Chapter One: The Gate
Britain—2006
Candles burned low in the dark room, giving its' sole occupant just enough light to work by.
Glass beakers littered the hard stone floor, all filled with some type of powder or another.
A white button-up uniform shirt was rumpled and stained, the first few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to bunch at the elbows; black pants were in the same condition.
Slim fingers wiped sweat from the face of Harry Potter who was currently kneeling on the ground with his wand in hand. A red light was emitted from the stick, making engravings in the ground that smoked slightly as he left them to mark another scorch into the floor.
There was a dark, concentrated look in his emerald eyes as he finished adding rune-like symbols to the complex and intricate circular array drawn on the stone floor of the Room of Requirement. Harry picked himself off the ground and didn't bother dusting himself off before picking up the differently-sized beakers and dumping their contents into a large black cauldron that he had placed in the middle of the circle. As he poured everything into the cauldron, nearly soundless words could be heard from his mouth; the only sounds in the silent room. "Water, thirty-five liters. Carbon, twenty kilograms. Ammonia, four liters. Lime, 1.5 kilograms. Phosphorus, 800 grams. Salt, 250 grams. Saltpeter, 100 grams. Sulfur, eighty grams. Fluorine, 7.5 grams. Iron, five grams. Silicon, three grams."
After finishing this task, the teenage hero reached into the bag sitting beside him and pulled out a sheathed butterfly knife.
He flipped it open with practiced ease and eyed the thin blade, watching the firelight illuminating the sharp edge.
Harry inhaled and then exhaled, calming himself before placing the tip against the skin of his palm, dragging it across.
The teen winced, biting his lip to keep himself from crying out as the thin metal it into his flesh, ripping a thick line of red fluid through his palm.
Harry then pulled the knife away and held his palm over another beaker, allowing the blood to drip into the glass in thin ribbons, staining the sides of the clear container, slowly filling it.
After he'd filled up the beaker he picked up a handkerchief and wrapped it tightly around the wounded flesh. He picked up the beaker and dumped it into the large pot filled halfway with water and powdered chemicals. As he did this he snickered as he remembered what Wormtail had said the last time they'd met. "Bone of the father, unwillingly given. Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed. Blood of the foe, forcibly taken." He shook his head. He had to get his mind off the past and focus on the task at hand.
Harry paused to catch his breath, slapping his hands together. He slowly pulled them apart, then pressed them down hard on the inside edge of the circle.
Harry felt like an electric current was surging through him as the symbols and lines glowed, a soft wind whipping around him from the center of the circle.
Just as suddenly as his mind began to think it would work, the white light burned a bloody red and the wind picked up until a tornado had formed around the circle.
Harry gasped and jumped back, staring at the wind and light surrounding him, tearing at his skin.
He felt his heart tighten and his lungs freeze as though someone was trying to crush them.
What's…happening? He thought groggily before he collapsed, vision fading to black.
Ah, another one, eh? You humans are so entertaining.
Harry blinked, suddenly finding awake. He could breathe again. Where was he?
Harry pushed himself up onto his knees only to fall back on his butt. "What the hell?!"
Before Harry was a partially see-through figure.
It had a tan right arm and left leg along with a wide mouth filled with shark-like teeth.
I, foolish human, am the embodiment of the Gate.
Harry stared. "The…Gate?" Teacher told me about the Gate! Damn it looks creepy.
True, the large door behind the 'it' was huge and creepy. It seemed to be decorated by a sun with its' rays spreading out in jagged lines over the gritty-looking stone.
You were stupid enough to commit a human transmutation. That's forbidden, y'know? It giggled, obviously enjoying itself. Now you have to pay the price. Since you're male… It hummed thoughtfully, bending down to sit cross-legged in front of the teen.
Harry felt a scream rip through his throat as pain seared in his left arm and right leg.
Harry looked down to find both missing. His scream froze in his throat as shock overtook his mind.
Aaaaaand…It half-sang, spreading its' arms out wide and standing on its' new leg. You'll be forced into the Gate now, have fun; buh-bye.
Harry didn't say a word as the Gate opened to reveal the black void filled with staring eyes. Black hands stretched out, grabbing him and yanking him into the timeless black hole.
Lights and images flashed before his eyes, filling his head until he blacked out, the last image his eyes noticed was a gray sky and a tree.
Equivalent exchange…those who fly too close to the sun learn that nothing is worth the price of a single human soul.