Wow… It's been a while, hasn't it? Haven't updated this for… oh, four months? Apologies, really. I'd like to thank all of you who have stuck with this story; reviewing, story marking, favoriting, etc. This story has about two to three chapters left, I know what will happen to Taal (any theories in reviews would be fun to read…) and I do know that Jack should be dying about four times in the coming chapters. Stay tuned! ~Doc

Chapter 14 The Department of Mysteries

Taal glanced anxiously over her shoulder at the door into the Wizengamot behind her. The shocked silence that she had heard when she first ran out had vanished, replaced by screams and an ever-rising clamor that even the thick wooden doors couldn't block. She found herself glancing over her shoulder more and more, and eventually had to force herself to look straight ahead and ignore the shouts from behind her. If they found her before she found out what she needed to know, she had no chance. A stunt like the one she just pulled would at least earn a one way trip to Azkaban. At the most… She shuddered thinking about it. A fate worse than death would await her at the hands of the dementors, and she didn't know whether they too would be willing to listen to her the way Danny did.

She smiled thinking slightly of Danny. If all went according to plan, the Doctor would be on his way now. Maybe he already was- he was bright, hopefully he'd have noticed that she wasn't at Hogwarts. And maybe the TARDIS would be on its way now! And maybe the moon was made out of cheese. He would never be so stupid as to take the TARDIS into what was a now almost enemy ground. And especially not with the TARDIS as low on power as it was.

Striding down one last hallway, Taal was pleased to see that her mental reconstruction of the hallways in the Department of Mysteries was accurate. This was the door that Harry had seen in his dreams, the Hall of Prophesy. She pressed one hand on the door, and it swung open easily. That should have been her first clue. She wandered down the rows of shelves, all with softly glowing orbs of glass on them. The grand room was unlit, but the balls cast a soft blue light on the room, throwing up odd shadows and giving her fur a sickly cast.

Finally she found herself stopping in front of a nearly empty shelf. Sitting there was a single orb, covered in a layer of dust nearly an inch thick. She blew off the dust, causing her to cough and wheeze and jerk herself back to reality. This wasn't where she had been heading, not at all. She took a quick step back, banging into the rickety shelf behind her and knocking an orb off. She spun around as a woman rose up in wispy smoke and began to speak:

"A doctor will come

When the challenge is given and lies are told

Disguised as the one he unveils"

Taal leaned over and picked up a shard of glass from the ground, which had a shred of yellow paper attached to it. Another one of those prophesies mentioning a "doctor." Stick it in the back with the rest.

She dropped the slip, watching it as it floated down to the floor again. "A doctor? Or do these prophesies mean the Doctor. Is that why we're here?" she whispered, looking at the other globes on the shelf.

Taking a chance, she grabbed another; throwing it down on the ground and watching it shatter.

"The fighter, the immortal, the Doctor,

Accused of things beyond their control

One death causes a storm

But death is a new beginning

And a gateway is not always what it appears"

Taal grinned. "Brilliant," she whispered. She knew what the "gateway" was referring to, and, pulling out her wand, lit up the tip.

She had known all along what she was going to have to do to convince the Ministry she wasn't a threat. The only way to do that was to disappear, to die. And there was a way for her to die here- painless, quick, and if the books were to be believed, 'just like falling asleep.' With one fast movement of her wand, she sent a jet of red light to the shelf in front of her, containing the 'doctor' prophesies. Hundreds of ghostly figures rose out of the gloom, talking in chorus.

"There she is!" Taal recognized the voice of one Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. She took off running.

.oOo.

Jack and the Doctor were flying as fast as they could though the now darkened sky. The sun had set, and it was becoming colder by the minute. Out of the deepening gloom came a hooded figure, that of a dementor.

"Get back!" Jack quickly pulled his broom up short in front of the Doctor's, nearly causing him to fall off his broom. Jack pulled out his blaster, training it on the dementor.

"What do you want?"

'Only to let you know that your friend… Taal, was it? Is in danger.'

Jack laughed. "No kidding! We're on her way to go save her."

'Terrible danger. She thinks that her death will save the Doctor. I saw what she was planning to do.'

The Doctor gently guided his broom under Jack to face the dementor directly. "What is she planning to do?"

'I couldn't see exactly, she was doing a good job of keeping her mind hidden from me. Something about a gateway. In the Department of Mysteries. Does that mean anything to you? All I got out of it was death.'

The Doctor swore under his breath. "Thank you for your time, we need to go."

'Good luck…'