The first Doctor took time to look around the room, his intelligent eyes taking in every detail. After adjusting the sleeves of his black jacket, he turned to stare at the other Doctor. "Which one are you? I don't remember ever meeting such a young looking me before, nor one with such an awful hair style," he inquired.
The eleventh Doctor brushed his long hair out of his eyes and replied, "I'm the eleventh version." He pointed an accusing finger at his younger (although much older looking) self. "The more important question is what are you doing here?" he demanded. "I have no memories of this encounter," he added.
The first Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes. He held up one hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just my luck, I've become senile in my old age," he muttered. He dropped his hand and met his other self's eyes. "The answer is quite obvious. It's so obvious in fact, even this human could probably figure it out," he sniped.
Harry turned to face the Doctor he knew and trusted. "This is really you?" he asked, pointing his hand back at the man with white hair. He spared a glance back at the first Doctor before returning his gaze to the current one. "I like the new one better," he told his friend.
"Silence, human!" the first Doctor bellowed. "Even if you are gifted beyond most humans, you are still in the presence of your betters and should remember that!" he warned.
Harry met his eyes defiantly. "I don't care what theDoctor said, I have a hard time believing he was ever as rude as you," he fired back. He looked over at the frozen shapes of Ginny, Hermione, and Jack. "Doctor, we need to figure out what is going on so we can save the others," he suggested.
The eleventh Doctor started pacing as he thought. "They're not the ones who are trouble, Harry, we are," he replied. "Somehow we've been trapped in a Time bubble," he stated. "I just can't figure out why it only worked on you and me... well, both of me," he said.
The first Doctor chuckled and stepped up towards Hermione. "Perhaps surrounding yourself with such inferiors has dulled your abilities," he suggested. "Like I said earlier, the answer to what is going on is quite obvious. However, there are much more important questions you should be working on instead," he chastised. "Come on, come on... we don't have all day... well, that isn't exactly true. We're in a Time bubble, so we have unlimited time, but your ignorance is boring me," he prodded.
The Doctor continued pacing around the room, running his hand through his hair. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew the answer was right under his nose. Harry watched him pace and his expression grew concerned. "Doctor..." he said, trying to get his friend's attention.
The Doctor stopped pacing and both Doctors replied, "Yes?"
Harry stepped up to his Doctor. Leaning towards him, Harry whispered, "Where is the locket?"
The Doctor looked down at his now empty hand in shock. He had completely forgotten about the locket. Something was very, very wrong. He closed his eyes and tried to force a mental connection with his past self. What "saw" when touched the other Doctor's mind reminded him of looking in a very tarnished silver mirror. He could recognize himself, but there were dark, ugly spots all over his "reflection". Understanding of what was happening flooded his mind and broke his heart. When he opened his eyes, Harry saw the old alien's eyes were filled with sorrow. "I'm sorry, Harry," was all the Doctor said.
Harry stepped back from the Doctor. "Sorry about what?" he inquired, not certain he wanted to know the answer.
The Doctor paused before answering; trying to decide what he should tell the young man his daughter had fallen in love with. Figuring that a partial truth was better than an outright lie, the Doctor replied, "I made a mistake. We're not in a Time bubble; we're in a psychic bubble. One that was created when the Time Lord portion of Voldemort's soul came into contact with my own." Harry frowned as he tried to understand what the Doctor was talking about. The Doctor went on explaining, "I'm guessing you are here because his attack that left you with that scar did something to you that made it so your soul resonates at the same frequency as ours." He didn't mention that he thought the real reason why Harry was there was because a piece of the Valeyard's soul was trapped inside the young man. It explained the connection Hermione had told him existed between Harry and Voldemort.
The Doctor sighed and turned to face his first self. "As for where the locket went, he's right there," he stated, pointing at the first Doctor.
The first Doctor smiled maliciously as he bowed. He also had made the same conclusion about Harry and was intrigued by his older self's not telling the boy everything. "I knew I would figure things out eventually," he said sarcastically. "Now, let's see if I'm still smart enough to figure out a way out of this trap... or have the hairless apes dragged you down to their mental level?" he inquired.
Harry pointed his wand at the old man with white hair and yelled, "Stupefy!" He frowned when nothing happened. His frown deepened when he repeated,"Stupefy!" with the same lack of results.
The first Doctor rolled his eyes. "Definitely hairless apes," he muttered. He pointed at Harry with his cane. "Perhaps you should try beating your chest. It won't do anything to me, but might make your primitive mind feel better," he snarled.
The Doctor held up his hand to keep Harry from responding. "We're in a psychic bubble, Harry. The laws of the outside universe don't apply in here," he told him. "It's up to me to neutralize the Time Lord portion of the soul shard in the Horcrux," he explained.
"And how do I propose to do that?" the first Doctor chuckled. "It took me ages to figure out what I was dealing with in the first place," he laughed. "I really am disappointed in myself," he added.
The Doctor leaned against the short wooden wall that separated the floor from the rings of benches. "That's the easy part," he replied. "I just have to convince you to voluntarily dissipate," he told the soul fragment.
The first Doctor just laughed at the 11th version of himself. Harry glared at the old man. The Doctor noticed the look in Harry's eyes. "I know exactly what you're thinking, Harry," he told his friend. "You're wondering how I'm going to convince this arrogant arsehole to give up," he stated. The first Doctor quit laughing. "Remember Harry, we have the upper hand here. Not only do I have every memory he does, but I have several hundred more years of experience to draw upon," he said reassuringly.
The Doctor slowly walked towards the representation of his first self. "As for the arrogance you're witnessing, Harry… it's actually a defense mechanism," he pointed out. The first Doctor stepped back in fear, knowing where the other Doctor was headed with that line of thought. "It's a way of keeping people away so I couldn't have a chance to care about them," he went on.
"Don't..." the first Doctor plead, the memories of why he fled Gallifrey still a gaping wound in his soul.
The Doctor gently placed his hand on the first Doctor's shoulder. "I was able to keep everyone away except for one person, and she dragged me back to who I really was and taught me to care again," he said softly.
Harry watched the gentle interaction between his Doctor and the other one. "Who was she, Doctor?" he asked.
The first Doctor answered when his older self stayed silent. "Susan... my grand-daughter," he whispered. Suddenly anger flashed behind the old looking man's eyes. "And she left me for one of those hairless apes," he spat.
The Doctor let his hand drop from the other's shoulder. "It's what was supposed to happen. If a person is truly lucky, their children or grandchildren grow up and start families of their own," he reminded his younger self.
Tears started to slide down the first Doctor's cheek. "She was all I had left, the only one who survived that night," he sobbed.
The Doctor walked towards their frozen friends and stood between Hermione and Ginny. "For a very long time, that was true," he agreed with the first Doctor. "But now, I have a chance at love again," he told him. "As a lover..." he said, pointing towards Hermione. "And as a father again," he said gently, tilting his head towards Ginny.
The first Doctor was drawn to Ginny like a loadstone. He studied her intensely until a small, sad smile formed on his face. "She has the same eyes as Susan's mother," he whispered. With a nod of his head, the man with the white hair started to fade away. "Protect them... protect them better than I was able to do," he commanded.
The Doctor ran to stand in front of the first Doctor. "Wait... before you go, tell me what the other questions were that you thought I should work out," he begged.
The first Doctor was almost completely faded away, but the Doctor and Harry could still make out the other man's smile. "You could ask yourself why the Wizengamot chamber is an exact replica of the Chancellor's audience chamber," he suggested before fading completely away. The Doctor spun around, realizing the first Doctor was correct. It looked just as it did the last time he had stood before his old mentor, Borusa.
The room spun and swam around Harry and the Doctor. When the world stabilized, they found themselves standing in the same spots they had been when the Doctor had caught the thrown locket. The Doctor's eyes grew wide in shock when he realized Hermione was in the middle of kissing him. Jack clapped his hands and laughed. "See... just like in the old stories. All it took was a kiss to wake up sleeping handsome," he chuckled.
"Don't you mean 'sleeping beauty'?" Ginny asked Jack.
Jack winked at her as he replied, "Depends on what kind of bookstore you're in, I suppose."
The Doctor looked down at his hand and sighed in relief when he saw he was still holding onto the locket. "What happened from your perspective?" he asked Hermione, who still looked like her older self, River.
"You and Harry suddenly froze in place and we couldn't find a way of snapping you two out of it," she replied. "When we had tried just about everything, Jack suggested that since we might be dealing with a magical stasis, I should try a kiss," she told him. The Doctor smiled as he saw "River" blush in embarrassment, something he had never seen before. He decided to explain the psychic bubble part later.
"How long were we out?" Harry asked, taking Ginny's offered hand.
"Just short of 15 minutes," Ginny responded.
The Doctor jerked his head towards the door. "We should be leaving," he suggested.
Jack was closest to the door and started to walk out, but was stopped when a black cloud flew in front of him and solidified into Lucius Malfoy. As Draco's father raised his wand to hex them, Jack threw a quick punch into the white-blond wizard's nose, distracting him. Lucius didn't have time to protest the barbaric attack before Jack grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him towards Ginny. Ginny followed up Jack's attack with a punch of her own - a roundhouse that knocked Malfoy out. "Move! Move!" Jack commanded and held the door open for everyone else. The Doctor and his group ran down the hall as the enemy arrived.
As more and more black clouds streaked down the hallway past them, Jack snapped off a shot with his sonic pistol into the swarm. One of the clouds solidified as a Death Eaters slid along the floor, unconscious. Several of the clouds changed direction, taking up positions at both ends of the hallway, blocking off any attempts at escape. The Doctor and his friends dove into an alcove to give themselves some cover.
Harry ducked out from behind cover and shouted, "Stupefy!" He had aimed his curse low and bounced it off the polished marble floor so it struck a Death Eater with an upwards momentum. The Death Eater was lifted from the ground and thrown into the ranks of the enemy behind him. Harry was forced to duck back behind cover when a volley of curses was launched by the remaining Death Eaters in the first row.
Ginny reached into her robe's pocket and pulled out a small box with a red label that read "Weasley Wheezes Portable Swamp" on the front. She tore off the label and counted to three before lobbing the box down the hall. The box exploded right before it hit the ground and drenched the Death Eaters on that end of the hall. Green and brown slime poured out of the box. A spongy orange moss crawled out at attached itself to the ceiling. A few of the Death Eaters bent over and vomited painfully because they had been unfortunate enough to have had their mouths open with the slime splashed all around them. A few of the other Death Eaters swatted away the moss that was intent on draping itself from their heads.
A final black cloud streaked down the hallway and took the form of a dark haired woman dressed all in black. Bellatrix Lestrange cackled her demented laugh as she stood in the front row of Death Eaters blocking the end of the hall closest to the Wizengamot chamber. She giggled when she saw the plight of the other Death Eaters who were trying to deal with the sudden outbreak of swamp at the other end of the hall. Arrogantly striding forward, Bellatrix fired off curse after curse at the boy and his friends. She made it to within a couple of meters before one of her spells finally cracked their defenses. Bellatrix focused on a woman dressed in all white and decided to use one of the oppositions favorite spells against them. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted, sending the woman's wand flying. Instead of diving for her wand like Bellatrix had expected, the woman pulled a strange device from a leather holder at her waist. Bellatrix cocked her head to the side in confusion and then slid to the floor unconscious as Hermione shot her in the chest with her sonic pistol.
"I think I might just like this thing after all," Hermione muttered and then fired off several more shots down the hallway. Her poor aim was more than made up for by how close the Death eaters were packing themselves in.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the area, hoping to find a some sort of alternate escape route. His eyebrows rose in surprise at the readings he was getting. "Jack!" he yelled, getting his friend's attention. "We need a temporary door on that wall across from us," he shouted.
"That will use up the rest of my battery charge. My gun will be useless until it recharges," Jack complained. The Doctor gave him a stern look. "Right... doorway coming right up," he stated. Jack slid the levers on his sonic pistol to disintegrate. He pointed his pistol at the far wall and fired. A large square opening suddenly formed in the wall, showing them a chamber on the other side.
"Through the door," the Doctor shouted and ran through the new opening. Harry and Ginny were the next ones through followed by Hermione and Jack. Once Jack was in the chamber, he reversed the setting on his pistol and sealed the wall behind them. Unnatural silence made him turn around suddenly, ready to throw his empty pistol at the enemy if necessary. He saw Ginny holding a silently sobbing Harry. Hermione had her hand on the young man's shoulder. In the center of the room was a large, gray stone arch on a raised platform. A sort of shimmering liquid was suspended within the archway itself. Odd looking interlocking circles and straight lines ran up one side of the arch. The Doctor was running his hand up and down the stone, looking like a kid in a candy shop. "Where are we?" Jack asked, not really caring who answered.
Hermione stepped away from Harry and turned to look at Jack. "We're in the Veil of Death chamber," she replied. Pointing to the arch, she added, "That archway is the veil itself. Anyone who touches the veil is sent into the land of the dead." She looked sadly at Harry. "Wizards have been using it to execute people for eons," she explained. She didn't mention Sirius' name for fear of hurting Harry even more. During their last battle at the Ministry, Harry's godfather had been knocked through the veil, stripping away the last part of a loving family he had.
"Nonsense," the Doctor responded, not looking up from the circles etched into the stone. "These things might have been a bit dodgy even when they were new, but I wouldn't call it an execution machine," he muttered. The sound of wood breaking drew his attention to the far wall. The door leading out of the chamber bowed and then went back to normal as the Death eaters tried to break in. The Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver over the archway, looked at the readings, and then kicked the left side of the arch exactly two feet above the floor. "That should stabilize it for a bit," he muttered before turning to face the others. "It shouldbe fine now," he shouted and then walked through the suspended liquid, dividing this world from another.
Coast of England - 957 AD
The Doctor wobbled back and forth as he looked over the edge of the cliff that stood some 60 meters above the sharp rocks on the shore below him. There was less than a foot between the arch and the sheer drop of the cliff. He felt a temporal disturbance behind him, so he sidestepped to allow the next person through. When Hermione appeared, the Doctor blocked her body with his arm to keep her falling off the cliff. Her image stuttered and then went back to looking like Hermione as the PHART shorted out. Hermione sidestepped to the other side of the arch and hung on to it with one hand while she peered over the edge.
The Doctor followed Hermione's example and looked over the edge. "I take back what I said about this not being a means of execution," he told her. "That's quite a drop," he added needlessly. His temporal senses flared again and he reached out his arm just as Ginny came running through. She started to slip off of the edge, but he pulled hard on her arm and dragged her to the side of the arch he was on.
Ginny looked over her shoulder and shouted, "It's OK Harry, just don't run through like I did."
The silvery liquid suspended in the arch flared again as Harry cautiously stepped through. He almost tripped off the cliff, but Hermione managed to grab the front of his robe and pull him to safety. "Thanks, 'Mione," Harry whispered.
As soon as Harry was clear, Jack came sailing out of the arch backwards, firing his old service revolver back into the veil. Jack never had a chance to try to regain his footing and fell to the rocks below. The Doctor leaned out over the drop once again and gave out a low whistle. "That looks painful," he muttered.
Harry held onto Hermione's arm and looked down at Jack's crumpled body on the sharp rocks below them. "I'm so sorry, Doctor. I know that Jack was a good friend of yours," he stated sympathetically.
"Don't worry about Jack. I'm sure he'll be up and about in no time," the Doctor replied. He looked from side to side, examining the cliff face. "I wonder how he's going to get back up here?" he mused.
Harry looked back down at Jack's still body. "I think he's dead, Doctor," he told him, trying to be gentle.
The Doctor looked down again as well. "Oh, most definitely. I doubt anyone could have survived a fall like that," he responded. "Don't worry, death is a temporary condition for Jack," he told Harry. The Doctor pulled himself back to the arch when energy started to arc across the silvery liquid. The liquid started to change colors rapidly, never staying on one color for more than a second. It finally stopped on black and then evaporated completely, leaving only air in the archway. The Doctor banged his head on the arch twice in frustration. "Why didn't I think of that?" he chastised himself.
Hermione stepped away from the edge of the cliff and looked at her boyfriend through the now empty arch. "Think of what, Doctor?" she inquired.
The Doctor looked at her through the arch. "This old relic is a Temporal Arch," he told her. "Before my people developed the Vortex mechanics that led to the creation of the TARDISes, they experimented with several other modes of Time travel," he explained. "The chronal circuits couldn't cope with something as impossible as Jack," he concluded.
The Doctor's explanation of ancient Gallifreyan technology was interrupted when they heard the angry shouts of a mob coming from a short distance away. After a moment, five children raced over a hill, running as if their lives depended on it. The small group of kids was made up of two boys and three girls. The largest boy was already as tall as the Doctor, but still had a baby face. His hair was flaming red. The other boy was much shorter and had very large ears and dark hair, giving him the overall look of a pale monkey. The largest girl looked so much like the largest boy, they had to be siblings. As for the other two girls, one was willowy thin with black hair while the other was pudgy with orange colored hair. An angry mob complete with torches and pitchforks were gaining on the children.
"Doctor… you don't think those kids are…?" Hermione tried to ask, stunned by what she saw.
The Doctor scowled at the mob chasing the kids. "Yes, Hermione, those are the Founders and I think they need a hand," he said angrily. The group of kids split up when the young Godric Gryffindor pointed towards a forest not too far away. Godric, Gertrude, and Salazar broke off to the left while Rowena and Helga went right.
The Doctor spared a glance down at Jack and saw he was still not moving. "Jack will have to catch up with us later," he muttered. He pointed to the left and said, "Harry, you and Ginny go help the Gryffindors and Salazar." He took Hermione's hand and stated, "Hermione and I will go help the girls."
The Doctor and Hermione ran after the two Founder girls, paralleling them through the woods. While running, they came across a wide lake with a high shore. The path they were on was a good five feet above the chilly water of the lake. Hermione lost her footing when the edge of the path gave way under her weight. She fell into the lake with a splash. When she surfaced, she spat out some water and pointed to where she could see Rowena and Helga. "They're over there on the other side of that cove," she told the Doctor. "I'll swim across and meet you on the other side," she said and ducked back down into the water. The Doctor nodded and tried to pick out a way through the underbrush to catch up with Hermione had a much shorter distance to travel.
Rowena and Helga slid to a stop when they reached the rocky beach. The sounds of the mob made Rowena turn around and maneuver herself between the men seeking their deaths and her friend Helga. She tightened her grip on her friends arm when she saw the evil smile on the lead man's face.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" the ugly man in peasant's clothes asked rhetorically. "Looks like you two witches have run out of places to run to," he scoffed. "Before we burn you two in the town square, I think we'll have a bit of sport," he said with a leer. The rest of the men in his half of the mob had caught up with him and joined his evil laugh.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hermione yelled, her voice full of cold fury. She stood up out of the lake, water dripping from her strange clothes. She drew her wand, gave it a good swish and flick, and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa!" A large ball of water about the size of a wrecking ball sprung out of the lake and rocketed towards the mob's leader. The man was knocked off his feet and thrown into a tree, knocking him out.
A second peasant pointed at Hermione with a shaking finger. "The Lady of the Lake!" he shrieked and took a step away from the shore. The other mob members muttered nervously and likewise stepped away from the legendary woman.
Hermione smiled at the men, but her smile held no warmth. "How nice to be recognized," she told them. Her time spent at the Burrow with Fred and George had taught her a thing or two about timing. She waited a moment and then said sweetly, "If you know who I am, then you must know who the man I love is."
The mob members looked at each other, dread in their eyes. Everyone knew the stories of the Lady and her lover, the King's wizard. The Doctor stepped out from behind a tree and tapped one of the men on the shoulder. "Hello, I'm Merlin. What's your name?" he inquired politely. The man screamed in terror and the mob broke up, the men scattering to the wind. The Doctor looked at the young witches. "Was it something I said?" he asked with a wink.
********DrW********
Salazar tripped on a tree root and twisted his ankle. From the ground he looked up at his friends. "Go on, don't let them catch you!" he commanded.
"Not bloody likely," Godric growled and turned to face the mob that was descending on them. There was no way he was going to leave Salazar behind, even if that meant he and his sister would die with him. Gertrude nodded in ascent and stood shoulder to shoulder with her brother, shielding Salazar.
Seemingly from out of nowhere, a young man dressed in robes with red and yellow accents came charging out of the forest. A pretty red headed woman was stride for stride with him, also wearing red and gold, the Gryffindor family colors. " Impedimenta!" the young man shouted, pointing a wand at the front row of the mob. A man in the middle suddenly tripped, causing several others to trip as well. The young man stepped in front of the Gryffindor siblings facing the mob, his wand at the ready.
The young woman stood by his side and raised her wand so it pointed over the mob members' heads. "Incendio!" she incanted, sending a gout of fire streaming towards the sky. The mob wisely chose to cease their advancement.
An uneasy silence fell over the forest while the mob tried to decide if it had enough members to take on a fully trained wizard and witch. Their minds were made up for them when they heard something crashing through the forest towards them. A jet black horse jumped over a shrub and landed in between Harry and the mob. Atop the war horse was a knight dressed in black armor. Instead of sword, he held a large oak staff that was capped in silver on the end. The knight slammed his staff into the ground, causing a sound like a huge church bell ringing. "In the name of the King, I command you to return to your village!" he shouted. The mob knew they were definitely no match for a knight as well as a pair of magic users. They turned and fled into the forest, many of them dropping their weapons.
The knight watched the peasants run and slid off of his horse. He bent down and picked up a pitchfork that had been dropped. "Torches and pitchforks… I guess you can't beat the classics," he muttered before turning to face the wizards he had sensed. As soon as the knight was facing Harry, he dropped to his knees in shock. "It can't be… how?" he stammered.
Harry recognized the knight's voice, but was too scared to hope that he was right. The Black Knight reached up and removed his helmet, letting his long, black hair fall out. Tears were streaming down his face as he looked at his godson. "Sirius!" Harry shouted, tears of joy running down his own face as he ran to embrace his godfather.