Chapter 1- The Mirror, The Portal
A/N: I guess this technically counts as my second FanFic... please don't read if you're under 18 and whatnot. If you find any discrepancies with canon or lore, contact me. I can make mistakes, and I'll do my best to amend them. Sometimes, it'll be on purpose (especially screwing with the timeline). Also note that this is VERY AU, and so things that seem off might have been done that way on purpose. Finally, it's going to take some time to get to the bits that give this story the rating it deserves. But when it does get there, there's going to be quite a bit of it.
Harry Potter stared out onto the rolling green hills, watching the ruins of castle that had once been great. Under the dark sky lay a forest that he had grown to know quite dearly, despite the various beasts that lay inside, but it was a mere shadow of what it had once been.
Numerous graves lay littered about the site- a last monument to those who died for Hogwarts and the magical community. Sadly, it wasn't enough. Trexath, the latest Dark Lord to come into power, was still at large. Having emerged less than a year after Voldemort's defeat, nobody was ready for one even more powerful than him to replace him.
However, Trexath kept his presence hidden from the Muggles. He targeted Wizarding communities, slaying wizards and witches whenever he pleased. There were rumors of others, people with powers, but not wizards, but if they existed, they did nothing to stop Trexath.
With most of the magical population of Britain dead, Harry Potter was about to embark on a journey to America, before he decided to pay Hogwarts one last visit. Many of his greatest memories were created in this very place. Harry walked down and through the hills, taking his time, glumly looking at what still remained.
As he approached Hogwarts, Harry noticed that the Headmaster's Office was largely intact. How it had survived the numerous explosions that had destroyed the bulk of the castle, he did not know, but he got closer, drawn in by some curious allure. Ascending up the staircase as he had done so many times before, Harry saw that a great deal of the instruments inside the room were shattered and broken.
A few whirred around uselessly, continuing to perform whatever function they had been intended to perform, but Harry noticed a curious mirror lying in the pensieve fluid on the ground. It looked similar to the mirror of Erised, but upon further inspection, he found a small plate describing it as the "Mirror of Arretenur". It was pitch black, despite the skylight that shone in through the cracked windows. The mirror seemed to extend far below it, an illusion of depth, Harry supposed.
Suddenly, a distinct popping noise alerted Harry to the presence of another person behind him. He spun immediately, wand out, and visibly paled when he saw Trexath. The man wore long, dark robes, his black hair and wild eyes giving an air of lunacy.
"Child, it was foolish of you to come here… did it not seem obvious I would put charms of detection on Hogwarts?", Trexath drawled, his voice hoarse and raspy. Harry backed away slowly, knowing that he would never be able to defeat Trexath in a duel. However, that didn't mean that he was incapable of putting up a fight.
Harry leapt to the right, bounding over an old table as a flurry of spells were launched at him. He quickly sent a few hexes of his own back, but they slowed to a stop harmlessly in mid-air, before they were sent back at him. Harry gaped at the level of skill the madman had, before turning around to run away. His attempts at apparating away had failed, and there was no choice for him but to run away the old-fashioned way.
As he glanced back to launch more spells, Harry noticed for the first time that Trexath was absolutely wandless. He was conjuring spells out of thin air with his hands, and manipulating them so that they swerved and curved in ways that were difficult to anticipate. Looking ahead, Harry saw the puddle and the liquid, and was leaping over it, right when he was hit in the back by a full-body bind spell that he himself had sent out.
His body went rigid as he fell down, but instead of keeling over and smashing into the ground, Harry passed straight through the mirror and came out in a dark room. Still constrained by the Petrificus Totalus, Harry saw that he was in a small, unlighted room. The walls were black- a stone of sorts. He looked around the room, before stopping in horror at seeing a seemingly burnt corpse.
It was disfigured beyond recognition, with much of the flesh burnt off, but it was very visible that the thing had once been human. Harry wondered whether he had fell into a portal taking him into Ttrexath's dungeons, and he broke out in cold sweat at that moment. Then, he realized that the spell's effects must have worn off, and he gradually stood up, turning around. The mirror was still there, dark as always, with the same inscription. It took up most of the wall, and Harry gazed at it curiously. Harry noted the odd jostling sensation that he was in, and inferred that the room was probably moving. But if it was moving, where to, and why?
He raised his wand and did a few scanning spells, and realized that there was a room behind the mirror. With a quick "Homenum Revelio", he realized that there were two others in said room. Given the shape and coloring of the markers, the two behind were females around his age- perhaps slightly younger. What would they be doing in a place like this?
Cautiously, Harry cast a disillusionment charm on himself, surprised that no wards or something similar was stopping him, and he shifted the mirror aside, and found a more spacious on the other side. It appeared to be much more cozy and comfortable, easily large enough for five or so to live in. Given the beds and the furniture in the room, the room may actually have been living quarters of sorts.
Harry turned visible again, seeing no visible danger, when the two girls that he had previously detected appeared. Cheerfully bright, the two girls had noticed him and were trying to communicate with him, although he couldn't understand what they were saying. The language was beautiful, unlike anything he had heard before, but he just smiled and nodded back, utterly confused.
The two girls were both blondes, and looked to be identical twins. He couldn't help but appreciate their nice bodies, but didn't want to be thought as a pervert on his first encounter with the strangers. It was always good to keep your manners, no matter how confused you were.
After half a minute of them trying to communicate with him, Harry remembered a useful spell that he had learned. He cast the translation charm, and instantly, what they were saying became clear.
"What's your name? What took you so long? Glad to meet you!", said the girl on the left, cocking her head curiously.
"Cool stick you got there, what does it do?", the girl on the right deadpanned, looking at him with a grin.
Harry looked at them in a quizzical manner, one eyebrow raised, before he responded: "Harry Potter, nice to meet the two of you… and may one of the two of you please explain what's going on?"
The two girls looked at each other, and the one on the left responded: "Well, I'm Alissa, and this here is my twin sister Ashley. Aren't we all here to become Summoners?"
Harry, still confused, shook his head: "Well, I'm certainly not. Perhaps you could care to explain more about these 'Summoners'?"
"Summoners for the League. How again did you end up on this wagon if you didn't even know that?" Ashley said.
Obviously, this explanation didn't clarify things at all. Harry groaned and put his head in his hands. "Why am I always stuck in the most ridiculous situations?" he asked nobody in particular.
Alissa walked up to him, and patted him on the back. "There, there. We're not that bad, are we?"
Harry grinned slightly, hoping that he was in good company, and responded: "In all honesty, I have no idea how I got here. Am I even on Earth?"
"No," was the simple response that he got from both the girls, as if they had never heard of the term before.
"Are you sure you're not sick in the mind?", Ashley asked, not quite sure what exactly was wrong with the guy who stood before her.
"Pretty sure I'm not. Would you kindly explain what the League is, then, and what Summoners are? I have no intention of getting caught up in anything more. My life is terrible enough as it is," Harry spoke, still not quite grasping the enormity of the reactions of the twins.
Then, it hit him, and he staggered back a few steps. Both Alissa and Ashley caught him before he fell, and he offered his thanks.
"You see… I don't think I'm from this world. I fell through a mirror, and now I'm here, and I would like to see my questions answered," Harry said.
"Ah… so you're kind of like Malphite, then. Or Kha'Zix?" Ashley inquired, but after drawing a blank stare from Harry, continued, "Well, I guess you're really not from around here." Fortunately for Ashley and Alissa, they were taking the news that Harry was quite possibly from another planet quite well.
"The League is, essentially, institutionalized war, except 5 champions representing each faction fight it out fairly regularly to settle disputes. It has replaced warfare, and has made the lands of Runeterra a much safer place to be," Alissa explained, trying to make things understandable to Harry. He nodded in response, having trouble grasping the notion of such a thing, before gesturing for her to continue.
"Well, Summoners are basically the people who can summon the champions to the battlefield, and they link minds with the champions, and basically fight as one. Summoners use spells, attacks, and other cool stuff to ensure that they win the battle, meaning that training is quite rigorous. Fortunately, both Ashley and I are able to use magic, so we're hoping to become Summoners some day!", Alissa finished.
Harry looked at her for a moment, then said: "Okay.. I can sort of believe that. Not really though. Since I know nobody from the world, would you guys mind if I hung out with the two of you, and train to be a Summoner too?"
The twins gladly accepted, and happily explained that the wagon that they were on were heading to the Institute of War's academy, and what exactly that was. However, something that had been lurking in Harry's mind the whole time, and when both of them were finally silent, he asked: "So… why exactly was there a charred corpse in the room I was in?"
An awkward silence followed for several seconds after, before Alissa finally answered: "Well… I suppose the person failed his or her test. There were five of us, and they put us each into a room similar to the one that you were just in. We were then given about ten minutes or so to escape, before the fire was unleashed. The way to escape was simple- just move the mirror and get out. However, some people just aren't that smart, or don't do well under pressure, so I guess the three of us are the only ones who survived the ordeal."
Harry nodded, slightly sickened by the whole situation. It seemed to him that Alissa and Ashley shared a similar opinion. Suddenly, it dawned upon him just how harsh the training was to become a Summoner. But he was Harry Potter, and he would survive. If he could thrive in the world he was from, he would be able to do just as well here, perhaps even better.
With that in his mind, he began to discuss possibilities with the twins, gathering information about the world of Runeterra.
A/N: I'll try get a chapter up at least once every other day. They'll probably be around this length- some shorter, some longer, depending on how much time I have. Please review, favorite, and whatever if you like it. Feedback is appreciated for sure!