I'm really really sorry this took so long guys! I actually had it written weeks ago, but didn't have a chance to upload it. Again, my apologies! I've just been extremely busy with school and uni apps and such. Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this one, it's a bit longer but good. At least, I hope so.
I unfortunately, do not own anything related to Doctor Who or Harry Potter, sadly.
Chapter Four
Rose blinked. All those hours reading those precious books, memorising the layout of the castle, of every nook, cranny, and secret tunnel, and her mind had gone blank. It had just reached the stage of awkward silence when Ginny cut in.
"Why don't we take her to Hagrid's first? That was my favourite place to go."
They all agreed and headed out of the castle through the thick wooden doors that the Doctor and Rose had only entered not even hours before. The walk was the Great Hall all over again; Rose's head turned every which way before she had to remind herself that if she didn't want her head to unscrew itself, she'd have to stop sporting bobble-head like symptoms.
"So, what do you think?" the Doctor whispered in her ear as they walked past the Whomping Willow and in the distance, the TARDIS.
"Oh it's just marvellous Doctor! I can't thank you enough."
"I do love it here," he chimed. "It was a long long time ago the last time I was here, and even longer before that when I came here the first time. Back when Godric and Salazar and the gang were running the place. They were a fun bunch. Always a laugh." He grinned to himself, and then turned back to Rose. "Never did meet Hagrid though, so this is new for both of us!"
By this time, they had reached the pumpkin patch, and even though it was only the beginning of September, Rose stared in awe at the size of the monstrous pumpkins that dominated the place. Even now, she could carve one out and sit in it.
Harry climbed the two stairs to Hagrid's hut, and rapped solidly twice on the door. Rose could distinctly hear grunting as Hagrid made his way to this side of the hut. Opening the door, his face was immediately filled with a smile when he saw who his visitors were.
"Harry! Come for a visit, eh? Hermione, good to see yeah, and Ron too. Luna! And Ginny, come in come in. Wipe your feet there." Rose exchanged a look with the Doctor. By the looks of the mud that was located at various points on the floor in the building, Hagrid didn't practise what he preached. "And who might you be?" he asked, ushering Rose and the Doctor in as well. "Yer a little old for Hogwarts, aren't yeah?" he indicated the Doctor. "New professor?"
"Oh no," said the Doctor, offering his hand for Hagrid to shake, who did so gladly and nearly knocked the Doctor off his feet with the force. "I'm the Doctor. This is Rose, my companion. I'm er, old friends with Dumbledore and we're here to visit for a few days."
"Ah! Good to see you. Dumbledore might have mentioned it, but I missed the speech at the feast before I came in. I hope yer liking it here," he hummed as he got out eight mugs of varying sizes for tea. Pouring the hot water in, he asked Rose, "So what school did you go to then if it wasn't Hogwarts? Are yeah one of those Beaxbatons birds?"
"I er, well…I didn't go to Wizarding school." Rose stuttered. "I'm…well, I'm a Muggle."
"A Muggle eh? Well, nothin' wrong with that, so long as you know what yer doing." He handed her a mug that was nearly too large to hold. "Better than one of them French girls. Can't ever understand what they're sayin'."
"Er, Hagrid," Hermione piped up, looking down at her own mug and frowning. "You forgot to give us all teabags."
"Eh? So I did." He grabbed a dusty tin can and shoved it at Hermione, who nearly spilled her hot water receiving it. "Pass it around then." She took the tin, and after wiping off the pile of dust that heavily collected on the top, took a teabag then passed it to Luna, who did the same.
"So, Hagrid," the Doctor started cheerily. "How've you been? Been keeping busy I hope?" He had the air of excitement around him. Rose remembered that Hagrid was one of the Doctor's favourite characters.
"O' course, that's my job," said Hagrid. "I – wait a minute, you look a bit familiar." He studied the Doctor as if seeing him for the first time and not as if he'd been talking to him for the past five minutes. "'ave I met you before?" he inquired, giving the Doctor a funny look.
"Oh, definitely not," the Doctor answered. "I was here a long time ago, but never while you were here." He grinned goofily. "Maybe I just have one of those faces!"
Hagrid still looked weary of the Doctor, but pushed that aside and continued the conversation anyway, only this time turning to Harry instead.
"Sixth year. It seems only yesterday that you all were just wee little trouble makers. Not you're not so wee anymore." He clapped Luna on the shoulder, and she started to cough, sputtering out her tea. "Oh sorry there Luna, didn't mean that." He clapped her on the back, attempting to console her, but only made it worse. "Well then," he said, removing his hand from her back, and she finally returned to normality. "It's gonna be a good year," he boomed. "I can feel it in my toes."
"We'd better get going Hagrid," Harry said finally. "We'd love to stay longer, but we're giving Rose and the Doctor the grand tour."
They all stood to leave, and after saying goodbye to the groundskeeper amidst all his protesting, they finally headed back to the castle. The stars were all out, and Rose couldn't help but stare up at them in awe.
"Are those the same stars that we see on Earth?" she asked the Doctor.
"Yes and no," he replied. "Technically speaking, they are, but you can't see this far when you're on Earth. They're still there, just not visible. Then again, this is a parallel Earth, so maybe they are the same. Guess we'll have to find out!" He grinned. "We'll go there next."
They had finally reached the castle, and it was only then that Rose realised she had gotten a chill while they were outside. Now that they were in the castle however, they were returned to the original state of warmth that they had experience earlier in the evening.
"Where to next?" asked Hermione, who seemed to have taken over from Harry, who was goofing off with Ginny and Ron.
"Why, the Room of Requirement of course," Luna answered. They all agreed and headed in the general direction of the Room. As they climbed the stairs, Rose noticed that the students climbed them with ease, as they should, having had six, or even only five, years of getting used to them. Rose, however, had to regain her balance every time the stairs moved under her.
The staircases were always Rose's favourite part of the castle. She loved all of it, really, but the staircases took the cake. The way they moved always astounded Rose and even being on them now, watching and feeling it in person, was almost unreal. She shook her head in disbelief, because even hours later, she was only just beginning to realise where she was and that it wasn't all just a dream.
Eventually they reached a small hallway, and it wasn't until the wall started morphing that Rose remembered the secret of the Room of Requirement. When the wall was finished and now replaced by a great door that was covered in intricately woven metal bars, Harry opened it and indicated for Rose and the Doctor to enter first. Even though the stairs were Rose's favourite part of the castle, she was glad that she got to see the Room of Requirement first hand. While it would have been a different size and far less homey looking when Dumbledore's Army was in there training on account of housing so much more people, Rose was glad that it had changed into the setting it was now, with big comfy chairs everywhere, a cheery fireplace crackling away, and rows upon rows of books in bookcases lining the walls.
"Wow," Rose gaped, unable to stop her mouth from dropping to the floor. "This is incredible, it really is." She brushed her hand over the cushions, as if they weren't real. "I could stay in here all day."
"Don't we all wish that," Ron mentioned. "If I could find it more often, then I wouldn't have to sit through History of Magic all the time." He shrugged. "Then again, it's a lot like the common room in here."
"Look at all these books," Hermione proclaimed. "The History of Crystal Ball Forming, Oodles of Dragons and What Kind of Fire They Breathe. It really is a plethora of subjects." She pulled a particularly dusty book from high off its shelf. "When and Where You'll Find the Yeti of Manhoun," she read. "Well, can't say I'd ever need that one," she noted, carefully replacing it amongst the others.
"I'd bet you'd find it in Manhoun." Ron snorted. "You know, because it's the Yeti of Manhoun."
"Oh Ronald," sounded Hermione, attempting to suppress a smile, but enjoying her own amusement. She exchanged looks with Ginny, who rolled her eyes.
The Doctor plopped down in the comfiest chair closest to the fire. "Well, aren't these nice!" he exclaimed. "We should really get some of these for the TARDIS, Rose. It would make travelling a whole lot less bumpy."
"Yes, but Doctor, you'd never stay seated."
"Hm, fair enough. But I'll put in on the list anyways."
"What is a TARDIS?" asked Harry, who sat across from the Doctor, next to the crackling fire.
"TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." His speech was greeted by a load of blank and confused stares, even Hermione, who amidst all her readings had not come across it before.
"It's a time machine. And time and space machine, really," he added, thinking. "It's how we arrived."
"A time machine? Like a time-turner?" asked Ginny. "I thought those were all destroyed at the Ministry?"
"No, not a time-turner," corrected the Doctor. "Time machine. While your little dinky hourglasses can only go back in time, my machine can go anywhere in time and space, forwards, backwards, sideways, up, down, you name it."
"And you actually travel in it?" asked Ron.
"Of course!" chimed the Doctor. "My TARDIS is like a broom to you wizards! Or apparating. But with time and space travel as well. I never go anywhere without her." He grinned like a proud father. "Thick and thin, she's been through it all with me," he said fondly.
"What did Dumbledore mean earlier, when he said you and Rose weren't of this world? Are you aliens?" asked Ron.
Rose and the Doctor exchanged glances. She wasn't sure how these things usually worked. Dumbledore knew that their world was only fictional, but she thought it might mean chaos had anyone else found out. But she received the okay from the Doctor, and started to explain their origin.
"I am from Earth," she stated. "Just not…this Earth."
"How can you be of Earth but not of this Earth?" asked Ron, confused. "There's only one Earth, right?"
"Don't be silly Ronald," Hermione scolded. "Of course there's only one Earth."
"Well, sort of." Rose explained. "The Earth that I'm from, well, it's…" She didn't know how to phrase it. How do you tell somebody that their world is only make-believe? "Where I'm from," she tried again. "Your world, the Wizarding world, is, well, it's just a story." She waited for their responses, but she was only given blank looks, except for Luna.
"Of course," she chimed. "It makes sense. There's more than one universe out there, and she's just part of a different one."
"Exactly!" said Rose. "It's the exact same there as it is here. There's a London, and an England, and Europe and America, it's all the same, only there aren't any wizards."
"Well of course you wouldn't think so," said Ginny. "Since you're a Muggle."
"Ginny! That was awfully rude."
"Sorry, but it's true. Wizards aren't supposed to expose themselves, so if she doesn't know of any, that doesn't mean they don't exist." She sat back in her chair, refusing to back down. "I believe you that there's another world out there, the one you're from, but there can't be no wizards. The world would fall apart."
"It's true though!" Rose insisted. She didn't know it'd be this difficult to convince them. "I'm not saying we don't know about wizards, because we do. They're not real, that's all."
"So what about the story part then, what's that about?" asked Harry.
"Well, there's this woman…" Rose trailed off, looking at the Doctor to make sure that she wasn't going too far. He didn't give any indication, so she continued. "This woman, her name is Jo Rowling, and she's an author. A children's author. And she well, she created you. She created the story of Harry Potter."
"Like a book? A children's book?"
"Well yes, but people of all ages read it. I read it," she added.
Nobody spoke for a few moments. Letting it all sink in, Rose assumed. I can't imagine how I'd feel if someone told me my world was fake.
Finally, Ron was the first to speak. "Yeah, I believe you," he said. "There's all sorts of things out there. I'm not surprised that there's a world like Rose is describing."
"If our whole lives are a story then," stated Harry, "Does that mean it's finished? Do you know how it ends?" He sat up eagerly, waiting for Rose to respond, but before she could get a word out, Hermione piped in.
"No Harry, she can't tell us. It's the future, and we should never know the future."
"But Hermione, she can tell us if we win, she can tell us how to defeat Voldemort! How is that going to destroy the future?"
"Actually, I don't know that yet," Rose interjected before Hermione could let Harry have it again. "There are seven books in total, and I've only read the first six."
"Seven books," said Hermione thoughtfully. "That's like seven years of Hogwarts. One for each year?" she asked Rose.
"Uh huh," Rose concluded. "Except…well, never mind," she trailed off, before she gave anything away. She didn't think it would be good if they knew that this was going to be their last year at Hogwarts. Better let them live out their lives, she thought.
"This is crazy," said Ginny. "I knew this time-travel thing was weird, as soon as you started talking about that TARDIS thing of yours, but I never thought that we were all made up in some mad old woman's mind." She shook her head. "Say what you want to say, but I don't think that's the whole truth."
Rose was going to protest, but she thought better of it, and let Ginny's comments go. She did, however, keep it going. "If you think that's strange," she said, "Just wait 'til you hear the Doctor's story of the time lords. He's not even from the same planet that I am."
Ron was about to speak, to ask what planet exactly the Doctor was from, or what a time lord was, but the Doctor himself interjected.
"Ah, that's a different story for a different time," he said, indicating that the topic was now closed. "It's getting late; we should all be getting to bed. Big day tomorrow Rose, you get to go to study magic!" He winked and Rose smile back in return.
They all gathered and left the Room of Requirement. Rose looked back just in time to see the door mold itself back into a plain brick wall. You'd never know it was even there, she thought.
Soon enough they reached the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, where all but Luna, Rose, and the Doctor were obviously going to leave them for the night. Saying goodnight, the retreated off into the depths of the warm common room. Rose quickly caught a peek of some of the other students lounging around before the portrait of the Fat Lady closed up. She couldn't help but hope that the Ravenclaw common room was just as lavishly warm, and she was starting to gain a chill from the drafts of the castle.
Luna led them back up the staircases and down several different corridors. Finally, just as Rose was starting to wonder if they'd ever get there, they were led up a long spiral staircase. At the top, there was a door, but it was void of a handle and housed only a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Having not read about the Ravenclaw common room in any of the books so far, Rose was curious on what was required to get inside. She was just about to ask Luna if they were supposed to knock the knocker, but then the eagle spoke.
"What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?"
Rose turned to Luna, who was deep in thought. "Luna?" she asked. "Are we supposed to answer it to get inside?"
"Hm," Luna mumbled. "Never walks…never talks…never sleeps …a river!" With these words, the door swung open, and she led the way inside the tower.
"Yes," she answered, turning to Rose. "We don't have a password, but you have to answer a riddle to enter."
"What happens if you can't figure it out?" Rose asked.
"Then you wait for someone else to come along of course," Luna replied.
"That's brilliant," said the Doctor, beaming from ear to ear. "Magnificent stuff."
"It is, isn't it?" Luna agreed.
They strode across the nearly empty common room, until Luna approached a boy that looked to be about seventh year. He turned, and Rose could see his prefect badge gleaming in the light.
"This is Fletchley," introduced Luna. "This is the one who you're supposed to stay with," she added, pointing to the Doctor.
"Of course!" he exclaimed. "Hello Fletchley," he added, extending his hand. "I'm the Doctor,"
"Yes, Professor Dumbledore mentioned that you'd be here. Well, if you'd follow me, I can show you to our dormitory…" he trailed off, letting the Doctor decide.
"Of course! Lead the way, Fletchley!" He grinned. "I'm going to stay in a real dormitory! Goodnight Rose!" he squealed. Rose could only laugh at his little boy excitement.
"Goodnight Doctor," she teased. She watched as Fletchley lead the way to the left staircase, with the Doctor following closely behind.
"And us?" She turned to look at Luna, who had her attention caught by the stars that littered the ceiling. "Luna?" she prodded.
"Yes, this way," Luna said, starting off to the right hand staircase. Rose followed her. It was a spiral staircase, and Rose relished in the fact that she would be staying in one of the tallest turrets in Hogwarts Castle. She looked out the windows as they went up. The view was beautiful, even thought it was night time.
They reached the top of the staircase, and Luna opened the only door. Rose followed, and was greeted, by a wide open room that contained six beds, only they each had their own little nook so it was almost like they were small separate rooms. Rose thought it looked a bit like a flower and the beds were the petals.
"Hey everyone. This is Rose," Luna introduced. "This is Marta, Sarah, Grace, and Penelope." She pointed at each of the girls. "Rose is going to be staying with us while she's here." They all smiled at her, and Rose was reminded that Luna's friends were not in her house with her. She felt rather sad for the girl, but it didn't seem to bother her at all.
Luna led her over to the bed on the far wall. Although it was farthest from the door, it was closest to the stove that stood in the middle. Rose wondered how Luna knew where Rose was going to sleep, because she hadn't know that Rose was coming, but then she realised that it was the only bed that was not taken.
Saying goodnight to Luna, and to the other girls who seemed stiff but kind, Rose changed into the pyjamas that were sitting on the end of the four-poster and climbed into bed. Soon all that she heard was the slow inhale and exhale rhythm that was emitted from the other girls as they slept.
Her eyelids began to droop, and as she fell asleep, she ran through her mind all that happened that day. When she woke up this morning, she would never have even guessed that by nightfall that very same night, she would be sleeping in Ravenclaw Tower, next to Luna Lovegood, at Hogwarts. Mentally reminding herself to thank the Doctor again for making her birthday so magical, she fell asleep, pondering the events that would commence when she next woke up.