Chapter 15 - Memories

As soon as the golden sphere disappeared, the Universe convulsed. Memories were erased and replaced as Umbridge was purged from history. Her army no longer remembered her, instead, they had been given their orders by the Minister himself. The Hogwarts High Inquisitor was rewritten to be a Ministry Official who had visited the school several months earlier; Professor Snape had taught Defence Against the Dark Arts in addition to Potions; Umbridge's Educational Decrees were pieces of legislation trialled by the Ministry for a short period of time; another witch was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Everthing Umbridge had ever done or would do was immediately changed, creating a whole new reality.

For Harry, however, the changes were more profound. Umbridge's presense at his trial was erased, and she was replaced by another member of the Minister's office. He had been serving regular detentions with Snape, who had made him drink a potion that etched the words 'I must not tell lies' into his hand; they would heal and fade in time. Most importantly, though, he no longer remembered using the De-mat gun to erase Umbridge from time and space.

He lowered the gun, and turned to look at Ron, Hermione and Professor Smith. All three could see that he was visibly shaken.

"That was close," Ron breathed. "Another second and that werewolf would have had us!"

"Yeah," Harry shakily agreed.

"I don't understand," Hermione muttered. "Werewolves aren't active in broad daylight, they prefer dark areas like the Forbidden Forest. I know we're on the edge of it, but even so, they don't appear until well after it's dark. Why did it attack us?"

"I know You-Know-Who had a werewolf as a Death Eater," said Ron, "I think we might have met him."

Professor Smith was looking between the students, very confused. Werewolf, what werewolf? Then it clicked. Their minds had invented a threat that would justify Harry's use of the De-mat gun. They no longer remembered Umbridge, and had replaced her with an animal. He had to let them know their minds were fooling them!

"All of you, listen to me," he said urgently. "There never was a werewolf. That werewolf never existed! It's an invention, a thought, a belief your minds made up to compensate for reality being altered!"

"Rubbish, of course that werewolf existed!" scoffed Ron. "Didn't you see it rear up and almost bite Hermione's head off? What're you going on about?"

"Look, I know it's hard, but you've got to believe me!" Professor Smith said. "Harry, you used the De-mat gun on Umbridge!"

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Umbridge!"

The trio glanced at each other.

"Err, here's your 'wand', Professor," Hermione said awkwardly, holding out her hand to reveal the sonic screwdriver. "You dropped it."

Professor Smith took it and shoved it in a pocket. "So none of you can remember Umbridge?" he said.

Ron shook his head. "Nope," he said, shaking your head. "No idea who you're talking about."

"Really?" Professor Smith shot back. "Then who killed Clara?" he asked, pointing at the girl's body lying on the ground a short distance away.

"The Death Eaters," Ron said sadly. "The teachers had reported her missing, so we came out here to look for her. The search parties before us mustn't have looked here."

"No, no, no, no! Umbridge killed her!" Professor Smith said. He whirled around and grabbed Hermione's shoulders. "Remember when I said that the De-mat Gun could erase people from existence?" he said desperately.

"Yes..." Hermione said hesitantly. She thought she knew where this was going.

"What is the logical result of someone never existing, hmm?"

"You forget them..." she said slowly. "So this Umbridge person – Harry killed her!" She and Ron looked at Harry in horror.

Harry immediately dropped the gun. "But I can't even remember it!" he protested. "How can I be guilty of something I can't even remember? Besides, why can you remember everything?" he asked Professor Smith.

"I'm a time traveller, I'm used to these sorts of temporal anomalies. Well, that and the fact she wasn't an important part of my timeline," said Professor Smith.

Ron shook his head. "I'm sorry, Professor, but if only you can remember..." he trailed off, then sighed, looking over at Clara's body. "I'd better take her back to the Castle," he said sadly. "Harry, you wanna help carry her?"

Harry nodded, and grabbed Clara's legs while Ron lifted her shoulders. Together, they began carrying the girl back to Hogwarts.

Professor Smith groaned and ran his hand through his hair. He doubted whether he'd manage to convince anyone that Umbridge had existed now. Humans, why did they always have to be so thick?

It was at this precise moment in time that Hermione decided to prove him wrong.

"I believe you," she said quietly.

"What?" he asked, not sure whether he'd heard her correctly.

"I believe you," she said again. "About this Umbridge woman. I don't know why, really, I just get this sort of feeling that I knew a person called Umbridge once."

Professor Smith was surprised, to say the least. "Hmm," he frowned. "Have you travelled in time at all?"

Hermione nodded. "In my third year. I used a time turner to attend multiple classes at the same time."

"Thiught so," said Professor Smith. "Time travel, it builds up an immunity to this sort pf thing. You must have travelled a lot to be able to even faintly recall Umbridge."

There was a brief silence, before Professor Smith sighed and walked over to where Harry had dropped the De-mat gun. He picked it up, shouldered it, and stared in the direction of the Zygon ship.

"Come on, Miss Granger, we haven't got all day!" he said cheerfully, walking off.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as she hurried after her science teacher.

"We've got to catch up with Umbridge's army and stop them from attacking the Zygons," Professr Smith replied.

"But if she was erased from existence, wouldn't they be confused as to why they're here?"

"If only," Professor Smith said gloomily. "Unfortunately, the brain is rather good at inventing memories. I once met a species of centaur who could wipe whole chunks of memory, but the brain still managed to think up a completely realistic alternate memory. There's a scientific term for that: you're thick. Her army probably thinks they were sent by the Minister."

The rest of the long walk to the Zygon ship was spent in silence. Hermione tried to force herself to fully recall Umbridge, while Professor Smith revisited the moment of Clara's death. He had just realised one strange fact - she had called him Doctor. How could she have known that? He hadn't told her, and he was sure that Harry, Ron and Hermione hadn't either. So how had she known?

He mulled the mystery over in his head for a few more minutes before concluding that it was impossible. She was an impossible girl, he decided.

Movement in his peripheral vision interrupted his thoughts.

"Who's that?" he asked, squinting to the left. He could just make out someone running towards them.

"Looks like Tonks," Hermione said, surprised. "She must've been part of the Ministe - Umbridge's army. But they went chasing after the dementors!"

"I think," Professor Smith said quietly. "They might have run into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Dunno, but I think we're about to find out."

"Hermione! Hermione!" Tonks called as she ran up to them. "It's the aurors - they've been imperiused by You-Know-Who! And the dementors, they've been sent back to Azkaban!"

"What, Voldemort ordered them to go back, and they did?" Hermione said, shocked. The thought that Voldemort had control over those foul creatures was horrifying. "We need to tell Dumbledore!" she said.

"Sorry, but who's Voldemort? I keep hearing the name..." Professor Smith interjected.

"Come off it, how do you not know who You-Know-Who is?" Tonks panted disbelievingly. "He's only the most powerful Dark Wizard for five hundred years!"

"Oh, him, I remember him now," Professor Smith nodded. He recalled coming across the name while reading up on Wizarding history in the TARDIS. Something was odd, though - Tonks had said that all the aurors had been imperiused, which was clearly some sort of mind control. But one wizard against around a hundred aurors? The odds were against the wizard winning.

He frowned. "Tonks, can you remember how Voldly-mort took control of the aurors?"

Tonks thought for a moment. "Well, they were imperiused," she said, "but only after we all heard this sound..."

"What did it sound like?"

"I dunno, a sort of throbbing sound, like a heartbeat."

"Oh!" Professor Smith said softly, eyes wide. "A Zygon hypnosis device!"

"A what?" Hermione and Tonks asked.

"A Zygon hypnosis device. It overrides the command signals sent from the brain to the body, it leaves the person trapped in their mind, unable to do anything," Professor Smith explained.

All of a sudden, he whirled around and grabbed Tonks by the shoulders, dropping the De-mat gun in the process. "But why aren't you with them? Did you manage to resist the device? If so, how?" He frowned, reached into his pocket and withdrew his vortex manipulator. Scowling, he replaced it and took out the sonic screwdriver instead. "Well, you're human," he said, scanning her, "but that means the device should have affected you. So why didn't it? Unless it did, and the Zygons are controlling you right now..."

"They're not!" Tonks said angrily, swiping the sonic screwdriver out of Professor Smith's hand. "We need to stop them!"

"Why, what are they going to do?"

"Um, You-Know-Who just said to storm the doors."

"What do they hope to achieve with that?" Professor Smith asked increduously. "The doors are impenetrable!"

"I dunno, I'm just repeating what was said," Tonks said crossly.

Professor Smith frowned and began muttering rapidly to himself.

Tonks turned to Hermione. "Who is this guy?" she whispered quietly, so as not to be overheard.

"Professor Smith," Hermione whispered back.

"What, the guy who rocked up at Grimmauld Place? No! This guy looks exactly like Barty Crouch Junior!"

"Well..." Hermione said awkwardly.

Tonks froze. "You don't think he is Barty, do you? How'd he survive the dementor's ki - "

"Aha!" Professor Smith shouted triumphantly. "I've got it! So, Moldy-vort gets control of all the aurors, except that he uses Zygon technology. So how'd he get it?"

"The Zygons are working with him..." Hermione said slowly.

Professor Smith nodded. "Except that doesn't make any sense, does it? Zygons attacking their own ship. But what if some of the Zygons didn't want to live peacefully here? What if they wanted to kill every human? Then we've got a problem."

His eyes narrowed. He had a very strong hunch it was the Commander, Gratan. The way he had behaved during the negotiating sessions, the suppressed reluctance to release the captured humans, it all fit together to form one obvious fact: Gratan wanted eliminate any and all humans, and claim the planet as his own.

"But what about the doors?" Tonks asked. "You said they were impenetrable!"

"Only when they're closed," Professor Smith pointed out. "You open them, then the aurors can swarm in like flies."

Hermione gasped. "And if they're all under disillusionment charms..."

Professor Smith nodded. "All the rogue Zygon needs to do is to trick the other Zygons into opening the doors for him, at which point the invisible aurors enter and take control of the ship." He glanced down at his hand. "Though I think they already have."

Hermione and Tonks followed his gaze. Blue sparks were clustering around his left hand, and were beginning to spread up his arm.

He bent down and picked up the De-mat gun before turning to Tonks. "Tonks, sonic screwdriver, now!" he said urgently, holding out his other hand. "Tonks!"

"Hmm, sorry, what?" the auror asked. She'd felt a bit dizzy, a fact that worried her. Perhaps that hypnosis thing had done more to her than she previously thought.

"Give him his wand!" Hermione said.

"Oh, right, sorry," Tonks said, and she extended her hand to exchange the device with Professor Smith. However, just as Professor Smith's fingertips touched the end of the sonic screwdriver, the cloud of blue sparks collapsed inwards, and Professor Smith disappeared.

Tonks blinked. "Teleport," she muttered, before cocking her head in surprise. "Huh, so they actually exist. I'll have to tell Dad."

"Hermione! Tonks!" called a voice. It was Harry, returning from the Castle.

"Harry!" said Hermione. "Where's Ron?"

"He stayed for lunch," Harry replied, breathing heavily. "I told him lunch could wait, but he couldn't ignore his stomach."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Once again, Ron's appetite had got the better of him.

Harry turned to Tonks. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"Umbridge asked the Ministry for some aurors. I'm the only one left, the rest are in there," she explained, jerking her thumb at the Zygon ship.

Hermione gasped. "You said Umbridge!"

"Yeah, and?" Tonks said, unconcerned. "She's Headmistress, she can do that sort of thing." She scowled. "She's a right bitch too."

"Umbridge..." Harry said slowly. "That's the person Professor Smith was going on about earlier!"

Hermione nodded. "So why do you remember her too?" she asked Tonks.

Tonks grinned at them, like the whole thing was some sort of joke. "Okay, guys, fun's over. For a moment there, I almost thought you didn't remember who she was!"

"We don't," said Harry, as Hermione said, "Well, not quite."

Tonks looked at the two of them increduously. "Hang on, are you saying that you don't remember someone who's basically taken control of the school? She's been here since September!"

Hermione sighed. "It's a long story, but apparently Harry erased this Umbridge person from existence. As it turns out, no one can properly remember her except you and Professor Smith."

"Speaking of Professor Smith," interjected Harry. "Where is he?"

Hermione bit her lip. "Well," she said uncertainly, "if I had to guess, it would be the Zygon ship."

Professor Smith inwardly groaned as the pressure of the sonic screwdriver against his fingers abruptly vanished. Knowing he'd just been teleported, he looked up, only to be greeted by the bridge of the Zygon ship.

"Ah, Doctor, so nice of you to join us."

Professor Smith whirled around to see Commander Gratan smiling triumphantly, with someone who was clearly a wizard standing beside him. The wizard was tall, bald and very pale, almost transluscent, and he had no nose, with only slits for nostrils.

"So it was you, Gratan," he said quietly to the Zygon. "I thought as much, but I really hoped I was wrong."

With a jolt, the De-mat gun ripped itself from his grip and soared over to the wizard.

"A muggle weapon," the wizard spat. "Us wizards have no use for them Barty, you of all people should know that! Why did you have this device?" he demanded, tossing the De-mat fun to one side.

Professor Smith said nothing. The next moment, a searing wave of pain swept over him, digging into every nerve, tearing them apart, then putting them back together again, only to be torn apart once more; a million dalek extermination rays were hitting him, scrambling his internal organs, all while every regeneration was happening simultaneously; the Chameleon Arch was beginning to kick in; his head exploded in agony as the machine rewrote his biology -

The pain ceased as suddenly as it had begun. To his surprise, Professor Smith found himself on the ground, curled up in the fetal position. He was breathing heavily, his tongue hanging out of his mouth; his clothes were drenched in sweat.

"When I ask a question, I expect it to be answered, Barty," the wizard whispered contemptuously.

Professor Smith spoke, though with great difficulty, as every breath sent stabs of pain through his lungs. "I...didn't...know...you...were...talking...to...m e," he panted, climbing painfully to his feet.

The wizard raised his wand to curse the weakened Professor, but Gratan, held up back.

"Stand down, human," he hissed fiercely. "We need him sane...for now. Once he has outlived his usefullness, you may do what you wish to him."

The wizard lowered his wand, but not before an expression of fury flickered on his face, a detail that did not go unnoticed by Professor Smith. He recognised the expression as that of a man restraining himself. No doubt this wizard, whoever he was, resented Gratan's authority over him.

"Why? Why do all of this?" he asked the Zygon. "What do you need me for?"

"Why? Because the General is a weakling, that's why!" Gratan sneered. "The General should never have agreed to your demands for a ceasefire, nor should he have agreed to negotiate with you! He should have obliterated you and ever lousy human in the area!"

"So that's what this is all about, then," Professor Smith said, grinning despite the current situation. "You're the soldier who resents his superiors and thinks he knows better than any of them. There's always one in any military organisation."

Gratan hissed, but otherwise ignored the comment. "To answer your second question: you are her because the Council has remotely overridden the weapons systems after their beloved General lost control of the ship. You are going to restore control to us."

Professor Smith made up his mind in a flash. " No," he said immetiately.

BANG!

Professor Smith went flying backwards, landing on a control panel. Wincing, he slowly got up, pressing several buttons and pulling a few levers in the process.

"I don't think you quite understand the situation, Crouch," Voldemort said menacingly, approaching Professor Smith, wand raised. "I don't know what's happened to you in the past year, but you areno longer the loyal servant you once were. As such, you will soon find yourself facing the wrath of Lord Voldemort."

Professor Smith blinked. "Oh, you're Moldy-wart? Sorry, but I really, honestly did not know. And I'm not Crouch, I'm the Doctor."

"Such lies, Crouch," Voldemort hissed. "You should know it is futile to attempt to deceive Lord Voldemort!"

"He is not lying, human!" Gratan said impatiently. "As I told you when we first met two days ago, he is not Crouch. If you remembered this, you would not make yourself look foolish."

The Zygon paused, contemplating something. "I think a demonstration should be suitable, " he said eventually. "If you will not help us, you will have to be...persuaded."

He turned to Voldemort. "Bring them in."

Voldemort left the room.

Professor Smith was alarmed. From experience, he knew that demonstrations usually involved murder. "Demonstration, what demonstration?" he asked cautiously.

"A demonstration of what happens if you don't obey us," Gratan snapped as Voldemort re-entered the room with five aurors in tow. "So, will you enable the weapons systems?"

"No."

Gratan nodded to Voldemort, who raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

The first auror crumpled to the floor, dead.

"What did you do that for?" Professor Smith demanded, eyes going wide. He wasn't surprised, though. Murder, just like he'd predicted. "He was innocent, under your control. He couldn't defend himself!"

"And that is what makes it so delightful," Gratan hissed. "The fact that your precious humans will march so wilfully to their deaths! Now, enable the weapons systems!"

"No, I can't."

"Avada Kedavra!"

The second auror fell.

"Enable the weapons systems!" Gratan shouted.

"Please, just let them go!"

A flash of green light; the third auror hit the floor.

"The weapons systems, Doctor!"

Professor Smith didn't answer, instead, he ran his hands though his hair, trying desperately to think of a way to stop the murders.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Thud.

"Your final chance, Doctor," Gratan leered. "If you don't say yes, this man dies." He indicated the remaining auror. "How does it feel, knowing that four people have died only because you failed to say yes?"

Professor Smith closed his eyes, breathing heavily. "Fine," he said eventually. "I'll do it. Just release every auror from your control and get them off this ship. If you've got any zygons left here, teleport them to your mothership."

"You are not in a position to bargain, Crouch!" Voldemort hissed. "There will be no terms -"

"Stand down, human," Gratan ordered. He turned to Professor Smith. "You were wise to agree, Doctor," he said. "I shall do as you request." He went over to a console and activated a few controls.

The remaining auror collapsed.

"What have you done?" Professor Smith cried, rushing over to the prone body. The next moment, however, the auror disappeared in a cloud of blue sparks.

"He has been released from hypnosis and teleported outside," Gratan explained. "The other, traitorous members of my species have been teleported to the mothership."

"You give your word that you're telling the truth?" Professor Smith demanded, standing up.

"Yes."

"Okay...okay," Professor Smith said heavily, moving over to the controls that he knew were the weapons systems. "Just- just before I give you control of the weapons again, I'm curious to know why you'd let me, of all people, play with your controls. I mean, for all you know, I could close the air ducts, and shut the anti-grav feedback loop, which, given a couple of minutes, could blow this ship into a million billion pieces."

Gratan laughed. "I am not that stupid, Doctor!" he said. "The weapon controls are behind you, while the anti-grav reactor is controlled from over there..." he trailed off in horror. A memory replayed itself in his mind: Professor Smith flying throught the air and landing on the control panel, - the anti-grav control panel - and fiddling with the controls as he got up. He had closed the air ducts and shut the anti-grav feedback loop right under his nose, and had been playing for time ever since. A flashing red light confirmed his theories. The ship was about to explode.

Roaring in anger, Gratan whirled around and backhanded Professor Smith across the face. "You shall regret this, Doctor!" he shouted. "You may have won this battle, but the next will be your downfall!"

With one final glare at Professor Smith, Gratan picked up the De-mat Gun and ran out of the room.

Alarms began blaring; the room was bathed in red light.

"Enjoy death, Crouch," Voldemort said viciously, before he turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud crack.

As soon as the Dark Lord had vanished, Professor Smith scrambled to his feet and turned his attention to the control console once more. He hoped to be able to reopen the air ducts and anti-grav feedback loop in order to stop the explosion. Unfortunately, the feedback loops were too far gone, and the controls wouldn't respond. If only he had the sonic screwdriver!

"Oh, just my luck!" he muttered through gritted teeth. Giving up, he turned and left the bridge as fast as he could. He had to get out before the ship exploded!

The ship's comm. system kicked in.

"Warning, anti-grav reactor short circuit in sixty seconds!" a computerised voice announced.

Professor Smith teleported to the first floor.

"...forty-five seconds!"

"Come on, come on!" Professor Smith said desperately as he ran through the maze of corridors. There had to be an exit somewhere!

"...ten, nine, eight, seven..."

He finally found the exit door and pushed against it, but it wouldn't budge. Realising that Gratan and Voldemort must have sealed it from the outside, he rapidly searched his pockets, praying that there was something that he could use to escape, a spare sonic screwdriver, for instance. If not, then there was no way out. He was trapped.

"...three, two, one."

KABOOM!

The Zygon ship ignited in a ball of flame, instantly vaporising everything within a hundred metre radius. The shockwave from the explosion floored everything in a two kilometre radius; thousands of trees in the Forbidden Forest were felled, while the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower trembled before it succumbed to the might of the blast, collapsing completely on to the courtyard below. Shrapnel from the blast slammed into the other, smaller towers and spires of Hogwarts Castle, damaging the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dormitories, while completely destroying the Headmaster's chambers. Spot fires broke out all over the grounds as burning debris rained down from the sky.

Outside, Harry, Hermione and Tonks had luckily escaped major injury. They had been directing about ninety-five very confused aurors to the castle when the ship had exploded, knocking them all to the ground. They stayed down for several more minutes until they were sure the worst of the explosion was over before they sat up, coughing.

"Bloody hell," Tonks swore, waving a hand in front of her face to clear the smoke. She looked around. It was like a scene out of one of her dad's apocalyptic movies: smoke, fire, debris...She winced as she spotted one or two unlucky aurors, speared by falling shrapnel. It appeared as though Madam Pomfrey would require a lot of assistance in the Hospital Wing.

By now, most of the smoke had cleared, enabling a full few of the grounds. As Harry, Hermione and Tonks stared around, one thing was very obvious.

"Where's Professor Smith?" Harry said worriedly.

All three glanced at each other.

"I think," Hermione said heavily, "that he was still in the Zygon ship when it exploded."

They looked at the burning wreckage of the Zygon vessel, stunned. Professor Smith was dead. They were on their own.

Author Note: Cliffhanger! What will happen next? Is Professor Smith really dead? How did Tonks resist the Zygon hynosis device? Why does she remember Umbridge? Just a few questions for you to think about while waiting for the next update!

Kaioo: Yes, she is! This version is one of Clara's many lives.

SuOmAlAiNen92: Nope, not the Doctor, thankfully! Yes, your reasoning as to why Clara called out 'Doctor' is spot on. I'll explain why the Death Eaters rocked up in a later chapter, there's a very simple explanation for it, actually.

Guest: I think it would be safe to say that we all hate Umbridge!

TracyFace3: Thanks! I agree, but I can imagine that for a short amount of time, he would have considered killing her (like that moment in the Doctor's Daughter, when he holds the gun to General Cobb's head) before realising that making her suffer would be better. I like to think that, if Harry hadn't erased her, the Doctor would have given Umbridge a punishment similar to those of the Family of Blood.

Thanks! I don't actually research that much, actually. All the research I can remember doing for this story is looking up Zygons, the Winklegruber Neural Parameter Predictor and the De-mat gun up on the DW wiki, and checking a few things for Harry Potter accuracy as well. Apart from that everything's from memory!

Insanityisgood25: That's all right, just review when you can! I'm sorry you weren't happy with Umbridge's demise, but I've always felt that non-existence was the fate she deserved. I think one of the main reasons I erased her was because, in the original, Voldemort is the one who receives eternal punishment, and having that happen to teo different, unrelated people would kind of diminish the effect. In reqrite, though, I kept it because I liked it, and didn't want to stray from the original in that regard.

Yes, you're right about allons-y, I can never remember where the hyphen goes. I'll correct the previous chapter after this one goes up.

Thanks! And don't worry, we'll have 11 back by the end of the story.

I'm very happy Clara's death left a big impact, that's exactly what I was aiming for! Thanks!

Lovebugsalot: Err, #2 of what, exactly? I'm afraid I don't really understand what you're asking! Sorry!

Guest x2: O.O indeed!