"Doctor, who did you lose?" Lyra asked. The Doctor's attention snapped back into the moment.

"How did you know that?" he asked, shocked. "I never even mentioned it!" Lyra looked at him again.

"'Cos you've travelled to other universes too. You and I are the only ones who know what it's like to lose someone to another universe. Call it a very good guess."

Chapter 3

The Doctor looked shocked. How could she know about Rose? Was it that obvious? It was Lyra's turn to be comforting.

"It's ok, Doctor. You'll see her again, one day. Just 'cos they live in different universes, doesn't mean they leave us. Not really. They're still in here." She pointed to her heart. The Doctor remained silent, not quite meeting her eyes, but nodded slightly.

"Yeah" he said, swallowing.

Hermione, Ron and Harry watched the scene with fascination. These strangers has only just met, yet they treated each other like kindred spirits. To break the emotional tension, Ron piped up.

"Right, so. You two got a mission or something? Are you gonna overthrow Umbridge?"

he became quite excited at the thought. The Doctor shook his head, smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry Ron. Nothing that amazing. I'm here to investigate how Lyra ended up in this universe."

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked slightly disappointed, but tried to hide it. Changing tact, he turned back to Lyra.

"Lyra, where did you appear from? Maybe there'll still be traces of voidstuff coming from there that I could -"

"I found her in the dungeons. Why, d'you think the slytherins could have anything to do with it?" Harry asked.

The Doctor scoffed.

"No offence, I know Slytherins are supposed to be cunning and everything, but I don't think they'd be able to open the breach. Too narrow minded, y'see."

Hermione stepped forward. "But what would a breach be doing in Hogwarts? And does it even need to be closed? I mean, we could explore different universes!"

"No!" The Doctor and Lyra cried together.

"They've all got to be closed! If not, Dust will flow out of everything! We can't let that happen. After everything we fought for!" Pan exclaimed.

"They leave holes in the fabric of reality. It's dangerous to even be near the void. We've got to close it. Forever." The Doctor said, with a note of finality in his voice. Lyra nodded, understanding.

"We've got to go home Pan. We'll see Will and Kirjava, some day."

"I know."

The Doctor pretended not to hear their ushered conversation.

"So, how do you close a breach, Doctor? Maybe we could help." Harry offered his help.

The Doctor looked all three over.

"Listen, I'm sure you would help, but what happens if I'm caught? You'll be done for harbouring a fugitive. I don't want to risk that. Lyra will come with me, but only because she has too."

"But Doctor, how are you gonna find your way around? You didn't even know this was Hogwarts when you arrived! At least take the invisibility cloak."

Harry took out the cloak from his bag, and handed it to the Doctor.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione whispered urgently.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." He whispered back. He held out the cloak.

"Well? You gonna take it?" The Doctor looked perplexed.

" An invisibility cloak? Are you kidding? That's brilliant!" He exclaimed. He urged Lyra to come and have a look.

"Lyra, look! Wow, the amount of times I could've done with one of these." He held it over his hands, stroking the velvet-but-not-quite-velvet over and over again. Lyra looked at it, unimpressed.

"It's just a cloak, ain't it?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her.

"You think?" He tried on the cloak. His whole body vanished, apart from his head, and his long legs poking out the bottom. Lyra's eyes widened.

"Ok, that's not any old cloak. That's amazing!" Harry coughed.

"Now can we help?" he asked, half a grin on his face. Before the Doctor could answer, Lyra cut in immediately, grinning.

"Definitely!"