Some of you may be getting suspicious. To those that aren't, you should be!
Hee hee, anyway, there are more hints towards the main foe in this chapter, but cheer up! By next chapter it's Christmas!
Quick, excited, the newly released Draco, and the keen Harry, ran through the dark, night-time corridors of Hogwarts. "The mirror's this way!" Harry whispered back, grinning. Draco nodded, silent, running slightly jerky.
After several minutes, they burst into the room. The Mirror of Erised stood there still, proud.
"There!" Harry pointed, excited, "He's just there!"
Draco didn't speak, instead just tilting his head. His eyes bore into the glass of the mirror, as if he was trying to break the glass by force of will. Confused, Harry looked between his friend and the mirror, trying to figure out what was going on. All he could see was the Dark Lord standing there, almost proud.
"W-what is this?" Draco turned, a little slower than one would expect from a shocked person
"Him," Harry whispered, almost awed, looking reverently at the glass
"You see- Voldemort? I just see…" Draco paused, "What do you think it shows?"
"The Dark Lord," the black haired boy's whisper was simple
"Not for me," Draco shot another glance at the mirror. Worry was visible in his movements, and yet some kind of blessed bliss was viewable in his eyes.
"What'd you see?"
"Just," Draco paused imperceptibly, "And a friend."
"Who? Pansy?" Harry's voice took on a slightly mocking tone as he named the Slytherin female student
"Close," Draco snorted. Taking one more, haunted, look back at the mirror, he span around and strode out the room.
O
"Thank you," Dumbledore stood up, looking over the Hogwarts Staff Room. All the teachers sat around the table, with the headmaster, quite naturally, at the head. "Today as you know, is the day the Young were found after the Founding of Hogwarts."
The Doctor sat up at the unfamiliar event.
"In honour of them, this anniversary, there is to be a two minute silence, one for each of them. That is all. You will know when."
Dumbledore kindly ended the meeting. As the teachers trekked out the Doctor stood up and quickly ran over to the headmaster
"Albus!" he sounded surprised, "You don't mind if I call you Albus? Oh, who am I kidding, that's hardly important, D- nah, Dumbledore's a mouthful, and 'sir' is too military. I'll go for Albus, so, Albus," the Doctor finished dithering, meeting eyes with the headmaster's twinkling eyes
"Yes Doctor?"
"These Young, I've never heard of them, and I should've if they're annual, they are annual? Sounds it, if you're celebrating an anniversary."
"Yes, the remembrance is yearly. And may I remind you that your knowledge of our school comes only from the books, it is most unlikely all details would be included."
"I know, "the Doctor blinked, "It really feels wrong though. What is it anyway?"
"When Hogwarts was founded, "Dumbledore paused, thinking of the best way to continue, "The Four Founders found three teenagers said to be wandering around the castle. To this day we do not know where the three came from, and we remember them as best we can. Some call them the Lost, there is no data suggesting they ever existed before the instant they were found."
"Sounds spooky, I like spooky, "the Doctor grinned, before frowning, "Hang on, you said three? But it's only a two minute silence-"
"It is three minutes, as I said in the meeting. One for each of the Lost."
"What?" the Doctor looked momentarily confused, before banging his palm to his head, "Of course! Someone's changing your timeline, have to be some changes somewhere. Of course you can't see them, it's your timeline, but I'm an outsider, changes are easy to find."
O
"You're not what I expected," Draco Malfoy kicked backwards.
The blonde was laying on an emerald green duvet in the Slytherin dormitories, head on a propped-upright, crisp white pillow. A golden 'S' was stitched lower down the sheet. He was dressed in his normal robes, a smart black. Laying just beside the bed, on the floor, Harry Potter rested, waving his wand unconsciously, manipulating a snakelike strand of smoke.
"Let me guess," Harry sighed, "Boy Who Lived in Slytherin, parseltongue. You're not the only one."
"I'm sorry, alright?" Draco replied, full of angst for a moment.
No reply.
The trail of smoke summoned by Harry's wand twirled a tad faster, fuelled by frustration. The upper tip of it expanded, forming a hazy outline of a snake's head, beady eyes glaring, forked tongue flicking, all for the brief moment it existed.
"What happened to you anyway?" Harry spoke up.
"Hospital wing?" Draco queried, "Everyone's asking. How am I meant to know? Not like I was conscious a lot of the time."
"You just collapsed in lesson."
"Then that's what happened. I can't even remember that." He shrugged, not really caring.
O
Snape paced around the walls of the storage room. Few people ever came this far down in the dungeons, and coupled with the locked door, that made it an ideal place to hide any artefacts or items you didn't want people finding.
Currently, the room stored the disfigured, coarse rock that had been found in the hallway a while ago. The Doctor had insisted it be kept, though he hadn't visited the place for quite some time.
Severus Snape tentatively moved closer. He wasn't sure why he felt so nervous; the rock seemed to emanate a feeling of disquiet, even though it was a simple, disfigured grey, it was just…odd, unnatural.
Cleaning house. Too much mess was being spread through the school since the Doctor's arrival, he seemed to treat the place like a playground, leaving 'toys' and things strewn everywhere. Most of the students seemed to like him, and yes, there was something likeable about him, still, even the most likeable person could become infuriatingly irritating.
And to help clean house, this storage room should be freed up. Now he was here though, Snape just didn't fell willing to go near the stone. Well, there were other ways.
A noise not unlike a swish of air echoed behind the teacher. Snape span around, catching for the briefest instant, the noise of something being scraped along stone. However, there was nothing behind Severus. He turned around, facing the stone again, and yet he couldn't rid himself of the prickling feeling on the back of his neck; as if he was being watched.
"Reducto!" Snape cut his wand through the air, sending a violent flash of magic through the shadows. The spell contacted the stone, and dissipated almost instantly.
The prickling on the back of his neck intensified.
"Reducto!" Snape shouted again, vicious scowl on his lips as the spell failed again.
Whatever it was, this was no normal stone. Otherwise it would've shattered to little more than dust, especially with the force behind that spell.
He turned, striding confidently out the room, feeling watched, and yet when he looked, nothing was there.
O
"You know what I'm wondering about?" Draco restarted the conversation, still lying back idly
"What?"
"That three-headed dog you saw. Not the sort of thing they'd keep in a school."
"In this place?" Harry shrugged, "Not sure if there's much they wouldn't do. A giant brought me shopping."
"Giant?" Draco paused, "You mean Hagrid? That oaf huh?"
"Yeah," Harry gave a scornful laugh, "he said the two safest places to put stuff were Gringotts and Hogwarts."
"Goblins or dogs, some choice."
"Hagrid took something out of Gringotts, a tiny bag."
"And he must've moved it here. A guard dog, nice thought Potter."
The students were silent for a little while, thinking about, not only what the three-headed dog entailed, but what was within the bag. Something precious, something valuable definitely.
"A treasure that needs more protection than Gringotts," Draco muttered to himself, "You should know what I'm thinking."
"Nab it?" Harry asked, sarcastically curious. His fingers delved into his pocket, playing a little with the key he'd pick pocketed from the Doctor.
"Definitely."
O
Luna Lovegood wandered down the corridor, in her own world as always. Her bag was heavier than it strictly should have been, but she didn't mind. Her jewellery, most for superstition's sake, jangled a little, her bracelet with two spheres, one silver, one gold, hanging down on a tiny little string, chiming against each other. Around her thin neck, an orange chain was fastened going down to some plastic representation of a clove of garlic. To finish the look, hooked over a pocket of her beige bag, bright purple sunglasses rested, the lenses of which shimmered with a magical light.
Half-skipping, she continued down the corridor, carefree.
Slam.
She span around, drawn out of her reverie by the sudden noise. Mouth quirked into a smile, Luna wandered back along the floor. Something had sealed the door shut. Strange.
Shrugging, she turned to wander back down the corridor, however, she stopped after just one step. Something else was on the empty path now; this stretch of the castle was rarely populated, Luna only used it to avoid the bullies. Now though, the pale blonde stood opposite something very, very unusual.
She walked up to it, curious, mildly tense, examining the oddity with wide, unblinking eyes. Frowning, her gaze went up the unexpected figure, beholding, after a few seconds, terror.
She backed away, looking wildly from side to side, suddenly afraid, her bracelets jangling.
A harsh pressure on her shoulder, her neck, then nothing.
O
The headmaster's office was tranquil for a moment. Fawkes the phoenix was just past its prime, flaming feathers faded, and it was resting against its perch. A glittering eye reflected the other two occupants of the office: Dumbledore and the Doctor.
As the phoenix watched, another entered, the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch.
"Headmaster," Filch gave a little bow, "Two students have been reported missing."
"Who?" Dumbledore's expression turned instantly from one of a kind bemusement at the Doctor, to one more akin to a thunderclap, out of place on the old, wise face.
"A Ravenclaw First Year called Luna Lovegood, and a Gryffindor First Year, Ronald Weasley. They didn't turn up to lessons and no one has seen them since."
"Thank you Argus," Dumbledore nodded
"You're welcome headmaster," the caretaker nodded hastily, before quickly pacing out of the room.
"Ah, it's like a Baxter," the Doctor chuckled to himself as soon as the caretaker was out of hearing range
Dumbledore turned, curious
"A Baxter?" the Doctor interpreted the wizard's expression, "Computer from the future, tiny little time travelling particles in it, in the first second, splits up any problem you give to it, and send the result back in time, then solve it bit by bit by tiny little bit, messaging its progress back to itself in the past. Solves a problem in literally no time; and the really quirky thing," the Doctor's expression brightened, "They were never used at all, as soon as it calculates an answer, it's unnecessary. Billions of them out there, helped save a whole planet, but they were never used, isn't that brilliant?"
"How is that relevant?" Dumbledore's tone was one of curiosity
"It's a cool story," the Doctor shrugged, "And makes no sense. Bit like the disappearances. Students don't just vanish, if that was the temporal anomaly we wouldn't even be able to remember them, but if it's some intruder, like what affected Draco, then it should be keeping a low profile, not being seen. Not attacking almost defenceless First Years, unless…"
The Doctor's voice trailed off, appalled. His expression cycled through several different moods: angry, triumphant, curiosity, thoughtful, even scared, in a split second, before finally settling on one of loss.
"Unless…it had to," Dumbledore whispered, finishing the Time Lord's thought
The Doctor looked up, speaking in little more than a croak. "Unless it was feeding."