Sorry about the long time between chapters. I've been really busy working on inventory and other things. Thanks for bearing with me! I finally got enough out for another chapter; hopefully, I can continue to work on this as I go. Let me know if you like it. As for now, allonsy!


I shut the doors and set about getting the TARDIS over to the castle. Kaal helped me steer him up onto a balcony on the castle. When we came out, a group of students saw us, dumbstruck looks on their faces.

"What?" I asked, locking the doors and pocketing the key.

"What is that thing?" one of them asked.

"It's a ship." I descended the stone stairs and walked into the castle.

"There's no way that's a ship. It's way too small," another one commented.

"Hey, don't talk about him like that," I said, slightly miffed. Aryn and Kaal were right behind me.

"It's a lot different than you would think," Kaal mentioned to them as we passed to get back to the Headmistress' office. The students glanced once more at us before walking off down the hallway muttering about crazy people.

Back in the office, the others and I slipped in quietly as Harry and Neville were still trying to formulate some tactics to use in protecting the castle. "We're going to have to cordon off the gardens, and post sentries at all the entrances to the school. Do you still have your map, Harry?"

Harry ran his hand through his already messed up hair, making it even more crazy than it was before. "I think it's still at the house; are you thinking they know about the secret passageways? Fred and George said most of them were blocked or no longer usable. There's only one that I would even consider putting anyone near." Neville spotted us.

"Chancellor, what are these Sontarans capable of creating?" I looked at him, my mind flitting through all the possibilities. "Could they potentially unblock old entrances and make the old passageways usable again?"

"Without a doubt," I promptly replied. Harry groaned.

"Son of—"

"But it doesn't mean we need to have all of them guarded." The entire group looked at me. Neville gestured for me to explain. "If we can find a way to funnel them into a specific room or hallway, it would help all of us in consolidating our resources. So instead of two people guarding one entrance, we can have two people guarding two or three, depending on where those entrances will funnel the Sontarans to."

Neville glanced at Harry, his eyebrow raised. "Well, Harry, Headmistress; will that be possible?" Harry looked at me with what appeared to be shrewdness. I could see that he was seriously considering my plan. "Harry?"

After a few more moments, Harry looked at Minerva. "Will we have access to the staircases for this plan to work?" The Headmistress just smiled, her eyes shining with hopefulness. "Well, that takes care of the secret entrances, but what about the rest of the Sontarans? What else can we do but guard the main exits? And what about the students, Minerva? You know we can't just evacuate everyone."

"But we can have them all in their dormitories with their respective House Heads. That should be sufficient, don't you think?"

"Depends on their movements and strategies. What I wouldn't give to know something about what's going on in those heads of theirs." Neville, Aryn and Kaal looked at me. Minerva caught them staring at me while I looked anywhere but at them.

"Well, there's no use in keeping secrets at this point, Chancellor, so you might as well let us know." I glared at the three. They looked completely nonplussed about it. Why couldn't they just leave me out of it and take care of it themselves? I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth.

"I have the ability to read minds," I said, watching the others' reactions. Harry didn't seem surprised, nor did the Headmistress. "You don't look very surprised."

"That's because witches and wizards have been known to do so as well; it just takes a huge amount of dark magic to perform it. And you're not from around here, so everything I've learned about you in the past hour seems ridiculous; why not this too? What else can you do, Chancellor?" Before I could expound or get anything else out, I heard a wheezing sound. The others heard it too, and were all trying to find out where it was coming from. There were a few groans, and I could see something fading in and out. That sound—it reminded me of something. I squinted at the thing; it looked nothing like anything I knew about. It was big, blue—and annoying. When it finally solidified, I could make out "Police Public Call Box" on the top. What in all of Gallifrey did that mean? I could hear voices inside, not really understanding anything that was said. Everyone looked at me, as if I somehow knew what this thing was. "Don't look at me; I've never seen this thing in my life," I told them, still eyeing the thing. The voices quieted, then the door opened. A head popped out, spiky hair accenting his face. A smirk adorned his lips as he came out further.

"Hello there, and who might you all be?" My hearts stopped. It was the same face the Daleks had seen. The one they were terrified of. My old friend, the Doctor. My grin must have intrigued the Doctor because he focused on me first. "Ah, I love to see people smiling, and your name is….?" he directed to me.

"That's not important; what is important is that you are here."

"Oh, so you know of me?"

"I know much more than that," I assured him. His eyes became cold at those words, though his face didn't change much. I could tell he was slightly concerned at my words. I wanted to tell him who I was, but now was not the time. The rest of the people in the room just stared at the two of us. "Doctor, we need your hel—"

"Help with what?" I heard behind him. I saw a red-head behind him, a shapely woman with plain features, but with a similar smirk to the Doctor's on her face. "What's going on, Doctor?" Aryn, Kaal, and Neville exchanged glances with me. They remembered his name from our conversation in the dream.

"This is him? This is the Doctor that you told us about?" Kaal asked me. "How would him being here help us? We've done well enough on our own without him."

"Oiy, I resent that, but why am I arguing with you? I just stepped out of a phone box, and you all act like I've seen you before. Or at least you do," he said, his brown eyes furrowed in confusion at me. "I've never seen you before, and yet you act like I used to be your best friend or something." I bit my lower lip, wondering if I should just tell him. He looked at my eyes, trying to see if he could recognize something—anything that was familiar. It had been too long for him to rightly remember anything about me. Impulsively, I grabbed his hand and marched towards the TARDIS. "Hey, watch the suit!" he exclaimed. "And why are we heading back to my TAR—?"

"You'll see," I interrupted him, pushing him back into his TARDIS. I went in after him and closed the door, the red-head left outside with the others. I'm sure they would get acquainted with each other soon enough.

He rubbed his arm, looking at me with a slight modicum of anger. "You better tell me what the hell is going on here because I am this close to leaving the lot of you to deal with whatever problems are going on." I smiled at him, and hugged him tightly. It was so good to see him again, to see him alive. A few tears slipped down my cheeks as I held onto him for a few moments. I could feel him relaxing, and even accepting the hug. "Now, now; there's no need for tears." I can't lie; he did look good in this regeneration. My emotions were all mixed up at the moment.

"I'm just—really glad to see you right now, Thete." He stiffened in my embrace, and pulled himself out of the hug.

"What did you just call me?" he said cautiously. I looked up into his eyes.

"I called you Thete."

"How do you know that name? Who told you that name?" His voice was rising in anger, and it almost looked like he was ready to fight me.

"Do you really not remember me? The Academy where we learned together? All the times you, me, and Koschei laughed and poked fun at our elders? How about the time you dared Koschei to kiss me at graduation because you thought I was too old to not have had my first kiss?"

"Well that was because it was; you were 400 at the time and that's just unheard of for anyone," he replied, as if recalling the event in his head. Then he looked at me again, a strange look on his face as he examined me more closely. "Tala, is that really you? Talakitorexamor?" My grin and sigh of relief must have convinced him that it really was me. His grip on my arms lessened considerably. "If you really are Tala, why are you here of all places?"

"You really wouldn't believe me if I told you." His eyes told me that I had to start talking, so I started from the beginning. I told him about Aryn and Kaal, the base on the freezing planet Hoth, then about here with Neville and the others. I shortened a lot of it, as there were extraneous details he didn't need to know. "And now we've got Sontarans with psychic pollen; what they're planning is anyone's guess."

"Well," he said, averting his eyes to the ceiling of his TARDIS, "looks like we have some work to do." His consequent grin at me made him look like a charming school boy, and if I hadn't known him prior, it would definitely be hard to pry myself away from a gaze like that.

"I think we need to get back out there so that we can start tackling this thing properly. Oh, and please don't call me Tala. None of them know my name; I've been going by Chancellor." His eyes looked sad.

"Tala, you've no reason to hide." I averted my eyes to my feet. He tipped my face back up. "Tala, what happened?" he said quietly. "Was it the war?" I nodded numbly, almost ready to tear up again because of all the emotions running through me. He hugged me again. "Oh, Tala; don't worry. We will figure this out, and then we can have a nice long talk." I nodded and sniffed, trying to compose myself before we walked back out. He handed me a handkerchief, and I sopped up my tears. No need for hysterics; it was time for war.