Chapter 24 – Geronimo!

"Look, I know you want to help, but trust me, you didn't, and doing so would only cause big explodey thing that would make the Reapers to appear, and trust me, you won't want that!" said the Doctor to the zygon Commander as he entered the TARDIS. He had just finished talking things over with the Zygon Council, telling them not to attack Voldemort's army, as such an action would cause a paradox. He had also made them agree not to ever attack Hogwarts, or any human, for that matter, while they were living on Earth.

The Doctor closed the door and bounded up to the control console, only to see Harry's head quickly duck down behind the banister on the upper level.

"I should've known!" the Doctor said, shaking his head. "Come on, you three, down here. You can't hide from me."

"How did you know we were here?" asked Ron as he, Harry and Hermione descended the stairs to the console platform.

"Oh, you know, just the fact that I didn't see you guys leave the corridor in Hogwarts," the Doctor said, fiddling with a few levers on the TARDIS console.

"Yeah, well, you were too busy snogging Ton-" began Ron, but Hermione cut him off.

"We were wondering, Professor, if you'd be able to explain what this place is," Hermione said, gesturing around the room.

The Doctor was pleased. He always enjoyed explaining the TARDIS mechanics to new people.

"It's a time machine, able to travel anywhere in time and space. It's also-"

"Bigger on the inside, yeah, but so what?" asked Ron. "So's my dad's tent."

The Doctor's smile slid off his face, and he pointed an accusing finger at Ron. "Your just one big...ruiner!" he said grumpily, turning to face the console.

"But what is this place called? And why does it look like a blue box?" asked Harry, as the Doctor ran around the console, flicking switches, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

"It's called the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, typing co-ordinates into the Spatial Location Input. "Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. And the blue box thing is a disguise. In the first nanosecond of landing, it scans the surroundings and makes a 12 dimensional data map from everything in a 12 mile radius and decides what would blend in best," he said proudly, patting the console.

"So it decided that a blue box would blend in best at Hogwarts?" Ron said. "How thick is it?"

"Oi, it's a lot smarter than you!" the Doctor said indignantly. "But there's a fault, it's a blue box all the time. I've been meaning to get it checked actually..." He pulled a lever. "Anyway," he said to the trio. "Where do you want to go?"

"Go?" asked Hermione, confused. "Go where?"

"Anywhere, you want."

The teenagers glanced at each other uncomfortably, but it was Hermione who spoke first.

"Well, um, you see, Professor," she said tentatively. "We can't go anywhere, we've got our OWLs coming up, they're really important exams that we absolutely need to take, and..." she trailed off, looking at the Doctor, hoping that he would understand.

"Oh," said the Doctor, surprised, but saddened. "I see. I suppose I'd better let you out."

"We're really sorry Professor," said Harry, "but thanks for understanding."

The Doctor gave them a small, sad smile before reverting to his usual persona. "Right, now all you need to do is to pull this big lever to open the doors, and you're free to go!" he said, pointing to a big, raised lever on a panel next to him.

"Don't we need to take off first?" Hermione asked. "We haven't left the zygon ship yet."

"Don't need to," the Doctor lied. "I made time flow faster outside the TARDIS, so when you leave, you'll find that it'll be the exact minute I said goodbye to – what was her name? Tonks?"

Harry and Hermione nodded as Ron reached over the console and pulled the lever. Immediately, the TARDIS shuddered, and the familiar wheezing, groaning sound began.

"What have you done, Ron?" shouted Hermione, holding onto the console.

"I didn't do anything!" Ron protested, looking very bewildered. "All I did was pull the lever that Professor Smith told me to!"

"Professor, what's happening?" asked Harry.

The Doctor couldn't suppress his grin. "Ron's released the handbrake; we're now dematerialising!"

"You lied to us, didn't you," shouted Harry. "You never had any intention of letting us go!"

"Right in one!" the Doctor grinned, and he started running around the console again, flicking switches, pulling levers and pressing buttons.

"Where are we going?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know!" laughed the Doctor.

"What's going to happen to us?"

"I don't know!" the Doctor said again, imitating the trio by grabbing hold of the console. "But I do know one thing!"

"What's that?" the trio asked at the same time.

The Doctor grinned. "Geronimo!" he shouted, as the TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex, transporting its occupants to their next adventure.

THE END

Author Note: Thank you so much to all of you who have followed, favourited and reviewed this story over the past 7 months. This is my first story, so all that recognition was very much appreciated. I'm currently revising the story, so you may want to re-read the Prologue and Chapter 1 to see some new content. Also, be on the lookout for a sequel to this story, which should hopefully appear sometime in the near future! Thank you all once again!

JSmith25