Chapter 13

Harry

Harry watched Ron fall as though in slow motion. He wasn't aware of anything except Ron lying on the stone flagged floor of the Entrance hall. Only one thing was in his head; get to Ron. If he got to Ron, everything would be ok. He lunged, but was knocked back by the Doctor, who was trying to get as many students behind him as possible. Bree was doing the same thing.

Bree?

Harry had seen Bree shot down beside him. He felt guilty that all he had thought at the time was that he was glad it hadn't hit Ginny. If Bree was still alive, did that mean Ron was too?

But the look on the Doctor's face was not promising. The aliens were shooting everyone, and as Harry watched, a few third years were shot and fell to the floor. The screaming was making his head hurt, and he clutched his head, disorientated by the noise. The small hands gently removed his from his head, and led him to the large crowd behind the Doctor. It was Ginny, her lovely face tear-streaked and grubby with dust, her eyes red and wet.

The noise abruptly stopped when all the Robots turned to face the Doctor and Bree, and fell still. The Doctor waved his stick menacingly.

'Ha! Didn't expect to see me here, did you? Daleks.' There was a muttering in the crowd. Then one of the 'Daleks' spoke in an electronic voice, two blue lights flashing at it did so.

'We are here for the pow-er source, Doc-tor.'

'Well, you're too late,' yelled Bree, triumphantly. The Dalek's glowing blue eyestalk swiveled to look at Bree.

'The Ro-da,' it said.

'No, not 'the' Roda, just Roda. I'm not a renegade, like him.' She jerked her thumb at the Doctor, who glanced at her, but kept his stick trained on the Daleks. 'And here's me thinking you were clever.'

'The Time-Lords are dead. Why are you still a-live?' asked the Dalek, who Harry guessed was the leader, as it was black, rather than the other's gold colour.

'I escaped. Same as you, obviously.' The something clicked in Harry's head. Hadn't Bree, or Roda as the Daleks called her, say something about the Doctor being the Dalek's worst fear? She said they called him the oncoming storm… It didn't suit what Harry knew about the Doctor, but he'd seen something in him today that was quite different to his usual happy-go-lucky self. It was something hard and blazing, not unlike Ginny. Thinking of Ginny, he quickly wrapped his arm around her. She'd just lost her brother, and Hermione had lost her boyfriend. He glanced at his bushy-haired friend. She still looked in shock, but Harry knew the tears would come soon.

Bree was still talking.

'How did you escape, then? It's not like a Dalek to run away.' She sneered at them.

'We did not run away,' said the black Dalek. 'We were sup-posed to go round be-hind the Time Lord ships, but every-thing was des-troyed be-fore we got there.'

Harry had a sudden thought. That's what Voldemort had planned to do here! But then, where was he?

'That's what you did again. Send in the Sontarans, promise them a share of the power, when you knew that we would get rid of them. You built their ships and guns so they were linked together, didn't you? So we would destroy them and do your dirty work, so you didn't have to share the spoils of war. Then, when we came back to recuperate, you would be here.' Bree thought out loud.

'You followed Voldemort in,' Harry suddenly shouted. 'And you killed him and his death-eaters.' Bree looked at him, impressed.

'Well done, Harry.'

'Where are all the younger students? And the teachers that didn't go to Hogsmeade?' asked Ginny, angrily. The Dalek slowly turned to look at her, and stayed silent. 'You've killed them, haven't you? Every single one.'

'We need help. Can anyone contact the ministry?' whispered Hermione. 'A few dozen Auror's would be very handy.'

'We're in a time stop,' Luke whispered. 'That's why they didn't let us in for a while. Anything inside this castle is stuck in time. They used technology scavenged from the Time Lords.'

'Time Lords?' asked Ginny.

'What the Doctor and Roda are,' said Luke impatiently. 'Anyway, the Daleks…'

'Bree's an alien? And her name is…' Hermione interrupted.

'Rodageitmososangsulves. She wasn't an alien, but she is now…'

'I thought there was something different about her,' said Hermione triumphantly. Then her face fell. 'I think Ron noticed as well.' She sniffed, and a few tears rolled down her cheek. 'I still can't believe he's… gone.'

'The Daleks put a Time stop around the castle so they could just go in and leave without any disturbance from other aliens.'

'Will everyone who died in the castle be alive… after the Time stop?' asked Ginny hesitantly. The sad look on Luke's face was pretty self-explanatory.

'But Bree…er…Roda survived!' Hermione had an almost fanatical gleam in her eyes. 'Surely that must mean…' she glanced over to Ron's body.

'Roda's a Time Lord. Or Lady? I don't know what they call the female ones. Time Lords can regenerate when their old bodies can't be repaired. That's how they live so long.'

'The Doctor said he was 900 years old…' mused Harry. He found thinking of these impossible things kept his mind off Ron.

'Shhh!' said Bree, or, Harry supposed, now Roda. Their whispered conversation had lasted longer then they'd thought. The Doctor's talk with the Daleks was coming to a close.

'I've told you,' he shouted, exasperatedly, 'the power's gone! The locket is just a locket, look!' And he pulled it out of his suit pocket.

'We can use the young Time Lord for our power. The casing does not matter to us. The Doctor and Roda went white, and Luke gulped and stepped closer to her.

'I'm warning you, Daleks,' the Doctor practically spat out. 'If you don't leave right now I will stop you.' A few Daleks moved back slightly at this vehement remark. If Harry didn't know better, he'd've said they were afraid. But surely robots couldn't have emotions?

'And what will you do to stop us? You have no weapons, no defenses, no plan!'

'You never have anything original to say, do you?'

'You will give us the Roda, or everyone will be exterminated,' the Dalek's voice sounded quite annoyed now.

'No.'

'Explain yourself!'

'I said, no.'

'What is the meaning of this negative?' The Dalek was definitely getting irritated.

'It means NO! You've had your chance. NOW!' The Doctor and Roda both pointed their sticks at the stone wall behind the Daleks. The end of the sticks glowed bright blue, a strange buzzing noise filled the room and the wall teetered ominously before falling on the Daleks.

'And that,' said Roda, flipping her stick into the air and catching it with one hand, before stowing it in her pocket, 'is how it's done.' Seeing Harry's confused face, she said 'Sonic screwdriver. Handy for putting up shelves…' she glanced at the remains of the wall, 'and putting down walls.' Then Luke gathered her up in a huge hug, and the Doctor joined in, and Harry turned his attention back to Ginny and Hermione, and tried desperately not to look at Ron's body, and the other unfortunate students who had been caught by the Dalek's gun. With a pang he saw Colin Creevey on the floor, his camera in hand. It looked as though he'd tried to take a picture of the Daleks and had got too close.

Harry looked back at the pile of rubble, apprehension growing in his stomach. Surely the Daleks couldn't have been defeated so easily. They'd looked like skilled killing machines to Harry. The Doctor was also watching the rubble.

'Everyone out now! Harry, is there anywhere that's safe for everyone to go?'

'The Room of Requirement is…'

'No no, that's on the seventh floor. If the Daleks blow up the castle it wouldn't be safe. They are only going to be stopped temporarily. The shields they have around their casings mean that the magic-imbibed rocks of this school will stick to them like…'

'Sand to wet skin,' said Roda, helpfully.

'Yes. To get rid of the rocks they will have to gather up their stored power and explode their shields. It'll leave them defenseless for a few seconds before they build it up again, but the time it'll take to build up the energy needed will take them quite a while.'

'How about the Chamber of Secrets?' chipped in Ginny. Her face was grey and she didn't look like her usual self, but Harry could see her determination in her eyes. 'It's below the lake, so if they did bomb the castle it wouldn't hurt. And they can only get in by speaking parseltongue.'

'Good idea. Can you take everyone, Ginny? Harry? We,' he gestured to himself, Roda and Luke, 'will try and extend the time stop to the TARDIS, so we can turn it off from there. We'll come and get you when we're done'

'FOLLOW US, EVERYONE!' yelled Ginny, and the talking stopped at once.

'Fetch Dumbledore!' the Doctor called after them, as he and Ginny started towards myrtle's bathroom, Hermione trailing listlessly behind the crowd. Those who could walk levitated those on stretchers, and it didn't take long to reach the bathroom. Disregarding the out of order sign, Ginny pushed trough the door and proceeded towards the sink with the snake carving.

'Oh no! I forgot! If Voldemort's dead, I won't be able to speak parseltongue any more,' said Harry, horrified.

'When Tom possessed me he left all sorts of information in my head. I can still speak it,' said Ginny, and she whispered 'open.' With a grinding noise, the sink slid down, revealing a stone chute in the wall.

'I never knew that,' said Harry, amazed.

'Well, it's not something I really wanted to broadcast around, after what happened to you when everyone found out you spoke parseltongue,' said Ginny, matter-of-factly, and she started telling the students crowed round to slide down the chute.

Harry looked at Hermione, still staring listlessly at the wall, and marveled at the difference between the two girls. Hermione just gave up and retreated into melancholy, but Ginny kept herself busy with other things.

'Hermione, you stay here while Harry and I get Dumbledore,' said Ginny. Hermione seemed to shake herself out of her trance.

'NO! I want to help.'

'Who said you were coming?' Harry rounded on Ginny. 'You have to stay here and keep safe!'

'My brother just died Harry!' Ginny bellowed. 'I am NOT going to sit here and not know what's happening to you. I'm coming, Harry.'

'So am I,' said Hermione decisively. 'Megan?' she caught Megan Jones on the arm before she slid down the chute after Neville, whom she had just levitated down. 'Could you make sure everyone stays quiet and keeps together? Then you'll have less chance of the Dalek's finding you.' She nodded.

'I'll try, but I've never been much of an authority figure,' she said, and then she sat in the chute and pushed off with her hands.

'Let's go,' said Ginny. 'Close'. The sink slid back to its original place. The three of them ran up to the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office, only to find the gargoyle in pieces on the floor.

'Oh no,' whispered Hermione. They went slowly up the now still staircase and Harry gently pushed the door to Dumbledore's office, which was only on one hinge.

'Professor?' he called quietly. No answer. They all gasped as they entered the office.

Professor Dumbledore's once-immaculate office was completely trashed. The portraits were lying on the floor, ripped and torn with their frames broken, and some were hanging lopsided on the wall, the occupants cowering behind furniture in their pictures. Books lay everywhere with their pages scattered about the office. And slumped at the desk, lay the body of the headmaster. Harry was horrified to find he was almost hardened to death now. Things were happening so fast he didn't have time to grieve and mourn, and he was just carrying on.

'Let's go tell the Doctor,' whispered Ginny. Harry nodded jerkily and Hermione made a small squeaking sound, her face once more streaked with tears, creating lines over her face where they washed the dirt and dust and grime off her face. That's what would happen if I stopped to think about the deaths, Harry thought grimly. But he had to carry on. Like Ginny. He kept his eyes on Ginny's back all the way back to the Entrance Hall. She gave him strength.

They came hurtling down the marble staircase to find Luke, Roda and the Doctor working on a strange set of machinery with looks of concentration on their faces.

The Doctor looked up hopefully.

'Did you find him?' His grin petered out at he saw the looks on their faces. 'Ah well. It was too much to hope that they didn't find him.'

'Everyone's safe in the Chamber,' said Ginny.

'Good. That should keep them safe for the moment.'

'What are you doing?' asked Hermione.

'Stretching the Time stop so we can get to the TARDIS to concentrate it on the Daleks,' Roda explained. 'Right now it only extends to the castle, so we just need to expand it a couple of hundred metres.'

'Here,' said Luke, chucking Ginny, Harry and Hermione a gun. 'When the Daleks burst through we'll have a few seconds to take out as many as we can, before their shield come back online.'

'What if we don't kill them all?' asked Hermione, who seemed to have gained a bit of self control.

'Then we die, and the Daleks can take Roda and the Doctor and drain them of their life force. That should be quite a big incentive,' Luke said grimly.

'No, Luke, stop being such a pessimist. We throw this, which should take out a good half of them.' Roda held up something that, to Harry, looked like a huge grenade.

Feeling slightly more optimistic, Harry turned to face the pile of rubble, which had started to rumble ominously.

'Doctor!' cried Roda, 'It's time!' The Doctor was practically wrapped round the machine in the corner, one converse rested on the top as he held some wires between his teeth and fiddled with his sonic screwdriver.

'Try and hold them off for as long as possible!' he shouted slightly muffled.

Then the rubble exploded, and the Daleks were free. Harry shot as many as possible, but it didn't even seem to touch them.

'They've got their shields up already!' shouted Luke. Harry continued to fire, even though it had absolutely no effect. The front Dalek raised its gun, and pointed it over their heads.

'Exterminate!' The blue laser hit the wall behind them, which exploded, raining rubble and large chunks of rock. Harry lunged at Ginny, shoving her out the way, but the wall fell on them faster than he'd expected, and he knew no more.

AN: Again, Harry's death was vital for the story. So please don't kill me! Just read on. Preferably with reviewing first. Thanks a lot,

Meg