Chapter 7 – Evading The Dark Lord
Romana shuffled into Gringotts, lagging behind Harry and Ron by several metres. She could still feel her hands shaking after her panic attack outside the building. The speed which the attack came on terrified the Time Lady and left her wondering if she would be any use to the teens when they got into another fight. If she struggled against a few dark wizards then Romana felt she wouldn't have much chance when the Dark Lord unleashed the might of his army.
The Time Lady hated feeling out of control of her emotions. Her first incarnation had been fairly guarded with her emotions, a consequence of her vast intelligence that placed her far ahead of the other Time Lords at the Academy. The second Romana was different, much more open and expression which was largely thanks to the Doctor's influence. Even after she returned to Gallifrey and assumed the mantle of President she kept hold of the jovial personality that she had cultivated.
The Time War changed everything and her third regeneration was cold and calculating. It wasn't the final days of the War that something changed inside the Time Lady. Rassilon had usurped her from power and imprisoned in the bowels of the Citadel. The dark, lonely days had given Romana time to think and repent for her actions. The Daleks were seen as the evil incarnate but at least they were open about it. The Time Lords under Romana had been just as vicious and many worlds simply ceased to exist, that blood was all on Romana's hands. Maybe having an incarnation that panicked under fire was Romana's punishment and penance.
"The Goblin Nation has conducted a thorough search of the Lestrange vault", Ragnok's voice cut through Romana's dark thoughts. The King of the Goblins clicked his fingers and one of the tellers stepped forward, in his hand was a purple velvet bag, "I believe this is the item you are looking for", Ragnok added.
Romana watched as Harry and Ron looked inside the bag. She didn't need to though, the Time Lady was suddenly overcome by the same sickly feeling she had experienced when in Voldemort's presence. Harry carefully pulled out his wand and Romana could feel the eyes of the Goblin's focused solely on him, "I'm just going to levitate it out from the bag", he stated in an attempt to placate the Goblins. Romana let out a sigh of relief when Ragnok nodded stiffly, inviting him to continue.
Harry muttered the levitation charm and a small golden cup floated out of the bag. Romana spotted a badger engraved onto the surface, confirming that this cup had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, "I trust this keeps up our end of the agreement brokered by your fellow Time Lord Lady Romana", Ragnok stated.
The Time Lady turned towards the Goblin leader, swallowing her doubts in the process. It wouldn't do her any favours to show weakness in front of the Goblins, "Your people are truly honourably King Ragnok", she bowed respectfully, "if I encounter the Doctor again I will speak highly of your actions today".
"Now all we need to do is destroy the thing", Ron commented, "good thing we've still got the sword onboard your ship".
Romana nodded slowly, remembering that she had to go back outside and face the Death Eaters. Her immediate concern though was for the Goblins, "The Dark Lord will know that you helped us Ragnok", the Time Lady stated, "I recommend you escort your people to safety".
"I am touched by your concern Lady Romana", Ragnok replied, "the young and the women are already safely inside the catacombs that surround the vaults". The Goblin King smiled with a particularly vicious looking grin, "If they attempt to invade Gringotts, they will encounter some very nasty surprises".
"I see", Romana said curtly, from her studies she knew just how vicious and vindictive Goblins could be when provoked. Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable again, she quickly bowed her head, "Look after yourself King Ragnok", she added in Gobbleygook.
"May your enemies fall at your feet Lady Romana", Ragnok replied before instructed his people to begin retreated deeper into the bank.
With the Horcrux in their possession the trio had no other business inside Gringotts. As they headed towards the doors Ron gazed towards the cup floating in front of Harry, "Not much to look at is it", he commented, "at least Slytherin's locket looked the part, this is just a cup with a badger on it".
"A solid gold cup Ronald", Romana added, trying to restore her internal balance by doing something she was good at , lecturing and reciting information, "gold tarnishes over time but this still looks brand new", she inspected the goblet a little closer, "not bad for something nearly a thousand years old". The Time Lady's hand reached for the brass handle but she paused before pushing it open, "If you think this looks unimpressive, you'd be disappointed when you see the Holy Grail".
"The Holy Grail", Harry gasped, "you mean you've actually seen it?"
"Seen it, I've drunk out of it", Romana smirked in response, "which reminds me, if I ever see the Doctor again I really must ask him if he returned it to that Jesus bloke". She shrugged her shoulders slightly, "He kept calling him a very naughty boy though. No idea why, something to do with pythons apparently".
The Time Lady shook her head, shaking off her memories and gingerly opened the door. She forgot to ask the Goblins if their force field was still active. Nervously she peeked outside and was relieved to see that the Death Eaters were still safely contained behind the invisible shield, "I think the coast is clear but let's not hang around", she commented and led the two teens into the Alley.
The Death Eaters had given up trying to blast their way in and were prowling around the entrance of Gringotts. Voldemort himself looked especially murderous but not as angry as he was the moment he spotted Hufflepuff's cup. The force field blocked out the noise but Romana imagined the inhuman scream coming from the Dark Lord's lip, "Blimey I think we've pissed him off", Ron said in his typical understated fashion.
A sudden flash of inspiration shot across Romana's brain, maybe they should destroy the cup now before entering the TARDIS. She wasn't too sure how the time ship would react to having a fragment of human onboard, it could confuse the door locking mechanism and leave them stranded. Her idea would only infuriate the Dark Lord further and paint a huge target on her back. Maybe it was the reckless Gryffindor spirit of her human self overcoming the nerves of her Time Lady because before she had a chance to stop herself, she called over to Harry, "Force the cup towards the gathered Death Eaters".
"Can I ask why?" Harry replied, "aren't we supposed to be destroying these things, not giving them back".
"Just do it", she barked, unholstering her Sonic Blaster and turning it up to the highest setting. Harry did as he was instructed and put a little more power behind his levitation charm. The cup shot in front of Romana and she fired a round with deadly accuracy. The cup disintegrated with shower of broken gold and plasma. For a moment Voldemort was stunned until his eyes flashed red. Pure magic began to pour from his wand and Romana could feel the force field buckling under his immense power and strength.
Once again Romana found herself rooted to the spot, fearful of the coming assault. What if she had led Harry and Ron to their deaths, would she freeze again under pressure? Those questions were pushed out of her head when she heard Harry scream in pain. He collapsed to the ground, clutching his forehead around the region of his scar, "I think Voldemort's angry", Ron commented.
"You think", Harry spat out through gritted teeth, "it feels like my head's going to explode".
The suffering of her friend jolted Romana into action, "Quickly get him inside", she flashed her sonic screwdriver towards her disguised TARDIS which turned back into the red phone box that Romana was beginning to like. It took the combined effort of the Time Lady and Ron to drag Harry's dead weight into the time ship. Romana left the dark haired teen near the entrance and bounded over towards the console, throwing the ship into flight.
The gentle hum of the Time Rotor did little to calm Romana's fears as the ship sunk into the Vortex. Fortunately the distance between Harry and Voldemort seemed to ease his headache and he managed to sit himself up, "I know where to find another Horcrux", he gasped between breathes, "it's at Hogwarts, inside the Room of Requirement".
Romana nodded absently, unsurprised that Voldemort would hide a piece of his soul inside the school. Without telling the teens, she began to scan the time stream around Hogwarts for an appropriate landing spot. Now that Voldemort was aware they were hunting Horcruxes, there seemed to be a change to time itself. To her it felt like everything was contracting towards a certain point, maybe even a fixed point but she hadn't been able to establish when that was, "Why aren't you using a wand?" Harry's sudden question surprised Romana, "I know yours was taken by the snatchers but surely one of the spare ones we acquired will work for you".
The Time Lady had been dreading this question, would the boys consider her useless to their quest without magic? There hadn't been a right time to tell them before now but maybe this was the moment, "Yes, about that", she began but before she could continue, the ship violently lurched, "oh not again", she cursed the ship.
The wizards were quickly on their feet, gathering around the console, "Do you need me to pull that lever again?" Ron asked, sounding a little too eager to use a piece of technology.
"That's very kind of you Ron but we're not out of control this time", Romana pulled a monitor towards her and began to scan the readouts. Suddenly she noticed something on the screen and her hearts skipped a beat, "No, surely not", she gasped and began to frantically push buttons on the console, "my magnificent ship has located another TARDIS".
There was silence in the console room, punctuated by Harry's voice, "Could it be your Doctor friend?"
"I'm not sure", Romana replied, "if it is then he's not on Earth". She checked the co-ordinates on the screen, "Polis Gratis, sometime during the twenty fourth century". Romana knew that planet, inhabited only by the indigenous species of the world, it was a lonely backwater planet that the Time Lords never visited. Even during the human colonisation of this quadrant of the galaxy, the planet was largely left alone. This didn't seem like a planet the Doctor would visit under normal circumstance, then again with his piloting skills he rarely arrived where he wanted to. "How would you do like to visit your first alien world?" she asked with a sense of mischief. Maybe this quiet planet would be the perfect place to regain her equilibrium.
Harry and Ron glanced at each other with a mixture of excitement and nervousness, "What about the other Horcruxes?" Ron asked, "surely we should head to Hogwarts now?"
Romana sensed the underlying tone in his voice, he was desperate to get to the school to check on Ginny and the rest of his family. Hermione realised pretty early that was Ron's motivation for this hunt, to protect his family from Voldemort and that memory was still held deep within Romana's mind. "Ron we're in a time machine", she reminded the red head, "we could be gone for a year and still return moments after we left".
Ron didn't look overly convinced but bowed to Romana's knowledge on the subject of time travel. The TARDIS locked onto the co-ordinates of its sister ship and quietly landed on the planet Polis Gratis, "Well, shall we take a look", Romana smiled, turning on the spot and allowing her red coat to billow behind her.
Polis Gratis lived up to its isolated reputation, the TARDIS had landed in the middle of a dense forest and the Time Lady could sense nothing for miles. That was concerning though, she should've been able to feel the other TARDIS in the area, "Stay close to me", the Time Lady said gravely to her human companions, "and watch your step". She reached for her Sonic Blaster but didn't pull it from its holster.
Romana took a quick look around, trying to feel any Time Lord presence in the vicinity. There was the chance that the TARDIS detected had crashed here during the Time War. It wasn't uncommon for Battle TARDIS's to get ejected from the vortex and crash into a random part of the universe. If that was the case it was unlikely that its owner was alive, unless they had the good fortune to turn up moments after the crash.
As the group moving deeper into the forest, Romana had the feeling that someone or something was watching her. Using some of her psychic ability she tried to reach out for any brain activity in the area but found nothing. It could be some of the local occupants, their brain activity was too low to be picked up by her superior Time Lord mind, "Something's here", Harry commented from just over Romana's shoulder.
Before Romana could reply, a large group of grey skinned creature leapt out from the trees. It didn't take the Time Lady long to notice they were surrounded, "Wait a second", Ron began, "these things look like House Elves".
The creatures had the same bat like ears and skinny physique associated with the magical beasts but that's where the similarities stopped. Unlike House Elves these creature were easily the same size as the trio and came armed with spears, "I've never met a House Elf that wanted to skewer me before Ronald", Romana commented snippily.
"Ah I thought I recognised that condescending tone", a female voice called out through the gloom, "the voice may change but that superiority complex still shines through Lady President". The tone of address stunned Romana, the fact this woman knew she was President of Gallifrey singled her out as a fellow Time Lady. The irritation in her voice narrowed down the list of possible candidates to just one.
From the trees stepped a woman who could pass for late thirties in human years. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight braid that sat in the middle of her back. She was dressed in a pair of dark red leather trousers that were tucked into some heeled black boots. Underneath her thigh length black jacket was a well fitted white blouse. The face might change but the cold eyes instantly gave away the identity of this Time Lady, "Rani", she grumbled, "I should've known, this planet has your stench all over it".
"I'd watch your tone Romana", the Rani replied slowly, "you find yourself at my mercy". Romana reluctantly agreed with the renegade Time Lady and slowly raised her hands, a gesture that Harry and Ron mirrored, "You should be grateful", the Rani continued, "after all, I did save you rescue you from Gallifrey". Romana muttered something under her breath, trust her to own the Rani a debt and the rogue Time Lady was just the type to want payment.
A/N - And there were two Time Ladies. I'm imagining this incarnation of the Rani as Lara Pulver (you may remember her from such Stephen Moffat's shows as Irene Adler in Sherlock)