Chapter 1
It all started as just a peaceful weekend, which would be cut short due to mysterious circumstances.
But right now, two dudes in brand new pyjamas were facing each other, having a blast.
"Bro, you got a nice one!" Said the dragon to the dinosaur, giving a thumbs up.
"Thanks, I got it on Amazon for like the price of a pizza." Answered the dinosaur and pulled his hood down, grinning.
He stretched out his arms and presented the onesie like one should: proud and happy.
"Fuck man, now I want some pizza. You think they're still gonna deliver?" Asked the dragon. Little ears or horns stood up straight atop his hood, its green lifeless eyes staring at the roof.
"At eight pm? Bro, are you stupid?"
"What? We're in fucking nowhere, I am the only one thinking here."
"Well then it's your own fault for living in your mom's arse. How do you even get to our university?"
As the black dragon and the green dinosaur squabbled, they sat down on whatever there was in the room. One chose a beansack and the other the floor next to the bed. The dinosaur helped himself to some chocolate laying atop a table next to him.
It was a small room with just a bed, a beanbag and table, a closet and a small window. On the walls were multiple posters of dragons and whatnot, as this was the room of the human dressed in a dragon onesie.
"...We could check the kitchen, you know?" Reasoned the dinosaur.
"But then we're gonna wake my roomie though. An ant crawling across his ass could wake him."
"Bro. Hes totally awake then. We weren't exactly quiet," reminded the dinosaur and realising that too, the dragon nodded with a surprised expression.
"You're right! You know, we could get him to join too. He was wearing his onesie just yesterday."
"My man, he's got my respect. What was his name again?"
"Can't fault you. Podrick's the name," grinned the dragon from next to the bed, stretching his legs and playing with his own loose tail.
"Podrick? Damn, sounds like his parents don't care."
"It ain't his fault! But just wait till you see his drip!"
Like two excited elementary girls running for the toilet, they rose from their seats and went straight towards the kitchen.
It was a smaller room with a table at the side for two, and a dark beige counter to the right. On top of one of the two chairs sat an owl named Podrick.
"Hello." The person inside the brown owl onesie greeted the two newcomers as he was eating cereals for supper, basically inhaling them.
"Long time no see! How are you?" Began the dinosaur with a gentle smile and sat down opposite the owl, leaving the dragon to lean against the counter and watch them.
"Good, how are you? Nice pyjamas you two got."
"Thanks, got it for cheap," grinned the dinosaur, flexing his arm muscles.
"Your name was Sol, right? Do you have any plans for tonight?" Asked Podrick, smiling politely. His bowl of cereal was empty.
"Yeah, we wanna watch Anime and eat some snacks. Wanna join, young traveler?" The owl laughed and nodded.
Meanwhile, the dragon was pouring some instant coffee into a cup and cooking water.
"Sure. Henry, I got some toast in my room. Can you get it?"
"Huh? Why me?" Asked the dragon and did it anyway, folding under zero pressure.
"We're gonna make sandwiches?" Asked Sol the dinosaur with one raised eyebrow and the owl nodded, lifting a thumb.
"Sandwiches with lots of cheese are fire."
"Amen to that."
Henry returned seconds after, toast in hand and he lazily worked on the toaster.
"Not the toaster, you idiot! Let me do it," the owl took back the toast and got out the good ol' sandwichmaker from one of the bottom shelves.
Grumbling, Henry sat down on the now free chair.
"What anime are we gonna watch?" The dragon asked, pulling his black hood into his face, changing the topic.
"Honestly, I don't keep track of what's going on in the industry lately. Got a lot of work to do for university."
Henry nodded sagely at that. "Same, same. But we gotta enjoy our long weekend. How about Frieren?"
"Nah, I heard it's supposed to be fire but I tried watching the first episode and was half asleep by the end of it."
Henry gave his friend a glare at that statement. "You don't like Frieren? Well can't cure bad taste, ig."
"How about that reincarnation anime with the weeb as the main character?" Asked Podrick from behind, letting the sandwiches filled with cheese and spices heat themselves inside his contraption.
"Which one?" Asked Henry and Sol at the time, deadpanning at the owl. Was he really not aware of how whimsical such an info was? There exist way too many weebs that got reincarnated in the Anime-verse.
"Uhm, I think there was a blue haired elf girl. And he was really fat in his former life?"
"Bro, that's really not enough," sighed Henry, but Sol stopped him by raising one hand.
"Do you mean Mushoku-tensei?" He asked, serious.
"Yeah, I think so! Is it good?"
"Hell yeah it is! But I already watched it," admitted Sol, rubbing his neck.
"When? Didn't you say you have so much work?" Deadpanned Henry at him and Sol only laughed.
"How about a movie anime?" Asked Podrick next, as he pulled out two burning hot sandwiches and tossed them onto a plate, turning around again to make some more in wise foresight. He was immediately proven right as Henry grabbed the plate and bit into one of the two delicacies.
"Which one?" Sol asked, "Ghibli? The other romantic stuff?"
"You're calling 'Your name' just some other romantic stuff?!" Henry spat out in shock.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it? Kinda stereotypical."
"Bro! Your mom- no, fantasy is stereotypical!" Cried Henry in frustration.
"Nah! Have you seen The Lord of the Rings? The Dark Crystal? Game of Thrones? Harry Potter?" Countered Sol with a smirk. "All of those are peak."
"Hold on, hold on, you're naming The Lord of the Rings, but not The Hobbit? You know exactly that The Hobbit is way better."
"It ain't. You just say that because of the dragon Smaug."
Both of them began laughing and Podrick chuckled.
"I like Harry Potter," Podrick said, tapping his chin.
"Sure, sure. Which movie is the best?" Asked him Sol, still grinning.
"I think the fifth?"
"I like dragons," mumbled Henry from inside his dragon onesie.
"We know, we know. Calm down."
Lots of fun was had, as well as lots of discussion. At the end, they decided to watch a few funny videos about Harry Potter, then they sprung onto the train of the movie called Bullet Train.
Lastly, before they fell asleep, they pulled out an old DVD and watched a very old movie of the fantasy genre, mixed with romance.
It was a fun evening with food and drinks.
When they woke up, it was in darkness.
Only some faint lights flickered in the distance, unseen. It was quiet, if not for the faint rumbling in the distance, not quite unlike from a construction site.
"Fuck." Groaned Sol into the mattress beneath him, "My eyes hurt."
Through his sudden movements, he began waking up his best friend, who was lying right next to him, sprawled across an unused blanket.
"Ughh, did I leave the window open?" Asked Henry, cuddling into his onesie for more warmth. To no one's surprise, a third person was moving.
'Guys,' started Podrick calmly. He was a lot more awake than the other two. Strangely, his voice reached their minds directly instead of their ears, 'I think I have feathers. I feel really light.'
"What?" Asked both back, not taking him seriously at all. Neither realized how his voice was inside their heads and not normal.
Sol began wiggling in search of the blanket or the light, but only bumped his hand on something hard, catching a splinter in his thumb. He cried out, suckled on it and then looked around.
For the first time he noticed how a strange grumble resounded in the distance, foreign and unnatural. A soft gust of wind pushed his bangs from his forehead. Then he lifted his eyes up.
"Fuck, guys, I think we got kidnapped!" He observed, staring at some far away lights, towards a distant ceiling. He suckled on his finger.
Henry's ceiling had never been that high.
"Nah," replied Henry in a tired, slow voice. He only awoke slowly but since this was his own room, he felt that he had to take matters into his own hands.
'Guys,' interrupted Podrick again, 'I got no hands. I can turn my fucking face!'
"We're so proud of you, man. Turn it some more, you might find some brain to use," mumbled Henry as he was touching along the wall, rolling around to reach it. Why did it feel like wooden boxes?
Next, he squealed like a girl.
Where his nightlight usually was, was nothing but a chair. But he definitely had no chair in his room!
"What happened?!" All three wondered but only Sol asked.
"Yeah, you're right, Sol. We got kidnapped."
"No shit Sherlock!"
Just as they wanted to fight some more, suddenly, red glowing Chinese lanterns flew over some of the boxes, lighting the area they were in. Like moths to the flame, they turned their faces to see. The round long lanterns floated with no string attached, rising higher and higher into the darkness.
Mesmerized as they were, for a few seconds, all was quiet.
Sol was the first to remember looking around now that they had light. All three of them laid on a large mattress. A lot larger than the single bed that belonged to Henry. It looked old and a bit gamey too.
They were basically trapped with walls full of boxes, shelves and useless trinkets that laid all around them. At their feet stood a white, beautifully adorned toilet. They were basically trapped in what looked like someone's junk room inside an attic.
Yet, as the lights flew up high above them, there was no ceiling. More lights glowed in the distance, wandering. Large white pillars rose to an unseen ceiling hidden in darkness.
Sol stood up, trying to glimpse over the walls containing them, and he saw large pillars and even more junk reaching far up in every direction. Chairs, beds, tables, all kinds of things.
Henry, Sol and Podrick gaped at the sight of such a large dumpster.
'Holy shit!' Interrupted Podrick. 'Look, I'm a fucking owl, guys!' He basically screamed into their minds and the two idiots finally turned to look at their friend.
Only instead did they see a pretty plumb and large brown eagle owl.
A pair of cute black horns stood atop its narrow face, red and perfectly round eyes staring out of soft brown and black feathers. There was something angry about the way its face was formed. Just, as the owl curiously looked at his own wings with the help of the red light above, he did somewhat resemble the man they had spent the former evening with. Or more like, he looked like the onesie Podrick wore.
"Uh," said Henry, looking down at his own onesie. He hadn't turned into a dragon. Regrettable. But- why are his hands so small? And since when was his pyjama so large?
"How is this possible? You're really Podrick? How the fuck can you speak?" Sol asked after contemplating and leaned down to face the large owl. The owl finally looked at the nice looking boy with blonde hair and cooed.
'Get a mirror. Why do you look so strange? Is it your mommy era?'
"What?" Sol looked flabbergasted at the owl.
"Guys."
"Yes?" Sol and Podrick looked at Henry.
He looked just as flabbergasted. And also tiny.
"We're fucking done for." He said, scratching his neck, tears falling.
Henry had always been more emotional than Sol. Now, as a child, the former university student had a lot more reason to be emotional about everything.
They decided to talk about it.
It took a long discussion between them, but after half an hour they came to the conclusion: they had absolutely no clue how they got here. Or why they were children again. Except for Podrick, who was an owl because well, no idea.
In an attempt to understand, the large eagle owl proposed that this might be a transmigration. The other two could only nod dumbly, not able to refute his idea.
Sol offered they could just stand up and find a way out of this strange room. But the two others wanted to stay a little longer. If only to check their next steps a bit more thoroughly.
Henry wanted to find out if the flying lanterns were magic. If so, inside what world were they now?
Suddenly, their talk was interrupted by the arrival of a newcomer.
It was another owl that came flying straight for the three of them. It was white as snow and carried letters in its long talons. Landing immediately on top of Sol's shoulder, it began nibbling at his blonde locks. It was a lot smaller than Podrick and her brown eyes seemed intelligent to a certain degree.
'Don't worry guys, I'm not gay or into owls,' placated the larger eagle owl from the ground, raising his foot to scratch his head.
"How reassuring," nodded Henry sarcastically at his feathery friend.
Sol was frozen in shock. But as he raised his hand to touch the white snow owl, he realized it wasn't dangerous. "Henry, can you grab the letters?"
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
Henry carefully reached for the letters tightly grasped in one of the owls' feet. As he pulled, the owl relaxed its grip and he freed them. As he turned the two letters around, which looked immaculate despite formerly being bunched up in sharp claws, he noticed a wax seal on top. He turned as white as the snow owl.
'What is it?' Asked Podrick.
"Shit." Was the only answer.
'Whaaaat? Is? It?'
In response, Henry sighed.
"I know where we are. We're really no better than fucking weebs, guys."
"What do you mean, Henry? Show me the letters!" Sol narrowed his eyebrows in concern, reaching for the letters. But he was unable to grab them from his friends hands due to a lack of skills.
"I can't believe this. We're in the world of Harry Potter," Henry grimly spat out and for a moment it was quiet, save for the cooing owl nibbling at Sol's hair.
"No..."
'I think I'm dreaming. But if I was, you two wouldn't be here.'
Henry gave the owl a stink eye who made some funny sounds, as if laughing.
"...How do we get back?" Asked Sol, wrinkling his forehead.
None answered. Until Henry sighed and stepped in front of his best friend.
"My man," he said, laying a hand atop Sol's free shoulder. "We're poor children right now and Podrick has turned into a shitty owl. If this is a transmigration or whatever the fuck you call this, we've lost."
'Hey! Owls are awesome!'
"I don't know if we can get back. And even if we manage to, who is to say our world doesn't continue to turn without us?" Henry asked, trying his best to be serious with the face of an eleven year old.
"What are you trying to say, Henry?" Sol squinted his eyes at his black haired friend.
"Every anime I watched taught me this is something desirable, something you really want. This, all this right here. And man I admit, I have wanted this since watching Pokemon as a child. But my brother in anything but blood, don't you know?
To want to return is a quest almost impossible. It will take time, effort and lots of work. What if I don't want to return after several weeks here? We got fucking magic. I'm gonna fuck Voldemort in his ass. Hell, maybe I want to be happy here."
After Henry's speech, it was once again quiet.
Everyone was contemplating his words, except for the white small owl cooing.
'I don't have to work until I drop dead from exhaustion. No one at work ever gave me some slack. I think I might see this as a full win, my friends,' said Podrick from the ground, hopping in excitement.
"What about family? Friends?" Asked Sol with a dark expression, lips pressed tightly together.
"Young Padawan," began Henry once again, laying his hand atop Sol's free shoulder again. But this time, an annoyed Sol shrugged him off.
"Such is life. Our parents die before us, we birth children and finally, we die. You're my only friend and you're here. Plus my sister was a bitch. Even if I'm not gonna miss anyone, we can remember those we will miss. I miss my grandparents, but they are dead. Remembering is enough at times."
'Henry, I've never heard you talk so much. And it even got a bit of depth to it. Applause.'
"Shut up, birdbrain."
'That's a low blow, monkeybrain.'
After a quiet moment of consideration, Sol decided.
"Alright, I'm with you two." He nodded albeit with some hesitation and the other two grinned at him happily. "But Podrick, you're an owl. Don't owls work here to carry letters? You sure you wanna do that for I don't know, how long do owls live?"
'Sol, I like you. But I'm clever enough to pretend I belong to you two. No cheap Gandalf with half-moon glasses can convince me otherwise!'
Sol bowed down and patted the large eagle owl's head, brushing over his two feathery horns.
"You have beautiful eyes."
'Thanks?"
As the two embraced their newfound bromance, more chaos made it on its way to them.
From basically nowhere, a strange creature began struggling through a tiny opening between one shelf and a heap of chairs.
Its skin looked pale and almost leathery, its ears were long and floppy and it had big, shiny eyes. Dressed in rags, it grunted and plopped onto the mattress by the boys. It was barely taller than Podrick and looked arguably less handsome.
"Hello!" It said with a squeaky voice and startled everyone present even further.
While Sol looked like he found out garden gnomes are real, the two owls looked the same and Henry had an epiphany.
"A house elf!", exclaimed Henry, "What are you doin' here, little fella?" He smiled like a dork on an emotional rollercoaster.
Sol quietly stared at the elf, crossing his arms over his oversized pyjama.
Podrick hopped to turn and look at the newcomer, then decided to hop even closer and let the elf caress his feathers.
"Hello, Polly is here to bring the soon to be students away from the Room of Hidden Things!" Said the jolly small elf and smiled, raising his free hand and holding it as if to snap. "Please hold onto Polly. Headmaster said the letters can be read later."
Without any hesitation, Henry already laid his hand onto the small house elf.
Sol hesitantly joined the party, as the white snow owl on his shoulder jumped off him and flew away.
"Say bye and hello!" Called Polly with a smile and with a snap of its fingers, they reappeared inside an office.
Henry fell flat on his bum, as Sol and Podrick only stumbled.
'Ugh…'
There was something magical about this room, just like the large dumpster they were in before. Perhaps it was the paintings, moving people inside, whispering to each other and staring down at them with authority in each gaze. Or maybe the bookshelves filled with not only a plethora of books, but also trinkets, that looked like wizardly objects. There was also a burning bird sitting upon a perch right by a massive desk, its identity clearly a phoenix.
This wasn't just a simple office, it was more.
Podrick immediately flapped his wings and hopped around. After a second, he pecked at the air, as if trying to read the book covers. Sol helped him by taking one out, opening it and-
"I see you are already promising to be good students," came an elderly voice from the far end of the office.
Behind the large desk sat a wizened old man with a long, white beard, a purple hat and half moon glasses. His robe was immaculate, his looks all prim and proper. With some kind of amusement in his blue eyes he watched Sol put the book back.
'Holy moly, that's Gandalf!' Exclaimed an excited Podrick and hopped towards the old man, abandoning his friends and the book. The so-called "Gandalf" eyed the owl almost suspiciously.
"Uhm, hello," stuttered out Henry, growing red in the face from being really excited.
Sol waved the old man hello and then turned toward the house elf, waving them goodbye. Poppy smiled brightly, nodded back and snapped its fingers again, vanishing with a job well done.
"Now tell me, how did the three of you come to be inside the Room of Hidden Things?" Asked Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of the Wizarding School of England. Or Scotland. Or both.
With a gentle smile he stood up to approach the children, circling around his desk like a cat of prey.
For a moment it was quiet, excitement dying down, the two small boys exchanged nervous glances. Even Podrick in his disguise froze, looking towards his friends.
"Uh… we were just there," said Sol with a pokerface, slapping his friend onto the shoulder, who was gawking at him. "Just right up to when we never existed at all."
Dumbledore began humming to himself, leaning his back against the desk. The moving portraits everywhere on the walls murmured to each other.
Both started sweating at the look the wizened headmaster was giving them, the silence stretching endlessly. For a minute, for two.
"Is that so?" He finally asked nonchalantly.
But the adults inside the children noticed he was probing them. And… staring at them, an awful lot. Which also counts as probing. For now, they wouldn't let the old man win this little game-
"Yes!" Said Henry before Sol could, using what he knew was the only thing keeping Dumbledore from eating them for dinner: the innocence of a child, "Can we read the letters now?"
The big smile on his stupid face must have been enough for the headmaster to stop applying pressure for more answers. For now. They were only children. And those brats got a lot of fantasy, naivete and of course, stupidity.
"Why, yes. Of course. Before that, let me introduce myself to you," Dumbledore replied with a pleasant smile. "This is Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am its Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore."
"Um, I'm Henry." Dumbledore smiled good naturedly.
"I am aware. Every child with magical talent is recorded in a book made by the founders of this school, as soon as they are old enough to attend. It notes the children's names and their location so we can send them letters to invite new students."
The two boys began nervously sweating.
"It was quite surprising to see that you two, however, appeared to be on castle grounds. This is a most interesting case."
Sol and Henry exchanged glances, both unsure of how to respond.
'Maybe some wizard teleported us there?' Asked Podrick, absolutely not feeling an ounce of nerves, feeling safe in the skin of an owl.
Dumbledore turned towards Podrick, to the surprise of all three.
"It is a possibility." He calmly nodded in response, turning back towards the gaping Henry and Sol, whose faces looked ashen.
They had, without talking about it, agreed that Podrick would only be able to speak to his friends… without being able to test if that would be true. Now, they were proven wrong. Better now than later, though.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Your owl is more truthful than you are, Sol Miller. I see none of you actually know how you came to be inside the school. For now, it doesn't matter."
He smiled, taking a bowl of lemon drops from his desk, offering them to the children. Henry immediately grabbed a handful and stuffed himself nervously.
"Open your letters. Read them. Should you decide to become students at Hogwarts, you will have all the opportunities to learn the truth. I recommend it."
Hesitant, Henry lifted his letters. He gave Sol the one addressed to him.
Both ripped open the wax seal, one after the other.
'Headmaster,' called Podrick, flapping his wings helplessly, unable to fly. 'Can we trust you?'
"That is up to you to decide," answered Dumbledore.
'Okay. I will. I want to, I mean. I- uhm, well, we're sorry. Can you guarantee my friend's tuition? We have no money, only the clothes on our backs.'
"I can and I will."
'Can you turn me into a human?' Asked Podrick, surprising all present.
"I thought you loved being a bird?" Joked Henry, finding his humour again in presence of his friends.
'While I do, I think I'll be no help to you as an owl.'
Dumbledore thoughtfully rubbed his beard.
"You were human once?" He asked, eying the large owl on the ground with great interest.
'Yes, before we landed in the Room of, uh, Requirement. I was a normal guy. Basically a muggle...' Podrick said, then he remembered something. 'My name is Podrick Heller.'
"Another great mystery for sure, Podrick Heller. For now, there is nothing we can do about your unfortunate circumstances. But I will speak to the professors. You should also seek their guidance, especially since your friends will give you the opportunity to," Dumbledore stated and then lost his smile, "But perhaps you should consider who you show your intelligence to."
Podrick nodded in a human-like fashion, his neckfeathers puffing up.
"Headmaster, where can we go? When will the first semester start?" Sol asked, trying to keep on track.
"You can stay in Hogsmeade for now, a wizarding village north of our school. Your stay will be paid for. The school year starts on the first of September. I look forward to where you will go, and what you three will achieve."
Dumbledore smiled softly. Then with mischief in his eyes, he glanced at Podrick. "I also look forward to stories as to who this Gandalf may be."
Not long after, an older lady arrived and had them follow her out of the headmasters office.
She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, head of house Gryffindor.
They had barely been able to ask some barebone questions to the headmaster regarding their future before she arrived.
"We will travel by floopowder. It is of utmost importance that you remember to speak the name of the place clearly and out loud, or else you might end up somewhere else entirely or nowhere at all."
The three boys nodded at her clear directions, still a little overwhelmed.
Before they knew it, they were coughing out a storm and standing inside another fireplace apart from the one in the headmasters office.
It was a wooden ambiente, a bar most definitely, alas a very old fashioned one. Tables with chairs reached from one end of the room to the other, none of them empty. At the end of the room was a counter with bottles and beer being given around. Behind the bar's counter was a woman serving merrily, a grin on her face.
Before any of the two boys could notice that a certain owl was missing, the Professor already began walking again, making them scramble to catch up.
But back in the headmaster's office, a lonely owl sat, for the first time alone in a world he only knew from movies and fanfictions. With big round eyes he stared up at the headmaster who had turned back around for his comfortable chair at his massive desk.
'Headmaster, I can't floo powder myself out of here?' Podrick tried, uncertainty clear in his voice.
"It would seem so, young Podrick." Dumbledore sat down, his eyes studying the papers before him carefully.
"It is of your own choice what to do now. As a grown up, I would like you to keep an eye on the two children, as something akin to a guardian or a friend…"
And so the headmaster and Podrick talked, and so Henry and Sol found themselves living in an establishment named 'the three broomsticks'.
As the days passed, Podrick learned how to fly and was escorted by another owl towards Hogsmeade where he reunited with his friends, where they talked and talked about everything.
The days went by and ultimately, the time finally came: They had accepted being students again at Hogwarts. If only to find out how they came to be here. Though one of them would do everything to find out how to get back to his former home.
____
End of chapter 1.