Thanks to Menecarkawan for editing!

Song: 'Burning Dance' by M.O.V.E


Ch. 20: Draconians

The young man was breathing fast in his nervousness as he grabbed his wand from under the sheets of his bed. "Reducto!" he cried frantically. The spell went through the branch-like enlarged arms and hit the mirror, shattering it. Ron had become quite the mirror destroyer, but he now believed Hermione. His best friend had been paranoid whenever she got close to mirrors and he now knew she was right. They had opened a powerful link between the place where Harry was and Hogwarts and had no idea how to close it.

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan opened their curtains and stared at the redhead, who was still holding his wand, and then they stared at the broken mirror. "Had a bad dream?" Dean asked in a wondering tone as he observed the many shards scattered upon the floor.

"Yeah... Something like that..." replied Ron looking numb, his eyes still on what had been a mirror. He was shocked and still getting goose bumps all over his body, but he almost felt stupid. Seamus and Dean had no idea of what he had just seen and now it all seemed like an illusion. With the crumbling of the mirror, the arms and hands that had been grabbing him had disappeared without a trace within seconds.

Hermione was sleeping peacefully in the girls' dormitory. Ever since she had become paranoid around mirrors, she had started a ritual of covering the mirror in the dormitory before bedtime. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil found Hermione's behaviour very strange, but didn't dare make any comments about it. Instead, they were getting used to Hermione ceremoniously placing a blanket over the mirror every night. She had told Ron to do the same, but he told her she was being silly and that he would look ridiculous doing such a thing. Of course, in the morning she would learn that Ron had discovered the hard way that she had been right all along.

XxXxX

Al was panting as he ran, Fawkes keeping a constant eye on him. Once more they had been discovered and had to abandon yet another hiding spot. Al knew that there was only one choice. He had to leave that land. The land in which he was trapped was going to be Harry's final stage to leave Larakain. Al wasn't even supposed to be there because it was not his mission to defeat the new Dark Lord of Larakain. He was still cursing himself for having been so blind and not seeing behind those strange dreams. Harry didn't need his help! Harry had companions and friends just as he had had in his own time. Something Al knew for sure after erring in his actions by reacting on impulse rather than common sense was that everything happened for a reason, therefore he must have appeared here as his fourteen-year-old self for a purpose. The problem was that he would never agree with that reason. The Dark Lord Harry had to vanquish in Larakain wasn't going to be even with Harry's power level by the time Harry reached those obscure lands. That would make the Dark Lord somewhat easy prey even if he had the energy of all the children of that world. Al had been appalled when he had discovered the tiny little detail that the Dark Lord was using the energy from children, which was the exact reason why he was in the form of a teenaged boy. He had learned that truth from listening to the soldiers that were constantly tailing him. They kept jeering and mocking him by stating that he was to become another child energy source for their ruler.

Al stopped and got behind the very thick trunk of an old tree. He couldn't run anymore. Even if he was physically a fourteen-year-old boy, he hadn't run like that in too many years. He wasn't used to it. Fawkes trilled, wanting Al to continue running, but Al dropped on his knees and shook his head lowering it, a mane of auburn hair falling messily around his face because it had gotten loose during their escape. "I can't, Fawkes. I might be doomed this time." Al looked back and saw armored soldiers coming. Feeling drained from so many previous fights he still stood up, his breathing fast paced and difficult.

The soldiers surrounded him, but Al combined with Fawkes and burned several of those soldiers to the ground, but his magic was declining, making him become weaker. More soldiers came and the magical combination between phoenix and human was lost. Al fell to the ground unconscious and Fawkes got on top of his human protectively, almost defying anyone who would try to grab Al.

One of the soldiers spoke: "Get rid of the bird." A soldier prepared to land his sword on Fawkes, but just then, there was an explosion and the only thing that could be heard were the screams of the soldiers. By the time the smoke completely dissipated the soldiers lay dead.

Four figures approached Al's limp form and a pointy eared blonde female with boomerangs attached to her back knelt and checked on him, being allowed by an observant Fawkes. The female spoke, "He is alive, but his magic has been depleted. At this rate he may die. It seems that he has depended solely on magic because he doesn't have a weapon."

A pointy eared and light brown haired man with a bow in his hands and a quiver on his back said then, "He does look like the mighty Al, but how can this be?"

"I am not sure," the female replied. "But it will be better to take him to our village in Shalzra. It's obvious that Nebureth desperately wants him. It's abnormal to send so many soldiers after just one child. We have to leave this land anyway. This place is too unholy." The woman stood up taking a quick glance of their surroundings and the man that had spoken petted Fawkes before lifting Al's form. Fawkes had let them touch his human because he knew that they were elves from that world that could help Dumbledore. The magical bird followed the four elves as they prepared to abandon that land.

XxXxX

Harry and his companions had made camp as far as they could from Baskuran. Dianeia kept studying Harry and all of a sudden, her hands were all over his hair searching for something. "What in the world are you doing, Dia?" he asked with mild annoyance, but laughing nonetheless.

"Wondering why you don't have a gem! How can you have alicorns and no gems?" She kept entangling her fingers on Harry's hair, which was almost pleasurable in Harry's opinion, but he decided to counter by grabbing her by the waist. She reacted, "Hey!" and he hugged her against him and even brushed his body against hers in a decidedly un-innocent way, gaining a deep blush from her. "Don't do that!" she exclaimed and right then her eyes fell on light violet ones. She cleared her throat and she and Harry separated.

Janryu was still staring at them and said, "Really, don't mind me! It was an interesting sight! Of course, I would have enjoyed seeing a little bit more, like you two taking your clothes off and ravishing each other!"

Harry threw a pebble at Janryu and the vampire grinned as he dodged it with ease. At that moment, the three of them were by themselves. Neville and Luna had gone to watch some creatures with Soshlan that Luna insisted were Blibbering Humdingers. Nemaisse had left with Kroy to hunt and look for some plants, flowers, and even certain kinds of weeds that she said she needed. Angelus had also left, but at that moment, he came back. "You are not hunting?" he asked Janryu.

"In a little while, maybe." Janryu then gazed at Angelus. "Are you going to stay with us, gramps?"

"Not for long. I'll leave you before we reach Zanoa."

"Why is that?" asked Harry curiously.

"It has to be like that. In Zanoa you will have to make a very important decision that might seal a particular future. I cannot interfere, thus, I cannot be there."

"Where will you be while we are in that place?" Janryu asked.

"Readying myself for whatever comes. I will join you again when the time is right."

"What about Al? Will you go help him while you are not with us?" Harry fixed a hardened gaze on Angelus.

"No. I am not his companion, but help is always available to those that truly need it." Angelus left them and entered a tent, ending the conversation. His words had given Harry a sensation of deja vu from something Dumbledore had told him once.

"Is Al in this world? I thought that guy ought to be dead!" Janryu exclaimed looking at Harry, eyebrows raised in surprise. So far, only Harry and Angelus had been aware of Dumbledore being in Larakain.

"I have no idea what's happening, Janryu, so I am unable to explain much. Sorry. But yes, Al is alive. That, I can easily answer." Harry went alert and stood abruptly when he saw Neville, Luna, Soshlan, and even Nemaisse and Kroy running toward them looking a bit panicked. "What's wrong?"

"We have to leave right this instant!" Neville yelled.

Angelus was out of his tent in seconds and Kroy rapidly blurted: "Some fire spirits are coming this way."

"Fire spirits?" asked Harry and Dianeia at the same time while Janryu paled at the mention of fire.

"Heliopaths! A complete army of them! Like the one Cornelius Fudge has!" Luna said, her protuberant eyes full of excitement.

Harry shrunk the tents and stuffed them in a sack as fast as he could. He glanced in the direction from which his alarmed friends had come from and saw what looked like spiritual flames burning everything in sight and coming their way. "We run!" he commanded. Not needing to be persuaded they immediately started their escape from that area, even though the darkness of the night had just fallen on them. The fire spirits illuminated the land quite nicely, though.

Running as they were, Harry asked Luna, "Doesn't Undine work against them?"

"Already tried!" Luna replied with a slight smile. "Soshlan also tried to create holy rain, but he needs to seriously cry to create it because he can only produce some kinds of magic with his life spirit through strong emotions. There is also the fact that they seem to be defending their territory. I think..." Luna halted her run to look backwards and confirm what she suspected. "Yes, they already turned around. They have already chased us away from their land."

Everyone stopped running and there was relief on their faces as they noticed Luna was right. The Heliopaths were leaving and as they got farther, the darkness of the night became evident. They prepared a new camp for that night where they had stopped running, having rapidly glanced around to learn their surroundings. They were going to dine and they prepared a fire to warm them. In the morning, they would get on their way to Xaphan, but there was a small problem. In the end, Janryu hadn't hunted.

"I cannot feed from fire spirits... Are there any creatures here to actually hunt?" he asked aloud.

Harry and Neville looked at each other and then at the others. Angelus wasn't looking at anyone, but said in a bored tone: "Feed from your companions for tonight and tomorrow you may hunt. You shouldn't leave camp after darkness has fallen even if you are a dark creature. The fiends, beings, and animals from these parts differ greatly from those you are used to and the flying goats must be already hidden in their lairs."

"Flying goats?" Janryu asked raising an eyebrow.

Luna answered hastily and looking thrilled, "He means the Blibbering Humdingers!"

Janryu then smirked as he looked around. "So? Who will be first?" He licked his lips in anticipation and everyone moved back, especially Soshlan who blanched. In the end Dianeia, Kroy, and Harry produced blood spheres that Janryu consumed before they finally ate and went to sleep.

XxXxX

The morning light awoke the travelers and they got on their way after a quick breakfast. Xaphan wasn't very far, but sometimes Harry wondered if at some point they should take a break and stay in a particular town for a few days.

Beautiful girls started to follow them as they journeyed through a weed path. Soshlan got very uptight at the sight of the girls, knowing very well what they were. Harry expected Angelus to say something, but the one to speak was Kroy. "Ignore them. This is gorgon territory, but if we continue without acknowledging their presence they might simply leave us alone."

Dianeia looked calm and it was the same with Luna and Nemaisse, but the younger males seemed strained at the thought of being in gorgon territory. Neville even grabbed Luna's hand and Soshlan kept trying to get between Dianeia and Nemaisse. Harry was a little nervous too, but trying to keep calm. Janryu kept looking at the ground trying his very best not to acknowledge the very pretty girls.

Harry stopped as he felt something coming towards them. "Everyone, stop!" They all obeyed Harry and he started to look around, the strange feeling still within him. His eyes went wide as an exaggeratedly giant cobra came from the insides of a grove like area and stopped in front of them. It stared intently at Harry and comprehension dawned on him. That giant cobra was the gorgon queen, but it was disconcerting to know that all of them could easily fit in the cobra's mouth in just one bite. "We are not here to disturb you. We simply need to pass through this place," Harry said in Parseltongue hoping for the best.

Except for Luna and Neville, Harry's companions had no idea about the language in which Harry had spoken to the gorgon queen. They were all staring intently at Harry, wondering about his strange hissing.

The giant cobra lowered her head and got her mouth dangerously close to Harry, making the others adopt fighting stances, but Harry calmed them with a hand gesture. "It's alright," he said.

The cobra replied in Parseltongue, "It's the first time I meet someone who can speak to me like that. I like you. I may adopt my other form now."

The gorgon queen changed her form, reducing her size until she became an exceedingly beautiful woman with long flowing dark gray hair. "You know the serpent language," she stated. "And not only that, but you are also the wielder of the great Ouraion." The tall woman that almost resembled Olympe Maxime in height stroked Harry's face, her features set on Harry wantonly and Dianeia closed her fists so hard she could have drawn blood. "If you stay with us I can make you king. As you speak the serpent language and you also have Ouraion none of my children will hurt you." The woman's voice was incredibly soft and enthralling.

"I have a mission to fulfill and also, I am not really interested in being king to anybody. It's a very nice offer, but no thank you."

The queen bowed and spoke again, "We will give you a gift before you continue on your mission." One of the girls brought several light orbs that immediately entered Harry, Neville, and Luna. After that, another girl brought a silver staff. "This might be helpful to one of your companions." Luna extended her arm as if in a trance and the staff floated towards her. She offered her bronze staff to the girl that had brought the silver one and the girl took it and bowed like the queen had done before. "We won't stop you. One hundred meters from here and you will have crossed the border line, abandoning our parts."

"Thank you for everything," Harry replied. He then started to walk and the others followed him wordlessly.

Just as they passed the one hundred meter line, the path changed completely. It was suddenly a shining golden path that almost blinded them as a very warm sunlight reflected on it, but after a few minutes walk there was a cold mist in front of them that prevented them from seeing ahead. Harry turned to Angelus with apprehension. "How long until we reach Xaphan? I don't like that mist." Harry's eyes kept scanning the little area they could see.

"We will arrive at Xaphan in about forty-five minutes, and just so you are aware, this mist has never been part of this road." Automatically all eyes fell on Angelus after he finished saying those words.

Soshlan sprouted his wings and took off at the same time he announced, "I'll take a look from above!"

Harry, Kroy, Angelus, and Janryu reacted in unison because they had felt something approaching, Soshlan hadn't been alert enough. "Don't!" But it was too late. A barrage of arrows came seemingly out of nowhere and made Soshlan fall with arrows through both of his now bleeding wings, an arrow through his right thigh, and an arrow through his left side. He was in pain and they all got a glance of an angry Angelus for the first time, "Foolish boy! Do you want to get yourself killed?" It almost seemed like Angelus wanted to slap the boy, but didn't.

Soshlan was breathing fast and wincing in pain when Angelus started to remove the arrows by pulling them out by the pointed staffs. Quickly, Angelus was able to remove all of the arrows from Soshlan's golden non-feathered wings and then he got to the boy's thigh. The arrow hadn't completely pierced through, but Angelus pushed it so that the pointy end would come out, gaining a scream of deep pain from the elven fairy that made the others flinch. After that, he went to the last arrow. He had saved it for last for a very simple reason. The arrow was the one that had pierced dangerously and Angelus frowned. "This arrow has pierced your left kidney," he told Soshlan. Harry clenched his teeth at the knowledge, Kroy lowered his gaze, and the others gasped. "Only very powerful healing magic can repair the damage after I remove the arrow, otherwise I can simply remove that kidney. It's already getting filled with blood and if I pull the arrow out..." Angelus didn't finish the sentence, knowing full well that Soshlan knew what would happen. "You're lucky it wasn't your heart or your liver, little one."

"I don't have the healing magic required," Soshlan said with a choke.

"I do," said Luna soothingly. "Just obtained it from the orbs provided by the Gorgon Queen." She approached Soshlan and nodded to Angelus for him to remove the arrow at the same time she knelt and invoked the curative magic. Soshlan screamed as Angelus pulled the arrow out making it go completely through the kidney, but soon he was relieved as the healing progressed. Luna finished and smiled at him. "Better?" Soshlan nodded, but he looked pale. Luna then healed the thigh and wings, but even after the healing Soshlan needed to recover.

"He won't be able to walk for a while," Angelus said as he lifted Soshlan. "They're here," he added, getting confused glances, but Harry immediately figured out what Angelus meant. There were shadows behind the mist and soon they were surrounded by soldiers from Azfarath.

"You won't escape this time," a dark mage hissed. "You will be taken to our Dark Lord."

All of a sudden, the mist moved towards them and trapped them. They all felt their bodies paralyzing amidst the foggy environment that encompassed them. Harry tried to block the mist, but it was impossible. It wasn't just a spell that had been aimed at them. How could you fight fog, especially if it was magical?

Harry could feel his power being subdued and through the corner of his eyes saw the forms of his friends and companions falling on their knees. Even Angelus seemed to be having a hard time making a stand against the mist and his knees were quivering, even more when he was dealing with the weight that was Soshlan on him.

Throughout their seemingly losing battle Harry noticed one of them still standing just as he fell on his knees. It was Kroy, and the half Draconian's eyes were glowing more than ever. He screamed as his clothes blended into his skin and it started to cover itself in glowing blue scales. He placed his hands on his head as if trying to control himself, but not accomplishing it. "Kroy!" Harry tried to exclaim, but his voice came out weak as his energy levels decreased. It seemed that the stress of being unable to move had taken its toll on Kroy and shortly his body was enlarging itself. Harry heard the dark mages reactions, for they were aghast by what they were seeing, but that wasn't all. A sudden attack came over the Dark Lord's minions. Not only Kroy was now soaring while spitting fire and ice at the evildoers, but there were also scales coming from somewhere outside the mist.

The paralyzing fog started to fade and Harry was able to appreciate the forms of the enemies melting in their own blood, a sight he had seen before in fights against fiends when it came to Kroy's style of fighting. Soon the enemy group was no more as the earth swallowed the blood puddles, but they became surrounded by the inhabitants of Xaphan that had detected strangers approaching their city. The inhabitants were almost human looking, but their skin was scaly and they were all bald, females and males alike. They weren't exactly what Harry would have called beautiful people physically, but they looked human enough in a peculiar and uncommon way. They were all dressed in earth colours. "Who are you?" he managed to ask, as he was able to stand.

The people looked strangely at Harry and then at the soaring shimmery blue dragon above them, but none responded to Harry's question. One of the people, a stern looking man, raised his right hand and from it sprouted brown scales forming a circle. The circle of scales floated towards the dragon and tamed it in a certain way. It kept floating in front of the dragon's eyes and the dragon calmed and started to descend, the whole time its eyes on the circle of scales. It landed as softly as it possibly could, but the land still trembled. Several of the people came and caressed the dragon and it started to shrink in size little by little until it became Kroy, only this time he was fully clothed.

One of the bald and scaly females smiled at Kroy and helped him stand. After that, the rest of the people kept studying Kroy and touched his slightly long and dark blonde mane. Though these people were bald and scaly, their tanned skin and glowing eyes resembled Kroy's, although he had normal skin and hair, discounting his ability to produce scales. The differences were astounding, but it was the truth behind these strange beings was dawning on Harry; they had to be pure Draconians.

"You are very close to our lands. Is there a purpose to this fact?" a female asked.

Harry looked at Angelus, but it was obvious the strange man wasn't going to speak on their behalf so he approached the female that was questioning them. "We need to go through your city in order to complete our mission. The map we possess portrays that it is the only path and currently, our final destination is Zanoa."

The female nodded and spoke again: "I understand. It's true that you have to go through our city if you want to get to Zanoa. You will also have to pass through Ryoll. We are aware of traveler needs, but we've been apprehensive of strangers lately, and over all, protecting our young. It seems that a new dark being is stealing children. So far, we haven't been affected, but as we detected the followers of that dark sorcerer so close to our land we thought that they had finally decided to attack us. Now we have confirmed that it was not after us that they were, but rather after you. Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" blurted Soshlan as Angelus placed him on the ground and he tried standing on his own two feet.

"Some of them are children," a Draconian male stated confirming what Soshlan insinuated with the question.

"Yes," responded the female with a smile. "But usually stranded children are captured by bandits, not pursued by the Dark Lord's army itself in all its glory."

Harry took a deep breath before speaking again, signaling towards Neville and Luna, "Me and my friends came from the other world. That's why they're after us. We are here to stop Nebureth."

"Very well," said the female with a courteous bow. "You may enter our city, but it is more because of your companion. We are curious about him and want to study him as we've never seen a half-blood before." She turned to Kroy then. "With which civilization you grew up? Certainly, it wasn't with our people..."

"I grew up with the Pegasi people, but as an outcast. We were able to stay in the village, but due to my father they preferred our home to be in the farthest corner of the city," Kroy replied looking uncomfortable. He had never seen other Draconians before, except for his father.

The female motioned for them to follow her and they did. Harry was hesitating because the Draconians wanted to study Kroy, but if they were to go through the city, it seemed that there wasn't much of a choice. He was also going to make sure that no harm would come to his companion in their investigations.

After quite a long walk, they finally entered the city and Harry could feel the stares of the people there, but that wasn't what startled him. What seemed to take him aback was a strong magic that he could perceive in the atmosphere and he wondered what it was.


Thanks to HitoshirenzuKage, Fk306 animelover, and bandgsecurtiyaw!

Please leave a review!