Well, here's Chapter Three! The main plot should be picking up soon, so that's something to look forward to, I suppose. :)
The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh and put his empty cup of tea down. "Why must everyone insist upon pointing their wands at me here?"
"Remus! When did you get here?" Sirius asked, straightening a bit.
"A minute ago," Remus replied. "Sirius, might I ask why in the world you thought it would be a good idea to invite a Death Eater in for tea?"
"Why does everyone think that I'm a Death Eater? Do you see the Mark on my arm?" The Doctor asked, rolling up his left sleeve for the second time in ten minutes and revealing his bare arm. "I doubt that Voldemort would be satisfied with letting any servant of his, past or present, walk away without the symbol of that servant's loyalty."
Remus narrowed his eyes in confusion. "And besides, you know as well as I do that Barty Crouch Junior received the Dementor's Kiss. How do you expect he could have recovered from that?" Sirius added.
"Then who is this guy?"
"That's what I've been trying to find out."
Remus frowned. "So you just let a complete stranger who just happens to be a duplicate of the man who put Harry through all that hell last year into the base of the Order?"
"Look, it's not like he would have even known about this place if Dumbledore hadn't told him, and while I may not necessarily trust the man sitting at the table, I do trust Dumbledore. I figured I'd hear him out and then decide what to do. Besides, I'm hardly unprepared for any funny business." Sirius waved his wand, which was resting loosely but securely in Sirius's hand.
"And what did he say?"
"Something about how magic comes from rifts in time and something is amiss in the past," summarized Sirius.
"Excuse me?" Remus asked incredulously, returning his gaze to the Doctor.
"Something along those lines," the Time Lord said, "but we can fill you in later. Look, I came here because I need your help. Something is happening in this world's past that should never have even started, and I don't have the resources to fix it alone."
"But why come to us for help? Why not go to some other wizard or witch who doesn't happen to be part of the Order of the Phoenix and busy trying to stop Voldemort before he regains power?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Because you, Sirius, have a connection with one of the breaches in time that no other witch or wizard has. And I believe that such a link would be necessary to set things right," the Doctor replied after a few moments of consideration.
"I- what? Since when?" Sirius asked, shocked.
"I can't exactly explain it right now, Sirius, but I need your strength, and I can't get it from anyone else."
"And what's stopping you from explaining it?" Remus inquired.
"If I say the wrong thing it could alter your futures in a terrible way, and I'd rather not risk something like that happening." The Doctor sighed. "So what do you say?"
Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance.
"And how do we know this isn't a trap?" inquired Remus, raising an eyebrow. "Why are we supposed to trust you and believe that this isn't some convoluted scheme to imprison Sirius and do who knows what to him?"
"Have I given you any reason not to trust me?" the Doctor replied.
"Well, the fact that you look just like Barty Crouch Junior isn't helping your case at all," Sirius pointed out.
"Oh, so now you lot are judging on appearances rather than actions? Look," the Doctor said, slightly exasperated, "there's every reason for you to be skeptical. But other than the fact that I look like an enemy of you two, I haven't given you any reason for you to mistrust me enough not to at least consider my request for help. And it's not like I could really do anything to hurt you. I haven't got a wand and I'm not exactly a wizard in the first place. Otherwise I would try to fix this myself. But I can't, and I'm afraid that if you won't, something much worse than Voldemort will end up reigning over this land." The Doctor's voice was almost pleading as he left the Marauders with those points to consider.
Sirius and Remus locked eyes for a few crucial moments.
"I still think it could be a trap," Remus mused.
The Doctor sagged a bit.
"And what if it's not?" reasoned Sirius, and the Time Lord perked up again. "Are you really willing to risk losing a war before we even get a chance to fight it? Wait-" Sirius turned back to the Doctor. "What exactly would we be fighting?"
"A force quite similar to that of Voldemort, but possibly much more dangerous."
"And do you want that taking control of our world?" Remus shook his head. "Neither do I, and that's all that really matters, isn't it?" Ignoring the slight glare in his friend's eyes, Sirius turned back to the Doctor. "I don't know about Moony here, but I'm in. Just let me know what I have to do and I'll do my best to help save the world."
The Doctor grinned. "Good. Remus?"
Two pairs of eyes looked to the werewolf expectantly. Remus sighed in resignation. "I suppose someone has to keep this idiot from getting himself killed."
"Excellent!" The Doctor stood. "Shall we get going?"
"What? Now?" Sirius asked, shocked.
Remus was also befuddled, albeit for a different reason. "Wait, you said that this was happening in the past? Well how are we going to get there? Time Turners don't go back farther than a week and I'm sure whatever you're talking about happened long before that time frame."
"Oh, don't worry about that," assured the Doctor, striding across the room and edging his way past Remus. "I've got more diverse means of time travel. Now c'mon, you lot, we'd best be going!"
Exchanging one last uncertain look, the Marauders shrugged and followed the Time Lord back out into the hallway. The Doctor bounced on the balls of his feet for a moment before reaching behind him and pulling the door open. The three men walked out into the open sunlight, and Sirius closed the door behind them.
"Where exactly are we headed?" Remus asked, looking up and down the otherwise empty street.
"Not too far," replied the Doctor, bounding off towards the other side of the road. Sirius realized a moment later that they were headed for the mysterious blue box the strange man had arrived in. Confusion welled up again- how could that thing be capable of time travel?
The two wizards and the Time Lord walked the several yards between Number 12 and the phone box, with the Doctor leading cheerfully and the werewolf and the Animagus following a tad reluctantly.
"Wait," Remus began, raising his eyebrows, "Do you mean to tell me that this police box is going to take us to where we need to go?"
"That's the idea!" the Doctor confirmed cheerfully. A key was removed from the Time Lord's pocket and inserted into a small lock. In a moment one of the blue doors creaked open a crack, and the Doctor pushed it fully ajar.
Sirius peered into the space before him, and hesitantly stepped inside. Remus followed swiftly, and the Doctor closed and locked the door behind them before bounded up towards the central console.
"Impressive," Sirius mused, staring around at the wide room before him. "Now this is what I call a time machine."
Remus took a glance around and walked up to where the Doctor was pressing buttons and pulling levers on the central mechanism. "So what exactly is this?"
"This, my friends, is the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It'll be our lift to where we need to go and our sort of base of operations. I'll save the full tour for later."
"So there's more to this place?" Sirius asked, his voice not disbelieving but more excited at the prospect.
"Of course there is!" The Doctor paused, his hand over one last lever. "Are you two ready to set off? The TARDIS is a bit… temperamental, and once we leave I'm not sure if she'll let us go back before we fix what needs to be fixed."
"I signed up for this, didn't I? I'm ready," Sirius affirmed, leaning casually on one of the railings.
Remus shook his head a bit. "It still sounds like a trap to me, but if Sirius is willing to go then I guess I will too."
"Excellent! Molto bene!" The Doctor grinned and pulled the last lever, and the TARDIS gave an almighty lurch, and the two wizards had to grab the nearest railing firmly in order to stay on their feet.