Under the Hunters Moon

The Land of Shadows

Harry Potter, Unknown, Unknown.

Harry had no idea how long he had fallen for, he doesn't even remember passing out. But when Consciousness came to him again, he groaned out in pain, it felt like his body was beaten with beater bats, he didn't know if it was the backlash of the hunt or him landing on the cold stone under him. When he finally opened his eyes, all that greeted him was darkness, it was unlike the darkness of night that had the stars and moon to light the night, no this darkness was different.

It was devoid of all light, the shadows twisted and shifted like a living mist, clinging to him as if it was welcoming him, his eyes blessed by the hunt could not penetrate the darkness and make out the ground he laid on. Harry groans as he finally gets his hands under him and pushes himself off the ground. His body cries out for rest but he ignores it as he feels around in the dark until his hand bumps something on the ground and he feels the familiar pulse of his magic, Harry sighs out in relief as he picks up his wand and stands up.

He was on a plateau, about half the size of a Quidditch field, in the distance he could make out the faintly glowing red lights that swirled and twisted like mist, showing the silhouette of huge vines of thorny stocks growing up, wrapping around and in some case growing completely over other plateau's. They all seem to be growing upwards and some seem thicker than the Hogwarts express, Harry follows them with his eyes to the sky of this ever-dark domain, and his jaw drops at what he sees.

Hogwarts, glowing and gleaming like crystals caught in the sunlight, looked to be built of frosted glass and crystals growing from the darkness of the sky and hanging upside down. Harry would know the silhouette of his home anywhere, he could make out the towers and courtyards from where he stood. Harry was confused and awestruck at the sight, just where was he? As Harry looked at the replication of his school he soon noticed something else, the shadows that seem to twist around him began to shape themselves, in the hands that grasp and clung to him, claws that slashed at him but passed right through him, faces of man, animals, and monsters he had no names for began to form all whispering to him, welcoming him back, asking for his name, begging him to kill them. As they begin to overwhelm him he slashes out with his wand trying to disperse them but it didn't work, he tried Lumos, but the light suffocated and died at the tip of his wand.

Harry tries to fight but it does nothing, and as he falls to his knees, hands coming to his ears to block out the whispers that threaten to overwhelm his mind, a new sound is heard.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking stone, and as the sound echoes out, the shadows scatter from Harry and fall into the darkness of the chasms below. Harry turns in the direction of the sound and walking from the darkness and into the soft crystal light of the fake Hogwarts, is a woman.

She was tall, standing a good head over Harry and powerfully built. Harry couldn't make out her face thanks to the mourning veil she wore over it, but he could see her hair, blood red, not like his mother's that was the color of fire. No, like the color of freshly spilled blood, a deep dark crimson that fell in loose ringlets down her back. She wore a mixture of leather armor that encased her forearms to her elbows and from her ankles to her knees and scale tunic that Harry could barely make out from under the red and black Bratt that she wore over it, belted and pinned to make it more like a shirt that went over her armor, she had a ruby studded Torc hugging her neck. In her right hand was what made the sound Harry had heard, a spear, well calling it just a spear felt like it was insulting the weapon itself, it's a beautiful weapon brutally designed to maim and kill with efficiency like none Harry had seen before. The weapon itself was taller than the woman by maybe a foot, the wood for the haft was black as night, and what looked like red veins growing and pulsating with power through the wood, the butt and blade, and guard were of the same red metal that looked like curved ivory, while both ends of it were pointed and sharp, it was the blade and the socket that was designed to do as much damage to something as possible, they were hooked and barbed, so while the spear could slide into the flesh easily enough, when it was pulled out it would take anything that was hooked to it with it. It was more of a barbed harpoon than a spear.