a.n. I made some huge, glaringly obviously errors in the last chapter, so I'd really appreciate it if you went back and re-read it. If you can't be bothered re-reading the whole thing, I think most of the editing was done after the point where they all step into the TARDIS, so perhaps you can just read on from there?
And here's a new chapter for you, I hope you enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you think of the characters and the plot development and basically any thoughts you have at all about the story. And a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who's reading and reviewing and responding to this story, I'm so happy you're appreciating and enjoying this crazy little mix of universes I've made.
Five – Kindred Spirits
It wasn't every day that the Doctor got to meet someone so like himself; someone incredibly old, incredibly wise, incredibly powerful and incredibly rare. In fact, it was a very uncommon occurrence – so uncommon as to perhaps deserve the term exceptional. And so, when the Time Lord did happen to find someone else in all of time and space who might, perhaps, have some sort of insight into what it was like to be him, he – understandably – got quite excited.
"You are beautiful!" He cooed at the old, fragile bird perched on his arm. The bird gave a very weak caw in response, and malted a few more of its remaining dull red feathers.
As soon as they'd been let into Dumbledore's office, the Doctor had practically ran to the perch beside the Headmaster's desk, nearly tripping over his own feet in his excitement. The phoenix sitting there had, thankfully, seemed just as excited to see the Doctor as he was to see it; it had craned its neck and spread it wings to flutter slowly over and land on the Time Lord's forearm.
Dumbledore seemed a little surprised at the bird's ease with the new visitor, raising an eyebrow at the two of them as they exchanged words and squawks. "It seems you have an admirer, Doctor," he said in a tone of reverent amusement.
"He's amazing!" The Doctor exclaimed, beaming across at Dumbledore. "Absolutely incredible, I haven't seen a phoenix for centuries -"
"That's a phoenix?" Amy asked, peering around the large circular office. Through the many large windows lining the outside wall she could see the rain still bucketing down, and thought for a moment how lucky they were that the TARDIS had landed indoors. "Aren't they supposed to be all big and majestic?"
"For most of their lives, yes. But this one's dying," the Doctor told her, gently petting the bird's head. "He'll regenerate soon."
"Regenerate, like you?"
"A phoenix bursts into flames when they die," Dumbledore explained as he settled into a large seat behind his desk. The man in the almost-life size portrait hanging above his head shuffled in his painted armchair, lifting an eyelid and peering down at the new guests with interest. "And from the ashes, they are reborn."
"Many similarities between phoenix and Time Lords, actually," the Doctor said to the room at large, but from his tone he could have just as easily been talking to himself, or just to the bird who was nipping affectionately at the sleeve of his tweed jacket. "But where we can travel through time and space they can fly through the air. Oh, and of course there's the healing property of their tears – And they have red feathers!" The bird made a noise at that, sort of between a caw and a hoot, and the Doctor sighed and tugged on his fringe. "Well, thank you for saying so, but really, I've never got to be a ginger before and -"
"Are you talking to the bird?" James asked. When the Doctor didn't reply he turned to Amy and repeated, "Is he talking to the bird? Are they actually having a conversation?"
"Probably," Amy shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know, I'm a bit caught up on the whole 'wanting to be ginger' part -"
"I speak phoenix," the Time Lord told them simply, holding his arm out so the old bird could shuffle back across to his perch. "Fawkes says congratulations on getting Head Boy, James, it's nice to see you up here and not getting in trouble for pranking."
James just stared at the Doctor, absolutely gobsmacked. More and more of the portraits around the room were beginning to stir and wake up from their slumber, and a few of them were popping into their neighbour's frames to whisper about the group on the ground below them. Amy watched them with great interest, but the Doctor paid them barely any heed, instead darting between the spindly legged tables scattered around the room, sonicing the delicate silver instruments that were whirring away on their tops. He aimed his screwdriver at a small round dome with a series of spouts, and jumped backwards when it emitted a small puff of smoke.
"Careful!" Amy admonished, feeling slightly on edge with so many sets of eyes watching them.
The Doctor flashed her a confident smile and put his sonic back into his pocket. "Very polite bird you have, Professor," he said to Dumbledore, who smiled fondly at the phoenix.
"Thank you, Doctor. Normally he's a bit more reserved than this, especially towards the end of his life cycle," Dumbledore informed him. "But he seems to have taken quite a liking to you."
"Very good judges of character, phoenix," the Doctor said, hooking his thumbs under his suspenders and rolling forwards onto the balls of his feet. "So, now that you know Amy and I aren't a threat – can you tell us what's happened that could have torn a hole in the universe?"
Dumbledore blinked once, and then said in a very calm voice, "Hogwarts has played host to many extraordinary guests over the years, but never have we had visitors from another dimension."
"We're honoured to be the first," the Doctor smiled sagely.
Dumbledore observed him from behind his spectacles, his hands steepled underneath his chin, in front of his long, white beard. "And you don't know how it is that you came to be here?"
"I have a few theories, but no, I'm not quite sure. Yet." The Doctor picked up an hour glass filled with sand and a green liquid, which was flowing slower than expected down through the funnel into the bottom vial. He surreptitiously slipped his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and scanned it. "It may have something to do with the connection between Lily and Amy… That, and the fact that this entire school has so much magical energy it's a miracle you haven't had a TARDIS crash on the grounds before now." Fawkes gave a squawk, and the Doctor shook his head, flashing an embarrassed smile. "No, we didn't exactly crash, the hall is fine -"
"A connection between Miss Evans and Miss Pond?" Dumbledore repeated, interrupting the Doctor's conversation with the phoenix.
Lily came to stand beside Amy, and the Doctor was amused to note how they both stood with their weight on one leg, a hip kicked out and their arms folded across their midsections. It really was remarkable.
"That's why Lily and I look so alike," Amy piped up, gesturing to her physical double. "Because I'm her, from an alternate reality."
Dumbledore's periwinkle blue gaze fell on Amy, and she swallowed down a lump in her throat as she felt herself being appraised.
"Amy Pond," the Headmaster said, "Tell me, are you as brilliant in your universe as Miss Evans is in ours?"
Lily blushed at his words, while Amy just stared, obviously caught off guard by the unexpected praise.
"She's marvellous!" The Doctor supplied, his voice radiating warmth and pride from across the other side of the room, where he was now observing a large, moving map of surprisingly accurate constellations. "Mad, impossible Amelia Pond. The Girl Who Waited."
His eyes met Amy's, and she gave him such a genuinely caring and tender smile that for a moment he forgot about the others in the room and thought of only her, his dear Amelia Pond, who had run away with him the night before her wedding, and of how he seemed to keep getting her into trouble. How he had gotten Rory into trouble, how he got all of them into trouble eventually, everyone who – No. No, he couldn't allow himself to start thinking about that, because then he hurt and then he got angry and it was never good when the Doctor was angry. So he forced himself to focus on Amy, and only Amy.
He leapt across the room to her, took both of her hands in his and said quietly, "I'm going to get us out of here. I am going to get you home. I promise."
"I know," she said, her tone definitive and her smile completely assured. "I trust you, Doctor. Besides, you said yourself that this seems like a pretty wonderful place, I wouldn't mind hanging around for a little bit. It is my homeland, after all; even if it's a magicalScotland."
The Doctor gasped suddenly, realisation dawning on his face. "Pond, you are brilliant!"
He grabbed the end of her scarf and waved it in her face. She giggled, pushing the ticklish material away and grabbing at his arm. "Stop that! Why am I brilliant this time?"
"Because what if the thing that caused the hole in the universe wasn't just an isolated event on this side of the void?" The Doctor jumped up onto a ladder hanging off the bookcase in the wall, perusing the spines of the books as he continued with a steady stream of speech. "What if it was a deliberate plot, a deliberate hole – What if someone from this side needed to bring something across the universes, for some reason, and so they found a way to create a tear… But no, who would have the technology or the power for that? The Daleks are the only ones, and they -" He froze, his eyes glued to the hourglass he'd been observing earlier. "That hour glass, it's going so slowly it's almost stationary. It wasn't like that before."
"The more stimulating the conversation, the slower it flows," Dumbledore explained. As if to showcase his point, as he spoke the granules of sand began to drop significantly faster.
"It measures time on value, not length," the Doctor murmured, jumping down and going over to the hour glass. "Where are my glasses?"
"Here," James said, grabbing the white frames from the pocket of his robes and tossing them to the Doctor, who caught them in mid air and put them on.
"Aha!" He exclaimed, picking the hour glass up and turning it in his hands. "Where did you get this, Professor?"
"It was a gift from a colleague," Dumbledore told him, seeming unfussed with the way this stranger was handling his belongings. Something told the Doctor that Albus Dumbledore had a very open mind.
"Professor Slughorn," Lily said, watching the hourglass flip as the Doctor passed it back and forth between his left and right hands. "He has one just like it in his office…"
"Yes, it was a gift from Horace Slughorn, our Potions professor."
The Doctor held the hourglass up. "Do you mind if I hold onto this?"
Dumbledore shook his head, and the Time Lord put the timepiece into his jacket pocket, and then the 3D glasses in after it. Amy wondered what else he kept in there.
"Right, now, tell me more about this magical school." He settled down into the arm chair on the other side of the Headmaster's desk, crossing one of his long legs over the other and smiling expectantly.
Dumbledore gave a flick of his wand, and three extra armchairs appeared behind Lily, James and Amy. Grateful for the rest, Amy sank down into the chair and closed her eyes for a moment, relishing how soft the cushions were. Lily settled back into her chair, too, but James still looked tense, his posture rigidly straight against the high back of the chair.
"Hogwarts is magnificent," Dumbledore informed the Doctor, "The oldest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and it's the safest place in all of Britain… But, in recent times, our defences have had to be amplified as the threat of danger increases. There's a war coming, and the students are one of the first targets…"
"Dangerous, I love dangerous," the Doctor said, clapping his hands together. "A war, a war over what? What are you fighting for? Ohwait, I know, this has to do with that You-Know-Who fellow you keep mentioning, doesn't it?"
"Voldemort," Dumbledore said, making Lily and James flinch. "His name is Voldemort."
"And he's so terrifying that you don't even want to say his name," the Doctor said thoughtfully, turning to the two students. "What has he done? What is he doing?"
Lily shuffled one of her feet against the carpet. James reached out to clasp her hand, intertwining their fingers supportively; although she didn't quite seem to notice.
"He wants to restore purity," Lily told the Doctor, drawing out the last word sarcastically.
"Purity?" Amy questioned.
"Blood purity," Dumbledore supplied. "Magical talents can be passed on through blood lines of one or both parents or, more rarely, spontaneously appear in a child with two muggle parents. Voldemort and his supporters are of the belief that the teaching of magical arts should remain only amongst those with full magical blood lineage."
"What a ridiculous idea," the Doctor scoffed. "Imagine how quickly the gene pool would thin out! So he's planning on wiping out all of the non-pure bloods that have already been born, and starting a master race – Ah, Winston would be furious if he heard someone was trying this again."
"Winston Churchill?" Lily asked, eyes wide. "Do you know Winston Churchill?"
"We're quite good mates," the Doctor said, fiddling with his bow tie.
"Mhmm, we had to help him in World War Two," Amy added, "…With the Daleks."
Could that have just been coincidence, though; the Daleks being there, and the tear in the universe now? Her eyes met the Doctors, and they had a moment of silent communication and agreement; best not to worry until they had more information.
"What are Daleks?" Lily asked, thoroughly intrigued now.
"The alien version of Voldemort," the Doctor said, rushing into hurried apologies when Lily and James flinched again. "Sorry! Sorry, must get used to that whole name thing – Uh, Daleks are heartless creatures who want to take over the whole universe. My mortal enemies, as it were."
"That sounds serious." James frowned. "Do you think they're involved with this, bringing you across the void?"
The Doctor wrung his hands together. "Er, no. No, definitely not. Highly unlikely. Probably nothing to worry about." Fawkes cawed and stretched his neck out towards the Doctor, who rolled his eyes but patted the bird's head anyway. "Okay, it is a bit suspicious. But there's no need to worry about anything, I have it all under control. I've beaten the Daleks loads of times before."
"Have you ever fought a wizard before, Doctor?" Dumbledore asked sombrely.
"Can't say I have…"
"Well, if you're going to stay here until your ship is repaired, then I would perhaps suggest that you and Miss Pond have some training in the art of defensive magic," the Headmaster said.
"Yes, marvellous idea!" The Doctor stood up and did a twirl. "This Defence Against the Dark Arts stuff sounds fascinating! What's first?"
Dumbledore smiled. "Perhaps some rest is in order, and we can begin in the morning?"
The Doctor followed his gaze across to the three young adults, who were all struggling to keep their eyes open now that it seemed there was no immediate threat to their safety.
"Ah, sleep," the Time Lord sighed, "You humans do need a lot of it, don't you? Righto then, come along Pond, back to the TARDIS."
"You're welcome to sleep in the Gryffindor house dorms with Mr Potter and Miss Evans, if you would prefer," Dumbledore offered.
The Doctor paused. While there was no where else he would rather be than in his TARDIS, using the few remaining hours of the night to try and figure out how to get her working again, maybe Amy wanted to spend more time with Lily, to find out more about her alternate life… He looked to his companion, silently telling her the choice was hers.
Amy glanced over at the couple beside her, vigorously nodding their heads.
"Yeah, come to the dorm with us! You have to meet everyone, they'll never believe us if we tell them without you there -"
Amy glanced back to the Doctor, and he saw her resolve wavering. He didn't want to stop her from doing what she wanted – because that was one of the Doctor's things he tried very hard not to do, to make people do things they didn't want to just because they thought it was what he wanted – and smiled encouragingly.
"What if you come get us in the morning?" Amy offered a compromise to James and Lily. "First thing."
"Bright and early!" The Doctor sang, relieved that Amy had chosen to come back to the TARDIS with him. Because he didn't like the sound of this impending war, and he certainly didn't want her running off on her own.
"Before breakfast?" James asked.
Lily added, "Because everyone's going to freak out when they see your ship in the Great Hall."
"As Head Boy and Girl, you exert a certain amount of authority," Dumbledore addressed the students. "I will inform all of the staff of the situation at hand now, and the Heads of House will pass the information on to their students before breakfast in the morning, but you two shall be left in charge of Gryffindor House. Are you okay with that?"
"Yes, Professor," Lily and James said in unison.
"Right then, glad that's all sorted," the Doctor said brightly, waving Amy down the staircase after Lily and James and turning back to give Fawkes one last pat on the head.
"Doctor," Dumbledore began quietly, walking around the desk to join him. "I wonder if I might have a moment of your time."
"Of course! You can have a few moments actually, all strung together. Isn't that nice?"
"When you landed here, I had just been called to the Ministry of Magic, our government body, on urgent business. I fear that you and Amy may not be the only things from your universe to have fallen through into ours." Professor Dumbledore looked older without the teenagers here, the Doctor thought; older and more worried than he would have liked.
"No, I think not," he agreed gravely, absentmindedly fingering the hour glass in his pocket.
"Have you ever seen this before, Doctor?" Dumbledore asked, retrieving from his pocket a small black box, with familiar symbols carved into it.
"That's a Home Box," the Time Lord said, squinting at it. He held his hands out, moving the palms towards each other slowly. "But it's all –smallish."
"We've shrunk it down, so that it's easier to hide," Dumbledore explained. "The task of un-coding what it says has been entrusted to me."
"Ah, well I'm afraid you won't get anywhere with that. That's Old High Gallifreyan, language of the Time Lords." The Doctor rolled his tongue, and then held out a hand, asking if he could have a closer look. Dumbledore handed it over and waited patiently for the Doctor to speak. When he did, it was with a huge sigh. "It says, 'Hello Sweetie'."