The Dimension Wand

Written By Sada

Part One: Dark Times, Dark Magic: Darkover

AN: The world of Darkover was created and refined by Marion Zimmer Bradley. This section of the story is based on characters and situations found in her novel, "Hawkmistress." The chapter title "Darkover Landfall" is also a novel by MZB. And of course, J.K. Rowling created all the Harry Potter characters.

Chapter One: Darkover Landfall - Wizard Style

The world whirled around them, more intensely than any trip with Time Turner ever did. It was as if time and space were all churning around them. The only thing connecting Harry, Hermione, and Ron was their firm grip on the Wand.

Suddenly, time and space cleared. They found flung into another room, larger than the one they just left, but made of the familiar stone found at Hogwarts. After an amazed pause, they all started asking for each other at once.

"Ron! Harry!" gasped Hermione, looking around frantically.

Ron reached out and took her arm with his free hand.

Harry groaned and slowly took his hand away from his forehead. The pain had subsided. Ron took his hand off the Wand and turned towards him.

"Are you alright?" asked Ron anxiously.

"Yeah," Harry answered, "You?" Ron and Hermione both nodded. They stood up and brushed themselves off. Hermione dropped her grip on the Wand, leaving it in Harry's possession. Harry looked around. "Where the heck are we?"

They examined their surroundings more closely. The small room was dusty and a big draft was coming in from across the room where a large door was. They were standing near a stone staircase that led up somewhere. The room's only contents were a row of unusual looking tools hung on the wall and a small table with some worn leather gloves upon them. A few raggedy pairs of boots were under the table. An old cloak was hung up next to the tools.

"It looks like some sort of workroom. I think it's still part of a castle though," said Ron. He sniffed and made a face. "It kind of smells though. I think we are near animals."

Harry was examining the floor. "There are some big feathers on the floor," he said. "But they don't look like any owl feathers I've ever seen."

"I don't think we are at Hogwart's anymore," said Ron.

"No, we aren't," said Hermione strangely.

She had walked over to the door and nudged it open. Harry and Ron cast her a confused look.

"How do you know?" asked Ron.

She mutely pointed out the cracked door. They ran across the room to join her and looked out the crack. It led outside. Hermione was pointing at the sun - a blood red sun.

Ron paled and Harry let out a sigh.

"Well, this is probably to be expected. After seven years of this, nothing surprises me anymore," he said. He gestured to the Wand in his hand. "This brought us here."

Hermione nodded. "It felt like the Time Turner, except more so. I think it brought us to another world!"

"Another dimension maybe!" exclaimed Ron, who was starting to look very excited. He glanced at the strange Wand. "What do we call that, the Dimension Wand?"

Harry held it up. Besides its utter size, the big crack and the green material, it looked like an ordinary wand.

"Nothing is poking out the crack," observed Hermione. "I wonder what is inside of it?"

"I wonder why Dumbledore cracked it in the first place," said Ron plaintively.

Harry shrugged. "I wonder if we just say the spell again, will we get back home?"

"Voldemort will still be there," said Ron. "Maybe we are supposed to hide out here for a bit while Dumbledore defeats him?"

Hermione shook her head. "The spell is a derivative of the words 'delete and place.' That means that we used the magic in the Dimension Wand to delete our placement. And according to the logic rules in Arithmacy, that means that the world we get thrown to is random. Unless Dumbledore did something to the wand to direct it." She wrinkled her brow. "But he cracked it. By all odds, that means it's not even working properly. Except Dumbledore wouldn't do something to hurt us."

"Unless he was really desperate," said Ron. "Maybe he wanted to make sure Voldemort had no way to trace us. I mean, Harry is the only one who has been able to defeat him so far. Maybe he wanted to keep him safe" his voice trailed off.

Harry scowled. He didn't like the idea of being thrown out into an unknown dimension just so he could be protected while Hogwart's faces the Dark Lord alone. "We need to find a way back." He said. "Now."

"No Harry," implored Hermione. "You heard what Ron said. Voldemort will still be there. We need to figure out why we are here. Maybe there is some way to fight Voldemort from here. If we just repeat the spell we'll end up in some other random dimension. We need to stop and think."

"Maybe you can find a library," said Ron, half-sarcastically. He wanted action, but he didn't want to be tossed around random dimensions.

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Good idea Ron! If you're right and this is a castle, they should have a library here." She eyed the staircase speculatively.

Ron grabbed her arm. "Oh no you don't," he said. "We are sticking together. I don't want you going off my yourself running into anyone, or thing."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Save the chivalry Ron," she said dryly. "We know that this place has humanoids in it," she said, pointing at the boots and gloves. "See? Five fingers. Adult-sized feet -- a right one, a left one."

Harry stepped in. "Okay, maybe your right. Maybe we should try and figure out where we are, and how we can get back home - as quickly as possible. But we can't just go running off. We don't even know what language these people speak. They could even have purple skin and three eyes for all we know."

Hermione grinned. "I told you two that you should have read Advanced Survival Spells, Volume Two" she said. "I have just the thing." She grabbed her own wand and pointed it at Ron. "Red"

Ron yelped and jumped out of the way. "What are you doing? We don't know if our magic works here! Are you trying to kill me?"

She sighed. "Well if it doesn't, we are in a lot more trouble than we thought! Now hold still, I'm sure if the Dimension Wand worked to bring us here, our magic will work as well. Reddo!" she yelled before he had time to move again.

Ron froze. His face took on a mixed expression of smugness and fear. "See?" he said. "Nothing happened!"

Hermione sighed again and repeated the spell on a confused Harry.

"Umm, Hermione?" asked Harry.

"That was a translation spell," she explained. "Now if you come into contact with anyone, you'll be able to understand them, and they can understand you. Just make sure they talk first."

"What about you?" asked Ron.

She turned the wand on herself. "Celo Hominis!" she cried.

Hermione disappeared.

"Hermione!" yelled Ron.

"Calm down," her voice replied. "I've just hidden myself."

"Wow!" breathed Harry. "And you didn't even need my Invisibility Cloak."

"No," said her voice. "It works differently. Instead of becoming invisible, I blend into my surroundings. Look closely."

Ron and Harry peered in the direction of her voice.

"Aha!" said Ron, "I can see the door planks moving around."

"Precisely," she said. "It's not as perfect as the Invisibility Cloak, but it'll have to do."

"So you are leaving us then?" asked Harry. "I don't think"

"I'll be fine Harry," she replied. "I need to find that library. While I'm doing that, you two can poke around and try to figure out where we are. If you can find people, ask them if they know any magical beings or places. Although it could be like home, with a mostly Muggle population."

Ron gulped and nodded. He knew from experience that once Hermione decided on something there was no changing her mind. But he hated the idea of leaving her. He resolved to get as much information as he could as quickly as possible.

"Maybe we should all split up then," he suggested. "And meet back here in an hour. I'll stay in the castle and see if I can find out anything here. I can always pretend to be a servant or a messenger."

"And I'll go outside and see if I can find anything out there," Harry said. "Maybe there will be a snake I can talk to."

"Then it's a plan," agreed Hermione. "One hour, and I'll meet you both right here. Be careful."