“It’s way too cold,” Harry complained, flipping the hood of his jumper over his head. Thick clouds hung above him, rolling lazily across the night sky. A chilling breeze swept through the cul-de-sac, rustling the leaves of the sparsely populated trees. Walking forward as he had been for the last hour and a half Harry let out a deep sigh. “This bloody road has been going on for too long already…”

Reaching a path leading up to one of the many houses dotted along the side of the road, Harry stopped in front of the home's front yard. Looking towards the house he noted that like all the houses he’d passed by before, it looked exactly the same. A flower bed under the house's window sills, a front door with four panels and an arch, and a slanted tiled roof to top it off.

“Why’s this feel so ominous?” he asked himself, his voice barely above a whisper. As if to answer his question the already cold air dropped several degrees. Spooked, Harry spun around staring down the cul-de-sac’s road, “What?” Swerving his eyes from left to right hoping to catch something Harry’s body became tense, shoulders tightening close as he prepared himself to run.

Still staring ahead, Harry jumped when a loud crashing sound echoed out near him; coming from the house he’d been looking at. Just as suddenly a loud roar ripped through the area causing Harry to slam his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the deafening noise. Through the windows of the house Harry could see what looked like a large mouth, with sharp teeth evenly distributed along the sides of the beast's mouth.

Deciding it was time to run, Harry booked it across the road willing his legs to carry him as fast as they could. “Come on! What the hell is that!” Harry shouted running through a bush leading to the front yard of the house across the street. Coming up to the house's side fence, Harry chanced a look behind him. Deep purple eyes stared right into Harry’s own shade of green, a rage simmering just below the surface of the beast’s eyes.

“A… A bloody Dragon…” Turning on his heels, Harry ran up to the fence and jumped slamming himself against it. Grabbing onto the top he pulled himself up, swinging his legs over. Just as he reached the halfway point of the house’s backyard he heard a loud crashing sound behind, with the Dragon tumbling through the wooden fence sending wood pieces flying.

Moving to run, Harry legged it through the backyard towards the back fence. “Come on, come on…” Scrunching his face, Harry desperately hoped he could jump over the fence before the Dragon could skewer him upon its sharp claws. After what felt like a very long minute, Harry felt as if his entire body was being squished. His arms pressed against his sides, his head feeling very dizzy and his eyeballs being pushed back into his head.

After the same long minute passed, the feelings of him being squished from all sides abated with Harry releasing a deep breath he hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding. “Holy…” Harry paused, clutching his hand to his chest as he racked out a very dry cough. Sighing, Harry looked around himself from where he’d been teleported—as he had no other word for it—only to see rows upon rows of house roofs, stretching on for as far as he could see.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“W-what…” Harry croaked balling his hands into fists to rub at his eyes. From the house he had teleported from, he could hear the Dragon that had been chasing him still roaring as loud as it could. Looking up at the sky Harry pumped a fist, “Damn it… Not getting out of this am I? How’d I even get into this mess in the first place?!”

“Well Mr Potter, that would be because you’re a Wizard. An untrained Wizard but a Wizard nonetheless,” spoke a man, his voice hoarse. Gold-trimmed black robes adorned his figure with his face obscured by a hood and what Harry could only assume was a wand held loosely between his fingers.

“A… I’m a Wizard?” Harry asked while staring at the man, a frown etched upon his features.

“Of course, how else do you think you, ah, teleported to here from there?” the man asked pointing his wand in the direction Harry had come from, the Dragon still roaring in the background.

Harry nodded slowly, eyes trained on the man's wand as he considered their words. “Couldn’t… Couldn’t technology do the same thing? I mean, I’ve read about it in books and stuff…”

“I’m sure the Muggles could come up with such a thing, given enough time passes and their technology improves, of course. Though I doubt they’d have anything close to it in this day and age,” the man replied, his hands animated as he spoke. “But you are a Wizard, Harry. You just haven’t fully realised it yet.”

“You… How’d you know my name?” Harry blurted out just now realising that the man had spoken his name twice, even though he’d never introduced himself.

“Magic, young Harry. It’s the greatest power this world has ever known and it can even fell such a Beast as that Dragon. Of course, there is also the Wizard or Witch’s skill with a wand to take into account when one wishes to battle such a creature,” the man answered, with Harry feeling a creeping sensation all over himself as if the man before him was looking throughout the entirety of his very self.

A cold shiver racked through Harry’s body as he tried to look away from the man but found that he couldn’t. “What are you doing?” Harry asked instead, looking straight into what he assumed were the man’s eyes; seeing as that was the only thing he could do.

“I’m looking through your eyes, young Harry. Seeing what you’ve seen,” the man said, his voice taking on a sharp tone. “Hmm. Well Harry, I have decided that I’ll take you on as my Apprentice. From me you will learn magic such magics as Transfiguration to the oldest of the Dark Arts. Of course, I also expect you to exceed any expectations I set for you.”

Harry nodded slowly, scrutinizing the man’s words. “Umm, sir? I… Do you know if I can get out from here? I have school and Aunt Petunia will get mad if I don’t get back before dinner time…”

“Ah, those things don’t matter anymore, young Harry. Only magic. Of course, you will get your Hogwarts letter in July of next year,” he said, head lowering, “also, I do expect you to do well at Hogwarts courses when you do begin there. Can’t have any possible poor scores reflecting poorly on myself and my teaching.”

Harry looked back to where he had come teleported from, still able to hear the Dragon’s muted roars from the distance. Sighing tiredly, Harry nodded again, “Okay. I–I’ll be your Apprentice.” Turning to look up at the man, Harry finally got to see the man’s face that had thus far been covered by his hood. ‘He’s young looking, for sounding like an old man,’ Harry thought.

“Hah! The wonders of Magic Harry,” he replied and extended his free hand towards Harry, “Now why don’t you take my hand and we can move very far away from that Beast, no?”

Harry reached the man’s extended hand with his own and held onto it. “Uh, sir? I don’t think I ever got your name…”

“No? Well how rude of me. My name is Maximilian, young Harry.”

As Maximilian—the man—finished speaking, a twisting feeling enveloped Harry and he felt a crushing sensation, unlike the time when he had teleported before. And then he and Maximilian were whisked away.