This story begins, as every story worth its salt does, in a place other than the one in which it takes place. That place just happens to be a world very much like your own. In fact, it's exactly like your own, with the same people and the same histories, only there is one tiny difference: in this world there are wizards. Oh, of course your world has wizards too, but these ones are different. Their magic does not come from nature, rather, it alters nature. And all over the world there are grand schools of wizardry and witchcraft. The main characters of this story, for every good story has main characters, come from one of the oldest and most accredited of the afore mentioned schools: Hogwarts.
Harry, Ron and Hermione crept through the tall grasses of the open field. It had been almost nine months since they had decided not to return to finish their last year of schooling. Since then, the Ministry of Magic had fallen into the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and the school had become nothing more than a training ground for young dark wizards. The trio had discovered through the normal means of espionage, namely seedy and slightly illegal ones, the location of what may well be one of the Dark Lord's horcruxs. What they ended up finding was something far more unexpected, and therefore, far more interesting to you the reader.
You see, our heroic trio was not the only guest to the fields that night. In the light of the full moon Harry could see the glimmer of something silver. Upon closer inspection he discovered that the color was not silver, but rather the very pale yellow of blonde hair. And indeed, upon a closer inspection still, it was indeed seen to be hair, attached to a head. And, upon the closest of inspections, for Harry it seems was not very good at this inspection business, the head proved to be that of one Draco Malfoy.
"Hey," whispered Harry, "I think that's Malfoy up there!"
"What?" asked Ron incredulously. "What are you talking about? Why would Malfoy be all the way out here?"
"Dunno," Harry answered. "Maybe Voldemort has figured out what we're trying to do. Maybe he sent him to find the horcrux. Try to re-hide it or something."
"Why would he do that?" Hermione challenged. "For an item that important why wouldn't he come himself? Or at the very least he would send a fully fledged Death Eater."
"True," Harry said, then, "Oof!" as he tumbled down a small incline in the land's terrain.
Malfoy's head whipped around as he raised his wand. "Who's there?" he sneered. You see, nasty yet not particularly threatening characters never talk. Villians do, quite well actually, and bad guys do too. But minor, not-so-nice annoyances like Draco Malfoy always sneer in place of speaking. (How one manages to sneer words is beyond me, but I assume it is an art form somewhere.) Anyway, back to the story at hand. Malfoy sneered.
In the grasses, the three good wizards froze, each holding tightly to their wands in preparation for attack.
"Come out," shouted the darkling wizard. "I know you're there, I can see you through the grass!" He raised his wand and, without waiting for a response, sent a stream of red light through the night. The crimson streak burnt through the tops of the grass and seared the tips of Ron's hair. The boy swiftly clutched his hand to the back of his head and sat up.
"Bloody hell that was hot!" he shouted.
"Weasley!"
"Malfoy!"
"Ron!"
"Potter!'
"Malfoy!"
"You two!"
"Granger?"
"Malfoy."
I could of course continue with the usual bit of all the characters screaming useless questions at each other that never get answered, but that would be a waste of my time and yours. All you need to know is that the questions were asked and ignored and everyone started fighting. That's what you really wanted to hear anyway, wasn't it?
Within five short minutes streaks of colored light were soaring through the air. If this was allowed to continue then I'm sure one side would have one and one would have lost and that would be that. But of course this is a story and things in stories never sort themselves out so neatly. The four young wizards were in the middle of their heated battle when two shadows appeared in the glowing orb of the moon. For no other reason than to help advance the plot, all four spell slingers stopped to look up at them.
Bathed in moonlight were two robed figures. Their cloaks appeared to be made of a heavy black material that may have been cloth but may also very well have been leather. It was a fabric that was unfamiliar to this world. Silver chains hung down from the neck line and large hoods concealed the stranger's identities. Their robes seemed to be unaffected by the wind that blew as they floated a good one hundred feet off the ground. They were deep in conversation with each other and, despite the distance, their voices drifted through the clear night and down to the ears of the four stunned listeners.
"This world is an ideal place to bring the heartless," said the first.
"Indeed," agreed the second. "The Keybearer will not be able to come here to prevent them from collecting hearts."
"The Keybearer will not be able to prevent the heartless anymore. We have stolen his memories."
"Yes, but it is my understanding that those who would oppose The Organization have recruited that witch Namine to restore his memory."
"Either way, the heartless will be given enough time here to collect many hearts. That means more heartless and more nobodies for us. Are numbers have already been cut in half as it is. This will give us the edge."
Back on the ground, the four young wizards stood in silence. Each was trying to figure out what the two mystery guests were talking about. Malfoy, who was by far the stupidest one there, for anyone who sneers instead of talking cannot be too terribly intelligent, decided that these two robed figures must be Death Eaters. So, he began to shout and wave his arms around.
"Oy!" he said. "You there! I need your help! I've found Harry Potter and his friends! We must take them back to the Dark Lord!"
This of course brought the attention of what the three more intelligent humans present had already decided were most definitely NOT Death Eaters, but something vastly more troubling. The robed figures turned their faceless heads towards the gathering on the ground.
"What are those?" asked the first.
"I believe those are examples of the inhabitants of this world."
"Oh, I see. If I'm not mistaken, they have just overheard our plans. See, the fair haired one is convulsing with worry over it. What shall we do?"
"I think it would be best to let the heartless deal with them."
"Agreed."
The first dark stranger snapped his fingers. In an instant a strange chattering sound filled the air. Out of the shadows themselves came little dark creatures with yellow glowing eyes. They were no bigger than house elves, but they had sharp claws. There were about twenty of them and they began to advance upon Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy. Soon the four had quite forgotten their quarrel and instead decided to focus on more practical things like self-preservation.
As the shadow monsters drew closer, Malfoy, who you will recall was not very bright, attempted to kick one of the little creatures only to discover that his foot went right through.
"Oh, bugger this!" said Ron, and he raised his wand and sent a jet of white light at the nearest cretin. The light sent it flying across the grass and the monster exploded in the air. A red ball of light flew up into the air and out of the world. If any of them had cared to stop and look closely, which of course none of them did since they were all still focusing on self preservation, they would have noticed that the ball shape was not a ball shape at all, but rather a heart shape. At any rate, they all soon realized that a monster was a monster and a wand was a wand and that if you only tried hard enough you could make anything blow up. So they quickly set about to destroying the little beasts.
While the battle in question was occurring, the two robed figures were once again deep in discussion.
"Now what shall we do?" asked the first. "We hadn't expected them to be able to defend against the heartless so easily."
"Not to worry," said the second. "There are still those who will be susceptible to the power of darkness. And whether or not they are slain is of no consequence to us. Either way, we get the hearts."
"Yes, but if we let these children go then they will surely warn others and we shall lose our element of surprise."
"Too true. Well then, I suppose we will need to dispose of them."
"But how? The heartless cannot survive their magic and we cannot afford to battle them."
The two thought a moment and then the first spoke. "Let us send them to another world. They will surely not be able to return easily from another dimension."
"Ah! An excellent idea!" said the other. "But where to? Which world?"
"It doesn't matter, so long as they never return."
The first raised his hand and once again snapped his fingers. The monsters disappeared and were replaced by pools of darkness beneath the four wizards' feet. Each one began to sink into the anti-light vortexes as if it were quicksand. They tried to grab onto pieces of their world and pull themselves out of the darkness, but thin tendrils of blackness crept out and dragged them back in. Soon, everything was black.
And then it wasn't. The four wizards were flying through space, past stars and planets and galaxies. They traveled this way for some time until an object appeared in the distance. At first it was small, but gradually it began to grow larger and larger until it was very clear that they were approaching a planet of some sort.
It was an odd planet to them who had known only spherical geography. But worlds don't generally give a hoot what a group of insignificant little life forms think of it, it just kept on going as it pleased. But it was indeed a sight to behold. It was a flat disk set upon the backs of four elephants who were standing on the shell of a giant turtle known only as The Great At'uin.
The magic which had brought Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy into this situation began to buzz and hum with fervor. The dark shells they had been traveling in now turned to dark fire as they entered a Corridor of Darkness and fell into the oddly shaped planet. They had entered the Discworld.