Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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A.N. I had the time, so I wrote this chapter pretty quickly. Over the week, I might not have too much time, so I felt like I owed you.

Hermionegreen- Thank you.

HAZZAGRIFF- Thank you.

saman007uk- Thanks.

anna may- thank you. Hermione's smart arse attitude is going to go away pretty quickly, it annoys me too.

Solaris Isa- thank you. You have no idea how many people I've disturbed by laughing when someone goes off on a murderous rampage in film. *Sigh* Oh well, at least there someone who probably thinks I'm not totally crazy.

Daesereg- Thanks. J

Oh joy- All right. I know this fic may have some things that seem to make it seem like a copy of Blackened Sunrise, but that's because I've been inspired by it to write dark fic. This has a different plot line, and if you can't tell that now, read another couple of chapters and tell me that again.

Please Review

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Draco was still trying to get his heart to slow down from the shock of having seeing Ker Erebus in plain daylight, when Harry came out of his bag, holding a small metal cuff.

"Draco, you wear socks, right?"

Draco nodded furiously, trying to keep some distance between Harry Demon and himself, but he didn't want to anger the dangerous being, so he was trembling near a large rock, wondering exactly why he had thought Harry was a safe person to side with.

Harry must have noticed Draco's fear, because he grinned as he opened a side of the cuff.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to attack any of my students. Besides, you're far too valuable."

Draco had no idea what Harry meant by that, but he decided to take Harry's word for it, and as he gingerly accepted the cuff from Harry's hand, his eyes caught sight of some strange symbols.

"It's Japanese kanji."

Harry said when he caught sight of Draco's confusion.

"You're going to have to carve in that last line. It gives you the power to control the blocking power of the cuff."

Draco turned the cuff in his hands, and saw that there was indeed a symbol that was uncompleted. Its last line was traced faintly with ink, and was clearly visible to the eye.

After turning his right pointer finger into his dragon claw, he carefully dug his nail into the metal, and traced over the line, cautious about breaking the weak metal of the cuff.

As he finished his tracing, the symbols glowed for a moment, then became barely visible.

"Snap it on your ankle, under your socks. The fabric will keep the small magical pulses from reaching anyone."

Draco nodded, and bent down to do as Harry said.

Meanwhile, Harry was pulling out a slighter larger band of metal, one that looked almost exactly like the one that Draco had ripped off, moments before.

Using a want to complete the ruins on the band, Harry snapped it into place, making sure that it looked exactly like the old one.

"Um, what's the point of taking the old one off if you're going to put a new one back one?"

Draco couldn't help but ask.

"This one has one small addition that allows me to control the band."

Harry adjusted the band so it wasn't chafing his neck, and proceeded to quickly clean up, tossing everything back into the trunk, where everything surprisingly fit.

When everything was back to the way it was, except for the dragon feet prints in the ground, Harry quickly retracted the bubble.

As they headed back toward the castle, Draco suddenly felt a pulsing wave of muted power. Dark pulsing power, slowly driving its way into his mind.

Draco was turning his head this way and that, trying to see where the power was coming from, when he heard Harry chuckle next to him.

"I see you feel that annoying power signal. It's been there since the beginning of the year, slowly growing stronger. There's something in that castle, and it's ready to erupt."

Draco nodded, trying to block out the pulses. It was slowly driving him crazy, kinda like Chinese water torture.

Then, he realized something. Harry must feel the pulses, he probably felt it stronger than Draco did, but he wasn't losing his mind. There was something strange about that…

Harry must have learned to by psychic, because he seemed to know exactly what Draco was thinking.

"It's not bothering me because it's some kind of demonic power. Possible touched by the damned, but there's defiantly demonic power in those pulses. The horntail in you is being bothered by that."

Draco nodded.

"Here."

Harry handed him something that looked strangely like an ear plug.

"It can block out magical pulses. It should help."

As Draco stuck the plug into his ear, everything was calm. The students were outside talking, there were a few people on broomsticks, flying over the quidditch field, and little kids practicing their hexes on each other. It was as if the pulses had never been there.

Signaling to Harry that they worked, they continued back towards Hogwarts, in complete silence.

As they walked, Harry couldn't help but notice the strange vibrations he got from Draco. It was the pulses of a Horntail, and yet…

There was something there, with Draco. Something Harry hadn't felt since his old teacher had died.

Stopping, Harry signaled for Draco to stop as well. As Draco looked confused, Harry closed his eyes, and followed the vibrations back towards Draco, through his sub consciousness, past the horntail that resided with his mind, and stood at the foot of a giant doorway. It was as he had expected. Draco was no mere horntail. He held within him, the secrets and powers of the fabled Mythic Dragon.

Harry retracted his mind from Draco's, and motioned him to follow him back to the clearing.

Once the bubble was back up, Harry peered closely at Draco.

"I should have known. I never bothered to check beyond the horntail."

"Known what?"

"That you can also transform into a mythic dragon."

"Mythic dragon?"

"Yes. That was the form my old teacher took. It's almost like a magical combination of certain dragon types, and it allows you a bit of control over the elements. Also, it will heighten your magical senses."

"Draco was confused."

"Why couldn't you sense it before?"

Harry sighed as he settled himself back onto a rock, and summoned a strange little box to his hands.

"It was because your other dragon forms cannot be accessed, only the horntail. The other dragons exist as spirits inside of you, allowing you to reach the state of the mythic dragon."

Harry carefully opened the box in his hands, careful not to break the delicate clasp on the cover.

"I was planning to let you rest for the rest of the day, and start your training tomorrow, but if I felt the mythic dragon in you now, that means it must be close to exiting the confines of the prison of your mind. If we don't take care of this now, it will escape, and kill all other beings in your mind, including you yourself."

Draco nodded, gulping as he stared at the small dagger that Harry pulled out of the box.

"How are we going to take care of this situation?"

Harry slowly pulled out a medallion that had been lying under the dagger in the box.

"Put this medallion on. It will transport you to one of the spirit realm, where a test will present itself to you. It will be dangerous, but the only thing you can bring with you is this dagger. There is only one rule for this test. You cannot _ever_ look back."

Draco gulped as he took the dagger from Harry's hands, and placed his wand down on the ground. As he pulled the medallion slowly over his head, he saw Harry pull one final item out of the box. It was an old stone tablet, with the inscriptions, "May you find peace After Death" carved into it in an old script.

Then, Draco saw darkness.

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Should I end there? Nah. I'll make it a bit longer.

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Draco opened his eyed to a strange world, one where there was no up or down, where there where he was nothing, but everything. No natural law applied here, and he could see everything, but nothing.

Suddenly, a booming voice called out to him from the depths of this world.

"What is you name dragon tamer?"

Draco whirled around, trying to see who was talking to him.

"Answer, before my patience runs out."

The voice again, closer, more dangerous.

"Draco. Draco Ladon Malfoy."

"And you purpose?"

"To harness the powers of something called the mythic dragon."

"Ah. It has been centuries came to our realm with that purpose in mind."

Suddenly, and old man appeared before Draco.

"Are you ready to sacrifice everything to reach your goal?"

Steeling his nerve, Draco nodded, gripping the dagger that he still held in his left hand.

The old man nodded, and behind him, a bright glowing doorway appeared.

"Then, then your goal is to retrieve the 7 spheres of power, and to make it back here, with all of them in your keeping. If you try to harness the power of one of the spheres, then you will fail, and be automatically to oblivion."

Draco nodded, and started for the door, when the old man's voice called after him.

"You must be someone who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain. You must never let fear get to you, for it is only a distraction. You must care for nothing and no one; they cannot do anything for you, you must keep your eyes on the goal."

With these last words echoing through his mind, Draco passed through the door, into a world of flames.

As he steeled himself, and lifted his face to face the fires, he saw before him two bridges. One led towards a stone alter, and on the alter was what had to be the first stone.

As Draco turned to see what lay over the other bridge, his eyes widened with shock and despair.

It was his mother, trapped in a circle of fire. His mother, the only human being who ever cared for him, the one his father controlled through threats and curses. The only bright light throughout his life.

As Draco frantically checked both bridges, his heart sank. The fires underneath were slowly licking at the boards and ropes, slowly fraying them. He would only be able to take one, before they both broke and burned.

As he looked from the alter to his mother, than back to the alter, the old man's words came back to him.

"You must care for nothing and no one; they cannot do anything for you"

Steeling himself, and praying for his soul, he shut his ears to his mother's cries as the fire came in closer, and ran across the bridge towards the alter.

No sooner had his foot left the bridge at he other end, they both slowly collapsed, and fell to the fires. As he quickly dodged the flames, and ran up to retrieve the sphere, he heard one final shriek from the circle of fire on the other raised platform.

This caused his head to whip around, and stop for a moment, as his heart felt torn in two. This momentary halt allowed for a sudden flame to shoot up, right between him, and the stone.

Draco could see the stone through the flames, but the heat was almost unbearable.

Cursing himself for the blunder, he steeled his mind and his will, and plunged his hand through the fires.

The pain was excruciating as the flesh on his hand was burned away, but still, he reached, trying to find the stone.

Suddenly, as his almost destroyed fingers touched the stone, all pain disappeared, and he suddenly found himself standing on a few rocks, at the edge of the sea.

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End here? All right. I'll do a bit more.

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Draco quickly placed the stone in a pocket in his robe, and looked out to sea. The waves weren't high, and it almost looked calm, but Draco had a hard time trying not to turn around.

He had a horrible fear of the crushing depths of the sea. After a horrible experience as a child, he had done everything in his power to stay away from the ocean, but here he was, standing at the edge of one.

As his eyes searched for the next stone, he fell into dismay again.

It was placed on another alter, out in the waters, among the waves.

Draco knew how to swim, he wasn't afraid of pools or lakes, but the length was the longest he would have to swim, and it was farther than any distance he had ever swan before.

"You must never let fear get to you"

The words floated back into his mind, and Draco closed his mind and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

Finally, he opened his eyes, and pulled the dagger out of another robe pocket.

He knew his robes would never allow him to swim, and he reached down to cut off the fabric below his waist. His shoes had to go too, and Draco carefully rolled up the legs of his pants, and the top of his robe.

Taking another deep breath, he jumped.

When he landed, he knew that if he ever faltered in his swimming, he would probably not reach the bottom of the ocean before he died.

Using broad strokes to move him steadily towards the alter.

The waves started to get a bit more violent, but he ignored them, and swam, just concentrating all his thoughts on the goal.

Finally, he touched the alter, and as he used his arms to pull himself up, he felt his chest loosen. The fear had passed.

He blindly fumbled for the stone, trying to get sufficient air into his lungs, when he finally touched the stone, and appeared on top of a cliff, about a thousand feet up in the air, shivering in the wind.

As he discarded the soggy remains of the robe, and threw away the tie, his eyes spotted the stone, on an alter, way below him.

Draco groaned. How was he supposed to reach that?

Suddenly, he realized something that made him want to smack himself upside the head. Horntails could fly. They had wings. He could transform himself into a horntail.

What was even worse was that he didn't have to sacrifice his shoes; he could just have flown to retrieve the stone.

Draco quickly transformed, and checked his wings. They would hold him.

Spreading them out, he glided down through the clouds, reaching out with a human hand for the stone.

Suddenly, something slammed into his back. Draco staggered in his flight, and reoriented himself. It was some kind of large vulture, getting ready to attack him again.

Focusing his eyes back on the target, the old man's words came easily through his mind.

"Keep your eyes on the goal."

Flying faster now, he rushed through the clouds, down towards the alter, and, YES! He had the stone.

Now, he was in a mountain pass, back in his human form, staring at another stone, across a gully of rocks.

The mountains were too close in, and he couldn't fly through them, he'd have to make his way, without his shoes.

As Draco slowly inched his way through the rocks, ignoring the bloody cuts that must be on his feet, he used the dagger to steady himself, digging it between the rocks to his side to keep himself from falling down.

Finally, he reached the last stone, and as he reached it, he realized that he had lost enough blood for him have fallen unconscious.

The words "You must be someone who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain" had already embedded itself in his mind, and he rallied that his life no longer mattered. If he failed the tests, he would die, and if he tried going back to the real world, he's die there too.

As he grasped the stone, once again, he felt himself being transported. This time, the world went dark again.

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All right, I went on longer than I should have. Next chapter, there's going to be 3 more stones to collect, and you'll find out exactly what the mythic dragon is.

Anyway, I'll try not to keep you waiting too long for the next chapter.

Easter Eggs

Chinese water torture. I may not be Chinese, but the concept is cool enough.

Mythical dragon is based on a card from Yugioh.

There probably is more, but I really can't remember where they came from.