Disclaimer: I don't own HP, J. K. Rowling does.

AEU Chapter 1

I used to believe in magic once, that people could bend nature to their will with spells and enchantments. Then I grew up (a mistake, looking back on it all) and magic became a force relegated to the treasure chest of childhood. Recent events however have caused such thoughts to resurface in my mind, along with unimaginable fear, doubt and pain. Such things can only be the stuff of nightmares and yet...to my knowledge they were real. I myself witnessed some of it, and the memories and words of others shall service us further.

Ours is not the first nor the only universe in the majesty of creation. There were others, some absent of all light, filled with an empty blankness that swallows both mind and soul up in itself. I could go on about the many worlds, the many realities that I have seen, but you I think, are interested in one.

Yes, this universe is very much like the one you are familiar with, with a few exceptions. First, there was an order to the construction of this one, the likes of which I have never seen. You may believe that the same is true of ours but it is not so. Everything, everything that happened there happened for a reason. Secondly, theirs was a world of magic, of sorcery. Some among them could do things that chilled the blood and twisted the fabric of time itself. And thirdly, and most importantly, this universe was the universe of the Enlightened, those who were above the rules of not only magic but of thought. Had they been more powerful, one might compare them to gods among men. Thankfully, this was not the case.

Well...except on one occasion. The events which shattered the walls of reality and killed many are known to me. Of course they are, I was a part of them, just as much as anyone else.

So, let us begin. It all started with a boy. A boy who, just very recently, had been through a monstrous ordeal.