Chapter 2 - Difficult Conversations
The inside of Romana's TARDIS was dark, just a few lights around the central hexagonal console and a dim golden glow coming off the sides. The walls held the traditional circular patterns associated with the legendary time ship with black highlights around the spherical design. The central console was a tangle of wires that stretched all the way around the time rotor. Several other cables hung underneath the console where someone had attempted to hastily hotwire some new connections.
Romana's memories were still settling as her time as the human known as Hermione Granger assimilated with hers. Memories of the Time War, cast aside in her human form, rushed back and threatened to overwhelm the Time Lord. Coupled with the final memories of Hermione, suffering torture at the hands of a psychotic witch, Romana knew that she needed to get away and quickly. Punching a few buttons on the console she was about to send her ship into flight when a voice stopped her, "Hermione, what the hell is this place?" Ron asked.
Silently cursing herself for forgetting that Harry and Ron were onboard. Romana tried a think of a good way of explaining to Hermione's best friends that technically she had never existed. How would even begin that conversation? She was given a temporary reprieve by a loud banging noise on the doors of her TARDIS. The Death Eaters had clearly recovered from the shock and were trying desperately to get inside the time ship.
Romana was reasonably confident that the doors would keep the invaders out but their magic created an uncertain variable. A standard unlocking charm would probably not be powerful enough to overcome the TARDIS's defences but the former President of Gallifrey thought it would be wise to leave as quickly as possible. It also wasn't lost on her that Harry and Ron were itching to throw the doors open and start firing curses back at the Death Eaters. Choosing a destination quickly, Romana set the TARDIS in motion and it departed with a soft hum. It was a little too quiet for her taste and almost made her long for the loud groaning noise that was synonymous with the Doctor's TARDIS. "It's alright, we're safe from them", she announced once they had arrived at their destination.
"Good, now can we have some answers", Harry said hotly, "why did you apologise to me, where the hell are we and what was all that business about someone called Romana?"
"Straight to the point as always", the Time Lady sighed, this wasn't going to be an easy conversation. "The where is probably easier to answer", she began, "you're inside my TARDIS, that sounds for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space".
"Time and what?" Ron mumbled in confusion, "is this like one of those muggle airyplanes you keep talking about?" The red haired wizard took a quick look around, "Didn't realise muggles had expanding charms because this is much bigger on the inside".
Romama snorted with laughter, "That brings me onto the most difficult part", she took a couple of moments to prepare herself, "I'm not a human, I'm an alien and this is my ship". Blank looks met her statement, "Muggles can't make anything that's bigger on the inside, you're standing onboard an alien ship".
The two wizards stared back at the brunette and it was obvious to Romana that they didn't believe her. Had the situation been reversed, she probably wouldn't have believed the explanation either, "Very good Hermione", Harry chuckled, "you nearly had us going there for a minute but you can drop the act now", he added as Ron joined in with his laughter.
"Harry I'm not Hermione", Romana replied sternly, "my name is Romanadvoratrelundar or Romana for short". Seeing that the two teens needed a little more convincing, she unzipped her grimy hooded top and grabbed hold of Harry's hand, "You want proof, feel my heartbeat". Harry hesitated and the thought of touching Romana's chest, even when prompted by the Time Lady, "For God's sake don't be so bloody noble", she huffed and yanked Harry's hand to place it on her upper torso, "What do you feel?" she asked the wizard.
"Your heart", Harry said, "right where mine would be".
Romana nodded, at least Harry remembered some of his early school lessons from the time before Hogwarts. She then slowly moved Harry's arm down until he was touching the right side of her ribcage, "And what about now".
The effect was almost instantaneous when the bespectacled wizard felt her second heart. He scrambled back and began to feel for his wand but he quickly released that it had been taken at Malfoy Manor and not recovered. Romana watched him take a couple of quick breathes before stammering, "You've got two hearts", the Time Lady nodded, "you really are an alien".
"I was under the effects of something known as a chameleon arch", Romana explained, "it physically changes a Time Lord's DNA to make them something else. At the same time it creates a new personality for the person to fit with their new appearance. Until I opened the arch back at Malfoy Manor, I had no memories of who or what I really was".
"And just what is that", Ron spat, "and can we get the real Hermione back".
The Time Lady sighed, feeling slightly sorry for the pureblood wizard. He would have trouble operating a kettle, let alone understanding the concept of aliens from another world. She was also acutely aware of Ron's romantic feelings towards Hermione. Romana knew from her human self's memories that Hermione had felt the same way too. It must be hard for the red head to see the face of the woman he loved yet have to accept she wasn't the same person.
Romana pulled down a screen from the top of the console and gave it a couple to hard slaps to get it working. On the screen an image of another planet with a dark red surface appeared, "That's my home planet, Gallifrey", she began, "one of the shining wonders of the universe, or at least it was", she added with a heavy heart.
"Was?" Harry asked, intrigued by the images on the screen, "what happened to it?"
"There was a war", Romana replied, "between my people and another race called the Daleks. The thing last I remember before becoming Hermione was a bright flash and the planet disappearing from space". She perched on the console and looked towards the ceiling, "I'm not sure if it was destroyed or it something else happened to it". Her memory of escaping from Gallifrey was still returning but the huge explosion seemed to have taken out the Daleks too. Romana knew that the Doctor had taken The Moment out of the Omega vault, could that be the reason that both the Time Lords and the Daleks had been destroyed? The only positive option was that the sentient weapon had moved Gallifrey somewhere else.
An angry snort from Ron quickly brought Romana out of her musing, "You two are both crazy", he snapped, "Harry you can't believe this, clearly Bellatrix has done something to her mind".
"And my hand at the same time", Harry barked back, "I know that she's got two hearts, why would that insane bitch do that?"
"I don't know", Ron retorted, "but I'm getting out of here, I'm not listening to this anymore".
As Ron began to stomp towards the door Romana groaned, something told her that Ron would be the hardest person to convince. Just as the red head reached the door she called out, "I wouldn't go out there if I was you".
Ron ignored the Time Lady and pulled open the door. He went to put a foot outside but quickly noticed there was nowhere to place his foot. He nearly lost his balance and clung to the door frame for dear life, "Bloody hell", he cried. The TARDIS was no longer on Earth, it was in the vast emptiness of space orbiting a bright white star.
Romana looked outside before casually leaned on the doorframe next to Ron, "Congratulations Ron Weasley, you are officially the first wizard in space", she chuckled, "one small step and all that". The Time Lady looked at the giant ball of gas below, there was something peaceful about watching a star burn. The TARDIS shields kept most of the heat away, allowing them to bask in the rather pleasant temperature.
Moments later Harry stuck his head between them and took a look at the star below, "Where are we?"
"The constellation Canis Major", Romana began, "you two are a long way from home thanks to the TARDIS". The Time Lady looked over and for the first time she felt that Harry and Ron had accepted the truth, albeit reluctantly in Ron's case.
"Canis Major", Harry racked his brains for moment, "so that makes that star Sirius then?"
"Six years of Astronomy finally paid off for Harry Potter", Romana clapped her hands gently, "technically that's Sirius A because it's a binary star". She pointed out into the distance to a much smaller star, "That dwarf star is the other part called Sirius B. I thought maybe it would inspire us, draw something from the dog star".
The trio stood watching the star for several minutes and it almost felt like old times. But nothing would ever be the same between the trio again, "I never meant for any of this to happen", Romana began softly, "the war was about to end badly for us and the High Council of Gallfrey had locked up anyone who was going to oppose them".
"I thought you said you were the President", Ron asked bemused, "and aren't you a little young to be in charge of a country".
Romana wondered if she should explain about regeneration now but quickly decided against it. She would tell them soon but getting them to accept she wasn't the person they knew was hard enough without throwing body changing into the equation too. "Firstly Ron I wasn't just President of a country, I was President of the whole planet", she replied, "and for your information I'm not that young, I'm four hundred and thirteen years old".
"Blimey", Ron gasped, his mouth flapping open a couple of times, "well you look good for it".
"Thank you", Romana smiled, "to answer your original question I was overthrown as the rightful ruler and imprisoned but thanks to a few renegades I was able to escape. The plan was for me to hide in human form until it was safe to return to the planet", she crossed her arms and snorted, "unfortunately someone thought it would be funny to de-age my body into that of a child". She held her hand to fend off incoming questions, "I don't know how old I was when I arrived on Earth, best guess is that I arrived as a baby or a toddler at the very latest".
The trio stood in contemplative silence, none of them truly sure how long for. Both of Romana's hearts ached for the two humans standing beside her. Harry had lost many things that he cared about during his short life, his parents, his godfather, his familiar and now one of his best friends. Ron on the other hand loved Hermione deeply, even if it had taken him until their sixth year to realise it. Romana might have retained the memories of Hermione but it wasn't the same. It was like someone else had moved permanently into her skin with no chance of the bookworm being able to return. Hermione hadn't died in a technical sense but in all the ways that counted she had. Her friends wouldn't get the chance to mourn because an identical looking person was standing in her place.
Despite the shields around the ship, it soon began to get cold with the doors open. Romana ushered the teens away and gently closed the doors, "So what happens now?" Harry asked the Time Lady softly.
"Well first thing I need to do is get you back to Earth", she replied, "after that it's up to you". Romana bit her lip, did she want to get involved in another war so quickly after escaping from one? She shook her head in defiance, the Time Lady owed it to Hermione to complete the mission she had started, "But if you don't want me to stick around", she shrugged, "I'd understand if you didn't because this must be-".
"Stay", Ron said firmly, "we could use all the help we can get", Romana nodded but internally she felt deflated. Ron hadn't asked her to stay for personal reasons, more because they felt obliged to keep her around.
Romana tried her best to keep her disappointment off her face but even the normally emotionally stunted Harry and Ron noticed there was something wrong. As the Time Lady idly wondered around the console, the dark haired teen stated, "It's not that we wouldn't like having you around but..." his voice trailed off as he attempted to find the right words.
"You don't really know me", Romana replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice, "look we'll talk about this later", she continued in an attempt to change the subject, "I could do with cleaning myself up and I'm sure you feel the same way". She flicked two switches on the console, one put them into the Time Vortex to grant them as much time as needed. The other switch opened a small door opposite the main TARDIS ones, "You'll find a bathroom and wardrobe through that corridor, take a left at the first intersection and it's the twelfth door on the right".
Harry and Ron looked at each other, concerned with the directions they had been given but mostly because they were worried they had upset the Time Lady. Romana pretended to look busy at the console until the teens had left the room and which point, she visibly deflated and slumped against the desk. Their conversation had gone better than expected but that didn't make it any harder. It was stupid of her to think that things would return to the way they had been. Romana was an unknown quantity to them and more importantly, she had taken the place of their best friend.
The brunette stripped herself of her pale blue hooded top and kicked it dismissively underneath the console. She would definitely depose of that and all of her battered clothes as quickly as possible. She reached into her jeans and pulled out the wand she had taken from Malfoy Manor and quickly remembered that it had belonged to the young heir. Turning it over in her hand something about it didn't feel right. Actually that wasn't completely correct, she didn't feel anything at all. It might as well have been a carved stick for all she knew.
Tentatively she pointed it at her discarded top and said clearly, "Wingardium Leviosa", but the fabric didn't move an inch. "Lumos", she tried something else but there wasn't even a flicker from the wand. Romana wanted to tell herself that it was the wand but she knew the truth. It had been Hermione's human DNA that possessed the ability to do magic and now that she had been returned to normal, that talent had gone away. Time Lord DNA was special but magic was one thing that had never manifested itself. Romana wouldn't be helpless in the upcoming battle, Time Lords possessed many talents that normal humans and wizards didn't have but in this fight for the magical world, the Time Lady wouldn't be able to lift a wand in anger. Feeling more deflated than ever, Romana left the wand on the console and slunk away to clean herself up.
A/N - Wow...I mean wow, I really wasn't expecting the level of response that I received for the first chapter of this story so thank you to everyone who followed/favourite/reviewed.
The decision to take magic away from Hermione/Romana might be controversial for some. After much thought, the idea of a Time Lady (who has the ability to regenerate, travel in time and a level of intelligence that we couldn't begin to comprehend) with the power of magic creates a vast imbalance in both the Potterverse and the Whoniverese. Time Lords/Ladies are already viewed as Gods in some parts of the universe, add in magical powers and Romana would be totally unstoppable with barely any weaknesses and that doesn't make for a great story...in my opinion anyway.