Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Hermione took her seat in Advanced Arithmancy and rested her head on her desk in despair. It had been a couple of weeks since Prof. McGonagall had announced the Halloween Ball and all of her female friends had managed to ask the boys they were interested in. Ginny had asked Harry within the first five minutes after it was announced, Tonks had sent a message to Remus demanding that he show up for the ball, and even Luna had remembered to ask Ron. She sighed and banged her head against the desk again while she thought of all the opportunities she had missed lately.
It had become routine for Hermione to meet the Doctor in the library after dinner. She would work on her homework and he would continue with his research into ancient magical history. Whenever she was done, he would close whatever book he was reading and they would discuss literature, magical history, or ancient languages. The Doctor proved himself to be a good listener and Hermione found herself sharing more and more with him every time they met. She had told him all about her adventures with Harry and Ron and how proud she was to have them as friends. Each night, Hermione promised herself she would ask the Doctor to the ball, but each night she chickened out.
Prof. Vector drew Hermione out of her thoughts as she walked into the room. "Good morning everyone," she greeted her advanced class. "I know that you are all excited to go on the field trip this afternoon, so I decided to skip the lesson we had planned for today," she announced. "Instead, I will offer extra credit for whoever can solve the Borusa equation," she offered and tapped the blackboard with her wand. The entire board magically filled up with esoteric symbols and numbers. Most of the class groaned, but Hermione perked up at the challenge. True, she did have a 104 percent in the class, but it never hurt to have a little padding.
After about half of an hour, Hermione had managed to solve the complex equation. She turned in her parchment and was on her way back to her desk when the Doctor burst into the room looking very confused. "Sorry. . .um, wasn't this where the boy's loo was yesterday?" he asked sheepishly.
Prof. Vector gave their guest an indulgent smile. "Quite possibly, Doctor. The castle has a habit of changing rooms around. I suppose we just get used to letting it lead us where we needed to go rather than trying to remember where rooms are," she told him.
The Doctor was about to leave so he could locate the bathroom when he noticed the equation on the board. "Ooooh, the gravimetric sub-modalities of planetary rotations in relationship to galactic drift equation. I loved this one back at the academy," he blurted out and rushed towards the board. He picked up a piece of chalk and within less than a minute had the solution written at the very bottom. "Funny thing about this equation, in addition to showing where a planet will be at any given point in time in relation to another point in space, it also describes how to make the perfect piece of toast," he told Prof. Vector.
The teacher blinked her eyes a few times in shock. Most of what the Doctor had said seemed like demented ramblings, but somehow he had managed to write the correct solution. "What did you say this equation was for?" she begged him to repeat.
The Doctor had wandered off to one of the bookshelves near the windows and was looking at the various titles. "I'm sorry, what?" he replied, having already jumped ahead to his next string of thoughts. He looked back at the blackboard and smacked his forehead. "The equation, right, sorry. It's the perfect piece of toast equation," he told her. He gestured at the first variable. "That represents what type of bread you're using based on a consistency level of 1-50. I prefer oat bread with a consistency of about 35. The second set of variables relate to temperature and atmospheric density," he explained. "Obviously that leaves the last three variables to tell you how long to leave it in for, when to spread the jam, and how often Piers Morgan will tell off his co-hosts in any particular show," he said matter-of-factly. "Never did quite understand how the last bit works, but it is surprisingly accurate," he muttered.
The Doctor was saved from any further questions by a small red imp that popped into the class room with a burst of smoke smelling of brimstone. It stood on top of one of the empty desks and bellowed, "Time to head to the entry hall and wait on the portkeys." Turning to point a red, bony finger at each student, the imp chastised the class by shouting, "Time waits for no mortal so you should all hurry up!" The class started putting their things away, but the imp decided to add some more wise words to hurry them along while it finished turning around. "Time is. . .HOLY QUARTZ VIBRATIONS!" it exclaimed and fell off the desk when it saw the Doctor. "Sorry my lord, I didn't see you there," it apologized profusely, bowing until its pointed nose touched the desk. Before the Doctor could reply, the imp vanished by turning back into a puff of smoke.
The Doctor pointed at where the imp had been. "What on, or floating in the general vicinity of Earth was that?" he inquired.
Hermione had been the first turn her parchment in, so she had plenty of time to answer the Doctor's question. He let her lead him to the door as she explained. "That was a Time imp. They're always available within the castle when you need to set an alarm," she told him. She waved her hand in front of her nose to get rid of the brimstone smell. "Most people hate using them because of their attitude problems and their stench," she confided. Pausing at the door, Hermione took a long look at the Doctor. "You're the first person I've ever seen who the imps treat with respect," she let him know.
The Doctor shook his head in wonder. Up to that point, he had always assumed Time imps were mythical creatures. They were what Time Lords blamed unexplained malfunctions in a TARDIS on. He had no idea what a real Time imp was supposed to look like, but just in case, he decided to keep these as far away from his TARDIS as possible.
********DrW********
The 5th and 6th year students mingled in the entryway while the teachers prepped the portkeys. Tonks and Ace lounged against the stone pillars while students walked by. Harry's group of friends caught Ace's eye, so she wandered over to see how they were doing. She grinned at the odd maneuvering Harry and Ginny were performing. Bittersweet memories of when she first started dating Sirius leapt to mind. She swallowed the lump in her throat and watched the young couple trying to come up with the perfect distance to stand from each other, close enough to almost touch, but far enough away so as to not make Ron suspicious. Luna joined the group and held Ron's hand, distracting him.
"So, any of you lot ever been to see the Farringham scarecrow before?" Ace called out. She had never heard of the thing before and hoped by getting the students to talk, she could cover up her lack of knowledge. The only students who didn't raise their hands were Harry and Hermione, which made sense considering their "Muggle" upbringing. Playing the part of a teacher, Ace went on. "Other than Hermione, who can tell me what is so special about this scarecrow?" Ace asked the group.
"It's the only magical tourist site where they encourage you to try and vandalize something," Ron explained. He noticed the confused look on Ace's face and continued. "The bloody thing is indestructible," he told her. "My dad said that Ministry Spell-breakers have been trying to figure out what it is and what kind of spell was used ever since the scarecrow popped up in 1913," he said. "The Ministry of Magical Tourism has set up some wicked cloaking shields so Muggles won't see wizards doing their best to try and hex the thing into oblivion," he said with a grin. The last time he had gone with his family, Fred and George had packed some of their more "energetic" inventions around the base and threw a blasting curse at them. The explosion left everyone's ears ringing for a day and the scarecrow without even a hint of damage. The twins did however leave with a souvenir model of the scarecrow given to them by the tour guide for the best attempt made on the enigma that year.
"If they ever bothered to ask my family, we could tell them what it was," Luna said, staring at an interesting water stain on the stone wall in front of her.
"It's Luna, isn't it?" Ace asked, wanting to make sure he had the girl's name right.
Luna gave Ace a look that older woman normally only got from the Doctor when he thought she had said something stupid. "Of course it's not me, silly. I'm right here. I can't be the scarecrow," Luna informed her, stating the obvious.
Ace furrowed her brows while she tried to determine if Luna was being sarcastic or not. Judging from the dreamy smile on the student's face, Ace guessed she was being totally serious. "Sorry, Luna, that should have been obvious to me," she apologized. "What does your family think the scarecrow is?" she inquired.
Luna had gone back to looking at the water stain. "It's an alien of course," she told Ace without turning around.
Ron used his hand to cover his eyes out of sheer embarrassment as soon as the words were out of Luna's mouth. He looked between his fingers at Ace, hoping the Black CAT wouldn't start laughing at his girlfriend. Instead of laughing, Ace took a step closer to Luna, her expression one of deadly seriousness. "Why do you think that, Luna?" Ace pressed.
Luna turned to face Ace, her expression still one of blissful ignorance. "My father and I were friends with an old woman named Joan Newman. Of course back 1913 she was known as Joan Redfern. She told us she was there when an army of scarecrows attacked the village and the school there. Her boyfriend sacrificed his life so a kindly, but powerful wizard could come in and save the day," she explained.
"Who was this kindly wizard?" Hermione asked, ever curious. Ron kicked her shin for encouraging Luna and she kicked him right back.
"She never told us his name but did describe him to us," Luna stated. "She said he was like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And. . . he's wonderful," she quoted.
"Yeah. . .um. . .that's one theory," Ron said lamely. He took Luna's hand and distracted her by commenting on a painting.
Hermione caught Ace looking at the Doctor across the room through narrowed eyes. She misunderstood the meaning of Ace's dismissive snort. "Kindly wizard? Nah. . . couldn't be," Ace muttered.
Prof. McGonagall walked into the castle and clapped her hands once. "May I have your attention, please?" she yelled loudly. When the students quit talking she looked around and nodded. "Good. We have the portkeys set up and will you be off on your fieldtrips in a matter of moments," she informed the students. "Now remember, even though we have several 'Don't look at me' spells set up, we need to be as inconspicuous as possible," she warned them. "We need everyone to hang up their robes on the pegs over there and put on some sort of Muggle overcoat," she ordered. "Those of you without ties to the Muggle world can choose a coat or jacket from that wardrobe over there," she suggested, pointing her wand at a closet on the far wall.
The students and "Aurors" shed their robes and hung them on the hooks. Hermione was wearing her pink sweatshirt under her robe while Harry had on a simple dark gray one. Ron was wearing his favorite red sweater with the large "R" on it. Hermione smiled as she looked at the clothes the Doctor wore under his robes. The mismatch between his youthful face and antiquated style of dress made her smile. On anyone else, it would look ridiculous, but on him it seemed right for some reason.
"All right, hurry, hurry," Prof. McGonagall admonished. "The portkeys have been set to only take five people at a time so as not to attract any attention," she told them. "If I may have our Aurors go first, they can make sure the area is secure. We will send the first group of students five minutes after the Aurors leave," she the chaperones know.
Tonks led them outside towards the portkeys. The Doctor had no idea what a portkey was and was somewhat disappointed when Tonks stopped in front of a weathered sign that read "Keep Off The Stones". A small Hogwarts emblem was drawn on the bottom left corner of the sign. "Ready, Doctor?" Tonks asked. When he nodded cautiously she grabbed his hand and held her other towards the sign. "On three then. One. . .two. . .three!" she counted. Tonks and the Doctor disappeared in a flash of light.
Ace walked over to a rusty rear wheel off of a farm tractor. Like the sign, it had the Hogwarts emblem scrawled on it. Prof. McGonagall put a hand on Ace's shoulder to stop her for a moment. "By the way, we aren't sending you alone to watch over the students. Alistair Moody will be meeting you when you arrive," she told her.
"Good, he owes me five galleons," Ace laughed and touched the portkey so she could endure the nauseating form of travel wizards preferred. She'd take the Doctor's driving or even travel with a Vortex Manipulator over portkeys any day.
********DrW********
Farringham, Herefordshire
Alistair "Mad Eye" Moody stood next to a bale of hay in the one of the fields making up the Oakham Farm. As soon as he saw the flash of light that indicated a portkey use, he had his wand out, pointing it at the young woman laying on the ground. "Get up, whoever you are!" he demanded.
"Get bent, you old target dummy!" Ace shouted, barely keeping the vomit at bay. She slowly got to her feet while she took a deep breath to keep her lunch down. "You owe me three and a half galleons, by the way," she told him with a warm smile, giving him the personal password they had set up. The plan had been for Ace to go around telling everyone Alistair owed her five galleons, but would ask for three and a half when she needed to prove who she was.
"Mad Eye" Moody used the magical blue orb he had received his nickname from and looked at the woman claiming to be his old friend, Ace. He "saw" the various bits of future technology she had stashed on her person and the "wand" that could only belong to her. "Dorothy Ann! Where the hell have you been for the last 16 years?" he shouted. The fact that he was holding his arms open for a hug took most of the sting out of his words.
Ace hugged the battered old Auror. When she let go, she stepped back and looked at him with mock anger. "Call me that again and I'll give Jack your home address," she threatened.
"Mad Eye" held up his hands in surrender. From the very first time he had met Ace, he had known she wasn't a witch. His replacement eye had had shown him that her wand was nothing of the sort. Over the first couple of months he had known her, Ace had shown a willingness to risk her life for members of the Order of the Phoenix on several occasions. This was what had finally earned his trust. When he eventually confronted Ace about what he knew, she took him to meet her friend and fellow "Black CAT", Captain Jack Harkness.
"Anything but that!" Mad Eye begged playfully. "Anyone who flirts with me has to be out of their mind or wanting something really, really desperately. With Jack, I think it's a mixture of both," he laughed. A buzz in his pocket made him look at the portkey. "Students coming, best not to appear sentimental around them," he warned and went back to scowling.
When the students were all accounted for, their tour guide led them to the scarecrow. He told them what little the Ministry of Magic knew about its history and gave each of them a chance at blasting it. Even Mad Eye took a couple of tries, using some lesser known, but very destructive spells. When everyone had finished, Moody nudged Ace and whispered, "I'm interested in seeing if your wand has any effect on that stubborn thing."
Ace shrugged and shooed the students away from the scarecrow. She took up a firing stance in front of it and slid a bump on her wand over to set it for plasma bolts. A bright green bolt of plasma shot from the tip of her wand and struck the scarecrow center of mass. The way the plasma played over the surface and then suddenly vanished told Ace exactly what was happening in the sleepy little village of Farringham. The scarecrow had been suspended in a complex and impenetrable Time loop. There was only one race in all of the Universe that used that type of technology. Considering what planet they were on, it didn't take much to figure out which of the Time Lords had done this.
Ace was about to say something snarky about the Doctor being a "kindly wizard" when she caught motion in the cornfield out of the corner of her eye. "Everyone down! Alistair, shields!" she ordered, trusting her battle instincts.
The students dropped to the ground and Mad Eye swung his wand around in a broad circle. Sickly green energy blasts bounced off of his hastily erected shields. Four Death Eater stepped out of the fields, blasting curses flying from their wands. The only death Eater not wearing a mask addressed the captive group. "Well. . . well, if it isn't Mad Eye Moody playing wet nurse," he chuckled. He reached up and touched an engraved scarab hanging around his neck. The Death eater was instantly surrounded by a yellow glow which faded quickly.
"Damn it!" Mad Eye swore.
"Ah, Mad Eye, I see you recognize the Scarab of Ramsey. Good, that will make things easier," the Death Eater told him. "As you know, this amulet will protect me from the first three magical attacks set against me once activated," he explained. "Now here is how things are going to play out. My fellow Death Eaters and I will continue to hex your shield until it fails. When it does, you will be unable to harm me while I kill you and my friends kill off the Mudbloods and Blood Traitors among these students. The Dark Lord will be ever so pleased with me for bringing him your head, Moody," he monologued in true villainous fashion.
Ace stepped in front of Mad Eye, glaring at the lead Death Eater. "Piss off you goat buggering bastard!" she yelled while making an obscene hand gesture.
The Death Eater wearing the amulet snarled and threw a powerful curse at the shield Mad Eye was using to protect them. The force of the curse caused the old Auror to wince in pain as he struggled to keep the shield up. Sweat popped up on his brow as swiveled his glowing blue eye to look at Ace. "While I approve of your spirit, lass, I don't see how that helped much," he swore between clenched teeth.
"It helped more than you know, Alistair," Ace replied, her face set in a predatory grin. "It told me that he can see me which means that light has to be able to pass through whatever he is using for a shield," she explained while changing the settings on her wand.
"OK, so he can see us. What does that . . ." Mad eye started to say. He stopped in mid-sentence when a bright red beam lanced out of Ace's wand to strike the Death Eater in the groin. Her opponent had time to scream before she used the ultra high intensity laser to trace a line up the front of the Death Eater. The two halves of the very dead man split apart as he toppled over.
The other Death Eaters were in shock when they witnessed the gruesome end their leader had come to. They paid no attention to the fact that Mad Eye Moody, the most dangerous Dark Hunter to ever live, had dropped his shields. They definitely failed to notice that Ginny and Luna had taken their wands out. "STUPIFY!" the girls yelled while Mad Eye sent a nonverbal crushing hex into the Death Eater on his left. The wand arm of that foe shattered as the hex struck him. The other two Death Eaters fell over, paralyzed.
Once Mad Eye had collected the Death Eaters' wands, he crushed them under his artificial foot, breaking them into splinters. "They were waiting for us, which means someone in the Ministry must have told them we were coming," he spat.
Ginny and Luna were the last two students to leave and the red headed girl spun around when she heard Mad Eye speak. "Harry! We have to warn Harry!" she yelled.
Mad Eye looked at Ginny and shook his head. "I've tried to send a message to Tonks using our Order of the Phoenix coins. I even tried apparating there, but something is blocking me," he explained. "They're on their own until we figure out how to rescue them," he told her sadly.
