Chapter 17 – Knockin' On Heaven's Door
On the way back to the Great Hall, Tonks had parted company from Romana and the Rani in an attempt to find her husband. The battle seemed to be reaching an impasse of sorts. Both sides were evenly matched, indirectly thanks to the renegade Time Lady who had removed some of the stronger Death Eaters from the battlefield. Romana would've thanks her but there was no way that the Rani had done it to consciously help the humans inside the castle.
Avoiding any further incidents the two Time Ladies entered the Hall. The Rani immediately begun to inspect the metal archway just inside the door, "Multi dimensional gateway completely with stable chrono controls", for a brief moment Romana though the Rani sounded impressed. That moment quickly passed though, "Mechanically engineering is so cold, very binary, either working or not", she continued.
"I didn't ask for your opinion on my creation", Romana snapped, "can you get it working?"
"You're very impatient in this regeneration", the Rani answered without looking directly at Romana, "not as bad as the last one mind you". Romana huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, her war time incarnation could be a nasty piece of work if you got on her bad side. She hoped those days were behind her but every now and then she felt the infamous War Queen begin to surface. Romana could only image how Harry and the others would've reacted if that was the version they met first.
Romana had grown tired of verbally sparring with the Rani and quietly allowed her to work on the device. The Time Lady still hadn't seen Harry, Ron or Ginny during their trip through the castle. She hadn't really seen too many people if she was honest. Most of the corridors the alien women traversed had been desolate, expect for piles of fallen rubble. Even the body of Lavender Brown had been moved from the entrance hall, making Romana wonder who was responsible.
The Time Lady's quiet revere was interrupted by the doors of the hall flying open and a battering looking group of teenagers stumbling in. Harry was in front, looking a little battered around the arms and face. Close behind was Ron sporting a rather large burn on his forearm along with patches of singed hair on his head. Finally there was Ginny who dumped a pile of burned fabric onto the floor which vaguely looked like school robes. The youngest Weasley was the biggest concern though, her eyes were red and puffed like she had recently been crying, "What happened?" Romana asked gravely.
"We got it", Harry sighed, "but Crabbe's dead". Romana wasn't initially sure how to react to that, her human memories of Vincent Crabbe weren't particularly pleasant, "Unleashed a curse that he couldn't control", Harry continued, "luckily for us he destroyed the Horcrux and most of the Room of Requirement".
"Sums up human stupidity right there", the Rani scoffed after eavesdropping on their conversation.
Ron instantly recognised the cold voice, "You!" he cried in the Rani's direction, "what the hell are you doing here?"
"Helping", the renegade replied simply, "no need to thank me", she took a brief pause from the computer terminal to think for a moment, "on seconds thoughts you should really thank me for fixing your friend's mistake".
Romana grumbled under her breath but her internal seething was interrupted by Ginny, "I recognise you", the teen began, "you were there when Fred got blasted into that wall". She marched towards and grabbed the Rani's coat, "What the hell did you do to him?" she demanded with tears forming in her eyes.
"Take you hands off me", the Rani cried and forcefully pushed Ginny away and into her brother. Ron looked murderous at the manhandling of his baby sister but was reluctant to brandish his wand in the Time Lady's direction. Romana wondered whether to interfere, fearful of how violently the Rani would react. Whilst she wasn't known to be a cold blooded murderer like the Master, the Rani placed very little value on human life. She wouldn't put it past the Time Lady to capture Ron for her little experiments.
To her surprise once the Rani calmed down her expression shifted into a curious stare at the Weasley siblings, "Interesting, I assume you're referring to that red head from the upper levels". She inched forward to inspect the pair closer, "Identical hair shades, I know that's very common in humans with their ridiculously low number of chromosomes but this is almost unheard of in the field of biology". Romana didn't like the maniacal glint in the Rani's eye on bit, "Maybe the magic gene renders homo magis more susceptible to this phenomena", the Rani continued gleefully, "oh the hours I could spend studying your DNA".
"Rani stop it", Romana hissed in an attempt to reign in the renegade Time Lady, "you've got plenty of samples to work on and I forbid you from collecting any more".
Something swirled between the Time Ladies as Romana's voice bounced off the high ceiling. Having Presidential authority on Gallifrey wasn't just limited to words and promises. The vortex itself recognised their authority and it in extreme cases it could bend the will of someone to do the Presidents bidding. Romana had never done that herself but just having the desire to be obeyed could be enough to keep rebel Time Lords in order. Despite Rassilon ousting her from power, the vortex still recognised her as the rightful President of Gallifrey. Since there was never going to be another election this power would stay with her until the day she died.
The Rani looked a little uncomfortable, she could feel the power of the vortex attempting to enact the will of the President. It took Romana a few moments to realise that she had invoked this long forgotten power and slowly began to reign it in, "As you desire Madam President", the Rani answered in a hollow voice.
"Rani I'm sorry", Romana pleaded with her fellow Time Lady, "I didn't realise what I was doing".
An uncomfortable silence descended on the Hall until the Rani spoke again, "Apologies are a sign of weakness Romana", she answered and continued working on the archway.
Knowing that the Rani would need some time to regain her pride, Romana turned her attention to the confused looking teens, "What was that all about?" Harry asked.
"Time Lord stuff", Romana sighed, "there's an archaic power that comes with the office of President which could technically enable me to force my will on my fellow Time Lords, probably built into the office by Rassilon himself before his death". Sensing that she was confusing the humans she decided to try and move on, "The Rani's sulking because I could make her do whatever I wanted".
"Are you going to?" Ron interrupted.
"Of course not", Romana sounded almost offended, "I'm not a monster". She then turned to Ginny, "Our visitor is a fellow Time Lady, known as the Rani", she began, "these two have met her before and I'll give you the same warning as I did to them Ginny". Romana paused and looked the yong red head directly in the eyes, "Use extreme caution, she is extremely dangerous".
Ginny paled as the realisation that she had manhandled a very dangerous woman slowly sunk in. With the aforementioned Rani sulking near the archway controls, Romana finally had a chance to process the conversation between the teenage witch and the renegade Time Lady, "What happened?" she asked slowly, "you mentioned Fred's name". The teens went silent, a glum look shared between them, "Will someone please tell me what happened", she demanded firmly.
Once again the doors burst open, only this time it wasn't just a few people coming in, it looked like the entire population of the castle had arrived. Line after line of witches and wizards scrambled inside, most of them carrying makeshift stretchers with the sick and injured. It wasn't just the injured though, a couple of dozen stretchers came through with a white sheet pulled all the way over the body. The empty feeling of multiple time lines suddenly terminated weighted heavily on Romana. Even the usually passive Rani looked uncomfortable as the procession of bodies filed passed.
Romana then spotted Tonks shuffling next to a stretcher that was being carried by a grim looking Bill Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt. The lank brown hair on the metamorph and the damp tear tracks on her grimy face told the Time Lady exactly who they were carrying. Her husband and father of her child, Remus Lupin, hadn't made it. Forlornly Romana wondered if rescuing Tonks from her demented Aunt had been worth it if she was only going to experience the horrific pain of losing her. She tried to focus her thoughts on Teddy Lupin, at least he would have one surviving parent.
Next through the door came another stretcher, this one being carried by Arthur and Percy Weasley. A frantic Molly Weasley followed, looking painfully close to a full breakdown. George Weasley kept pace with his father and older brother, never once taking his eyes off the stretcher. This one didn't have a sheet, giving Romana full view of the serene looking face of Fred Weasley, a ghost of smile still on his lips, "Got caught up in a blast caused by Rookwood", Ron blankly stated, "whole wall nearly came down on top of him".
The Time Lady sighed, another good human lost. Another person she had failed to save tonight. As the stretcher passed she felt something emanating off Fred's body, a faint time line, "He's still alive", she gasped.
"Probably wouldn't have been", Ginny added, "if your friend hadn't interfered, Fred probably would've taken the hit full in the face". Romana glanced over towards the Rani who was doing a very good job at pretending to ignore the conversation. Romana suspected that the renegade hadn't saved Fred's life out the kindness of her hearts but she would still have her eternal gratitude.
Her primary concern was that Fred's prognosis didn't feel great. A faint time line like his usual meant very low brain activity. Without brain activity, a subject wasn't able to create possible and potential futures. Knowing that she had to get a closer look, Romana cautiously followed after the Weasley procession. On the way she stopped next to the Rani, "Thank you", she began, "for saving Fred's life".
There was a tense silence before the Rani responded, "I didn't do it to earn your gratitude", she sniffed, "he was using magic at the time I froze him. Keeping him stored in this state will only help my research".
Romana nodded she suspected that was the case but perhaps this was a chance to reach out to the renegade, "You still did a good thing, I know that his family are grateful". The Rani glanced up, aiming her best unimpressed look at the former President, "Come on Rani I know you're not as cold and unfeeling as this image you like to project", Romana pleaded, "I'm not expecting you to become a Saint but would flashing a smile really kill you?" For a faint second the Rani looked like she was going to comply but her cold mask slipped comfortably back into place. Romana gently shook her head, at least she could say that she tried.
Leaving her fellow Time Lady behind she caught up with Harry and the other Weasley's. Everyone except George were huddled together on one side but the other half of the Weasley Twins refused to leave his brothers side. Romana carefully crouched down next to George, gently patting him on the knee, "George I am so sorry", she said softly. George didn't respond, he merely stared blankly at his fallen twin, "I'm going to examine Fred", she continued, "I can't promise I can help him but I can promise that my examination won't hurt".
George barely twitched in acknowledgement which Romana took as his passive acceptance of her offer. Slowly pulling out her sonic screwdriver, Romana began to carefully scan Fred's life signs. He had suffered extensive internal injuries but the Time Lady was confident that a skilled healer like Madam Pomfrey could heal those fairly quickly. Her real concern was the low levels of activity in his brain. Either the blasting curse or the falling debris had inflicted a serious brain injury. Magic could work miracles but even Romana was sceptical that Madam Pomfrey could reverse the damage caused.
Just as Romana was racking her brain to figure out a solution, a sharp voice pulled her back into the room, "Hermione what are you doing?" Mrs Weasley asked, "What's that thing in your hand?"
Romana cursed her luck but then again, using her screwdriver in full view of the hall was asking for trouble. Mentally she thought about her options, continue the lie and pretend to still be Hermione or tell everyone the truth. Deep down Romana knew there was only one option, she was extremely tired to lying, "It's a sonic screwdriver", she stated.
"I didn't realise muggles had such a thing as a sonic screwdriver", Mr Weasley frowned in confusion, "why would you want to make a screwdriver sonic?"
"It's not a muggle invention Mr Weasley", Romana shrugged, "in fact it's not even a human invention". She looked over towards Harry, Ron and Ginny. All three of them had a look which questioned whether this was a good idea. Romana agreed with them in part but her secret was leaking out and it was time to reveal everything before it came out at the worst possible time. "The sonic screwdriver was invented thousands of years into your future on a far distant planet", she added.
"Distant planet" Bill began, "you mean an alien planet?" Romana nodded slowly, "why would you have an alien device?"
"Because I am one", Romana said firmly. Judging by the stunned looks on everyone faces, the direct approach maybe wasn't the best idea.