A/N Woo hoo, something is actually going to HAPPEN in this chapter! :D (AKA "this is not a boring filler chapter" XD) Soo…yeah.
Disclaimer: In case you were WONDERING, I don't own Who or Harry. I know, you all thought I did, but I don't. XD
On to the chapter!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Snow was falling fast and furious outside the Doctor's window, though the Time Lord didn't see it. He was too absorbed by the magical history book he was currently analyzing for the fifth time.
It didn't make sense. The "wizards" had way too much technology than they should. They had been using vortex manipulators ('time turners'), teleportation ('apparition'), and micro-gene chemical compound redistribution activators ('transfiguration spells') for centuries at this point, even though the technology shouldn't have been available for another six thousand years!
The Doctor closed the book, slamming the cover a little harder than he had meant to. Rereading the history textbook hadn't revealed anything he had missed the first time around, and he was starting to get frustrated. He set the book down on a pile of notes he had been taking on every history book he could get his hands on. The notes were written in Old High Gallifreyan…he didn't know why he had chosen not to write them in English. Maybe he was just getting paranoid…but for some reason, he didn't want anyone to be reading them, even by chance.
With a resigned sigh, the Doctor scooped up his notes and settled back in his chair as he started to read them again.
"Introduction of wands in 382 B.C. …received from an 'unknown source'…" (There were some colorful swear words in Gallifreyan following that sentence.) "Wands are made from almost virtually any kind of wood, though some are better than others, i.e. elder, holly, cherry, oak. …All wands contain either a) unicorn tail hair, b) dragon heartstring, c) phoenix feather, or d) Veela hair in some rare instances. …Dark figure arriving in light with first wands not necessarily from 382 B.C., could have traveled back in time with TARDIS's power. …Light source: light from interior of TARIDS? …Wizards have too much technology, centuries in advance, source most likely 'dark figure' in 382 B.C. …Dark figure may have access to my mind."
The Doctor paused at the last sentence and pressed his lips together. He wasn't worried, why should he be worried that there was a strange creature with seemingly limitless power, possibly from a different universe, that could break into his mind at will?
Well…when he put it that way…maybe he did have cause to worry.
The Doctor shuddered ever so slightly and let the notes fall out of his hands and back onto the desk. He liked to think that he'd made progress in the past month, but really, all he'd found were interesting, slightly disturbing facts. He was nowhere closer to putting a face on the dark being than he'd been in November.
Suddenly deciding that if he waited in his room rereading his notes for a second longer he would go insane, the Doctor stood up, pushed the door open, and strode into the hallway, determined to do…something.
The snow outside the window caught his eye for the first time. Drifting over to the window, the Doctor cleared away the condensation and peeked outside. The snow was falling heavily, so that the entire countryside was blanketed in white. The lake was frozen over, and half obscured by the drifts of snow falling onto it. The whole place looked like a postcard. Wishing You Were Here.
Movement in the corner of the Doctor's eye drew his gaze towards the entrance of the school. Squinting to try and make out the blurry black shapes, he eventually realized that they were the students in little groups walking down a path to who knows where.
The Doctor shrugged carelessly, and then turned away from the window and continued on his spontaneous walk down the hall, vaguely wondering where the students were going.
The Doctor eventually found himself at the main door of the castle. He hadn't been outside for quite a while. Apparently, Dumbledore's "request" that he remain on the school's premises did not include wandering around on the castle's grounds, supposedly because of the "Forbidden Forest" that the Doctor really was dying to go into.
The Doctor fingered the heavy metal doorknobs lightly. He had definitely been cooped up for too long…the snow and fresh air outside seemed far more compelling than it should.
A few straggling Hufflepuff third-years came tottering out of the Grand Hall, having just finished their breakfast.
"Excuse me, Professor," one of them said, reaching for the handle and pulling the door open. A gust of cold winter air rushed in, and the Doctor was surprised by how good it felt. The pair of Hufflepuffs walked outside, bundled up against the ice. One of them pulled the door shut, cutting off the wind blowing inside.
The Doctor frowned. He really wanted to go outside. Everything about him was exasperated by his confinement within the castle.
The sound of footsteps clattering down the stairs turned his attention away from the closed doors. The Doctor was more than a little surprised to see Slughorn and McGonagall coming down the stairs, both of them wearing thick coats, scarves, and hats. Slughorn's scarf was extremely long, to wrap around his wide neck several times over, and the Doctor was suddenly reminded of his fourth regeneration's appreciation for long scarves.
"Er…are you…going somewhere?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, yes, we're on our way to Hogsmeade Village!" Slughorn boomed. "Last trip of the year, you know. All kinds of fun down in the village."
"And…Hogsmeade is…?" The Doctor's voice trailed off.
"Oh, you're a muggle, I simply keep forgetting that! Hogsmeade is an all-magical village just around the corner of the school grounds. The students and the teachers get a chance to visit every now and then. Minerva and I were just on our way for a quick trip. I would think you would like to come along as well, m'boy!"
"I'm not allowed. Dumbledore's asked me to stay inside the castle for… security reasons," the Doctor said.
"Poppycock! Even Dumbledore wouldn't object to a quick trip into town and back, I think. You can't stay inside forever; it's not good for a young man like yourself!"
"I think the Doctor raises a good point, Horace," McGonagall said a little stiffly. "Dumbledore did say…"
Slughorn waved a hand in the air, as though he was dismissing her words. "Ah, don't worry about Dumbledore, I'll just pop into his office later to let him know. After all, it's nearly Christmas, surely he'll let the Doctor off this once." He clapped the Doctor on the back. "Come on then, there's a good man. Let us go before this blizzard gets any worse."
The Doctor pressed his lips together. On one hand, Dumbledore had told him to stay inside, and he didn't want to break his trust so soon. On the other, he really had been cooped up for quite a while, and it would be great to get outside again…
"What do you think, McGonagall? D'ya think Dumbledore will let me off for Christmas?"
McGonagall seemed just as uneasy as the Doctor, but she did look a little sorry for the Doctor. "Well…oh, perhaps you should. It is Christmas, after all."
The Doctor's grin was a mile wide. "Brilliant! Let's go!" He pulled open the front doors and a blast of cold air whirled inside.
"Hold on Doctor, don't you want to put on something a bit warmer than that?" McGonagall said.
The Doctor looked down. He was wearing his blue suit, red converse, and tan trench coat. The other teacher's didn't know that he could withstand much more extreme temperatures than them, and that the 'blizzard' outside was barely making him shiver.
"Nah, I'll be fine. No pain, no gain, right?" he said, practically running outside.
The snow was falling in thick, wet flakes that landed and stuck to the Doctor's hair and eyelashes. The air was cold and crisp like ice as he sucked in deep breaths of the wonderful, sharp fresh air. He felt more alive than he had for a month. He closed his eyes and smiled, relishing the feel of wind and snow blowing against him. Oh, he had missed this. How on earth had he survived for a month without going outside?
There was a chuckle from behind him. Turning around, the Doctor saw Slughorn laughing quietly behind his hand.
"What?" the Doctor said, grinning.
"You really are the outdoorsy type, aren't you?"
After thinking about this for a second, the Doctor responded with "I guess you could say that."
"It shows." Slughorn laughed again. "You took off like you were running from an alien invasion!"
"Er…yeah…heh," the Doctor laughed weakly. "Alien invasion. Funny."
Slughorn didn't seem to notice his lackluster response, however. He was reaching into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper tied with a neat little lilac bow.
"I'm having a Christmas party next week," Slughorn said, handing the Doctor the invitation. "You seem like you would be quite an entertaining guest."
"Er, yes, thank you," the Doctor said, stowing the invitation away inside his own extensive bigger-on-the-inside pockets.
The rest of the walk to Hogsmeade was rather uneventful. Slughorn chatted the entire way, going on and on about his past students, his connections in the political world, and what his opinions were on every issue that had arisen in the past fifty years. The Doctor wondered briefly if that was what he sounded like to his companions.
When they reached Hogsmeade, the three parted ways. McGonagall seemed quite anxious to get away from Slughorn, something the Doctor couldn't exactly blame her for. As Slughorn meandered into the sweetshop, the Doctor headed off for the center of town, peering in windows and exploring the "magical" village.
The town seemed busy enough, but with the cold weather, there was hardly anyone outside; they were all inside the shops, trying to stay warm. There also seemed to be quite a lot of boarded-up shops. The Doctor wondered how business could be bad with hundreds of magical students stopping by every few weeks.
A shout from behind him made the Doctor start violently. His hand automatically flew to his pocket and he pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he whirled around. To his surprise, he saw Harry Potter pinning a small, scruffy-looking man to the wall. There were several grubby-looking objects scattered on the ground around the man's feet. Harry had his wand pressed against the man's neck. What?
Determined to find out what was going on, the Doctor slipped into an alley just around the corner from where Harry was pinning the man to the wall. Trying to keep his breathing as silent as possible, the Doctor glanced around the corner, just barely making out what was going on.
"You took that from Sirius's house. That had the Black family crest on it."
"I – no – what – ?"
"What did you do, go back the night he died and strip the place?"
"I – no – "
"Give it to me!"
"Harry, you mustn't!"
There was a bang. The Doctor couldn't see exactly what had happened, but from the volume and ferocity of Harry's swearing, it couldn't have been good.
"COME BACK, YOU THIEVING – !"
A new voice appeared. "There's no point, Harry?"
Daring to look even further around the corner, the Doctor saw a thin woman with mousy brown hair and sad eyes talking to Harry.
"Mundugus will probably be in London by now. There's no point yelling."
"He's nicked Sirius's stuff! Nicked it!"
"Yes, but still, you should get out of the cold."
The Doctor made out the forms of Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking into a building and out of sight. The woman looked at the sky, her sad brown eyes filled with loneliness. She raised her own wand and disappeared again.
Feeling that it was safe to come out from his hiding spot, the Doctor glanced at the board proclaiming the title of the building Harry had gone into: The Three Broomsticks. Now very curious, the Doctor slipped into the pub behind them.
The inside of the building was warmly lit by candles and a roaring fire. There were people laughing and talking loudly over their drinks. Perfect – it would be easy to get lost in the crowd. He didn't want Harry, Ron, or Hermione to see him and think he was following them which, of course, he was.
Sliding into an available seat at a small table near the back of the pub, the Doctor scanned the crowd for the trio. He finally spotted them in a table next to the left wall. Hermione seemed to be attempting to calm Harry down. The Doctor watched them talk, unfortunately not able to hear anything they were saying. After a few minutes, they stood up. None of them looked very pleased, and seemed like they were ready to leave. Cautiously rising as well, the Doctor was about to make his way to the door when something rammed into him.
"Sorry, Professor," said a monotone voice. The Doctor was surprised to see Katie Bell standing next to him, holding a package in one hand.
"That's fine, Katie," the Doctor said. Katie was turning to leave when the Doctor reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Hang on a minute, Katie," he said, squinting worriedly at her. Her pupils were dilated, and underneath his fingers he could feel her pulse thrumming at an abnormally fast speed.
"Katie, are you all right?" he asked. "You're really not looking yourself, you know…"
"Sorry Professor, I have to go now," Katie repeated, pulling her hand out of the Doctor's grip and weaving her way through the crowd, where she was joined by another student named Leanne.
What?
Something was very out of place. Waiting until Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the pub, the Doctor headed out with the ominous feeling that something very, very bad was about to occur.
…
Harry drew his cloak tightly about him as he, Ron, and Hermione started their walk home. The wind was howling around them, and he could barely see through the swirling white snow. His exposed face felt like it was being cut by tiny cold knives. Next to him, Hermione shivered violently and Ron sneezed.
After walking for a few minutes on the High Road back to the school, Harry realized that he could hear Katie her friend Leanne arguing loudly about something. Trudging through the snow, their voices became shriller and louder. The first words he could properly make out were from Katie.
"It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!"
Barely able to see through the sleet and ice coating his glasses, Harry saw Leanne try to tug something out of Katie's hands. The object fell into the snow, and at once, Katie flew up into the air.
Instantly Harry knew there was something wrong. Katie was completely still, six feet in the air, her arms outstretched like wings. It was eerily silent. Even the wind seemed soundless. Katie was completely expressionless. Watching in fascination and in horror from the ground, Harry jumped when Katie started to scream.
She was screaming as though she had been stabbed by a white-hot sword. It was a terrible sound, a sound of pure anguish and agony. She was writhing in midair, twisting and shrieking as she tried to escape the pain. Her eyes were rolling madly in her head as she convulsed. The wind began to scream again, whipping around Katie like a demon.
Leanne started to scream, and tried to tug Katie back to the ground. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were about to help her when there was a shout from behind them.
"Get back!"
A tan and blue object rushed past the group and knelt on the ground beneath Katie.
It was the Doctor.
"What – ?" Harry started to say, but the Doctor wasn't listening. He had pulled out his metal wand and was twisting the end around frantically, searching for something. He finally pointed the wand at the package beneath Katie and pressed down on the blue button. There was a whistling sound, and Katie fell to the ground, landing hard in the snow. She didn't appear to have noticed, however, and continued to shout and thrash.
"What are you doing?" Leanne sobbed as the Doctor knelt next to Katie and pressed his fingers against her temples. Katie squirmed beneath his hands as the Doctor closed his eyes in concentration. After a moment, a final shudder ran through her as her eyes closed and she stopped moving.
The Doctor opened his eyes and let his hands drop back to his sides. He exhaled sharply, as though he was trying to catch his breath.
"What happened?" he said, turning to Harry.
Still in shock, it took Harry a moment to answer. "Er…I don't know, Leanne was talking to her about that…that package thing, and then she just…she just rose up into the air and started screaming." Katie's screams were still ringing in his ears, bouncing around inside his head like an echo.
"Where's the package?"
Harry pointed to the brown speck in the snow a few feet away. Moving over to examine the package, the Doctor pulled out a pair of square glasses and put them on. Twisting the end of his metal wand one more time, he ripped open the package's paper, revealing a necklace inside. The Doctor pointed his wand at the necklace. After a few seconds he tore his glasses off again.
"Incredible," the Doctor said. "It's a necklace made of frozen Krillotain oil."
"Frozen what?" Ron said, confused. "Speak English, please."
"It's changed since I last saw it…last time the oil just burned someone like an acid…the Krillotains must have absorbed some sub-zero weather species to get their oil to modify like this…"
Ron reached forward to touch the necklace, but the Doctor grabbed his hand. "Better let me do this. You saw what happened to Katie…"
"What, and you can touch it?" Ron said sharply, though his voice cracked halfway through; he was obviously scared.
"I'm no lunch lady," the Doctor muttered. After looking at the necklace for another moment, he reached out and picked it up. After a minute there was a crackling sound, and the Doctor dropped the necklace back into the snow, biting his lip and looking at his palm. There was a red scorch mark running across his hand.
"It's gotten stronger, or maybe it has something to do with the freezing…"
The Doctor stood up and shrugged off his coat.
"What are you doing? You'll freeze!" Hermione said. The Doctor ignored her. He picked up the necklace and quickly stuffed it into one of the pockets. Then he walked over to where Katie was lying in the snow and wrapped it around her. He picked her up and started running back to the school.
…
When the Doctor burst through the front doors of the castle carrying Katie in his arms, he realized that he had no clue where the hospital wing was.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Leanne hurried in after him.
"Hospital wing?" the Doctor asked, looking for an answer from one of them.
"This way," Harry said, pointing to a staircase on the right.
"Right, Harry, I want you to show me where the hospital wing is, and I want Ron, Hermione, and Leanne to go get McGonagall and tell her to meet me up there. She should be back from Hogsmeade by now."
Ron and Hermione nodded and ran off in the opposite direction. Leanne stayed where she was.
"Please, Professor, can I come with you?" she sniffed. "I want to make sure that Katie…that she's going to be…"
"Yes, you can come, we just need to hurry," the Doctor said in a rushed voice. "We've got to get her up there right away."
Harry led the Doctor and Leanne up to the hospital wing on the sixth floor. Leanne pushed the doors open as the Doctor carried Katie inside and laid her down on a bed.
"Madame Pomfrey!" Harry shouted. "We need you!"
Madame Pomfrey came bustling out of her office. Her hand flew to her mouth as she rushed to Katie's side. "What happened to her?" she asked. She didn't wait for an answer, however, as she ran to a medicine cabinet and began pulling out different bottles.
Soon afterwards, Professor McGonagall came rushing into the hospital wing, followed by Ron and Hermione. "Good gracious, what has happened?" she exclaimed.
Leanne started to tell the story in a halting voice as she tried to choke back her sobs. By the time she reached the part of the story where Katie had risen into the air, she was practically hysterical. Madame Pomfrey gave her a potion for shock and led her into a chair to sit down for a while.
McGonagall seemed quite shocked by Leanne's story, though she maintained her composure well. She looked down at Katie's prone form. "The poor girl, she must have been Imperiused by someone in the Three Broomsticks." She glanced up at the Doctor. "Where did you come in during all this?" she asked.
Harry took up the story from there. Afterwards, McGonagall had a strange expression on her face, but she didn't say anything much.
"Thank goodness Horace gave you the idea to go to Hogsmeade today," she said to the Doctor. "I shudder think what would have happened…well, I'd rather not think about that." She looked at Katie again. "Do you have the necklace that she touched?"
The Doctor blinked. "Oh…oh, yes! Right, um, here it is." He reached into his pocket and quickly pulled out the necklace.
"No, don't touch it!" McGonagall practically shouted.
"Sorry!" the Doctor said, dropping it.
McGonagall waved her wand and the necklace floated into the air. After looking carefully at it, her expression changed to one of utter disbelief.
"This…this necklace is cursed by incredibly powerful Dark Magic. Katie must have brushed against it with just a tiny hole in her glove…touching it directly would have killed her instantly." She stared at the Doctor, her eyes wide. "You should be dead, Doctor!"
"Oooohhh…" the Doctor said. "Um, right, well…lucky me, I guess?"
McGonagall couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the Doctor. "But how…?"
The Doctor shrugged. McGonagall didn't seem quite satisfied by this, but she didn't press the matter further. She sank into a chair beside Katie's bed.
The Doctor was groaning inwardly. Now she was going to be very suspicious of him…even more so than before.
He looked down at Katie's still form. She shouldn't have had to go through all that pain. If only he could have gotten there sooner…if only he had been a big quicker…
If only. The two words that summed him up entirely.
If only.
A/N Go ahead and review :) I expect someone to be the 100th reviewer! :D