Disclaimer: There is no such thing as luck; there is only adequate or inadequate JK Rowling to cope with a statistical Harry Potter.

A/N: Phew! One of these days, I'm actually going to get a chapter done in a week again. This chapter was a challenge because I thought of a bunch of stuff I had to add before the end of fifth year—about a whole chapter's worth, to be honest. I had fun with the last (main) part, though. I've been waiting for that scene since Chapter 12 of The Accidental Animagus.


Chapter 18: The Oncoming Storm

The Times, 4 May 1996

MASSACRE IN LEEDS

RETURN OF "WEREWOLF SLASHER"

Less than two months after sixteen schoolchildren and one teacher were shot to death in Stirling, another tragedy has struck Great Britain, shockingly with even more grisly results.

On Thursday night and early Friday morning, residents of three separate neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Leeds reported sounds of a wolf howling, followed by break-ins and screams in multiple houses. Police were called to each incident, but the perpetrator was gone each time before they arrived, finding severely injured and deceased residents left behind. By Friday evening, the number of victims was confirmed by local authorities as nine dead, twenty-three injured, and six missing, presumed to be kidnapped. Five of the missing are children under 10.

A police spokesman told the Times that the pattern of these attacks matches that of the so-called "Werewolf Slasher" who was active around the country two years ago, with wounds resembling animal bites and scratches. Thursday night was the night of the full moon, providing further evidence that the murderer, who was never identified, has become active again. The scale of this attack has renewed questions about a possible link with the Provisional IRA or other terrorist groups, but none has been identified.

Surprisingly, unlike the previous series of attacks, the Slasher seemed strangely intent on leaving their victims alive. Only five bodies were found in their homes, with four more dying in hospital. Many of the surviving victims suffered only one "bite," unlike the far bloodier attacks of two years ago. However, doctors report that the bites were contaminated in some way because all of the victims suffered complications including excessive bleeding, high fever, and paranoid behaviour. Police have urged any remaining victims who may still be at home to be checked by a doctor, and they have also released a plea for the kidnapper, presumed to be an associate of the Slasher, to return their victims so that they may receive medical support.

Kidnappings were not a feature of Werewolf Slasher attacks of two years ago, and the motive for them is unknown. No ransom note or other contact has been made. There appears to be no connection between the kidnapped victims other than age, and two were taken from each neighbourhood seemingly at random.

In a press conference Friday afternoon, Prime Minister John Major had this to say to the kidnappers: "I urge you to return the children and the young mother you have taken immediately. We will find you, and we will bring you to justice for this atrocity, and nothing will bring us down on you harder than continuing to hold these most innocent victims." About the threat of more attacks in the future, Mr. Major said, "I have ordered police forces throughout the United Kingdom to be on high alert, and I urge everyone to stay indoors and safe on the night of the first and second of June, during the next full moon. But the government will make every effort to bring these terrorists to justice before then."


"How the hell did this happen?!" roared Antioch Wildsmith of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes at Saturday's raucous Wizengamot meeting.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Madam Longbottom. "Greyback must have got his claws on Wolfsbane Potion again and is using it to build an army. Diggory! What kind of department are you running?"

Amos Diggory, clearly overworked and having lost a fair bit of weight, shot to his feet and snapped back at her, "The Department of Magical Creatures is monitoring the production of Wolfsbane Potion the same as always. Nothing's shown up in the records. If anyone's making more than they should, they're doing it completely dark."

"What about Cor Humanum?" asked Lord Nott shrewdly. "They're the largest producer of Wolfsbane in the country now. How do we know they haven't broken the rules, hmm?"

Harry started to get up, but Hermione held him back. Instead, Sirius jumped up. "Cor Humanum's potioneers are all bound by magical contracts. So are our beneficiaries, for that matter. Our ingredients are inventoried from start to finish. We'd know if any of them were making extra on the side. It's all registered with Diggory's department. Go ahead and audit us if you want."

"What if Greyback got it from other werewolves like last time?" called someone in the back.

"The potion is administered on site except on the night of the full moon itself. He couldn't've got a full course from us."

"We should shut down all production of Wolfsbane immediately! A ban on imports will stop any rogue potioneer in their tracks."

"Don't be ridiculous. If anyone's smuggling in ingredients, a ban isn't going to stop them."

"Are they smuggling? Lord Greengrass, you have a monopoly on the importation of Wolfsbane ingredients. Maybe we should audit you."

"If you're accusing me, get on with it," growled Adrian Greengrass. "And anyway, I've made sure the supplies are accounted for. I wanted to make sure nothing like this happened, too. We had a close call as it was at Hogwarts."

"It doesn't matter," Sirius jumped back in. "You're all barking up the wrong tree—and I'd know. I'll bet galleons to knuts that Greyback's getting a supply from Voldemort. And cutting off the legal supply is exactly what they us to do. It'll cause resentment among werewolves who are loyal to the Ministry."

"Hem hem," the obnoxious cough of Dolores Umbridge briefly quieted the chamber.

Harry groaned. "Why is she still here?" he whispered.

"It's a civil service job," Andromeda told him. "Fudge needs cause to fire her."

"Loyal to the Ministry?" Umbridge said in an incredulous tone. "Even if that's true, why on Earth are we worried about the loyalty of a few diseased monsters when we have so many other problems."

Sirius might have cursed her. "You're out of order!" he shouted.

"Madam Umbridge, I have not recognised you as a witness," Dumbledore said sternly, "and I will not tolerate slurs in this chamber."

Fudge, however, did have a right to speak, and the damage was done. "I apologise for my Senior Undersecretary's language, but she has a point," he said. "We have twenty-nine new muggle werewolves out there, most of whom are lying in public view in muggle hospitals. This is risking a serious Statute of Secrecy violation! What will we do at the next full moon? How can we justify that many victims disappearing at the same time to muggle authorities."

The Wizengamot fumbled and talked around the topic for a few minutes. No one had a good answer until someone pointed out that the muggles already knew the attacks were coming on the full moon, so they could do it under the guise of a witness protection program. Unfortunately, it only got worse from there.

"That may suffice for the current group of victims," said old Tiberius Ogden, "but what will we do if Greyback attacks like this again and creates even more werewolves? We have to face the fact that we may have to start culling them." He magically amplified his voice to speak over the uproar. "I know! I know! I don't want to do it any more than the rest of you, but if their numbers grow too great, we may have no choice."

Amos Diggory was most angry of all at the suggestion, Harry was pleased to see, though he was far from the only one. The Wizengamot hadn't even executed Greyback when they had him, and even if they were more inclined to do now, this was about newly-turned innocent victims. "Are you suggesting we murder the victims where we find them?" he roared. "Or hunt them down like animals, full moon or not?"

"You've lost you're mind, Tiberius," said Elphias Doge. "Even if we stooped so low, that would be an even greater risk to the Statute of Secrecy! The muggle government—their whole society is paying too much attention to disappear the victims."

But others agreed with Ogden. "Find a way to link them to the IRA or whatever it's called," said Lord Bletchley. "We have to do something!"

"Letting them run free would be the greater risk, Lord Doge," Ogden agreed. "I've been saying it for years. The danger of werewolves isn't just to the individual witch or wizard. If their numbers grow too great, we lose the ability to hide or even contain them—"

But he was shouted down. A vocal minority continued to advocate for culling the werewolf population, but it was clear the Wizengamot was against them, though they warned that people would change their tune if Greyback attacked again. In the end, the Ministry had little choice but to divert much-needed resources to hunting down Greyback before (or at least during) the next full moon. There was another proposal that transformed werewolves who were not contained should be killed on sight, but Madam Bones pointed out that it was already legal to use deadly force against uncontained werewolves, so it didn't make a difference besides leaving a sour taste in Harry's and his family's mouths.

This month was not off to a good start.


Harry and Hermione returned to Hogwarts that afternoon to a school that was just as sullen and tense as the magical world outside it. Matters weren't helped when, at dinner, the Evening Prophet arrived with a summary of the Wizengamot meeting. Harry noticed Demelza Robins run from the Great Hall a few minutes later, quickly followed by her friend, Natalie.

He wasn't entirely sure why he did it, but Harry decided to finish dinner early and hurry up to the Common Room to see if the two girls were okay. When he arrived at Gryffindor tower, he saw them huddled in the shadows against the far wall. Demelza was crying. The two of them jumped and looked up at him nervously when they heard him come in, but they quickly relaxed.

He made his way over to them. "Hey, there," he said. "How are you feeling?"

Demelza sniffled, and Natalie patted her on the back. "I'm sorry," the young werewolf said. "I know I should be safe here. It's just…those people in the paper. They want to kill me—just because I'm sick."

Harry sat beside her and rubbed her back. "They really don't," he said. "They're just scared."

"They…they would if I went out on the full moon. And they want to get rid of Wolfsbane, too, and kill me for acting like an animal without it. It doesn't even make sense!"

"I know, Demelza, but I still think they're just scared. And people act stupid when they're scared," he said kindly. "And anyway, they didn't change any policy, except people might be a bit more curse-happy, now. It won't affect you here at Hogwarts."

She sniffled again, and Natalie hugged her to her side, her face grim. "It's screwed up, Harry," she said. "Demelza never did anything to deserve this. She was a victim, too."

"Yes, Natalie," Harry said. "But we just have to be better than them and not let it get to us. I mean, look at me. People have wanted to kill me my whole life. It's not easy, but I've learnt to live with it."

That finally made Demelza crack a smile. "Yeah, but you're Harry Potter," she said.

"Yes, but once, I was a scared little boy living in a cupboard. You think I'm a natural at this stuff? It'll get better. Trust me."

At that, Demelza leaned over and hugged him around the middle. Natalie looked up at Harry with a relieved smile and whispered, "Thank you."

Demelza was still crying a bit, though. "Why is he even doing this?" she whimpered. "Why does Greyback…"

"We all know what Greyback wants," Harry said. "He wants werewolves to take over, and to do that, he needs to make as many werewolves as he can. Wolfsbane Potion is a miracle, but it also makes him way more dangerous. We'll just have to hope they catch him before the next full moon."

Hermione had come up at some point in the conversation. "What I want to know is how it fits into Voldemort's plans," she said. "If he wants Greyback to serve him, is this the best way?"

Harry shrugged. "Greyback's always brought werewolves to his army," he said. "Maybe he's desperate because he doesn't have as many now?"

They let the matter drop. The rest of the house returned from dinner a short time afterwards. Colin and Dennis Creevey quickly sought out Demelza and Natalie to commiserate with them. Dennis was perhaps the angriest on his brother's behalf, but quite a few Gryffindors were offended by the treatment of their two werewolf members. Although Ginny had sought out Colin and helped calm him down.

Harry and Hermione hadn't seen Remus since the report of the attacks, even from afar. They could only guess how he was feeling right now. Greyback threatened to undo all the progress they had made for werewolves over the past three years, and worse, people were out for blood. Remus was the sort of man who couldn't help but take that personally, but all they could do right now was wait for him to show himself and reassure him the best they could.

"I still want to know what Voldemort's doing," Hermione said when they were alone. "We know he's not planning to move on the full moon, is he?"

Harry frowned: "No, I don't think so. And muggle werewolves won't be much good to him at other times, would they? They can't use wands."

"So what does he get out of this?"

"I don't know. It doesn't give him anything of value. Unless Greyback just needs the numbers to attack more wizards…"

They stared at each other.

"Crap."


The month wore on. The initial shock at Greyback's attack faded at first, but by the middle of the month, the tension began to mount again as the next full moon grew nearer. Mum and Dad said people were feeling that way even in the muggle world. Ordinary terrorists had been cropping up here and there for ages, but somehow, having a set schedule made it worse.

Remus and Dumbledore had both thought of the same idea, that Greyback was preparing a force to turn more wizards. Though there were considerable problems with that theory, they assured them precautions would be taken. They were in a far better position now to thwart Greyback's plans now that he was on the move.

Remus comported himself admirably upon returning to teaching. Though he still shivered at Greyback's name and refused to talk about the incident, his teaching did not suffer. Indeed, the lessons on governance and civics were even more important with things outside the castle walls still in flux.

In the end, the fifth years, at least, couldn't sink too deep into fear or melancholy, as they were all too busy revising for O.W.L.s. Even with all their other worries, the exams tended to eat one's life, and more than a few students had needed Calming Draughts because of them as opposed to the attacks.

There were two bright spots for Harry in that month. First was Quidditch, with the final against Ravenclaw coming up soon. Even Hermione was drilling seriously in case they needed a reserve Chaser. The other, of course, was the announcement that the Doctor Who television movie would be broadcast on the evening of Monday, the twenty-seventh. Even with it being the week before exams, the two siblings had begun talking to Sirius about finding an excuse to safely get them and some of their friends out of the castle that evening to watch it.

But first, they had the Quidditch final that weekend.

It was a sunny, late-spring day. The dreariness immediately following Easter Holidays had largely lifted, although it still wouldn't be the same without Professor McGonagall there to cheer them on. She had, after all, been possibly the biggest Quidditch fan among the school's staff. And Quidditch itself somehow felt less real to Harry when he had such weightier things on his mind.

Harry walked out to the pitch with his Firebolt, hoping he could just lose himself in the game for a little while. The rest of the team stood around him, ready to go. He thought they had a pretty good chance as long as he kept his own head in the game.

"Welcome to the final of the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup," a voice came from the magical megaphone, and Harry sighed. Lee Jordan had quit his post as Quidditch commentator after Easter, saying it wouldn't feel right doing his last two matches without Professor McGonagall there to yell at him for his inappropriate remarks. Today's commentator was Luna's roommate, Morgana Dempster, under the supervision of Professor Flitwick. They were both okay at it, but it wasn't inspired like the duo of Lee and McGonagall were, and it didn't help that they would have a commentator at today's match who would be biased toward the other team.

When Harry noticed Cho standing with her team, he had a sudden thought and ran over to check with her.

"Hi, Harry," she said. "Good day for a match, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Listen, are you going to be okay playing, Cho?" he asked. "You said you zoned out and had a vision last time, and you might not be able to play it off again."

She frowned. "I know it's a bit of a risk, but we think that was just a fluke. It's not likely to happen again."

"Well, alright. Then may the best Seeker win, I guess."

Cho forced a smile and shook his hand, and soon, they were off and in the air.

As they flew, Harry kept one eye on Cho while he searched for the Golden Snitch. That was normal; it was a bad idea to turn your back on the opposing Seeker, but he particularly watched her for any sign she was having trouble. Luckily, he didn't see any sign of her zoning out, and she was at least doing better at flying than just shadowing him. And truth be told, he wasn't finding it so easy to keep his own head in the game with everything else he had to worry about. He tried Occlumency and just doing a few loops around the pitch to relax into it.

Gradually, his efforts paid off. He found that he could focus better on his search, and when he finally got the Snitch, it wasn't much of a contest between him and Cho. Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. It was a bittersweet occasion. They had done it in large part for Professor McGonagall, after all, but it still didn't feel as important as it used to.

After the match, Hermione joined him, and the entire Tonks Family came up to them before they went back into the castle.

"Hello, Harry, Hermione. And congratulations," Andi said.

"I still can't get over how good you are at that," Dora added.

"Thanks, Andi. Thanks, Dora," Harry said. "We didn't know you were coming."

"Your parents sent me to talk to you," Andi said. "They're fine, but we need to change our plans for Monday."

Harry groaned: "Oh, no. Did they decide it's too dangerous for us to leave?"

"Not at all. The opposite, in fact: we need you to leave the school earlier—as in, before tea time. I'll clear it with Professor Dumbledore."

"What? Why?" said Hermione.

"And what about our…er, later plans?" Harry added.

"Don't worry," Dora spoke up with a grin. "That's all set. Sirius will sneak them out after dinner like you planned."

Andi looked slightly grumpy. "Officially, I can't condone that," she said, "but I doubt I could stop my dear cousin. As for why, you got a letter at your Wizengamot office, Harry. I checked it over, and it's legitimate. There's someone who wants to meet your and your family, and I don't think we should say no to her."

"Huh? Who is it?" said Harry.

"The Queen."

"What?"

"Harry, I think Mr. Barnett told you that Her Majesty has been following your exploits since you first hired him to teach you Occlumency, especially with the Tournament last year. And of course, she's been told about Voldemort, and how close we are to open warfare. She knows in vague terms how important you are to the war and that you may have no choice but to fight, and she wanted to meet you and your family to discuss it personally."

Hermione was fanning herself. "Oh, God…I need to sit down," she said. Andi conjured a chair for her and she slumped into it. "The Queen wants to discuss the war with us?"

"Yep," said Dora. "Her letter said she wanted to meet you this summer, but since we think Voldemort's going to mount a large offensive before the end of the school year, Mum advised her to move it up. She wants you at Buckingham at tea time."

"Okay, my life's officially gone mad," Harry said. "This isn't an official summons or anything is it?"

Andi shook her head: "No, it's just a request, but there's really no reason to refuse. And Buckingham may be the one place in England that's safer than Hogwarts just because of the muggle exposure."

"Right. Well, then, I guess we're off to see the Queen."


Harry and Hermione, dressed in their best dress robes, walked into Buckingham Palace, escorted by Maxwell Barnett. Their parents, dressed in a muggle suit and dress, walked by their sides. It was surreal, having only seen the public areas before, though Harry thought, to his surprise, that Hogwarts was just as grand, if in a more medieval fashion.

They met the Queen in the Throne Room. She was alone there, save for her guard. The whole Royal Family was in on magic, but this was evidently a personal royal affair. Not even Prince Philip was there. The Queen looked…well about the same as she always looked, they supposed. They saw her face every year at Christmas at the least. She was wearing a bright purple dress today, perhaps a nod to purple being the colour of wizardry, or to tradition, since the relationship of wizards to the Crown was an archaic one.

They stood before the throne. The five of them all bowed to the Queen, and then Mr. Barnett stepped forward. "Your Majesty," he said, "may I introduce Lord Harry Potter, Head of the Noble House of Potter, Miss Hermione Granger, and Drs. Daniel and Emma Granger."

The Queen nodded and stood, stepping down from the dais. She approached them, shaking Harry's hand first.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty," he said, barely keeping from tripping on his words.

"Likewise, Lord Potter. I've heard much about you." She quickly shook the others' hands in the order they were introduced before turning to Barnett and saying, "The Magician's Tearoom, please, Mr. Barnett."

At that, Barnett escorted them to a small stateroom that wasn't on the public tour. It was set for tea for six and looked as ornate as the other rooms in the palace, with the difference that there were more green and purple decorations and a distinct magical quality in the air. The Queen sat, giving her guests permission to join her while Barnett served.

"Thank you for coming, Lord Potter—and your family," she said. "I have wanted to meet you for some time. As you can imagine, your life story has been intriguing to those of us who know of the magical world.

Harry blushed. "Thank you, ma'am," he said.

She nodded and continued, "I asked the Prime Minister if he would come today, but he politely declined," she said. "Our official position is that fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds should not be involved in fighting a war, so there was no need for his attendance. As such, today is officially a social visit."

"To be fair, ma'am," Dan said, "we don't think they should be involved either, but we haven't been given much choice in the matter."

"An African warlord burnt down our house, ma'am," Hermione added. "And that's hardly the worst they've done."

"Indeed. We have had terrible tragedies these last few months," the Queen said. "My condolences for the loss of your home and, I believe, a friend of yours who was murdered that same night. Though I fear we will see worse than we already have before this is over."

The Grangers looked at each other. They all knew what she was referencing: the attack on the full moon. "Ma'am, we've talked about it," Dan said. "We being us, Dumbledore, and other people in charge of such things. We all agree that Fenrir Greyback is definitely going to attack again during the next full moon on Saturday, but we don't know if he's going to hit the muggle world or the magical world."

"Yes, that is what I heard from the Prime Minister," she said gravely, "but he assures me that the nation will be on high alert on Saturday night. We can only hope that it will be enough."

Dan and Emma had told their kids that the BBC had been warning people to stay indoors and be extra certain their homes were secure that night. Some business were even announcing shortened hours on Saturday evening. There wasn't much more discussion of that, but the Queen didn't shy away from the war. She asked a few basic questions, seemingly just to compare their perspective with Barnett's, but they could tell she understood the situation.

"And you believe that Voldemort will make a move soon?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said grimly. "We have good intelligence that he's going to attack in about three weeks, just before the end of the school year. Unfortunately, we don't know much at all about where and how he's going to attack."

"As I've said, ma'am, it's likely to be a large, coordinated operation," Barnett added. "The Ministry of Magic is preparing the same as the Prime Minister, but they have very little idea of what to expect or whether they'll have the resources they need."

"And Hogwarts?" the Queen said. "I understand it is supposed to be secure, but it has been breached multiple times in the past few years. I need to know that the children of the magical world are safe."

"Hogwarts is safe, ma'am," Hermione cut it. "It's been breached, but by spies and infiltrators. A frontal assault would never get through the defences. It was a functional fortress when it was built."

"Then we shall have to hope that is enough, too," she replied.

Fortunately, the conversation turned to lighter topics after that, mainly centred around goings on at school: the Quidditch final, special lessons, and the like. They were surprised that the Queen was familiar with so many of the basics of the magical world. Apparently, her children and grandchilden had loved to hear stories of it from Mr. Barnett, and she'd only delved deeper into it during the previous war, when it was so important that she be familiar with such things.

She took an interest in Harry's and Hermione's personal exploits, too. "I've been told that the two of you have become very proficient at magic cast without a wand, she said, "perhaps more than anyone else your age."

Harry smiled: "That was Hermione's doing, ma'am. She realised it was possible before we went to Hogwarts and decided we ought to learn it."

"I admire your initiative, Miss Granger," she said. "Mr. Barnett hasn't seen much of your work on wandless magic, however. Perhaps one of you could give us a demonstration so that he could make an independent assessment."

Harry turned to his sister, who froze, wide-eyed for a moment, before answering, "Oh! Oh, yes, I suppose I could, ma'am." She looked around in thought, biting her lip, "Um…does anyone have a spare sheet of paper?"

Barnett produced one from somewhere and handed it to her. Hermione raised her hand, palm out, and the paper hovered in midair. With a theatrical wiggle of her fingers, it folded over diagonally, and with her pointer finger, she sheared off the excess, making a square. With some more small gestures, the square folded itself into a paper crane, which began flapping its way around the table. Then, Hermione snapped her fingers, and the paper crane burst into flames. The flames subsided, and in its place was a live hummingbird (or a construct, anyway), which flew around in an even faster circuit, then hovered in midair. It approached the Queen, who held out her hand. Just before it landed, Hermione waved her hand a final time, and the hummingbird instantly changed to a fine ornament of coloured glass, green and white and red with wings still outstretched in flight, which dropped into her palm.

"For you, ma'am," she said with a smile.

"My goodness!" the Queen said. "Thank you, Miss Granger."

The rest of the room was in awe. Hermione had never put on a whole show like that before.

"Wow. Even I didn't know she could do that, ma'am," Harry said.

Even Barnett was amazed: "I've never seen anything like it except from people like Dumbledore, ma'am."

"Ah. Then I take it you haven't developed your skills quite so far, Lord Potter?" the Queen asked.

"Not like that, ma'am. I'm not as gifted as my sister, especially not in wandless transfiguration, but I've been working with Professor Grayson to learn as much wandless combat magic as I can. Even that's not much by fifth-year standards, but I'm sure it will be handy in a pinch…Er, I wouldn't want to duel in here or anything, though."

She smiled: "That won't be necessary, Lord Potter. I think I can imagine it well enough. In the meantime, I would also be interested to hear about some of your adventures firsthand," she said. "I've read your books, but I understand not everything about those events was made public."

Harry was more than a little starstruck that the Queen had read his books, and he stammered his answer: "Er—I mean—yes, ma'am. We had to leave some things out from the books. Um, I had a few tricks up my sleeve that we didn't mention and some other small things…" He wracked his brain, trying to make sure he didn't miss anything. There were the horcruxes. That was little risk in terms of security at this point, but it wasn't the kind of thing they wanted to be publicly known. And there was the prophecy—prophecies at this point, but the one about him was still the most important. "But I think the biggest thing that didn't make it in might be just how much Quirrell was involved with Voldemort."

They told her about Quirrell being possessed by Voldemort and about Harry defeating him with the help of his mother's protective magic. Barnett had known about that, of course, but hadn't been able to reveal it. On the other hand, they had some details of the later years that he hadn't known. The Queen was visibly impressed that someone so young had managed such feats, and she asked insightful questions at points where things weren't clear, before moving on to the previous year.

"After your Animagus ability was revealed, Mr. Barnett told me what he thinks you did in the first two tasks of the Tournament, but I would like to hear it from you firsthand, and the Third Task, if you are willing," she said.

Harry paled a little, though he was willing. This was edging onto dangerous territory, but after briefly conferring with his family to be sure they were okay with it (the Queen knew Occlumency, and if they couldn't trust her, then whom could they trust?), Harry started talking. He told her everything. Taking the cup together with Cedric. Seeing him knifed in the chest. The resurrection ritual and the escape in the graveyard. Even dying and meeting his birth parents, and then coming back to warn the world that Voldemort was back.

He felt wiped out when he finished. It was the first time he'd told the whole story since that night. He'd written most of it down for his private draft of his newest book, but he'd only been able to manage bits and pieces at a time.

Even the Queen looked teary-eyed by the time he told of his return to the world of the living. She took a few minutes to collect her thoughts when he finished. Finally, she spoke: "Lord Potter, you are the most remarkable young man I have ever met. You have endured hardships that no one should have to bear, much less a child, and yet you have thrived and overcome enemies who felled far more experienced wizards than yourself. While I wish that I could spare you this war, I have a good deal more confidence in you now than I did yesterday, and I wish you and your family the best of luck."

"Thank you, ma'am," Harry said, still a little teary-eyed himself.

"Yes, thank you, ma'am," Dan agreed on behalf of the family.

That was their cue to leave. The tea was cleared away, and the Queen rose and dismissed them. But before they walked out, Harry had one more question.

"Just one more thing, ma'am…"

"Yes, Lord Potter?"

"Is there any inside information you can tell us about the Doctor Who film?"

The Queen smiled and tapped her nose the way Tom Baker used to do: "That, Lord Potter, is something you'll have to see for yourself with the rest of us."


While the Grangers were at Buckingham Palace, Sirius was busy preparing to sneak six more students out of Hogwarts for the night. While they weren't doing anything particularly illegal or even that unsafe, it wasn't exactly approved by the school either. But Harry and Hermione had insisted. This was the first new Doctor Who (worth mentioning) in six years, and they wanted all of their friends to be able to see it with them.

That meant Paul and Tiffany, of course. They were in safehouses with their families, but they were able to leave from time to time. Luna and Neville were also a given. The Weasley Twins were a harder sell with Dan and Emma, but Harry had convinced Sirius that Fred and George really needed to see the show, and of course, with those two, they couldn't very well leave out Ron and Ginny, either. They wished they could bring Remus, Colin, and Natalie, too, but Remus said that it was too dangerous for the werewolves to leave the castle in the week before the full moon while they were on the Wolfsbane course, and Sirius had agreed.

The event was to be held at the Tonkses's place, since they were one of the few magical dwellings where Harry wouldn't risk setting off the Trace, but could still set up with a big screen television. That would also ensure there were four adult witches and wizards there in case something went wrong. All told, that meant sixteen people to squeeze into the Tonks's sitting room. It was doable, if cramped, and most of the kids would be on the floor. The Grangers met the Tonkses there first, after returning from Buckingham, followed by Paul and Tiffany right before supper.

"You had tea with the bloody Queen?!" Tiffany exclaimed when they told her where they had been that afternoon.

"Yeah," Harry said. "It was kinda surreal. It was really last minute, so we couldn't tell you. But she just wanted to meet us, hear my story directly…show us that she's paying attention to the problems of the magical world, I suppose. It is nice to know."

"You have to tell us everything," Tiffany insisted.

Hermione laughed. It was an interesting conversation all through dinner.

At a quarter past eight, Sirius arrived, bringing their friends from Hogwarts. Neville and Luna already knew Paul and Tiffany, but Harry and Hermione introduced the Weasleys to them.

"Alright, guys," Harry said. "These two are Fred and George. Don't bother trying to tell them apart; no one can. The most important thing to remember is, don't eat or drink anything they give you unless you want to be turned into a canary or something."

"Oi! We're not that bad," George protested.

"Close, but not that bad," Fred agreed.

Paul and Tiffany looked at them nervously.

"Don't worry. We wouldn't do that to Harry's friends."

With that, they relaxed. Harry introduced Ron and Ginny, and they all squeezed in around the telly.

"I still don't get why we're here," said Ron.

"Doctor Who is one of the most important parts of muggle culture, Ron," Ginny chided. "Plus, Colin loves it."

"It's true," Hermione agreed. "It's been a fixture of muggle Britain for over thirty years."

"And they stopped making it in '89, so it's a big deal that they're starting it again," said Paul. "I just hope they don't screw it up. Putting it in America is already a red flag."

"Don't jinx it, Paul," Tiffany chided him.

Hermione motioned for them to calm down: "Hey, whatever happens, it can't possibly be worse than that EastEnders mess they did three years ago, right?"

"No!" Paul exclaimed. "That did not happen! You will not convince me otherwise!" The others laughed.

"You're wrong, Hermione," Harry insisted. "The Twin Dilemma is still worse."

"What is it with you and The Twin Dilemma, Harry? At least that was an actual story, not a bunch of actors running around and switching places for no reason."

"At least in Dimensions in Time, the Doctor acts normal," Harry retorted. "In The Twin Dilemma, he's a bully and a coward, and that's not how the Doctor is supposed to act."

"Alright, cool it, you two," Emma cut in. "You're confusing your friends. Just enjoy the film."

Indeed, the Weasleys and Neville looks totally bemused at their argument. Luna looked serene, as if she'd understood perfectly, even Harry highly doubted she had. But they all settled down as the film began.

The beginning of the story wasn't exactly clear to anyone who hadn't watched the old television show, much less wizards who weren't familiar with science fiction. Still, the fans in the room all cheered when the familiar theme song came through the speakers, and they were pleased to see Sylvester McCoy had come back to reprise his role. It was still kind of strange, though.

"Why would the Daleks put the Master on trial?" Harry said. "Why wouldn't they just exterminate him?"

"Uh, mate? Are you speaking English there?" said Ron.

"I don't know. Just watch the show," Hermione said

Paul and Tiffany were dismayed when the TARDIS being bigger on the inside didn't register with the wizards at all. Harry and Hermione, in the meantime, were dismayed that Sylvester McCoy's return was short-lived. He managed to land in Chinatown, San Francisco, USA, get shot by gangsters, and die on the operating table (something the magicals in the room were especially squeamish about)—to a background of operatic music, no less—all in the first fifteen minutes.

"Hang on, did he just die?" Harry said.

"Yeah, the trailers said there there'd be a new Doctor," Paul explained.

"Well, why'd they bring him back if they were gonna kill him at the beginning?"

"I don't know."

Their magical friends stared at them, even more confused than they were with their earlier comments. Fred spoke up as soon as he could get a word in: "Hang on? How can he die? I thought I was the main character."

"He is," all the muggles said, and Paul added. "They said at the beginning, Time Lords have thirteen lives."

"It's like, 'Cats have nine lives,'" Harry added, "except for real—in the story…You know what I mean. When he dies, he comes back, but they replace him with a different actor."

"Uh…wait, what?"

It took them most of the time up to the big regeneration scene to explain the concept and convince their friends that it made sense. It didn't help that they were also trying to figure out what the Master was doing, coming back from being cremated and out of lives with some new fiendish plot, which none of them really understood.

"Is that a big deal," Tiffany asked.

"It really is." Everyone turned. That was Sirius. "One rule that all magical children learn early is that magic can't raise the dead," he explained. "When magic can do so many other amazing things, that sort of thing is important to remember. Stories that break that rule are really rare, aside from ghosts, and they usually involve especially evil villains."

"Like the Master?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah, but the Doctor, too," Harry said. "And the Doctor is super-good. He's kind of like Dumbledore."

Like Dumbledore, that was, except much younger…and weirdly angelic-looking? That was a little different. Of course, a new Doctor was always a little disoriented and took some time to hammer out his personality, but hopefully, the film would streamline this process.

Neville was still trying to conprehend this. "So…he died and came back to life…except he's a different person, now?" he asked.

"Sort of," Hermione told him. "Part of his personality is the same, but he looks different and acts kinda different."

"It's more like a new writer re-imagining the role," Emma said.

Meanwhile, the Master was running around, being his usual evil self while the amnesiac Doctor terrified the doctor who'd accidentally killed him witless by pulling a cardiac probe out of his chest. Luckily, it didn't take him too long to get his memory back.

"Oh. My. God!" Harry, Hermione, Paul, and Tiffany all shouted it in unison.

"What?!" the wizards gasped.

"He kissed her."

No one spoke for a beat. "Yeah?" Ron said.

"The Doctor just kissed his companion!" said Paul

"So?"

"You don't understand. The Doctor's never kissed anyone before. That's not how it works. He's supposed to be a mentor-type character. Plus, he's not human."

"See that?" the Master said on screen. "That's the retinal structure of the human eye. The Doctor is half human!"

"WHAT?!"

"What?"

"The Doctor can't be half human!" Paul said, outraged. "What are they thinking?"

"If he's not human, what is he?"

"He's a Time Lord, remember? A space alien. You know, from another planet?"

It turned out wizards weren't as familiar with the concept of aliens as they had seemed at the start. They'd only seriously existed as a concept in literature for the past hundred years, after all. They barely managed to explain that concept to them in between the Doctor and the Master explaining the Master's evil plot.

"If the Eye of Harmony isn't closed, this planet will be sucked through it."

"What's that mean?"

"It means the Master's going to destroy the Earth."

"Destroy the Earth?!"

"Yeah, that happens a lot on this show," Harry said nonchalantly.

"How can you be so calm about that?" Ron demanded.

"What? It's not like it's real."

"Well, yeah, but why do muggles have such morbid stories?" he insisted.

"It's not morbid! It's a great adventure."

Ron shook his head: "I'm lost, mate."

It wasn't a total loss, though. Some of their magical friends were enjoying the show, even if they didn't fully understand it. It did get into weird car chase territory for a while, but the Doctor eventually found the atomic clock he needed to close the Eye of Harmony. Then, after a mess that involved the Master mind controlling Grace, (the wizards pointed out the similarity to the Imperius Curse), the story launched into perhaps the weirdest New Year's countdown they'd ever scene. "Ten…nine…eight…six…three…one…" they counted down, interspersed with the chaos happening in the TARDIS, before the Doctor finally threw the Master into the Eye of Harmony and turned back time to undo his evil deeds.

"So he brought his friends back to life, too?" said Neville.

"Not exactly," Harry said. "He just reversed time so they never died in the first place."

"I wonder if the Eye of Harmony is anything like the Resurrection Stone," Luna said thoughtfully. "Anyway, I thought it was a very nice story."

There was, however, one more surprise: an epitaph after the end of the credits.

"Oh no! Jon Pertwee died?" Hermione gasped.

"Who's he?" said George.

"He was the third Doctor," Harry said. "He was on the show in the seventies…he would've been the Doctor my mum watched."

"And he was just in Dimensions in Time a couple years ago," Hermione added.

"Didn't happen!" Paul insisted.

They all rolled their eyes by this point.

"So, what did you all think?" Emma asked when it was over.

The magical viewers stared uncomfortably at each other. "Um…was that supposed to make any sense?" asked Ron.

"Eh, it was a fun story," Fred countered. "Even though it got pretty weird."

"I got it," Ginny said. "Of course, Colin's told me all about the show."

"Oh, I thought it made perfect sense," Luna said airily. "I thought it was a lovely story."

Everyone stared at her, not sure how to respond. Ginny giggled a little. Finally, Paul said, "Harry, I take back everything I said. She's definitely a keeper." This made Luna blush strongly.

Harry grinned and pulled her in close. "You're the best Luna," he said, and he kissed her.

"Oi, get a room!" Paul told them, and everyone laughed. "Anyway, the film wasn't bad," he added. "Needs some work, but it's a good start."

"Yes, I thought so too," Hermione said. "A new Doctor always needs a bit of time to calm down a bit. If they pick up the show I think it'll only get better…Except there is no way the Doctor is really half-human. Whoever thought of that needs to be sacked."

"Agreed," Harry said.

"Agreed," Paul chimed in.

"Finally!" Tiffany said, to general laughter.

Dan and Emma largely agreed with Hermione's assessment as well, but with the show over, especially seeing as it was past curfew at Hogwarts, they had to hurry back. Sirius assured them he had that sorted, though."

However, on their way back, Harry and Hermione pulled aside the Twins for one last word. "Okay, weirdness aside, Fred, George, we've got an idea for you," Harry said.

"Oh? What sort of idea?" asked Fred.

"Just a little end of year prank. Let us tell you about something called a Dalek…"


At the end of the week, it turned out that they all had it wrong. Greyback's next move wasn't in muggle Britain nor in magical Britain. He attacked in Germany.