Chapter 20 – The Dark Lord's Downfall
Waiting, it was one thing that Romana had discovered about her current regeneration, she absolutely hated waiting. The irony wasn't lost on her, a four hundred year old Lady of Time who despised the slow passage of time. She leaned casually on the lectern at the far end of the Great Hall, staring intently at the entrance door. She recalled a few of Hermione's memories of the room, the first time she had seen the enchanted sky, her sorting ceremony and many more. Her human counterpart had been extremely happy here and hopefully after today, future generations of witches and wizards would feel the same sense of elation that once filled Hermione Granger.
Standing just to her left was Harry, the Time Lady didn't have to use her enhanced senses to pick up on the boy's nervousness. The other four core member's of Dumbledore's Army was extremely passive although there was a reason for that. She could've taken some of that passiveness right now from Harry, "Can you stop pacing", Romana snapped, "you're making me nervous".
"Forgive me for being a little apprehensive about having a face to face chat with my mortal enemy", Harry sniped back, "tends to make you a little nervous". Romana blinked a couple of times, recalling the brief exchanges she had with the Daleks during the War. Unfortunately she knew exactly how the young wizard felt.
Time continued to pass slowly until the distant thundering of footsteps began to get closer. Romana straightened herself up and Harry did exactly the same. She thrust her hands into her trouser pockets, the Time Lady wanted to look as casual as possible, "Show time", she whispered to herself.
A few seconds later the Dark Lord paced through the door, passing between the metal archway. Close behind him were the remains of his human followers, the Rani had done an impressive job of removing several key Death Eaters. Not that she would tell the renegade Time Lady that, if she ever caught up with her. "Harry Potter", Voldemort began smoothly, "and the Lady Romana, how nice of you to join us".
Romana forced back a smile, despite the calm exterior she could feel the nervousness from the Dark Lord. He knew he was vulnerable but his tight emotional control kept it well hidden, "Looks like you found us", Romana stated offhandedly, "any last words?"
There was a stunned silence from the room, even from Harry who was privy to Romana's plan, at the brazen attitude of the Time Lady. Soon Voldemort began to chuckle and that began to ripple around the Death Eaters. The Time Lady though stood impassive and waited for the moment to pass, "You seem confident", Voldemort replied coolly, "even the members of Dumbledore's so called Army".
Another snort of laughter from the Death Eaters but still no real movement from Romana, she continued to appraise the Dark Lord with a cool gaze. There was no doubting his intelligence and magical power, "You could've been so much more", she sighed loudly, "think of all the good you could've done but instead, you chose to destroy".
"You dare mock me", Voldemort roared angrily, "I am the greatest wizard of the last century".
"The greatest is debatable", Romana began, "but certainly amongst the top ten".
"Romana what are you doing?" Harry whispered, confused by the praise the Time Lady was lavishing on Voldemort.
"Just letting Tommy boy know his place in the world", Romana ignored the angry glare from Voldemort and jumped down from the elevated platform where the staff table stood and wondered towards the Death Eaters, "I'm going to tell you a story Tom, about someone of equal intelligence and brilliance". She slowly began to pace in front of the dark wizards, "His planet was dying and his people were suffering. He used his genius and scientific talents to come up with a solution to save his civilisation". She paused and stared directly at Voldemort, "That man's name was Davros".
Romana shuddered slightly at the mere mention of the creator of the Daleks but she had to prove a point, "In his unrelenting desire to see the Kaleds survive, he created the most dangerous creatures the universe has ever seen. The Daleks were unrelenting killing machines, a single Dalek could level a city in mere minutes".
"Sounds like my kind of creatures", Romana heard the male Carrow twin snigger with laughter.
The Time Lady suppressed her rage towards the ignorance of the man and calmly continued her lecture, "Problem with Davros was that he was too clever, not satisfied with dominion over a small quadrant of the galaxy he set his sights on reality itself". Romana's glare hardened, "He didn't live past the first day of the Time War yet not one of his Daleks mourned his loss". She paused, piercing Voldemort with a hardened stare, "Will anyone mourn you Tom?"
A quiet murmuring broke out in the room yet Voldemort remained largely impassive, "Fascinating story", he snorted, "are you trying to appeal to my humanity?"
"We both know that you tore your humanity apart Tom", Romana through a couple of items down at Voldemort's feet. They were the remains of his diary and Slytherin's locket, "Tore it into seven I believe".
The Dark Lord bristled angrily but he quickly regain his composure, "That no longer matters, I have you right where I want you". He slowly produced a familiar looking wand from his robes, "I am now the master of the Elder Wand, nothing shall stand in my way".
Romana gazed at the wand, in all the commotion of her rebirth she had completely forgotten about the Deathly Hallows. If the Dark Lord fully believed that he was the master of the wand then that means Severus Snape was dead. The Time Lady suspected there was more to the Potion Master than his irritable and sour exterior, however, she couldn't mourn his loss. He was nothing but a bitter bully towards his students and nothing would change her mind.
Allowing Voldemort a few more seconds to bask in his supposed victory, Romana continued to stare unimpressed at the wizard, "Finished?" she began, "you should know that Time Lords are hard to kill but feel free to have one free shot". She opened her arms and invited the shot, "This is your final chance to do some productive Tom, don't waste it".
A sneer crossed Voldemort's face and he raised his arm, "Avada Kedavra", he roared, malice plastered all over his face.
A sense of anticipation flashed over the room, however, there was nothing. There was no flash of green light and Romana remained standing, "Performance issues?" she sniggered, "I hear that happens to every man at some point in their life".
"What magic is this?" Voldemort cried and attempted to cast the killing curse again.
"Not magic, science", Romana hopped back onto the platform next to Harry. She produced her sonic screwdriver, using it to seal the doors. At the same time Neville, Ginny, Luna and Ron disappeared, "Holographic projections, not really necessary but a nice touch I thought", she continued.
The Time Lady watched almost in amusement as the Death Eaters failed to cast any spells, "Fundamentally magic is the manipulation of energy, once you work out the frequency that energy oscillates on then it becomes a simple matter of creating a counter signal". Romana noticed the confused expressions on the group and realised she was talking to a group of Pureblood wizards, "I've blocked your magic", she added with a manic grin.
"Impossible", one of the Death Eaters cried, firmly in denial that he no longer had access to magic.
"Yet no one has cast a spell in the last minute", Romana replied. "I spent a long time thinking of a suitable punishment for you and your followers Tom", she continued, "then I remembered my pocket universe generator I created during my school days".
"You made a machine to create universes", Harry asked in disbelief.
Romana smiled, "Pocket universes, I was a youngster after all". She turned back to the gathered Death Eaters, "You wanted control over Hogwarts well now you have", she opened her arms wide, "this dimension contains an exact replica of the castle and its grounds". Her stare fell directly on Voldemort and she made sure he felt the full weight of her four hundred years, "The cost of this small victory is your magic", she added coldly.
The Time Lady pulled Harry away from the baying crowd, whilst they didn't have magic anymore that still didn't mean the Death Eaters were harmless. She didn't want to linger and taunt the volatile crowd for any longer than necessary, "You can't do this", an angry voice called out, "you have no authority over us".
"The time vortex itself gives me the authority", Romana roared, speaking as the President of Gallifrey, "very few will mourn your loss, let alone petition for clemency".
Stepping onto the staff table, Romana pointed her sonic device at the floor. She had built an exit door for her and Harry to leave into the dimension, "You haven't heard the last of Lord Voldemort", the Dark Lord roared. Romana opened her mouth to retort but quickly changed her mind. She had given the man and his followers plenty of chances to desist, they didn't deserve another moment of her time.
Activating her screwdriver, there was a flash of light as Romana and Harry were transported back into the actual Great Hall. In Romana's left hand was a metal sphere roughly the size of a cricket ball, "You're sure they can't escape from there?" Harry asked.
"The only exit door has to be operated by my sonic screwdriver", she wiggled the device in Harry's face, "and only my biometric print will open the outer defences so unless I drop the screwdriver into their dimension, Voldemort and the Death Eaters are stuck".
Harry nodded in confirmation and the Time Lady noticed his shoulders visibly relax, "What are you going to do with it now?" the teen wizard asked.
Romana hadn't really thought about that, she had been too concerned with getting the dimension gateway running that she never considered what to do now. There were many possibilities, lock the ball somewhere deep inside her TARDIS or perhaps cast it into a supernova. Instead she grabbed Harry's hand and placed it firmly into his grasp, "How about you decide?" she smiled, "he was your mortal enemy after all".
"Thanks", Harry grimaced, "leave the hard decisions up to me".
"Another thing I learned from the Doctor, don't stick around to clear up the mess", Romana sighed.
"You're not staying then?" Harry asked with a deflated tone.
The Time Lady had been thinking about this off and on for the last hour or so, "There's nothing really here for me Harry, other than you, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville", she began, "the Order made it perfectly clear they don't trust me".
"They'll come around", Harry pleaded with the brunette, "they just need time to accept that you're not Hermione".
"It's not as simple as that Harry", Romana responded, "maybe the Order will come around but what about the wizarding world?" She pointed at the ball in Harry's hand, "I created a different reality to imprison Voldemort. The common wizard won't have any idea what that means and you know how accepting they are of someone different".
Harry reluctantly conceded the point, "What if I wanted you to stay?"
Romana looked into Harry's piercing green eyes, feeling every ounce of sincerity behind his words. She could feel her resolve melting with every passing second, "I need to get away Harry, apart from my time as a human I've known nothing but war for heaven knows how long". The dark haired wizard nodded sadly, "But I suppose I could come back for a visit, just because you asked nicely". Moments later she found herself wrapped up in Harry's arms. Romana was initially surprised by the gesture but soon returned the hug, "Give me a couple of days and I'll be back", she whispered.
"I'll hold you to that", Harry mumbled in response, "what should I tell the others?"
"Exactly that", she responded and gently nudged Harry away, "I need a couple of days to recharge and I'll come back and visit". She paused as a silent thought passed between them, the Horcrux still needed to be removed. Some serious research would be needed to get that thing out of Harry's head.
The Time Lady released her grip on Harry and slowly walked out the Great Hall. With her conscious thoughts free of war for the first time in a long time, Romana wondered what to do next. Some time recharging would be good but she wondered if that would actually be possible. Her people, bar a few, were gone and now she had alienated herself from most of her human friends. She had lied to Harry, rest was probably the last thing on her mind right now. Still, getting away from the wizarding world for a period to allow herself to mourn for Gallifrey would do her good in the long run.
Maybe if she said it enough she would actually believe it.
END PART 1
A/N – There we go, Voldemort's trapped in a pocket universe. Probably no way he can get out of there, surely.
I'm going to take a couple of weeks to work on other things then I'll be back with the next few chapters which will see the arrival of the Doctor. If you've liked this and want to check out some more of my DW related stuff, I've published a couple of crossover between DW and the BBC America/Netflix series Orphan Black. They're entitled "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" and the newly published sequel "Cult of Personality". Give them a look if you're interested.