Here's the next chapter.
Looks like a few people have suspicions. I was actually going to reveal the monsters last chapter, but there were a couple of other bits I wanted to include, and that made it a bit too long. So instead, I cut a couple of bits out, put them in this chapter instead, and delayed the revelation. Oh well.
Anyway, enjoy!
Hogwarts staff room. The teachers were sitting down, sipping tea in Lupin's and the Doctor's case. The rest were quiet, not from a lack of anything to talk about, but a lack of anything to do about it.
Out the window, Dementors could be seen, flying dangerously close to the castle. A few talented prefects had been taught the Patronus charm, and were now engaged in, with difficulty, repelling the fiends. Some teachers helped; only Snape, Dumbledore, Lupin, McGonagall and Hagrid did not, and they were all in the staff room.
"You know what I think?" the Doctor began
"Must we?" Snape sighed, exasperated, "Do you know what's happening?" the potions master said it more like an accusation than a question
"No," the Time Lord paused, "Well, yes. Well, no again. Kind of. I've got an idea, I just hope I'm wrong," his voice cracked a little, "Which means I'm probably not."
"What would you advise?" Dumbledore asked politely
"Ah, yes, that," the Doctor stood up, pacing. "First," he counted on his fingers, "Do not leave the castle. Third," he frowned, looking at his fingers, "No, second, be careful of the Dementors, we're missing something. And third."
At that, he paused, looking around, haunted, contemplative.
"Yes?" Remus prompted.
The Doctor was still silent, looking out the window into the driving rain, a few moments passing before he spoke again: "Stay out of the shadows."
O
As the class trickled into Potions, the first thing they noticed was the light. The room was much brighter than the normal, dingy torches; the room was now illuminated by several spheres, hovering midair and emitting a glow.
Harry, Ron, Hermione Draco, Crabbe and Goyle trekked into one row, cauldrons lined up in front of them. They fell into silence as Snape strode up to the centre of class.
"Due to…unforeseen circumstances, you have all missed our last lesson. That does not mean things will be easy: I fully expect each and every one of you to catch up," the pale skinned man surveyed the class, "This lesson, we will be creating a shrinking solution. You will find the instructions in your books. You have one hour. Begin."
Snape finished his command coldly, sitting down, turning over an hour glass with magic. He said nothing of the new illumination, which banished all shadows from the dungeon, yet he seemed somehow irritated by it.
The students queued, collecting the ingredients they needed. Harry arranged the ones he'd collected on a table near his cauldron, preparing them neatly, as specified. Upon looking up, he saw Hermione had already started.
"Sir," Draco drawled, "I'll need some help skinning this shrivel-fig, my neck…" he trailed off, his pitiful excuse left unfinished.
"Potter," Snape stared over his hooked nose at the Boy Who Lived, "You can help."
The teacher looked down again, indifferent.
Smarting at the injustice of it, Harry moved over to Malfoy's table, taking the shrivel-fig and beginning to quickly skin it.
"You really fainted on the train, huh Potter?" Draco whispered, jeering
"Shut it, Malfoy," Harry muttered, "Your neck doesn't stop you using your hands."
"Yeah, well," Draco shrugged, "I wanted to talk to you."
Harry looked up, surprised; "Yeah? About what?"
"The Dementor on the train, did you really-"
"Shut it, Malfoy," Harry repeated
"Don't be like that," the Slytherin rolled his eyes, "Here, look," he lifted his chin, exposing his pale neck to the air. A thick, jagged scar ran across the flesh, still vivid even after Madam Pomfrey's magical healing; "A Dementor did that to me."
Harry's eyes widened, appalled by the harm.
"Those things creep me out," Malfoy muttered, "Don't think you're the only one."
O
The Doctor had created a long, elaborate, chaotic contraption out of string, wire, and a TARDIS key, in Dumbledore's Office. With a grin, he pointed the sonic screwdriver at it.
A very, very faint echo of the TARDIS groaning sounded once, distant, muffled. Still, it was definitely there. A telltale sign; it was working. Eventually, the TARDIS would be called here, with Amy and Rory.
"Hello," he spoke into a mobile phone, bubbling, "Amy?"
"Doctor?" her surprised voice came from the other end, "What happened? Where did you go? What was that light? Did the fashion agency finally get you?"
The Doctor winced, holding the phone a few centimetres from his ear as the Scottish redhead babbled on
"No, no, nothing like that," he interrupted after a few moments, before frowning, "What do you mean, fashion agency?"
"Bow tie," Amy said it like a plea, "Really? Still?"
"Bow ties are cool," the Doctor protested.
"Yeah, right," she wasn't convinced, "So where are you?"
"Hogwarts," the Doctor grinned.
"Again?" Amy sighed, despairingly, "What's happened now?"
"You know, I'm not totally sure," the Doctor frowned, "But I'm suspicious. I'm calling you here, but while I do, that, I need you to run a check on something in the TARDIS database. All inhabitants of the Forbidden Forest."
O
Remus Lupin was sat in his office, restful. It was a full moon; he wanted to hold back from any exertions, so he'd be more able to resist, with the aid of Snape's potion, his werewolf side. He didn't want to lose control.
A fish tank rested on a podium, just opposite him. Saucer-like eyes stared out of it.
The wide glare made Lupin shiver; it made him think. The eyes watched, unblinking.
He felt guilty, no use denying it. He was a werewolf; every month he'd lose control of himself, become a monster, and if it wasn't for the complex potion he took every full moon, he'd do such irreparable harm to Hogwarts. Did he have the right to keep that from the students?
He had to. If he didn't, no doubt they'd be protests. Yet, still, he felt guilty about it.
"Hello again," the Doctor's head popped out from just above the fish tank. The brown haired man paused for a moment, frowning, looking down into the misted tank. "hello there too," he crooned at the creature
"Hello Doctor," Remus sighed
"Oh, hello again," the Doctor bounded up, skipping over to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. "You look upset."
"Do I?" Remus made a stab at dry humour, before giving up, "I don't like keeping secrets, ironically. When Lily and James needed a Secret-Keeper, there's a reason I wasn't considered. I couldn't take it," Lupin gave a mildly bitter chuckle, "Though I would have done better than Sirius."
"Don't bet on it," the Doctor replied
"Was that meant to be a compliment?" Lupin frowned at the Time Lord
"Kind of, yeah," the Doctor shrugged, "Is it really that easy to believe Sirius betrayed you?"
"No, it's not," Lupin's face tensed for a moment, a wolfish pang passing through him. It was close to sunset. "I thought I knew him; evidently not."
"Everyone has secrets," the Doctor said after a few seconds, catching Lupin momentarily off-guard at the subject return, "Believe me on that much. I'm not human; and I really shouldn't be saying this either. Well, it's not the worst thing, if I'm right. Anyway, don't forget Remus, no one's free of secrets."
"Well, it does explain some things," those were the werewolf's only response to the Doctor's revelation. He didn't seem at all fazed.
The Time Lord nodded, smiling at the teacher. Remus smiled back.
O
The Doctor sat opposite Dumbledore, watching the faint outline of the TARDIS grow, very gradually, stronger, more pronounced. It would still be quite some time before it successfully landed in the magic-rich environment of Hogwarts.
"The students are not happy," Dumbledore sighed, "Many of them were looking forward to Hogsmeade; that has been taken from them."
"No choice," the Doctor slumped, upset with himself as much as anything, "There really wasn't. Hopefully I'm wrong, for once, and we can all go back to boring old normal, but if I'm not, we really shouldn't risk it."
"It will not be long until another attempts to flee, as Draco did. I fear we may not save this one." Dumbledore stroked his beard gently.
The helplessness had paralyzed the Doctor; the Time Lord struggled against unseen restraints from his chair, saddened by the sanctions he had been forced to make.
"It's this or run," the Doctor murmured, "I like running."
Imprisonment was not a good thing; yet that's what he was doing. At least, that's what it felt like. Despite his defence of the action, he wasn't entirely happy about it.
Keep all students in Hogwarts: no trips to Hogsmeade, nothing.
For once, he found himself hoping that he was mistaken. If the creature, the race, 'possessing' the Dementors wasn't who he thought they were, then things would be a whole lot safer.
Ring.
The Doctor blinked suddenly, flicking a mobile phone out from his pocket; one powered by the same means as his adapted screwdriver, by the magic in the air. Grinning tensely, he spoke a greeting into it.
"Doctor?" Amy's voice carried through it, "Please tell me you can narrow it down. A lot of things live in the Forest."
"Just read through from the end," the Doctor frowned, "No, wait," he lifted his screwdriver and buzzed it once, "There, now try the highlighted list."
"There is no highlighted list," Amy replied, exasperated
"Huh? Oh, wait a few seconds," the Doctor hummed to himself
"Still nothing," Amy muttered
"Not again," the Doctor sighed, "Signal must've been caught in the ketchup. Squirt some out."
"What." Amy stated, not even bothering to make it sound like a question.
"It's the ketchup!" the Doctor repeated, "Just push a little out of the dispenser, then read the highlighted list."
"Alright, Rory!" there was a moment of silence of Amy's end, before the clank of metal. A beep.
"Was that…Rory?" the Doctor frowned, "Why's he clanking? Is he in that Roman armour again?"
A moment of silence.
"Anyway," Amy coughed, "The list."
The Doctor frowned, listening as the redhead spoke. Sometimes he nodded, smiling, while other times he mumbled to himself, brow creased.
"That's all then?" the Doctor said, after a few minutes
"Yeah," Amy answered from within the TARDIS. "Doctor, is that good or bad?"
"Oh, it's good," the Doctor paused, "Very, very good." His voice wasn't convincing.
The Time Lord frowned, one hand holding up the phone, while the other played with his sonic screwdriver, twirling it between his fingers.
Quietly breathing, sadness in his eyes, he pointed it at the translucent TARDIS, slowly being drawn to Hogwarts. Click. Buzz. A muted glimmer of green; a ripple passed through the box.
"Doctor?" Amy's voice sounded through the phone, as the TARDIS grew gradually more transparent, "What was that? The whole place just shook."
"Don't worry about it," the Doctor said, falsely cheerful, "A little turbulence; we get it a lot, didn't you notice? Might take you a little longer to get here though."
He disconnected the call quickly, pocketing the phone and the screwdriver. At least, now they'd be safe. Well, safer.
O
"I know who they are."
Hogwarts staff room once again. The senior teachers, as before, were sitting, the Doctor being the only one standing, speaking. Dumbledore suffered one Dementor to be permitted in the ground; it stood alone in the corner of the room, mottled flesh peering from behind its black cloak.
"The creatures who killed Rowena and who devour the Dementors, wearing the cloaks: they look like Dementors still, but they're not."
The dark fiend in the corner stared out, grey hand curling, tensing. It seemed as if its rags were floating in water; lightly staying up in the air, eerie, unnatural. The Dementor silently listened.
"Draco said he saw it; when one attacked him. Nothing actually in the cloak. Well, it would look like nothing. It was just shadow."
A second of silence. The teachers watched, taking in the Doctor's explanations. Subconsciously, their wands tended towards the Dementor, an instinctive fear of the blackness. It may or may not have noticed; but it did not react.
"They live in the Forest. Well, technically they live in all forests, but yours too. Only something's stirred them; my guess is the Dementors. They're, you're," he nodded towards the fiend, "Causing clouds, blocking the sunlight. They don't like the light. Too late to do anything about that now of course, anyway, they're hungry. They're always hungry."
The Dementor tensed upon receiving some of the blame; as if ready to leap forwards, take the Doctor in a fit of rage. But that fit soon passed; unnoticed. The robe concealed any and all emotion the emaciated beast within felt.
"Vashta-Nerada," the Doctor spoke the words, wincing as if they were upon him as he said their name.
"Shadows; the piranhas of the air, some people call them. Any shadow, any shadow at all, and they could be in it, watching, waiting. They eat meat. Humans and Dementor. They devour."
The Time Lord lifted his arms a little away, displaying helplessness, a semi-reluctance to divulge the information. It felt useless to be saying it.
"And…what would you advise we do?" Dumbledore was the first to speak, the first to recover from the Doctor's grim explanation.
"I don't know," the Time Lord replied helplessly.