All he could hear around him was the deafening screams. The screams of unimaginable pain and agony as the bodies of the dead littered the streets. The wind was eerily calm as the evening horizon tinted over in an unnatural blood red. A hazy smoke lingered in the air as fires burnt through the collapsed toppled buildings. Building that had once stood the test of time, now completely indiscernible, lay in ruin. The landscape transformed into a barren smoldering wasteland of carnage and destruction.

Mangled appendages on the street, bodies torn in half, but worst of all were the eyes of the dead. Those haunting eyes, mirrors into the soul, forever frozen in a silent scream. The few remaining survivors tried desperately to help anyone who still clung to life, as they themselves clung to any last bit of hope, but the reaper's scythe shows no mercy. Even their ashen covered faces, not enough to conceal the fear, betraying the knowledge that this was the end.

He felt the warmth on his cheeks as a mixture of sorrow and smoke caused tears to form. His body stood numb, paralyzed, watching the nightmarish scene, unable to wrap his thoughts around how this could have happened.

A sudden jolt finally awoke him from stupor.

"Come On. We have to Go!"

A browned haired stranger had grabbed him by his wrist and was pulling him away from the massacre.

The man's hair was disheveled, eyes sagging, and all this clothing was in tatters. He noticed the jacket the man was wearing had stars on the shoulders with medals and ribbons mounted above the left breast pocket.

An officer

"Everything is ready!" the officer shouted

He was eventually dragged into a dilapidated worn down building. As he looked around, he saw different pieces of equipment, chemicals, and old abandoned glass containers. In the center of the room was an odd machine. Attached to the machine were endless wires and cables connected to the steel platform. This must have been what their scientists had been building.

He was distracted by the machine that he didn't realize the officer was speaking to him until two strong arms grabbed him by his shoulders and turned him around.

"Listen! The machine only has enough power for one run. All you need to do now is stand on the platform and press that black button," the officer instructed.

He nodded his head and slowly walked up the steps leading to the machine's platform. Looking to his left, he saw the small black button on the control panel. The button had no distinguishable characteristics, but its purpose was beyond measure. He closed his eyes, preparing himself, and just as he was about to press the button, he heard a yell.

"Wait!"

The officer ran towards him. When he was within arm's length, the officer glanced downwards and began rummaging through his pockets, scrambling to find something. The officer eventually took out a piece of paper and handed it to him. He opened up the crumpled piece of paper, only to realize it was a photograph; there were three people in it.

The photo showed the officer, a woman on his right, and a small child sitting in the middle. The officer, no longer in his uniform, was smiling cheerfully. The woman on his right had her head turned, an affectionate expression on her face as she teasingly kissed the officer on his cheek, with one eye glancing amusedly at the camera. The little girl in the middle was sitting obediently, her arms crossed, clutching a small doll; her blonde hair flowing down the side of her face as she grinned mischievously.

"Please...save them."

He looked into the officer's eyes and saw the sadness, the regret, and guilt. Both of them knew that at this moment those two precious women were most likely dead. Their bodies found somewhere in the chaos out there. He wondered if the little girl, no more than five years old, was still clinging to that same doll when the life left her eyes. No more words needed to be said.

But even through the silence, he understood the deeper meaning behind the officer's words. Their greatest scientists and minds had studied all the collected information in order to build the machine that he was standing on. In the early stages of the project, no one could produce numbers that would manifest itself to success. All lines, regardless of how promising the beginning looked, ultimately lead to a zero success rate. He heard that many scientists had started to lose hope and that this was all inevitable. However, one man had not stopped trying, as failure could not be an option. He had worked tirelessly with endless sets of data, and when all looked lost, a miracle blossomed. At first none of his colleagues had believed him, had told him that he must have made an error, but simulation after simulation resulted in the same conclusion; a one percent chance.

And here he was now, standing on the platform built from the hopes and dreams of countless people. The man standing in front on him, no different than the rest, with his prayers resting on his shoulders as well.

He nodded his head slowly to the officer, quietly communicating that he understood. As he reached to press the button, there was a loud explosion.

Too quick to avoid, a ray of light shot forth from outside and hit the officer squarely in his back. The officer looked momentarily shocked before his eyes glassed over. He dropped to his knees, and then the rest of his body feel onto the ground.

"Please...save them."

He looked at the officer's still body as his resolve slowly began to build. What was once sorrow had now turned into red hot rage. There were no more tears to shed for the dead. He would not allow it to end like this. His body tensed as a sense of overwhelming conviction surged through him. He clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it down onto the black button as hard as he could. Strange noises started emitting as the machine suddenly sprang to life.

He could now see the figure of a person entering the room poised with murderous killing intent. Suddenly, another bright white light flashed towards him; the same light that had caused the officer to fall. He smiled and closed his eyes in anticipation.

"You're too late"

The machine powered to its full capacity then the sound faded, all the lights flickered off, exhausting all the remaining energy, but the person standing on the platform was already gone. When he opened his eyes again, he saw himself surrounded by a cool blue light.

"I promise I'll save them. I promise they'll never see this future. You will never see this future. I'll change it all."

And just as soon as the blue light had appeared, the light disappeared. He was now standing looking at a large castle. The mighty structure loomed, built with many spires and towers, and looking down, surrounded by water. He heard laughter and saw what he believed to be students walking through a large entranceway. Some of them were being escorted by older teachers.

He was here, wherever here was. The first thing he needed to do was find out the answer to this question.

He slowly walked up to a few older looking boys wearing blue and bronze coloured scarfs.

"Excuse me. Where am I?" he asked them, knowing that he sounded like a fool.

The two older looking boys looked at him dumbfounded.

"What's the matter with you? Are you loopy?" the older of the two spoke up and asked

He quickly thought up an excuse, hoping it was enough to get the answer he needed.

"Right, I'm confused. I'm new here. Could you guide me in the right direction?"

The younger of the two laughed at this.

"You are loopy. This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How'd you even get here if you don't know where you are?"

The two of them began to eye him intently. Fortunately, a loud voice interrupted their conversation.

"Hey, you two, come here and help me with the new students" someone in the distance shouted.

"Oh shoot, we're in trouble now," the older student said.

"I hope we don't get detention for this," the younger one replied back.

Without another word, the two students hurriedly off.

"That was too close"

Just when he thought he was saved, another voice spoke up

"You there, please get in line to be Sorted. Based on what you're wearing, I assume you're a new student?"

Another older student was speaking to him now. He had black hair along with a badge sewed onto his coat and a disposition that looked like he was not someone to be crossed.

"Right, I'm a new transfer student," he easily lied.

The student eyed him intently, just like the other two students had just done, but didn't ask anything else about this.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Soren Keating"

"Well Soren, as a prefect of Gryffindor, let me welcome you to Hogwarts. If you'll follow me, I'll direct to you to where you will be Sorted"

Soren nodded politely and followed the prefect. As he walked, he thought about what had just happened.

This was a school of wizards and magic? Magic actually exists? Why did the machine take him here? Did they make a mistake about the location?

But he knew that the scientists wouldn't have made such a grave mistake with so much at stake. It was somehow here, at this school, that he had to fulfill his mission. It would be a struggle, with so few clues available, to know what needed to be done. He started to worry now that every step he took was leading in the wrong direction. Though he did not understand the advanced theories of time traveling, he was still paranoid that one wrong move could easily alter the future for the worse, but he wouldn't let those thoughts distract him now. He just needed some more time to piece together the puzzle and hopefully, little by little, he would understand the cryptic messages he received.

Soren started to shiver slightly. The weather was cold on this day, and he wasn't wearing enough clothing.

The prefect glanced back,

"Where are your robes? No matter, once you are Sorted, I'm sure someone will be able to find you robes that will fit," the prefect said.

Again, he nodded politely to the prefect and followed.

He wondered now what this "Sorting" involved and if he could lie through it as well. He had to play his role as best as he could. He couldn't afford to be found out and lose this one and only opportunity.

He was lead through the large entranceway and into a wide candle lit entrance hall. All the students around him were eagerly talking about becoming a wizard or witch and which "House" they wanted to be placed in.

"Of course Gryffindor would be the best. Only the best wizards come from that house. Dumbledore himself was a Gryffindor"

"Ravenclaw would be most interesting for me. I want to meet other intellectual minded individuals to challenge me."

"I think everyone in Hufflepuff are kind hearted and genuinely nice. I wouldn't mind being friends with them."

"Makes no difference to me which House I'm in, as long as it's not Slytherin. It would be a disgrace to my entire family of Gryffindors. I reckon I would kill myself if I ever was Sorted into Slytherin."

Soren guessed that was the purpose of this "Sorting", though he had no idea how it was decided, but it appeared as if most of the students disliked Slytherin. From this information, he hoped he was Sorted into any of the other three Houses mentioned. It would be greatly detrimental to try to gain clues about his mission here and also be hated by most of the other students at the same time.

Just as he thinking about this, the corridor abruptly ended and on the other side was a giant gathering area. The room was massive. The walls reached as far upward as he could see with candles suspended on each side. The room itself held four long tables. At the far end of the tables, there were several uniquely sized chairs. The middle of which, looked more like a throne where a great king or emperor would sit. Most amazing of all was the ceiling or was it even a ceiling? All he saw when he looked up were the clouds above as if he were outside; it was truly fascinating.

Soren was so mesmorized by the scene that he didn't realize the prefect leading him had stopped, and nearly bumped into him. The prefect turned around with a wicked grin on his face.

"Welcome to the Great Hall of Hogwarts," he said