Lucky you! I decided this all went together, so I stuck 3 chapters together to give you the longest chapter yet! This brings us to the end of Chapter 21 out of 35, so we're getting there fairly quickly grin. All about animagus forms! Thanks to JK Rowling for making these guys and Xikum for making it all better. Comments would be really cool!
Mythic Alliance
by Jendra
Harry laid on his back, staring up at the stars spattered across the night sky. If he had thought he was busy before, it was absolutely nothing compared to what was coming up. They hadn't been able to start the potion yet, Snape was still waiting for several of the ingredients, but they had already created a schedule for the stirring. Harry thought over his again. He'd get up in the morning, get dressed, go to breakfast, then use the time turner to go back in time an hour to stir, then three hours of classes and turn time back an hour to stir. An hour of class, lunch, another hour of class, and use the time turner for another hour to stir. Two more hours of classes, Quidditch practice, back an hour and stir. Study, dinner, back an hour. Detention where they would take turns, then three more hours of stirring, before he'd finally get to turn time back three hours and go to bed. Wake up in the morning and repeat. It was going to be hell.
Of course, even worse than all of that, was the fact that Professor Snape was going to be taking the middle watch at night. Which meant that he would have his sleep interrupted and more than likely spend the entire month even *more* grouchy than usual. That assumed that he could get any grouchier, but Harry had the bad feeling that he could.
Right now, however, he was simply enjoying the night. All three of them had managed the partial physical transformations at will, even though none of them had yet been able to intentionally manifest their magical abilities. Tonight they were going to try for the whole thing. Since all three of their forms flew, and Harry's and Draco's were apt to be fairly large, they'd decided that the quidditch pitch was the best place to try. So here he was, waiting.
His view of the stars was suddenly blocked by a blonde head of hair. He just blinked up, unsurprised. He'd heard Draco coming from half the field away. "Pull up some grass," he offered.
Draco laughed lightly and laid himself down at right angles with his head next to Harry's. "What are you doing?"
"Thinking about our schedule," Harry admitted. "It's going to be brutal."
"Our schedule? Of all the things you might be thinking about, *that's* what you're contemplating?"
"What do you think I should be thinking about?"
"How about what it will be like to fly on our own wings? Or that we've finally got a chance to eliminate the Dark Lord?"
Harry turned over onto his stomach so he could glare at Draco more easily, before sighing and flipping back over. "It doesn't seem quite real yet," he admitted. "Especially considering the time of year."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it," Harry told him. "My fights have always been at the end of the school year. I fought Quirrell at the end of first year, I fought Riddle at the end of second year, I found Sirius and Peter at the end of third and Voldemort got his body back at the end of fourth. That's the way it's always been. I worry all year, and then fight him at the end of it. You know, I think I'd gotten it into my head that that's the way it would continue all through school, and I'd either manage to get rid of him at the end of seventh year or after I left school altogether, once I became an Auror."
"You want to be an Auror?" Draco asked in disbelief.
"No," Harry admitted. "But if I were still having to fight Voldemort, I probably would have to be, just to get the extra training."
"Ah, so we *are* saving you from a fate worse than death," Draco remarked.
Harry lost his brooding expression and laughed.
They were silent for a while longer, just looking up at the stars, when a throat cleared from nearby. "Hello Sev," Draco remarked with a smirk.
"Good evening, Professor Snape," Harry greeted him.
"You know, you can call him Severus," Draco reminded him. "Can't he Sev? He's practically a Slytherin."
Severus raised an eyebrow at his best friend's son. "I believe his father would turn over in his grave if he even considered calling me by my name." Hmm... "In that case, yes, I believe it would be acceptable."
Severus offered his hand to help Draco stand, and then offered the same to Harry. He was very pleased to see Harry grab his hand with no noticeable hesitation at all. It had taken weeks before Harry would accept a touch from him without flinching or moving away.
Harry chuckled as he stood up. "Is something funny, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked severely.
"I'm just trying to imagine Sirius' reaction if I call you Severus the next time I write to him," Harry explained.
"Watching your dogfather have a conniption would be enjoyable, I admit," Severus agreed.
"I'll make sure you get any response he sends me," Harry told him. "I can hear the screaming already."
"If you are finished, can we do this?" Draco asked, willfully ignoring the fact that he was the one who had started it.
"Let's," Harry answered, "Who's first?"
"Since Gryffindors seem to have no concept of patience, you may go first," Severus offered.
Harry wanted to complain about that preconception, but not as much as he wanted to actually go ahead and try. With eager movements he took off his shirt, shoes and socks, leaving him clad in just his pants. His robe was already laying on the edge of the field. Technically, he shouldn't have needed to strip, since his clothes should change with him if he did it correctly, but he'd rather not take the chance.
He stood in the middle of the field. He would have preferred to be sitting cross-legged, but didn't even want to think about how it would feel if he transformed from that position. His eyes closed and he fell into his meditative breathing. He pulled up the picture of his form and held it in front of his metaphysical eyes. Little by little, he pushed himself into that form, forcing his body into an inhuman shape. It hurt. Not as much as the Cruciatus, but still, the pain was formidable. Yet, Harry had withstood worse many, many times before in a variety of situations, and he battled it back, refusing to allow pain to take away from his concentration. He knew it would only hurt that badly the first time, that once his body *knew* his new shape, knew it down to the cells, it would be able to shift with little to no difficulty. This step however, was the one that kept many people from ever being able to develop their Animagus ability. If they couldn't keep their concentration, if they couldn't work despite the pain, through their body telling them that it wasn't possible, they would fail. And few indeed were those who could ever work through their doubts and pain to get it right if they failed the first time.
Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he felt himself change. Fur and feathers sprouted, his hands twisted into talons, his feet into paws. His mouth and nose hardened and extended into a beak. His vision sharpened. His back began to hurt and going with it, he dropped onto his talons as wings almost exploded from his back. Finally, he was done. Green eyes shone out of a mask of black feathers, his wings spread behind him and flapped as he tried to get used to the feel and use of them. He turned his head to look at his body, noting black feathers, fur, and a tufted tail.
"Well, that was surprisingly disturbing," he heard from in front of him. Draco walked up to Harry to look him over. It was the first time he was able to get a true scale of himself. He could look the other boy straight in the eye. Although Draco was not what one would consider tall, neither was he anywhere near as short as Harry. He realized the gryphon was actually bigger than his human body.
"Still a bit…" Draco's mouth kept moving but no sound came out of it. His eyebrows went up. "Huh, it works. Let's try it again. I am…" again, silence. "I actually thought that one was true. Dumbledore is a manipulative old fool." He smirked as that one came through loud and clear. "It works," he told the teacher who was watching. Then he turned back to Harry. "Move over, halfie, I want to try."
Harry considered seeing just how strong his beak was, but decided just this once to let it go. After all, he did wish to see what Draco's form would look like. Afterwards, however, he wanted to go fly over the lake so he could get a good look at himself.
He watched with interest as Draco went through a similar transformation. Instead of fur and feathers, he got silvery scales. Both hands and feet turned into claws as his body lengthened. A tail grew out at the same time the wings did. All in all, Draco was right; it was a disturbing sight to see. When it was done, he didn't look much like the dragons Harry had seen. Instead, Draco was long and sinuous, almost snakelike, except for the feet that clawed into the ground.
"Always have to be bigger, don't you?" Harry opened his mouth to ask, only to remember what he was as a squawk burst out of his throat. Oh, well, he'd get him later.
Severus walked over and surveyed the two boys. "Very well done," he admitted grudgingly. "Why don't you go for a fly to test your wings?"
Harry tilted his head to stare at the Potions professor. On the other side, he could see the drake doing the same thing. Then both settled farther down onto their haunches. They had come here as three, and they weren't budging until all three of them were transformed.
"Don't you wish to fly?" Severus asked as coaxingly as he knew how. If he could get them up into the air for a while, perhaps they wouldn't demand he tried flying himself. It wasn't that he was scared of heights; he just hated flying. 'Mmm-hmm, sure', a little voice inside niggled at him.
The two large magical beasts just stared at him. It was obvious that they were not going to move until there was a phoenix standing with them.
Unlike the two students, Severus did not bother to remove his robes before changing. Instead, his black robes seemed to melt into his wings. What seemed a long drawn out process for the two boys went by in a twinkling for Severus. Where the Potions professor had stood, there suddenly was a black bird. As he opened his wings, he also opened his mouth, and as his song rang out, the night grew darker until no light from the moon or stars could be seen.
Suddenly a burst of flame lit the surroundings and Harry knew it must have come from Draco. The next several minutes were a battle, the shadow phoenix's darkness against the drake's fire. Finally, however, Draco had to stop, unable to conjure up any more of the acid, that when heated created the fire. Darkness settled over the pitch once more. With a sound of triumph, the phoenix ended his song, and the normal light of a moon-filled night brightened the field once more.
Once they could see again, Harry and Draco took to the sky. Their styles were radically different. The gryphon was pure power, exploding from the ground using the springs of his rear, lion-like legs to leap into the sky. His wings tore through the air, beating forcefully to keep his large body aloft. The drake was smooth and supple, almost winding his way through the air, not seeming to need his wings at all except to glide. Harry was faster, while Draco could slither through the trees in a way that belied his large size. Severus stayed safely on the ground.
The black bird was, therefore, the only one to see the spectators in the stands. His warbling call warned the others even as he reluctantly leapt off the ground and all three mythical beasts surrounded the three watchers.
The three creatures landed around the three students. The students' complete lack of fear showed that they knew who the three were. Actually, that wasn't completely true, Harry noticed. One of the boys seemed to be slightly inching away from him, while the other was a little more obvious in moving away from Draco.
Knowing their secret was out, Severus transformed, his eagle eyed glare being the same in both forms.
"Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Zabini, Ms. Scarborough, perhaps you would care to explain yourselves?" He said in a dangerously soft voice.
Thyme was the first to speak up. "It was an accident sir, we were just going for a walk to look at the stars and showed up here."
Snape's gimlet gaze moved to Longbottom. "Is that true?" he said, expecting an affirmative. He could see that one showing up at the worst time in the worst place. He was very surprised at the boy's slow headshake.
"No?" Thyme was just as surprised.
"Well, that's why we came outside," Neville admitted. "I saw Harry heading this way, and figured he needed some time to himself, and wasn't going to follow him. But, well, then I saw Draco going in the same direction. And I know they're more like friends now, but I felt it wouldn't hurt to ... check up on them." Snape was very surprised to find the boy had managed to get through the whole thing without stuttering once.
He looked back at the Slytherin girl who was looking very surprised at that answer. "And you didn't see either of them, Ms. Scarborough?"
"No, sir," she admitted.
Severus decided to give the two Gryffindors another insight into the world of the Slytherins. "Ten points from your year for being unobservant," he announced. Thyme winced but nodded. She knew she deserved it.
He turned to the other Slytherin. "And you, Mr. Zabini?"
Blaise shrugged nonchalantly and spoke. Unfortunately, not a sound came out of his mouth. He looked surprised. "Five points from your year for trying to lie to me," Severus responded immediately. "I should take another five for not knowing that it's impossible to tell a lie in the presence of a gryphon."
Blaise sighed. "I was following Draco," he admitted. "He's been acting excited lately, though I doubt anyone else has noticed. I wanted to see what he was up to."
Severus turned to look at the drake who was looking slightly woebegone, his wings and head drooping slightly. "Twenty points from your year for being followed by three people, including a Gryffindor, without knowing it."
Draco's head drooped even more.
Harry transformed and saw Neville watching him with interest.
"Do you think..." Neville let it drop off.
Harry had no problem understanding what he wanted and frowned thoughtfully. "The only problem I have with it, is if Ron ever finds out you know and I didn't tell him, he's going to blow up."
"Not to mention, Ginny," Neville agreed.
Harry's brow furrowed. "What does Ginny have to do with anything?" he asked, surprised.
"Well, she *is* your girlfriend," Neville said, confused.
Draco transformed at that. "I thought you told me you didn't like her that way," he complained.
"I don't," Harry responded. He looked at Neville, "Where did you ever get that idea? She's Ron's *sister*."
Neville blinked. "But everyone knows that even if you're too busy to date right now, eventually you're going to date her."
"Well *everyone* is wrong," Harry disagreed. "Aside from the fact that I don't have time to date, there's no one I've met that I think of that way. In any case, it's definitely not Ginny and I seriously doubt it ever will be."
He looked over the three of them and made his decision. He might not know much about Blaise Zabini, but he did know that he was one of the few Slytherins Draco trusted, and in the end, that was enough. He Accio'd the book and handed it to Neville.
"'The Magical Musical Mysteries of Miles Mandolin'?" Neville read off, confused.
"Take out your wand," Harry ordered. Once he did that, he told him, "Now tap the book and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'"
Neville did as ordered and they watched as the print changed. "Now tap it again, and say 'Mischief managed'." Again Neville did as ordered and they watched it go back. "It'll be easiest if you work with someone," Harry told him. "Although you'll be doing a lot of things in there by yourself, it's just easier if you know someone else is going through the exact same thing."
"I want to learn," Blaise spoke up. Thyme chimed in her agreement as well.
"Do you think I should ask Ron and Hermione?" Neville asked.
Harry considered that. Finally, he sighed. "I don't want them involved in what I'm doing, but I'll ask them. And don't worry," he said to Blaise, "I'll make sure Ron understands that he'll have to work with a Slytherin or two without argument if he wishes to learn this. However, I do not want him or Hermione to know that we've already learned it, or what our forms are, is that understood?"
"But why not? They're your best friends," Neville exclaimed.
"Yes, they are," Harry agreed. "And I'm not going to watch them get hurt again. They've got better things to worry about, like each other. Malfoy and Professor Snape can take care of themselves, but I will not risk Ron and Hermione. Or any of you." His warning was clear, learn what they could about Animagus transformation, but do not interfere or get involved with what Harry was doing.
"I expect a recounting of your forms from each of you the moment you know what they are," Snape commanded. "That includes Weasley's and Granger's if they join you." There was no way he was going to have children running around the castle in forms he didn't know. Aside from the prank value, it was simply too dangerous for all involved.
"Yes, sir," they agreed.
Once they left, Draco turned to look at Harry. "You know, they could be useful."
"I don't want them involved." Harry disagreed.
"Who says anything about them getting involved?" Draco asked. "All I'm saying is that you're right, our schedule is going to be awful, and they could help. It's not like they'd be really getting involved if they just helped to stir the potion. They could, at least be trusted to do that." On second thought… "Well, okay, perhaps not Longbottom or Weasley, but Blaise, Thyme and Granger could. As it is, we're each of us planning on adding an extra seven hours to our days using the time turners. If we can get them to split the daytime turns, and just did the nighttime ones ourselves, that would cut it down to just three hours a night that we'd each have to add to our days. If we don't, then by the time the potion is done, we're going to be worthless to do anything else."
"No," Harry disagreed vehemently. He then transformed and took off into the sky once more.
"Arg!" Draco practically yelled, "he can be such a self-sacrificing prat sometimes."
Severus chuckled. "Give him a few days on the schedule and he will be *begging* for the help," he told his student. "I believe it will be a bit much even for the Golden Boy."
Before Draco could respond to that, the gryphon landed once more. Harry transformed back into human form and glared at the two of them. "You know, for having a bird's head, gryphons have very good ears. I'm not going to change my mind, and don't call me Golden Boy!" Then he was gone once more.
The two Slytherins just laughed. Draco turned to look at his Head of House. "You know, you just proved you could fly; that means you don't get to avoid it. I would suggest you come up and fly with us, or I'm going to pick you up and drop you!" Draco laughed before transforming. The transformation was much easier now, though still something he had to think through completely. He knew that the more he did it, the easier it would get. He hovered over the stands, waiting.
Snape, however, refused to let him have the last laugh. He transformed, then with what would have been a smirk if he'd still been human, he called forth the shadows and vanished through them, back to his own quarters, leaving the drake looking down at an empty stand.
The gryphon made a sound that could be interpreted as laughter and came back down for a landing. The drake followed.
"You should have expected that," Harry laughed after changing.
"Yes, I should have," Draco agreed. "But he needs to practice flying. I know he doesn't like it, but it's important."
"And you think he doesn't know that?" Harry scoffed. "Chances are he'll practice after we go to bed or something like that."
Draco nodded his agreement. That probably was what The Surly One would do.
"So?" Harry asked, changing the subject.
Draco looked at him and raised a perfectly formed eyebrow. And he was supposed to know what that meant?
Harry rolled his eyes. "That 'Year point' stuff," he said impatiently. "I seriously doubt Professor Snape meant House points, since he never takes House points from Slytherin."
"Why should I tell you? You're not a Slytherin?" Draco smirked.
"Because if Professor Snape didn't want you to tell me, he wouldn't have said anything in front of me, now would he?" Harry smirked back.
"I thought he told you to call him Severus," Draco reminded him.
"Stop changing the subject," Harry griped lightly.
Draco laughed. "The Year point 'stuff' is exactly what you'd think. Just because Severus doesn't take House points from our House doesn't mean he lets us get away with anything. But Year points are way more important."
"Why?"
"What do House points get you? Your House colors in the Great Hall at the Leaving Feast and a plaque for a year. Whoop-de-do. Whichever year wins the Year points, everyone in that year will get individual rooms next year and access to the best bathrooms. The only points that matter for the Year competition are the ones Severus gives or takes. Unfortunately, one thing he takes points for is what he considers conduct unbecoming a Slytherin. Just as he awards them for behavior which best exemplifies our House."
"So you get points taken away for being unobservant," Harry said.
"Or getting caught," Draco added.
"That reminds me, why didn't we put up Notice-Me-Not spells before we started flying around?" Harry wondered.
"Do you honestly believe that Severus would have forgotten them?" Draco scoffed.
"If he put them up, it must have been on the castle, because I was here first, and there was no way I would have missed them being put up on the pitch," Harry disagreed.
"What good would it have done putting them on the pitch? We've been flying way above the pitch."
"Yeah," Harry admitted. "I hope you're right. By the way, tag, you're it." He clapped Draco on the shoulder before transforming and taking to the air once more.
What followed was one of the strangest games of tag ever seen, even at Hogwarts. Without even talking about it, they agreed on their rules. Since they needed to practice transformation as well as flying, the game took in both aspects. If they were in the air, they were of course, in their animagus forms. However, once even a claw or the tip of a tail touched the ground or stands, they were required to transform and stay in human form until tagged. They both agreed afterward that while it had been fun, it would have been even more fun with three people, which made them more determined to get Severus to join them the next time they played. They didn't quite know how they were going to manage it, but were sure that the two of them working together could make it happen.
The game finally came to an end as Draco winged above the gryphon and looked down at him. He would never be able to say what made him suddenly decide that the gryphon's back looked perfect for riding. Without thinking any more about it, he transformed in the air, and landed perfectly just in front of the gryphon's wings.
Harry was understandably startled and the gryphon's instincts took over. While Draco was still congratulating himself for a picture perfect landing, he suddenly had to grab on as Harry started to buck.
"Harry!" Draco shouted, trying to get his attention. "It's me! It's okay!"
The eagle head turned around and a bright green eye stared at him for a moment before the gryphon suddenly headed for the ground. Once he landed, he transformed back, dumping Draco on his arse. "What did you think you were doing?" Harry screamed in his face. "I could have bucked you off! Or you could have fallen! If I hadn't been so quick to realize who you were, I'd have attacked you with my beak, and you would have been *seriously* hurt!"
"I thought..." Draco began.
"You thought what? That you'd see if I was strong enough to take the weight of a fifteen year old dropped onto my back? What if I hadn't been? Did you think of that? What if you'd broken my back by doing that?"
"I wouldn't have broken your back!" Draco disagreed hotly.
"You don't know that!" Harry shouted back. "You had no idea how strong I was or how strong my bones were. I mean, I could almost understand if it had been me doing it. Gryffindor here, reckless and stupid is in my blood according to Snape. But you're supposed to be above such things! I should tell Snape about this! Your year would probably lose all of its points! Talk about behavior unbecoming a Slytherin! Even *Ron* would have had more sense!" He turned around and stalked off.
"Harry," Draco called after him.
"Don't! I am way too mad to talk to you right now! If I was the one who'd done something so completely careless, I'd have detention for the rest of the term, and a hundred foot essay to write, and you bloody well know it! I'll talk to you again when I can get over the fact that I almost killed you!"
Harry was still seething when he reached the Gryffindor common room.
"Hey mate, you're back early," Ron said when he noticed him. He and Hermione were curled up together on a couch in the corner by the fire. Harry flopped down on a chair nearby.
"He pissed me off," Harry muttered.
"Which he would that be?" Ron asked. "The great git or the princely prat?"
Harry laughed. "The prat," he admitted.
"He's a Slytherin, what do you expect?"
"If he had been acting like a Slytherin, I wouldn't be in here wanting to strangle him," Harry muttered. "Instead he was being stupid and reckless. There was no reason for that! He could have been killed!"
"And only *you* are allowed to act that irresponsibly, right?" Hermione muttered.
"Exactly," Harry answered before he thought. Then he closed his mouth with a snap and turned to glare at the bushy haired girl, but she had her head in a book and refused to meet his eyes. "Ron's really been a bad influence on you lately," he muttered.
"Well, if you're not here to distract him, you'll just have to live with it," she replied easily. She finally looked up. "Did I see Neville with that book Sirius sent you?"
"Yeah," Harry agreed. He should have realized she would know any book by sight.
"You never did tell us what it was about."
"It took me a while to figure that out," Harry admitted. "Turns out it was like the Marauder's Map, and it was a manual on how to become an Animagus. Unfortunately, although the steps did look easy, they were also very time consuming. Time I don't have right now. When Neville asked if he could use it, I told him yes."
"Without letting us try first?" Ron hissed.
"Actually, I told him that if you two wanted to try, you could work with him on it. Sirius told me it worked a lot better if several people were working together on it at the same time. Thyme Scarborough and Blaise Zabini are going to work on it with Neville, so you're going to have to work with them," he warned Ron.
"You told two *Slytherins* before us? How could you?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "I didn't tell them, they were there and overheard when I gave it to Neville," he answered. "If you don't want to learn, that's fine. You could have just said so."
"Of course I want to learn, but can't we do it first, by ourselves? After all, we're your best friends."
"Nope, that's not the issue. I've already given it to them; they've started." Harry disagreed. "You either do it now with them or you wait until they're finished." Harry smirked at Ron's disapproving expression.
"Becoming an Animagus is illegal unless you're planning on registering," Hermione said warningly.
"It'll be fine, but you will be required to tell Professor Snape what you become," Harry said. "You don't want to know what he'll make you do if he finds out you're running around in Animagus form *without* him knowing about it. He'll take care of the paperwork for you five."
"He agreed to that?" Hermione was shocked. Sure, Professor Snape seemed to be getting along better with Harry outside of class, but still...
"Not yet, but he will," Harry said airily. "Oh, Hermione, could you do me a favor?"
"What is it?" Hermione asked. She'd learned long before not to simply agree to requests like that.
"There seems to be a rumor going around that I'm interested in Ginny. Would you help quash that, please? I'm not interested in her that way."
"And what's wrong with my sister?"
"Just that, she's your sister. And since you're my brother that makes her my sister, too. It just feels *wrong*."
"I'll work on it," Hermione agreed.