A Doc, a Looney, and a Box
Chapter Six: The Chieftain, Part Two
"Professor Dumbledore!" Luna said, rising from her seat.
"I was asked to come here to speak to potential muggle studies professor. If you don't mind me making assumptions, I'm guessing that was a bit of a lie."
The old man moved towards the only empty seat and took it with a flourish, glancing at the two books still laid out on top of Luna's bed.
"If I may make further assumptions, I would also guess that you are not the Luna Lovegood that is a naturalist studying creatures in Romania," he said. "So, please, tell me who you really are."
Luna glanced at the Doctor, then back at Dumbledore. "I'm a time traveler," she said. "And you're supposed to be dead."
Luna had never been close to Dumbledore, not in the way that her friend Harry had, so she didn't know exactly how he could have been expected to react to that kind of statement. She most certainly didn't expect him to twine his fingers together and sit back in the chair, staring at her with an open and unsurprised expression on his face.
"Is that so?" he said. "Then allow me to make one more assumption. You must be the Doctor."
A series of strange things happened then. The Doctor looked surprised, then confused, then his face went black and his lips started to move slightly as if he were trying to remember suddenly. Then he gasped, jumping up and pointing at Dumbledore.
"Al!" he said. "Al Dorian!"
"Ah. My "muggle" name. I haven't used that in years," he said.
"Wait. You know the Doctor?" said Amy in surprise. But now the two men were barely paying attention to the other people in the room. The Doctor moved over to Dumbledore, reaching out to take his hand.
"You mean you were a wizard that entire time, and you never bothered to tell me? You sly old dog!"
"Ah, don't take it personally," said Dumbledore. "UNIT would have tried to dissect me, or something like that, if they had known."
"UNIT?" said Luna, Amy, and Rory in unison.
"Our old friend, the Brigadier, recently left us, you know," said Dumbledore with a faint nod. "Then again, of course you know," he added.
The Doctor nodded back, appearing suddenly solemn.
"You've changed a good deal," said Dumbledore. "I like the bow tie."
"Bow ties are cool," said the Doctor. "You've changed a bit yourself."
Dumbledore laughed, nodding sagely. "So I have," he said. He stood up from his chair, moving over to the two books. He picked up the one that the Doctor had removed from the TARDIS. "If you are here, then I suppose I would be correct in making one last assumption. Something isn't right, here."
"That would be right," said Luna. "The world that I know…the world of magic…isn't like this, Professor. Somebody has changed it."
Dumbledore looked down at the book. "Not right at all," he said. Then he stopped and turned. "You remember her too, don't you?" he asked. "Hermione Granger."
It felt to Luna that the world suddenly came crashing down on her. She couldn't do anything for a very long moment. She couldn't even breathe. It was when everything started spinning that she finally took in one long breath and let it back out. The image of her old friend's face was swimming in front of her eyes.
"Yes," she said, holding back her tears.
Dumbledore nodded. "Allow me to borrow this. I will return it as soon as possible."
And with that he swept out of the room. Now Luna did start to cry, something she hadn't done in a great many years, and the Doctor and Rory excused themselves from the room. As they stood out in the hall, listening to Amy comfort her, Rory said something that surprised even the Doctor.
"Does it seem to you that Luna's getting…easier to understand?" he said.
The Doctor turned to look at the door that separated them from the girls. Then he looked back at Rory, eyebrows raised.
"As if a fog has been lifted from her. Yes, it does seem that way," he said, surprised that he hadn't noticed it sooner. "Perhaps it means we're getting close to something."
"He won't remember," said the Doctor. "Luna…"
"I have to try!" They were standing around the TARDIS, having just landed. "If I can't get him to remember anything, then all hope is lost!" And with that being said she yanked open the door and stormed across the small yard up to the front door of the little house. She didn't even get a chance to knock before it opened and she was staring straight at one of her oldest and dearest friends.
"Luna!" said Harry in surprise as he stood at the other side of the threshold, staring at her. "I haven't seen you in years! What are you doing here?"
"Harry," said Luna shakily, as she reached out with one hand and touched a finger to his forehead. "What happened to your scar?"
Harry put his hand to his forehead. "What scar?" he asked. "Luna? Are you all right?"
She shook her head. "It's…nothing. It's everything." The Doctor and the Ponds came up behind her. "These are my friends," she said, introducing all of them in turn. After that was done Harry ushered them all into the house, where she spotted two young boys fighting at the breakfast table while Ginny held up a young girl as she poured herself a mug of pumpkin juice.
"Look who it is!" said Harry.
Ginny turned around, smiling when she saw Luna. "I was wondering how many years it would be before we saw you again! You've stayed away far too long! Come and meet your namesake," she said.
The little redheaded girl looked up owlishly at Luna as Ginny crossed the room. "This is Lily Luna Potter."
Luna couldn't help but smile. "You named her after me? I…thank you," she said, before Ginny sailed away again, barking at the boys to stop fighting.
"Harry, I need to talk to you…" Luna began, but Harry cut her off.
"Of course! We have a lot of catching up to do. But you couldn't have come at a worse time. I have a lot of work to do today or the Minister will have my head. Please, come to dinner though, we'd love to have you."
Luna sighed. "Sure," she said.
After that, she excused herself from the Potter house. "Doctor?" she said, as they stood outside in the small yard listening to the two boys inside the house fighting with one another (and Ginny yelling at them, again, to stop). "I think we ought to go to Romania."
It was a quick trip in the TARDIS, and when Luna stepped out into the high brush she immediately caught sight of a young woman with her long blonde hair bundled up on top of her head, running through the brush after something, her wand held aloft.
"Excuse me! Other Luna! Do you mind if I have a word?" she said.
The woman stopped, turning her wide blue eyes on Luna. "Oh!" she said, without any real alarm. She picked her way over. "You're me," she said.
"And I'm you," said Luna. "Mostly."
"How strange. You're not using Polyjuice Potion?"
Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid not. It seems that I've stumbled into an alternate timeline sort of thing. Time travel, and all of that."
"Ah, that explains it," said the Other Luna. "Would you like some tea? I could conjure some up, if you'd like."
"No thanks," said Luna. "I'm not really fond of tea."
"Oh. I don't like tea either. I should have known I wouldn't like tea."
"That's all right. We don't usually have ourself as a guest," said Luna.
"And she's back to normal. Or…not so normal. How she usually is," said Rory.
"And there's two of them," said the Doctor. "How exciting!"
They followed the Other Luna out of the brush and towards a small tent set up at the edge of it. The Other Luna ducked inside, with Luna close behind. The Doctor and Amy followed, with Rory eyeing the tent suspiciously before following.
"Oh. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," said Rory with some surprise, looking around at what looked to be the inside of a small house.
"Now that's how you're supposed to react!" said the Doctor, seeming slightly annoyed about something as he looked at Rory. The Lunas sat down at a small table, each glancing at the other for a long moment.
"Is this about Hermione?" asked the Other Luna. "I remember her too, you know. Even though I don't know how I know, or from where."
There was a stunned silence. "Yes, it's about her," said Luna. "And…a lot of other things, too," she said. "Other me…you see, there was this big war that happened. A lot of people were killed."
"Oh?" said Other Luna, eyes widening. "How terrible."
"It was."
She shivered. "I'm glad I never had to go through anything like that," she said.
"You did. Or, I did. But I'm you, so in a way you did. You see?"
"Oh," said the Other Luna. "Of course. That makes sense."
"Does it?" muttered Amy, getting a warning glance from the Doctor.
Luna closed her eyes suddenly. "I need someone…someone who understands," she said. "Do you have a Pensieve?"
The Other Luna stared at her for a moment. Then quietly she moved from the table, going to a cupboard and pulling out a wide stone basin. She sat it at the center of the table and everybody moved to make way as Luna moved toward it. "I need a traditional wand for this," she said, setting her own Sonic Wand down. The Other Luna held up her wand and Luna took it, giving it the sort of look that somebody might give an old friend before moving it to her temple and, closing her eyes, extracted a long silvery fragment of magic and dropping it in the bowl.
She did it again and again, until the basin filled up with thoughts and memories. It looked to be so full that it was almost overflowing. Then, seeming exhausted, Luna sat down with a long sigh.
The Other Luna glanced down into the bowl. "Oh. I see," she said. And with a careful finger she touched the contents of the Pensieve and went suddenly still. Luna looked up then, at the Doctor and Rory and Amy.
"You look too," she said. "You need to understand. All of you."
The three of them glanced at each other. Then, the Doctor going first, they all reached out and touched her memories.
It started with a boy on a train. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and the Other Luna all watched as Harry Potter and Luna spoke for the first time. "It didn't happen that way," said the Other Luna.
She would be saying that a lot as they went through Luna's memories.
Some were short. Some seemed like they would never end. The endless ones came more and more as they went through them, until finally they were standing in the Great Hall and watching as blood and fire rained through the halls of the Lunas' beloved school.
"It didn't happen that way at all," she said.
But they now understood. Even the Doctor, who had been through many wars – the greatest war, perhaps, that time would ever see—was affected by the memories of one young girl who had been there through the middle of it all.
When they finally came out of the Pensieve Luna looked as if she had fallen asleep. But the moment she heard them her eyes flew open and they watched. Amy was crying silently, and without warning she threw herself at Luna and gave her a hug.
"I am so sorry," she said. Rory reached over, putting his hand awkwardly on her shoulder, and even the Doctor came over and rested his cheek on top of her head.
But the Other Luna was standing there in shock, eyes wide. "Why would you want that?" she said. "How could you want to change it back?"
"Because it's real," said Luna.
"This is real," said the Other Luna. She closed her eyes then, and suddenly Luna realized that this person – however much they looked alike, and thought alike, could never be her.
She would never close her eyes on the truth.
"Get out," said the Other Luna. "Leave here. I am going to Obliviate my memory the moment you go. And please…never come back."
They sat around the Potter's dinner table, Luna looking at the empty space where the lightning bolt shaped scar should have been, and talking about things that should have been perfectly normal.
Except they weren't.
It was normal at all for Harry Potter to talk about the trip his parents were taking in Australia. Not normal at all, because everybody knew that Harry's parents were dead. It wasn't normal for them to talk about Harry's days playing professional Quidditch before he went to work for the Ministry, because everybody knew that Harry had become an Auror and continued to fight dark wizards after the events of the war.
Everybody knew this wasn't normal, except all of a sudden now it was. Luna couldn't blame the Other Luna for wanting to forget what was, and what shouldn't be.
And all of a sudden Luna was having doubts about trying to make Harry remember the past. And she knew the Doctor could see it, too. He was staring at her as they ate, as if trying to read every thought that went through her head. And Luna didn't doubt that the Doctor could do it, if he tried.
So they went through dinner, and they had just had dessert when there was a knock at the door.
"Excuse me," said Harry, putting down his napkin as he left the table.
He was gone for a moment, and then he returned with two men in dark hooded robes close behind him.
Luna didn't even have time to react. "Stupify!" shouted the first man. Luna silently slumped down and hit the floor as the other man stunned Amy and Rory.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted the Doctor.
"Avada Kedavra!" the second man roared, and a bright green light surrounded the Doctor. He looked at the man in surprise, and then he two slumped down beside the others.
"What is this?" shouted Harry.
"None of your concern, Mr. Potter," said the first man, pulling the hood away from his face. "I'm here on Dumbledore's orders." Severus Snape turned to the second man. "And you did not have orders to kill this man," he said, gesturing at the Doctor.
"I thought it best." The second man pulled the hood away from his face. Arthur Weasley sighed, lifting up his wand and pointing it at his horrified son-in-law, daughter, and grandchildren. "I hate to have to do this again. Obliviate!" he shouted.
When Luna finally began to stir, her entire body felt like she'd taken a high fall off of a broomstick. It took her several moments before she realized she was bound, hand and foot, and seated inside one of the dungeons in Hogwarts.
"Where are we?" Amy groaned, from somewhere beside her.
"Shh!" Luna whispered frantically. She didn't know if they were alone or not. The last thing she wanted was for whoever was keeping guard on them to know that they were awake. She could feel a heavy weight in her pocket and silently thanked no one in particular. Whoever had taken her prisoner must not have realized that the Sonic Wand was a magical tool, and therefore had thought it was useless. Now all she had to do was get to it.
Shifting her weight, she managed to pull herself up off of her side and into a sitting position. Then, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she caught sight of the shapes of her friends sitting nearby. As quietly as she could she scooted across the floor to the one that was moving, guessing correctly that it was Amy.
"See if you can get into my pocket," she hissed quietly.
There was a pause, then the figure nodded. She shifted closer and felt hands moving into her coat. Almost at once Amy located the Sonic Wand, and pulled it out of her pocket.
It dropped immediately to the floor with a deafening clatter.
"What was that?" came a voice from outside. Luna dropped down, covering the Sonic Wand with her body and closing her eyes as the door opened slightly, flooding the room with light. A hooded figure stood there for a long moment, scanning the three figures prone on the floor. Then after a little while he closed the door and locked it. Luna waited until she heard footsteps moving away before rolling a little and grabbing the Sonic Wand.
"He must have gone to get somebody!" said Amy. "Hurry!"
Luna whispered a spell, and the ropes binding her were sliced away. She tucked the Sonic Wand back into her pocket and quickly untied Amy and Rory, using the wand to wake up the latter.
"Where are we?" he muttered sleepily.
"Where's the Doctor?" said Amy.
"I don't know. Come on!" said Luna. She ran to the door. "Alohomora!" she whispered, and with a click it flew open. They darted out into the hall. Amy and Rory followed Luna as she ran, leading them past the Great Hall and to a long stairway. Nobody said anything until they entered a dark, empty room.
"This is the Ravenclaw common room," said Luna. "We should be safe for a few minutes."
"Why are we at Hogwarts? Where's the Doctor?" said Amy.
"I don't know. And I don't know," said Luna.
But she did know. Or, at least, she thought she knew. She could dimly remember the incantation of Avada Kedavra being spoken as she lay there, sliding into unconsciousness, on the floor of the Potter home. And since she and Rory and Amy were alive that could only mean one thing.
"I'm not dead," came a voice.
They all turned around. Leaning against the doorway was a silvery specter, staring at them with faint curiosity etched on its face.
"A ghost!" said Rory.
"Now, you see, I just said I wasn't dead," said the Doctor. "Which would mean I'm not a ghost, either. My body is, however, still attempting to recover from the trauma of that curse that was thrown at me. Took out one of my hearts. I was this close to regenerating," he said, holding up his fingers. "No matter. I used the unique energy vortex surrounding Hogwarts to create a temporal hologram so I could come and find you."
"Where's your body?" said Amy.
"Ah," said the Doctor. "That would be the problem. "Al Dorian, a.k.a. Albus Dumbledore, has it locked up in his office. Now, I can think of a few ways…"
"No time!" said Luna. She held out her wand. "Accio Doctor's body!"
Nothing happened. Then, something did happen. There was a loud bumping sound and then something crashed through the window. The Doctor's body came flying inside, landing on top of one of the low couches.
"You could have been more gentle," said the Doctor.
"Can you…you know, go back in?" said Amy.
"Not yet. I'm still recovering, thank you very much," he said, glaring at Luna.
"All right. So how about we just…pop on out of here!" said Amy.
"It's not that easy. We have to get off the grounds before I can Apparate, and even then four people is too much for one person to move through space," said Luna. "And…Doctor, if you're using the castle to create your ghost thingy…"
"Temporal hologram."
"Then the moment we leave the castle, we won't have your help."
The Doctor nodded.
Luna stood silently for a moment. Then she nodded. "I know what we have to do. Amy, Rory, take the Doctor's body with you and head back down to Hogsmeade. Wait, here…" She dug around until she found a pencil and some parchment, scribbling instructions on a piece of paper. "If I go with you, we'll get caught. They won't be able to detect you as easily, since you're muggles."
"But Luna…"
"She's right," said the Doctor. "And I can stay with her until you have my body off the grounds."
"Which means we have to work fast," she said. "So go!"
Rory and Amy glanced at each other, then hefting the Doctor over his shoulder they took off back out the entryway to the Ravenclaw common room.
Luna waited for a moment. Then, when she was sure they were gone, she took off into the hall and ran in the opposite direction.