Authors note: Sup, nerds? I was recently at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando and got a shot of inspiration. This fic has a special place in my heart and it's always bothered me that its still unfinished. So new plan: this will be complete by Christmas. Challenge accepted!
Last time someone requested a little recap, so I whipped one up real quick:
Previously...
Harry Potter's life had become very ordinary indeed. No dark wizards out to kill him, no chases down castle corridors, nothing. And then one night, some strange lights appeared in the sky above his house, and everything went straight to hell.
Harry's house was broken into. The department store at the end of Ginny and Hermione's road exploded without warning. Suspects in Auror cases started showing up dead, and the criminals he captured claimed to be being employed by people who hid in shadows.
Then the monsters came. A shop window dummy came to life and tried to kill Hermione. A shapeshifter took the face of the Minister of Magic and it took four simultaneous stunning spells to knock it out. Every time Harry and the others think they've got a handle on things, they only spiral further out of control.
As it stands, they are certain of only three things. One, that all of the creatures are after something in Harry's possession; two, that some unknown force hired Yip the Yelper to break into Hogwarts; and three, the Doctor keeps showing up - never aware of all these strange goings on, never with the same face, and never actually when Harry's around.
Unable to wait for the TARDIS to randomly show up on their doorsteps, Harry chases the only lead he has: Hogwarts.
"So," said Ron. "Devil's advocate…"
Hermione nudged Ginny with her elbow.
"I taught him that phrase."
"Can you stop mentioning that every time I say it?" Ron hissed.
"Sorry. Go on, love."
"Thank you. But anyway… how can we be sure this is the right move?"
Harry didn't answer quite right away. They had apparated at the far end of Hogsmead. It was early evening, not long turned dark, and they hurried past shadowy outlines of buildings, Harry at the front. Because even with all that was going on, he wanted that moment. The one he'd experienced for the first time at age eleven and had been addicted to ever since.
He came around a corner, the rooftops parted, and there at the end of the long cobbled lane, was Hogwarts, each of it's many spires and towers lit up and glimmering in the night. Harry's every nerve-ending tingled, his whole self felt warm all over.
And then he looked up. High above Hogwarts, above Hogsmede, looking down upon them like angry gods, were the legion of enormous, shining lights.
Harry turned to Ron. "Does that answer your question, Devil's advocate?"
"Oh my god," said Hermione. Harry saw the brilliantly white glow of the lights reflected in her pupils as she stared up at them, slack jawed. "I didn't know what to expect. I know you both described them but… I didn't expect that."
"That's not naturally occurring," said Ron, mirroring his girlfriend's expression. "There's nothing natural about that."
"Or coincidental," said Ginny. Having seen them before and thus a little less awe-struck, she came to Harry's side. "Someone knew we would come here. Or followed us. This could be a trap."
"True," Harry agreed. "But it's really the only plan we've got."
They approached the tall, wrought iron gates that separated the village from the school grounds, and watched as they drew themselves open before they could even reach out a hand.
"Maybe we should have sent an owl ahead," Hermione said. "Told Professor McGonagall we were coming."
Harry shrugged. "I feel like at this point, us four have a free pass to come and go as we please."
He then became aware of a house elf hurrying across the grass towards them. He did not look amused.
"The headmistress wishes to see you in her office at once," said the elf gruffly, before marching back the way he had came.
"Don't suppose those free passes had an expiry date on them?" asked Ron.
"Shut up," said Harry.
A strange sound from behind made them all turn. On the other side of the gates, which had just only seconds earlier closed themselves, a peculiar light show seemed to be taking place. There was a writhing, pulsating circle of light hanging in mid-air on the other side of the gates. It morphed and grew and shrunk as though trying to maintain its very existence, and bright sparks were shooting off and landing on the pathway, were they briefly glowed red and then died like ember from a fire. And weirder still was that there were fingers, then a hand, then an entire arm pushing through the weird void, like something was trying desperately to crawl out of it. A whole neck and head of something shiny and metallic forced it's way through the hole of light, but that was to be all that made the journey, as the sparks and bubbles of light grew more and more erratic, and then suddenly snapped shut and disappeared. Half of an upper body dropped to the ground on the opposite side of the gates, and lay there, unmoving.
None of the four dared open the gates to get a closer look, but Ron bent down on the Hogwarts side and peered through the bars.
"Oh lovely," he said. "Another completely new element to add to this mystery. Say what you want about our old days, but at least we didn't used to feel this out of the know when fighting You Know Who."
"It's not new," said Harry, gazing at the dismembered body and instantly recognising it by the shadow it had cast last time they met. "Hermione, remember me telling you about the day Duggy Dungonan died? The thing I saw creeping around Garlin's, watching me? That's it."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "You said you only caught a glimpse."
Harry bent down next to Ron, and observed the thing's head. While it was true he hadn't seen the specific bolts or rivets drilled in here and there, he vividly recognised the strange handle bar that came out of the ears and arched over the skull. What he had not imagined, when he had previously tried to picture what sort of creature would have cast a shadow like the one he saw in Garlin's, was that whole head, and whatever of its body was left, would be made entirely of metal.
"It's some sort of robot," said Harry.
"What's a robot?" asked Ron.
"It's a muggle thing," Hermione explained. "It's like a person but one that's built instead of born. Usually mechanical or electrical, and usually fictional."
"But nothing mechanical or electrical can get into Hogwarts," Ginny pointed out. "That basically used to be your catchphrase, Hermione. The enchantments would cause it to breakdown."
"Yeah," said Hermione pointedly, and nodded towards what was left of the robot. "It would."
"It must have tried to apparate or something," Harry shrugged, standing up, "didn't count on the enchantments."
"Or got desperate enough to try its luck," said Ron darkly, getting to his feet too. "If this is the same thing from Garlin's then its been watching you for days, and decided to show up now? Here? We must getting close to whatever all this is about."
Harry looked down at the metal face again, with it's dark circles for eyes, and the tiny circles beneath them, like tear drops.
"Duggy said this was about metal men," he remembered. "Those were his last words. He said the people behind this were made of metal."
"So what about the Zygon?" said Ginny. "Or the plastic dummy that attacked Hermione? They weren't made of metal."
Ron sighed. "See what I mean? Ever deepening mystery. We used to hit the bottom pretty quick. It was always either Snape, Malfoy or Voldemort. We never had to deal with robots, or aliens."
"Well we're not gonna get answers by repeating the questions," said Hermione. She pocketed her wand and turned to the castle. "We've been called to the Headmistresses office, and we shouldn't keep her waiting any more than we already have."
And then she was gone, striding off towards the entrance. Ron grinned as he watched her go, then turned to Harry and Ginny and shrugged.
"Some things never change."
Harry had been back to Hogwarts, of course, many times. At one time, not long after his school years, he would take to occasionally walking around Hogsmede and allowing himself to be spotted, just so word would reach Professor McGonagall who would immediately send an owl that invited him inside the castle. After a while, the Headmistress seemed to grasp that these occurrences were not so spontaneous, and so began formally asking Harry to come and have tea and biscuits in her office a few times a month, to save him the trouble of hanging around the village like a lost pup.
And while he loved those visits, they seemed oddly formal. The students stared at him in wonder, Professor McGonagall escorted him to and from the Entrance Hall each time like his personal guide. It was lovely to be back, but it was never quite the same.
This was different. He, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were strolling through the deserted stone corridors, caught up in the thrills of an adventure. This felt like old times, and he couldn't help but grin. He saw Hermione out of the corner of his eye, watching him with a very troubled gaze, but he ignored her.
The grand stone gargoyle did not request a password, they climbed the spiral staircase behind it, and were soon standing in the Headmistress' office. Which was, currently, not inhabited by the Headmistress.
"I thought she was waiting for us?" said Ron.
Ginny shrugged. "Maybe she's on her way up?"
Harry assumed this too, and took the opportunity to wander around the large, circular room. Though he had always known it to be a room in flux, styled differently to the liking of each successive head of the school, Harry always though it too bare and too quiet once Professor Dumbledore's many eccentric and noisy decorative pieces were removed. He found himself standing in front of Dumbledore's portrait now, looking up at the professor's long white beard, his immaculate wizard's hat, and those sparkling blue eyes. Which, he noticed, where not looking back at him, but over his shoulder.
Harry turned, and saw Hermione frowning at something on Professor McGonagall's desk.
"What is it?" he asked.
She reached out and picked it up. It was a small piece of parchment, and she read aloud from it with a deeply confused tone to match her expression.
"She's safe."
The was a beat of silence as each of them tried to work out quite what that meant.
"Who's safe?" said Ron.
"McGonagall?" Ginny offered.
"Why would she leave us a note to tell us she's safe?" Harry replied.
"Unless she's not the one who wrote it," said Hermione.
A very annoyed huff caught their attention, and they turned to see Phineaus Black glaring from his portrait.
"For heaven's sake," he said, "The note was meant only for you, you stupid girl."
While Hermione frowned even deeper, there came a cry of protest from the other portraits hung about the office.
"Phineas!" Armando Dippet scolded.
"We were not to interfere," bemoaned Dexter Fortescue. "We all agreed!"
"He was not a headmaster," said Phineaus indignantly. "I am not required to follow any of his orders!"
"Who are you talking about?" said Harry. "Who wrote that note?"
A voice answered. One Harry hadn't heard for quite some time.
"Sometimes, trusting that answers will make themselves known in time, is more advantageous that telling them outright," said Professor Dumbledore.
Harry turned, and saw his old Headmaster looking down with the same reserved, protective look he remembered. And he sighed.
"Still keeping secrets, Professor?"
Dumbledore merely smiled sadly. Harry turned his back on him.
"Let's go," said Harry.
They left the Headmistress' office with only more questions. Hermione was still gazing intently at the note, apparently left for her, as they came down the spiral staircase and back past the gargoyle.
"Maybe we should split up," said Ron. "Something's clearly happening here tonight, and we always seem to be one step behind."
"It's not a bad idea," said Ginny, looking at Harry for his thoughts. "Spread out, cover as much as the castle as possible."
Harry was not a fan of splitting up, but he never got to argue. Because Hermione took this moment to perform a sharp intake of breath and exclaim, "Oh, I'm so stupid!"
"Alright," said Ron defensively. "It was only an idea. And Ginny agreed, so by extension she's stupid too."
"No," said Hermione. "I mean the note! Left for me!" Harry, Ron and Ginny gave her a blank look. She rolled her eyes. "Remember the last thing left at Hogwarts for me to find?"
"The book!" said Ron. "The book on the Angels, left for you in the library!"
"By the Doctor," Harry finished.
They looked at each other, looked at the note still clasped in Hermione's hand, then back at each other.
"Do you think he's here?" said Ron.
"Or was," Harry pointed out. "But left with McGonagall. Somewhere safe."
"Okay," said Hermione. "But if that's true… what's so unsafe about Hogwarts tonight?"
As if in response, a heavy stone statue of a tall wizard at the other end of the corridor suddenly fell forward and smashed into a dozen pieces. A figure stepped through a crudely constructed passageway in the wall that the statue had previously been obscuring. It was short, and dressed in heavy, blue, futuristic armour. Upon it's head it wore a large, circular helmet that covered the entirety of the face, and it carried a bulky yet immensely powerful-looking gun which it swiftly pointed in their direction.
"Lay down your weapons, human scum," it said, the voice sounding rough and muffled from inside the helmet.
The humans in question had frozen, lost for words. The figure jerked the weapon again in their direction - blue light began to gather around the barrel like static electricity.
"I said lay down your weapons!" the figure repeated, and with its free hand it reached up and removed the heavy helmet… revealing a face comparable only to an over-cooked baked potato with beady black eyes. "Surrender, in the name of Sontaran Empire."
"Oh," said Ron, "now, this just getting silly."
