Chapter 56

8 weeks since the Toclafane invaded...

"Hi stranger. Long time," said a woman with an Australian accent and shorter hair than the last time he'd seen her.

Although that had been some time ago, for both of them. Back in his past when things were simpler and Ron Weasley was a friend and not a traitor to the human race.

Harry grinned at her. "Tegan Jovanka. I had been meaning to look you up before all this kicked off."

She laughed. "That's what we all say, then we run into each other in a pub or something."

Harry grinned. Though he wasn't sure why they were speaking.

Jane was the one who dabbled in much of the Resistance's inter-operations from Torchwood Four along with a colleague of Ros' who'd escaped London. Very good with the technology, he also rather liked Harry's mind probe, which remained their best way of checking for agents of the Master trying to infiltrate the Resistance.

"I guess you're wondering why you've been passed onto me. I imagine you're a busy bloke."

"Like yourself Tegan, people like us fall into things like this."

"Fighting the fight when the Doctor's not around you mean?" She asked looking at him. It was odd how some people could fix you with a look over a sat-link, via a camera and everything.

"Indeed. Sometimes we have to take things into our own hands," Harry said neutrally.

"You mean when he screws up things Harry. He was incapable of getting me back to Heathrow and now," she paused. "I've heard what he did and the Master...I met him that bastard, what he did to Nyssa and everything." She shook her head.

No secrets, well not many, well...It was complicated the Resistance's attitude to secrets and operational security. But anything they learnt about the Master and even the Doctor and how this happened Harry had made sure was disseminated out through the Resistance's network. They didn't want to hamper Martha Jones' quest.

But they had to prepare for the worst, hope for the best and maybe they'd achieve something in the middle.

The Doctor, or rather the Doctors he had known and the Doctor he had spent the longest time with in the 1970s had always said you needed to get yourself out of trouble. There's helping hands along the way, but you needed to think your way out of things. If that meant going in guns a blazing then 'well, Harry, the Brigadier uses guns a little too often. One should think and consider the situation, speak with an individual, not try and interrogate the remains later' he'd said at one point.

The Brigadier was in Peru of all places he was now helping the South American Resistance access some old UNIT assets that were around that region.

He'd not been able to get a sat-link with him, nor really needed to. His linkup time was used only when needed and mostly with Liz and Sergey, they were the ones he was working with most now that they were moving forward with the teleport-cabinet Moonbase link. Then going forward they still had a huge leap to get the Mars link done. But one huge step at a time.

"I know. I met him after that stuff with the Xeraphin," Harry admitted.

Tegan looked surprised. "You met him?!"

Harry nodded. "He made an ill advised visit to Cardiff and attracted the wrong sort of attention." He left that at that, he didn't need to get into Captain Jack and his wandering pants.

Tegan nodded. "I've got a friend of yours who came to our attention. She's been waiting patiently while we rabbit on," she said getting out of her chair and allowing another woman sit down.

Harry, for a moment couldn't say anything. He'd consoled himself with the fact that Daphne was out of harm's way. Or at least away from Britain and out of the Master's sphere of gazing or whatever it was he did up on the Valiant he didn't want to think about the possibility that she might be dead. That she was alive was always held in his mind as a certainty. Now there was confirmation.

"Stuck for words Harry Potter, I would have thought you would have had more to say to me."

"Merlin, Daphne," Harry let out a breath he was holding.

"Took us a while to find the Resistance here."

"But you're there, you can stay there." He didn't say 'you can stay there safe and away' but Daphne knew what he meant and shook her head. The fast movement from which pixelated her face all over the screen.

"There's supplies I can bring back from here for the Resistance. Magical supplies that the Resistance down here doesn't have enough wizards to utilise. Tegan's also given me a few 'gadgets' that she thinks you'll find useful. They're already pursuing other things by conventional means."

Harry sighed. "Daphne, I just want-" He was cut off.

"I'll do what I want Harry Potter and you know probably better than others that there's some things that have to be moved around the planet that aren't any more. I will be back. We're following the usual route."

Harry knew that was the clipper route. He and Daphne didn't really talk in huge detail about the specifics of their work, their jobs that they did. They had their personal, private and working lives and some separation was how they worked, loved and lived. It wasn't normal, some wizarding couples were very old school, the man earning the cash and the woman at home popping out kids. Hermione had suggested, before all this happened that was what Ron had wanted.

Daphne and he though were far from a regular boring wizarding couple, they kinda liked it like that.

But he did get curious and he'd asked Daphne one day exactly how her family's ships and other transport managed to transport goods around the world.

It wasn't just sail, but it was most of the time, there was some magic enhancing going on, but for the most part they used what the weather provided.

"I suppose I can't talk you out of this," he finally said.

Daphne smiled knowingly at him. "No Harry, you can't."

Harry sighed. "You've still got the phone I gave you?" Daphne nodded. "Tegan or someone with her Resistance will be able to alter the frequency to the new ones we're using, you can contact us when you're closer to Britain."

Daphne smiled warmly at him. "I'll let Tegan return now, I am sure, as I know you Harry, you will have more to discuss."

She was replaced a moment later by the figure of Tegan. "That was a short reunion."

Harry shrugged and then remembered something. "Is Jonny Chess still with you?"

Tegan seemed surprised but then nodded. "You know his parents. Or knew them. He's still down here."

From Tegan's tone it sounded like they were on less than romantic terms. "I'll tell his parents he's alive then."

She smiled. "You've his parents with you?"

"The Resistance does," he commented obliquely, he didn't want open this up for everyone to have a chat.

"I suppose I should give you an update while we're online then," she sighed as she looked at a piece of paper that was out of the way of the camera.

-/

What followed were depressing statistics of the death and destructions caused by the Toclafane.

There were less wizarding traitors down under than they were facing here. Although they weren't seeing a huge amount anywhere. You had to have something maddening within you to actively support the Master and the Toclafane, or maybe they were just wholly self serving.

Harry didn't really know. What psychologists the Resistance had they were mostly used to council people and to help people through what they were now dealing with.

Criminal psychology was only vaguely useful for recruiting people to use against the Master, and for that they had far more effective means.

Although they fell into the quite morally dark areas which was defined as 'need to know secrets' that he, Ros, Jane and Robert limited the knowledge of to those who really needed to know.

-/

"Thanks. That's...that was..." Harry tried.

"I know. Harry. This is why I got out of it with the Doctor. Too much death. Now..."

"Now we have to make our own way," Harry finished for her. Because there was no one who was going to rescue them.

That was also what the Doctor had told him and the Brigadier. He might have left his Space-Time Telegraph around for the Brigadier once, but he had also said, of UNIT and other organisations that they had to learn to look after themselves. 'I'm not going to be humanity's housekeeper, you can clear up after yourselves, one of these days you have to learn to look after your planet.'

Liz had said that too, of the Doctor, when she had been left to help with the 'radioactive ambassadors'. Harry only knew of them because of General 'the Patron' Carrington's involvement with them. The Doctor had basically just left them to it and wandered off, seemingly confident in humanity's ability to cope with them.

The Doctor, since the 1970s seemed, now that Harry had needed to reflect on the Doctor's interactions on Earth, given his predicament, had only popped up occasionally. Except now, in the 21st century he had made more appearances. Interfering more often.

It was almost like an exile, except he knew from meeting Rose, Jack and Martha that the Doctor went other places other than 21st century Earth. Maybe it was as simple as Jack had said 'the 21st century is when everything changes'.

"I know. I just wish..."

"You had some of your friends from the TARDIS days?" Harry asked with a slow smile.

Tegan smiled at him. "How'd you know?"

"Other people who understand the weirdness." Harry continued.

"Too right. Other people who understand this." She looked at him. "But he's not going to save things is he?"

"We'll save ourselves Tegan. Isn't that what the Doctor always did? We learn and change, and we save ourselves."

Tegan chuckled. "You sound like him sometimes Harry. Not like when we first met you. Now ya do. Sort of."

"I could try and sound like the Doctor you knew. I don't know a lot about cricket, however I did have celery for lunch yesterday."

Harry grinned as Tegan leaned back in her chair laughing. "Thank you Harry. That has made my day much, much better. Guess I'd better sign off." She waved at him and pushed a button on her computer leaving a blank image on his.

"Glad I could make someone's day much better," Harry said to himself as he stared at the blank screen for a moment longer, thinking of Daphne. "Brave heart Harry," he said as he pushed himself away from the desk. "Sleep," hHe muttered to himself was what he needed. He didn't need to worry about who might be dying or who might be betraying them. Time would tell, tomorrow would come as it always did. Another day into their war.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

Hermione Granger leant against the tree against which her bag was propped against and checked her pockets for the things held within them and for then once again for the presence of her bag beside her and allowed herself to relax for the smallest amount.

"Urgh," said Ross Jenkins, he was a Private, but ranks only really meant something when there were a lot of soldiers on patrol. With the Resistance there weren't enough soldiers within their ranks to ever need to worry about that problem on a huge scale.

"Still not used to pissing in the woods Jenkins?" McGillop asked from opposite Hermione across the fire that was smouldering in front of them. She shook her head at him.

They were both of UNIT, though had found their way to the Resistance by different paths. McGillop had been in London and found by Harry's friend Sarah Jane Smith who was off being a roving member of the Resistance. Hermione wasn't quite sure what she was up to exactly, but understood they needed some people who could slip around the Toclafane and the Master's forces and find some undiscovered things and people.

Ross had been on transport duty part of the convoy that was transporting one of UNIT's mobile HQs when the Toclafane invaded. The convoy had been attacked and Jenkins and the survivors had made it to a UNIT safe house. Which had unfortunately been compromised. Hermione didn't know the exacting details of what had happened only that Jenkins and those with him had to fight their way out and had the battle that ensued had come to the attention of Katie Bell who'd been on survey duties over their location.

After getting through Torchwood Four's new screening process, and past Jane Blythe, 'the Baroness' as no one who wanted to keep breathing called her. Except Harry who seemed to know everyone did, though only jokingly. Hermione was annoyed that she hadn't known who Jane Blythe was before meeting her. She'd been some sort of intelligence specialist, she'd been in charge of a private company before the war. Hard. Was how she'd heard her be described.

It was something they all needed to be. Things did not look like they were getting better any time soon.

"I'd rather not discuss my bodily functions thanks McGillop," he said with a smile.

Hermione would have said she could conjure a toilet, but she'd already said that before on their little trip.

Their little trip, across the Channel was to make contacts and look for assets, that was why she had these two UNIT men with her.

They needed all the assets they could get their hands on; muggle, alien or wizard.

George was already discovering the problems with the world they now lived in, as were the other wizards that she and Malfoy had got from Hogwarts were finding. Hogwarts might have had huge stores of supplies, she had heard some of mention that some people were hoarding some things, mostly things that had been produced in Hogsmede or Diagon Alley but life had mostly continued as normal. But here in the real world thing were a little bit different. London was becoming dangerous to go into, but George would be accompanying Terence Higgs and some soldiers on a supplies run into London sometime this week, so maybe they'd find something that previous raiding parties hadn't.

Her group was a little further afield; France to be specific. They'd got some sporadic information from Resistance groups here. She and George had hoped that Bill and Fleur would have been a rallying point for them. That something like that happening would prove that they were still alive. Not counting Ron, there'd been no sign of any of the other Weasley family other than George.

No one counted Ron, except as a traitor to the human race.

Hermione fancied even she might have the stamina to kill him if she were faced up against him. It was an ugly reality, but she had seen the memories of people who'd witnessed what he'd done.

The 'red man', that was what the Toclafane called him.

She had, very briefly, very early on, had hoped that he was playing the long game, playing out the 'bad cop', to somehow hit the Master from the inside.

But no, not from what she'd seen.

Harry had warned her she might not want to see what he'd done. But he had opened the pensive up for everyone to see. It was important for them to know who their enemies were. Harry, Ros Myers and Robert Townsend were in agreement with that. According to Jenkins and McGillop Blythe and Malcolm also practised that philosophy. Unlike the Aidensfield Resistance, the main base Torchwood Four had less of main wizard tier that Harry had in the main base. Hermione had mused that it seemed somewhat lacking, but Torchwood Four had to process some of the more messy problems, finding a wizard to stomach the messy realities all of the time was something difficult. She'd heard Oliver Wood had stayed on assisting them but Malfoy might be going. She wasn't really sure, while she was privy to more of 'boring details' as Harry had put it she wasn't aware of everything in the Resistance.

She was broken out of her musing by McGillop saying "Catch." at her. She might not have the skills of a seeker, but she still grabbed the energy meal bar out of the air with ease. Though a part of her did react ready to blast the projectile into pieces.

"So where next Sir?" That was something Ross hadn't stopped, and Hermione had stopped telling him to. As far as the soldiers, UNIT and regulars were concerned wizards were the highest ranking people. McGillop nodded to her. While he might joke around he was also serious most of the time. She did enjoy his playful comments occasionally.

So far on this trip a little light-heartedness helped to deal with the devastation.

Paris had been left mostly untouched by the Toclafane, the Channel tunnel had become a major route for factory supplies. It was too dangerous to use though, the Toclafane and the Master's forces recognising it and the trains that went through as a resource the Resistance might use. So apparating and boat was the only way to cross. There were still ferries operating as well, moving people and supplies between the Britain and Europe.

They'd found out that the French Resistance had succeeded in sinking a few of those, but the Master had retaliated in kind. Luxembourg was now mostly a hole in the ground, the Master obviously having a psychotic moment and not understanding geography. Maybe.

Harry knew the man the best and even he had said he didn't know this version very well.

Hermione unwrapped the bar and bit into it. It was solid, not really tasty, but full of all the things a working solider would need.

They did have actual meals within their bags, plus the military rations and then there were these.

These were the worst, something that wasn't going out to the military for a few years yet.

Hermione could see why, they were awful, but they needed to be ready to move when the moon came out, the fire was to aid their passage.

"There's a magical township that's hidden, that hopefully the Toclafane haven't found." She'd not even been to it, but the last time she'd been to France, the last time she and her parents had been on holiday she'd heard of it.

She was constructing the spell from memory, at least the logs, bark and twigs she'd put into the fire were burning down properly.

It was 'hard and fast' rather than a considered slowly made potion that she'd need to make for them to gain access. But it would hopefully give them access to something that wasn't exactly a Diagon Alley, more a potions archive or something.

The translation she'd read had obviously been translated literally from Latin to French. She then needed to rewrite it from memory alone, and this was a spell she'd read at least 5 years ago.

"Potter also wanted something temporal that might be there," said McGillop as he bit of a piece of his own energy bar.

"Something about Versailles?" Jenkins asked McGillop.

"That's right. Somewhere the Doctor visited," McGillop said as he swallowed a mouthful of gritty whatever it was that they were eating.

"That's correct. From what I know several items were raided from Versailles and taken by the local wizarding population." She prodded the fire a little more and forced the remainder of her food into her mouth and started to go through her bag.

Her bag, like the ones she'd provided McGillop and Jenkins was her construction. A little more finesse than Harry and Ioan's expanding bags, more stable. Trickier to construct, but she believed it was worth it.

"Is this time now, for a spell?" McGillop sat up, interested. Every time they apparated he had been excited.

It was something Hermione noticed the soldiers mostly took in their stride, the UNIT soldiers especially, for them weird was part of the job.

The scientists were much, much more curious. The two men that Harry had rescued Professors Cox and Dawkins weren't especially excitable, but oh so curious, and had fallen into being the lead scientific advisors for the Resistance.

She'd heard, as she was leaving that Harry had brought back from his house and recent transmat transmission to the ISS two mostly intact Toclafane. She, along with everyone else hoped they'd finally get some answers as to who these invaders were.

"Not a spell W" She started and then stopped. McGillop did not like being called by his first name. Instead it was last name only. "A potion McGillop," she said removing a notebook from her pocket and pulling a small cauldron from her bag and placing it beside her and then a larger oven pan as well out of her bag.

"I'm never going to get used to that," Jenkins muttered as he looked up.

Hermione followed his gaze. "Something the matter?"

"Just the woods hopefully," he said standing up. "Going to have a scout. I'll leave you to help Hermione. Sir." He nodded to her as he took off on a prowl.

"So what's the first step?" He asked with a grin.

Hermione pulled out some tongs and flipped through her notebook to where she'd written up what she remembered. "Those logs I put on, we need the ash. Spread it on here," she said handing him the tongs as she dug around in her bag for the river water that she'd collected late the previous day.

It was somewhat filthy water; a reaction from the bodies dumped into the river and the new industrial processes that were at work in the region. All part of the Master's empire plans.

At least there were still woods to hide in, there were some locations around the world where the Toclafane had destroyed vast areas on a vaster scale than what had happened to the Forbidden Forest.

She had heard Gubbly-Plank talking with Rolf about the environmental damage and what would happen into the future with the genocide of the unicorns that had happened. Just that amount of the blood being dumped into the local environment had unknown side affects on the environment. The future was another question entirely.

"That looks a lot better," McGillop said of the bottle of water that she'd pulled out. "I was worried you'd drink it at the time."

"Not likely." Hermione wrinkled her nose. He'd been a lot closer and been able to make a better judgment of what had been dumped into the river.

"This look alright?" McGillop asked leaning away from the oven pan.

Hermione nodded and tensed as she heard a crack of a branch and pulled out her wand. Likewise McGillop reached over and grabbed his ATR as they both moved to stand.

"Just me, it was just a fox moving around in the scrub," Jenkins said casually as he walked back into view.

Hermione let out a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. When she'd joined the Ministry working on her own archaeological projects she thought if she'd ever be in the woods it'd be under her own terms. She didn't think there would be a return to hiding in the woods fearing for her life.

That was what some of the wizards at Hogwarts didn't want to do either 'don't want to compromise their style of life' Grubbly-Plank had said.

Hermione didn't understand it, the Resistance was fighting for everyone. Those at Hogwarts seemed to want to just sit in the castle and 'bury their heads in their own self importance' Malfoy had said dismissively. Coming from him that was saying something.

"Add the extra logs I've got there, we need to build the fire up and give a good base for the cauldron to sit on." Hermione instructed McGillop.

"Don't you need to hang it over the fire Sir?"

Hermione acknowledged that yes, in ideal circumstances that is what she'd do, but she was jumping a few steps with this potion. The method was quite badly translated, but the ingredients were sound. So she had decided to rely on her knowledge and experience, more so than the badly translated instructions.

"Ideally yes," she said as she poured the water into the cold cauldron and stirred it with her wand, six times clockwise 8 times anti-clockwise. Inside the water was sitting mostly still as she lifted it onto the fire that was just taking to the logs.

The ingredients were mostly from the woods around here. The entrance to the archive was not meant to be difficult, but instead forced the brewer to be in the area near it to construct their potion.

It had been a location she'd wanted to visit with her parents, but had not been able to do magic outside of school, and then when she'd finished Hogwarts and had gone on one last holiday with them before she'd begun university they'd spent time closer to Paris.

Hermione dug into her bag again and pulled out her portable potion making kit. It was a leather roll with various stirring rods and basic potion ingredients along with a cauldron cleaning implements.

"McGillop, get the copper, stainless steel and oak rods out," she not quite ordered the scientist and then addressed Ross Jenkins. "We are far from ideal circumstances." She added she looked down at her notes. Her notes had more notes all over them as she'd refined what she recalled.

Far from ideal.

She took one of the phials she'd marked with an F. "This is fluxweed." She explained to McGillop who was looking with eager interest.

"Dry?" He asked.

"Yes." The original recipe actually called for something else, though its effects were similar. "Fresh it's used in for a metamorphic potion," she said with a smile, briefly reminded for simpler times. Where Malfoy was the bad guy and Harry, Ron and herself were friends and there was only snakes, Voldemort and exams to worry about. The present was much more different.

"I presume dry its affects are less pronounced?"

"Indeed," she said as she picked up the oak stirrer and counted the revolutions around the cauldron.

"Oh, my..." Jenkins said, he was cautiously looking over the pot as Hermione stirred.

Hermione smiled. The murky potion was swirling as she stirred into a mysterious blue-hued potion.

"Stainless stirrer McGillop," she said putting out her left hand.

She didn't even need to look as she felt the stirrer slipped into her hand.

This was the tricky part, she had to 'fix' the potion in its state by cancelling the motion of her stirring with something inorganic and non-magical. 'Unsympathetic' wasn't the word the potion instructions used, but it was the gist of what it meant.

Exhaling she slid the stirrer into the potion and carefully stirred against the motion of the potion.

Almost instantly as it stopped moving the potion changed sliding through the colour gamut to a light purple colour.

"Carefully." She said to Jenkins who had gloves on. "Lift it off the fire."

"So what now? Do we drink it?" McGillop asked as Jenkins put the potion down on the ground a short distance from the fire.

Hermione wrinkled her nose. She wasn't sure what would happen if you drank it. Probably nothing or maybe an explosion of the unpleasant kind out the mouth or from the arse. "No. We spray it."

"Spray it?" McGillop repeated.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

Unlike Diagon Alley, this potions archive wasn't located in an urban area. The entrance, or rather where she had read of the entrance to be was located near a small hump, it wasn't even a hill within the wood that she had made the potion in.

That was the thing, the entrance, the potion to gain it was of the wood itself. The entrance was a demonstration you had the skills to be there.

Rather than knowing a pattern on a brick wall as in Diagon, or as had been the case. Diagon was now much easier to gain access to, the Toclafane or the Master's forces had blown a large hole into the side of the Leakey Cauldron revealing Diagon to all. It was fast becoming there were few people in London that cared.

The spray bottles that she McGillop and Ross Jenkins were holding were again something not part of the potion and the spell.

From what she gathered of the spell and potion you were meant to hover the potion and then spray it onto the entrance which would result in 'it revealing all', or more oddly 'unveiling the flaps of entrance and embrage removed' or something like that.

"Squirt or mist?" McGillop asked with a smirk.

"Mist please McGillop, what you get up to alone is of none of my concern," Hermione ordered lightly in an amused tone.

Just because they were at war, and the world was being destroyed didn't mean they couldn't laugh occasionally.

"Not what I thought a magic spell would be, a sprayer bottle." Jenkins said as they began.

"Instant travel isn't enough for you?" McGillop commented as they started to spray.

"I...oh..." Jenkins started and then as they were spraying a wobbling entrance began to wobble into existence. "Should we...?"

"Keep spraying it should fully stabilise." Hermione said quickly as she focused on the areas where they'd not been spraying.

Then the entrance seemed to snap into focus like a mirror in the air.

"Come on," Hermione said quickly as she patted down her pockets and picked up her bag and stepped through.

She happily noted that McGillop and Jenkins didn't hesitate to follow her.

The three of them looked back as the entrance they came through shimmered as the came through. There was an arch that was around where they came in.

"The entrance outside should disappear as the potion evaporates." She said returning her attention to the area they were now in.

It had, like most wizarding sites, and indeed most buildings not directly related to the Master's plans been in some way destroyed. The Toclafane not paying attention to most wizarding defences.

This site also seemed less ransacked and damaged than others like Diagon and Hogsmede.

Now that they were inside and secure it was time to remove from her pocket the letter that she'd been given.

"Before we go looking-"

Hermione was cut off by Jenkins. "I need to inform you of a-"

He was cut off by McGillop who was also removing a letter that looked exactly like hers. "I have a...oh." He paused. "Snap?"

-/

Hermione had got her letter in question from Ros Myers shortly before she had been due to meet with McGillop and Jenkins to apparate.

Myers had said it was imperative for the security of the Resistance not to open the letter until they were inside the archive. That it detailed a secondary objective while they were over here.

It seemed that Harry had gone to Jenkins and told him basically the same thing and Townsend had said the same to McGillop.

Which was suspicious.

Suspicious enough for her to order the other two men to put their letters on the ground, as she did hers so she could check them for anything suspicious.

"Paranoid?" McGillop asked.

"Careful," is what Hermione replied with as she cast many diagnostic spells, many she'd learnt and used in her previous profession, previous to the war in her archaeological work with the Ministry.

It appeared there had been a short life toxin placed within the letters, likely on the paper. It was practically gone now. Exposure to the air, at this point would get rid of any of the lingering traces that were present.

"I wonder why..." McGillop started as Hermione handed the letters back.

"We shall see shan't we?"

Ah, Hello Hermione, I see you're not dead.

Hermione glared at the page. It was in Harry's hand.

If you'd been curious enough to open this letter, you wouldn't be reading this at the moment. Rolf has assured me the toxin is quite fast acting. I'm sure by now you will have worked out why we've done this.

Hermione continued to glare at the page. Of course she knew why, it was textbook. There was a spy in the Resistance and Harry, Ros Myers and Robert Townsend were trying to flush them out. Presumably with toxins.

Hermione wondered if it was Harry's idea. She shouldn't jump to that idea, Myers and Townsend had demonstrated they were each able to be sneaky and devious in their own ways.

Someone's been leaking information. I didn't think it was you, but we had to be sure and show no favouritsm.

Of course, that made sense. Especially if the traitor turned out to be a wizard. Which meant it had to be someone who'd come through early on, or maybe someone they'd vouched for and or checked in other ways. Even now the mind probe wasn't and couldn't be used on everyone. Only when their story didn't quite check out. That was from what she understood in any case. The mind probe had the occasional 'unfortunate outcome'.

There were several teams going out when she'd left, and it had to be that the letters were given at the same time in order to measure if there was a traitor.

Or maybe just people who could follow orders.

Hermione was mentally sorting through those who were on assignments at the same time as she was. There was George and Terrence who were off to London. Oliver Wood was heading a team going to Inverness, Owen Cauldwell was going with Katie Bell and were taking a group to the Lodmoor Research Facility to raid more equipment. Even though the Resistance had barns full of various equipment and objects that Harry had had his group grab in the early hours and days of the invasion. Finally she was relatively sure there were other smaller groups of wizards doing smaller investigations but none of them she was aware were leaving at the same time as the others and herself.

If I know you at all Hermione you're now annoyed I haven't told you the secondary objective. Or maybe you're thinking that even that was just a ploy.

Hermione glared at the letter some more.

There is a secondary objective, Jenkins will hopefully be able to navigate through it. It's a NUIT outpost close to your potions archive. They should have some alien tech that was due to be transferred to Geneva later this year. Might be useful.

Keep safe Hermione. Your friend, Harry.

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The man in question was sitting at a table with Ros Myers and Robert Townsend. Said man was also plugging in the extension cord they used to plug the phone into the speaker box. Richard had found a few of the speaker boxes in the surgery building that the Resistance used for their biological research into the Toclafane. Dawkins had been quite excited about the intact Toclafane he'd brought back following his transmat adventures at his house.

To speed along matters Harry had leant him his sonic screwdriver; he'd found it a 'most excellent curious device, quite intriguing how it functions. Though we all seem to be "rolling with the impossible" aren't we?'. He'd then given Harry one of those looks, a look of amazement, curiosity and a longing to ask more questions and poke and prod him. It was one that the scientists and science students they had within the Resistance had of wizards and to a lesser extent the alien technology. That desire to know more and ask questions and pull things apart and find out how they work.

"Professor Cox has been telling me that he's making progress," Townsend said as Harry offered up the cable for the speaker box from where he was on the floor.

"Oh?" Harry mused plugged and then unplugged the cables, frowning and then plugging them back in the same way that they had been.

Professor Cox was working with a group of science students and the like on a few different projects ranging from 'where, when and how' of the Toclafane where did they come from when did they come from, as they were relatively sure there was a temporal displacement given that the TARDIS was a 'paradox machine' and how did they get here. There was also the more fantastical and Harry considered quite a bit more dangerous, and something they weren't able to achieve at the moment, but still should keep their options open, of stopping the Master before he started.

Harry wasn't sure about this one, but it was something Ros had said that Harriet Jones had been a strong successful Prime Minister and someone, probably through some political manipulation had given her the smallest shove out the door.

Harry certainly recalled Mickey Smith's debrief following the Number 10 destruction, supposedly the Doctor had said to Rose (who had related it to Smith) that was the start of 'Britain's golden age'. The way Mickey Smith had suggested it from Rose via the Doctor suggested it should have been long. Something had to have tripped up this and set up a situation where the Master could have come to power so quickly.

At first Brian had thought that wasn't exactly his field, he was leading a mix of pure science and political science and media students on this little project of theirs. But there was the temporal nature of this question, the what if part of it, there was also the paradox machine to consider and what exactly it was doing.

"There, that's done it." Harry announced pushing himself off the floor and walking around to the table.

"Should we call or...?" Townsend asked as the phone rang.

The reassuring noise of a bell within a bakelite phone rang out through the room.

Harry reached forward and answered it. "Hello, yes, Malcolm, good, I'm just switching over to speaker box now." Harry said as he flicked a switch on the phone and there was a fizz and clunk of the line going over to the speaker box.

It was all very Charlie's Angels.

Even their method for working out where their traitor was in the Resistance was a bit old school.

"I hear by the crackle of the phone lines that we're linked together," came the voice of Jane Blythe, someone that Harry on pain of death stares and other things did not call Baroness. That said he did get on quite well with her, reminiscing about Sea Devils and the 70s and stuff.

She was the one to suggest an anaphylaxis inducing toxin, slow enough that the traitor or the associates within the group should be able to use their emergency portkey to return to either Torchwood Four or the Resistance HQ in Aidensfield.

And if they didn't manage to, then that was one less traitor.

The idea was simple enough, although Townsend hadn't been entirely convinced. The Resistance wasn't a perfectly oiled military machine, however most people did follow orders.

Everyone understood where failure would lead them, the Master and the Toclafane were not easy to sympathise with. Harry wasn't really sure why people would throw their all in with them.

There didn't seem to be any compelling reason, both the Master and the Toclafane were psychotic genocidal maniacs.

'Less than 100 years' was the currently projected figure they had as a working number for how long it would be until the Earth was facing dire problems, that figure might halve once they could actually see and measure the effects of the Master's rockets launching. From what was happening so far they did not appear to be very green or good for the environment.

The Master seemed not to care for environmental controls or emissions standards when building factories.

Ros clicked her fingers in front of him, she did that whenever she thought he was wandering in his mind, something Harry was annoyed she'd learnt from Judith.

"Anything relevant Potter?"

"Wandering again Potter?" Harry could hear amusement present in her voice.

"Just the environmental degradation." That was their catch all term for what was happening to the Earth's environment. Something going forward they wanted to try and slow down.

But first this leak, it hadn't resulted in anything too bad quite yet. Some injuries here and there, which at first they'd thought was just regular activity of the Master's forces.

But their leak probably hadn't taken full account of who made up the Resistance.

It was that and the analysis of what had happened thus far that suggested it was a wizard.

"Of course you are." Jane responded understandingly.

"One problem at a time Harry." This was Malcolm's voice. He was someone Harry got on quite well with, that Ros had mused was because they both liked the gadgets. Malcolm had been quite pleased with the additional tech that he'd got access to. They still hadn't quite worked out how to make a suitcase nuke, or where they'd use it. For their future plans the Resistance was looking at needing a little more of a bang than would be contained inside a suitcase.

"So now we wait," Townsend said.

If what they assumed was the timeline of events their leaker would break off from the main party following their arrival. Most teams that apparated out of the Resistance arrived in their location, scouted and waited. They'd learnt not to be so eager early on. Even with wizarding means of transport there was still some preparation needed, especially with the Toclafane's disruption affecting their ability to apparate.

They needed to scout alternative apparition points and portkey positions, just in case. It was thought while scouting their leaker would go off and do whatever it was.

The 'secondary objective' ploy was a simple one, they were all real, as even though their teams were going out, it was stupid to risk them going out just to weed out traitors. They needed to manage the resources they had well.

"We should update one another while we're all sitting on the line, that was what we intended." Harry looked over to Townsend who nodded as he flipped through his papers.

"Indeed. Harry any progress with the relay system?" Malcolm asked.

"Sergey's working on it, they're having some trouble with the power systems, Liz is talking him through the re-routing of the power. We will hopefully be able to do a test in a few weeks."

"We can't get it done sooner?" Jane asked.

Harry exhaled slowly and Townsend gave him a look that they had both shared. This was something they didn't want to have to do, but was something the knew had to be done. Just in case they failed. They had to ensure the human race continued.

"Best we get it done right. It would be much harder to do a second time if we accidentally blow a hole in the ISS or something. We aren't up against the wall just yet. I hope our plan to rid us of these pits will throw a spanner in the works," Harry said and waved towards Townsend with flourish.

Townsend was better at the grand planning on the scale they were considering.

They would only get one good chance to attack the factories, so they needed to make it count.

According to what those within the Resistance who had some specialties in psychology the Master would likely do something large in retaliation for their actions.

But this was their planet. They would fight, whatever it took to defeat him and preserve their species.

The two were concepts that were no longer mutual.

Preservation of their species was the ultimate goal, the goal of all species really.

The Resistance was a mostly global initiative, and it would need to be if they were to hit hard against the Master and to delay his plans. Possibly stop his plans.

Again, the word delay.

That was another concept that they had needed to deal with. The slow realisation that they might not stop his plans.

Whatever a 'Paradox Machine' ultimately did, it was constructed by a being, psychotic as he may be, but one not to be underestimated.

They couldn't underestimate him and they needed to look after themselves. The Doctor had taught him that, the Master too, in his other life. Both had said, the Doctor throughout most of his lives that you had to get yourself out of problems. You could get a lift, a helping had here and there, but it was important to stand up to the terrors of the universe, and to light a torch against the dark corners and forgotten places.

Harry intended to do that. The Resistance had their path and Martha Jones, with her one woman walking tale had hers. They were not mutually exclusive, the Resistance had offered a lot of support to her as she made her way around the lands.

-/

"We'll need to move forward with resupply of our and other countries' submarine fleets."

Harry nodded and then reminded himself that they were on a speaker phone and that Jane couldn't see him. "Ros and I will be seeing to it when this issue has resolved itself. As you've indicated they're not going to trust any random wizard." Harry mused.

"Indeed not. You're sure you can-" Jane paused, Harry strained to hear over the crackly phone line. "I see. Treat him with the anti-toxin and place him in the zone 10 cell." Harry heard over the phone.

Zone 10 was the area in Torchwood Four that was pretty much like his house, though worse, probably. Harry fancied that anyone attempting any magical transport in or out would be sprayed in a fine mist across the general area.

"So who is our traitor Jane?" Ros asked after a moment.

"Oliver Wood. Not someone I thought would have been taken in. He was so very efficient," Jane sounded disappointed.

She wasn't the only one Harry thought to himself. Ron and now Oliver. Harry could have hoped that Oliver was maybe playing both sides. But that was what Hermione had hoped for a while.

Then she had seen the memories in the pensive.

One of them he'd extracted from Richard Dawkin's wife, her rescue had been a minor point of contention with Ros. That any rescue of people needed to advance their mission. It did, Harry believed that. Just as knowing Daphne was alive and determined to return helped him to advance.

It wasn't the only memory. Although it had come of interest that memories from muggles could be extracted into a pensive as easily as from wizards. According to Dawkins and his associate students and whomever else, it supported their many theories they were busy coming up with. When they weren't working on the Toclafane or the dozen other issues and problems they currently had.

"Ros and I will leave shortly." Harry looked over at Ros who nodded.

"I thought you might. There's horses waiting at the pick up point." Jane commented.

It had been agreed that he and Ros along with those at Torchwood Four would conduct the interrogation. Townsend wasn't that sort of man.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

The apparition point needed to be some distance from Torchwood Four, there was a part of Torchwood Four set aside for portkey arrivals, and theoretically you could apparate into an area of Torchwood Four's grounds it wasn't as easy as a simple apparition.

The location that had been set up for apparition was a cottage and stables a short 10 minutes' ride from the base.

Initially they'd been driving back and forth between the cottage and Torchwood Four, but it had quickly dawned on them that this was not a useful way to use their fuel.

Ros exhaled as she looked up at the sky, something many people who weren't soldiers or wizards did after they apparated.

Even Ros who seemed to be cold to most things she encountered.

One of the few vets they had within the Resistance looked after the horses here, while also monitoring their health and the health of what remained of the surrounding wildlife.

"We'll start loosing a lot more, winter's coming," he said as Harry got up into the saddle of the horse with ease. An ease that seemed to annoy Ros, though she seemed equally at ease with riding a horse.

"Indeed," Harry mused darkly. He didn't know what to say. Wizard owls, sent out in the early hours of the invasion had all been killed. The Toclafane seemingly enjoying the sport in killing them. The other birds were killed later. Additionally something about the Toclafane disrupted the birds' ability to navigate.

It was one of many unanswered questions about the Toclafane and the deaths they had caused.

"Come on," Harry said to the horse and to Ros. "Let's go talk to our traitor."

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

Oliver Wood was not someone Harry thought would have been taken in by Ron and his little brand of insanity.

Not that they really knew, or cared all that much about what was going on in that little brain of his. But 'the red man' was dangerous, for what he had done thus far and the position he seemed to have with the Toclafane and in the Master's forces. Harry had briefly wondered if like Lucy the Master had decided to take another wizard under his wing, replicating their relationship in the past but swapping it. It was a somewhat egocentric point of view, but then he had quite an intimate relationship with the two Time Lords who were at the centre of the situation the Earth and humanity was in.

The mind probe was only of so much use.

Especially if you understood how it worked.

Which was great for most of the people they used it on, who didn't know how it worked.

Oliver had obviously been prepared.

That is not to say however they were not prepared either.

Torture, Harry doubted would help, not a lot in this situation.

Anger was also not something that would help.

After finding out about Ron he had been angry, but, and it was this thought that gave him pause, he had not been entirely surprised.

Ron had been a turncoat early in their friendship at the Triwizard.

What had more surprised him that any other wizard with some intelligence would turn their back on the human race.

Harry wondered how much training he had against the other arts of mental protection.

He did wish that the Resistance had some access to Veritaserum, hopefully they would have at least the ingredients to make it when Hermione's group returned from their outing.

For now though he would revert to other means of extracting information.

-/

Ros looked at the man sitting in the chair. He was secured very firmly in place, and was in a jumpsuit. He had been searched and all his belongings removed, his wand had been secured immediately when he had portkeyed in.

He had, she and Potter had been informed a small expanding bag not of the Resistance's design, which had been opened up and its items extracted and were continuing to be catalogued while they were in here.

Oliver Wood, on the occasions she had met him, seemed to have a sharp mind. Not as sharp as Potter, although very few people seemed to be, not that she would tell him them. Potter's ego was already large.

She remained silent at Potter withdrew his wand.

The wizards and witches held their wands in similar, although not the same ways. It seemed it was never gripped like a weapon, it was held, wielded. An instrument, weapon, object, item. Not a single use thing, not like a gun.

"Legilimens," Potter said in a level tone aiming the wand at Wood's head.

Ros knew from their briefings on wizarding spells what this spell did.

It was a spell that the security services would have found quite useful. Much like the Mind Probe that they used here. In fact much like a lot of the technology and abilities she had seen, were it not for what had happened thus far she considered none of them would know the full extent of what the now knew.

Wood seemed to be resisting. Snarling and tugging at the restraints. Ros looked over at Jane who was also present in the cell. She gave Ros the smallest of nods. The restraints would hold.

No doubt Potter would control him if he some how escaped.

The only other indication that Potter was doing anything was the look of concentration and sweat on him. Despite the room being cool verging on cold Potter was sweating. Almost immediately, drips of sweat were dripping down his face. The concentration of what he was doing showing up on his face and the grip on his wand.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

It had been more than 2 hours when Potter, his wand hand shaking patted his pocket but seemed unable to extract the vial.

Ros began to step forward to assist him but Jane seemed ready, aware of what Potter was doing and handed him a vial from her jacket.

It was a magically treated vial for storing memories, another ability that would make the security services' job easier. Although not entirely, there was no way to make a hard copy of what was in a pensive.

"Stupefy." Potter said as he stepped away shaking slightly. "Should've had more for breakfast." He muttered as he stoppered the vial.

"Come on Mr Potter, let's have a biscuit and some tea."

"Hmm. Tea," Potter mused. "Torture would have been so much easier." He commented to seemingly himself. Somehow that amused Ros.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

Torchwood Four had remained unchanged since the 1970s, it had been a bolt hole and place that he'd not been concerned with doing anything with.

The room that they were in was an odd mix of 1970s furniture and English library.

Sort of like, though unlike Torchwood Three in Cardiff, which was also an odd mix of technology and clanky metal floors and Victoriana.

Harry breathed in the luscious steam from his mug and sipped it slowly.

"He's a definite believer," he said. "And he likes it," he finished in a disgusted tone.

"Like Ron Weasley then." Jane mused.

"Dangerous?" Ros asked.

"Not now," Harry answered, paused and then added. "He should be neutralised to be sure." Harry hated that he could suggest something so casually. It was a very a word that didn't betray any of its meaning, though everyone in the room knew what it meant.

He hated it that he had to suggest neutralising one of his school friends. The man who had introduced him, taught him the basics of Quidditch. It would have been distressing.

If he had not seen within his mind.

It wasn't in the same way as bad as the things he had seen Ron do.

Oliver's betrayal was different.

Ron's betrayal he could see, could rationalise. Maybe. It was almost within his nature that he would do something like what he had done. His sister, well, he'd had a lot to do with her and her insanity. Her path along it, maybe.

Ron though had chosen a side, chosen a path.

Oliver...

Harry wondered if he'd tried to remain closer to everyone after Hogwarts. Protecting the United Kingdom, work and everything, he hadn't seen many of his former Hogwarts chums, except at the garden parties and soirees that he attended occasionally. Draco had suggested he try to attend others, even before their sojourn off-planet.

Now he was actually spending more time in contact with a variety of ex-Hogwarts students than ever before the invasion.

Oliver though, after he'd left Hogwarts they'd written to one another occasionally. All about his Quidditch career that Oliver had achieved. After leaving Hogwarts and his 'relationship' with Ginny disintegrated he'd not really got back into seeing Quidditch games. He and Ron attended one or two together in between their work and stuff. Hermione, when she'd been at university seemed glad that he'd taken Ron away from her.

Now, here they were.

He'd needed to fight his way into Oliver's mind, but his defences weren't brilliant.

Not many people had Severus Snape as their teacher, and very likely none had the teaching of a Time Lord in the mental art of persuasion.

The most notable pieces of Oliver's memories, when he had been within some sort of campaign room of Ron's and when he'd been on the Valiant with others both wizards and other people he'd extracted, forcibly. Those would be looked over later.

"Is he a candidate for our other program?" Jane asked as she sipped her tea. Ros and Harry looked at her.

Harry shook his head. "I doubt I could hypnotise him to a degree where he'd be useful. He's still a wizard and he's had some training."

"Haven't you all?" Ros asked.

Harry shrugged. "Not all of us. We don't all need that sort of thing," he paused and sipped his mug of tea. It was helping him to calm down, sort through what he had seen, that which had disgusted and disturbed him he'd filed away, deep in his mind. Inside the cabinet that he didn't open unless he really needed to.

"Although I did see a few candidates within his memories. They'll be more useful for our program."

"Good. We should get observation on them ASAP." Jane commented.

Harry nodded. "I'll get the memories into the penseive when we get back and we can have a proper look through." He said as he put his mug down and looked over to Ros who seemed in thought.

"Do you think, perhaps. Could we use Wood to destabilise Ron Weasley?" Jane mused.

"More your mean?" Harry snorted and asked cynically.

"Anything to disrupt him." Jane countered.

"We don't want him too unpredictable. Ron is still..." Harry trailed off. He didn't want to say 'smart' exactly, but the Master had put him in charge of his own small wizarding group. He had also thus far avoided being killed by the Resistance.

It was tempting to just use Wood to test their program that they intended to use as part of their main assault. But that would make the Master's forces more paranoid.

One big strike to throw a spanner in the works was the aim.

"Ron is still intelligent enough. He might fly off the hook a little too much. But we should still send a message. He can still find out. But we shouldn't drop Wood at his doorstep."

"Maybe the house down the road then?" Asked Jane with a slight smile.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

The Red Man looked up as someone entered his rooms. It was a report about one of his agents.

Oliver Wood had been inserted into the Resistance early in into the Master's reign. He had been feeding a lot of good information back to them since then.

The Resistance even thought some of their number had died by the gods' hands.

Lasers. He smirked to himself and knives.

If only Ginny could see them.

Poor Ginny.

And George, if he had not betrayed their Master.

Betrayer.

It seemed the Resistance had uncovered Wood's duplicitous nature.

Wood had never revealed where the Resistance's stronghold lay.

It mattered not, his holding facilities still had plenty of game for the Toclafane to play with.

"Is it play time yet red man?" Said one that was in the room with him. Always in this room. The red man thought it liked the curtains.

"Yes. I think it is time to play." He smiled. "We will have to make our toys talk today. They've been very bad so far."

"Oh goody. We like to play with our toys. The toys the red man finds for us."

"Will there be more toys red man?" Asked another who'd just come in to join the first.

The red man smiled sadly. "No. We'll have to find some more."

"Maybe the red man will find the green gaze man. The Leader man who makes our Master so cross."

"Yes." The red man said as he took his wand off the desk. "Maybe we will, after you've played with your toys maybe they'll be a bit more ready to speak."

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

A/N:

I have been meaning to get Tegan Jovanka into the story for a while, as Harry says to her. But there's just not quite been the right moment to bring her in. So she's here now, part of the Australian Resistance.

McGillop is the UNIT scientist who the Eleventh Doctor talks to and gets to move Gallifrey Falls No More into the Black Archive in The Day of the Doctor and Ross Jenkins is the UNIT officer who drives the Tenth Doctor around in The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky.

NUIT isn't a mis-spelling of UNIT, it's the French branch of UNIT. It was first mentioned in The Dying Days.

I'm not deliberately choosing former Gryffindors to be evil.

However outside of the main cast of characters of Harry and his friends from Hogwarts there's only so many people who're fleshed out to any real degree to be meaningful. I did go through the DA list of names, but Oliver was just right enough and someone who hadn't been present in either Harry's life. So it's possibly his life could've taken some unknown turns in the years since Hogwarts / the battle of Hogwarts.

There will be, in the future more people from Hogwarts (who aren't evil) who'll turn up, get namechecked and occasionally do some stuff.