Chapter 1: A x New x World
The portal was a tamer beast than Harry had expected, although he really should've thought as much before, since it was Hermione's magic that had helped bring it into existence. Purple and glowing an eerily intimidating, yet equally enthralling aura, it made no sounds as it hung in space for all the crowd gathered in the new wing of the Ministry of Magic to see. Harry, standing in the crowd around the pedestal upon which the portal hovered, felt a strange sensation of awe and mystery that he had not felt in years, not since his very first boat ride into Hogwarts.
"Ladies and gentlemen," came the booming, immensely proud voice of Susan Bones, who magically hovered aloft above the sweeping crowd of over five hundred wizards, witches, and Squibs. With an extravagant flourish rather unlike her, she swept her hand to the portal which Harry stood in front of like a boy looking at a candy store. "I am very happy to at least show you the product of the past three years; the brand-new, magically created transdimensional portal! After years of research in both Muggle science and intricate, deep magics, this incredible advancement has been achieved by the combined efforts of Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood. It leads to an entirely different dimension, where magic apparently does not exist, according to all spells we've cast through it. It has also been tested on various animals and is safe for all who cross it, although because of how it messes with one's magic, none can cross back through for at least another year in that world's time."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Bones!" someone from the crowd asked excitedly, their hand raised high up into the air. Peering curiously through his glasses, Harry recognized it to be a reporter for the Daily Prophet, a new recruit who was no doubt hoping to start his career by gaining the biggest scoop of the century. "I have heard that three people have been selected to become the first wizards and witches to cross the portal! Are the rumors that these people are the Golden Trio true?"
"Thank you, Mr. Penn," Susan said, bowing her head slightly in the direction of the speaker. "These rumors are indeed accurate. It was unanimously decided within the new Magical Science Committee that the brightest, bravest magic wielders of our age, namely Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger should be the ones to have this honor, and they accepted gratefully. And I suppose now is as good a time as any; Harry, Ron, Hermione, may all three of you please come up to the portal's pedestal at this time?"
Almost giddily, Harry pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring the excited whispers and mumblings of the mass around him. Knocking aside robed arms holding old fashioned cameras, accidentally trodding over several poor people's feet, Harry at last fought his way to the front, and saw a widely grinning Ron and a proud Hermione already climbing up the three steps which led up to the stone pedestal in the center of the crowd. Harry quickly followed suit, joining his two friends as they all came to a stop directly in front of the glowing, otherwordly portal. The raven-haired wizard was in between the redhead and brunette.
Light flashed blindingly as over a hundred cameras immediately began flashing in random spurts, but Harry's smile did not falter. He nudged Ron, who had evidently either forgotten to shave that morning or was growing out a beard. Red scraggly hair hung off the man's chin.
"How many years has it been since we've been on stupidly risky, death-defying adventures together, just the three of us?" he asked, a wave of nostalgia washing over him. He remembered fighting that troll in the dungeons, brewing Polyjuice potion in the secrecy of unused women's bathrooms with Moaning Myrtle screaming down the back of their necks, flying magic cars into the school, and generally driving the teachers mad. It all felt so far away, but at the same time, like it had happened just yesterday.
Ron snorted. "Since you dragged Hermione and me on stupidly risky, death-defying adventures, you mean?"
Hermione swatted her husband. "Oh, stop it, Ronald. You know you loved breaking the school rules as much as Harry did."
"Okay, so maybe I enjoyed it a little," the freckled man relented, a grin turning up his own lips, "except for the spiders in the Forbidden Forest. I could've lived without those."
"Spiders," Harry whined in an obnoxiously high voice, drawing a mock-hurt glare from his best friend. "Why did it have to be spiders?"
"Oi, don't think I've forgotten that you were screaming like a banshee, too, Mister I-Saved-The-World-Like-Seven-Times-In-As-Many-Years!"
Suddenly, Ron's words began to be drowned out, and Harry realized that Susan had started talking again, this time using a well-placed Sonorus on herself so that she could be heard over the cacophony of cameras and excited sea of flowing robes and chattering guests.
"It is now time for the most important journey of the century to commence!" Susan announced, turning to face Harry, Ron, and Hermione herself. The blond half-witch smiled at her old classmates, who all returned the smile warmly; the Bones family had been good to them over these thirty years. "Harry, Ron, and Hermione, you are aware that all three of you will not necessarily end up in the same part of the world you are going to, correct?"
"Right," Harry said loudly, the other two members of the famous Golden Trio also echoed affirmatives beside him.
"Very well. Are there any final words you'd like to say before your departure?"
Harry exchanged a glance with the two Weasleys. They both shook their heads, and Harry opened his mouth to reply with a no, but at that moment all the air was forced from his lungs as he was suddenly hit by a flying Ginny. His wife had fought through the crowd so quickly that a cheetah could be jealous, and was now bear-hugging the Savior of Magical Britan so tightly that he barely was able to breathe.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Ginny cried, almost crushing his ribs. Harry choked. "YOU ARE THE ABSOLUTE WORST HUSBAND! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE FOR A GRAND TRIP TO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WORLD WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE TO YOUR BLEEDING WIFE!"
"G-Ginny!" Harry gasped while the crowd erupted into laughter. Hermione giggled at his right. His skin was paling and his eyes were nearly bulging out of his head. "C-Can't… breathe!"
"You're damn straight you can't!" grumbled Ginny, a single tear rolling from her eye, but she released her husband and backed up, a sad smile tugging at her red lips. She was in a beautiful red dress that accentuated her fiery curls, and Harry felt he surely must be the luckiest man in the world. "You're a jerk, you know that? Asking me to take care of Ron and 'Mione's kids, too, like I don't already have enough little gremlins making me go grey early."
"There's a reason I'm not saying goodbye, Ginny," he said calmly, bending down a little to wipe the tear from his beautiful wife's eye. She blushed heavily; even after so many years of their marriage, he still was able to surprise her in new ways. "After the Battle of Hogwarts, I promised myself that I'd never say 'goodbye' to anyone ever again. Because I'd already said goodbye to too many people. Goodbye is too final for me now; and we will see each other again, you hear me?" Harry grinned and hugged Ginny, who sniffed and hugged him again back. "I'll always return home to you."
"You… you… you stupid romantic jerk!" Ginny sobbed into his shoulder, smiling in spite of herself as the crowd gave a collective, Awww.
"Don't worry, Gin, we'll keep Harry out of trouble," Hermione reassured the redhead.
Ron stared at his wife. "'Mione, you do realize that keeping Harry bleeding Potter out of trouble is like keeping a fish out of water?" he asked flatly. "How in Merlin's baggy underpants are we ever going to manage that?"
"You better find a way, or else when you come home, I'll keep you up all night every night with my incessant crying," the fiesty woman warned her brother, who laughed very nervously. "Actually, no, I'll leap into the portal myself, search that entire world to find where you are, and cast relentless Bat Bogeys on you. You'll never get an ounce of peace the rest of your waking days."
"Duly noted," Ron squeaked, one hundred percent certain that his sister would definitely follow through with her threat, too.
The many different witches and wizards watching Ginny's tirade chuckled. Harry spied Seamus Finnigan waving happily at him from the back, George Weasley keeping an eye on his and Ginny's, as well as Ron and Hermione's, children, and a very old indeed Minerva McGonagall smiling up at him with pride. He took one last look at the sweeping Ministry of Magic hall that this send-off was taking place in; the wide, sweeping emerald carpet running along black stones, tall columns holding up a ceiling high above them, crackling green fireplaces upon fireplaces taking up the bulk of the walls. It was the last time he'd see these halls for nearly a year, considering Hermione was able to re-open the portal from the other side by that time.
As it stood now, the portal was one-way, for none of the animal test subjects that they'd sent through had returned even though the many different spells and wards placed on them indicated complete safety. Annoyingly, the magic used to keep the portal stable for indefinite amounts of time even on one side of it was so strong that it would take an entire year more for Hermione's magic reserves to build up enough to pour all the magic needed to keep the thing running. And that was considering they didn't get into any tough battles on the other side.
"Now then, are all of your tracking spells running properly?" Susan asked the trio as a teary-eyed Ginny retreated back down into the crowd to rejoin the sole owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Hermione closed her eyes, and Harry felt wandless, silent magic flow over him, his friend's calm serenity cooling his nerves.
"Yes, all three of ours are working as they should be," Hermione answered Susan.
"Perfect! Then without further ado, it is time to send you off to your new one-year home." The blond woman clapped her hands, clearly excited by this prospect herself, and she turned to the crowd. "Everyone! Say goodbye to our heroes and beloved friends! Wish them luck on any adventures that may unfold for them over the course of their stay in this mysterious other world!"
The next few minutes was filled with shouting wizards wishing their three saviors the warmest goodbyes, the safest luck, and much more. Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't help but exchange wide smiles; their hearts pounded, their minds buzzed, and not a single cell in their body wasn't excited for this new sojourn.
And at last, it was time to begin.
"Who wants to go first?" Harry asked with a grin, as they all turned to face the purple portal.
Ron shoved him playfully. "Oh, please, we all know you're the one who's itching the most to step through that thing."
"Yeah, go for it!" Hermione urged, leaning forward. "You've got to try it out! I want to see you go in!"
"You guys sure?" Harry wanted to be certain that he wasn't encroaching on any hidden desires to go first.
"Oh, shove off already!" Ron grumbled, and pushed him harder this time, sending him stumbling forward with a surprised yelp, and his momentum carried him through the mysterious veil of purple.
It felt strange, entering the space in between worlds. It was cold and hot, crushing and soothing, white and black. His ears rang with noise and at the same time he couldn't hear anything. He walked forward through violet mist that flowed all around him, towards mystic lands of which neither he, nor anyone else from Earth knew anything about. This was not only a departure from his previous life; it was a departure from all things he'd ever considered normal or taken for granted.
At last, he spied light at the end of the mysterious space, and took off at a run for it.
He burst through, and was immediately blinded by light on the other side. This surprised him; the trio's going away send-off had taken place at midnight, and so he had not been expecting such light. But then again, he supposed that it was perfectly reasonable to assume that this world did not run on the same time schedule as his own, or that perhaps they'd ended up in the other world's equivalent for a different time zone.
Either way, he had to blink rapidly, now that he was out of that non-world, in order to adjust to the searing light that was nearly burning his poor retinas. He breathed deeply, and was delighted to find warm, unpolluted air, deliciously fresh rolling over his tongue.
When he at last was adjusted, the man with the lightning scar nearly fell over. It was a good thing that this was nearly, too, and not did, for he stood on the very high-up branch of a towering tree, in the center of an island that from this height seemed to be shaped like a whale.
An excited grin, wider than any of the rest he'd worn tonight, spread across Harry James Potter's face.
He had made it!