It's another short chapter. Took me Rassilon's own time to write, though. Enjoy:)

Hermione shrieked and pounded a fist against the wall, where just a moment ago Ron had disappeared. "Ronald Weasley! Get back here NOW! RON!"

Without thinking, Harry charged through the shimmering time barrier. He heard the Doctor's shout behind him – "Harry! No!" and then an immense crackingsound. He reached Hermione's side and turned back to see the time barrier shatter into a million rainbow fragments. The Doctor ducked, but the pieces hung suspended in midair as if hung from a mobile. They glittered innocently in the dim light.

Harry turned his back on them, realizing vaguely as he did that his joints no longer creaked with arthritis. He was back at his normal age. "Hermione," he said gently. Hermione was sobbing in shock at the base of the wall. Harry gently put his arms around her. "Hermione, we're going to find him."

"How?" she sobbed. "He just disappeared! No Apparition, no Portkey, nothing! It's not possible!"

"Hermione, you're a witch. According to the Muggle world, that isn't possible," Harry told her. "Of course we'll find Ron."

The Doctor added from behind them. "If I could examine the wall, there ought to be some sort of trace left behind. That was a very strong teleportation signal – it's bound to have left some residue." He knelt beside them and fiddled with his sonic screwdriver. After a minute, he examined it and frowned.

"Not teleportation," he muttered. "Something else, something much bigger. Something huge." He looked at Harry and Hermione. "The crack is still there, it's just not visible. And it's widening. As if someone, or something, has ripped a huge hole in time..."

"The Time-Turners getting smashed," Hermione said. She sounded as if she had a bad headcold. She pulled herself to her feet. "They must have something to do with the crack. And you said there was a huge disturbance in time. Could it be the crack?"

"That and this time barrier," the Doctor said. He got to his feet and strode over to the suspended fragments. "I think the crack and the barrier were made of the same material – pure time substance, made corporeal. And if I'm right, and of course I am, the barrier was created by that crack in time." He started pacing restlessly. "When the crack was made, the fragments shattered out –" he gestured at the room – "and coalesced to form the barrier. Oh, but that's not all! Oh, no!" His pace increased. His voice rose and he grew even more restless. "Somehow, Harry shattered the barrier, not sure how, and the pieces are suspended in the continuum, and since they're fragments of the crack that means they still have a connection to it! And if you happen to be clever like me you know that with the proper sonic device – " he whipped out his screwdriver – "and a time-traveling blue box, you can trace that connection to its last destination! And fortunately, I am clever like me...so here goes..." He pointed the sonic device at one of the time fragments, which began to shudder as if caught in the wind. A high pitched keening filled the room, beautiful but disturbing, and the pressure in the room grew heavier.

Suddenly, the fragment the Doctor was aiming at ballooned in size. It was as if they were watching a video. Harry could see strange animals swimming in starlit skies. There were images of brutal wars and a huge red mountain. The image unfocused for a moment, then suddenly zoomed in on a face. It was Ron. He looked shocked, and though he was yelling something they were unable to hear him.

Hermione gasped beside Harry. "Ron!" She stepped up beside the Doctor. "Where is he?"

Harry joined her.

"Doctor," he said urgently. " Can you tell where he is? Can you trace the signal?"

The Doctor's face was furrowed in concentration. "It's being tricky," he muttered as he fiddled with the screwdriver. "Can't seem to focus. It's as if the place Ron's at is invisible to sonic waves – like a stealth plane is invisible to radar." He tapped the short stick. "Work, you blasted thing!"

"Wait," Hermione said. She took out her wand. "Amplifico!"

The screwdriver gave a mechanical screech, making Harry wince and cover his ears, and suddenly the image in front of them zoomed out. They could still see Ron wandering around, but now they could see his surroundings. Red grass was waving beneath an amber sky. Shining snowcapped silver mountains rose behind him, and a peculiar bubble-like structure, full of what looked like buildings, could be seen in the distance. The whole scene had an eerie, alien like feel.

Hermione stepped up to the image and put a hand to it tentatively. It passed through the time fragment like shadow on water. "Ron," she said softly. "Doctor, do you know where this place is? It's obviously not Earth." The Doctor didn't answer. She and Harry looked over at him. "Doctor?"

The Doctor's face was frozen, brown eyes wide, in a state of shock. He stared at the alien world with unadulterated astonishment. He opened his mouth, closed it, and swallowed. His sonic screwdriver dropped from nerveless fingers onto the ground.

"Doctor!" Harry shook his shoulder. He turned to stare at Harry, but his eyes went straight through him, unseeing, as if gazing at a different universe. "Doctor, where is Ron?"

"That's impossible," the Doctor choked out.

"What?"

"That place, it's gone. It doesn't exist."

"What place?" Hermione shouted, her voice echoing off the stone walls, filled with tension and fear.

"Gallifrey," the Doctor managed. "Gallifrey. The home of the Time Lords."

Gallifrey. Wish I could have a summer home there...of course if it was an option my full time home would be Hogwarts :) So? Thoughts? Pleeeeeeeeeease review! With a cherry on top. Love ya!