The minute they reached the bottom of the elevator shaft the Doctor was off running. He couldn't bear to hear someone in pain and was determined to help them. The Golden Trio wasn't far behind.

He turned a corner so fast that Ron went skidding past it, and the elderly Harry and Hermione slammed into him. They fell in a heap on the ground. "Why are you on the ground again?" the Doctor shouted over his shoulder.

"Because you're a bloody maniac, that's why," muttered Ron.

They ran after him into a large, dark, circular room with many doors. It spun around so fast that they couldn't even tell which door they'd come in from. The Doctor ran a hand anxiously through his brown hair. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. He whipped a strange device out of his pocket and pointed it at the doors, which stopped revolving immediately. One swung open quietly.

"This way," the Doctor said.

"Is that a wand?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Sonic screwdriver," he said tersely. "Like a screwdriver, but sonic."
"That's illuminating."

He didn't reply, but charged on through the door. They followed. They were in a dimly lit room, and it took them a moment to see what was there. It took a good deal more time to process it.

Clocks of every shape, size, color, and kind were ticking away ominously on the walls. They covered the room from ceiling to floor. The room was circular, and looking up Harry saw numerals and hands painted on the ceiling, like a clock. Glass covered the floor like delicate, transparent grass. A huge bell jar had shattered. A tiny baby bird, halfway through adolescence, lay squeaking feebly among the wreckage. A huge glass display case in the front of the room also lay in shards. Scattered around its base were gleams of gold and, curiously enough, sand. The entire room shimmered in a disorienting way. But most remarkable of all were the people.

Clothed in black, hooded and masked, they strained at invisible bonds fruitlessly, writhing on the ground. They seemed trapped. Most had various injuries. One of them was splayed on the ground, flailing his arms. He was grotesque, with a huge man's body and a tiny baby's head. He whimpered and moaned. It seemed it was he who had screamed earlier.

"Death Eaters," breathed Hermione. "After Dumbledore captured them, didn't he say he left them in the Department of Mysteries?" She edged forward cautiously and reached her hand out. Suddenly there were two Hermiones: one facing them and one facing the Death Eaters. The one facing them had a hand on the invisible barrier, and she looked horrified.

With a sudden pop, the Hermione facing away from them disappeared. Now there was just the new Hermione, the one behind the barrier.

"I don't know! I don't know!" she shrieked.

"Hermione!" roared Ron, and lunged for her. The Doctor's arm came up and stopped him.

"Don't touch the barrier!" he cried.

Ron turned on him. "Are you mad – "

"You'll end up trapped, same as her, and no one will be able to help her."

Ron gazed at her hopelessly. "Hermione, what's going on?"

"No, don't touch it!" she screamed.

"I won't," he said in confusion. "We're gonna get you out, 'Mione!"

Then with a pop, another Ron appeared next to her. He embraced Hermione, and she shoved him away. "I told you not to touch it!"

The Ron outside the barrier looked mystified. But Harry saw dawning comprehension on the Doctor's face. "I think – " he began.

"Come on then, let's go," Hermione gestured to Ron. He stared at her and the other Ron next to her.

"You want me to come in?" he said in extreme confusion.
She paused as if listening. "Yes."

Without further hesitation he touched the barrier – and disappeared like the other Hermione.

"Why does no one listen to me?" the Doctor muttered. "Why in the name of Rassilon's sacred pantyhose...Oh don't mind me, just a nine-hundred-year-old-Timelord with the knowledge of the Universe, don't listen to me, I don't know anything..."

"Dah-er!" Harry said frantically. He inwardly cursed his lack of gums. "Wha do we do?!"

The Doctor gestured in frustration at the barrier. "They seem to have jumped forward a little in time. See, Hermione replies, but it's to something we haven't said yet. She told Ron not to touch it before he actually had, remember? Since she's ahead in time, he had already touched it. I think – "

"It must be because of the Time-Turners!" Hermione said.

"Oh, right!" Ron recalled. "The entire store of them got smashed when we were dueling that lot." He jerked a thumb at the incapacitated Death Eaters behind them.

"Yes, you see, Harry?" the Doctor said. "I was about to say that I think something disturbed Time so that everything from this barrier on is a few seconds ahead. If the Time-Turners caused a big enough ripple when they smashed..." He nodded. "That would do the trick. Hermione was answering the thought I just voiced. And when she said 'Come on then,' I think she was telling us to figure this out faster."

"Ha do we geh theh ouh?"

"I don't know how we'll get them out," said the Doctor. "Not yet at least. But at least we know the Death Eaters can't hurt them. They seem restrained on the ground. And no one's getting in there to hurt them either."

Then a form arose from the ground. Like the Death Eaters, it was cloaked in black. But this man had a kindly, tired, old face. His eyes were blank. He was blind.

"Hello?" he called. "Is someone there?"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other. "Yes," Hermione said. "Who are you?"

He sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Godric!" he cried. "I thought I'd be here forever! I'm Septimus Croaker, Unspeakable. And unseeable," he joked feebly, pointing at his sightless eyes. "Are you here to get me out?"

"I'm afraid not," Hermione said gently. "We're trapped too, you see. I'm sorry."

"How long have you been here?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Croaker sadly. "Time starts to lose meaning in here. Can't you feel it?"

Ron looked at Hermione. She turned her eyes to his face, looking unnerved. "Mione," he said slowly. "How long have we been in here?"

"I don't remember," she breathed shakily. "I don't know."

Augustus sighed again, this time in defeat. "And you try to remember, and you can't. You forget all sorts of things. I wasn't alone when I came in, but I can't remember who else was with me..." he trailed off.

"What did he look like?" Hermione tried to help.

"Who?"

"The man who came in with you."

He frowned. "Someone came in with me?"

"You just told us so!" squeaked Hermione.

He shook his head. "I don't think...no, I was alone. Most definitely alone."

Hermione took a sharp intake of air and grabbed Ron's hand. "Ron, you remember me, right?"

"Of course I do," he said reassuringly. "You're not gone. You're still here. Croaker's companion's not here in front of him, so he forgot him. But we're both here." He turned to Harry and the Doctor. "Okay," and touched the shimmering barrier.

"Touch the barrier," the Doctor said. Nothing happened. Ron tapped it with his wand. "Okay. Ron, tap it with your wand." Again, nothing happened.

"I'll say," replied Ron morosely.

"Well, that didn't work," the Doctor muttered. "Okay, he just replied to something I hadn't said yet. This is getting annoying."

Abruptly, Croaker swung around and faced the wall. "Listen to the music," he murmured.

Hermione and Ron listened. "I don't hear it," said Hermione.

A glowing golden crack appeared in the clock-covered wall. It seemed as though there was a bright light coming from just behind it, and the crack was merely a hint of the glory lurking on the other side.

"I hear it too," Ron breathed. He and Croaker moved forward, but Hermione held him back.

"Ron," she said nervously. "There's no music."

Croaker moved on. His hands were extended before him. "I found it!" he cried exultantly. "The way out!" He walked stiffly forward as if embracing the light. In response, the light grew around him, brighter and bigger and stronger until he was a black dot. It swallowed him and then diminished into a pulsing glow again.

Ron strained forward. "The way out! C'mon, Mione, he found it! Let's go!" he shouted. "Why are you trying to stay!?"

"Ron!"she cried. "I can't hold him!" she shouted over her shoulder. "I'm trying, I'm trying!"

"Hold him!" shouted the Doctor. 'Don't let him go!"

But although Hermione dug her heels into the ground, Ron dragged them forward towards the light. It pulsed bigger in welcome. "The music!" Ron cried. "Can't you hear it?" He seemed like a man possessed. Without even looking down he took out his wand and said "Relashio!" Hermione was pushed away from him by an invisible force, and he staggered into the light.

"Ron!" she screamed.

He was a black dot.

"Ron!"

The light pulsed smaller and smaller.

"NO!"

He was gone.

Cliffhanger alert.

Thanks for the reviews! Leave me some more, they just make my day!

~ Hogwartsharpist