(Edit: Replaced the text with a line-wrapped version, incorporating a few wording tweaks I missed last night.)
This bit me on the way home from work tonight, and I've spent much of the last hour writing it up; I really should be asleep by now, but I want to run it past you all and ask for opinions and suggestions.
I do have ideas for where to take this from here, but nothing of nearly this level of detail; I'll probably expand on that in the morning.
This began life as a general outline and explanation, but I think it could serve equally well as an intro sequence, if I wanted to use it that way. (The trouble there is that this is about as far as I can go with actual writing; I can do copyediting in as much detail as I need to, but writing descriptions and dialogue and so forth from scratch seems to be beyond me.) I apologize for the style in which it's written; it just seemed to demand to be written this way.
================
On that famous Halloween night in 1981, something went wrong. No one had ever
learned what it was; even I cannot yet say with any certainty.
It is known that the Potters were betrayed by their Secret-Keeper, and that the
Dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort came to their house to kill them; it is
known that he succeeded in killing both James and Lily; it is known that he
tried also to kill Harry Potter, and that when that was done with Voldemort was
no longer there; and that Harry was found, alive and well, the only survivor in
that place of death.
But after the confrontation between Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, when the
confusion settled down and the wizards who had come too late to the Potters'
aid began to pick up the pieces and take stock amid the impending dawn, Harry
Potter was nowhere to be found.
They searched, of course, by means both mundane and magical; but there were no
traces of Apparition or of portkey travel, or indeed any identifiable magic at
all after the thrice-cast Killing Curse, and when they sought to track him by
the simple yet reliable Point Me spell the pointing wand simply spun aimlessly
in place. There did seem at first to be physical traces, a trail leading from
the place where he had last been brought away into a nearby stand of trees; but
that trail ended abruptly after a short distance, and no more sign of his fate
could be found.
After a due time, the search was called off, and their attention turned to the
aftermath of the war, in much the usual manner. The return of peace was
celebrated, and the Death Eaters were sentenced or acquitted largely according
to the contents of their pocketbooks, and the disappearance of Harry Potter was
considered even more mysterious than is common; and life went on.
But those who knew of the prophecy about the Potters and the Dark Lord were not
quite satisfied that things were truly over, and the question of where Harry
Potter had gone never entirely left their minds. And some ten years later, the
night after the letters for the coming year's class of new Hogwarts students
had been sent out, one of these people thought to check the records of those
letters; and in those records, there was indeed a copy of a standard first-
year's letter, addressed to Harry Potter. But even by wizarding standards, the
address was an unusual one indeed; for it read,
Harry Potter
The Lowest Bed
Third Bunk from the Left
Second Bedchamber
Hangman's Tree
Neverland
The wizard who first discovered this record (though it may, indeed, have been a
witch) could not make head or tail of this address, having never heard of a
place called Neverland; but it happened that this particular wizard had not
been present for the original search, and so thought to make the attempt of a
Point Me spell. And this time, the wand immediately found its compass, and
pointed fixedly in a single direction; but that was hardly less peculiar than
the address, because it pointed off into the starry sky.
The wizard, having made both of these discoveries in quick succession, hurried
off with the record in hand to wake up Albus Dumbledore, and demonstrate the
success of the pointing spell. The elderly wizard found both the record and the
demonstration to be quite interesting indeed, and sent out word to gather other
interested parties, both to investigate this mystery and to prepare an
expedition; but it was several long hours before they were all ready together,
and when the Point Me spell was cast for Harry Potter for the third time that
night (or morning, as by then it had become), it merely spun aimlessly once
more.
Those of the gathered wizards who had so recently seen that same spell succeed
found this mystifying; the others, of course, were more inclined to be
skeptical, and to cast doubt upon the claim that it had succeeded at all. Yet
the word of the two who had seen it was persuasive, and so they stayed, to
examine the puzzle; and late that afternoon, the owl which had gone out with
that letter returned looking tired but not visibly worse for the wear, with no
letter attached to its leg.
A wizarding post owl, as is well known, will not voluntarily release its
message except to the named recipient; and so the unruffled owl bearing no
message was taken as confirmation that indeed Harry Potter had been found at
that address and had received the letter addressed to him, and research into
the possible location of Neverland resumed in earnest. And as the day wore on
into evening, and the stars began to emerge from behind the bright veil of the
day, someone tried the Point Me spell once more; and once more it found its
compass, and pointed off into the sky.
The word of the renewed success of the spell was quickly spread, and the
assembled company turned just as quickly from their researches and prepared to
follow the pointing wand; and in relatively short order, a small flock of
wizards on a small flock of broomsticks rose into the air, and departed across
the countryside.
They flew long and far, over hills and plains, and then for a long time over
ocean, with the wand which was their compass never wavering; until as the
horizon began to brighten, and the stars to fade once more, it turned to angle
downwards, and they saw an island ahead of them.
And it is possible that they saw also an old-fashioned ship, and had the need
to dodge cannonballs as they approached the land; and it is possible that they
landed on the shore of the island, and were distracted - however briefly - by
the presence of mermaids in the waters behind them; and it is possible that as
they flew over the trees of the island, or walked among them, they were
accosted by its seemingly savage native tribesmen, and had either to dodge
arrows in their flight or fight off a more direct assault on the ground.
Yet whether any of these things happened or not, they arrived in time deep in
the forest, at the foot of a gnarled tree, which bore a striking resemblance to
a gallows; and it was near that tree (or perhaps underneath it, if they
discovered the hidden entranceway, which was too small for any of them to
readily fit) that they encountered a tribe of seemingly-feral children, and it
was among those children that they discovered Harry Potter.
This bit me on the way home from work tonight, and I've spent much of the last hour writing it up; I really should be asleep by now, but I want to run it past you all and ask for opinions and suggestions.
I do have ideas for where to take this from here, but nothing of nearly this level of detail; I'll probably expand on that in the morning.
This began life as a general outline and explanation, but I think it could serve equally well as an intro sequence, if I wanted to use it that way. (The trouble there is that this is about as far as I can go with actual writing; I can do copyediting in as much detail as I need to, but writing descriptions and dialogue and so forth from scratch seems to be beyond me.) I apologize for the style in which it's written; it just seemed to demand to be written this way.
================
On that famous Halloween night in 1981, something went wrong. No one had ever
learned what it was; even I cannot yet say with any certainty.
It is known that the Potters were betrayed by their Secret-Keeper, and that the
Dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort came to their house to kill them; it is
known that he succeeded in killing both James and Lily; it is known that he
tried also to kill Harry Potter, and that when that was done with Voldemort was
no longer there; and that Harry was found, alive and well, the only survivor in
that place of death.
But after the confrontation between Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, when the
confusion settled down and the wizards who had come too late to the Potters'
aid began to pick up the pieces and take stock amid the impending dawn, Harry
Potter was nowhere to be found.
They searched, of course, by means both mundane and magical; but there were no
traces of Apparition or of portkey travel, or indeed any identifiable magic at
all after the thrice-cast Killing Curse, and when they sought to track him by
the simple yet reliable Point Me spell the pointing wand simply spun aimlessly
in place. There did seem at first to be physical traces, a trail leading from
the place where he had last been brought away into a nearby stand of trees; but
that trail ended abruptly after a short distance, and no more sign of his fate
could be found.
After a due time, the search was called off, and their attention turned to the
aftermath of the war, in much the usual manner. The return of peace was
celebrated, and the Death Eaters were sentenced or acquitted largely according
to the contents of their pocketbooks, and the disappearance of Harry Potter was
considered even more mysterious than is common; and life went on.
But those who knew of the prophecy about the Potters and the Dark Lord were not
quite satisfied that things were truly over, and the question of where Harry
Potter had gone never entirely left their minds. And some ten years later, the
night after the letters for the coming year's class of new Hogwarts students
had been sent out, one of these people thought to check the records of those
letters; and in those records, there was indeed a copy of a standard first-
year's letter, addressed to Harry Potter. But even by wizarding standards, the
address was an unusual one indeed; for it read,
Harry Potter
The Lowest Bed
Third Bunk from the Left
Second Bedchamber
Hangman's Tree
Neverland
The wizard who first discovered this record (though it may, indeed, have been a
witch) could not make head or tail of this address, having never heard of a
place called Neverland; but it happened that this particular wizard had not
been present for the original search, and so thought to make the attempt of a
Point Me spell. And this time, the wand immediately found its compass, and
pointed fixedly in a single direction; but that was hardly less peculiar than
the address, because it pointed off into the starry sky.
The wizard, having made both of these discoveries in quick succession, hurried
off with the record in hand to wake up Albus Dumbledore, and demonstrate the
success of the pointing spell. The elderly wizard found both the record and the
demonstration to be quite interesting indeed, and sent out word to gather other
interested parties, both to investigate this mystery and to prepare an
expedition; but it was several long hours before they were all ready together,
and when the Point Me spell was cast for Harry Potter for the third time that
night (or morning, as by then it had become), it merely spun aimlessly once
more.
Those of the gathered wizards who had so recently seen that same spell succeed
found this mystifying; the others, of course, were more inclined to be
skeptical, and to cast doubt upon the claim that it had succeeded at all. Yet
the word of the two who had seen it was persuasive, and so they stayed, to
examine the puzzle; and late that afternoon, the owl which had gone out with
that letter returned looking tired but not visibly worse for the wear, with no
letter attached to its leg.
A wizarding post owl, as is well known, will not voluntarily release its
message except to the named recipient; and so the unruffled owl bearing no
message was taken as confirmation that indeed Harry Potter had been found at
that address and had received the letter addressed to him, and research into
the possible location of Neverland resumed in earnest. And as the day wore on
into evening, and the stars began to emerge from behind the bright veil of the
day, someone tried the Point Me spell once more; and once more it found its
compass, and pointed off into the sky.
The word of the renewed success of the spell was quickly spread, and the
assembled company turned just as quickly from their researches and prepared to
follow the pointing wand; and in relatively short order, a small flock of
wizards on a small flock of broomsticks rose into the air, and departed across
the countryside.
They flew long and far, over hills and plains, and then for a long time over
ocean, with the wand which was their compass never wavering; until as the
horizon began to brighten, and the stars to fade once more, it turned to angle
downwards, and they saw an island ahead of them.
And it is possible that they saw also an old-fashioned ship, and had the need
to dodge cannonballs as they approached the land; and it is possible that they
landed on the shore of the island, and were distracted - however briefly - by
the presence of mermaids in the waters behind them; and it is possible that as
they flew over the trees of the island, or walked among them, they were
accosted by its seemingly savage native tribesmen, and had either to dodge
arrows in their flight or fight off a more direct assault on the ground.
Yet whether any of these things happened or not, they arrived in time deep in
the forest, at the foot of a gnarled tree, which bore a striking resemblance to
a gallows; and it was near that tree (or perhaps underneath it, if they
discovered the hidden entranceway, which was too small for any of them to
readily fit) that they encountered a tribe of seemingly-feral children, and it
was among those children that they discovered Harry Potter.