Chapter 09

Christopher Rodonanté Cwej tested the weight of the weapon in his hand that the Doctor had provided out of a military-looking crate.

Roz was beside him pulling on the seemingly light weight body armour, that had also come from the crate.

"You sure our Adjudicator armour won't protect us?" Roz asked the Doctor who was still moving around the TARDIS console, a look of concentration on his face as he pushed buttons and adjusted their course like a concert pianist or an experienced navigator guiding the ship through the storm.

"Rrr-relatively sure Roz," the Doctor said rolling his Rs.

"But you are sure about these armour and weapons Doctor?" Roz asked un-holstering her weapon again to study it, it was constructed unlike any energy weapon she'd ever used, but all weapons had the familiar trigger and bit that you pointed at the enemy, these even had two settings, kill and stun.

"Very sure Roz," he replied calmly.

"How can you be Doctor, I thought you didn't like weapons?" Chris challenged him, catching him as he made his way around the console once more.

"Oh but Chris, these aren't my weapons, you could say a friend across the way made them," he replied carefully.

"He's being his mysterious bloody minded self again?" Bernice asked as she walked into the console room, looked uncomfortable in a similar piece of body armour and a weapon strapped to her thigh.

"What does that mean?" Roz looked over to the archaeologist.

"Bernice," the Doctor warned.

"He got these," she extracted the weapon with and ease that still made her uneasy from the holster, memories of her teenage years in the Academy, the military protocols drilled into the young open minds, orphans of the Spacefleet's wars, things you don't forget. "from another universe."

"Another universe," Chris repeated looking at the weapon, Benny had mentioned something about Earth Reptiles and another universe she and the Doctor had encountered a few years ago.

"Another universe that took a different path, with UNIT becoming an organisation that was an expert in magic amongst other things," then he muttered to himself "Very advanced in those other things and their magic."

"So this guy Harry Potter is going to be there not the military one I saw you with?" Benny asked, confronting the Doctor, he'd been less than communicative she'd ignored his orders to 'leave things be' and watched on the scanner. Watching him chatting to Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart in and alternate reality with the green eyed man; Harry Potter.

"No," he deftly stepped around her and continued his button pushing around the console.

"There," he stepped away from the console and pushed a button making the scanner open up to display a highly detailed map of what looked like a castle. "This is where the attack will take place."

"Will?" Bernice eyed the layout curiously. "We're defending a castle? Ace would have loved this." Bernice muttered a hard edge still present in her voice as she weighted the gun into her palm. She hated the things, she was an archaeologist not a crukking soldier, she'd proved the Spacefleet that when she'd escaped-poded it out of their clutches.

Bernice returned her focus to see the Doctor was watching her, how he managed to do that while talking about tactics to Chris and Roz she didn't know.

Bernice looked over to the older woman who was studying the map rather than the Doctor, the weapon the Doctor had given them all was already stowed in the holster he'd handed out like some military commander.

The Doctor always played at being a commander, organising the rebels against the bad guys, but this was…different.

This was about children and their war against some, by all accounts massively egotistical man who sounded like he was on the same wavelength as Adolf Hitler.

A chill ran down Benny's back as she thought back to being tortured by the Nazis on Guernsey, about those genetic purists and their war to try and make it happen, then further back and the Daleks and their war to rid the galaxy of anyone who was unlike them.

The same patterns repeating over and over throughout the universe and at every point the Doctor was there to help things along.

She'd once asked (jokingly) if he'd given the dinosaurs a hand in shuffling off, but the Doctor had just gone all quiet and walked off, muttering about 'Addict' or something.

By her time the Earth had been invaded so many times working out if the dinosaurs had been wiped was more a question of 'who' rather than 'was it a natural occurrence', even the short list was long.

-/ - \\-

Hermione's heart was thumping a storm inside her chest as she gripped her wand and looked around the next corner of the castle.

Death Eaters in the castle!

That realisation kept going through her mind as she crept along the next corridor, all the while trying to ignore the explosions, the flashes of spell fire and everything else that was going on.

The doors hadn't been breached from the outside, the wards were still in place. The protections that Dumbledore had put in place were still there, even if he and Harry weren't still here.

It had been simple enough to work out where the Death Eaters had come from, once she'd discounted them having breached the walls of the castle.

"Avada Kedavra!" Hermione turned about 2 seconds too late, just in time to see the light and energy of the spell splatter through the air towards her. It impacted against a shield she hadn't cast, a-washing her vision for a moment.

"Stupefy," she hissed with force at the masked individual. As the spell hit its mark she breathed another sigh of relief and checked the device that was strapped to the side of her pocket, it was still functioning and from what passed as a display showed it still had a full charge…or whatever it was.

For the umteempth time since she'd left what was left of the DA she put her hand on the bag that carried her 'supplies', supplies Harry had told her to take if 'the situation demanded it'.

It was on the weekend after Harry had had his meeting with Dumbledore Harry had met her and told her some things.

Flashback

"Hermione."

"Harry?" Hermione looked up from her work.

"I think" Harry stopped in thought. Hermione looked at him a mix of curiosity and worry. "I think I need to tell you some other things, about my friend," he paused, casting a silencing charm around them, he really was getting quite good Hermione decided at effortlessly casting those charms that allowed them to have secretive conversations. Not that there was anyone much in the common room, certainly not anywhere near 'their' corner.

"Why now Harry?" She asked, she couldn't help asking. But then hastily added. "Not that I mind."

"Learning my secrets," he quirked an almost smile. "Whatever you and Ron think I know Malfoy's up to something. But whatever happens, just in case I…go down a corridor and face a three headed dog, or face a reincarnation of Tom Riddle, or happen to be out during a full moon or…" Harry trailed off as he listed all the things that had befalling him so far. "Our track record isn't brilliant."

"Your track record Harry," Hermione countered, a small smile on her lips.

"Hey you and Ron were there for the dog and chess…" he began.

"Ginny for Riddle, all of us for Remus and…" She trailed off looking at Harry carefully.

"Yes," he finally said after a moment, the events of last year still burned, or smouldered within him. He had been somewhat thankful that the Doctor had not visited this year for his birthday or whenever he dropped in. He had seen nothing of either Time Lord so far.

He was (in amongst worrying about everything else that was going on) about the Magister, he had been oddly morose, almost like he was mirroring the Doctor somewhat when he'd visited last year. Though according to the Doctor he obviously went through some sort of regeneration at some point that led him to…cracking up a little bit.

But even though he only saw him once or maybe twice in the year, and almost always in different bodies it was still odd not seeing him.

Harry shook himself out of those thoughts, he needed to be in the present for now, too many things, too many events, too many people doing things outside of his control.

He thought by now he'd actually be able to get his life under control, now that he knew the prophecy, but it seemed even now knowing about the Horcruxes there seemed to be a long road ahead.

And at the end of that road Voldemort.

He let out a sigh, Hermione had been at him to explain more than he had last year, she hadn't said anything up until now, but…he felt he should let her know some things, as time moved on and what not, he might not be here when the proverbial shit hit the metaphorical fan.

Or he might.

"I trust you Hermione," he finally said looking at her.

Hermione blinked several times. "Okay."

"You were on the right track," he paused "my friend is a time traveller."

Hermione's eyes went wide, then she punched him. "I knew it!"

"Hey, what was that for?" Harry asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"You said he wasn't!" She countered.

"I led you to believe that, I didn't say one way or the other," Harry defended, leaning back into the confines of the chair, and then realised he preferred to lean forward to talk to her.

It was a little more than the basics he'd already told Hermione before, just that he was a time traveller, that he'd met him several times, and that he had several 'useful things' in his trunk.

"What's his name?"

"Hmm?" Harry asked as they were rising so he could show Hermione the 'useful items' in his trunk.

"What's the name of your friend who keeps turning up?" Hermione clarified.

"The Doctor," he said simply.

Hermione pondered the name as Harry broke into a smile, a smile she hadn't really seen since last year before, well before the Department of Mysteries, before Sirius died, before all that.

Present

Hermione patted the outside of the bag, she didn't want to think about some of the things inside the shoulder bag she'd transfigured to carry the items she thought she'd need.

The aluminium cans especially she didn't want to touch, didn't want to think about 'Nitro-9' Harry had called them, a friend of the Doctor's, someone who travelled with him had given them to him, as he explained to her the potential damage they could cause she had her own cause for concern.

But if there was anything that was going to be useful against the cabinet, it was these.

She needed to destroy both ends of the cabinet to stop any Death Eaters getting into the castle.

Here I was getting telling Harry about his saving people thing. Hermione thought to herself, she almost spoke aloud, but stopped, she'd (half-jokingly) chastised Harry for doing exactly the same thing.

The device sitting on her pocket was according to Harry like the thing he used at the Quidditch World cup a Tzun force field generator.

When Harry had said the name she'd thought he was mumbling then she made him spell it, or at least how he thought it was spelt, obviously he'd never seen it spelt either, but at least she could say it to herself without agonising over how it should be spelt if she were ever to write it down.

Not that she could ever write it down, she doubted anyone would believe her. Except maybe the Centaurs, they seemed to think something was going on in the stars, according to Ron at least who had been taking Divination.

Hermione chewed her lip, she hoped Ron was alright.

And the others she hastily, mentally added to her worry list, and the others, not just Ron. Hermione shifted her weight to her other foot listening to her own breathing for a second. She had left the Marauder's Map with Ron and what remained of the DA, they were spread out throughout the castle. The attack had happened so suddenly and from within that there were students spread out throughout the castle and of course most of the Death Eaters had been to Hogwarts and were obviously keeping guard on the entrances to the Houses' common rooms.

It had taken them and the teachers too long to realise it, and it had been Ron who had worked it out not the teachers.

Maybe that was what she liked about him…she idly wondered in the thoughts between breaths of the cool castle air and the almost constant, though duller cries of spell casting and noises of impacts.

As she crept along the next corridors past the various rooms of the castle she let her hand drift again down to the bag, as the rising tension in her shoulders crept upwards as the potential danger increased the further she got from the ground floor and the closer she got to her destination.

Her hand fell to the canister that wasn't the 'Nitro-9', but rather one of the many things that Harry had left her in his own 'bigger on the inside' bag, which she'd left within his trunk, just in case…well she didn't want to think about what happened after 'just in case' quite yet.

It was then that she heard it, the groaning, whistling noise, off to one side of the corridor she had been making her way down. It whipped up the parchment and quills that littered the ground. It was a noise she'd heard twice before. Before her eyes a blue shape ground its way into reality, forming into the design of a blue 1960s Police Box. She only just noticed the light on its top was flashing as it finished coalescing. Unconsciously she realised her hand had gone to the canister in her bag. Hermione didn't let go of the canister, instead she brought it out of her bag and held onto it, her thumb on the release, just in case. 'Constant Vigilance' and all that Moody had gone on about.

Maybe this was some Death Eater induced psychosis, she entertained to herself as she looked around and then decided thoughts like that mean she had certainly been talking too much to Harry in the past, too many hypotheticals.

The door creaked open, which Hermione didn't think sounded much like a craft that could coast the dimensions of space and time and a young blonde man stepped out wearing what looked like a military vest she'd seen on the news every now and then when there was some large war going on.

Hermione levelled her wand at him.

"Who are you?" She hissed in a low voice glancing around, bringing up the canister, which from what she'd managed to read was a 'Fast Crowd Control Grenade' created by something called the 'Supreme Alliance', all this and its instructions had been written in some odd mix of English, German, French and some form of Anglicised Chinese from what she'd been able to make out. Thankfully there were pictographs showing what to do. She'd memorised her translations and the pictographs just in case she needed to use them while Harry was gone. It looked non-lethal. Especially if it was crowd control it had to be.

"Doctor?" He called into the blue box, the TARDIS Hermione recalled.

"Yes Chris," It didn't sound like a question, though the voice was muffled from somewhere within the box, Harry hadn't really explained how it functioned, or even what TARDIS meant.

"We've got company," He said slowly.

"Already, I think that's a record Doctor, we're not even out the door and already people are shooting at us," said a woman's voice, in a cynical tone.

"Bernice, they're not shooting at us," the voice said casually.

"Oh right, they're shooting at Chris, now I feel so much better," said a female voice sarcastically.

"Come on Bernice, Roz, let's see who the welcoming party is" then the voice dropped an octave or so. "And how many weapons they have pointing at us."

-/

"Just the one," Hermione said as the three people stood in front of her.

"Hi there, Bernice Summerfield," the younger woman greeted with a smile, she seemed to Hermione uncomfortable with the holster strapped to her side, and she was holding onto a vest that the older black woman and the blonde man were wearing, the woman Bernice Summerfield looked around her and then looked at the shorter man and threw the vest into the open doors of the police box, the shorted man reached behind them, slamming the doors.

"Well now, what have we here? Ms Granger I presume?" The man with a Scots accent enquired.

Hermione regarded him. He didn't have a 'bright yellow jumper with question marks on it' as Harry had described the last time his 'friend' had visited, but his appearance and odd slightly Scottish accent sounded the same as when she'd accidentally eavesdropped on Harry and the Doctor's conversation back at Grimmauld Place.

"You would be the Doctor then?" She asked him, her wand still pointed in the middle of their group, the older woman and the blonde man did after all have their hands on what could only be weapons. Hermione wondered if she'd feel better about this situation if she wasn't so observant and hadn't noticed their weapons.

"Harry told you about me." It wasn't a question.

"He's-" Hermione started.

"With Dumbledore gathering a Horcrux, yes, I gathered as much Ms Granger, I would perhaps ask you" Hermione turned away from the Doctor as he was speaking and shouted "Get down!" At the same time as there were 6 shouts of spells from "Avada Kedavra, Crucio, Confringo…" and a few others she didn't recognise from further down the corridor. It took her less than a second to push the button on the canister and throw it.

Even with what Ron called 'a girl's throw' it still fell into the group, a moment later she wondered if she'd pushed the correct tab.

Then there was a flash and a bang and her ears popped.

"What the crukking cruk was that crukking grenade?" The woman; Bernice Summerfield was pulling herself up from the ground, and sounded like she was swearing, though with no words, or variations on words she'd heard of before, and considering she had Ron and Harry as friends and their vocabularies were rather verbose when it came to swearing that was something.

"A 'crowd control" grenade'" the Doctor said the phrase 'crowd control' like a bitter taste in his mouth. "Used by the security forces of Magnus Greel himself against the Icelandic Alliance."

"When did this happen?" The blonde man asked curiously.

"Long after your time Chris, during the 51st century and the Zygma beam time experiments, very nasty." He glanced to the side. "I wouldn't look Ms Granger."

But Hermione was already turning she had to…but any thoughts she had stopped there and she gagged, bile rushing up through her gut at what was…what was left of the Death Eaters.

"Very nasty, Greel didn't have much of a concept of levity," the Doctor was saying.

"You sound like you knew him," Roz asked.

"Once. Quite mad. Though quite the scientist," the Doctor seemed to praise and be repulsed simultaneously.

Hermione cringed and swallowed and was greatly thankful she hadn't recently eaten.

If this was "crowd control" she didn't want to see their idea of deadly weapons.

"Usually the protesters or the enemy would have been far larger than this. I hadn't intended to leave Harry with that specific weapon," the Doctor was saying.

-/

Hermione turned away from the corridor that was; there was no other way to think of it, splattered with the remains of 6 people to see the Doctor facing her.

"They were our enemy Granger. You dealt with them," the black woman said from just behind the Doctor, the younger woman Bernice Summerfield shot her a look.

"I see Harry left you the force field," The man said.

"Ye…" Hermione forcibly swallowed again, cringing at the acid in the back of her throat

"Now Ms Granger what is the situation here?" The man, the Doctor asked her.

"Doctor." The woman, Bernice Summerfield fixed the Doctor with a glare.

"Very well Bernice, we have a few moments."

-/

Benny looked at the young woman who seemed to be fighting off the need to vomit. She had to commend the young woman from not chucking her guts at the view of what was left of the people. From the intent, rather than the words of faux Latin had sounded like something dangerous. Dangerous enough for 'Ms Granger' to chuck the grenade.

"Hey," Benny said fishing around in her jacket.

"Hi," she croaked.

"Bernice Summerfield, I guess your last name's Granger."

"Her…Hermione." She looked around and thumbed a control that was attached to a device on her pocket Bernice observed, a ellipse shape that surrounded her flared for a moment.

Then she started breathing in deeply, as though the force field had been holding back the air or something.

Bernice raised an eyebrow as Hermione tensed as she withdrew her hip flask from her pocket.

"Here have a nip," she looked back over where the Doctor was looking at some device, he was frowning deeply, that wasn't good.

Hermione had taken the hip flask and was waving her wand over it cautiously. The Doctor hadn't really been all that forthcoming about exactly how this so called magic worked. She certainly didn't remember anything about it from her time. Though it was reasonable that any secret society would obviously be a secret.

Which would mean that it was still active in her time. Secret societies tended to become more visible when they died out and left evidence, but even now hiding a whole society must be a massive task, and there must be some remains. Benny smiled to herself, archaeology was all about uncovering what had been left behind, discovering secrets and the mundane.

-/

Hermione checked the hip flask, according to the detection spell it was safe, she imagined she could see Professor McGonagall's disapproving stare at her, however she remembered her father's tales when he and his buddies had been in the 'forces as a young man and…her train of thought was kicked out as the alcohol burned down her throat and everything snapped out of what she assumed was shock and back into reality and everything felt suddenly more urgent now that she'd been standing here being delayed from her destination.

"Ur…Bernice," she held out the flask, unsure how to address the older woman.

"Thanks. Gotta save some for when we're in a dire situation and the bad guys begin camping it up with their 'nothing in the world' speeches, once you've heard one…"

"Ah…Miss Granger I trust Bernice has" His eyes trailed over to Bernice's hip flask "Assisted you."

Hermione nodded as she pondered the Doctor's odd Scottish burr that seemed to come and go as she looked at him she met his gaze and a chill passed over her spine, it was like…

"Like gazing into a storm." Hermione blinked and realised that it was Bernice's voice, she glanced over and saw she was watching the interchange.

"There are Death Eaters throughout the school, Ron and the teachers are trying to clear them from the ground level, I was going to…" Hermione patted her bag, just making sure it was still there as reality seemed to once again take hold and the noise of spell work in and around the castle went up several notches in volume.

"Looks like your doodad's come to the end of its cycle Doctor."

"It's not a 'dodad' Professor Summerfield, but a carefully modulated temporal disruption device," he chastised in a light tone "You were saying Ms Granger."

Hermione blinked and thumbed the force field control so it hummed into its on position.

"I was going to destroy the vanishing cabinet that they're coming into the castle via, that's the only way the should be able to be getting in," she explained.

"Yes, of course. The wards are still active," he muttered seemingly to himself.

"How did you…" Hermione started to ask, but was interrupted by Bernice and the Doctor who both asked;

"How are you going to blow it up?" Except the Doctor said "destroy the device?"

Hermione carefully withdrew one of the canisters, very carefully.

"Nitro-9?" Bernice asked incredulously.

"I believe Ace left several of them with Harry on my last visit. They should do very nicely," the Doctor praised.

Hermione nodded and then looked between them. "Are you going to…"

"Yes." He met her gaze once more, it was still like looking into an oncoming storm. And it was still slightly scary, though she couldn't fathom why. Perhaps this was why Harry had spoken with such familiarity, awe and wonder about this man who had visited him in various "guises" as Harry had mentioned, though in hindsight she should have forced him to enlighten further on what that meant, despite what he'd told her this year he'd still been very sneaky in what he'd said.

"Chris, Roz make your way down to the ground level, assist the teachers and students with their problems," the Doctor seemed to order.

"Yes Doctor," the younger man, Chris smiled to her and looked to the older woman; Roz who nodded to him and he took off for the corridor that lead to the staircases how they knew that was where it lead was another question entirely.

Roz paused beside her, Bernice and the Doctor. "Lethal force Doctor?"

"When all else fails what is there left?" He murmured, or perhaps wondered to himself and the group assembled. "Roz there are children here, do what you need to keep them safe."

"Bernice, go with Ms Granger, I am sure she will need an extra set of eyes and ears," the Doctor said.

"I'm fine on my own," Hermione started to say, though secretly she was relieved to have someone along.

"It is not your independent ability I am concerned about Ms Granger but when opposition stands in your way," he paused looked directly at Hermione. "You should use most of the cans, you will need to destroy both ends of the cabinet. Save some for a rainy day though." And then he turned away to take the same direction that Roz and Chris took.

"What're you off to do Doctor?" Bernice asked.

"To try soften some murderous impulses," he called over his shoulder, and then he was gone.

-/

"Come on then, you can tell me why someone from the late 20th century, if I've worked that out correctly is wondering around in a castle from the middle ages, with guys shouting 'spells' using bastardised Latin."

Hermione noticed out of the corner of her eye that Bernice had drawn a gun like the other two, she seemed to hold it as confidently as the other two, though reluctantly.

As they crept around the next corner to see it was empty Bernice spoke again. "You're pretty perceptive."

"I'm sorry?" Hermione asked.

"You noticed me, how I was holding this, body language reading is something of a fascination of mine," she explained.

Hermione shrugged. "When two of your best friends are boys reading the non-verbal becomes a daily event." A Death Eater ran out of a classroom shouting what sounded like spells through a strong European accent, Hermione pushed Professor Summerfield out of the way saying in a low tone a Stupefy at them, they fell over mid run, his or her head audibly hitting the stone floor.

"Thanks," she said, Hermione nodded. Invulnerability bore a degree of bravery, though that didn't explain where Harry got his from (or perhaps it was just his saving people think?, Hermione wondered for a moment), then reasoned; she would probably be a lot more scared if she didn't have this invulnerable force field around her.

"So what are you a Professor of, Professor?" Hermione asked.

"Call me Benny. Archaeology," she answered easily.

"Really?" Hermione asked curious, despite the near death situation she'd been in for the last few hours, it was still fascinating to learn about things she had an interest in. Though history was far more interesting when she was investigating it herself rather than listening to Professor Binns drone on about the Goblin rebellions, she honestly couldn't work out how anyone managed to learn anything from him since he began teaching at Hogwarts.

"From when?" Hermione suddenly.

"Originally? The 26th century," she answered simply.

"So you really are time travellers," Hermione whispered to herself.

"He didn't tell you?" Bernice queried curiously.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"The Doctor?" Bernice asked curiously.

Hermione looked to her quickly. "I've only met him today, Harry told me about him, some of it anyway."

"What's he like this Harry Potter?" She asked with odd emphasis.

"Didn't the Doctor…?" Hermione let the question hang as they climbed a short set of stairs that was set away from the main staircase, she used to use it as a short cut, but it involved going up a short flight cutting across a mezzanine level and then going back down some stairs, but she hoped it would avoid any more of the oddly accented Death Eaters that had thus far assaulted them, not that it had really phased Professor Summerfield, Bernice, Benny to her friends and she insisted she refer to her as.

"He mentioned something about Harry being an old friend," she said vaguely. "The Doctor only gets in deep and meaningful and morose moods occasionally, most of the time he's a secretive alien who's busy being manipulative and conniving."

"Charming," Hermione said.

"So Harry?" Bernice asked curiously.

-/

Benny listened as Hermione talked about Harry Potter, he seemed…actually she could see how this young man she was describing could be a friend of the Doctor's. Or the Doctor be a friend of his.

It really did sound like trouble followed Harry as much as it did the Doctor, just not as frequently, though he didn't have the advantage of being about to jump in the TARDIS and disappear when they needed, he and his friends lived through it year in year out, and attended school in a castle.

That was another odd thing, the way Hermione talked about the castle meant it couldn't be as old as it was, not given how big it seemed, it was an oddity she was determined to look into when she got back to the TARDIS, either that or interrogate the Doctor, though that never really yielded results. He'd probably just play the spoons again, Benny shuddered at the thought.

Now all of this was in motion because of a prophecy.

She wondered if the Doctor had anything to do with it, but it didn't have any of his usual scheming sense to it.

A predestination paradox which manifested in a prophecy she could perhaps understand, but with the Doctor, being a time traveller surely he'd be able to fathom a way out of it. But it did seem like Harry was making his own way through all of this, the Doctor was being, what he said he was, a friend.

It gave her a headache trying to get inside the Doctor's head, she suspected that like the TARDIS it was bigger on the inside than the outside and if she tried to think up to that level she'd get the same affect as going on a binge night of drinking through cheap bathtub gin and greasy food.

Dragons, invisibility cloaks, Dementors, Phoenixes, Unicorns, castles, spells, magic. It was like something out of fiction, though the Doctor had assured them prior to arriving this wasn't anything like the 'Land of Fiction' nor was it a different universe, this was the same universe they were all from. It just a place that had magic, there must be some sort of psychic component to it, or a telekinetic edge, maybe with power projection. It wasn't unknown in her time, there was Jan and Christopher, victims of the military's experiments, she found herself wondering if they'd actually been part of, latent or not these people's society, or a genetic descendant at the very least, perhaps this was where many of the human genetic oddities sprang up from, from forgotten societies and legacies.

There was definitely a research grant in it, whenever she got back and needed some credits and to write a good paper for some recognition…on second thoughts it might be a little bit wild…even for some of the more esoteric circles she got drunk around in. Maybe it would be a good fiction novel…'Hogwarts Castle and the Serpent's Heir' by Professor Bernice Surprise Summerfield. It had a good ring to it. Though she'd actually like to get a sequel to Down Among the Dead Men out to her publishers, she was vaguely sure she had a publishing deal with them, but that particular piece of paperwork was probably trampled into the dirt, somewhere on Heaven, in the past, which was actually the future at this point in time.

Sometimes time travel gave her a headache…someone famous said that, or maybe it was just some woman who liked putting her hands on her hips and drinking coffee.

"This is it," Hermione suddenly said.

-/

"This is it," Hermione said in a low voice, the door to the room of requirement was open and inside it held the vanishing cabinet.

Inside there was a short atrium, or something and in front of them the cabinet. Hermione gazed in, she could see at the end had a crack and was sort of open.

It was like staring into a tunnel, that was both very long and not at all. It was a very odd sight that she didn't want to try and fathom, at least for the moment there were no Death Eaters making their way into the castle.

"How many cans?" She asked Benny beside her.

Bernice pulled a face. "Ace was never really accurate about how much each can packed," she admitted. "How many have you got?"

"12," Hermione answered immediately.

"Chuck four through and then four for this side," Benny instructed.

"And four for a 'rainy day'," Hermione quoted.

"That's the Doctors scheming again. Here give me four so we can do this without blowing ourselves up," Bernice said gesturing to Hermione.

"It couldn't just be a friendly phrase?" She asked opening her bag.

Bernice shook her head. "Not with the Doctor involved."

In Hogsmeade…

Harry sighed and breathed in the cool night air, though still aware of Dumbledore's weight against him.

Harry bit his lip and wondered if another dose of the anti-toxin would help, he'd already given him one dose before they'd started which had helped Dumbledore immensely, but then he'd given him the universal vaccine in the cave and another dose of the anti-toxin after it. He only had one more left and he was somewhat concerned such levels might be getting toxic, even more toxic than what Dumbledore was experiencing now.

Harry shrugged, it didn't seem to matter now, but when he'd tried to offer it to Dumbledore he'd shrugged it off. "Keep it my boy for a rainy day."

"It's pouring now Professor," he'd said, and now looking at Dumbledore it seemed that there was an oncoming storm.

Just as he'd summoned the brooms there was a thump and the noise of an explosion from Hogwarts.

"What the hell was that?" Harry muttered to himself gazing up at the chilling sight of the Dark Mark.

-/

Just outside the room of requirement and within the castle...

Hermione's heart was thumping, she could practically feel the adrenaline pumping through her, her hands were shaking and she felt immensely alive, ready for anything.

A section of her brain reasoned that was because of the adrenaline coursing through her body at the moment.

-/

The explosion was louder than he thought it was going to be, the acoustics of the castle seemingly magnifying it so all those within her walls could hear that the intruders' entrance had been removed. Almost as though the castle wanted everyone aware of the fact.

"Stop!" He said in a raised voice. The amassed group of Death Eaters that had been doing whatever they had been doing were rushing towards the area in front of the Great Hall when the Doctor stepped out in front of them, holding only his umbrella to lean on.

"Who are you?" One of them shouted.

"That was the noise of your entrance and your escape being destroyed by one of my associates and of course one of the residents of this castle" then he muttered to himself "she wouldn't let strangers do that within her walls, so much like my own…"

"Kill him," another shouted.

"Yes kill him so simple isn't it, wave your wand, end a life." The Doctor took a step forward. "Acting on orders, your orders. Go on then. Kill me. A few words, torture, maim, kill. That's what your master wants. Your Lord that's what he promises."

"He promises Power. Not like muggles like you, you're not even worth the breath to speak a spell," the Death Eater hissed.

"Then why do you do it, why waste your existence wasting your breath here?" The Doctor paused looked over them, in their masks. "Your power is pitiful, you hide behind masks, what sort of power is that if you can't even face your enemy, or is it you don't want to face your victims?"

"We…we're better than…" One of them began to say.

"You're no better, these people, they face you open, ready, they wield the real power, courage, intelligence, cunning, tolerance, you can't even kill one person standing in front of you. You're weak, powerless creatures hiding behind hate and cruelty, you're not even sure of your own ideology and yet you spout it so easily." The Doctor took another step forward, some of the Death Eaters began to prepare to take a step back.

"Stay where you are!" The Doctor boomed, he reflected even a Dalek could teach you something about controlling an audience. "I'm not finished with you yet."

"Stay back," the Death Eater said, gesturing his wand at the Doctor without casting anything.

"Now you're scared, now you know how it feels to face your victims. But what am I? Powerless, weaponless. You like your victims powerless don't you, they're 'muggles' they have no power against your might, your wands," the Doctor continued.

"Stop it," said the other Death Eater.

"Stop what, talking about your victims, victims at the end of your wands, you like that don't you, you like the victims in control. When you're in control everything is alright, you have the power," the Doctor continued in a calm-harsh tone.

"Shut up," the Death Eater ordered.

"Don't you have the power now? You with your wands, pointing at me? Look at me, wave your wands, end another 'muggle's' life," the Doctor sneered.

"I can't," one of them whimpered.

"No. You can't. Drop your wands," he murmured looking around him.

"No, shut up, shut…" One of the more vocal started shouting.

"Christopher, Roslyn if you would," the Doctor stated casually.

Behind him the pair of former Adjudicators stepped out from where the Doctor couldn't possibly have seen them approach and there was a stream of rapid fire around the Doctor causing all the Death Eaters around the Doctor to slump to the ground.

"The nature of it all," the Doctor muttered as he walked around picking up all the wands, dropping them inside his umbrella. "The front of the castle?"

"They're just clearing up."

"Casualties?" The Doctor asked looking over at the group of Death Eaters.

"They're stunned, we had to down a few of them, safety," Roz reported coolly.

"Come on, we should leave, before questions will be asked." The Doctor looked across the long corridor and could see Minerva McGonagall and a group of teachers and students coming their way, despite the fighting that was still occurring around them.

-/

Benny followed Hermione along the corridors.

"Doctor!" She said with relief.

"Ah Bernice, I trust everything has worked out," the Doctor greeted cheerfully.

"Ace knows how to cook up that stuff, did everything…?" Benny started.

"Yes, the castle should be safe once more…give or take." He shrugged leaning on his umbrella casually.

"Sorry we couldn't chat more. I'm Chris Cwej, that's Roz," Chris introduced himself to Hermione.

"Forrester. Justice by your side," she began.

"Fairness be your friend," Chris winked at her as the Doctor opened up the doors to the TARDIS waving them in.

"Benny mentioned you would do something like this," Hermione commented.

"It helps to avoid a lot of awkward questions Ms Granger. Tell Harry…" The Doctor was suddenly lost for words.

"I'll give him a hug from you," Hermione offered brightly.

"Follow what you're interested in Hermione, you've got a sharp mind, look me up…actually I'll find you, it's crukking impossible to have a fixed address when you're travelling with him," she shook Hermione's hand and went into the TARDIS.

"Goodbye Ms Granger," the Doctor said as the door closed.

Hermione stared watching as the TARDIS, (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space), Benny had explained to her disappeared, dematerialised into the vortex.

It gave her chills down her back, the noise, the sight, it had been something of a brilliant adventure these last few hours, she even allowed herself to forget about those who had died…and those she'd killed, that thought still lurked in the back of her mind, no matter how she consoled herself about the events of the day. But for a moment she allowed herself to be awed and excited by what she just saw.

"Ron!" She whispered to herself suddenly being pulled back to the present with the noise of feet and people shouting.

-/ - \\-

Harry found himself wondering the castle's corridors, it had been…some nights since Dumbledore…since he…

He paused for a moment, resting a hand against the castle's cool stone walls, since the night he died.

He was also out walking, tonight to try and talk with Hermione, she'd mentioned something about the Doctor being here, but that was all, she'd been oddly fine during the day they'd spent talking, reminiscing about Dumbledore talking about the Horcruxes, but Ron had noticed it. Before he had, but then Ron was spending a lot more close in time with her than he had recently. He'd asked him in an odd awkward manner to talk to her, or get her to talk.

He found her in an empty corridor looking out one of the windows, it was a corridor about half way up the castle on one side.

Completely empty, they were long past the curfew that had been established, not that anyone was listening to those sorts of things any more, it all seemed like a joke, a stupid set of rules imposed now that life was all that more real.

"Ha-Harry," she began, looking to him from whatever she was looking at.

"Hey Hermione," he greeted.

"Ron's worried about me," she stated looking past him and down the corridor a distant worried look on her face. He noticed she was chewing her lip again.

"So which Doctor was it?" He asked after a while.

"What?" Hermione turned her head quickly to stare at him.

Harry smiled sadly. "I didn't explain, not fully, he's got…different aspects, he's different people…" Harry walked over and sat on opposite her in the alcove of the window, the stone was strangely warm, even though the stone and glass around the window was cold.

"Heating charm," Hermione tapped her wand against the stone a faint trace of a smile washed over her face as her wand sparked against the stone work.

"He…his species changes, when their bodies…die." It was still oddly hard to think of death without imagining Dumbledore's body, lying in its state like that. "He changes, his whole aspect, personality. He's always my friend, he's always got these quirks, but it's like meeting a different person, a great brilliant, amazing being that seems to transcend everything around him, but…" Harry shook his head trailing off.

"When I first met him he was old, but he was so young, full of life…" He shook his head smiling to himself remembering. "After a few times I joked how he changed, what lead to him…dying. I never really thought of it as dying, not really, he was still all there, the same person, though different, I thought…I thought that would make it easier when Cedric died and Sirius, and now Dumbledore. But they're not living on, coming back to see me, they're gone," Harry sighed staring out the window. "But the Doctor he, he keeps on going, fighting for the good, the better, beating back the shadows, through force of will, and power of personality. Sometimes he seems to burn like fire, other times he seems mad, or dapper with his aikido. But he's always around, always my friend, even if he keeps changing, being different, yet the same…" Harry shook his head and looked at Hermione. "Sorry, I'm rambling."

"Oh Harry…he was the same man, the one I heard you meet last year, though he seemed…older, harder…he was travelling with these three people." Then the old-Hermione come out of the fore as she began to describe the three, or in particular Professor Bernice Surprise Summerfield.

Then she switched track after she'd finished describing how she and Professor Summerfield had destroyed the cabinets. "But then Harry…oh Merlin…when they first arrived…they…" She was started to hyperventilate. "There was…Death Eaters, six…six Death Eaters…and they were going to attack and I…I…" Hermione's eyes were welling up with tears.

Harry reached forward drawing her into a hug. "It's okay, it's okay, whatever it was…"

"I threw, the crowd control grenade you had…I thought…I thought I'd translated it alright, that it was non-lethal…I though I could just incapacitate them. Oh Merlin Harry…there was…they were…" She took a deep faltering breath of air burring her face into Harry's jacket. "I killed them, I killed the 6 Death Eaters…there was…there was barely anything left."

Harry just continued to pat her back as she cried into his jacket for a moment.

Harry turned his head to look across at the corridor where it had occurred. It was clean, as though nothing had happened…almost too clean.

Hermione leaned away from him wiping her eyes. "I've made your collar all wet."

Harry smiled. "Doesn't matter." Hermione slumped against the wall. "You did the right thing you know," he said making her fix him with a stare.

"What?" She looked at him.

"You did the right thing, they were here to maim or kill people in Hogwarts," Harry reasoned calmly, thinking of some of the things Magister told him, a long time ago when he'd been in school.

"I know but…" Hermione began.

"Did you see in the hospital wing those that were touched by the Death Eaters that got through," Harry explained, the anger and bitterness barely contained within his tone.

Hermione nodded a sour expression forming over her face, that was a despicable act if ever there was one, she would have killed the people for what they had gone through. One of the Hufflepuff girls, deprived of her wand by them had clawed her attacker's eyes out.

"I still…I still feel that I should have known that…" She trailed off. "I thought I heard screams as Bernice and I blew up the cabinet."

"What did she say?" Harry queried.

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Bernice. She must have heard it too," Harry asked.

"That they were 'fascist bastards attacking a school is one of the lowest despicable acts and that we're defending ourselves from them.'" Harry nodded as she spoke.

"That's what I was going to say as well. I would have liked to meet this Professor Summerfield of yours. And the two 'Adjudicators', I'm sure the Doctor has mentioned the Guild of Adjudicators before," Harry pondered.

"They seemed pretty hard, determined," Hermione observed.

"We're in a war Hermione, they brought it to us, invaded our home here, you, I were defending ourselves, we need to keep that in mind. Had those six got through you they would have been even more downstairs doing Merlin knows what to the other students," Harry reasoned calmly.

"Those who couldn't defend themselves." Hermione whispered.

"Yes. I need to finish this, end it," Harry finished with some finality.

"We Harry, don't you start the solo avenger stuff again." Hermione chastised him crossly.

Harry smiled. "So where did the TARDIS land? You saw it arrive then?" Hermione pushed herself away from the window and walked over to where she had seen it arrive.

Even now it was gone she could still remember where it had arrived, where it had sat for those few hours. It was as though it was locked in her memory, or maybe the castle remembered it. She watched as Harry walked over the spot where it had 'landed', squatting down and feeling the stone.

It was good, to stand, smiling, talking, even laughing for even a few moments, in amongst everything.

-/ - \\-

A/N:

Minor edit done March 2020.

To round off my Doctor Who appearances I've had a whole bunch of TV appearances, one appearance of an audio drama companion (Charley Pollard) and now the Virgin New Adventures. The Seventh Doctor was known as one of the great manipulators, which really came to the fore in the New Adventures series published after Doctor Who went off the air in 1989, these novels were published from 1991 to 1997.

For the (Seventh) Doctor, Bernice Summerfield, Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester this occurs after Just War and before Sleepy.

Additionally The Half-Blood Prince is a pretty well paced story with a lot of events going on for Harry, finding a place for the Doctor was tricky without offsetting the balance and detract from Harry and Dumbledore's interaction.

However the battle that he and Dumbledore come in at the end of is somewhat less defined.

I've obviously made the battle here, like Harry's encounter with Voldemort after the Tri-Wizard Tournament more violent and graphic, but I also wanted to keep this about Hermione which is why the more violent acts are told after the fact. That is except Hermione's kill count early in the chapter.

I also rather enjoyed writing Hermione in the starring role (I hadn't quite decided how this chapter was going to play out, aside from the Doctor, Benny, Chris and Roz being present during the battle). But as Hermione and Harry's friendship has developed I decided that she would be perfect for this chapter, and this meeting.

Next chapter will be set during the events of The Deathly Hallows.

Thanks for reading.