Chapter 2 – Settling In
The sun's rays were just shining above the horizon, and were causing the mountains in the distance to glow with golden light, when the Doctor left the TARDIS. He gazed out at the beautiful scenery for a few minutes before glancing around the room, taking in more detail that he had done the previous night. He noticed the many portraits that lined the walls of the room. They seemed to be – no, that was impossible! Paintings didn't move! Yet here was evidence to the contrary – the paintings were nodding up and down in rhythm to their snores. The Doctor was amazed; he'd never seen anything like them before. Were they holograms? He peered closer to check. No, it was real paint. Amazing!
He soon got bored of watching people in paintings snore, though, and turned his attention to Fawkes.
"Hello, bird," he said, stroking the bird's wing. Fawkes opened an eye and glared reproachfully at him.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" the Doctor said hastily, and backed off. A noise upstairs alerted him to the fact that Dumbledore was now awake. Sure enough, the Headmaster descended the spiral staircase a few minutes later.
"Ah, John, I hope you had a good sleep?" said Dumbledore. Not waiting for a reply, he continued. "Please follow me down to the Great Hall for breakfast; I'll introduce you to the other teachers." Dumbledore opened the door for the Doctor, who walked through it. He couldn't wait to meet his fellow staff members!
Most of the other staff members were already eating breakfast by the time Dumbledore and the Doctor arrived in the Great Hall. Dumbledore stopped walking, giving the Doctor a chance to take in the sight.
"This, John, is the Great Hall," said Dumbledore, gesturing around the room. "The staff and students have meals here, and the occasional study session is conducted here as well."
"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, not catching what Dumbledore said; he'd been too busy admiring the enchanted ceiling.
Dumbledore noticed the direction of his gaze and smiled. "Ah yes, the ceiling. It's bewitched to mimic the sky outside."
"I see," said the Doctor, not seeing at all.
"Seeing as you're a muggle, John, where were you educated?"
"I was uh, educated in Australia," the Doctor replied, quickly improvising. "Born in England, moved to Australia when I was a hundred and fifty, went to school at the um, Scientific Institute of Brisbane. I graduated, travelled the world for a bit, then moved back here."
"I see," lied Dumbledore. Moved to Australia when he was 150, what rubbish! John looked no older than 30! Still, plenty of time to find out his secrets later.
"I see," Dumbledore repeated. "In that case, let me introduce you to the staff."
The Doctor continued to stare around the Hall with an expression of delight on his face as he and Dumbledore moved towards the table at the back of the hall.
"This place is amazing!" he told Dumbledore. "Particularly how you've made the candles hover. You've used a levitation charm surely, but to keep the effect constant..." he trailed off in awe. It wasn't every day that he found something new to marvel at!
"Good morning, Albus," greeted a severe looking woman from the table. "May I ask who your friend is?"
"This is John Smith, Minerva, our new science teacher. John, this is Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor," Dumbledore said, introducing the two people to each other.
The Doctor waved cheerily to McGonagall.
"Science, you say, Headmaster?" asked a hook-nosed teacher with black, greasy hair. "How exactly is that possible, considering that it is a," he glared at the Doctor, "muggle subject. Surely you haven't employed a muggle in a magical school?"
"He's not a muggle, Severus," Dumbledore replied coldly. "John here was educated at the Magical Scientific Institute of Brisbane. Apparently, the magical population in Australia is more...knowledgeable about such things."
The Doctor said nothing about Dumbledore's lie, but did wonder why he had done it. Clearly muggles, normal people, were frowned upon in the magical society.
Dumbledore started the introductions. "Severus Snape is our Potions Master, John." He indicated to the black haired man.
"Oh, potions, I love potions!" the Doctor said excitedly. "Have you found the one that cures blood clots yet? Not that I have any, but you never know when they're needed..." He trailed off, seeing the confused looks the teachers were giving him.
Dumbledore coughed and continued the introductions. "Filius Flitwick, the Charms professor; Pomona Sprout, who teaches Herbology. The woman on the far left is Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies professor. Professors Grubbly-Plank, Umbridge and Vector aren't here yet; they teach Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Arithmancy respectively. Sybill Trelawney is in charge of Divination, but you won't see her often, she stays up in her tower most of the time. But enough introductions, it's time to eat!" he finished, and he and the Doctor took their places at the table.
Ten minutes later, the Doctor was having an argument with Professor Sinistra about Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth.
"I tell you, Proxima is part of a ternary star system along with Alpha Centauri A and B!" the Doctor said exasperatedly for the third time.
"There is no evidence for that theory whatsoever!" replied Professor Sinistra heatedly. "Did you study the subject for three years? Having you been teaching it for the last thirty?"
At this, the Doctor stopped. "Well, no," he admitted. "But," he added, "I studied Interstellar Astronomy at the Academy, have visited the system numerous times, and am even a member of the Alpha Centauri table tennis club!"
Professor Sinistra just shook her head. "Nutter," she muttered, going back to her porridge.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the staff table, Dumbledore was having a whispered conversation with Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"Headmaster, I implore you to see reason! Hogwarts is a school of magic; we cannot allow muggle subjects to infiltrate!" Snape whispered furiously.
Dumbledore finished a goblet of orange juice before replying. "You are right, Severus, Hogwarts is a school of magic. However, what harm will it do to the students to learn about things other than the magical world? The world is a big place, keeping the next generation's knowledge limited to magic will result in a very narrow minded and limited group of young people. Look at how our society is these days!"
McGonagall flared her nostrils. "I have no objection to your decision Albus," she said, "but I am worried about how the Ministry will react. You know they're already cross with you -"
"Hogwarts is a school, Minerva, not an outpost of the Ministry. Quite frankly, I don't care what the Ministry thinks, not after their latest interference."
"Is it wise, though?" Snape asked, lip curling. "To go against the Ministry, when one wrong move will result in a one-way ticket to Azkaban on some trumped-up charge?"
Dumbledore paused, thinking. "No, it isn't wise," he finally agreed. "But...there are other things of importance to discuss, things that I will share with you both tonight at eight o'clock in my office."
Once breakfast was finished, Dumbledore called the Doctor over him.
"Right, John, let's show you to your classroom," Dumbledore said, walking out of the Great Hall. He stopped when they reached the top of the marble staircase. "Now, your classroom is on the first floor. To get there, go up one flight of stairs, go through the door on your left, then the classroom is the fifth door on the right. I trust you'll be able to get there yourself?"
The Doctor nodded. "Won't be a problem, but I'd like to go back up to your office to collect my box first, if you don't mind."
"Of course. Would you like me to levitate it down for you?"
"No, that won't be necessary. I'll manage fine on my own."
Dumbledore frowned. How would he get the box down to the first floor all on his own? A hover charm would be very impractical and awkward, considering the box's size.
"Oh," said the Doctor. "Quick question: are the staircases sentient?"
"No..." Dumbledore shook his head. Sentient indeed!
"Really?" said the Doctor, disappointed. "That would've been cool. Sentient staircases are cool."
After a few minutes, they finally reached Dumbledore's office; the Doctor promptly entered the TARDIS, set the co-ordinates and dematerialised, smirking as he imagined Dumbledore's look of astonishment.
"Now then," he said brightly, running down the TARDIS' stairs to the door. "Let's have a look at this classroom!"
He dashed outside.
"Not bad," he said, looking around. He was facing ten rows of desks, with nine desks in each row, grouped in threes. A door was located at the back left of the classroom, so that when the students entered, they would get a magnificent view of the lake and surrounding mountains. The rest of the left wall was taken up by a multitude of glass cabinets and display cases, with the occasional light dotted here and there, complementing the natural illumination provided by the sun shining through the windows on the right. A bigger desk, presumably the teacher's (his, as the Doctor reminded himself) was located just to the right of the TARDIS, while a blackboard dominated the back wall. A staircase that led to an upper floor was to the left of the TARDIS.
"I think it'll do very nicely," the Doctor grinned, and he ran back into the TARDIS to collect some science related paraphernalia that could decorate the classroom. Once he had done so, he found a ladder and exited the TARDIS, ready to decorate the room. He was going to love this job!
At precisely eight o'clock that evening, Dumbledore received a knock on his office door.
"Come in," he said softly.
McGonagall and Snape entered.
"You said you had something to tell us, Headmaster?" Snape asked smoothly.
"Yes, please sit down," Dumbledore replied, gesturing to two seats in front of the desk. McGonagall and Snape obeyed.
"Before I begin, I will ask you both to remain quiet until I finish my tale; you may ask questions afterwards. Now, it was late yesterday night..." Dumbledore then proceeded to inform both professors as to what occurred last night.
When the tale ended, Snape was furious.
"Headmaster, you cannot employ someone who can just waltz into Hogwarts, no matter how innocent they seem!" Snape snarled, jumping to his feet. "The fact that he managed to bring a box with him suggests that he knows magic far beyond any of us. Did it ever occur to you that he may be in league with the Dark Lord?"
"It did occur to me, yes," Dumbledore answered calmly. "But as I said in my tale, I do not believe that he is. I know that am a very good judge of character, Severus, need I remind you of that?"
Snape bit his lip but said nothing.
"Albus, I too find your decision foolish. I don't disagree with your employment of the man, rather the fact that you did so without consulting any of us, let alone the Ministry!" McGonagall said, looking rather stern.
Dumbledore sighed. "Yes, perhaps you are right, Minerva, I may have been too hasty in my decision. However, what is done is done, and the most we can do now is to get to know John further, and to watch him throughout the year. Maybe we will pick up a clue or two as to how he managed to get in here..."
The two teachers agreed, and after a muttered goodbye, left the room, leaving Dumbledore to brood over the day's events.
Author Note: Completely new chapter written just for the rewrite. As you've probably gathered, it shows how some of the teachers reacted to Dumbledore's rather sudden appointment of both a new subject and teacher, in other words, adding more realism. Don't despair, however, as Harry and co. will make their debut appearance in the next chapter. Oh, and technically, Proxima Centauri isn't confirmed to be in the same star system as Alpha Centauri A & B, but there is a very high likelihood that it is, so I went out on a limb and said it was.
Replies to Reviews:
shtoops: I don't actually read the expanded universe novels, so that little bit of info came as a surprise to me. Still, good to know that Harry Potter and Doctor Who can sort of reconcile over magic.
Insantiyisgood25: Yes, on hindsight, it does seem a bit stupid that no one at Hogwarts really cared about a 'meteorite' crashing in the Lake. That's why the rewrite's here; to correct the mistakes of the original, and to just improve the story in general. In the original, magic was just said to be a form of radiation, with no further explanation given. Here, I've basically added another type of field, in addition to the three known ones (gravitational, magnetic and electrostatic). The name of the radiation in the original was Demet (completely made up), while here it's Upsilon. (So named because it's a Greek letter, which is what the other, real, radiation types are named after). Yes, I hate it when fics are abandoned, especially if they're good. Don't worry, this one will be supported until it's finished! Also, with regards to your review of One Day I Shall Come Back, thanks for thinking it's perfect, that means a lot! Unfortunately, I don't think so (I rarely do with my own work), and began the process of rewriting it too, a few months ago.
TheBleachDoctor: Thanks! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!