Harry Potter: Lost in the 'Verse

Chapter 1 – Lost

Pain, was the first thing he felt. It started out as a dull ache, and then it progressed into a searing burn that refused to be ignored, try though he did and failed miserably. Thinking it would be better to try and move he sat up, until this point he had not known exactly where the pain was coming from but now he could feel it blossoming through his right thigh just above his knee. Now the boy in question was no stranger to pain by now, being Harry Potter he did have a particular proclivity for getting himself into…"accidents". But all the same, it bloody hurt! Trying to see if any there was any way to alleviate his pain he ran his hands down his leg, he thought this was in vain until his left hand impacted something solid that sent a bolt of pain up his leg. Hissing in annoyance, he looked down and saw a large splinter of stone poking out of his leg – how could he have not noticed that? He wondered to himself, after a moment he thought he should do his best to treat it as best he could and started looking for his wand. Spotting it lying a few meters away he leant over and snatched it up, until this point he had not noticed where he was, he could swear he recognised it though. Deciding not to dwell on this at the moment, he looked at the splinter and gingerly wrapped a hand around it. Gritting his teeth he pulled hard on it, as blood started to flow he pointed his wand at the wound and hissed "ferula " the pain dulled to a manageable level and he let out a laboured breath "shit that hurt" he swore to himself.

With the pain subsided to manageable levels, he slowly started to move. He looked around him and couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been here before. After turning a complete one-eighty he reeled backwards. He had been sitting in front of the Vale in the Department of Mysteries! But he could sense that something was wrong here, the Veil was moving a lot more rapidly than before and seemed…angry. He knew he had come to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius, but where was he? And where were the others? Had they gotten trapped in the Hall of Prophecy?

Before he could ask any more questions of himself a great force hurled him across the room. It nearly sent him crashing to the ground but he was stopped by an invisible wall of some kind. His glasses went skidding across the stone, so he scrambled after them and jammed them on his face. Then wished he hadn't. Standing in the archway was a woman, unlike any woman Harry had ever seen. Her skin was pale and seemed to hang off of the bones of her face, wrapped in jet black robes that blew around her, in her left hand she held a staff that seemed to be made of some dark wood with runes carved into it. However none of these things disturbed Harry half as much, as her eyes. Pale orbs, that looked like they had seen a million tragedies, a billion times. Eyes that could transcend flesh and look into the soul itself but at this moment they blazed, with a fury such that Harry had ever seen "THE GATES ARE OPEN" she bellowed, in a voice that seemed to come from the depths of Hel. "THE UNIVERSE IS IN PERIL, ONLY ONE CAN STOP IT!" she bellowed louder still, the room shook and the rock beneath Harry trembled. What was she talking about? The universe was in peril? And who was this "one who could stop it"? "Who can stop it?" he shouted into the din, she considered him for a moment and then bellowed "ONE WITH POWER! " was all she said before dissipating into the mist.

Harry stared longingly at the spot where she had stood. What did all this mean? Why was the universe in peril? Who was this one who could stop it? Deciding to see if he could find the others he started to look for an exit, they would know what to do. He looked around but there seemed to be no viable exit, how had he gotten in here? He pondered. Remembering he looked up and saw the door he came through, there was only one problem however. It was fifty feet in the air, well about fifty feet he thought. " Great " he said, deciding to see if there was some kind of emergency exit he walked around to the other side of the Veil. At that moment a great rumbling met his ears, looking around in an attempt to find the source he looked up at the door. That seemed to be where the noise was coming from, after a moment the door began to shake. Sensing danger he ducked behind a large rock – just in time – for at that moment the door burst open and in came hundreds upon hundreds of dementors. What were dementors doing in the Department of Mysteries? Had the Minister sent them?

Swarming down they circled the Veil, like animals circling there pray. Whipping out his wand he had no choice but to think of the happiest memory he could and jumped out from behind the rock screaming "EXPECTO PATRONUM" his ethereal stag erupted from the end of his wand, and took charge against the nearest dementor. But then something happened he had never seen before, the dementor charged forward and bodily ripped the patroni to pieces. Staring in shock Harry tumbled backwards, clutching the rock he was previously hid behind, he pointed his wand at the advancing dementor. But no happy thoughts came to him, cold dread filled his heart and he slumped against the rock "Get back! "He vainly shouted. The dementor let out an inhuman screech and glided away, had that really worked? As he thought he'd gotten lucky however, a second dementor approached. This one was different from the others. It had a black cloak that trailed behind it, and its hood was drawn back to reveal a face with some sort of carving on it, it looked somewhat like a rune cluster he had read about somewhere. It also unlike the others had large, emotionless red eyes that didn't seem to blink. Long claws protruded from mottled finger tips and its left hand was inside its robe.

Pulling out its left hand it held a staff, not unlike the one that the woman Harry had seen in the Veil had held. But this one was shorter, and had a black stone in the top, held by what seemed to be a giant hand, the stone glowed with a dark energy. Harry found himself paralysed, unable to move. The dementor was now within spitting distance of him. It looked him directly in the eye and seemed to be considering him, he tried to move but a scabby hand shot out and forcibly pushed him into the rock. He tried to shout out but found that he had lost his voice; the dementor let out an animalistic growl and pressed the stone to his chest.

He was met with the most unimaginable pain he could ever have imagined. He felt as though his soul was on fire, he tried to reach for his wand but the dementor screeched a sound that sounded oddly like a "No!" and turned the staff counter-clockwise. The pain increased tenfold. But then, a great cry pierced through the air. In too much pain to see where the source came from, Harry fell to the floor heavily. Looking up Harry could see the silhouette of a colossal patronus, it let out a great roar and the dementors swarmed towards it, however - unlike his - this patronus caught three dementors in jaws of some kind and ripped them to smithereens. He could now see somewhat better and with shock, noticed that the patronus was a Hungarian Horntail! It tore most of the dementors to pieces and let out one more gigantic roar before dissipating. Harry tried to move, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Rest my boy, rest" said a voice he didn't recognise. He caught a brief glimpse of white robes and white hair, but saw no more as he slipped from consciousness.

The stranger looked at the veil, worry creasing his brow. Pulling out his wand he did some diagnostic checks on the boy he had just saved, not too much lasting damage. Levitating the boy and himself from the ground he glided towards the exit, before he reached it however he suddenly stopped and turned and looked down and said "Oh Albus, what have you done?"

AN: Hello. Welcome to my first fic, sorry if my grammar is bad. I will be uploading this probably every two weeks or so as I have other commitments. Any queries feel free to message me, I might reply I might not. Hope you all enjoy.

Grae.