Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who
"Sorry again, Sarah Jane" said Rose as they sat inside the older woman's lounge. After their run in four years ago Sarah Jane Smith had become a very important member of their little makeshift family, fully accepting the role of Harry's aunt which of course meant they made random visits.
But of course they weren't the only ones keeping busy, Sarah Jane had been keeping busy defending the Earth in the Doctor's place when he wasn't around; something that he was very proud of. But the biggest change in her life was the adoption of the artificial human Luke Smith, being the creation of a hostile alien race that tried to invade Earth just made him odd enough to fit right in in their strange little family. The fact he choose to be good just endeared him more to the Doctor and Rose, while Harry was just happy to have someone closer to his age (physically anyway) who was just as intelligent to spend time with.
Unfortunately that's what led to their current problem as this was the week the Doctor had chosen to loosen the now eight year old, Harry's bio damper enough to allow him to begin using his magic consciously with his sonic reducing the risk of accidental regeneration; of course he couldn't help diving into the book he took from the Torchwood manor during the werewolf incident, leading to their current problem. Luke due to the circumstances of his "birth" is very intelligent this combined with Harry's own intellect and general curiosity had them experimenting resulting in the inside of Sarah Jane's house being painted polka dot.
"Don't worry about Rose" Sarah Jane laughed, having both Luke and Harry in the same place certainly kept things interesting. "Luke's been bored since his friends were out of town. I'm sure their little experiment was just what he needed."
"Well let's just hope they can finish fixing their mess soon" said the Doctor, he had the urge to make a certain trip and was eager to get going, something that both women could easily pick up on.
"Alright Doctor, where are you taking us?" asked Rose, sharing a smile with Sarah Jane.
"Nope not until Harry and Luke finish cleaning up."
"Well at the rate they're going that could take a while" said Sarah Jane, looking over to the far side of the room where Luke and Harry were taking readings with Harry's sonic screwdriver.
"Hmm the readings seem consistent with your normal garden verity paint" said Harry.
"Your magic is actually a word based science designed to manipulate matter. Maybe the energy dissipates once whatever 'spell' you're casting is complete" Luke theorized.
"You know you may have a point there Luke. I mean there isn't anything I can do with magic that couldn't easily be replicated with the right technology."
"Maybe we should stop them before they destroy the house" said Rose.
"Alright you two that's enough for today." Sarah Jane said in agreement.
"Ok Mum/Aunt Sarah Jane" said the cousins. Harry activates his sonic screwdriver's wand app, causing the top to open up and extend giving the tool the appearance of a metal wand with a red crystal on the tip. Using the tool as a focus the crystal glowed softly as he ran the sonic over the wall removing the effects of his magic on the house.
With the house cleaned up they made their way to the TARDIS currently parked in Sarah Jane's attic. After a few quick hugs goodbye Sarah Jane stopped the Doctor at the door wondering if she could weasel out just where he was so eager to go. Seeing no harm the Time Lord decided to let his dearest friend in on his surprise and was pleased to hear she thought Rose and Harry would enjoy the trip. So with one last quick hug it was goodbye for now as Sarah Jane and Luke waved off the TARDIS as she faded away.
"So where are we Dad?" asked Harry as they walked out of the TARDIS.
"Near future" said Rose, reading the date off a nearby poster. "Alright, what's the surprise Doctor?" the Doctor led his family down a suburban street until they spotted a banner reading the 2012 Olympics.
"No way!" Harry cheered excitedly, giving his dad a hug.
"Yep, 30th Olympiad" the Doctor grinned, linking arms with Rose as they continued down the road. "Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about, wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood around baying. No, wait a minute that was Club Med," he joked, laughing as he playfully nudged Rose. "Just in time for the opening doo dah, ceremony, tonight, I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again. Fella carrying the torch. Lovely chap, what was his…Mark? John? Mark? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet."
"Doctor" Rose called, having noticed a wall plastered with flyers of missing children. But the Doctor just kept yapping on.
"And in those days, everybody had a tea party to go to."
"Doctor!" she called again this time getting his attention.
"Did you ever have one of those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top?"
"You should really look at this." Curious as to what could distract Rose from something as amazing as edible ball bearings, the Doctor's good mood faded as he noticed the disturbingly large number of missing children in the area. "What's taking them, do you think? Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this."
"And why's it so cold?" Harry asked, bringing the Doctor's attention to the unseasonably cool temperature.
"Whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death. Doctor, what…" Rose stopped as she noticed her two favorite Time Lords dashing down the street looking to investigate. "Oh sure, tells me not to run off but first sign of danger and there goes the Doctor rushing off to save the day. Worst is he brings Harry along" she muttered to herself, following after the pair. "Honestly and he wonders why Harry can't sit still."
The annoyed mother continued after the two Time Lords when she notices two men pondering over a stalled car.
"Fifth today." one of the men, a council worker noted. "Not natural, is it?"
"I don't know what happened, I had it serviced less than a month ago" said the driver.
"Nah, don't even try and explain it, mate. All the cars are doing it. And do you know what? It's bonkers. Bonkers. Come on then, pal. I'll help you shift it. Quicker you're on the way, happier you'll be."
"Do you want a hand?" Rose offered, noticing that they were having a bit of a hard time pushing the car.
"No, we're alright love" the council worked replied, probably wanting to save face. But Rose wasn't buying it.
"You're not. I'm tougher than I look, honest." Not giving any chance of another refusal, Rose moved behind the car, adding her efforts to the job. The pushed the car only a few more inches before the engine just randomly started up again. The driver after giving his thanks got in his car and took off.
"Does this happen a lot?"
"Been doing it all week." the worker informed. Now Rose certainly found that interesting, as this coincided with the time the children started disappearing around the neighborhood.
"Every car cuts out. The council are going nuts. I mean, they've given this street the works. Renamed it. I've been tarmacking every pot hole. Look at that. Beauty, init? Yeah! And all that is because that Olympic Torch comes right by the end of this Close. Just down there. Everything's got to be perfect, ain't it? Only it ain't."
"It takes them when they're playing" said an old woman, as Rose and the council worker passed.
"What takes them?" asked Rose.
"Danny, Jane, Dale. Snatched in the blink of an eye." Rose doesn't have long to think about what she's learned as she hears the Doctor's voice approaching. Looking up she sees the Doctor backing away from a very irate looking father, little Harry standing behind the elder Time Lord.
"I'm, I'm a police officer! That's what I am. I've got a badge and a police car. You don't have to get. I can, I can prove it. Just hold on" said the Doctor, fishing in his pocket for his psychic paper.
"Here Dad" said Harry, handing the paper to his father. "Sorry, I was playing with it when we were visiting Aunt Sarah Jane." Showing the father his psychic paper, the Doctor made a mental note to talk to Harry about going through his pockets without permission.
"We've had plenty of coppers poking around here, and you don't look or sound like any of them" said the father, giving a Harry an odd look. "Plus none of them brought their kid."
"I'm a police officer! And see I've got a college!" said the Doctor pointing at Rose. "Lewis!"
Rose nodded to the man as he eyed her. "She looks less like a copper than you do."
"Well she's very good at undercover" the Time Lord replied.
"What're you going to do?" asked one of the neighborhood mothers, a woman named Trish. For some odd reason she was acting very nervous.
"The police have knocked on every door. No clues, no leads, nothing" said the old woman.
"Look kids run off sometimes, all right" the father said roughly. "That's what they do…"
"Dale Hicks in your garden, playing with your Tommy, and then poof! Right in front of me, like he was never there. There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."
"Why don't we…" the Doctor started but was interrupted as the group started bickering. Not wanting Harry to be caught in the middle of that, Rose walked over and pulled the boy aside smiling as the Doctor got more annoyed by the bickering adults.
"Fingers on lip!" he shouted at the group, holding his own finger up. Though they couldn't understand it none one disobeyed the skinny man and simple followed his orders. "In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen. Snatched out of thin air, right?"
"Er can I?" the old woman asked not wanting to anger the Doctor. With the Doctor's permission the old woman continued. "Look around you. This was a safe street till it came. It's not a person. I'll say it if no one else will. Maybe you're coppers, maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?"
As the Doctor was giving the group his assurance to help find out what happened to their children, Harry notices a girl not that much older than him looking down on them from a window. Trish noticing this quickly goes inside the house.
"Harry come on!" his parents called, ready to start their investigation.
"Coming" he replied running to catch up to the Doctor and Rose, though Harry couldn't help feeling like something was weird about that girl.
Walking through the back alleys Rose and Harry watched as the Doctor started sniffing around.
"Smell it" he asked, glancing at his little makeshift family prompting them to take a whiff for themselves.
"Yeah… sort of…" Rose paused trying to place the smell.
"Like metal" Harry suggested, grinning as the Doctor smiled and nodded encouragingly.
"Danny Edwards cycled in one end but never came out the other" said the Doctor as he led them down the alley. "Whoa, there it goes again! Look at the hairs on the back of my manly
hairy hand" he added, holding his hand out to Rose.
"And there's that smell again" said Rose.
"Yeah it's like a burnt fuse plug or something" said Harry. "But what is it? Do you think it's some kind of teleport?"
"Possibly" the Doctor replied, but it didn't feel like a simple teleport. "There's a residual energy in the spots where the kids vanished. Whatever it was, it used an awful lot of power to do this."
"Aren't you a beautiful boy" Rose cried as they exited the alley.
"Thanks! I'm experimenting with back combing" the Doctor smiled, thinking Rose was talking about him.
"Um, Dad" said Harry, pulling on the Doctor's sleeve and pointing to where Rose was fawning over a cat.
"Oh" the Time Lord's smile dropped as he looked uncomfortable with the animal.
"What?" Rose asked, wondering why the Doctor and even Harry for some reason looked disgusted at the cat.
"I don't know. For some reason I don't like cats" said Harry.
"Well once you've been threatened by in a nun's wimple, it kind of takes the joy out of it" said the Doctor, wondering if perhaps their trip to New Earth had a more lasting effect on Harry then they realized.
"When did that happen?" asked the younger Time Lord but his question went unanswered as the cat walked into a cardboard box, only to disappear with a distant meow. Surprised by the sudden vanishing act, they investigated the box finding now visible evidence but there was a powerful stench.
"Whoa! Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. Ion residue. Blimey! That takes some doing" the Doctor exclaimed, waving his hand to try and clear away the smell. "Just to snatch a living organism out of space-time. This baby is just like, I'm having some of that. I'm impressed."
"So the cat's been transported?" asked Rose, to which the Doctor confirmed.
"It can harness huge reserves of ionic power. We need to find the source of that power. Find the source and you will find whatever has taken to stealing children and fluffy animals. See what you can see. Keep them peeled, Lewis."
Splitting up from the Doctor, Rose and Harry continued walking around the neighborhood looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just as they were passing by they heard a loud banging come from one of the garages.
"Harry come back here" Rose ordered, as Harry ran off to investigate the violent banging.
"I'll be careful Mum" said Harry, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. Pleased to the garage had an electronic component the little Time Lord activated his sonic and raised the door, only to be knocked over as a giant ball of scribbles flew out. Worried about her son Rose quickly ran to Harry's side as the ball hovered menacingly overhead.
"Harry are you ok?" Rose asked worriedly, not taking her eyes of the scribble creature.
"I'm ok Mum" to prove just how okay he was, Harry activated his sonic's wand app and fired a bright red beam of light at the creature, to no avail. Seeing that his powers weren't having any effect on the creature Rose stood protectively in front her son prepared to protect him, when suddenly the Doctor ran on to the scene. Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor shrank the creature down to hand held size.
"Okey dokey?" he asked, picking up the now tiny scribble ball.
"Yeah, cheers" Rose replied, having finished checking Harry over for injuries.
"Why couldn't I stun it?" asked Harry.
"It was never living. Can't stun what was never alive" the Doctor explained, placing the scribble in his pocket. "It's animated by energy. Same energy that's snatching people. That is so dinky! The go anywhere creature. Fits in your pocket, makes friends, impresses the boss, breaks the ice at parties."
Heading back to the TARDIS, the Doctor went to work analyzing the scribble creature.
"Oh, hi ho, here we go. Let's have a look." Studying one of the console monitors the Doctor was shocked by what he found. "Get out of here."
"What is it?" asked Rose. Rather than answer right away, the Doctor pulled out a pencil and actually erased part of the creature.
"It is!" he cried, blowing away the left over dust. "It's graphite! Basically the same material as an HB pencil."
"So we were attacked by a scribble creature" Rose deadpanned.
"Yep" the Time Lord replied. "Scribble creature, brought into being with ionic energy. Whatever we're dealing with, it can create things as well as take them. But why make a scribble creature?"
"The girl!" Harry shouted, much to his parents' confusion.
"What girl?" Rose asked, mentally praying this wasn't her little boy's first crush.
"Well whenever I'm drawing or something and make a mistake I scribble it out. Well there was a girl watching us on the street earlier and something about her just felt weird" Harry explained.
"Well looks like we've got a junior investigator" the Doctor grinned. "What do say Lewis?"
"I say we follow it up, sarge" said Rose a matching grin on her face.
With Harry leading the way the TARDIS crew found themselves on Trish's front step.
"Hello! I'm the Doctor and this is Rose and our son Harry." He greeted once Trish opened the door. "Can we see your daughter?"
"No!" Trish said sternly. "You can't."
"Ok bye" the Doctor said cheerfully, turning away with Rose and Harry.
"Why?" Trish called after them. Sharing a grin between them the time traveling family pivoted back to her. "Why do you want to see Chloe?"
"Well, there's some interesting stuff going on in this street, and I just thought. Well, we thought, that she might like to give us a hand."
"Sorry to bother you" said Rose, giving a wave when Trish still looked suspicious.
"Yeah, sorry" said Harry.
"We'll let you get on with things. On your own. Bye again" said the Doctor, once again leading his family away.
"Wait!" Trish called and once again they turned around. "Can you help her?"
"Yes we can" the Doctor smiled.
Thanks for reading. Leave a comment/review