Chapter 14 – Unwanted Distraction
Hidden in the depths of Romana's TARDIS was a room that she had seldom used in the time she had possessed the craft. A little like the Room of Requirement, the room had become a dumping ground for the bits and pieces she had accumulated over the centuries. It was so infrequently used that the Time Lady hadn't even bothered to decorate it. The walls still carried the default setting of white walls and evenly spaced circular patterns which adorned every TARDIS straight out the factory.
If Romana had more time she would've loved rummaging around in this store room. There were various projects and memento's dating back to her Academy days, some of which she hadn't seen in centuries. Harry and Ron must've been enjoying themselves as well because she hadn't heard from them in a while. Realising that what she was looking for wasn't nearby, she set off to find her human companions. The Time Lady eventually found them sitting on the floor looking through a stack of pictures, "I leave you alone for five minutes and you start slacking off", she scolded the duo, "have you even found the box I asked you to look for?"
"Calm down Romana", Harry patted his hand against a black and yellow crate covered in circular symbols, "we found it but got a little distracted".
"Yeah by these pictures", Ron held up some of the prints, "these are wicked, better than wizard ones any day".
Romana sighed and crouched down next to the red head. In his hand were a number of three dimensional pictures filled with images of young Time Lords and Ladies. Romana smiled at the images, "This was my graduation class", she remembered that day like it was yesterday, "I graduated with the highest marks ever recorded by the Academy". As Romana's gaze lingered on the pictures her hearts began to fill with sorrow. Every single person in those frames was gone, some died during the Time War but the rest would've been on Gallifrey at the very end. It was moments like this that made Romana realise how alone she was in the universe.
"Hey check this one out", Ron held up an image of a striking brunette with piercing brown eyes, "I'd love to be a Time Lord if all the girls were this gorgeous".
The Time Lady wanted to admonish Ron for his crude behaviour but after seeing the photo in his hand, she suddenly had a better idea, "Why thank you Ron but I was still really young then, barely a hundred and twenty if I recall".
Romana's playful comment had the desire effect and Ron blushed so deeply with embarrassment that his face nearly matched his hair, "That's you?" Harry asked, taking a closer look at the picture.
"My original incarnation", Romana sighed, "probably my favourite in terms of looks and style but she could be really stuck up sometimes". The Time Lady rubbed her thumb over the picture, she had been a little bossy when she was younger. She snorted with laughter, that was quite similar to her human incarnation as well, "My second wasn't too bad either but I liked the curls I had then", she continued, "but we can go through my photo album another day".
"You never did tell us what was in this crate", Harry began, "I really like the patterns though, very arty".
"That's the language of my people, really beautiful to look at", Romana smiled, it had been a long time since she had seen any written Gallifreyan. As she looked closer she began to cringe, "Although this is more like graffiti, a graduation day prank if I recall".
"So this is like your school trunk then", Ron inspected the crate a little. Carefully he lifted the lid and peeked inside, "Blimey this is bigger on the inside too".
The Time Lady snorted, "If we can perform dimensional engineering on our time ships, why wouldn't we do it to our boxes too?" The wizards nodded slowly, conceding Romana's point, "Actually I worked on this project during my final decade at the Academy, my final school project if you will".
"Still doesn't tell us what's inside though", Harry frowned.
"No offence Harry but you really wouldn't understand", Romana beckoned for Ron to lift the crate, "unless you understand the concepts of eleventh dimension engineering and quantum dilation theory".
Harry stared blankly at the Time Lady, "I don't even understand what you said".
"Exactly", Romana smirked, "and that was the simple version, now come along I need to get started as soon as possible".
Weaving their way back through the corridors of the TARDIS, Romana hoped that her school project actually operated correctly. The device had worked back on Gallifrey because it had access to the Untempered Schism. The temporal energy field which surrounded the planet provided it with the power needed to operate. She had done a few mental calculations and in theory the magnetic energy in Earth's Van Allen belt should work but it was purely guess work until she got everything operational.
Soon enough they found their way out of the rear corridors and into the console room. Unfortunately they encountered something quite unexpected, an angry looking Ginny Weasley, "What the hell is this place?" she cried, "and what is that thing you're carrying".
"Ginny just calm down a moment would you", Ron attempted to calm his younger sister.
"Don't tell me to calm down Ronald Weasley", Ginny snapped, "the three of you disappear, spend months away without a single word and then just drop back in unannounced with this", she waived her hand around struggling to find an appropriate term for the TARDIS, "in this thing, whatever it is".
"A TARDIS", Romana replied, "that stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space".
Ginny gaped at the Time Lady, Romana's answer had clearly taken some wind out of her sails, "What does that even mean?" she eventually answered. Romana pinched the bridge of her nose, she didn't have time for this argument with the girl, "Don't get me started on you Hermione", she added sharply.
Romana stood with her hands in her pocket until she suddenly remembered that she was still supposed to be Hermione, "Me?" she snapped, "what have I done?"
"Where do I start", Ginny was really on a roll now, "the hair, the clothes or how about threatening Snape". Romana stared back impassively, Ginny was sharper than people gave her credit for, "It's like you're a totally different person", the Time Lady shrugged slightly because that was actually true. "Just tell me the truth for once", Ginny added, "I'd like to know what the three of you are actually up to".
"The truth", Romana answered before letting out a loud sigh, "that's not quite as simple as it sounds".
"Well how hard can it be", Ginny cried, "I'm smart I'll understand. I'll also know when you're fobbing me off so don't you dare lie".
Romana glanced over towards the wizards but they weren't being much help. The look on Ron's face practically told Romana she was on her own with the rest of this conversation. She glanced towards the roof of the TARDIS, there didn't seem much point continuing with the facade any longer, "The truth is this Ginny", she began, "my name is Romanadvoratrelundar, I'm a four hundred and thirteen year old alien and this is my ship which can travel in space and time".
There was complete silence in the TARDIS for several seconds. Even the usual humming from the various devices inside the ship seemed to go quiet. Romana found Ginny's expression hard to read, she didn't look like she had dismissed the Time Lady completely but there was definitely something brewing behind Ginny's eyes. It didn't take Romana long to find out exactly what that something was, "I could handle Ron lying to me Hermione but I really didn't expect it from you".
"Hey", Ron cried indignantly.
"But if you think I'm going to buy that shitty story then you've got another thing coming", Ginny continued, "so how about we try that again".
"Ginny she's not lying", Harry bravely stepped into the argument, "we've been to space and everything".
Ginny snorted, "Space, sure", she shook her head, "alright then take me to your home planet", the red head added mockingly.
"I can't do that Ginny", Romana replied solemnly, even thinking about Gallifrey at the moment was too painful.
"Yeah that's what I thought", Ginny snapped, "what kind of spaceship can't even take you home-"
"I can't take you because my planet is gone", Romana interrupted the red head's rant, "it was destroyed during a war". She sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat, "You can probably count the number of Time Lords left on one hand".
Silence once again reigned over the TARDIS as Romana watched Ginny carefully. The youngster Weasley was thinking carefully about the Time Lady's comments but really it could go either way at the moment. If Romana had to psycho analyse Ginny right now, she was currently in the denial phase of the grief cycle, "Alright say I believe this", the red head began, "where's Hermione then?"
"That's a little harder-" Ron began but didn't get very far in his sentence.
"If one more person tells me it's hard to explain, I swear I'm going to scream", Ginny practically shrieked.
Romana checked the chrono on the console, more precious minutes were being wasted and her patience was beginning to get exhausted by this argument, "We really don't have time for this", she groaned. She quickly stretched her fingers, giving them a little wiggle. She strode towards Ginny with her hands around the same level as the teen's head, "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to speed things up".
"What are you doing?" Ginny backed away nervously, "are you going to do some weird alien mind wipe or something".
"What, no", Romana shook her head, "I'm going to do a telepathic thought transfer, that way you can see that I'm telling the truth". The red head didn't look too convinced though, "You've got every right to be cautious but trust me, no harm will come to you". Ginny looked over Romana's shoulder and the Time Lady guessed she was getting reassurance from the other wizards. She looked reluctant slowly nodded her head in acceptance, "Thank you now hold still, I'm a little out of practice with this".
"Why didn't you do this with us?" Harry asked, "would've made things so much quicker".
The Time Lady rolled her eyes, "If I remember correctly, Ronald nearly walked out into the depths of space which served as its own proof". She closed her eyes and began to focus on her personal memories, "Now quiet, I need to concentrate".
Romana pulled forth some memories that would explain everything to Ginny as quickly as possible. She recalled the red sky of Gallifrey, her years at the Academy interspersed with her travels with the Doctor. The images flicked onto her term as President of Gallifrey, making sure to skip over large chunks of the Time War. Finally she focused on her rebirth through the Chameleon Arch and the 'death' of Hermione Granger. Very slowly she opened her eyes and found that Ginny was already looking at her, "So Hermione is...", he voice trailed off but Romana still nodded in confirmation, "I'm not really sure what to say".
By now Ron and Harry had joined the two females and the youngest Weasley son nudged Ginny gently, "Welcome to our world little sister", he teased.
"Ginny I know this is hard but I just want you to know that Hermione consider you one of her best friends", Romana stated, "if there was a way for both of us to exist I would do it but there isn't"
"I know", Ginny sniffed, "thank you for showing me", she then turned to Ron and punched him on the arm, much to his indignation, "that's for calling me little".
"Yeah she's going to be fine", Ron rubbed the sore spot on his arm, "now let's get moving, we still need to find the you know what on the seventh floor".
"Tom's Horcrux you mean", Ginny said to the surprise of the wizards, "Romana let that slip in her memories". Harry and Ron looked at the Time Lady but she merely shrugged, "Let me help you, I've had personal experience of those things and not many people can say that".
For a moment Ron was going to protest but Harry interjected himself quickly, "Good idea". Romana turned towards the wizards, she knew how Harry felt about the girl so she was a little surprised that he would suggest taking her Horcrux hunting, "We need an extra pair of eyes", he continued, "plus if I know where you are I won't worry about you".
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself", Ginny snapped.
"I know, if I didn't think you were I wouldn't have asked you along", Harry quickly added.
Romana had to admire how Harry had talked his way out of that corner but time really was against them now. They had spent nearly half an hour inside the TARDIS searching and talking which was time she hadn't spent on her device, "Lovely now that's settled I really need to get to work". She picked up the crate and carried it towards the door, "Don't do anything stupid, reckless or dangerous".
"You know us Romana", Ron smiled as he followed the Time Lady out.
"I know, what was I thinking", she sighed, knowing they were probably going to run into trouble straight away. With the two youngest Weasley and Harry heading to the Room of Requirement, she headed for the Great Hall. She hoped that Professor McGonagall had cleared everything out, otherwise some very precious items would be lost forever.