Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who
That night the TARDIS materialized in a maintenance closet in the school. With the building seemingly empty it was the perfect time for the Doctor and his companions to investigate. Stepping out of the TARDIS the Time Lord addresses Harry, Rose, and Mikey.
"All right, team. Oh, I hate people who say team. Er, gang. Er, comrades. Anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths department. I'm going to take Harry and look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes." The two Time Lords then left to begin their investigation.
"You going to be all right?" Rose asked Mickey.
"Me? Please. Infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this." Mickey then left to prove his point leaving Rose to simply hope he could stay out of trouble. But seconds later Mickey returned as he'd forgotten a very important detail. "Where's the Maths department?"
"Down there, turn left, through the fire doors, on the right." With a quick thanks Mickey left once again leaving Rose shaking her head in amusement.
The Doctor wasn't the only one planning to investigate the school as Sarah Jane was also in the school. She silently moved through the building until she heard high pitch screeches overhead in the darkness. Not eager to meet whatever made that noise, Sarah Jane ducked into a nearby storeroom and waited to see if whatever creature she was dealing with would come back.
"Hello Sarah Jane" She spun around and was shocked to see a very familiar blue police box and the brown haired silly man that'd she had spoken to earlier.
John Smith. And like that everything clicked into place. "It's you. Oh, Doctor Oh, my God, it's you, isn't it. You've regenerated."
"Yeah. Half a dozen times since we last met." The Doctor confirmed, relieved that his friend accepted his new form so quickly.
"So this is her Dad?" asked Harry, coming out from behind the elder Time Lord. "Sarah Jane Smith."
"Dad? You're a father now. That's wonderful." Taking closer look at the little boy she couldn't help but recognize Harry's resemblance to his birth father.
"Yeah I adopted him" said the Doctor, not surprised that Sarah Jane recognized Harry as the biological son of James Potter.
"From godfather to dad. Lily certainly chose well." Sarah Jane thought it was just like the Doctor step up when somebody needed him. "What're you doing here?"
"Well, UFO sighting, school gets record results. I couldn't resist. What about you?"
"The same. I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must have died."
"I lived. Everyone else died" said the Time Lord, a hint of pain in his voice.
"What do you mean?" Sarah Jane didn't want to believe that the worse had happened, she didn't want to believe that the Doctor could be so alone.
"Everyone died, Sarah."
"I can't believe it's you." Sarah Jane gasped, overwhelmed by their reunion and what she'd learned about the fate of Gallifrey. A smile came to her face as she saw Harry grip the Doctor's hand in comfort. I hope you're watching Lily because you'd be so proud. Little Harry will be sure to take care of our favorite Time Lord.
"You know, dad's been wanting to visit you forever" said Harry, much to his father's embarrassment.
"Really?" Sarah Jane asked, part of her was afraid the Doctor had chosen to forget about her.
"Yeah, mum and I kept trying to get him to visit you but he was too stubborn."
"Oh that I believe" she laughed. "The Doctor's fourth incarnation would sometimes drive Lily and me nuts." It was comforting to know that the Time Lord hadn't chosen to abandon their friendship. It was clear that whatever he'd gone through after she'd last seen him had deeply hurt the Doctor making him feel that he couldn't visit her. "So what's this about a mum?"
"Um, well uh" the Doctor stuttered for once unable to find words, when he was saved by a high pitched scream.
"Okay, now I know it's you." Sarah Jane smirked, the Doctor then grabbed Harry and Sarah Jane by their hands and led them in the direction of what he suspected to be Mickey screaming like a little girl.
As they ran through the halls they soon ran into Rose, who was surprised to see a random woman with her son and the Doctor.
"Oh hello, you must be Harry's mother" greeted Sarah Jane.
"Um yes I am" said Rose, surprised by the friendly greeting.
"Mum, this is Sarah Jane Smith." Harry explained.
"Oh, I heard so much about you and Harry's mum" Rose gasped. Honestly she was curious what kind of woman a former companion of the Doctor would be and Sarah Jane, who seemed to just ooze confidence and capability certainly met her standards.
"I know, Harry told me. Believe me I understand just how stubborn the Doctor can be."
"Um, yeah screaming remember?" said the Doctor, reminding the women and providing an escape from more possible embarrassing comments from his son.
Arriving to the source of the screaming the group found Mickey standing under the light of a storage closet surrounded by plastic bags.
"Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboards and all of these fell on me." Mickey explained trying to hold onto what's left of his dignity.
"Oh, my God, they're rats. Dozens of rats. Vacuum packed rats." Rose noted, having examined the dropped plastic packages.
"And you decided to scream" the Doctor chastised.
"It took me by surprise!"
"Like a little girl?" Harry giggled.
"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"
"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt" said the Doctor joining in the fun of teasing Mickey.
"Hello, can we focus?" Rose chastised "Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?"
"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them" said Sarah Jane.
"No they don't dissect rats in schools anymore. They haven't done that for years."
"Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office." Harry suggested.
"Brilliant Harry" the Doctor praised, leading the way to headmaster's office.
"He really is like a mini Doctor isn't he?" Sarah Janes notes.
"He is" Rose agrees with what Sarah Janes considers a mother's pride. "He makes me wonder if that's what the Doctor was like as a kid."
"So if you're Harry's mother, are you and the Doctor….."
"Oh, oh no. I was just there when the Doctor adopted Harry and agreed to help raise him." Sarah Jane just smirked at Rose's response. Clearly the younger woman had feelings for the Time Lord though Sarah knew how dense the Doctor could be in recognizing such things.
Finding the headmaster's door locked, the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver.
"Maybe those rats were food."
"Food for what?" asked Rose, as the Doctor opened the office door.
"Rose, you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school? Well, they do." The group was shocked to find giant bats hanging from the ceiling.
"No way!" in a panic Mickey rushed out of the office, followed by the Doctor, Rose, Sarah Jane, and Harry at a much calmer pace. But what they didn't know was one of the bat creatures had awoken, clearly interested in their intruders.
It was outside the school where the group caught up with an out of breath Mickey, who wheezed out. "I am not going back in there. No way."
"Those were teachers" said Rose in disbelief.
"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on" said the Doctor, obviously unafraid and wanting to get back inside to find out what's been happening.
"Come on? You've got to be kidding!" Mickey whined to the group.
"I need the Tardis. I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen."
"I might be able to help you there" said Sarah Jane. "I've got something to show you" Intrigued the group followed Sarah Jane to her car, where she proudly opened the boot and pulled off a blanket draped over something very important to the Doctor's past.
"K9!" Harry Potter, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K9 Mark Three to be precise."
"Why does he look so disco?" asked Rose, confused as to why it looked like it was from the 70s. Though it was clearly more advanced than anything 70s Earth would've been capable of.
"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge" the Doctor defended. "What's happened to him?"
"Oh, one day, he just, nothing." Sarah Jane mourned.
"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?"
"Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro. Besides the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone." Honestly no matter the incarnation, the Doctor could still be absentminded. Part of Sarah Jane wondered if he sometimes forgot what technology was available in each century.
"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you, eh?" the Doctor asked in a silly voice, the kind one would speak to a real dog in.
"Look, no offence, but could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog. We're busy" said Rose. Honestly she was glad the Doctor was finally seeing his old friend but they needed to remember their situation. With the TARDIS currently in enemy territory it would be rather difficult to reach her, but it'd be a simple matter to fix K9 so the group moved to a nearby coffee shop to do just that.
"So she traveled with the Doctor and Harry's mum?" asked Mickey, as he and Rose purchased fish and chips for the group.
"Yeah, the Doctor told us about them." Rose confirmed but Mickey could tell something was bothering her.
"What you jealous? You knew the Doctor had other companions."
"It's not that. Just forget it alright." Rose quickly paid for the meal and joined the waiting Harry at their table.
"You know I just noticed. Harry gets older but you still look the same as before."
"Thanks for the compliment" the blonde replied, thinking Mickey was just being nice. But now that she thought about it, the Doctor had finally told her about the Bad Wolf could that have done more than they realized.
Meanwhile as the others ate, Sarah Jane and the Doctor were catching up as the Time Lord worked on repairing her robot dog.
"I thought of you on Christmas Day. This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead. I thought, oh yeah, bet he's up there"
"Right on top of it, yeah" the Doctor confirmed. "Shortly before we picked up Harry."
"Did I do something wrong, because you never came back for me. You just dumped me." the Time Lord mentally cringed; he hadn't wanted to talk about this.
"I told you. I was called back home and in those days humans weren't allowed."
"I waited for you. I missed you" Sarah Jane said sincerely.
"Oh, you didn't need me. You were getting on with your life."
"You were my life." The Doctor was taken aback and chose to retreat into his work. "You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that?"
"All those things you saw, do you want me to apologize for that?"
"No, but we get a taste of that splendor and then we have to go back."
"Look at you, you're investigating. You found that school. You're doing what we always did" the Time Lord said proudly. He was so proud of Sarah Jane and wished she could see just how far she's come.
"You could've come back."
"I couldn't."
"Why not? Rose and Harry thought it was a good idea." But the Doctor remained silent wanting to change the subject, which Sarah Jane did knowing how stubborn the Time Lord could be.
"It wasn't Croydon. Where you dropped me off, that wasn't Croydon."
"Where was it?"
"Aberdeen."
"Right. That's next to Croydon, isn't it?" the Doctor asked sheepishly, though he knew full well the answer was no. Sarah Jane only shook her head in amusement as the Doctor finishes repairing her beloved pet. "Oh, hey. Now we're in business."
"Master" K9 greets recognizing the Time Lord immediately.
"He recognizes me."
"Affirmative."
"Rose, give us the oil."
"I wouldn't touch it, though" Rose cautions. "That dinner lady got all scorched."
"I'm no dinner lady. And I don't often say that." The Doctor then smeared the oil on K9's probe. "Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go."
"Oil. Ex ex ex extract. Ana ana analyzing" said the metal dog with a stutter.
"Listen to him, man. That's a voice." Mickey laughed.
"Careful. That's my dog." Sarah Jane snapped, not liking anyone pocking fun at her best and oldest friend.
"Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil." K9 informs.
"They're Krillitanes" said the Doctor, pondering what that could mean for them.
"Is that bad?" asked Harry, not familiar with that species.
"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad."
"And what are Krillitanes?" asked Sarah Jane.
"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why I didn't recognise them. The last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks" the Doctor explained.
"What're they doing here?" Rose questioned.
"It's the children. They're doing something to the children." The Time Lord hissed.
Not wanting to leave the TARDIS in enemy hands the Doctor called for the group to get ready to move out. With K9's self-repair circuits now up and working, Sarah and Mickey placed the robot dog back in her car.
"So what's the deal with the tin dog?" asked Mickey.
"The Doctor likes travelling with an entourage. Sometimes they're humans, sometimes they're aliens, and sometimes they're tin dogs. What about you? Where do you fit in the picture?" asked Sarah Jane wanting to understand the Doctor's current situation.
"Me? I'm their Man in Havana. I'm the technical support. I'm Harry's babysitter. Oh, my God. I'm the tin dog." Mickey sat down on the boot of Sarah Jane's car to absorb this information. Sympathetically Sarah Jane patted the poor man's arm.
Evil eyes watched as the Doctor, Rose, and Harry exited the coffee shop.
"So why haven't you wanted to visit Sarah Jane?" asked Rose. "It seems like you two were really close."
"Does it matter?" the Doctor asked defensively.
"Yeah it does, if I'm just the latest in a long line."
"As opposed to what?"
"I need to know Doctor. You just left Sarah Jane behind, is that what you're going to do to me?"
"No. Not to you." Harry wasn't entirely sure what his parents were talking about but from the looks in their eyes, he could tell it was important and decided to walk ahead to give them some privacy.
"But Sarah Jane? You were that close to her once, and now you didn't even want to see her. Why not?" asked Rose
"I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you…."
"What Doctor?"
"You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords."
"Well, Mr. Time Lord, Mickey noticed that despite Harry ages three years I haven't changed in the slightest." This stunned the Doctor since he spent every day with her, he hadn't noticed that Rose wasn't changing. She doesn't feel wrong like Jack did. Is this the Bad Wolf?
Finch had followed the Doctor's group from the school and had spied upon them from a far. Listening to the Doctor and Rose's conversation he heard the man identify himself as a Time Lord. If the man was indeed a Time Lord then depending on his intentions this could be either beneficial or a significant threat. And then he saw him, the boy the Doctor had identified as his son another Time Lord perhaps.
Seeing opportunity the giant bat alien swoops down causing Rose and the Doctor to duck for safety. The evil monster then flew off having sent his message.
"Was that a Krillitane?" asked Sarah Jane, running up to check on her friends.
"But it didn't even touch us. It just flew off. What did it do that for?" Rose questioned.
"No, he didn't just fly off" the Doctor hissed, the rage of the oncoming storm building within him. "He wants us to stay away and took Harry to make sure."
"No" Rose gasped, it was true that monster had taken her son.
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