Disclaimer: Nothing related to Doctor Who or the Harry Potter Series is mine. I swear. I wish I owned them, cuz then I might have a bit more money, but I don't.

Warnings: Book Two of Three (Main books anyway). Swearing. Sarcasm. I have only watched the new series, no knowledge of early Doctor Who. EWE, kind of...

Dedication: To the Writers and Producers of Doctor Who, thank you for giving me something else to obsess over, now that Harry Potter is long gone. And to the lovely people who encourage me to continue writing in their reviews. To the lovely people who encouraged me to post the next chunk. To my lovely reviewers, thank you for everything you've said.

Book 2: Stories of A Shop Girl

Summary: A Death too soon. A woman who steps up to save the world.

Rating: Dark T

Genre: Adventure/Drama

A/N: I figure I should be nice and let you lot know that there is going to be a point of view switch between chunks of the chapter. It has to happen for the chapter to make sense. Please let me know if you don't understand or something, I'll try and figure out another way of presenting it at a later time.

A/N 2: I will not be updating daily like before. It will probably be every Saturday or so. At least once a weekend. And please, if you match the criteria below, I do need someone to talk to. If you are worried about spoilers, don't be. It's all theoretical.

NEEDED:

Someone familiar with the early Who. Preferably Doctors 3-5. And someone with knowledge of Gallifrey. It's for another story, but I don't want to make things up, and I don't want to screw everything up. TARDIS files only has so much.

A/N 3: So, the werewolf will not be joining this book. It might join the next one. And the next episode of season 2 The Girl in the Fireplace, is going to happen, just not in the next chapter. Therefore, my next chapter is the Rise of the Cybermen.

Part 2: Relearning Life and Death

Chapter 13: School Reunion

After dealing with the alien werewolf who told me I would die soon (I'm sorry, as if...), Mickey called us, talking about some school that was being weird and alien.

This left the Doctor and I arguing over how we were going to go undercover.

"At least get me another job outside of 'lunch lady'. We've got psychic paper. I can teach PE or something."

"Rose." The Doctor said, a frown on his face. "It's not the best idea."

I glare at him. "Doctor, the only reason why I haven't even completed my A-Levels is because of a boy. Otherwise I would have actually passed with flying colours. I know my stuff."

"But you're young." I give him a look.

"What does age have to do with anything?"

In the end, I managed to win the argument, and now I was the new English teacher.

The second day, I collapsed in the chair next to him. "Remind me why I wanted to be a teacher?"

"Because it was this or dinner lady." He replied.

I sighed. "It's been two days. Two whole days."

"Blame your boyfriend. He's the one who put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning, got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth." He frowned.

I blink at him. "Well, I've only found out that I can't stand most of the food here, and most of the students don't know Dickens from Shakespeare."

"Hopefully you know, given as you met one of them."

I laugh, suppressing the automatic urge to correct him. "I'm gonna see if there is anything else in the back. Something other than these amazing chips."

He gives me a smile. I walk to the back of the cafeteria, opening the kitchen doors. "'Scuse me, have you got anything other than chips?"

The dinner ladies are moving a barrel of oil with more protection on than if they were moving radioactive sludge. And then one topples over onto one of them. She starts screaming. They pull her into an office, and I take out my phone, intent on calling an ambulance.

"What're you doing?" One of the ladies pokes her head out, looking at me.

I give her a look. "Calling an ambulance."

"No need. She's quite alright." In the back room, there's a Whumph!, a sudden burst of light, like fire, and a scream. "It's fine, she does that." She enters the office again, and smoke rises.

I walk out of the room, intent on telling the Doctor, but the bell rang. I ran to the staff room. I practically grinned when I saw he also had a free period at this time. He was interviewing another teacher. I walk over to him, "Can I talk to you for a few minutes John?"

He was about to answer when the headmaster came in. "Excuse me, colleagues. A moment of your time." I turn to look at him, seeing a familiar face beside him. I swallowed. Aunt Sarah Jane. "May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith. Miss Smith is a journalist who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful for her to get a view from the trenches, so to speak. Don't spare my blushes." He waves everyone off, and leaves. Sarah Jane walks up to the Doctor and I. I glance at him, to see his jaw almost unhinged.

"Hello." She starts.

I smile and greet her. I elbow the Doctor, who seems to jump back to life. "Oh, I should think so."

"And you are?"

"Hm? Er, Smith. John Smith."

I swallow, suddenly thinking that the name I'd chosen instead of Rose Tyler was a bad idea. "Rose Granger."

She seems to frown. "John Smith and Rose Granger. What strange coincidences. I used to have a friend who sometimes when by that name. And my goddaughter's name was Hermione Granger."

"Imagine that."

"John Smith is a very common name." The Doctor said, grinning.

She smiles. "He was a very uncommon man. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. Yes, very nice. More than nice. Brilliant."

She blinks at his response. "Have you two worked here long?"

I smile. "It's actually only our second day." I smile.

"Oh, you're new then. So, what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

The Doctor smiles. "You don't sound like you're doing a profile."

"Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here."

I smile. "No, good for you." She moves away.

The Doctor still seems to be in a bit of a trance, and I want to avoid my godmother as much as possible.

We go back into the school after dark. I sigh, "It's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong." I comment. And the school felt twice as wrong. I went to this school, before I went to Hogwarts. It was weird being back at all.

"All right team." He frowns. "Oh, I hate people who say team. Er, gang. Er, comrades." I elbow him, which seems to get him back on track. "Anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen. Get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers. Go and check out the Maths department. I'm going to look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes." He walks off towards the headmaster's office, leaving Mickey and I alone.

"You going to be all right?"

He laughs. "Me? Please. Infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this. Are you going to be okay, you look a little freaked."

"Of all the schools in London, it had to be the one I spent the first six years at."

Mickey blinks. "Really?"

I laugh. "Check some of the maths trophies. Hermione Granger should be there."

"Will do." He said, saluting. He walks away, only to come back. "Where's the Maths department?"

I laugh, "Down there, turn left, through the fire doors, on the right."

He nods, and thanks me before walking off. I got to the kitchens, collecting a sample of the oil.

There's a scream coming from the Maths department. I turn, running and seeing the Doctor talking with Aunt Sarah Jane. "Did you hear that? And why's she here?"

"Old friend." He answered, as if that explained everything.

"Hi, nice to see you again." She looks at the Doctor. "You can tell you're getting older. Your assistants are getting younger."

I glare at her. "I'm not his assistant."

"No?"

I'm about to respond when the Doctor drags us towards Mickey. "Sorry! Sorry, it was only me. You told me to investigate, so I started looking through some of these cupboard and all these fell on me."

"Rats." I grunted out, tempted to stomp on them. I still hated rats after Pettigrew.

"And you decided to scream?" The Doctor said, looking at Mickey incredulously.

"It took me by surprise!"

"Like a little girl?"

"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

I let them argue, noticing that Aunt Sarah Jane was looking at one of the trophies. One of my old trophies. "Are you alright?"

She turns to me, blinking. "Oh, sorry, I got caught up in thoughts. My goddaughter used to go here. I haven't heard from the family in thirteen years. I feel like I've missed half her life."

"I'm sorry." I said, trying to blink back tears. I'd completely forgotten about her in everything that had happened in my life.

She looks at me strangely, but the Doctor interrupts. "Anyway, moving on. Everything started when Mister Finch arrived. We should go and check his office."

We're walking down a corridor. "So, you used to travel with the Doctor, funny, he's never mentioned you." I gave the Doctor a look.

"Oh, I must've done. Sarah Jane. Mention her all the time."

I give him a look. "No you haven't."

"What, not even once? He didn't mention me once?"

Mickey mutters something, and I take a pen out of my purse and bean him in the head with it.

The Doctor opens the door to the headmaster's office, and we all glance in. He whispers, "Rose, you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school? Well, they do."

Inside the room, there were huge big bat people. I blink, wondering if I was seeing things.

"No way!" Mickey hissed. He runs, and the Doctor locks the door. We follow him. "I am not going back in there. No way."

I frown, "Those were the teachers?"

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on." The Doctor said.

Mickey was still freaking out. "Come on? You're got to be kidding!"

"I need the TARDIS. I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen."

"I might be able to help you there. I've got something to show you." Sarah Jane said, smiling. She drags us all out to her car.

"K9! Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, allow me to introduce K9. Well, K9 Mark Three to be precise." I swallow, looking at the old metal dog. I may have accidentally zapped him once upon a time. I hope he didn't hold grudges.

"Why does he look so disco?" Mickey asked.

"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge. What's happened to him?" The Doctor said, frowning.

She smiles, "My goddaughter happened. Not sure what, just one day, she got angry, and nothing."

"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?"

"Well, it's not like getting parts for a Mini Metro. Beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone."

The Doctor tries to pet him, "Oh, what's the nasty lady's goddaughter done to you, eh?"

I tried not to be offended.

Mickey was trying not to brag, but he was doing it anyway. "All this time you've been giving it, he's different, when the truth is, he's just like any other bloke."

I glare at him, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Maybe not. But if I were you, I'd go easy on the chips."

I glare at him again. I lower my voice, hoping the Doctor won't hear. "Listen you, I don't care what you think. But I don't have to watch my weight. I've changed my DNA, I don't even really need to eat, or sleep."

"It's changed that much?"

I nod. "I have no idea anymore, and it's not like I can ask our resident alien expert."

"What about the version that appeared on Christmas, can't you ask him?"

I give him a look, "When? In case you haven't noticed, he's got a tendency of appearing at random."

I heard Sarah Jane talking about what she saw, and I blinked, holding back tears. "What's the story with you and her, anyway?"

"She's my godmother."

"Rose, give us the oil." The Doctor called. I take the small vial out of my pocket, handing it to him.

"Miss Hermione." K9 said, looking at me.

"Sorry, K9, haven't seen her in years." Sarah Jane replied sadly.

He smears the oil on K9's probe. "Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go."

"Oil! Ex ex ex extract. Ana ana analysing."

Mickey laughs. "Listen to him, man. That's a voice."

I elbow him. Sarah Jane glares, "Careful. That's my dog."

"Confirmation of analysis. Substance is Krillitane Oil."

The Doctor's eyebrows go up, "They're Krillitanes."

"Is that bad?"

"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad."

I sigh, knowing what's coming next. "What are Krillitanes?"

"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries, people you've invaded or have been invaded by. You've got bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever. The Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why I didn't recognize them. The last time I saw the Krillitanes, they looked just like us, except they had really long necks."

I swallow. "What are they doing here?"

"It's the children. They're doing something to the children."

Sarah Jane and Mickey are putting K9 in the trunk, when I catch up with the Doctor. I'm concerned. "How many of us have there been travelling with you?"

"Does it matter?"

I frown. "You don't talk about them. It does matter. They're a part of your past. You know almost everything about me. And suddenly there's something brand new that you've never even mentioned." I swallow. "Do you just leave them behind? Is that what you're going to do to me?"

"No, not to you."

I give him a look. "But Sarah Jane? You were that close to her once, and now you never even mention her. Why not?"

He looks at me. "I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you..." He stops.

"What, Doctor?"

He's got tears forming in his eyes. "You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords." I go to hug him, but he looks up as a giant bat swoops down. We all duck and it flies off.

"It just flew off. What did it do that for?"

The next day, the Doctor's giving orders, telling Sarah Jane and I to go to the Maths room. We enter and she's at the computers, getting frusterated with the screwdriver. "It's not working."

"Give it to me." She hands it over, and I try, getting it working a bit.

"Used to work first time in my day."

I sigh, "Well, things were a lot simpler back then."

"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?"

"I have a feeling you're about to."

She sighs. "When you don't talk to someone for more than a decade, and then suddenly reappear back in their life, don't pretend to be someone else."

I stopped, looking out at her. "How'd you know?"

"I know you. What happened?" I blinked back tears, going to hug her.

I gave a quick overview of the war, the fact that I sent my parents off, only to have them die in a car crash. And then a quick overview of everything else.

"Oh you poor dear."

I laugh. "With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, what? and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?"

"All the time. Does he still stroke bits of the TARDIS?"

"Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone?"

We're laughing our asses off, and the Doctor comes in, making us laugh harder.

"What? Stop it!"

We finally settle down, and the Doctor goes to the screens. "I can't shift it."

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!"

"Anything except a deadlock seal. There's got to be something inside her. What are they teaching those kids?"

The screens come to life, and the Doctor recognizes it. "No. No, that can't be. The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's the God Maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

"So they're using the kids like a giant computer?"

"Yes. And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil. That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleaver."

"But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them."

He frowns. "What's fifty nine times thirty five?"

"Why?" I ask, blinking. "Did it work on you?"

"No, doesn't work on Time Lords."

"But why use children? Can't they use adults?" Sarah Jane asks.

I swallow, and he answers. "No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls."

Finch enters the room. "Let the lesson begin. Think of it, Doctor. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are."

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

"What, by someone like you?"

Finch grins, "No, someone like you. The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a God at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon. Assinta. Your own people, Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords reborn."

I glare at Finch. "Doctor, don't listen to him."

"And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die." He turns back to the Doctor. "Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us."

"I could save everyone." He said, looking hopeful.

"Yes."

"I could stop the war." He said, looking at Finch.

I glare at them both. "No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, a life or a relationship, everything has it's time. And everything ends."

The Doctor looks at me, turns to Finch, picks up a chair, and throws it at the the screen, smashing it. "Out!"

We run out of the room, and run into Mickey, K9 and a student. Mickey's eyes are wide. "What is going on?"

We run into the cafeteria, and are followed by the bats. The student frowns. "Are they my teachers?"

"Yeah, sorry."

Finch is angry. "We need the Doctor alive. As for the others? You can feast." Sarah Jane and I jump behind the same table.

"I've got a plan. I need you to distract the Doctor though." She nods, and runs over to him. I get up, taking my wand out, and whisper, "Imobulus." The bats freeze in mid air, which K9 takes as a cue to start shooting them.

"Suggest you engage in running mode, mistress."

The Doctor rises from where he was and yells, "Come on!"

Everyone runs out of the room, just as the spell ends. I hear Finch yell, "Forget the shooty dog thing."

He starts making a plan, telling Mickey to get everyone out. "Now then, bats, bats, bats. How do we fight bats?"

The kid goes and pulls the alarm. We run through the Krillitanes holding their ears.

We get down to the kitchen and the Doctor goes to the barrels. "They've been deadlock sealed. Finch must've done that. I can't open them."

"The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing."

The Doctor nods. "Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me."

I practically have to drag Sarah Jane out of the door.

The Doctor comes out a moment later. "Where's K9?" Sarah Jane asks, about to cry.

"We need to run."

"Where is he? What have you done!" We both drag her away from the school. As it blows up, she cries, and I comfort her.

"I'm sorry." I say.

She tries to smile. "It's alright. He was just a daft metal dog. It's fine, really." She bursts into tears, and I hold her.

Sarah Jane and the Doctor walk back into the TARDIS.

"You've redecorated."

He smiles, "Do you like it?"

"Oh, I, I do. Yeah. I prefer it as it was, but er, yeah. It'll do."

I grin at her, going to hug her. "I love it."

"Hey you, what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?"

I laugh. "No idea. It's gone now. The oil's faded."

"But you're still clever. More than a match for him." I smile at her.

"You and me both." I give the Doctor a look.

He fidgets. "Er, we're about to head off, but you could come with us."

She gives it a moment of thought. "No, I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."

Mickey frowns, before speaking. "Can I come?" We all give him a look, "No, not with you. I mean, with you." He looks at the Doctor. "Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there."

Sarah Jane smiles. "Go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board."

"Okay then, I could do with a laugh."

Mickey looks at me, "Rose, is that okay?"

I swallow. "No, that's great. Why not?"

"Well, I better go." She goes to hug me again.

"What do I do? Do I stay with him?"

"Yes. Somethings are worth getting your heart broken over. Find me, if you need to, one day. Find me."

She exits, and the Doctor follows her. They talk for a few minutes, and then we're travelling again.