Harry Potter and the Fantasy Quest

Chapter 1 - Meet the Dungeon Master

Harry Potter awoke to find himself gazing up at a blue sky, the sun high overhead. He blinked. This was not at all right. The last thing he remembered, he had fallen asleep in his bed at the Dursleys, just like every other night of the summer holidays. Harry also suddenly realized that he was very uncomfortable. Looking down at his body, he realized that this was because he was wearing full plate armor. Slowly and loudly, he pulled into a sitting position. Beside him lay a metal helmet, a large metal shield, a very large sword, and a leather sack. He was also wearing a cloak over his armor. Around him, he noticed familiar figures waking up and taking in their surroundings. Ron Weasley was next to him, wearing a complete outfit of leather with metal rivets. Several weapons surrounded him: a longbow, a quiver of arrows, a long sword, and a short sword. Hermione Granger was not far off, wearing a medieval outfit with a large cross on the front. At her side was a heavy mace and a wooden shield.

The three friends stood up and looked at each other in astonishment. Apparently, none of them could find words. Then Harry caught sight of three red heads popping up from the long grass of the hillside where they stood. As the figures stood up, Harry recognized them as Fred, George, and Ginny Weasley. The three redheads caught sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and began walking toward them. The silence was at last broken by Ron's furious voice.

"Malfoy!" he exclaimed angrily. "What's the big idea? Is this your doing?"

Harry turned, and sure enough, a pale blond boy was also standing up. Draco Malfoy was wearing a costume that appeared to be made of strips of cloth wrapped around his body in a fairly complex arrangement. He seemed startled but managed his usual lazy drawl as he replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Weasel."

"Liar!" Ron shouted and tried to get to him. In a ritual perfected by years of practice, Harry and Hermione held him back. Harry noted, however, that this was a little more difficult than he remembered and felt that he would have less likely to succeed in restraining his friend if it were not for Hermione's assistance. Even with both of them, it was a struggle, so it was fortunate that they did not need to do so for long. A new voice intruded upon the scene.

"He's telling the truth," said the female, American-accented voice, and everyone turned to look. The newcomer was a woman in her twenties, dressed in modern Muggle clothing. Her dark hair was pulled back into a braid at the back of her head, and she was smiling as she walked toward them.

"I brought you all here," the woman said. "Have you ever heard of the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons?"

"I have," said Hermione, "but I've never played it."

"Well, I have brought you into a fantasy world of my own devising in order to pursue a quest. This adventure will follow the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, with some minor modifications of my own. I control everything that happens here, except for your actions. You may simply call me Dungeon Master. If you have questions at any time, just call out 'DM,' and I will come as quickly as I can."

She turned to each person as she described the characteristics they possessed in this world.

"Harry, you are the lawful good Paladin, defender of the helpless and champion of the innocent."

"That's you, all right," teased Ron. Everyone ignored him.

"I struggled with your alignment for a while," the DM continued, "After all, you don't always follow the rules. However, lawful can mean that you always follow some sort of code, and I determined that you do that.

"Hermione, you are the lawful good Cleric, wanting to work for good within the framework of rules. You are primarily the healer of the group, but you are also a competent fighter and have other spells at your disposal. Your powers come through prayer and meditation. Your domains are Good and Knowledge." At this point, the DM gestured to the cross on Hermione's chest. "Technically, this is not a holy symbol in this world, but I thought you'd feel more comfortable with a religious symbol you're familiar with. Ron, you are a chaotic good Ranger, expert fighter and tracker. For you, the end justifies the means, and you have little use for rules and regulations. You also have a small number of spells at your disposal, as does Harry. Ginny, you are the neutral good Druid, a fighter and spellcaster who is closely affiliated with nature. You obey order as long as you feel it is for the greater good, but you are willing to deviate from that when necessary. Fred, you are a Rogue, skilled at stealth and at discovering and disabling traps. George, you are a Sorcerer, which is fairly self-explanatory. Both of you are chaotic neutral, which means that you tend to do whatever comes to mind, if it's in your best interests. Draco, you are the lawful evil Monk, an expert in the martial arts, dangerous even when unarmed. You want to bring about evil in the world, according to a learned structure and order."

As she described the characteristics of each of them, Harry looked more closely at how they were dressed and the items they carried. Ginny appeared to be wearing some sort of thick, gray animal hide. At her side were a scimitar, a club, a sling, and a small wooden shield. There was a pendant on a chain around her neck, and she also carried several sacks of various sizes. Fred wore black leather and was armed with a rapier and a short bow. George was wearing a simple tunic and trousers with a cloak overtop. He also had gloves and metal wristbands but appeared to be unarmed. Harry wasn't much interested in Draco and only registered that he wasn't wearing armor, either.

"Now, I suggest that you all look through the goods I have provided for you," the Dungeon Master said. Harry complied, looking into the sack that had been near him. He found a small trinket in the shape of a fan, two wands, three vials of potion, and a pouch containing gold, silver, and copper pieces. Another pouch contained some dried fruits and meat, and there were some ordinary items like flint and tinder, candles, and rope. Surprisingly, he knew instantly what everything in the bag was for. He placed his sword in its scabbard on his belt and arranged the sack on his person also. Finally, he strapped his large shield onto his left arm.

"What's this?" Hermione asked, knocking her fist against her shoulder. To Harry's surprise, he heard the ring of metal.

"That is a glamored suit of chain mail," the Dungeon Master replied. "It allows you to be protected by armor without looking as though you are. You can remove the illusion if you wish."

Apparently, Hermione did so because a suit of chain mail suddenly appeared on her. Satisfied that everyone was familiar with the objects they were carrying, the Dungeon Master spoke again.

"Here is your quest: an evil wizard has taken over a village not far from here and set up his headquarters in the castle that formerly belonged to the local baron, left vacant when the last one died one hundred years ago. He has enslaved the villagers and is building his forces to take over more territory and establish his own kingdom. His influence already extends for some distance around the village. Your task is to go to his castle and defeat him. Oh, and he knows you're coming."

"So what's he doing here?" asked Harry with distaste, gesturing towards Malfoy.

"Just a little additional challenge, having to worry about deception from within. I also wanted to see if you could get him to work with you at all. I actually don't expect him to survive long, so it will be interesting if you prove me wrong."

All of the Hogwarts students exchanged nervous glances.

"Survive?" said Ginny. "You mean, we could die here?"

"Oh, yes, but death here will send you back to your own world. Of course, you can be resurrected or reincarnated back here."

"So what's to stop us from killing ourselves so that we can get back?" asked Draco arrogantly.

"Well, first of all, you will find that you can feel pain quite well. You are more than welcome to fall on your sword, though, Draco. Oh, that's right, you haven't got one!" the DM smiled sweetly. In spite of himself, Harry was starting to like this woman. "Harry and Hermione will find that they cannot refuse the quest. Even if the people of this world are imaginary, you want to help them."

Harry realized that she was right. Now that he was here, he had no desire to back out. A quick glance at Hermione showed him that she felt the same way.

"That being the case," continued the Dungeon Master, "Ginny and Ron will stay to support their friends. Fred and George will remain due to family ties and because they're tremendously curious. Draco will probably be very little help but will stay with the group out of cowardice. Since the Cleric and Paladin both recognize him as evil, they may not be very inclined to heal him if he gets wounded. Therefore, he will need to decide whether to make himself useful so that they will consider healing him, or if he should just stand by and wait until something kills him.

"Your personalities remain essentially unchanged. Any phobias or idiosyncrasies you had in your own world will still be a part of you here. Certain physical aspects have been improved, however. For example, Harry now has perfect vision."

Harry started, but she was right. He was not wearing glasses, yet he could see everything with perfect clarity, even better than with his round spectacles.

"You will find that certain innate abilities have also changed, such as strength, dexterity--"

"Hermione, I think I should tell you that I like you. I mean, I REALLY like you," interrupted Ron, looking at Hermione intently.

"I like you, too!" said Hermione in surprise. "Would you like to kiss me?"

"Love to." Suiting actions to words, Ron kissed her, tentatively at first, then with more intensity.

"Oh, good grief!" said the DM, rolling her eyes.

"Way to go!" cheered Fred.

"Slip her some tongue," advised George.

"Ack!" exclaimed Ginny. "Doesn't anyone care that their sister is standing right here?"

"No," said Fred.

"Not really," George agreed.

"We've been worried about him," said Fred in mock seriousness.

"We were planning an intervention," added George.

"Yeah, well, don't cancel that order just yet," the Dungeon Master commented.

"I don't get it," said Harry, gesturing at his two friends. "I mean, why now?"

"As I was saying," the DM replied, "your innate abilities have been altered to fit the personas you're in. They both have much higher levels of wisdom than they do normally, so it occurred to them that it might be a good idea to tell each other how they feel."

Harry wasn't sure this made sense, but it seemed as logical as anything else he'd seen here so far. Then the DM turned back to Ron and Hermione and sighed. "It seems a shame, doesn't it? Still, we're burning daylight, here. All right, break it up, you two. This isn't a romance."

With that, she clapped her hands sharply beside the lip-locked couple, causing them to spring apart, startled. Seeing everyone staring at them, they both blushed.

"If you want to sneak into each other tents in the middle of the night, that's your business," the DM informed them. "However, I should mention that none of you will remember what happens here when you return to your own world."

Both Hermione and Ron looked a little shocked and almost guilty at the mention of sharing tents.

"What do you mean, we won't remember anything?" asked Ginny.

"When you wake up in your own world, either because you died here or because you completed the objective, you will only view this experience as an extraordinarily vivid dream, though even that memory will fade quickly."

Harry suddenly realized that he was wearing a tremendous amount of armor as well as a large sword. Curious, he pulled the blade out of its sheath and made a few practice swings. It felt very natural in his hand, and the weight of it didn't slow him down at all.

"It hardly seems to weigh anything!" he exclaimed, re-sheathing it.

"Precisely," answered the DM. "Most of you will find that you have greater strength than you're accustomed to. Unfortunately, that often means you lost something in other areas. So, everyone armed and ready? Good. I'll be giving you a couple of random encounters to help you get used to your abilities before the wizard's minions start to find you.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. Ginny, you have the ability to turn into an animal of small or medium size three times a day. What would you like that to be?"

"Hm.... Could it be a bear?"

"A black bear would be the right size."

"Okay, that's what I want."

"Done."

"So, when is this supposed to begin?" asked Hermione.

"Right about...now," the DM replied. Then, she promptly disappeared.

Before Harry could really think about this, he suddenly noticed a cone of mist coming from somewhere off to his right. Only it wasn't mist. As it hit Harry, he could feel the acid burning his skin, even through his armor. Draco and Fred instinctively leapt out of the way, both managing not to be touched by the spray. Ron and George also dodged but didn't escape some acid burns. That left Harry, Hermione, and Ginny to take the brunt of it. A large creature that looked something like a dinosaur was coming toward them at an impressive rate of speed. Its head was narrow, with two orifices, one of which had apparently been used to spray the acid.

Fred came out of his tumble and drew his rapier, trying to circle around to the right. The thing closed the remaining distance between them and attacked the nearest member of their group, which happened to be Ginny. It raked her with its back feet, and she cried out as the impact penetrated her armor. Ron drew his bow and fired two shots in rapid succession. The first one lodged in the creature's right flank, but the second bounced off of its thick hide, causing Ron to swear.

"Magic missile," said George, and four bursts of energy flew out from his hands to strike the creature on the left side, leaving scorch marks. George stared at his hands and said, "Cool."

Ginny drew her scimitar and slashed the beast's torso. Hermione brought out her mace and struck its leg. Harry drew his sword, lunged forward, and plunged it into the creature's belly. He tried to keep himself between the monster's powerful legs and Ginny.

Fred had now reached the beast's left flank. He took a moment to aim, and then drove his rapier into the flesh. The beast staggered, then turned towards him. It raked him with its back legs, but Fred held his ground. Ron took aim and shot once more. The arrow buried itself in the neck, and the monster fell. Everyone seemed to pause.

"Is it dead?" Ginny asked, breathing rather heavily. She didn't look very good. Much of her visible flesh was melted, and she was holding her ribs. Harry thrust his sword into the monster again, surprising himself.

"It is now," he replied. As he turned, he saw that Hermione had gone over to help Ginny. Hermione laid her hands on the younger girl and muttered some words. Ginny looked better almost immediately. Another touch, and she was whole again.

Hermione then tried to go to Harry, but he instructed her to see to everyone else first, including herself. In fact, Hermione was now looking the worst for wear, with George running a close second. That surprised Harry, and he shuddered to think what George might have looked like if he hadn't managed to dodge some of the acid.

Ron insisted he didn't need healing, and he didn't look too badly off, but Hermione cast a spell on him anyway, after attending to George. Then she healed herself and Harry. Harry volunteered to use his own healing powers, but Hermione told him to save them in case something happened to her later. At this point, the DM reappeared.

"Excellent work!" she told them approvingly. "I thought this would be fairly easy for you, but--"

"You call that easy?" Ginny asked her, incredulous.

"You downed it in less than two rounds, and only two people were even close to being seriously injured," the DM shrugged. "Wait until you see what still lies ahead."

"What was that thing, anyway?" inquired Fred, who was cleaning his rapier by driving it into the ground. Harry had already wiped his clean.

"It's a Digester," Ron answered. He was attempting to retrieve his arrows, but one of the shafts had broken. He made a face as he tossed it aside. "They're nearly always hungry, and they see anything that moves as prey."

"How did you know that?" George asked in surprise. Ron blinked.

"I don't know," he responded, frowning. "I seem to know a lot of things about magical beasts. Those and undead creatures."

"That's part of your Ranger abilities," said the DM. "I suggest you begin traveling soon. There is still quite a distance to go before the next village, and sunset will be in just a few hours. Oh, and some of you may have already noticed that sleeping in heavy armor is not very comfortable. You will need to remove it to sleep, or you won't be well rested. Therefore, if you set a watch tonight, I recommend that those wearing heavier armor take the first and last watches so that you only have to remove it once. See you later!"

With that, she was gone again. The group looked at each other and shrugged.

"I guess we might as well," said Harry, and he led the way towards the setting sun. Although the DM had not specifically told them to go that way, it seemed right. Since she did not return to correct their course, he assumed that they were going in the proper direction.