All of the teachers and staff of Hogwarts sat in the Great Hall. The students had left the previous day, and the castle was strangely empty and silent without them. Curious ghosts hovered around the edge of the enormous room, watching the tense adults. The teachers sat nervously, staring at each other but not willing to speak as they waited for the Headmaster. Minerva McGonagall was sitting straight up in her chair, her lips pursed tightly together. Severus Snape appeared calm, but his fists in his lap were clenched so tightly that his pale knuckles were completely white. Sybil Trelawny sat fidgeting, her hands seemingly unable to stay still. Filius Flitwick was grasping the edge of his seat forcefully, his legs swinging a foot above the ground. Hagrid was twisting his giant handkerchief in his trash can lid-sized hands.

Finally, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and Albus Dumbledore came sweeping in, a thick book carried under his arm. Severus tried very hard not to flinch. He knew what was coming; he knew personally what the others didn't. But under Dumbledore's request, he remained silent.

Albus strode up to the empty chair that had been left for him, but instead of sitting down, he stood behind it. He held the book in both hands now, and rested it on the back of the chair.

"My staff," began Albus. "As you very well know, the end of the Tri-Wizard cup came with the revival of Lord Voldemort." Several of the members of the staff visibly winced when he said Voldemort's name. "We don't know what he'll do next, but we must be ready to fight.

"I have come up with an idea to gain a weapon to use against the Dark Lord. This will be a dangerous task, no doubt, and I have asked Severus beforehand if he would undertake it." At the mention of his name, Snape flinched, and the other adults turned their heads almost in unison to stare at him.

"What is this task?" Minerva asked when there was a great, awkward pause.

"Upon researching for possible ideas to use against Voldemort, I came across this book." The old wizard held up the tome now to show his staff the cover. It was a dark, rich purple with gold lettering written across the top. It read Alternate and Parallel Universes.

"That book's not in the library," Madam Pince said crossly. "Where did you get that?"

"That is not the important question," Dumbledore replied, waving a hand carelessly. "This book theorizes that there are other worlds out there, with different creatures and different lands. These worlds lay in parallel universes, practically on top of each other. Unseen, unfelt, unnoticed. It mentions a way to access these places, including a complex ritual and a Latin phrase. However, the path there is dangerous, and could result in disastrous side effects."

Pomona Sprout gasped. "You can't send Severus there! Why would you want to send anyone there?"

"Because we need to," cut in Severus, speaking for the first time. "I've already made my decision. I know the risks, but if we succeed we gain a powerful new weapon that will be a great setback to the Dark Lord."

"But if we fail," Minerva said sharply, "we lose a strong wizard and fighter."

Albus spoke again before an argument could break out. "I did not come to discuss this," he said calmly. The staff quieted and looked back towards him. "I have already decided, and Severus has agreed. I came so that I could find people I trust to help. Will you?"

He paused. The staff members looked at each other, before each one slowly nodded.

"Good. Now, get rid of these chairs and set these runes up in a circle." He tossed a bag to Sybil. Next, he opened his book and conjured a piece of white chalk. He showed Sybil where to place the runes and, once she had finished, crouched down and began drawing with the chalk. He made a large circle, with smaller circles for the teachers to stand in. He then connected the smaller circles with lines that crisscrossed the large one. Strange symbols lined the inside of the large circle, and the runes encircled the entire thing. Finally, Dumbledore conjured up a wooden table long enough for a tall man to comfortably lie on and carefully set it down without smudging the chalk.

Albus told the staff to stand in a small circle, taking one for his own. All except Filch, who was, according to the Headmaster, sadly not needed in this step. He instructed his staff to raise their wands and point them at Severus, who had gone to lie on the table. Severus himself closed his eyes and lay with his hands clasped on his chest, his wand grasped loosely yet securely. And then, said Dumbledore, they were to repeat after him.

"Are you ready, Severus?"

"Yes, Albus," said the Slytherin.

"Now, everyone else, repeat after me. Ad clades imminere, aperiant viam ad portam caeli. Monstra nobis viam, adjuva nos parare bellum!"

As they chanted, Severus waited anxiously. A few days before, he had gone to Voldemort and told him vaguely that the Hogwarts staff was finding a new weapon with which to battle him. He lied and said that he wasn't sure what they were doing exactly, but it would involve him being out of contact for an uncertain amount of time. The Dark Lord told him to go for it, and maybe either filibuster the plan or get some of the weapon for the Dark side if he could. Anything useful as long as his position as a "spy" wasn't jeopardized. Which was why he was here now, taking the risk and searching for this new weapon.

Suddenly, Severus felt a slight jerk. He felt dizzy, as though his head was spinning. His eyes snapped open, but instinctively he knew that they didn't actually open – not where his body was, anyway. He stared into a dark purple, swirling vortex, his dizziness never disappearing. He felt like his body was spinning out of control, yet for a while he also felt his body lying still on the wooden table. This latter sensation slowly faded, and when it was gone completely, a small white dot appeared. As it gradually grew bigger, shining brightly, he realized that he was falling towards it.

Bigger and bigger the dot grew, until it was so bright that Severus had to throw his arms out in front of his face and shut his eyes tightly to avoid being blinded.

Finally, after what felt like an hour of falling, he landed. It was a curious sensation of falling onto ground from a great height combined with lying still. His limbs jerked and he opened his eyes to see a bright blue sky. Severus blinked, suddenly becoming panicked.

He couldn't remember anything!


Phew! I just had to get this started. Hope I wrote this well enough for your taste? :)

So anyway, this was just an idea I had. If you go to my Deviant Art page (link found on my profile), I'm drawing little companion "comics" for the story. It's not a real comic, but really like a few panels from each chapter IF it was a comic. Enjoy!

And please review! Reviews are the food of the fanfic author.