The Untemperred Schism.
A Hary Potter, Doctor Who crossover, one shot.
Harry
He stared into the veil and the veil stared back. Breaking in had been easy. Ministry incompetence. His own knowledge of the area. The utter blindness and absolute weakness of the majority of his contemporaries. All had made breaking in a walk in the park.
The veil whispered to him reassuringly. Baitingly. He felt it's hooks grip him, as he was slowly reeled in towards it.
It fed his despair. Filling him up. Until all that he could feel were the icy claws of death coming to claim him.
He stepped closer. Tears poured down his cheeks. Pure, agonising, melancholy had claimed his heart.
He'd won. It wasn't fair. After all he'd sacrificed, all he'd given, fate demanded yet another pound of flesh, the last pound that he had to give.
He'd become a fierce warrior and a ruthless leader on his journey to destroy Voldemort. His innocence, his happiness, his compassion. All had been discarded. Only power had been returned. The cost of Voldemorts demise was steep, it was paid with the blood of his loved ones. The sweat off their brow. And tears. So many God damned tears.
Then, when all had been given. All had been lost. The last devastating truth was revealed. Harry was a horcrux, and had been one all along. Another fact that had been kept secret. Locked away. A final skeleton in his closet under the stairs that had sprung free to haunt him. To kill him. Yet it was a truth, that when it made itself clear, came smashing in to him with all the certainty and inevitability of the killing curse. To truly destroy Voldemort, Harry had to die.
He'd burned Dumbledore's portrait when the truth was divulged. Remorselessly, he'd watch the flames destroy the imprint of the terrible, great man. He'd wished the satisfaction had been enough, but it was like a lit match in a cavern. The delicate flame was present, but it showed him nothing, and provided no true warmth. Before it flickered out of existence as if it had never been there to begin with.
The short walk up the dais towards the veil was his purgatory, it lasted an eternity. Emotions he had left behind with the death of his two last friends: Luna and Ron, came rushing back. He had no one, everybody he had ever loved was dead, their lives freely given, for the safety of sheep. It wasn't fair!
His scar burned, and despair was replaced by anger. By wrath. His slow steady steps ceased an inch from death. Why should he? Why should he surrender the life he had fought so hard for, when no one left would do so for him? Why should he take that final step to save the craven populace when they would not stand up to save themselves? Should he not allow the monster within free?
He could let himself be consumed by his rage and hate. To bring down his evil on the world of magic. To raze their community to the ground. To bask in the knowledge that vengeance had been achieved and the wizarding world had paid for their crimes of apathy with blood, and pain, and fire, and sorrow.
His emerald eyes that had been wet with pain began shining with malice, as green became purple and purple became crimson. The tears stopped and his mouth opened in a manic grin. Anticipation grew in his very bones as images of sobbing wizards and mangled witches flashed across his eyes. They would pay.
Just as he was about to rip through the wards and leave the death chamber a small scream of defience echoed throughout his mind. The pain he felt in it was agony to him and he couldn't help the flinch. It was enough. The small prescence took back a semblance of control and before he could wrestle it back into submission, it pushed his body forwards.
As his nose pushed through the shimmering surface veil, the archway gripped him. His body froze as it was pulled gently in. It was relaxing and calm and peaceful. The loving embrace of the veil welcomed him home.
For a moment. For a first, fleeting, moment all was well.
Then it wasn't. Harry felt himself pulled taught. His arms and legs were spread as an ethereal limb descended down the contours of his body. It undulated over his body gripping him gently. Until it reached his scar.
The veil shreeked, a supernatural, haunting noise that sent shivers through Harry's spine, and caused his ears to bleed. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started convulsing.
The limb pushed into Harry's head, and it fished. It curled and grabbed and pulled. Harry felt himself rip slowly and painfully. With each broken strand of himself a new fiber would try to replace it, to repair the damage, sometimes it would succeed only to be ripped apart again.
In total agony Harry felt himself change. He broke. Over and over again, he broke until with a last almighty tug the limb pulled a fragment of the darkest black from his head and discarded it. It was crushed by the limb into nothingness before Harry floated up and away.
All pain left his body instantly, and Harry fell upwards through a channel of power. He floated, and he fell, and he span. Through eons and over light years for and instant and forever. Through space and time his body was compressed and stretched harmlessly. Painlessly. Peacfully. Until at one point, and many he crashed into something. And all he knew was the blackness of unconciosness.
Rose
Rose watched on smiling as her Doctor flung himself around the control panel of the TARDIS. His erratic movements seemed perfectly choreographed to the beat of the TARDIS's heart. His trainers skidding to and fro, his hands expertly flicking switches and pulling levers.
He babbled as he moved, talking about everything and nothing. He'd ask her a question every now and then, before spewing more words out. Not giving her a hint of a chance to answer.
He'd occasionally look over at her and give her the goofy grin that she adored. She loved these moments, when it was just the two of them. No emergency, no panic, just her and him, having fun.
They didn't tend to last long, these moments. Traveling with the doctor was like travelling with the most powerful toddler alive. If she let her mind wonder for just a moment then all hell would break loose. Sometimes it would even do so when he had her undivided attention.
Trouble magnet. Never was there a man who fit the description so well as her Doctor.
There was no warning, no alarm. There was simply a huge CLAP, the TARDIS doors were flung open, and something smashed into the console.
The TARDIS groaned and whined, as smoke hissed out of everything and they were plunged into pitch black. Rose was thrown to the floor, and it was all that she could do just to hold on. They were spun, and shaken all over the place and Rose was sure that she'd lose her grip on the side of the TARDIS, when with a crash the ship came to a jarring halt.
After assessing herself for injuries Rose carefully got to her feet. "Doctor?" She spoke hesitantly.
A groan from the far end of the room had her blindly scrambling. She could see the outline of a body. The emergency lights came on to reveal that it was definitely the Doctor. He was sitting up against the wall rubbing his head.
"Rose?" Her name. Asked, with several questions behind it.
"Good to see that everything's back to normal." She joked. Letting him know that she was fine.
The Doctor laughed. He shook his head, and jumped to his feet. He swayed a little and Rose immediately went to steady him. He beamed at her before pulling her off towards the back. On the floor in front of them, surrounded by glass and dented metal was a body.
The Doctor let go of her hand and went to crouch down in front of it. His sonic seewdriver hummed up and down his patient. He flicked it upwards and somehow gleaned the necessary informatio from it.
"Hmm...human, male, 21 years of age. Mild concussion and a sprained wrist. He'll be fine, but how? He was alone, without containment in the time vortex. He should be nothing but subquarks by now, scattered through time and space. Yet here he is..." The Doctor trailed off, intrigue colouring his voice.
One moment the man was seemingly unconscious on the floor. The next he was standing, somewhat steadily, brilliant emerald eyes narrowed and blazing with power behind a set of glasses, teeth bared, a menacing growl rumbled from his chest. A stick of wood was held out in front of him threateningly.
The man was short and broad. His messy hair and predatory stance provided him with a wild presence . Rose felt the feint stirrings of fear within her.
His eyes primarily focused on the Doctor, darted back and forth, never staying still for more than a second. The Doctor slowly raised his hands. And Rose followed his lead.
"Hello." He said, a little less exuberant than was typical for him, but he was unable to entirely quash the hyperactive cheerfulness that could equally cheer the devastated and annoy the eternally patient.
"I'm the Doctor, and that's Rose Tyler." He gestured to her, keeping his eyes on the stranger.
"Hello." Rose said cautiously.
The strangers eyes snapped to her for a couple of seconds, and her breath was briefly stolen from her lungs. It was returned as his eyes carried on scanning the TARDIS.
"And who might you be?" The Doctor asked when it became obvious that the man wasn't going to volunteer the information himself.
Something seemed to catch the stranger by surprise, as his face took on a confused expression. Suddenly he snorted, flexed his wrist causing the stick of wood to disappear. He seemed to relax a bit, but to Roseit was obvious that he was still tense.
He offered his hand to the Doctor. "Harry, Harry Potter. Sorry about that, I was caught off guard."
Even from behind him, Rose could tell that the Doctor was beaming as he took Harry's hand. "Perfectly understandable Harry. You took a bit of a battering there."
Harry nodded his head in acknowledgment and then turned to greet her. Taking her hand in his he kissed her knuckles lightly, before meeting her eyes. "It's a pleasure Rose."
Rose smiled at his antics. And the sparkle that seemed to appear in his eyes when the Doctor huffed in annoyance. It reminded her of the way Jack would greet anyone and everyone. Harry winked at her, before breaking eye contact. With a little more complacency to him than before he began to rescan the TARDIS.
"Were are we?" He asked, his voice casual.
"Inside my TARDIS." The Doctor replied, his words bursting with pride.
Harry nodded, before asking. "And what's a TARDIS?"
The Doctor grinned, his mouth stretching from one ear to another. "It's a ship that can travel through time and space."
Harry seemed to take that in stride, Rose noted. "So you're from the future?" He asked.
"Nope." The Doctor said, enjoying himself, popping his 'P's'.
Harry frowned in confusion. "So the TARDIS isn't from Earth?"
"Not just the TARDIS." The Doctor said, his abnormally large grin still framing his face.
Harry's frown deepened as he studied first Rose and then the Doctor. "You don't look alien." He said.
"I'm not." Rose blurted, quickly. "He is." she said tilting her head in the Doctors direction, a bit more calmly.
Harry nodded once again. "So were, or when are you going?"
"No idea, we just landed." The Doctor said. "Well crashed." He amended. "Shall we find out?" He asked, full of jittery excitement.
"After you." Harry indicated, suspicion clear in his voice. His brilliant eyes narrowed, and cautious.
The Doctor beamed. "Alonsy, then!" He bounced off down the TARDIS, and burst through the doors.
Rose sighed at her Doctor's enthusiasm. "You get used to him. Well, kind of." A soft smile found it's way onto her face, as she thought about how she would never quite get used to her Doctor's antics.
Harry looked at her, an unreadable expression on his face. "I doubt I'll get the chance." Abruptly he made his way towards the door.
The Doctor
The Doctor opened the door and trotted outside, into some dismal weather. The dark night sky was beating down upon his head, soaking him instantly. Mucky puddles grew before his very eyes, and a chilling wind took sharp bites out of his skin. He suppressed a shiver as he turned to watch Rose follow a cautious Harry out of his TARDIS.
His TARDIS! He allowed himself a moment of consolation towards his beloved TARDIS. She looked more than a little worse for wear. Chipped paint, a slightly warped exterior, and a quiet whine coming from his constant companion. Understated, even non existent flaws by a layman's eyes. They spoke of agony being experienced by her to his. He took a steadying breath, she would heal, she would be fine.
Focusing once again on the stranger. He observed some new absurdities to add to his growing list of contradictions. Adding to the glasses that appeared out of no were. The strange robe. The glowing eyes. And that stick! He was now completely unaffected by the rain. It seemed to splatter off his body and clothes, making contact with him but refusing to dampen the man. It avoided his glasses all together. This man was unlike any humans he'd ever met.
He'd taken a few seconds to orientate himself. And then an odd sense of recognition settled across Harry's face. His face darkened and resolved itself. Had he been here before? What tragedy will have happened here?
"Earth, Wales, October 31st 1981." The Doctor finally spoke.
Harry nodded once, sharply. He closed his eyes. Took a breath. "We should leave." He spoke, his voice full of pain, and certainty. It bought the Doctor up short, and there was nothing he would like more than to comply. To take Harry away from his pain. To show him the wonders of the Universe. To make him forget his heartache, and give him hope. But alas, "The TARDIS needs time to heal. For the moment we're stuck here."
Harry snorted. He opened his eyes, and as opposed to the blazing emeralds they had been previously, they were now dull, two glazed over orbs. Hiding everything that such eyes could reveal, the Doctor considered it an abomination that such passion could be so readily covered. "So be it." Harry spoke, his voice laden with gravitas, and turned his back on the Doctor and Rose, to gaze upon some point on the horizon between two houses.
After a long, wet uncomfortable moment of silence. One in which the Doctor bizarrely found himself lost for words, his wonderful, brilliant, human, Rose asked. "Harry. What happened... happens here?"
Another long agonizing moment of silence followed before Harry answered. "Halloween night, 1981. A night of betrayal, and death to some. One of celebration and joy for many. Here in Godric's Hollow is were everything changed. The end of everything, and the start of even more. It's funny, no one ever told me quite how dreary tonight was. It's rather fitting really."
The Doctor turned to scrutinize his companion. Rose was watching the stranger. Apprehensively she took a step to his side, and carefully took his hand. The Doctor watched ready to spring to her defence if the gesture was to be taken badly. It was to his relief that Harry simply squeezed her hand back. In amazement the Doctor watched as Rose appeared to gain a supernatural glow to her. It was reminiscent of the time she had looked into the heart of the TARDIS, rather than burn her up from the inside, it seemed to simply envelop and warm her. Her lips reddened, her shivering subsided, and the water staining her skin and clothes simply dissapeared.
An earsplitting bang, heard from the exact direction that Hary was looking, disturbed the quiet moment of plesantness that Rose had found. Instictively the Doctor began running towards the noise. One stride, became two, but before it could become three he found himself stopped in his tracks. His trenchcoat frozen, mid flutter behind him. His foot trapped in one of the many puddles, refusing to be soaked. 'Some sort of containment field.' Was his first thought. Immediately followed by. 'How is Harry doing it?
He could still move his eyes within their sockets. So he could see Harry had moved away from Rose. By her rigid posture, and panicking eyes it was safe to say that Harry had frozen her too. He once again hid his stick... perhaps wand was more accurate? The Doctor had seen magic before. Nothing quite as easy as waving a magic wand though.
The wand was away, and Harry turned to look the Doctor right in the eye. "We may be unable to leave, but we must not interfere."
The Doctor found himself indignant. As quickly as it came it was suddenly drowned in empathetic pain as a second bang and a woman's scream was heard.
"Please, they need help." The Doctor begged.
"There's nothing you can do, there's nothing you should do." Harry replied apathetically. However the Doctor noticed the melancholy in his voice; the slight tremor that betrayed the calm he was aiming for.
"Someone's being attacked." The Doctor pressed urgently.
"Someone's being killed." Countered Harry. Now with his back to the Doctor, once again staring at the same point between the two houses.
The Doctor found his ire rising. He was being prevented from helping, being prevented from saving. What good was he if all he could do was sit and watch like the Time Lord's of old?
"How can you stand by and let this happen?" He asked, trying to keep anger out of his voice
"Because, it is necessary." Harry spoke. Blatantly disregarding the sanctity and preciousness of life.
"When is death ever necessary?" The Doctor spat.
"Obviously, when it pays for life." Harry snapped back, condesendingly.
"Death can't buy life." Rose whispered.
Harry turned to look at her, eyes still dull, face still resolved, but he seemed to convey some form of compasion. "No, but it can pay for more death, which sometimes means the same thing." He said
"If you find a rabid dog you put it down. If you come across a rabid God you pay whatever price is necessary to destroy him." Harry turned to look directly into the Doctor's eyes. For a moment his eyes burned.
Images, uncalled, flashed across the Doctor's mind. Images of Davros and his legions, images of Cybermen and Angels, of the Master laughing maniacally, and of Gallifrey, of his home burning, while he watched from safety.
Hell being dragged across his psyche wa interrupted by a third explosion, far louder than the rest. It was accompanied by an inhuman shriek, a flash of light and the sudden appearance of a house.
The Doctor's mind froze for a moment with the improbability of it all, before he noticed that one corner of the house had been destroyed. Along with the fact that the rubble was clattering towards them, his instinct to tackle Rose to the floor and shield her with his body was prevented by his bonds.
Before his mind even had a chance to curse Harry, the magician had swept his wand across his body and all the rubble stopped, frozen in mid air, before simply dropping to the floor.
Mud flickered up from the floor, like blood from a wound, coating the Doctor's shoes. And Harry strode through the rubble, not missing a step as he made his way towards the house. He seemed to compose himself at the gate, before pushing his way through onto the lawn, and he made his way through a splintered doorway.
The Doctor suddenly found himself free from constraint. He looked over to Rose who was silently asking him what they should do. After a moments hesitation, the Doctor shrugged lightly before slowly making his way up to the house. Eyes scanning for any new threat. Cautious and careful.
With Rose right behind him they snuck into the house. The front room was wrecked. A splintered staircse to their left. Shattered windows and broken sofas surrounding them. Black marks marred the walls, and a ripped carpet was gently burning. In the middle of the destruction stood Harry. His back to them, gazing down over an obviously dead body.
Rage filled the Doctor. Self loathing, and anger battled within him.
"Feast your eyes Harry!" He said, voice venomous, to an unresponsive wizard. "See what your action, or lack there of ha.." he was cut off by the crying screams of a baby from above.
In a flash Rose began sprinting up the crumbling staircase. All fear and caution forgotten in the face of an innocents hurt.
"Dammit! Rose!" The Doctor shouted, in warning, as he ran up after her.
Above him the Doctor saw her enter a room, through a broken doorway, into which he followed. The room that they found themselves in seemed to be in worse condition than the rest of the house. Half the wall on the South side had been obliterated. The other three were heavily cracked and charred.
A redheaded female in her early twenties lay dead before a cot. A sinister, smoking pile of robes were drapped on the floor besides her. The baby in the cot tried to wake the dead with its wails. Naturally, heartbrakingly, it failed as Rose reached down for him. She gently lifted him and pulled him into her chest, lightly bouncing the baby, as it cried.
The room stank of death, and decay, and other foul things that the Doctor had no name for. He drew his sonic screwdriver and began scanning for energy emissions, and molecular resonance. Trying to piece together the story of woe.
Behind him he heard Harry enter the room. The Doctor tried to pay him as little mind as possible, whilst keeping an eye out for threatening gestures. For the time being however, Harry seemed content to simply stand and stare at the dead woman.
Minutes passed, like that, as Rose accomplished her task in settling the baby down. She continues to embrace the child, tears falling freely down her face.
And then over the total tragedy of the situation his voice came. Apathetic and heartless.
"We need to leave. We can not be found here."
"We need to find out what happened, and we need to make sure the baby is taken care of." The Doctoe replied, assertively.
"Leave the child, it will be fine." Harry replied, without inflection or emotion. The Doctor spun around and stared into Harry's dead eyes
"How can you know?" The Doctor hissed.
"Destiny has claimed it for her own. Its fate is in the hands of Prophecy now, and if we don't leave this instant we may be the cause of heretofore unseen levels of death and destruction."
A spark of something sang in Harry's eyes, but it was snuffed out far to quickly. The detached way that he was talking about the baby hadn't escaped the Doctor's attention, he was certain that he was missing a piece of the puzzle.
"You know who he is?" The Doctor fished.
"Right now, all he is, is an orphan." The Doctor took that as confirmation.
"Will he be looked after?" Rose asked.
"He will survive." Harry said forebodingly.
"So that's a no." The Doctor summarised, trying desperately to think of a way to subdue the wizard, to rescue the child.
Harry lost his patience. His eyes shone a vivid green. The floorboards creaked, and he swelled from his meeger height to fill the room.
"The child will not know happiness or joy or love for years to come. He will grow up neglected and bullied, and when he finally finds hope it will be fleeting. He will be ostrasied, vilified and hated. He will know betrayal and heartbreak. Every tiny light in his life will be extinguished, one by one. Until he will finally end up alone.
He will hate himself from the moment he finds himself able to perceive his world to the moment he leaves it. But he will fulfill his task. He will be victorious. He will stand over his dead enemies and laugh in triumph and despair."
Harry brandished his wand, too quickly for the Doctor, a 900 year old soldier in a young man's body to react. The tip was pointed straight at Rose, the Doctor noted with alarm.
"Too much revolves around allowing that child to complete his destiny. To divert his course will see him, and the whole world burn under the tyrannical rule of a madman. Put the child down, and leave." Menacing, and sure Harry stood there, ready to strike.
The Doctor found himself flying through several emotional states, luckily he was able to ignore them long enough to think logically for a moment. It was all that he needed. Pieces of the puzzle fell into place, far later than they should have. He cursed himself for his impetuousness.
"Are you sure there is no other way?" He asked calmly. His voice and words having a visible effect on a very tense Harry.
"Doctor?" Rose questioned him. She rarely needed to be his moral compass, so the surprise in her voice was understandable.
"You would put yourself through that turmoil again?" He expanded for Rose's benefit. Her eyes snapped to Harry and then to baby Harry and back again. In most other situations it would have been comical. Now all the Doctor felt was sadness.
Harry's eyes flared with anger, pity and self loathing. "For the greater good." He whispered, in a strangers voice full of malice.
The Doctor nodded once. His fresh clarity painting the remarkable man in front of him in a new light. "We should leave." The Doctor said.
"What about the baby?" Rose asked.
She understood, he knew that, but she was better, purer, than him. She didn't know how to leave an innocent to hurt. She didn't understand how to chose the lesser of two evils. Action was the privelige of the good. But the Doctor and Harry knew. They knew how inaction could mean victory. And pain was life.
In the end the only one who had any right to chose was Harry. The Doctor was sure that's why Rose settled the baby in the cot, wiped a tear from her cheeks with the palm of her hand, turned to face them and in a clear but quiet voice asked. "Were to?"