THE DOCTOR AT HOGWARTS
Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were studying – for once. It was early in their last year at Hogwarts Wizarding Academy and they knew that, if they were to have any chance at all of passing their final exams, they had to seriously hit the books. Hermione Granger was in the library hunting up more books for them, but meanwhile all was silent in the room where the two friends were poring over the magical reference books.
Suddenly a breeze stirred the pages of the book Ron was studying. He looked around in puzzlement as the windows were closed and he could not understand where the draught was coming from. Then he noticed a strange sound.
It began softly at first, but rapidly grew in volume: a grinding, wheezing, groaning sound, like some ancient machinery malfunctioning, or the death throes of some great mechanical beast. At first it seemed to come from everywhere, then the sound seemed to become localized in one corner of the room, close to where Harry was sitting.
Harry and Ron both jumped up in alarm. They exchanged horrified looks, then turned back to the corner of the room where…. Something was appearing. First there was a sort of shapeless swirling, then, as the sound became almost deafening, a tall blue box appeared before their incredulous eyes. A box with a flashing blue light on top, a door in the front, and the words POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX written on the door.
The sound faded away as the box solidified fully, and the light stopped flashing.
Harry ran over to stand next to Ron. "That looks like a muggle artifact," he muttered. "But I don't understand how they could …."
The door in the front of the box opened. Out came a tall, brown-haired man who looked to be in his early thirties, dressed in a light brown suit and long brown coat. He looked around the room and smiled. "Morning, boys!" he said cheerfully. "It is morning, isn't it? I get so confused about time … understandable in my situation, believe me."
Harry and Ron were looking at each other in astonishment. "It doesn't look like You-Know-Who," whispered Ron.
A frown appeared on the stranger's face. He went to the window, looked out over the main courtyard of Hogwarts, and shook his head in puzzlement. "Erm… sorry… I think I might be in the wrong place," he said.
Harry felt the time had come for action. He pulled out his wand, pointed it at the stranger, and yelled, "Expelliamus!" A bolt of blue light flew from the tip of his wand and hit the man in the leg. The stranger jumped as if stung, and rubbed his leg in obvious pain. "Ouch!' he said indignantly. "Was that really necessary?"
He turned and retraced his steps back towards the blue box. "All right, I'm sorry," he said. "I seem to be in the wrong place – even the wrong universe, as a matter of fact. I'll be on my way. Forget you ever saw me. Bye, lads!" The stranger went back into the blue box and closed the door behind him. But for a moment while the door was open, Harry thought he glimpsed an interior that seemed impossibly large – much too large to be contained inside such a small blue box.
By now Ron had his wand out as well, but he and Harry could only watch as the blue light began flashing again, the grinding noise started up, and the impossible blue box faded away before their eyes.
Ron and Harry simply stood for a long time, staring at the place where the box had been.
Then they looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to their studies.
