. The first tone sounded immediately, and he walked over quickly to grab the stirring spoon and wait for the second.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, confused. He had been talking about Harry almost killing himself, and the only answer Harry had was he was glad someone hadn't seen him? *He'd* seen him and been scared out of his mind, wasn't that enough?

Harry waited until he was through stirring before speaking again. "Severus," he answered. "He doesn't approve of me taking stupid chances and has ways of making me regret it. But he didn't see, so it's all good."

"Didn't see what?" A voice said from behind them. "And what's Weasel doing here?"

Harry froze, his face paling. "Draco."

Harry worked hard to get the expression off of his face before he turned around, and was pretty sure he had managed it. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd still be asleep."

"Unlike you, *I* have no need for external aids to get to sleep," Draco sneered, obviously still deeply annoyed at the other boy. "I also was smart enough to set a ward on this room so I'd know if it was left empty."

"But it's not empty, is it? We're here. So you can go on back to your bed," Ron bit out.

Draco stalked forward. "Look, Weasel..."

Harry pulled out his wand and started to twirl it idly. "Hmm... I thought I'd taken care of this problem for a little while. Perhaps I should try something more... permanent?"

The two boys glared hotly at Harry, but they did back away from each other. Ron looked around and headed towards the potion. "So, what's all this, then?"

"I'd be careful," Draco smirked. "That potion steals souls."

"Yeah, right," Ron scoffed, but he did move away from it.

"Actually, with the right container and the right spell, that's exactly what it will do," Harry explained. "One particular soul, at least."

Ron gaped.

"How did you expect it to happen?" Harry asked seriously. "Some gigantic battle where hundreds would fight and die all to get me into the perfect position to finally Avada Kedavra the snake? With plenty of glory for all those that live and even more for those that die? I don't think so. I'm not going to have all of those deaths on my conscience, all to allow me to use an Unforgivable that probably wouldn't even work. After all, it didn't work last time, did it? It gave the wizarding world ten years of peace, but then he returned. He will not return this time, I promise you that. We've found a way, we *will* use it, and once that's done, he will be gone forever, with no way to ever be brought back."

"That's brill, mate," Ron said sincerely.

"But?" Harry asked with amusement.

"But what?" Ron was obviously confused.

"I know you, Ron," Harry smirked. "You wanted to continue that statement. But?"

"Fine!" Ron glared back. "How can you let that Death Eater help you?"

Harry sighed. "Draco would no more work for Voldemort than you would! And would you stop that infernal flinching!" he practically roared. It had not been a good night so far; Harry was tired, he'd seen far more than he wanted to, and he wouldn't be able to get to sleep until Severus, and yes, even Malfoy, got back. He was *not* in the mood to put up with these petty annoyances.

"Did it ever occur to you that there might be a good reason no one wants to speak his name?" Draco drawled.

"Oh, there is, plain old fear," Harry snapped back.

"Besides that," Draco waved that off.

"You mean an actual *logical* reason for it?" Harry was abruptly interested.

"I don't know that it was ever proved, but rumor has it the Dark Lord *can* hear when you say his name, *if* there's a person with the Dark Mark nearby."

Harry looked at him with interest, and waited for him to continue.

"There's supposed to be a listening spell on the Dark Mark that would be activated whenever his name was spoken in the vicinity, and then he'd be able to hear everything that was said."

"*That's* why people don't say his name?"

"Sounds like a bloody good reason to me," Ron muttered.

Harry shook his head with a grin. "That wasn't the best way to handle it," he disagreed.

Draco nodded, understanding immediately. "Yeah, they should have started using his name all the time."

"Wha?"

"Just think about it. If he heard every conversation that has his name in it, drop the name into every conversation. If there's suddenly hundreds of conversations going on at the same time, all having nothing to do with him, but his name showing up anyway, and him having to listen, it would drive him nuts."

"Which he would then take out on anyone he could get his hands on," Ron reminded him.

"Eh, he'd do that anyway," Harry brushed it off.

"So," Ron looked around carefully, as if trying to catch any eavesdroppers. "Do you think it's true?"

"No," Harry said immediately.

"Maybe," Draco replied more cautiously.

Harry looked at him. "I don't think so," he disagreed. "We've said 'Voldemort' several times in front of two people we both know have the mark, while talking about this plan. Besides, if he did have that ability, he wouldn't have needed your mother to find out Severus was a spy." He suddenly stopped and paled as he realized what he had just blurted out.

Draco froze. "What did you say?" he ground out between clenched teeth.

Harry looked around wildly for inspiration. "Um... why don't we wait until Severus comes back," he suggested.

"I don't think so," Draco disagreed immediately. "What did you mean?"

"Not now, Draco," Harry muttered.

"Oh, no you don't," Draco hissed. He stalked over to Harry and grabbed his head, making him stare into his eyes.

Harry tried to blank his gaze, but could tell that it hadn't worked as he watched the blood drain from his friend's face.

"Tell me," Draco whispered.

Harry glanced over at Ron as best he could with Draco's hands still holding his face still. "Ron, you can go back up the dorms now."

"Oh, I don't think so, mate," Ron disagreed. This kind of entertainment he wasn't going to miss.

"Ron, please," Harry practically begged. "Just... go."

Ron was typically as sensitive as Trelawny on a bad day, but even he could occasionally see beyond the freckles on his nose, and he could hear the pleading in his friend's voice. Whatever was going on wasn't going to be good, and Harry didn't want him around when he told Draco. Personally, he didn't know what it was that could be so bad, but he reluctantly agreed to leave, determined to get the information out of Harry later. This was one time he wasn't going to let it go. But for now he left, though not without a few glances over his shoulder.

Once they were alone, Harry looked sadly at Draco. How could he possibly tell the other boy that his mother was dead? Just the fact that she'd betrayed his godfather would have been enough, but to add her death on top of that...

With Draco looking at him as if searching for answers, Harry found he had no words. He opened and closed his mouth several times without finding anything to say. Finally, he just lowered his eyes, unable to face his friend's blue-grey orbs and blurted out, "I'm sorry."

"No," Draco muttered, his hands squeezing uncontrollably. "No," he said again, stronger. His hands left Harry's face to press against his chest. "NO!" This time it was screamed out as Draco shoved Harry, hard.

Harry stumbled backwards. He probably would have fallen if his back had not impacted the wall. He stared wide-eyed at his friend, who was still shaking his head negatively. He watched as the anguish transformed into rage.

"You're lying!" Draco screamed. Without any more warning, he rushed at Harry. "How dare you lie about something like that! How dare you?" He hauled back and slammed his fist forward with all the power he had. Luckily for Harry, Draco had not had much practice with the physical side of brawling. Unfortunately, it did not take much power for the punch to his jaw to send his head back to slam, hard, against the rough stone wall.

Harry cried out at the sudden pain from the front, immediately followed by an even sharper pain in the back. He slid down the wall as his legs suddenly gave out on him. Uncomprehendingly, he reached behind his head and then brought his fingers to the front, staring at the blood upon them.

Draco was just as shocked, unable to take his eyes off the blood trail on the wall. "Merlin, Harry," he whispered, all trace of anger gone.

Harry laughed a little, still staring at his fingers and without thinking of what he was saying. "You and Voldemort have almost the same reaction to bad news. I'm glad you, at least, didn't use your wand."

He snapped out of his shock as Draco let out a wounded sound, and he realized what he had said. "Draco," he called out, trying to stop him, trying to apologize, but he was too late, as the blond-haired boy ran out of the room.