20. Emergency Meeting.
As soon as River had disappeared, the Doctor took a deep breath and sat up. The world span dizzyingly around him, making bile rise in the back of his throat, but he took deep breaths and forced himself to remain calm. When he pushed himself to his feet, lurching unexpectedly and having to cling to a bedside table for support, he began to consider that perhaps this had been a bad idea. Sweat trickled down his back and off the tip of his nose, making him feel as though he had just climbed out of a swimming pool.
He pushed himself upwards and slowly let go of the table. The world tilted around him and he felt his chest constrict, becoming harder to breath with the extra effort that he was forcing his body to go through. He locked his knees together and took a step forward.
His legs held. Encouraged, he took another, and another, and another, until he was at the doorway to his room. The door, thankfully, was still open after Snape had left some minutes earlier.
The Doctor stepped out onto the landing and looked left and right, trying to decide which way to go. To the right was another set of stairs lined with the heads of what looked like very hairy pigs upon first glance. A quick trip down memory lane reminded him that they were, in fact, the heads of all the old house elves who had ever worked for the Black family.
Well, he said worked…
The Doctor clenched his teeth, resolving not to let himself get distracted by that now, and turned to his left, where he saw another set of stairs apparently leading to the lower floors. He shuffled towards it, hating the slow speed at which he was being forced to walk yet highly dubious that he would be able to walk any faster.
When he reached the top of the stairs he grabbed the banister and put one foot on the step below him. Trying to walk normally down the stairs, however, proved to be too much for him, and he found himself suddenly falling the rest of the way, smacking onto the wooden floor at the bottom. He groaned and wheezed, hoping that he hadn't added any other injuries to what, according to River's facial expression when she had scanned him, had already been a rather impressive repertoire.
Dimly, he could hear footsteps growing nearer, and he looked up to see the worried face of who could only be Molly Weasley.
"Oh dear," she murmured, dropping to his side instantly. "Doctor, isn't it?"
He nodded wordlessly, still gasping for breath.
She visually scanned him quickly, checking for obvious signs of injury, before moving to put her hands under his armpits. "Come on, let's get you back to bed. You really shouldn't be walking around, you know, not in your condition."
She hoisted him gently to his feet, taking most of his weight for him.
"What on Earth were you doing trying to get down the stairs?"
"Dumbledore," the Doctor gasped. "I need to speak with him."
"Whatever it is I'm sure it can wait until you're better," Molly said firmly, helping the Doctor up the first step.
The Doctor shook his head and stepped back down, his legs shaking. "No. It's urgent."
"You're delirious," she soothed, not letting him move any further away.
"It's about Harry."
She immediately stopped what she was doing – she had taken out her wand, perhaps to levitate him forcefully back to bed – and stared at him. "What did you say?"
"I need to talk to Dumbledore about Harry. It's urgent. Where is he?"
Molly's mouth opened and closed, clearly nonplussed, before she replied. "Well… he's with Professor Snape, at the moment. He asked not to be disturbed."
"Disturb him," the Doctor said, not having the strength to protest anymore, and sank to sit on the bottom set of the stairs.
She stood next to him for several indecisive moments, clearly torn between her concern for him and her concern for Harry, before nodding once and hurrying off to find Dumbledore. The Doctor sighed and leaned against the banister of the stairs. He wanted to close his eyes, just to rest for a moment, but knew that if he did, he wouldn't wake up again. He couldn't afford to fall asleep now.
A few moments later a very worried looking Molly returned with an inquisitive Dumbledore and a stony-faced Snape.
Dumbledore lowered himself to sit on the stairs beside the Doctor, gathering his robes around him like a skirt so as not to crease them when he sat. "Molly tells me that you know something about Harry, and that this information is urgent."
The Doctor nodded. "Harry's a horcrux."
Dumbledore's expression instantly became grave, Snape's lips thinned and Molly, seeing the reaction of the other two, looked scared but confused. The Doctor didn't enlighten her – he could feel his strength failing and knew that she was more than capable of forcing the information out of Dumbledore later. That or she would infer from the conversation the Doctor knew they were all about to have.
"Yes," Dumbledore replied after a moment's silence. "I know."
"You think he has to die," the Doctor pressed. "But he doesn't."
That took Dumbledore aback. This time, it was Snape who spoke, as though to a particularly slow pupil. "It's the only way to get rid of the Dark Lord's influence."
"Dark Lord's influence?" Molly asked. "What are you talking about?"
"I know a way," the Doctor said, "to get rid of it without hurting Harry."
"And what is this?" Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes boring into the Time Lord's.
"A Soul Separator."
Snape snorted. "There is no such thing."
"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed, "I have never heard of it during my extensive research."
Molly's mouth dropped, and the Doctor knew she had put two and two together. "Harry has You-Know-Who's soul in him?" She asked, incredulous.
"A horcrux," Dumbledore explained before the Doctor could move the conversation forwards, though he looked reluctant to tell anyone other than those who already knew. "It's a way of keeping yourself alive after death, by placing a piece of your soul inside an inanimate object."
"But Harry's not inanimate!" Molly argued indignantly. "When did this happen?"
"The same night that Harry received his scar," Dumbledore replied gently. "Voldemort inadvertently left a piece of himself behind when he tried to kill Harry."
Molly's hand went to her mouth in horror even as Snape and the Doctor flinched at the evil wizard's name. Dumbledore, seeing that everyone was now silent, turned to the Doctor.
"I know it is unfair, Doctor, but Harry has to die. If he doesn't, the horcrux will remain alive and so will Voldemort. Now if you will excuse me, Severus and I-"
He made to get up, but the Doctor grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. Dumbledore looked at him in surprise.
"I'm not making this up," the Doctor said urgently. "You know that I'm from another universe," he added, looking to Snape, "and that I know things and have access to things that you don't."
"Alternate versions," Snape pointed out. "Hardly useful here."
"Just," the Doctor said, starting to get exasperated as he felt his strength slipping away, "listen. Where I come from, technology is very advanced, and so is medicine. It's also much less invasive. Because of the number of telepaths losing themselves in each other's minds, medics have invented something called a Soul Separator." When Snape incredulously opened his mouth again, the Doctor held up a finger. "Not a great name, I know, but it's a great piece of equipment, I assure you. And you don't even have to have both people there – you can work on one person, isolate their personality and characteristics, and siphon the rest off into some…" he gestured helplessly at the air, "weird sort of container-y thing so that you can give it to them later if they're not around at that point."
Silence.
"Does lead to a lot of people wondering around like zombies until hospitals find them and give their soul back," the Doctor added, "but it works. It really does! I know it sounds made up and impossible – to be honest, I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it – but it works, and River's just gone to get it. Harry doesn't have to die."
Dumbledore quickly swept the Doctor with his wand.
The Doctor very nearly growled. "I'm not delirious!"
Dumbledore put his wand back in his robes, apparently satisfied. "If what you say is true, we can destroy Voldemort's soul once it is extracted."
"Yes."
"Is there any way of it…" Dumbledore pondered the right term, "escaping?"
The Doctor shook his head, then clutched the step surreptitiously when that made his head spin so much he thought he might fall over. "Nope – completely fool proof."
"So… Harry will definitely be alright?" Molly asked, reminding the Doctor with a jolt that she was still there and very concerned. "Is there any risk to him at all?"
Ah. "I'm not going to lie to you," the Doctor said, "if the person performing the procedure doesn't know what they're doing, there's a chance they could fully merge or accidentally siphon off Harry."
Molly looked appalled.
"But!" The Doctor added, grinning. "That's not a problem, because I'm here!"
Snape raised an eyebrow. "How does that help us?"
The Doctor's grin faded. "Well, obviously I know how to work it."
Snape looked the Doctor pointedly up and down. "And if the person performing the procedure loses consciousness halfway through it?"
"I'm fine," the Doctor insisted.
"You're not fine," Molly countered, instantly entering Stern Mother Mode. "You fell down the stairs."
Dumbledore turned his piercing gaze to the Doctor. "Is this true?"
Suddenly, the Doctor felt like a naughty school boy caught putting pins in his teacher's chair. Which he had actually done. And he could definitely confirm that this felt exactly the same. "I can still perform the procedure."
"What are the qualifications for whoever needs to operate this machine?" Dumbledore asked, not convinced.
"Me! I'm the qualifications!"
"I'm not letting someone half-conscious try to get rid of part of You-Know-Who's soul and risk sewing them together!" Molly snapped, cutting off Dumbledore.
"I am afraid that I have to agree with Molly," Dumbledore said.
The Doctor sighed. "Alright, I see your point. They need to be telepathic and able to identify which soul is which, so ideally someone with experience of one or the other, though not necessarily."
Dumbledore pondered this for a moment. "Severus."
Snape pushed a frustrated breath out through his nose. "Must I?"
Dumbledore looked sternly at him over his glasses. "I may have knowledge of Harry but I do not have the same knowledge of Voldemort's mind. You must do it. No arguments."
Snape's lips almost disappeared. "Very well."
Dumbledore smiled, the action completely at odds with the current atmosphere. "Excellent. Now, when does Mrs Song return?"
"Er…" the Doctor looked around him, as though hoping that she would appear out of thin air. Which she would be. But not now, apparently. "I don't know."
"You don't," Snape asked dubiously, "know?"
"Time travel," the Doctor said in his defence. "It's all… wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey." He flapped his hands in a vague 'this is what it is' motion. Somewhere in the back of his mind he noticed his hands were really starting to shake. "I only know that she'll probably appear in England before I leave this universe."
If you leave this universe.
"I see," was Dumbledore's response. "We had better plan as though she will arrive on time. Severus, would you please go and retrieve Harry and his friends from school?"
"His friends?" Snape asked, clearly none too keen on the idea of having three children to deal with.
"Harry will need moral support when you tell him what is happening."
"When he tells him?" Molly asked. "Aren't you, Albus?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Unfortunately I cannot – as Severus and I have just been discussing, I am about to embark on a search for Horcruxes."
"By yourself?" The Doctor wondered, remembering the blackened hand. "Don't you want to – I don't know – take back up in case you accidentally decide to put one on?"
"Why," Dumbledore asked, completely bamboozled, "would I decide to wear a horcrux?"
"I don't know, but you might."
"Back up is not a bad idea, Headmaster," Snape admitted. "Let someone else go to the school to retrieve Potter and the others."
Dumbledore hesitated. Snape simply stared at him. Finally, Dumbledore backed down with a sigh.
"Very well, Severus. Molly, could you…?"
Molly nodded readily. "Of course."
The Doctor started to heave himself to his feet to go with her, but couldn't quite manage it and ended up slumping to the floor, trying to look as though that had been his plan all along. Dumbledore regarded the Doctor with concern.
"While you're there, Molly, I think it would also be best if you find Poppy and ask her to bring some supplies."
"Quick question," the Doctor asked as Dumbledore and Snape turned to leave the room. "You wouldn't happen to know what became of my screwdriver, do you?"
Snape reached into his robes and pulled it out, handing it over to the Doctor. "The Dark Lord asked me to analyse it," he said by way of explanation, before turning on his heel and walking out the door without another word.
Giving a slight nod, Dumbledore followed him.
"There you are," the Doctor said gleefully, practically stroking the instrument in his hand. "God, I missed you."
Molly plucked the screwdriver from his hands.
"Oi!"
"Back to bed," she ordered, picking up where she had left off.