Harry Potter ain't mine sobsob. Xikum is a wonderful beta! cheercheer Enjoy!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

It had been a week since Harry's last detention, and only the night before Severus had found him out wandering the halls again. The Potions Professor had no compunctions about giving him another detention and so the three of them were once again gathered in the Potions classroom.

"Can I go first?" Draco asked excitedly.

"Go ahead," Snape said magnanimously.

"I," Draco said importantly, "am a drake."

Harry blinked. "You're a duck?"

If Draco had had something nearby that he could throw, he would have done so right then. "No," he bit out as he glared. "I'm a drake. You know, the base form from which ice drakes and fire drakes come?"

"Base form? I don't remember reading about that."

"That's because they're extinct now. Millennia ago there was only one kind of drake. From the records we have, we know they were able to withstand both high and low extremes of temperature. They shot out a type of acid which was very temperature sensitive, and could control the temperature of the acid as it was released from their bodies to either make it so hot it would not only burst into flames but cause anything it touched to burn, no matter what it was, or so cold it could freeze anything it touched." Draco became more animated as he immersed himself in his story. "With the coming of humans, drakes found themselves for the first time under true threat by another predator, though muggles had different reasons than wizards. Muggles were terrified of them, but the wizards discovered that the solution could be very useful in a number of potions. *Only if you ask me nicely*," he said in an aside to Severus, who had perked up at the idea of a new potion ingredient, "They moved away. Some drakes moved north or south to the poles, and eventually lost the ability to regulate their temperature any higher. They became ice drakes. Others moved into volcanoes, and they eventually became fire drakes."

"Should have known you'd go for something extinct, never can be normal, can you?" Harry smirked.

"Why be normal when you can be extraordinary?" Draco said proudly, but seriously.

"Why be extraordinary when you can be normal?" Harry asked just as seriously.

"So does that mean your animal is a normal one?"

"As if I'd ever be that lucky," Harry answered. "Still, I've got wings!"

"So do I."

"There seems to be a plethora of those," Snape muttered.

The two boys glanced at him immediately, but he just waved them off. "I believe Mr. Potter was about to tell us his form."

Harry smirked at him. "Guess," he ordered. "I've got wings and feathers and fur."

"A pegasus?" Draco suggested.

Harry shook his head. "I've also got paws and a beak."

Draco tried to imagine what that would look like, but Snape got it first. "I should have known."

"What is it?" Draco asked, surprised at his teacher's tone of voice.

"What else could the most Gryffindorish Gryffindor be, but a gryphon?"

Harry nodded, smiling brightly. "My coloring is a bit different; I'm black. Except, of course, for a white lightning bolt. Can't get rid of it even in another form, I guess."

"We haven't had gryphons in Hagrid's class yet, but isn't there something about a special power they have?"

"It's impossible to tell a lie in their presence." Snape told him.

Draco looked interested. "Is there any way we can sneak him into a Death Eater meeting?"

Harry laughed and even Snape's lips quirked in what might be called a smile. Then Harry's expression turned thoughtful.

"Don't even consider it," Severus snapped.

"It would be interesting, you've got to admit that," Harry said, still with that contemplative expression on his face.

"It's also not going to happen," Severus said reprovingly.

"But just think of all the truths that might come out," Draco baited.

"A gryphon does not force the truth, it only does not allow a lie. No matter what fantasies your so-called minds might be devising, there would not be any sudden bursts of truth inspired madness, only people who suddenly find they cannot speak."

Draco and Harry pouted in sync.

"Well, then, what's your form?" Harry asked.

"I," Severus remarked stiffly, "am a phoenix."

Draco burst out laughing. Harry would have done the same, but as much as he had come to trust and maybe even like the Potions Professor, he didn't quite feel comfortable enough to laugh at him, especially after the nights he had found him out roaming.

"You're red and gold?" Draco blurted between his guffaws. "I can't believe it!"

"Nor should you," Snape said quellingly. "I did not say I was a *normal* phoenix, now did I?"

"Are you an Augurey?" Harry asked. "I could see that."

"Nor am I that woeful parody," Snape frowned. "I, am a shadow phoenix."

There was complete silence. Finally Draco broke it. "What the heck is that?"

"A shadow phoenix is an extremely rare relation of the phoenix. Or so it is believed."

"What does that mean?"

"No shadow phoenix has ever been caught, and few have ever been seen. Therefore, many people do not believe they even exist."

"What's the difference between a shadow phoenix and a regular phoenix?"

"For one, the color is black, not bright red and gold. It is not known whether they burst into flames; Irish phoenixes do not, after all. They are thought to be able to travel through the shadows and hide completely within any shadow that is around."

"Thought to? I take it that means that no one knows for sure?"

"Correct. As I previously stated, few people even believe they continue to exist. In fact, the only reason anyone believes there might be such an animal is due to a potion incident. More than half a century ago, one Rufus Silverleaf created a darkness potion. He used what he believed to be shadow phoenix feathers in it. It was the strongest darkness potion that has ever existed, completely blacking out the city of London one night. Its use has never been repeated since."

"And I thought Draco's form was exotic," Harry replied with a grin. It actually felt good to have the most normal animagus form. He frowned as that caused a thought to start percolating through his head, and then his eyes widened. "You realize..." he started.

Draco interrupted. "You mean you're just now figuring out that it also means you're not the only mage in the room?" he said in a haughty voice. "You're quite slow on the uptake, aren't you?"

Harry glared at him before turning to their professor. "You really didn't know, sir?"

"I have told you the only two ways to know for sure whether someone is a mage. I had never felt it necessary to use a spell so powerful that it should have been impossible for me to perform. If I needed to use such strong magic, I could always find a potion that would do the same thing, in combination with my own magic."

"That didn't answer my question."

"No, Potter, I did not know. It never occurred to me to even wonder. Mages are extremely rare. Since there were already three in England, the idea that there might be another, or especially two more in the same place, is practically beyond comprehension."

"It's too bad mages can't combine their powers. With the three of us, Voldemort wouldn't stand a chance."

"Who says they can't?" Severus asked slowly. "Hogwarts itself was created by the four Founders, all of whom were mages, combining their magics."

Harry looked at the other two silently for a long moment, before deciding. "If four of them could do that, then certainly three of us can take down one overblown tyrant."

"Perhaps," was all Severus would agree to.

"Perhaps," Draco responded as well.

"We won't know until we try," Harry said fiercely.

"We will not try without being assured of success," Severus disagreed. "You will not risk your life, and both of ours, for nothing."

"I've been taking such risks for years," Harry scoffed.

"Risking your life without due preparation, is not a tradition that will be continued. I can promise you that," was the Potions Professor's response.

Harry looked at him, disbelief clear upon his face, before he looked away, shrugging it off.

Snape looked at him with a ferocious frown before reaching for his shoulder. The frown got deeper as he noticed Harry's body react with a barely visible flinch. He didn't let that deter him though. He grasped Harry firmly, but made sure it was not hard enough to hurt. "You are *not* expendable, and you will *not* risk your life unduly. Do not believe that simply because we can speak together that I will hesitate in the least to punish you for such actions. And you will not like what happens if I do."

Harry was drawing away from him, his shoulder almost shrinking beneath his hand. "And no," Severus said vehemently, "I do not mean that I would hurt you. I mean that I will come up with a punishment so intolerable that you will beg me to give you back to the Dursleys, but you would not be harmed. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered, still withdrawn.

Severus nodded his acceptance, and finally released him.

Draco was frowning at Severus as Harry found a reason to pack up and quickly leave. "Was that necessary?" Draco angrily reacted as soon as they were alone. It seemed more an accusation than a question.

"Yes, Draco, it was. He needs to understand that I will not hurt him, but I will also not allow him to hurt himself. He has very little sense of self-preservation, and the way he has been raised and treated since he came to Hogwarts has just made that self-sacrificing bent stronger. I will not put up with it."

Draco nodded his understanding, but he was obviously still not happy.

Severus wrote something upon a piece of paper. "This will allow you into the Restricted Section. Unfortunately, I doubt Madam Pince would believe it if I gave one to Harry. Therefore, it's up to you to search for any information on mages that is currently within the library. I will be searching other sources."

Draco took the pass and left without another word.