An empty warehouse on the outskirts of London, 1980
The crackling energy discharge of a Vortex Manipulator arced from the center of the room to the metal girders high above the concrete floor. The energy coalesced into a large, glowing ball and then disappeared, leaving three people where it used to be. Amy Pond took in a deep breath and let go of River's hand once she appeared. Rory held on for just a moment longer until the world stopped spinning around him. Eventually his balance came back and he let go as well. "I think I prefer the TARDIS," Rory mumbled, trying to keep his last meal down.
Amy looked around the large, empty warehouse once River turned on the lights with her pocket super-computer. Wrapping her arms around herself, Amy complained, "It's freezing in here!" She was still wearing the thin, white hospital scrubs she had been given after she gave birth to Melody. Rory took off his red cloak and draped it over Amy's shoulders. The leather armor of his Centurion uniform kept him warm, even if it was a bit drafty at times under his leather kilt. Amy smiled warmly at her husband and kissed his hand while it was on her shoulder. She looked at River, full of questions. "Where are we?" Amy asked.
"Just outside London, but the real question you should ask is 'when are we'?" River replied, a slightly smug look on her face.
Amy rolled her eyes. "All right, when are we?" she repeated.
"1980," River said simply.
"What? I won't even be born for another 9 years," Amy complained, her Scottish brogue thickening with her frustration. "Why are we here?" she demanded to know.
As if on cue, the familiar sounds of the TARDIS materializing floated towards them from the far side of the warehouse. The doors opened and the Doctor strode out, holding a baby wrapped in a red and yellow blanket. Behind him, a young woman with bushy hair just like River's followed him out. The girl saw Amy and Rory and ran to them. "Mother…Dad," she sighed and hugged them. Rory looked at Amy, shrugged, and hugged the girl back. Up-close, he was able to see all of the similarities between her and River.
River took a step backwards, careful not to touch Hermione. "Come on, you get see them again soon, give them time to coo and gush over our much younger self," she suggested. Hermione let go and smiled at River. She stepped to the side, allowing room for the Doctor and the baby. Rory watched his teenage daughter standing next to her adult self. River's words from when they were investigating the Silence's ship came back to him, "When I first met the Doctor — a long, long time ago — he knew all about me. Think about that. Impressionable young girl and suddenly this man just drops out of the sky. He's clever and mad and wonderful and... and knows every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl." He sighed and told himself to just accept the fact that the Doctor was going to play a major part in the lives of the two women he loved most, his wife and his daughter.
Amy could barely keep from running to the Doctor and snatching the baby away from him. "Is that… is that Melody?" she said, her voice breaking while she took the baby from his arms.
"No Mother, not Melody… never Melody," River spoke up. Amy turned towards her, disturbed. River gave her a warm smile. "Madam Kovarian is still looking for us and I doubt she will ever give up. She knows about me and Melody, but not about her," she said, pointing to the baby and then Hermione. "You'll have to come up with a new name for us as well as a new last name for yourselves if you want to stay hidden," she suggested.
Amy pouted while she tried to think of a new name. Her eyes lit up when an idea hit her. "I know, we'll call her Harmony," she proclaimed.
Rory watched the young woman and River both look like they were going to be ill. He looked down at his baby daughter and stroked her cheek. "Sorry, but I think that's too close to Melody," he told Amy. "What's with you and the musical terms, anyway?" he wondered.
Amy narrowed her eyes at her husband. "All right, Mr. Smarty Pants, what do you think we should name her?" she asked sarcastically.
"I think we should call her…Hermione," Rory replied, the name popping into his head.
Shaking her head in frustration, Amy frowned at Rory. "You always were a Shakespeare nerd in school," she reminded him. "I'm surprised you didn't take Bill up on his offer to go back to his room the last time we met," she teased. "It's too odd of a name. I think…" she started to say before she was interrupted by Hermione and River at the same time.
"I love it," they exclaimed. Truth was, Hermione had always been proud to have such a unique name.
Rory decided to go with the momentum, since any sort of disagreement with Amy usually went her way. "As for our last name, we should use…" he said while looking at Hermione. He watched her mouth "Granger" silently. "Granger!" he shouted. "It's my mother's maiden name. I doubt that scary eye patch lady will think to look for us under that name," he offered.
Looking down at her baby, Amy got lost in her eyes. Any thought of arguing with Rory fled as she focused all of her attention on Hermione. "Fine, Amy, Rory, and Hermione Granger," she cooed to the baby.
Rory's face suddenly looked a bit concerned. "Um, Doctor…if we're going to stay here and now, how will we get jobs? All of my nursing credentials are under my old name," he stated. "Of course, I won't actually take those tests for another 20 years, but you get the idea," he added.
A tall man in a crisp military uniform stepped into the light. His red beret folded perfectly over one ear. "I think I can be of help with that," he said, surprising everyone but the Doctor and River.
"Brigadier!" the Doctor exclaimed warmly. "Thank you for coming," he told his old friend.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart looked at the young man wearing the old style clothes with a bow tie. "Doctor, I presume?" he inquired. When the Doctor nodded, the Brigadier strode over and shook his old friend's hand. "You should know by now that whenever you call, I shall be there, barring death of course," he told the alien sternly.
The Doctor gestured towards the odd family reunion. "First off, I would like to introduce you someone very special to me, Hermione Granger," he stated and pointed to the baby, the young woman who looked like she was in her late teens, and the woman who looked to be in her forties. The way the Doctor had said it made the edge of the Brigadier's mouth turn up. He had known the Doctor for many, many years and he had never heard that particular type of affection in his voice before.
The Brigadier stepped forward and shook hands with first Hermione and then River. "It is a pleasure to meet you," he told them. He leaned down and stroked a bit of the baby's hair. "From what I gather, the three of you are the same person, just at different points in your Timeline?" he asked the two that could speak. Hermione and River nodded. "Amazing, just like the Fates from mythology. The Maiden, the..." he started to say before the Doctor interrupted him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't finish that sentence. At least not if you want to walk out of here with two good legs," the Doctor warned. He had no desire to see how Hermione would react to being referred to as "the Mother" and he definitely didn't want to see how River would take being called "the Crone".
"You know me so well, my love," River told the Doctor, reading his expression.
The use of "my love" confirmed what the Brigadier had been thinking, but it still made him arch an eyebrow. Wanting to change the subject, the Doctor reached over and turned the Brigadier to face Amy and Rory. "Brigadier, are you familiar with the stories about the Pandorica?" he inquired.
The Brigadier had known the Doctor far too long to be caught off guard by the seemingly random question. "The Pandorica is a level 7 trans dimensional artifact," he replied.
"Actually, by your standards, it would be classified as a level 9, but you seem to have the idea," the Doctor corrected. He pointed at Rory proudly. "I would like to introduce you to Rory, the Last Centurion. A man who waited nearly 2000 years for his wife. He also managed to make the entire 12th Cyber Legion involuntarily expel their used oil when forced to deal with him," he proclaimed.
Rory looked embarrassed to have the Doctor praise him like that. "Let's be fair, Doctor. You were the one who taught me how to set up thecharged particle relay that destroyed most of their fleet," he countered.
"Moving on," the Doctor said. He stepped over and put his arm around Amy's shoulder. "And this old friend, is the woman special enough for the Last Centurion to wait all that time," he explained. "Oh… and she was also the one who made it possible for us to reboot the Universe after it collapsed back on itself," he added proudly.
A moment passed while the Brigadier let that information sink in. The Doctor had called him out of the blue and asked if he had any jobs available for a pair of his Companions who needed to spend time on Earth raising their daughter. The Brigadier never suspected they would be so… special. They actually sounded like the perfect candidates for a pet project he wanted to get off the ground. The bastards over at the Torchwood Institute had been getting to the scene of alien events before UNIT was able to far too often. What UNIT needed was its own covert team of operatives that could be mobilized much faster than regular troops.
The Doctor saw the wheels turning in the Brigadier's head. "Do they fit the bill for covert operatives, Brigadier?" he pressed.
The Brigadier kept his face neutral, even though the Doctor had managed to surprise him by mentioning what he was thinking. "Very much so," he replied. "We will have to come up with cover identities for them," he went on. "Any suggestions, Doctor?" he requested.
Amy cocked her head to the side while she thought. She answered for the Doctor by saying, "How about dentists? No one would ever suspect a dentist of leading a second life as an alien hunter," she proposed.
Rory thought the idea was sound except for one part. "No one will ever believe you're a dentist," he pointed out to Amy. She responded by stepping on his foot. Rory stifled a yell of pain, not wanting to wake the baby. He turned a pained face to the Brigadier. "Dentists sound wonderful," he said through clenched teeth.
"Wonderful, we can head back to my estate for the evening and draw up the rest of our plans in the morning," he suggested.
While the Doctor was talking to her mother, Hermione gave River a close visual inspection. She was fairly happy with how she looked later in life. One thing did stand out however as Hermione looked form River's chest to her own. "Um… do I get some work done in the future?" she asked her older self.
River looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. She leaned in towards Hermione slightly and winked. "Spoilers," she warned and then went back to watching her lover talk with her parents.
The Doctor started to pace back and forth. "I'm forgetting something," he muttered. With a snap of his fingers, he spun around to face the group. "Paper… I need paper and something to write with," he told them. The Brigadier reached into his uniform coat and pulled out a notebook and pen. "Will this do?" he inquired.
The Doctor snatched the notebook and pen from the Brigadier's hand and examined it closely. He held it in front of his face and turned it slightly to look at the paper in different light. "Perfect, thank you," he said absently. The Doctor wrote out the two sets of Spatial / Temporal coordinates Amy had given him onto the paper. He tore the page out of the notebook and returned the notebook to the Brigadier. Handing the page to Amy, the Doctor ordered, "Give this to me when the Time is right."
Amy shifted the baby so she could take the paper and then looked up at the Doctor, sorrow in her eyes. "We won't be seeing you again for quite a while, will we?" she asked softly.
The Doctor smiled at her and looked over at Hermione. "16 years, give or take a few months," he replied. Amy closed her eyes, forcing the thought of being without the Doctor for so long out of her mind.
Rory stepped forward and grabbed the Doctor's arm in a Roman style hand shake. "16 years then, Doctor," he told his friend. Rory placed his arm around Amy and led her towards the door where he assumed the Brigadier had come in.
The Brigadier nodded to the Doctor. "Until next time, old friend," he said warmly and then went to follow the Grangers.
After those staying in that particular decade left, the Doctor looked at River. "Hello, Sweetie… that's a code isn't it?" he inquired.
River flashed him a warm smile. "Of course it is," she replied. "I use it to tell when you are in your Timeline," she explained, referencing their first real kiss.
"So, what's next for you?" the Doctor asked River.
River reached forward and brushed his cheek. "As much as I would love to relive this wonderful time at the beginning of our relationship, I should probably let the younger me enjoy it instead," she told him. Without warning, River wrapped her arms around the Doctor and gave him a passionate kiss, which the Doctor returned with equal passion. When she was done, River stepped back and looked at Hermione, who was glaring daggers at her. "I forgot how jealous I get when I watch me kiss you," she laughed, addressing the Doctor.
Hermione stomped her foot in anger and grabbed the Doctor, spinning him to face her. She threw her arms around the Doctor's neck and tried to kiss him with as much passion as River had, just to even the score with herself. While Hermione wasn't as practiced as River, the Doctor still enjoyed it immensely.
River saw the involuntary grin on the Doctor's face. "Don't get any ideas, Sweetie," she warned the Doctor. "We found out the Blinovitch Limitation Effect does apply to me," she explained. When she saw he was about to ask a question, River wagged a finger at him and said, "Spoilers, Dear." She looked at him with a sly, sexy look in her eyes. "Of course as a Time Lord, you don't have to worry about there being more than one of you present. Just saying…," she hinted, making the Doctor and Hermione blush. River held up her Vortex Manipulator and started entering in a set of coordinates. "Don't worry about me, Sweetie. I have a dinner date this evening with you and Jack. It should be ever so much fun," she told him.
Before River could activate her Vortex Manipulator, Hermione asked, "Who's Jack?"
River grinned from ear to ear. "I definitely don't want to spoil that for you. You'll find out soon enough," she teased and then pressed the switch on her Vortex Manipulator, sending her back to the 51st Century.
********DrW********
Hogwarts, Spring 1997
Serverus Snape stood over Harry as he lay fighting to remain conscious. Snape kicked the young wizard's wand away from them. "Don't call me coward!" he spat. Harry thought he might have been imagining it, but the way Snape had said it made him think those words coming from him hurt more than he could imagine. Snape's head turned quickly as he heard a strange rising and falling noise next to the burning hut that had been Hagrid's home. Snape held his robe tight as he ran off after the other Death Eaters when he saw the Doctor's blue box start to fade into view.
Harry saw the doors to the TARDIS open and Hermione step out. "This isn't my parent's house, it's Hogwarts" she stated. She looked at the ground in front of her and saw some wild flowers that had started to bloom. "And this definitely isn't Christmas time," she scolded. The popping and crackling of the fire behind her drew her attention. A gasp escaped her mouth as she saw Hagrid's hut consumed in flames.
"Hermione!" Harry shouted weakly.
"Harry! My god, what's happened here?" Hermione replied and ran over to kneel beside her friend. A quick wave of her wand over him told her he wasn't seriously hurt, only stunned.
Harry reached for Hermione's hand, his own trembling. "Snape… Snape killed Prof. Dumbledore," he sobbed. Hermione looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, wanting him to tell her this was all a mistake.
The Doctor saw the pain in Hermione's eyes and wished with both of his hearts that he could change things, but they had already become part of these particular events. He heard footstep approaching and looked up the path towards the castle. Ron and Ginny were racing towards them with Ace, Luna, and Prof. McGonagall following close behind. Ron stopped short when he saw the TARDIS next to the burning hut. He looked from Hermione to the Doctor, anger making him shake. "Where the bloody hell have you two been?" he demanded. Ginny tried to calm Ron by putting a hand on his arm. He shook of her hand and stepped threateningly towards the Doctor. "This is all your fault!" he screamed. "If Hermione had still been here, Dumbledore would still be with us!" he accused.
Ginny let her eyes unfocus on the present and looked into the Timestreams flowing around them. When she came back to the here and now, she grabbed Ron's arm more forcefully. "You're wrong, Ron," she told him, her voice hard. "Prof. Dumbledore's death is a fixed point. Nothing anyone could have done would have been able to prevent it," she tried to explain.
Ron saw the look of warning his sister gave him and he stepped back for a moment. "He still didn't tell me where they've been," he muttered defiantly.
"We were taking care of family business," Hermione shot back. She felt partially guilty for not being there, but what Ginny had said had helped ease it. She also remembered what the Doctor had told her one night after he had come out about being an alien. He had told her that the TARDIS often overrode his controls. The only explanation he could give was that he said the TARDIS might not take him where he wanted to be, but she always took him where he needed to go. She found strength in her faith of him and the TARDIS.
Ron and the Doctor helped Harry to his feet while Ace, Luna, and Prof. McGonagall caught up to them. "Doctor, Miss Granger," McGonagall said, greeting them. She looked at Hermione, "Your presence was sorely missed this semester," she told her.
Hermione started to panic. "I missed an entire semester? What am I going to do?" she gasped.
Prof. McGonagall smiled slightly at her favorite pupil. "It seems an error on the school's part has turned out in your favor, Miss Granger," she stated. "Somehow, you were given the final exam instead of the mid-term exams for all of your classes," she explained. "We were going to discuss it with you when you returned, but…" she told her and then held out her hands to indicate everything around them. "Oh, by the way you passed all of them with flying colors," she informed Hermione.
Ron looked skeptically at Hermione. "You didn't notice the exams were covering things we hadn't gone over yet?" he asked.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I make it a point to read all of my text books cover to cover in the first few weeks," she replied. "That way I'm not surprised by anything," she added.
Ron found himself smiling, despite himself. He could always count on Hermione to be true to form. He turned to look at Prof. McGonagall. "How did Hermione end up with the final exams?" he questioned. "Prof. Slughorn told us he had only just finished writing his the day before he gave it,' he pointed out.
"I asked the same question of Prof. Dumbledore," McGonagall responded, her voice hitching on the last word. She took in a deep breath to calm herself and then went on. "Prof. Dumbledore suggested that perhaps the castle had intervened somehow. I got the distinct impression he wasn't telling me everything," she said in a rare moment of candor.
The discussion was halted when a very large crow plummeted out of the sky towards them. The bird broke off its dive as it dropped two large, clear gems in their midst. With an evil sounding squawk, the crow flew off.
The gem closest to Harry began to glow red and suddenly an image of Lord Voldemort took form. The image stepped through Ron with the utmost contempt. "Hello, Harry," Voldemort said, his voice as calm and smooth as always. The image slowly spun around, making eye contact with everyone there. He took note of who looked away and who met his gaze. He was surprised that only Ron, Luna, and McGonagall looked away. He was very pleased that Ginny met his eyes without flinching. Voldemort made a show of looking the Doctor over. "Finally decided to give up on looking old and distinguished," he asked rhetorically. "Good for you," he praised the Doctor. Voldemort enjoyed how uncomfortable the Doctor looked.
"What do you want, Tom?" Harry snarled.
Voldemort gave Harry a disapproving look. "Quiet boy, your elders are speaking," he chastised. The image of Voldemort took a couple of steps towards Ginny, stopping directly in front of her. He bent down and studied her eyes. It was easy considering she was staring at him with undisguised hatred. "Have you looked at her eyes, Doctor?" he wondered. "It's amazing how much they remind me of Susan's mother's," he said in an offhand manner. Voldemort smiled as he saw the Doctor stumble backwards, as if he had been struck.
The Doctor swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. "There's only one person in the Universe who remembers what my oldest daughter looked like," he stated, not wanting to believe the truth.
If anything, Voldemort's smile became larger. "That's correct, Doctor," he told the alien. "It wasn't a coincidence that my subconscious came up with the name 'Voldemort'," he explained.
Ace went to her foster father's side. "What's going on, Professor?" she asked, not liking how pale the Doctor had become.
The Doctor spared a glance for Ace. "Voldemort is Low Gallifreyan for Valeyard," he told her.
Ace took an involuntary step away, her hand covering her mouth. "No… NO… not him, it can't be him!" she babbled. "He was destroyed when his TARDIS exploded!" she screamed, trying to rationalize the specter away.
Voldemort shook his head sadly. "Ace, it's been too long," he told her, menace dripping from his words. "Silly girl, you should know by now that as long as the Doctor lives, I exist in some form or another," he reminded her. "As for you, Doctor, I look forward to our next meeting. We have so much to catch up on," he promised and snapped his fingers. As soon as he did, the image of Voldemort vanished and the gems melted into a shiny puddle. The Doctor dropped to his knees, guilt and shame weighing him down.
Hermione left Harry's side and rushed to her boyfriend. She lifted his chin so she could see his eyes. Tears were streaming down his cheek. "What is Voldemort talking about?" she asked him, not sure she wanted to hear the answer. To her, it had sounded like Voldemort was claiming to be another Time Lord, something too scary for her to dwell on. The truth would be far harder to face.
In between wracking sobs the Doctor admitted, "The Valeyard is a future version of me. I'm Voldemort."
THE END
The sequel will be started soon. Keep an eye out for "A River of Magic – Hermione's Song Book 2".