Chapter Eleven:
Skane
The flight of stairs swung back towards the landing where Harry was still sitting, cross-legged, and surrounded by the other New Marauders, Lupin, and the Doctor.
"Ron! Hermione! Harry…" 'Lavender' smiled at them.
"Remember – fire spells!" the Doctor urged them.
The being disguised as Lavender Brown began to race up the stairs. Suddenly, she gave a cry of surprise. Glancing down, the Rutan saw its human foot sinking into one of the steps.
"What…?"
"Some of the steps in this place do catch you out…" Ron's lips made a flickering smile. Then his expression turned cold. "But the real Lavender would remember that! Incendrio!"
His spell struck the steps just before the false witch, and the spark changed into a meter-high flame.
'Lavender' screamed. Managing to pull her foot out from the trick-step, she retreated down the staircase a few paces, raising an arm to shield her slim body.
"No! Our desires are the same! We only wish to escape from here, and live!"
"You shouldn't have killed Lavender, then!" Hermione retorted. "Or attacked me! Incendrio!"
A fireball shot out of Hermione's wand, and slammed into the dodging figure of the fake witch, setting her arm alight. She fell upon the corner-landing of the staircase, and rolled over – in a successful attempt to put out the flames.
There was a blaze of light which consumed 'Lavender'. Her image was replaced by the frightening visage of the Rutan's natural form. Its single eye blazed at Harry's party with anger. It raised a tendril – a limb that was wrapped around one of the Sontaran teleport devices, which was emitting smoke as a result of Hermione's assault.
"We have the means to save both ourselves and you all from the Sontaran's forcefield!" the Rutan's warbling, inhuman voice filled the air with its fury. "Destroy us – and you will destroy this also! This may be your last means to escape the Sontaran's trap."
"Hold your fire, guys! Literally!" Harry shot up to his feet. He spun round to address the Doctor. "Is it telling the truth?"
The Doctor kept his eyes on the Rutan and its bargaining chip. "Yes, it probably is!" He raised his voice. "But the fact that you have the teleport device, yet are still here, means that Luna and Flitwick haven't allowed you to board the Sontaran ship - doesn't it, Rutan? They have orders not to beam anyone up without our say-so!"
The pulsating Rutan seemed to change colour briefly, to a brighter hue – then it returned to its usual green tone.
"Who are you? We sense that you are not like these others…," the Rutan rasped.
"Oh, well done!" The Doctor lightly clapped his hands. "I'm the Doctor. The other part of you wanted me to give it a lift in my TARDIS. I expect you'll want the same…"
"You are the Time Lord known as the Doctor? Your presumption is correct – your vessel will provide sanctuary for us!" The Rutan paused. "Where is the other aspect of us? We do not sense it any longer…"
"That's because it's dead! Like you'll soon be - jellyguts!" Harry taunted it. He was about to say more – when Hermione gasped.
"Hermione?" Ron turned to follow her gaze. Along the first-floor corridor, the advancing curtain of the energy barrier had halted its deadly march towards them. As the five of them watched, the forcefield began to retreat westwards…
Harry drew in his breath. A quick glance through the staircase window behind the Rutan showed that the lights and shadows from the Sontaran vessel above Hogwarts were shifting.
"Yes!" Hermione squealed and hugged Harry. "You did it, Harry! You and Luna – you both did it! The Sontaran ship is shifting closer to us!"
He gave a huge smile of relief.
Lupin allowed himself to breathe. "The way to Ravenclaw Tower…!"
"…is now clearing. We can get to the TARDIS, after all! Brilliant!" The Doctor beamed at his companions. "Now let's run!"
"Right! New Marauders! Raise a firewall" Lupin raised his wand. Along with Harry, Hermione, and Ron – he created a row of flames on the stairs in-between them and the Rutan. With the furious scream of the creature echoing behind them, the witch and three wizards sprinted after the Doctor, as they raced along the dark first-floor corridor – reaching the next main staircase.
The Doctor jabbed a finger further along the furthest extent of the first floor corridor. "Hurry! The forcefield is still closing in! Luna and the others have just bought us a few, but vital, minutes of extra time!"
Harry's party got going, racing up the staircase – pausing at one stage, whilst they waited for a flight of steps to swing and 'click' into position for them to press onwards. As they got to the third floor landing, even the stamina of the human-skinned werewolves was beginning to flag, and they slowed down – panting and wiping the sweat from their faces.
"Come on, Ron…" Hermione gulped to get her breath back, as she gave her husband a rueful smile. "You are meant to be…the Flash…! The fastest man on this planet!"
"Chance would be…a fine thing!" Ron rolled his eyes as he recovered his breath on the landing. Then he froze, gulped, and slowly raised his hand. He pointed to the green glow advancing along the opposite wall of the third-floor corridor. An ominous crackling was swiftly getting louder.
"Oh, Merlin…!" Hermione's hand flew to her mouth. "It's worked its way up the other staircase…"
"…and come along the third-floor corridor," Harry wheezed. He levelled his wand ready. "Incendrio firewall!"
Another barrier of flames, provided by Harry, Ron, and Lupin, was sprung up – cutting the landing off from the third-floor passageway. Again, the Rutan gave a blood-curdling screech – and it retreated. In the meantime, the band of six gathered their strength and pressed on.
They were on the flight of steps in-between the stained glass window and the fourth-floor landing, when the window behind them shattered. Amidst the screaming from Hermione and Ron, and the whizzing of glass shards, Harry lowered his hands from his head – and quickly joined Lupin in casting a shielding spell to help them all escape injury.
The last of the glass fell upon the stairs around them. The shield spells flickered, and then went out – the magic bearers now exhausted from their collective exertions of the night. The Doctor raised his head from his crouched, foetal-like position, and took in the shape that had blasted the window into pieces before flying over their heads.
Commander Skane turned her hovering, armoured suit around – and then pressed a button on the armpad that was connected to her jetpack. Her booted feet made contact with the carpet on the landing. In the next instant, she aimed her officer's blaster at the would-be-escapees.
"If I am to perish this night – I will die, knowing I have defeated you and the Rutan, Doctor!" Skane rasped.
Harry saw the Doctor's face drain dry. Time seemed to stretch out. Harry knew that they were all flagging – unable to go on firing spell after spell…
"Decide, Time Lord!" Skane leered at him. "You have the TARDIS key. Do you save both your friends and us – or do we let the Rutan take the key from your dead body?"
"Ah! Interesting proposition…," the Doctor muttered, his mind racing. He glanced at his companions, and saw their exhausted faces. "I guess I'll have to agree. Alternatively, you could deactivate the forcefield! That way, we'll all buy more time!"
"The energy forcefield cannot be deactivated, Doctor! The Rutan shall not live beyond this night…"
Skane was interrupted by a sudden shimmering of light on the landing in-between Harry's group and the Sontaran commander. In the next moment, Luna Potter had materialised, still dressed as the Black Cat – only she was facing her friends, and unable to see Skane behind her.
"Hullo, everyone! I've come to get you all out…!" She ran down the steps to grasp Harry's hand…
"Luna – watch out!" he yelled.
"No!" Skane roared, seeing the teleport device on the new arrival. Instinctively, she fired her blaster – and Luna gave a startled 'eep!' as the device around her forearm exploded in a show of sparks. Quickly, Harry pulled Luna down upon the stairs and unclipped the device off from her. As it fell upon the carpet close by, it broke into pieces.
Luna glanced down at the remains. "Oh dear…," she said sadly.
Lupin pushed the Doctor aside, his wand aimed. "Stupefy!" he barked.
The Sontaran gave a cry of frustration and pain, as the red bolt of light from the Werewolf Minister's wand struck her on the temple. The commander was slammed backwards into a door behind her – which promptly broke off its hinges, thanks to the impact.
"Keep running!" Lupin urged the group. Stepping onto the third floor landing, he watched over the fallen Skane – whilst Harry, Ron and Hermione helped to get the shaken Luna back upon her feet. The four of them rushed past Lupin and the Doctor – then Luna paused, and pointed downwards.
"The Rutan!" she warned them, her voice losing some of her usual, calm demeanour. "It's climbing after us!"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all looked down – a sickening feeling rising in their guts. The glowing alien had just managed to put out the flames on its body after squeezing over the firewall – and it was now slowly pulling itself up the stairs next to the shattered window. Suddenly, the flight it was on began to swing across as the magical staircase rearranged itself once more, preventing the Rutan from advancing any further…
The injured monstrosity gave a screech of panic, and it 'jumped' over to the static corner landing it had been aiming for. Its front tendrils hooked themselves around the corner posts of the landing, whilst the rest of its body dropped down – the rear tendrils whipping in agitation through thin air.
From close behind them, Harry heard an explosion. Skane gave a below of agony.
He didn't look around. The Rutan was what disturbed him the most – and he wasn't prepared to take his eyes off from it, just yet…
"Now's our chance! Luna, Ron – a three-in-one blast spell should tear through that corner landing!" He levelled his wand at the target underneath the Rutan. Ron and Luna followed suit. They cried out at the same time.
"Expulso!"
Together, their wands fired. The wooden landing cracked, and then broke into bits under the combined blast. The Rutan screamed as it fell onto the landing directly below. For a long moment, it was still – then the twitching green eye took in the rippling curtain of the destructive forcefield now just a few feet away from it. Fear and desperation took hold of the creature, and it angrily whipped out its tendrils again to the next corner posts of the staircase – using them to pull itself up and onwards.
"It's not going to lie down…and give up!" Ron panted. His eyes were wide. His expression underneath his eye mask was pale. Horror-filled.
Hermione gave a 'squeak' of panic, and sprinted on up the great staircase, pulling Ron almost off his feet in the process as she grabbed his hand. "Let's move!" she yelled. "You don't want that thing to strike at you, believe me!"
"We believe you!" Harry shot back, as his group raced on towards the fifth-floor landing – Hermione and Ron holding hands, Harry and Luna - equally-joined – forming the sandwich filling, and the Doctor and Remus Lupin bringing up the rear.
"What did you do to Skane's weapon, to make it explode, Doctor?" Lupin shot the Doctor a quizzical look of admiration as they sprinted up the staircase, side by side.
"I managed to get the sonic screwdriver to emit a microwave frequency. The right one to cause the blaster to overheat! That will get Skane to think carefully about challenging us again…"
He was interrupted as Skane shot up through the air in the middle of the wide stairwell, using her jetpack. She landed on the fifth-floor landing before Ron and Hermione. This time she brandished a grenade in her left gloved hand – the right one was now black and half-burnt from the explosion of her blaster.
"You have chosen death, Doctor…," the Sontaran hissed, gritting her teeth against her pain.
"Flamin' hell! Can't you invading aliens take a hint…?" Ron bellowed, as he halted and raised his ward once more.
Then the Doctor's eyes took in something next to the Sontaran commander. "Ron – stop!" he called out, his mind racing. He stepped behind Professor Lupin, and – unseen by the others – pressed something into the pack leader's hand.
"What…?"
"Get the others to the Ravenclaw Common Room, and use this on the blue box!" the Doctor whispered. Then he raised his voice over the background hum of the forcefield below them. "Is your rapier real, Professor Lupin?"
"Er… No. Just hard plastic. But give me a moment. I know an advanced spell…" Pulling out the rapier from his scabbard, Lupin tapped it with his wand, muttering a spell. Seconds later, the blade had turned to steel. The Doctor then grabbed it and held the weapon aloft.
"I challenge you to single combat, Commander Skane!" he glared at the Sontaran squad leader. "Let the others go by – they can't operate the TARDIS! It's me you want!"
Luna's gaze shifted from the Doctor to the silent commander, and decided to intervene. "Or are you afraid of taking on the famous Doctor, Skane?" she piped up.
Skane considered this – then she saw the suit of armour besides her, bearing a sword within the grasp of its gauntlets. The grenade was put away. Then, pulling the weapon free with a forceful tug, the commander faced the party again and gave a leering smile. She discarded the scabbard of her acquired sword.
"Afraid?" Skane retorted to Luna. "A Sontaran commander is afraid of nothing! Challenge accepted, Doctor!"
Luna gave a satisfied smile. "I thought so…," she announced softly.
Harry's mouth dropped open. "Wh-what? Doctor – have you gone crazy?"
"Harry… All of you, in fact. When I say run…," the Doctor's sigh gave way to a bellow. "…RUN!"
The hum of the steadily-approaching forcefield was getting louder. Harry glanced down to see the injured Rutan climbing the stairs in-between the third and fourth floors – the glow of the barrier almost on its heels… Or rather, it would have been so, if the Rutan actually had heels.
"Come on, Harry!" Luna's gentle voice was in contrast to the force of her tug and the desperation and despair they shared. The Weasleys, Potters, and Remus Lupin all paused to re-gather their breaths – their hearts hammering with dread, as they halted halfway between the fifth and sixth floors.
The next flight of steps had just swung away from them…
"That's torn it!" Ron exclaimed. He looked back at his friends. "Can any of us cast a levitation charm that'll float us all up quicker?"
"No. And we need…to stick together, Ron." Hermione took another gulp of air, as she wiped the sweat from her face. "Especially since that Rutan…destroyed my wand!"
Harry looked at the gap separating them from the next stationary set of stairs. Too wide to jump… His heart sank, and he turned to Luna. Sadly, he rubbed his hand along her smooth face. "Luna… We might…" He swallowed back the lump forming in his throat, and made an effort to pull himself together. To rise above the fear that threatened to overwhelm him. "This might be the end for us… I…I'm sorry that you're now trapped here with us. You would…, you would have been safer on the Kelkarsis…"
"Oh, Harry…" Luna's wide silver-grey eyes were moist as her soft, dreamy voice reached his ears. She raised a hand and stroked Harry's face in turn. "If any of you die… But especially you, or Hermione, or Ron, or Remus…" She looked meaningfully at each of them in turn. "…just think of how heartbroken I would be. If we are to perish, I'd rather that we died together! That way we'll keep each other company, as friends, in the next world."
The lump returned to Harry's throat. He couldn't speak. Holding back the verge of tears in his eyes, Harry leaned forward and hugged her tightly.
Then Hermione sniffed. Stepping forward, she threw her arms around them both.
"Oh… What the hell…!" Ron rolled his eyes – then joined in with the group hug.
Remus Lupin gave a sad smile, and stepped in to ruffle the hair of all four of his pack 'children'. They looked up and smiled appreciatively at him. "Thanks, Moony…," Harry managed to speak for them.
"We love you too, Remus," Hermione confirmed.
"As I love all four of you, my New Marauders! But it's not over yet…," he reassured them.
The group broke up. Harry glanced behind them, seeing the Doctor and Skane in the middle of their sword fight – clashing blades on the landing below. "What's he doing? He'll get himself killed!" he protested. "We won't be able to get into the Doctor's ship without…"
Harry's words faded in the air as Lupin thrusted out his clenched hand and opened it. The New Marauders could now see the TARDIS key on his palm.
"The Doctor knows what he is doing! Let's get to that common room!" Lupin urged them.
"Right!" Harry responded, his heart beating faster with renewed hope. He turned his attention back to the stairwell in front of them. "Except that flight of steps we need isn't moving back into place for us!"
Lupin rubbed his moustache, thinking. "Then let's change our tactics, Harry. Here, take my wand!" He took a few paces back, and then closed his eyes. His clothes began to shimmer and blend into his body, as he crouched down and started to sprout fur…
"Moony – be careful!" Harry exclaimed, realising what his pack leader was up to.
Within the next half-minute Remus Lupin stood on the flight of stairs they were on, in his fully-fledged lupine form. Growling, he took a few paws paces back. Moving out of the way, Harry, Luna, Hermione, and Ron pressed themselves to one side against the stair rail. Ron had his wand ready to cast the Levicorpus spell, if Lupin's ploy failed…
"Good luck, Professor!" Ron swallowed.
Lupin tensed himself – then bolted forwards up the flight of steps. Taking off at the right moment, the great wolf sailed through the air – and landed in an ungainly fashion on the rigid landing on the other side of the gap. But he rolled himself upright, and looked back at them. He gave a howl of triumph.
He was safe.
Harry and the others released the breaths they had been holding back.
"He's done it! Now it's our turn. Throw your wands over to Remus – we can snatch them up with our teeth when we land! Yes, Hermione. Throw his wand over, too. Hurry!" Harry ordered his friends, as he took off his spectacles, folded them, and then carefully threw them over to the landing, where they landed next to the Lupin-wolf.
Together, Harry, Luna, Hermione, and Ron concentrated. As one, their costumes melted on them, and they bent down on the stairs, as their bodies began to alter. Bones cracked, new joints formed, fur grew out from their skin pores, their ears developed points as they stretched towards the tops of their flattening skulls, noses turned dark and leathery, muzzles pulled forwards, fangs grew into place, and fingernails changed into thick claws…
In response, Lupin shifted back into his clothed, human form. He grabbed his wand tightly – ready to rescue anyone who couldn't make the jump safely…
One-by-one, the werewolf pack took running leaps for the landing where their alpha awaited them. Hermione first, then Ron, then Luna…
*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*
The Doctor reeled from the latest clash of steel, as Commander Skane struck her sword blade against her opponent's. Staggering slightly, the Doctor took advantage of his greater agility and spun round – managing to slip past the bulky, jetpack-fitted form of the Sontaran leader. Skane roared her frustration, and turned round. But the Doctor was now sidestepping so that he was always behind the female Sonataran's jetpack.
"Yield, and die, Doctor! You cannot win against me!"
"Can't die just yet, I'm afraid, Skane…" The Doctor panted, but smiled. "I'm having too much fun! I've been wanting to sword fight again – ever since I got the better of the Sycorax leader! I also sword-sparred with Linx, you should know… He wasn't able to kill me, either!"
"You fought Linx? He is still renowned amongst our people!" A tone of admiration crept into Skane's tone. "Did you defeat him in glorious combat?"
"Ah, no…," the Doctor admitted.
"Then I will prove myself to be stronger than you!" Skane screamed aloud, as she continued to turn around on the landing, attempting to confront the Doctor directly. "My race will be free of your interference in our war against the Rutans!"
The Doctor gasped for breath, as he forced himself on, keeping behind Skane's back. The jetpack, however, was blocking his access to the commander's probic vent. His sonic screwdriver was in his coat pocket. If he had the chance and enough time, he would drop his rapier and ram the screwdriver into Skane's vent, rendering her unconscious.
At least she would not feel anything when the forcefield claims her. That's as merciful as I can be for you, Skane!
The Sontaran gave another roar of frustration. She changed tactics and decided to do something that did not come naturally to the Sontaran mindset – she retreated.
Only, in her case, the impact of Skane's weight suddenly slamming into the Doctor caught the Time Lord off guard. He was crushed against the wall of a corner landing, and the animated portrait immediately above gave a yell of panic as it fell of its nail and bounced off Skane's head. Trapped in place, the Doctor cried out as the Sontaran's elbow was rammed backwards into his stomach. Winded, he dropped his weapon. He gasped for breath as Skane continued to press the back of the jetpack against his chest…
Skane gave a mocking laugh. Her only regret was that she could not see the Doctor's face. Keeping up the pressure of her crush as best as possible, she slowly turned her body round…
Only to see the glowing Rutan on the flight of stairs below her, painfully crawling its way towards them…
"Aaagghh!"
Skane screamed as the tendril lashed forward at speed, and whipped around her booted foot. A surge of agonising volts zapped upwards through her body.
The Doctor's eyes widened as he realised what was happening. He could see the green glow behind his Sontaran adversary, and his nostrils took in the electric burning that Skane had just endured…
He waited for the electrical aura to fade from Skane's domed head.
Now!
The Doctor pushed the injured commander forward, so that her upper part was bent about thirty degrees. Then, firmly seizing hold of Skane's right arm and shoulder, the Doctor pressed what he hoped was the correct button on the Sontaran's jetpack control.
His eyes and memory had served him well.
The Doctor, Skane, and the Rutan all gave different, bellowing cries as the jetpack was activated, and they collectively took off – zipping upwards through the centre of the great stairwell. The Rutan screaming with terror, as it hung onto Skane's boot, dangling from a single tendril; Skane yelling in surprised panic; and the Doctor emitting a cry of delighted exhilaration, whilst making sure that the Rutan could not reach him from its position on the opposite side of the Sontaran.
"Nooo!" Skane roared. She lashed out with her right arm and managed to slam the back of her right fist into the Doctor's right cheek.
Finding his grip on Skane's shoulder slipping, the Doctor fell off…
"Yaaaggghhh! !"
A moment later, the Rutan was struck by the rails belonging to a flight of steps near to the top of the stairwell. With a warbling scream, it started to tumble in mid-air – then a pair of snaking tendrils lashed themselves around a corner post of the staircase below. Slowly, painfully, it began to pull itself up and over onto the reassuring firmness of the stone steps…
Meanwhile, Commander Skane – unable to slow down her sudden ascent, or alter course in time – had been left to crash into the paintings above the landing in-between the sixth and seventh floors.
The main fuel tank emptied itself. But before the reserve store could kick in, Skane consequently dropped like a stone onto the landing underneath her. The occupants of the pictures screamed and fled out of sight, as the dislodged canvases chattered upon the halfway landing, burying the fallen Sontaran leader…
*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*
"Urr… Lucky snatch, there – Doctor!" a certain Time Lord muttered breathlessly to himself.
The Doctor was feeling dizzy as he glanced down into thin air. He was hanging by his aching, reddened fingers on the edge of a flight of steps that were beginning to swing across the great stairwell. He glanced anxiously to his right, where the motion of the changing stairs was taking him towards a stationary corner landing. As soon as the two parts connected, he would be knocked off his precarious perch…
"Uh-oh…! HELP! !" he cried out.
"On two! One, two…"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" three voice cried out, in unison.
"Whhhooaaa!" The Doctor found himself floating upwards, plucked against his will from the moving flight of stairs, just as the steps 'clicked' into place with the landing below.
Harry, Luna, and Remus Lupin – now all back in human form after their nerve-wracking leaps across the stairwell – redirected their wands, until the Doctor was safely lowered onto the steps next to them.
"Thanks! You've just saved me from letting myself down!" the Doctor drily commented, as he carefully got to his feet with the aid of the Potters. "I didn't know you lot could levitate a fully-grown man…"
"Neither did we, until now! But I guess if you don't try…, you never know what you can actually do in an emergency!" Harry, wearing his spectacles once more after his jump, patted the Doctor's shoulder.
"We just managed to change back into human form and bear our wands onto you," Lupin added. He glanced across at the pile of fallen portraits on the corner landing a few feet down from them. "Is Skane finish…" He trailed off, as he saw the paintings twitch and slip off the stirring form of the Sontaran squad leader.
Terror abruptly seized Harry's heart. The sweat on his face ran down and fell onto the tears across the chest area of his battered Spider-Man costume. "Blast! I can't…fire another spell… I'm…exhausted!" he panted.
Luna and Lupin looked similarly flagged out, the Doctor observed.
"Me too…, I'm afraid," admitted the Werewolf Minister.
Luna, meanwhile, was looking down in the dark staircase. She re-lit the light at the end of her wand, to see better by. The stairwell wasn't quite so black now, in any case, the Doctor noted. Through the windows of the seventh-floor level, on the eastern side, the beginnings of the twilight before the winter dawn were making themselves known.
"Oh dear…," Luna remarked in her ever-airy tone-of-voice. "That horrible, overgrown jellyfish is still after us – and the forcefield is almost right behind it!"
Harry, Lupin, and the Doctor hurriedly glanced over the stairwell. The forcefield had indeed reached the fifth-floor landing by now, lighting up the stairs it was advancing upon. The injured Rutan was tenaciously pulling itself on up the remaining steps towards them – somehow managing to keep a pace that was faster than that of the destructive energy screen…
Then, shaking off the remaining magical portraits, Skane – still with her refuelling jet pack clipped onto her Sontaran armour – used the banister to force herself upright. She glared at Harry's party with murderous fury as she clenched a shaking fist. Then she took a step forward with her left foot – and nearly collapsed. Agony shot across Skane's blackened face. She composed herself - then used both of her gloved hands to limp up the steps, using the banister to pull herself on.
"The Ravenclaw Common Room – come on!" Harry urged them. Turning, Harry and Luna leaned against each other for support, as they laboriously climbed the last few stairs and reached the very top of the staircase, turning into the seventh-floor corridor, the Potters gasped. Harry felt his aching muscles begin to falter. Even with the extra stamina that came with being a werewolf, he was wondering how much more he could take.
"Harry – don't give up! You can make it… I have faith in you." Luna tried to smile at him, despite her own fatigue.
"Can't… Need to rest…!" Harry panted.
Luna frowned. She raised her voice, even as she firmly gripped his hand. "Harry James Potter – you listen to me! You will not stop, until we reach that Common Room! You can do this!"
Harry paused, taken aback. He took a moment to gaze into his wife's determined eyes underneath the Black Cat mask. His nostrils widened, taking in her scent. His fighting spirit drew in fire from Luna's words and conviction. The ends of his lips twitched upwards, and he nodded firmly.
"You're right.… And I have faith in you, too – Luna Aphrodite Potter," he panted. He weakly patted her back. "Let's move it!"
As one, the Potters forced themselves onwards. At the end of the passageway, they could see Ron and Hermione slumped on the floor, gasping as they shifted back into their costumed, human forms, after their run as wolves. The Weasleys then pulled themselves up, before listening to the riddle of the day from the guardian to the common room.
"Bloody hell!" Harry and Luna heard Ron's irate voice. "How are we going to answer that one?"
Hermione leaned against the wall next to the door. "Aaagghh! Think, Hermione – think!" she chastised herself. "From July to November, this man makes himself gradually known over time, each year. What is his name…?" Hermione repeated.
Harry and Luna pushed on. Mrs Potter began to sag, gasping – but Harry was now drawing strength from simply being in her arms, as Luna was from him. Her nostrils flared, taking in his scent in turn – and a dreamy smile spread across her pale, clammy face.
"C'mon, Luna! Did you hear that riddle? Ron and Hermione need our help to get into the Ravenclaw Common Room… Show us your Ravenclaw intellect!"
"Yes… From July to November…, gradually makes himself know each year. What is his name?" Luna pondered. Her eyes lost focus as her out-of-the-box mind got to work on the conundrum, even as her grip on Harry grew firmer and her staggering walk regained its normal pace and poise – to the point that she started to pull Harry after her. Within moments, the Potters were within yards of the common room door, where Ron and Hermione were unsuccessfully running off male names at random.
"My! Of course…" Luna raised her voice. "Hermione, Ron…! The man of the year is Ja…"
"Watch out!" the Doctor yelled.
Harry and Luna managed to turn round. The Doctor had been helping an exhausted-looking Professor Lupin along (with Moony having his arm slung around the Time Lord for support), but he had glanced back and seen the danger…
The Potters gave a scream. With a burst of adrenalin, Harry threw himself against a wall, taking Luna down with him, shielding her, as Commander Skane horizontally flew past them, using the reserve fuel in her jet pack.
Only Skane had just discovered that the controls for the jetpack – damaged in her last collision – were now failing to work, as she desperately thumped the cut-off button repeatedly…
"Ron! Hermi-," Harry tried to alert them, in time.
But his werewolf friends, tired as they were, were already reacting. With a panicking shriek, Hermione slammed Ron to the ground, just a moment before the bellowing Sontaran crashed into the common room door with such force, it was knocked off its hinges.
"Aaaiiieee!"
The pack's reserve fuel was depleted. Skane was consequently carried forward by her projectile thrust, until she crashed into the base of the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.
By the time that the four New Marauders, Remus Lupin, and the Doctor entered the airy common room, the chamber was silent – lit only by the first hints of the dawn light seeping through the east-facing windows. Panting, Lupin used his magic to light up the bracketed wall torches in the room, providing respite from the dark and cold stairwell they had left behind.
Along with the New Marauders, he was startled by the nearby presence of the blue Police Box.
"What the blazes…?" Lupin muttered.
"That's my craft – the TARDIS!" the Doctor cheerfully announced.
"How in Merlin's name are we all going to fit in there?" Hermione pointed out.
"No need to look so glum, Hermione! You'll see…"
The smile on the Doctor's face left Harry puzzled. Then he spied a motion out of the corner of his eye – and he spun round. Skane had managed to straighten herself upright on her knees, and – grinning – she rolled a grey metal sphere, about the size of a Golden Snitch, towards the six survivors. It flashed with a tiny white light…
"Take cover!" Harry shouted, instinctively pulling out his wand, as he turned to shield Luna again. She gasped and, in turn, instinctively grabbed hold of him and pulled him back into her arms.
The others turned to run for the cover of the nearest chairs and tables…
There was an explosion – but not one of flames or flying shrapnel. Instead, a piercing ringing noise stabbed at the brains of the five werewolves present. The Doctor, too, cried out and slid down the wall he had been slammed against by the blast, hands held over his throbbing ears.
The pain in Harry's pounding head very slowly began to fade away. Groggily, he forced himself up upon his elbows, as he heard someone give a strangled cry of alarm. His heart missing a beat, he quickly turned and found Luna lying next to him. Sighing with relief, he helped her into a sitting position against the nearest upturned chair.
"Oooh… What was that awful thing?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. Her airy voice sounded strained.
"A sonic grenade – which affected you lot more than me. You know why," the Doctor answered for her benefit, as he balanced himself upright on his knees, his blue-lit sonic screwdriver aimed at Skane. He looked somewhat battered by colliding with a nearby table, but he seemed more alert than Hermione and Lupin, close by. Both of their pack mates were rubbing their heads – dazed from the shock of the exploding sonic grenade.
And Ron…?
Harry's heart leapt into his mouth as he turned round from his crouched position. Skane had already taken advantage of the stunned state of Harry's friends – and used the time bought to unclip herself from her emptied jetpack, and to seize the now-frightened Ron Weasley by the throat.
"Ron!" Harry yelled, feeling too weak at that moment to stand up. He glanced down. Both his and Luna's wands were on the floor, a yard away. Meanwhile, Hermione was still on her elbows, on the carpeted floor, as she gradually recovered. She started to crawl over towards Ron's dropped wand, which was halfway between her and her captured husband.
Ron must have been about to retrieve it, when Skane got hold of him, Harry mused, his headache now gradually fading, as his werewolf constitution got to work, helping him to recover.
"Halt!" The Sontaran turned her attention ninety degrees to her left, from the Doctor to Hermione. "Or I will break the neck of your friend!"
Hermione froze rigid. Lips trembling, she stared at Ron - who gazed back at her, wide-eyed. He tried, without success, to break free from Skane's tight grip.
"Let…him…GO!" she growled threateningly at the Sontaran leader. "Or I will hurt you!"
"You know, Skane…" The Doctor kept his voice calm and conversational, whilst still aiming the sonic screwdriver at his Sontaran target. "I was rather hoping you would spend your last moments trying to kill the Rutan, like your two troopers in the Great Hall did – instead of hounding us. After all, your squad must be all dead by now. That includes your technician… Surely you would want to die with your usual Sontaran honour and all that malarkey?"
Skane's lipless mouth twisted into a sneer. "I too had hoped to see the Rutan perish, with my own eyes – after witnessing its slaughter of my troopers. But the Rutan will soon die anyway... I, on the other hand, must survive and report back to my people – with you and the TARDIS as my prize to present to my Admiral!" Her gaze lingered gloatingly for a moment on the police box close by. She wheezed, coughing up Sontaran blood - and then jerked on Ron's neck.
"Unlock the TARDIS door, Doctor. You and I will leave and travel to Sontar. This human will be my hostage. Disobey me, and he dies. The others are now expendable…"
"What! ?" Harry spluttered. He bent down to seize his wand…
"Back away, human! Touch your weapon – and your friend perishes! Last warning!" Skane spat. "Surrender! All of you!"
Harry and Luna paused, and then raised her hands into the air. The Doctor quickly altered the setting on his sonic screwdriver - then lowered it. His eyes, however, were narrowed. Harry saw his face twitch with barely-concealed disgust.
"Oh – now you're really torn it, Skane. My friends are NOT expendable! And that ego of yours is about to come crashing down… Right, Hermione?"
Harry glanced across to the puzzled-looking Hermione.
"It is…?" She blinked, and followed the Doctor's gaze – which was flickering from her to…
"Ohh! I see…!"
A look of suspicion swept across Skane's ugly face. "I have your companion directly between us, female earthling! Do not touch your weap…"
But in a flash, Hermione dived forward and grasped hold of Ron's ward, aiming it. "Expulso!" she cried out.
Skane automatically tilted her armoured body to one side, taking the protesting Ron with her. There was the sound of an explosion, a shattering of rock and dust – and then nothing.
"Blimey! Hermi-" Ron's voice was cut off as his Sontaran captor straightened both herself and him back up again. The blackened, gloved hand was clamped over his mouth once more.
"You missed!" Skane laughed mockingly at Hermione. "Now, Doctor! Unlock the TAR-"
"I wasn't aiming at you!" Hermione cut the commander off – giving her a hard smile of satisfaction.
Snapping up his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor quickly activated it. A shrill vibration was pulsated towards a spot behind Skane and Ron.
Still on her knees, Skane twisted herself round. The puzzlement on her harsh face changed in an instant to horrified realisation as she took in the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw next to her – its marble base shattered by Hermione's magic. It swayed to the sonic vibrations sent out by the Doctor. In the next instant, the edify toppled over – bearing straight down on…
Together, Harry and Luna lunged forwards and snatched up their wands. "Accio Ron!" they both cried out simultaneously.
Ron was abruptly yanked out of his captor's grasp, and slid across the floor to the Potters, just as Skane gave a cry of terror. Harry caught a glimpse of the Sontaran's open-mouthed expression – then the founder of Ravenclaw house fell heavily on top of the alien commander, slamming her backwards to the floor. Her scream was abruptly cut off.
The right forearm, sprayed out clear from the area of impact, twitched – the gloved fingers grasping at thin air. Then the arm slumped forward upon the floor and did not move again.
For a moment, there was only silence. Then Ron scampered over to Hermione. They held each other tightly, speaking without words.
Remus Lupin, meanwhile, had crawled over to the open doorway. "The Rutan!" He found his voice. "It's still coming for us! Harry – pass me a chair. I've just about got the strength to set something on fire!"
"Right…" Harry staggered as he rose to his feet and complied. He joined Professor Lupin at the doorway, and froze for a moment – seeing the ghastly green glow of the Rutan dragging itself along the seventh-floor corridor towards the Ravenclaw Common Room. It was almost at the doorway…
Snapping out of his horrified gaze, Harry helped his pack-leader to place the chair at the doorway and use their wands to create a fire. The Rutan halted, and gave a scream of frustration.
The Doctor hurried over to them. "Remus! My key, please! Thanks for keeping it safe."
"No problem, Doctor."
Grabbing the key, the Doctor dashed over to the TARDIS door and unlocked it. He pushed the door open. "In you all go – quickly! Ron? Hermione? What is it…?"
The Weasleys had disengaged themselves from their embrace and were now gazing fearfully at Skane's exposed wrist pad. The display was flashing different figures at regular intervals.
The Doctor ran over. Somewhat less energetically, the others came over to examine the wrist pad. The Doctor frowned – and then his expression turned pale. He slapped a hand against his temple in despair.
"Oh… Skane was not bluffing when she said the Rutan would die anyway! The clever, clever Sontaran…!"
"What's she done?" Harry asked fearfully.
"Skane's set up an automated response trigger between her wrist pad – which must have been monitoring her life signs – and the core computer in the Kelkarsis. With Skane dead, the self-destruct sequence on the Sontaran vessel has been activated. She really wasn't leaving anything to chance, when it came to ensuring that her Rutan prey was wiped out!"
"Self-destruct? But Professors Flitwick and Slughorn are on board that spacecraft…!" Luna's voice rose, in her panic. "And the Kelkarsis is directly above us! The explosion…"
"…could destroy the school!" Hermione's face turned horror-stricken.
"How long do we have?" Ron asked.
"Can't tell! Sontaran numbers are in Base Six, thanks to the number of their digits. I can't convert them in my head, in an emergency!" the Doctor snapped.
"And that fire won't hold back a determined Rutan for long, will it?" Harry pointed out, glancing at the burning chair in the doorway.
"No…" The Doctor closed his eyes and thought furiously. Then his eyes lit up. The ghost of a smile hovered over his lips. "Right! Everybody - get into the TARDIS! If we hurry, we might just be able to save the school…"
