The Doctor, Harry and Ron all twisted in their seats to observe the fireplace. The red and gold flames twinkled merrily back at them.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione. 'There's nothing wrong with the fire!'

Hermione insisted that there was. 'It went all green – like – like someone just flooed in it.'

'Flooed?' The Doctor looked bewildered.

'Travelling by fire,' Ron explained quickly, 'Anyway, Hermione, if someone had just waltzed in or out of that fire we'd have noticed.'

A cushion fell off a chair near the window. It was a nicely embroidered red and yellow silk cushion. Not looking convinced, Hermione stood up to replace it in the seat. She glanced out of the window holding the silk cushion, then did a double take.

'What is it?' said Harry.

'Oh, it's just – it's snowing!'

They all clambered over to the window eagerly for a look. Snow was wandering to the ground in a curving and juddering path.

The Doctor gazed outside. There was something wrong, he knew it. Oak trees, boys toilets, all normal. Normal as the fact that Arginsargatron's sky was a curious shade of zipingraw. Then he knew –

'My Tardis!' he shouted, causing the other three to jump an undetermined height in the air.

'What?'

'The Tardis! I parked it there! It's gone! Where is it?'

'You parked your Tardis next to some toilets?' Ron asked curiously. Harry and Hermione each stamped on one of his feet simultaneously. Ron yelped.

The Doctor was hardly listening. He paced up and down the room, thinking furiously. He had a theory as to where his old time machine had gone. He just hoped he was wrong.

'Let's… go out and search for it,' The Time Lord finally said.

The others agreed, and hastily made their way down the stairs and outside. Harry noticed that The Doctor seemed to glance over his shoulder a lot. He did not blame him. He himself had the strange feeling they were being followed. However, last time he had thought this he had been spectacularly wrong.

Pulling open the huge wooden doors with intricate patterns of flowers carved into the wood, they stepped out into the increasingly snowy grounds.

'Oh.'

The four of them realised at the same time that none of them had jackets on. Even the doctor had undonned (is that a word?) his big swishy dramatic coat in the Common room. Harry shivered as a breeze swept past them and Hermione dug her hands into her pockets.

For a moment they all looked at each other blankly, then they sprang into action and charged to the spot they had seen when looking out of the window.

Staring numbly at the flattened imprint on the ground , the four of them all waited for one of the other three to have a brainwave. It didn't happen.

'Me and Ron will go and search for it… over there,' said Hermione firmly.

'Will we?' said Ron.

'Yes, we will,' muttered Hermione, pinching him hard. She grabbed his arm and pulled him over behind the trees nearby.

'Um,' said Harry. A torrent of insults could be heard streaming from the trees like a river of words. Harry gathered that Ron had just walked into an aforementioned tree. The cries faded away as the pair walked further away.

Pop.

Vroom…vroom….vroom….

Bang! The door opens.

He disillusions.

Confusion.

'Duck!'

'Avada Kedavra!'

'EXTERMINATE!'

'Oh please.'

'Oh, great.'

So many alerts and favoriting of this story yet no reviews…

Crackiness begins once and for all next chapter, mwahhahaha.