Chapter 1 - Harry: Wonder what your life has come to.

Everything was too bright, and all he knew was that his head hurt like hell.

"Ow... Turn off the light..." Dave opened his eyes slowly and painfully, squinting to dim his vision even the smallest amount. His sunglasses definitely helped in the endeavor, though the brightness of... wherever he was still pierced into his vision. Looking down at himself, he saw he was wearing all-red clothing, almost like pajamas, with a stylized gear on the front and a long cape attached to the back. He knew it was significant, but he couldn't remember why. Attempts to recall anything were only met with a horrible headache. Warily, he observed his foreign surroundings.

The room was somewhat messy, with what looked like knitting needles and scarves abandoned halfway through their production scattered about. A large hole in the wall revealed a bright, pastel-colored skyline that had to be artificial. A few large machines sat on the sides of the room, broken beyond repair. But one of the most eye-catching, and somewhat disturbing, features of the room was that the word 'MEOW' was scratched out hundreds of times on the walls in a purple pen, as if by a lunatic.

Hearing a small cough behind him, he turned around instantly. A girl stood behind him.

She wore a bright orange dress, with an emblem of a stylized sun on it. She floated above the ground by a few inches, and seemed to radiate brightness, which at least solved one of the questions Dave had. A hood covered most of her face, but he could make out black painted lips, upturned in a bit of a smile. He watched as she pulled up her hood over her head, revealing short hair the color of cornsilk and radiant lavender eyes. She wore an orange headband, matching her outfit.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way," she said, and Dave noticed that her smile was a bit strained, as if she was forcing herself not to cry. He noticed red out of the corner of his vision, and looked down at the source.

Her torso had a gaping hole in it, and her orange outfit was being soaked in a dripping red.

"Rose," he murmured finally, remembering the girl's name. Rose's expression was now pained, not bothering to hide anything from him anymore, and tears fell freely from her eyes. Dave watched in horror as the vibrant purple faded into a milky white.

"I'm so sorry, Dave." Dave's vision blurred, and he couldn't tell if it was because he was being pulled away from the room with the dying girl, or if he was crying.

"Rose!" Dave screamed, trying to grab her hand. But it was too late, and as he was pulled away from Rose, from his sister, he could only hear faint voices whispering the same word, over and over.

"Heroic. Heroic. Heroic."

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, organizing his paperwork when a rip in the fabric of the universe appeared before him.

Rather than panic, as someone might expect, he merely glanced up at its cage in vague confusion, as though he were wondering why this tear in the fabric of space-time chose that particular moment to appear before him, rather than wonder why this tear in the fabric of space-time appeared in the first place.

He stood, arching an eyebrow as he saw what seemed to be a letter poking out of the black void. Carefully, he reached to grab it, only for it to be spit out of the abyss onto the floor. The rift in dimensions seemed to heal itself with a soft, jade glow, before Albus' vision whited out for a moment. He grabbed his desk to steady himself, blinking the spots out of his eyes.

Everything was the same. Did he just imagine it?

But as Albus looked to the ground, he noticed a meticulously folded letter on the ground, right where the rift had been. A small smile lifted his face, his eyes regaining their signature twinkle.

"I wonder what fate holds for us now," he murmured sagely to his phoenix companion as he picked up the letter, running an old, wrinkled thumb against the new papers.

It was a fairly normal day, or at least as normal as someone's day could be when living in a magical house.

Number Twelve Grimmauld Place buzzed with activity, and Harry Potter was finally lightening up and getting used to the swing of things at the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters. Of course, he was still angry at Hermione, Ron, and most of all Dumbledore for withholding so much information. But inside, he knew it wasn't his best friends' faults. They weren't allowed to tell him, after all, and perhaps it truly was for the better.

Harry had missed them much more than he was willing to admit, and Mrs. Weasley's cooking only improved his mood. The three worked together to listen in on Order meetings, and the Boy Who Lived was honestly having a better time than he had been having for quite a while. The subject of the upcoming trial was still a bit of a nerve-wracking topic for him, but his friends had assured him he would be fine. And it was hard not to believe them.

At the time, the Chosen One was more than content to eat good food with his friends and laugh at the twins' antics.

Of course, this didn't last. It never did.

A bright red light gleamed above the dinner table, and Harry shielded his eyes. Whispers leaked out, whispers of so many concepts Harry couldn't comprehend. Heroic. Just. The Knight is dead. Your words are boring.

"What's happening?" he yelled over the whispers, which were only growing in volume, but nobody heard. Everyone looked shocked, and most had their wands out. Harry followed suit, pointing it at the ceiling. Chancing a look, he noticed it wasn't completely red, like he thought, but rather a yellow and a red symbol overlapping. The red symbol looked like a stylized cog, like you would see in a clock, while the yellow was a sun. They both shone brightly, and as he watched, a figure fell from it.

The light abruptly stopped shining, and the noise stopped as the person, cloaked in red, smashed down onto the dinner table. Then, as if it was an afterthought, a pair of sunglasses dropped down from the last remains of the symbols and thunked on top of their head.

"...What the hell?"

AN: Well, hi! I'm Mollie, and this is my first fanfiction! I have attempted to write them before, but I never thought they were good enough to upload. However, I am quite confident in this one! Just to make it clear, romance will not be prominent in this story. Interpret things as you want, though. ;)

Constructive criticism, ideas, spotted errors and all reviews in general will be incredibly helpful and inspiring! This fanfiction will not have a set update schedule, I'm warning you now. All ideas are welcome, too!

Please review! Thank you for reading!