A long time ago, there were two groups of wizards.

One group cast spells using staffs, the other group used a smaller version. Neither could come to an agreement over who's way of using magic was correct, let alone traditional. It was quite a quandary.

Then a new disagreement permanently forced them to split apart. One wizard discovered a spell which would allow him to drain magic from the surroundings instead of from within. Many wizards took to this example and it wasn't long before a good portion of the wizards started to cast spells in this manner.

The argument which finalized their problem came from the head of the group who refused to DRAIN magic from the Earth. His name was Myrddin.

Angry at their complete disregard for Magical Life, the other group left past a portal in a magical forest. They found life on the other side more to their liking, and stayed.

Five generations passed, and the disagreement between the two groups had finally settled to a point where no one was casting spells at each other. That is, until someone married the wrong type of wizard and set it off again.

Mryddin, tired of the endless bickering and still sore over losing his King, sealed off the other world. But he was not completely heartless.

He left a portal for future generations to use to return, provided they had the patience for it.

Now, when the moon changes it's natural color the portal opens. Many have come and gone at will, particularly the descendants of the witch and wizard who came from opposing sides of the whole debate.

The portal has remained unused for centuries, and many have forgotten it exists. Every once in a while a brave witch or wizard will find about it and venture into the woods when the moon changes it's coloring. They would often return very quickly spouting tales of a fantastical world which could only be dreamed of.

A world where magic is common and they could live in peace with those who couldn't cast a simple light spell. These brave souls grew tired of the secrecy, the mocking and the utter cruelty of their fellows, and often settled down in this strange world with no thought of return.

Today there is a young wizard. His name is Harry. Like his father, and his father before him many times over, Harry is a wizard. He has no knowledge of the other side, or of the portal. But that will soon change...

Harry couldn't sleep. He had heard the moon was going to be an odd color tonight, and it wasn't because of a planet getting in the way. Last year he had missed it, but this year he had convinced the teacher to let him join the older students in observing it. Supposedly it would last the entire night, but Harry really wanted to see it slowly change color.

Ron and Hermione wanted nothing to do with it. Hermione didn't want to go because she had seen it last year and didn't think it that interesting to see again. Ron was just plain lazy and preferred sleep. Harry had to kick him to stay awake during astronomy class.

According to the twins, Harry would be the only Gryffindor who would see the moon change color. No one else wanted to go.

(Well, the twins did, but last time they went to see it they had been banned from returning under pain of death. Apparently they had said something to annoy the Astronomy teacher greatly. Harry had a sneaking suspicion as to what they said.)

Percy had handed him a special pass so he could stay up late and not get into trouble with Filch. Snape could care less, since the nights that the moon changed were his nights off, and he liked to sleep.

Harry grabbed his bag. Inside was his cloak, some food he got from the kitchens (the twins had told him where to find them and how to get in) and a camera. He had asked if anyone had bothered to take a picture of the event, and found no one had.

Since the phenomena occurred every year on the same day since the time of Merlin, no one had thought it very special at all. Harry thought that was rather silly, since no one had been able to explain why the moon changed color.

Harry snapped a few photos at five minute intervals. He managed to capture the change in it's entirety. And with some help from Hermione, he would have the moon change happen in a single photo.

And he took good shots too. (He had borrowed Colin's camera, and had promised to buy three new rolls of film for the boy in exchange for borrowing the camera. Colin had upped the deal by somehow convincing Harry to sign at least four photos of himself.)

Once the moon had completely changed, most of the students left. They only came to see it shift colors. It would stay like that for the rest of the night and for the next night if they were lucky. Harry on the other hand stayed for another hour before he left.

He had no idea that Filch was in that corridor and would pass by him in another five minutes.

Fortunately Harry had put on his cloak. It had been cold up in the tower, and with everyone gone no one would notice he had the cloak.

Filch passed him by, but Mrs. Norris didn't. She stared at the spot where he was suspiciously, but with the pass there really wasn't any reason Filch could get him into trouble. He was allowed up in the tower for as long as he wished to observe the moon.

Harry slipped past the two and noted with some relief that the cat didn't bother to follow him.

He silently sighed with relief. He had checked the pass before he left the common room.

If Harry found the Astronomy tower too crowded (which had happened before), it allowed him to go observe it somewhere else without receiving detention. So he decided to put that pass to good use. It would be valid until the moon went back to normal after all.

He grinned. Time to explore the castle!

He didn't know how or what possessed him to go into the Forest. All he remembered was Peeves chasing him (even though the poltergeist couldn't see him) and then he was outside.

Peeves decided to be a bigger pain than usual, because somehow he locked all the doors into the castle. At least the ones he could safely reach. Any of the others were too far away for them to be any good.

He thought about asking Hagrid if he could spend the night in his hut. (He could blame Peeves for chasing him outside without him realizing it. Since Peeves had braced the doors it was a half truth at best.) But once he got close he heard the distinct sound of someone snoring very loudly. Hagrid probably had the night off as well.

So Harry went into the Forest. He hoped the Centaurs wouldn't mind him being there. They hadn't been thrilled the first time he met them.

He blinked.

This didn't look like a portion of the Forest he was familiar with. The air was cheerful, for one thing. And the trees were much bigger than he was used to. And was that the sun?

He walked farther in and realized that the sun was shining. He was thoroughly confused now.

It had been midnight when he had been locked out. The sun shouldn't be up for another five hours at the least! Yet he could plainly see that it was roughly noon.

He heard a crack behind him. A little old lady with a cane smiled at him.

"Are ye lost deary?"

"Yes ma'am," said Harry. He saw no point to lie.

"I can lead you to the edge of the forest, but my ol' bones are creaking and I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. Would you be so kind as to share some bread with an old woman?"

The old lady sat on a rock with a little moss at the bottom. There was a medium sized one next to it.

Harry sat down and dug through his bag. He found the food he swiped from the kitchens and passed it to her. He only had a good sized loaf of bread and a small wheel of soft cheese left. But the woman was more than happy with the meager fare.

"Sorry I don't have any more. I was observing the moon and ate most of it," said Harry apologetically.

"That's alright deary..." the woman started, then paused, "Did you say you were observing the moon?"

"Yes. It was night when I went up to watch the moon change color with some other students. I left later than the others and was chased out by a rather annoying poltergeist. He seemed to think it was funny to lock me out."

The woman looked at him shrewdly and asked "Did you happen to come through a forest under the moon's glow?"

Harry nodded. The moon had shown brightly enough through the forest that he could see where he was going. Now that he thought back, it was a bit odd. The trees were rather dense.

"That explains it then. Oh well, you'll find out where you are soon enough," shrugged the old woman. She sat up, and Harry noted her bones weren't creaking like earlier.

She turned to him, and he was startled. She didn't look nearly as old as before!

"Since you showed an old lady some kindness, I'll tell you a secret. I'm really a fairy. My sisters and I often pretend to be old women asking for some bread or other foods in exchange for a blessing. If people show kindness, they are blessed with a gift or favor. If they show greed then they are cursed."

She pointed her finger at him.

"You shall now be able to communicate in any language you come across. Have fun!"

She vanished.

Harry blinked. That was...strange. He got up and started walking. As he walked, he thought back to how strange the day had been.

Hermione turned down a chance to earn bonus points for Astronomy. That was unusual, but he could see that happening. Ron deciding to sleep instead of going with him. Again, it was unusual but Ron had probably seen the moon change color before. The twins banned from the Tower on those nights.

Harry paused. That was very likely. He dismissed it.

The other students leaving him alone long enough for him to put on his invisibility cloak. Unusual, but he could live with that. Mrs. Norris not following him. That struck him as odd at the time, but he had counted his blessings.

Then things really turned odd. Peeves would normally never lock a student outside at night. Especially since the Bloody Baron or Dumbledore might take offense to it. Hagrid having the night off on the day the moon changed.

Harry felt like kicking himself. He should have known something was up about that. If Hagrid had the day off during those nights, then the twins would have taken the opportunity to run into the forest. They would never turn down a chance like that!

The conspicuous absence of the centaurs. The lack of animal noises in the forest.

He should have realized something was up sooner. Still, he didn't see anything wrong with it. He had met a nice fairy (who had apparently blessed him with something) and had realized he wasn't in the forest anymore.

So yes, his day was definitely shot to hell.

Harry found the strangest patch of what appeared to be blue flowers. He bent down to sniff it, and realized with a start that it was catnip. He thought about taking a sample...until he realized he didn't have anything to put it in. Neville would probably love to look at it.

He went through the patch and noted an odd wave following him. He decided to not pay it any mind.

He already had quite enough with the talking squirrel who advised him to go to see Morwen. Upon learning she was a witch, he felt a little better about the idea.

The lion had nearly scared him witless though. But it gave good directions.

(Unknown to Harry, the forest he was walking through decided to shift him closer to Morwen's house. It liked him.)

Harry stared. This was not what he expected at all. There were at least five cats of varying colors decorating the porch. And they all turned as one to face him.

"Um...hello. I was told to see Morwen?" he said hesitantly.

One of the cats yowled "Morwen! Visitor!"

Okay...so apparently I can understand cat language now...thought Harry.

A short ginger haired woman appeared at the front door. She seemed a little annoyed.

"What is it?"

"I was told by a squirrel to come see you. I'm a bit lost."

"Might as well come in. Watch the front stool...a gnome stole one of the supports."

Harry walked into the house, and nearly jumped.

There was a dragon in the kitchen. It looked at him with amusement to his reaction.

"Hello. Who might you be?" it asked.

"Harry. Nice to meet you...?"

"Kazul."

"Nice to meet you Kazul," said Harry, holding out his hand. Kazul looked both amused and interested. It held out a front claw and Harry shook it. Morwen watched with interest.

She smiled. She looked less imposing now. Harry noted there were at least six cats on the dragon, and another three sitting elsewhere.

"So where are you heading Harry?" asked Morwen, pouring out what Harry assumed was cider. It smelled like apples.

"Actually I was coming back from observing the moon when a poltergeist thought it would be funny to lock me out. I would have stayed with a friend, but he was asleep and I didn't want to wake him."

They looked at him, startled. Harry noted that Kazul discreetly looked outside to see if it was still day. It was.

"Where did you say you came from?" asked Kazul.

"Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Tonight was the night that the moon changes color and I went to see it. I came down from the tower later than the other students and Peeves decided to play a prank on me," Harry scowled. He really didn't like Peeves.

"Did you..."

"I went into the forest hoping the centaurs would at least put up with me for the night. I didn't realize that the sun was shining until five minutes after that."

Morwen snorted.

"You came through the Portal then. No wonder you were confused."

"Portal?"

"Two thousand years ago the Society of Wizards erected a Portal to separate the worlds. One group absorbs magic from the surrounding area, the other using the magic present in themselves. They had a feud going on for over a thousand years about which was the right way until one went to another world. Then some idiot married into the other group and the leader of those that split sealed the place off. With the minor exception of when the moon changes color," explained Morwen.

Harry sipped his cider. It was rather good. He noted that there was a cat on his lap and absently petted it. Morwen gave him a look of approval when the cat started to purr.

"So the reason I'm here is because the moon changed color?"

"That, and you have to enter a place with enough trees to be called a forest."

"How do I get back?"

"From what I've read, you simply have to wish hard enough while walking through the woods. There was a book about the portal..." said Morwen. She went through the back door and he blinked in surprise.

What he thought was a door to the outside lead into a massive library that rivaled the one at the school. Morwen came out with a book.

"Del Rey's The Society of Wizards History. This is my second copy of the book. It has an entire section about the split between the wizards."

She handed the book to Harry, who politely thanked her. Kazul looked at him with interest.

"So what did you think of the Enchanted Forest?" asked Kazul.

"Was that the woods I came through?" asked Harry. They nodded.

"It was pretty interesting, though I don't think I could ever get used to a squirrel yelling at me."

"Why did it yell at you?"

Harry looked embarrassed.

"I had accidentally stepped into it's stash of nuts. I was pretty freaked out when I heard it talking," he admitted.

"Most things can talk here," said Morwen.

"Oh. But it seemed like a regular tree squirrel to me," said Harry.

"Did you happen to speak to anyone before you came here?" asked Morwen. She had noted something interesting on him.

"Well before I talked to the squirrel I gave what I thought was an old woman what was left of my snack. She pointed at me and said I would be able to communicate in any language."

They nodded. That cleared up a few things.

"You came across a fairy. It's a good thing you ran into a nice one," said Morwen.

Kazul went to leave. Harry decided to stay the night, since he had no idea how to get back. Morwen had told him it was a bad idea to go into the forest at night.

(Much to his amusement, he seemed to have gained an ally in one of the cats. Morwen told him the cat's names, and he almost laughed. Apparently Chaos had taken a liking to him.)

The next morning he surprised Morwen by making breakfast. The cats all surrounded him.

"Good morning!" he said. She blinked in surprise. Then helped him make it.

Harry decided to attempt a return. He hoped he could get back home.

Morwen packed a lunch for him just in case, and advised him on what to avoid. Harry set off (and borrowed a glass jar which he put some catnip in for Neville) and went into the woods. His bag now had a small jug of cider and the book about the Portal from Morwen.

Harry blinked when he saw the scenery change. From bright and cheerful to dark and depressing. He looked around. The Enchanted Forest was gone! He heard a loud hoot and looked up.

Hedwig!

His owl appeared to be very cross with him. He narrowly avoided getting pummeled by her wings.

"Ow! Hedwig, what's gotten into you?"

YOU DISAPPEARED FOR HOURS IS WHAT!

Harry yawned. He was too tired to interpret what his owl was saying to him. Ron had once commented on how weird it was that he understood her so well.

"Could you lead me back to the castle?" he asked finally.

That was a strange dream...thought Harry as he headed to the castle. Hedwig was as white as a ghost, and could be seen easily in the dim forest.

Once he got the door, he tested it. Someone had noticed it was locked and had opened it. Probably McGonagall.

He checked around and saw that no one was around. He put on his cloak and went straight to the dorms.

The light of morning was starting to show...