Chapter 8 A Plan?
"I hope so." Said the Doctor. "This little trip has become a lot more dangerous. We're in even more danger now, especially since Snape is bound to tell Mood about us, and we're interfering in very set events. This is risky, Taal."
"Riskier than normal."
"And who decides what 'normal' is?" asked Jack, joining them in the center of the console room.
"Normal is the consequences of failure is probably our deaths, and possibly the deaths of those involved in whatever we're doing." The Doctor looked at Jack. "The worst outcome of this is having our deaths and the death of The-Boy-Who-Lived, dooming this universe to endless war."
"But wasn't there a war anyway?" Jack said, "So if we prevent Harry from going to the graveyard, then wouldn't we stop Voldemort from rising?"
"It's not that simple." Taal said, looking at Jack. "If we interfere, then Voldemort will still come back eventually. He'll just use someone else's blood, and that means that Harry's blood won't be in his veins. That means that in the seventh book, when Harry has to die by Voldemort's hand in order to kill that Horcrux, Harry won't come back to life and be able to kill Voldemort."
"And that means that Voldemort might not die after all, and he would truly possess the elder wand." Said the Doctor.
"Which means," said Taal, "Wizard world goes boom! Because Voldy'd take over, and the large portion of the population'd never let that happen, so we're talking massive death, here. All because we tried to stop Harry and Cedric from going into the graveyard."
"So by saving one life, we' take millions more. Got it, forget I asked." Sighed Jack. "So, what are we going to do? We've got at least a month or two before the last task, and, as nice as the TARDIS is, we're going to need food and stuff. Our best bet would be to go to Hogsmeade and buy supplies."
"But who would go?" Taal sighed. "I don't think that we can risk that without too many questions being asked."
"What do you mean?" asked Jack, somewhat confused now. "Why wouldn't any of us be able to go?"
"Jack, none of us could really go out in the open." Taal was somewhat annoyed that she needed to explain this, but she continued. "I can't because, although I look fairly young and have a British accent, I'm a catperson. The Doctor can't go out because he'd immediately get mobbed for being Barty Crouch Junior. And you can't go out, because you're an American. You've got the wrong accent, and you flirt with anything that can move. You'd be the most trouble of all of us."
"So how are we going to get supplies?" asked Jack. "We have enough for now, but what about later?"
"Dobby!" exclaimed the Doctor. "If we can get Harry to get him to give us what we need, we don't need to worry about anything!"
"And how are we going to communicate with Harry?" said Taal. "We just sent him on his merry way."
"The DA coins?" said Jack. "Taal has a wand, so she could make another coin and use the sonic to tap into the magical wavelength."
Taal removed her feet from the console and placed them on the floor, barely touching. She then leaned over and put her elbows on her knees, and her head in her hands. "He doesn't get the coins until the next book, remember? Our best bet is for the Doctor to lure Hedwig to the TARDIS, and get her to give him a message to meet us."
"And how do we do that?" scoffed Jack, before looking at the Doctor. The Doctor had somehow ended up with his long brown coat back on, which Taal knew for a fact was left in the castle (unless he had another one), and was pulling out random bits of stuff from the pockets. A small mountain of seemingly unconnected items, ranging from a bag of jelly babies to a cricket ball to a toothbrush (which Taal privately worried about- why would the Doctor need a toothbrush in his pocket?), piled up, until he finally pulled out a small metal tin.
"Gotcha!" he exclaimed, and threw the rest of the stuff in his pockets. He held up the tin, and explained. "Owl treats. If Hedwig doesn't come, we'll at least have another trained owl come for a treat. Then we tell it that the message is for Harry Potter, and off it goes, into the wild blue yonder! And if it's a bad owl, and it brings it to the wrong person, i.e. not Ron, Harry or Hermione, Taal charms it to tear itself asunder! Brilliant!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Taal warned. "Get an owl first, I'll write the note. Jack, you… you… you just go do something to stay out of our hair."
"Yes ma'am!" said Jack, snapping a mock salute and walking off down one of the many corridors in the TARDIS, probably to find a room to spend the night.
The Doctor went outside with his tin of… owl treats, and Taal pulled out her replicator. Soon she had a quill, ink, and some parchment, and she was on her way to her study to write out the note.
Taal sat in the study, trying to come up with the perfect words to phrase their need. She got the impression that Harry wasn't too fond of them, so she needed to phrase this carefully. Finally, she dipped her quill in the inkwell, and began to write.
She flipped the parchment open, first, and wrote "Do Not Open This At the Table, Harry!" on it. She then flipped it back to the normal writing side, and wrote,
Harry,
This is Taal, writing to you from the TARDIS. I have a very important favor to ask of you. I know that you freed Dobby, and that he is willing to do just about anything for you. We are stuck in the TARDIS until the end of the school year, making sure that everything will happen as it should. However, we have next to no supplies as far as food is concerned, and no one of us can venture into Hogsmeade without fear of discovery. On that point, I am asking you, no, begging you, to ask Dobby to take us some food, preferably on a regular basis. I am aware that you have access to the kitchen, as you once got food for Padfoot, aka Sirius Black, from the house-elves there. All we're asking for you to do is ask one of them to bring us food. The only reason I say Dobby is because I believe that you can trust Dobby.
Please send a reply to this as soon as you can, but don't use the owl that we have sent it with, or Hedwig, at all. We can't risk detection. Even though the TARDIS doors might be able to resist the assembled hoards of Genghis Khan, I doubt that it will be able to stand up to the teaching complement of Hogwarts for very long. Although, it might help if you could get McGonagall out here, she seems like a reasonable woman who would be willing to listen to us.
Please help us, and I'll help you. I have a very extensive knowledge of what you'll face in your next task, and I can help you, if you're willing to help us. The TARDIS will move after this message is sent, but any owl should be able to find us. We'll be here.
Sincerely,
Major Lynsing Taal, Captain Jack Harkness, and the Doctor
As Taal folded the letter up and sealed it with a bit of hot wax, the Doctor came in with a magnificent snowy owl perched on his arm.
"Is that…" she trailed off, wondering if this really could be the Hedwig from the books.
The Doctor nodded. "Sure is!"
He let Hedwig down onto the table, and Taal carefully tied the note to her leg. She then carefully charmed it based on the knowledge of the Harry Potter canon in the TARDIS databank to turn blank if anyone other than Harry, Ron, Hermione, or, she added after a moment's thought, Ginny.
Jack joined the Doctor and Taal at the entrance to the TARDIS. After a quick scan by the console, the three stepped outside. The doctor held out his arm, letting Hedwig soar off into the sky, ready to give Harry the letter the next day, or rather, later that day. Then they returned to the TARDIS. The TARDIS slowly faded from view as they moved deeper into the Forbidden Forest, more willing to brave the beast within than the supposedly civilized people within the castle.
Alright, alright, I know I said that I would be taking a short break from this, to work on something else, and I am! I just had a flash of inspiration for this chapter. So, I'll just be writing it in bits and bursts. Ignore me if I say I won't be able to add to it for a while, a new update will probably be up within a few days. As always, reading and reviewing is most appreciated!