"How could this have happened…?" Hermione whispered as she, Ron, Ginny, and Harry stepped onto the grounds of what once was the marvelous and beautiful Hogwarts Castle. It was now in ruins; the halls, courtyards, classrooms and common rooms that they had grown so attached and accustomed to were now unrecognizable.
Now let's pause for a second to explain what exactly had happened. See, after Headmaster Dumbledore had died, no one stepped up to take his role as the leader of Hogwarts. McGonnagal had fled and all the rest of the teachers were quickly killed in the following massacre done by Lord Voldemort and his followers, who saw that, since there was no one to lead the school in a time of crisis, that they could basically walk through the front door and start killing students and teachers left and right; and that's what they did. This lead to the near genocide of all muggle borns and blood traitors. This would not have been so easy, if it weren't for the destructive tanks that the, now corrupted Ministry, had invented and also with the help of the numerous giants. Harry and his friends were forced to flee to Melbourne to escape the onslaught. They were not there for an extended time however, as they took the first chance they had and portkeyed back to Hogwarts only to find it in the condition that it is currently in.
There were still burning flames as the group made their way around the ruined halls. Everywhere they looked was at least one fresh corpse and blood. People the once knew were now lifeless. Friends were now nothing more than bodies. All the blood they saw belonged to someone they cherished.
"Ginny…" Harry called as she walked over. Went she reached him; he held his palm open showing her what was in it. Upon seeing it, her tough exterior broke down instantly; she fell to her knees and began crying and sobbing. In Harry's palm was a small, bloodstained, radish earring. Harry slowly kneeled down and held her. Both of them were crying for the loss of their dear friend.
"Guys…" Ron called beckoning them to come and see. The two of them dragged their feet along as they approached Ron and Hermione. He turned around wide eyed and everyone was shocked to see what was in front of them. There was a massive hole in the ground that went on for miles, "Hermione reckons that this used to be the Black Lake…" Ron said slowly.
"What?" Harry shouted. He turned to Hermione who nodded sadly before pointing to the copious amounts of dead marine life in the hole. She then squinted as something else caught her eye. She moved her finger over to what seemed to be the beginnings of a ladder. After she made sure that everyone saw it, they made their way down into the hole and kept walking silently and quietly until they came upon the ladder. Sure enough there was a hatch that could be entered, so, nodding to one another, they climbed down the hatch. The dropped onto a lighted hallway that looked modern despite the age of the school itself.
Before anyone of them could even react, a blue light lit up in front of them. Stepping into the blue light was Headmaster Dumbledore, "Professor Dumbledore…" Harry said amazed as he stepped forward, "You're…alive…!" Harry said smiling in shock. However, his smile disappeared as "Dumbeldore" shook his head.
"If you are here then the Dumbledore who created this…image of me has died and that the world has fallen to Voldemort's forces. What you are about to see may be the very last hope that Earth has. Use them well. I am….sorry that I could not be there to help you all. Please do what this old man could not. Godspeed…" and with that Dumbledore faded away and the blue light went off.
"That was…." Hermione began to whisper, but Harry intervened and said, "Let's keep going…"
They marched down the hall until they came to a room the size of five soccer fields with steel walls, steel floor, steel everything. Before anyone had any time to react to the sight, a pedestal rose out of the floor. It had black lines that ran from down into the floor. All the lines converged on a round slot on top of the pedestal.
"What is that?" Ron asked staring at it curiously. Harry approached and found that there was writing under the slot.
"Insert wand," Harry read before pulling out his wand.
"Harry wait. Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hermione asked, eyeing the pedestal with nothing, but worry on her mind.
"Dumbledore left this here for us, I trust him…" Harry said. He inserted the wand into the slot. The black lines glowed blue as the light pulsated down into the floor. All of a sudden, a holographic screen appeared in front of him.
Wand identified….
Indentifying references….
Searching for match….
Match found.
A loud whirring sound was heard as the entire floor in front of the pedestal began to lower itself under the room.
"What in bloody hell is going on?" Ron asked loudly, but everyone was ignoring him for the floor began to rise back to it normal level, only this time it wasn't empty.
Command Wolf
There was now a massive white wolf in front of them, but it was not a live one. It did not look natural. It was completely mechanical. It stood nearly eight meters tall and gleamed in the light.
"Hermione? Can you tell us all what we're looking at right now?" Harry asked.
"I…have no idea what this is…." Hermione whispered drawing shocked looks from all of them. If Hermione did not know what it was then not that many people will.
"I know what it is!" Ron exclaimed drawing the same looks on him, "It is….a….large metal wolf!" Ron said decisively causing many face palms and groaning, but soon everyone began laughing. As stupid as Ron's comment was, it somehow managed help pull the group back together.
Hermione stepped up and read the screen before saying to Harry, "Harry, I think this…Command Wolf, was meant for you,"
"But what am I supposed to do with it?" Harry asked.
"Harry," Ginny said before pointing at the wolf's head, "There's a seat up there," The group looked up and sure enough; under the orange glass was a seat.
Harry remained looking up at the seat while everyone stared at Harry. After a few silent moments, Ron pushed Harry forward saying, "Go on,"
Harry looked back at Ron before pulling his wand out of the pedestal, raised it and shouted, "Ascendio!" Harry shot up into the air and landed with a thud on the wolf's head. As if recognizing Harry's presence, the cockpit opened up showing the seat clearly. Harry cautiously climbed into the seat. In front of him was a control panel that had assorted buttons that surrounded a small screen. He looked down at the foot pedals and then at the two handle like controls on either side of him.
All of a sudden, the cockpit closed and Harry felt something go over his head, covering his eyes. He began to feel tired and weary. Try as he might, his eye's refused to remain open. Harry slipped into the darkness of his mind, but not before seeing the now lit screen which read, "Tutorial Module Activated".
A/N: Okay I wanted to try this idea for LONG time and so far I'm excited to keep working on this. I hope you like it so please review and thanks for reading. See ya next chapter.