HP/DW: Clarke's First Law (13.1/?)
Summary: Rose is stuck in Fred's World and the Doctor knows that getting her back is impossible. Then again, doesn't the universe just love to prove him wrong? Meanwhile, trouble is brewing for Rose on the other side of the wall. Sequel to Clarke's Third Law.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter. I just decided that it would be a good idea to combine them (and I wasn't the first to come up with that idea, either).
Note: Sequel to Clarke's Third Law
Chapter 12 (part 1): Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey
“I suppose it all started with Rose,” Ianto began, pouring tea for his guests. After startling them into obedience earlier, he had lead them to what was once the original Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and what was no a sort of headquarters for the resistance movement. After asking one of his coworkers to deliver some tea from them, he lead them all down the hall. Then, Ianto sat them down in a small room, dimly lit, with a rickety table and a few chairs
Albus snorted. “It always does, it seems.”
“Rose had been working at Torchwood for a while,” Ianto began. He paused for a moment, smiling to himself, before he continued, “She was wonderful and it was a real joy working with her... until the first crack showed up.”
“A crack?” Al pressed.
Ianto nodded. “It showed up in the wall at Torchwood-- you know which wall I’m talking about, Doctor, of course you do-- and despite our attempts to fix it, it kept coming back. Rose was fascinated by it, for some reason. She would spend hours just staring at it. She seemed convinced that it was something more.”
“A way home?” the Doctor asked softly.
“I think that’s what she hoped,” Ianto admitted. “But I think she was also worried it was dangerous. Turns out she was right. You see, not long after it showed up, Rose began feeling weak, tired, with headaches. She got worse and worse until one day, while we were eating lunch near track, she fainted. To this day, I can barely believe what I saw, but this light started moving from the crack and towards Rose.”
“What?” the Doctor snapped to attention.
“I know. It was all so quick that I barely saw it. It wasn’t until that night when Rose and I snuck in to test the crack that we realized there was some sort of energy coming from it.”
“Strange,” the Doctor muttered.
“It gets even stranger. There was Void Stuff on the energy. I’m sure of it.”
“Impossible,” the Doctor denied. “Nothing can get through the Void and nothing can come out of it.”
Ianto narrowed his eyes and stood up, excusing himself. The Doctor, Al, Jack, and Hugo were left to their thoughts. Ianto returned a few minutes later with some papers in his hand. He handed them to the Doctor.
“The test results.”
The Doctor put his glasses on and flipped through them, eyebrows climbing higher and higher. “But- But-?”
“I know.” Ianto said. “But there is Void Stuff on that energy-”
“Oh, yes, the Void Stuff is very interesting. But we knew it existed. The question is only how it got here. This energy, on the hand, that’s a bit more complicated.”
“You mean you recognize it?” Ianto demanded.
“They’re Huon Particles,” the Doctor explained. “A very old energy that disappeared with the Dark Times of the universe. In my world, the heart of my ship is the only place they remain.”
“What does that mean?” Jack asked.
The Doctor shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Seeing that the Doctor wouldn’t be talking for the time being, Hugo asked, “So you were saying that Torchwood didn’t know what the energy was?”
“Ah, no,” Ianto said, once collecting himself. “They were smart enough to realize that it was important, though, and wanted to bring her in for questioning.”
“That’s what you meant when you said that she was better off missing,” Hugo realized.
“Yes. The day Rose went missing was the day that more cracks started appearing and the day Torchwood started taking interest in your sister.” Seeing their questioning looks, Ianto said, “Other cracks- identical to this one- began appearing all of over the place: Cardiff, Scotland,
Norway-”
“Norway,” the Doctor muttered to himself
“New York, Bermuda,” Ianto said. “Naturally, Torchwood was quite alarmed and the crack and Rose became a top priority. That didn’t last very long, however. You see, that’s when the dinosaurs started showing up. And the cat nurses. And the horses and carriages.”
“It’s like all of history is blending together,” the Doctor said, aghast. “One big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.”
“If you like,” Ianto said. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for everything that Rose had told him about the Doctor, he would’ve doubted whether or not the Doctor could help them. But Rose had told him impossible, mad stories, including some of the Doctor’s eccentricities. That did bring to mind the question:
“Doctor, how did you get here? Rose said it was impossible.”
“Just solved an equation as old as the universe itself. Nothing important,” the Doctor brushed off. This was far more interesting. “Let’s get back to your tangled-up timelines. How did people react when mammoths starting showing up during their afternoon tea?”
Ianto seemed surprised at the Doctor’s question. “Why, they panicked. Naturally.”
“But they’re not anymore,” the Doctor said. It wasn’t a question. “We just watched as dinosaurs tore through London and nobody made a peep.”
“They always show up around this time,” Ianto said. “And disappear a few minutes later. Most of the disturbances can be tracked and there tends to be a sort of pattern. It helps to keep people off the street if we give them a schedule.”
“Right, sure,” the Doctor said, sounding as though he were actually disagreeing. “You humans are an adaptable bunch, I’ll give you that. But even you aren’t that adaptable. There’s something more going on. That bloke- the one who didn’t like my name- mentioned an enchantment. Tell me more about that, now.”
“That’s just a theory,” Ianto said hesitantly
“Oh, I love a good theory!” The Doctor beamed. “Half of the things I do are based on pure conjecture!”
“It was Tom Riddle who put it forward, but there’s no real way to have it validated-” Ianto stated wringing his hands a bit.
“Tom Riddle?” Al gasped.
The Doctor immediately said, “A different Tom Riddle from our world. Same name, different everything else. Some sort of variance between parallel worlds.”
“Has that ever happened before?” Jack asked.
The Doctor opened and closed his mouth, nothing coming out. “Huh,” he finally croaked. “I don’t think it has. Not to that degree, anyway. Wonder what that means. No wonder I kept you along, Jack! It’s brilliant to have you back!”
Jack preened under the Doctor’s praise until Ianto cleared his throat. The Doctor looked away from his friend and at Ianto.
“You wanted to hear about the enchantment theory?” Ianto asked.
“Oh, yes please!” The Doctor scooted forward in his chair and leant towards Ianto, hands clasped and one leg bouncing slightly. He was, for all intents and purposes, a little boy ready to hear his favorite bedtime story
“People were panicking,” Ianto said, starting where he had left off, “But then Saxon- our Muggle Representative- gave a speech. It seemed to calm everybody down and they just went on about their daily business as though nothing was happening.”
“And you suspect magic was involved?” Jack asked
Ianto shrugged, unsure. “It seems a good a theory as any, even though Saxon is a muggle. There are some who think it might be a modified Imperious Curse, but none of our workers can detect anything and that sort of curse doesn’t explain how people are somehow breaking it.”
“That’s what that man meant,” Hugo realized.
“Some people weren’t affected by Saxon’s speech at all,” Ianto added. “Torchwood workers, Aurors, some Ministry workers-”
“Anybody with even minor Legilimency training,” the Doctor realized. “Oh that’s clever. Very clever Saxon.” Clarifying himself, the Doctor said, “It’s not magic. It’s a low level psychic field. Saxon must be emitting it from somewhere. Really, explains why my head feels so fuzzy. I can feel it. Thought it was because the TARDIS was unhappy we were in a parallel world, but no! It’s this! Is this what it’s like for humans all the time?”
“How are people breaking it, then?” Ianto asked.
“Survival instinct,” the Doctor said without missing a beat. “Remember that one, Hugo? Al? Space ship over London on Christmas day? Blood control?”
“Don’t know how I could forget it,” Al snorted.
“So, people who aren’t affected have enough psychic training to overcome the field. They start forming a resistance. The Ministry takes over Diagon Alley and spreads the word. Whatever power Saxon’s got up his sleeve, he’s still a muggle, and even he’s not stupid enough to directly attack a wizarding stronghold like this. Slowly, survival instinct kicks in and wizards flock here to be treated. Is that about it?”
“More or less,” Ianto admitted. “There are other safe-havens, too: Hogwarts, the Ministry itself.”
“But aside from helping people, what are you doing?” Hugo asked.
“There’s not much we can do,” Ianto sighed. He rubbed his hand down his face, looking more tired than he had before. “We don’t know what
Saxon is planning or how he’s doing it. We’re worried that if we try to fight him, Saxon’s control is powerful enough to turn other wizards against us. All we can really do is bide our time.”
“What about Rose?” the Doctor asked. “You said Torchwood was interested in her. Why haven’t they tracked her down?”
“All of the cracks,” Ianto explained. “They interfere too badly with our equipment. I sort of wish they would find her. She was the first one to grow suspicious about Saxon.”
The Doctor beamed. “That’s Rose Weasley. Defender of the Earth. And now, we’re going to find her.”
“Shouldn’t we do something about Saxon, first?”
“I came here to find Rose and that’s what I’m going to do,” the Doctor said darkly. Then, the darkness was gone and he was smiling again. “And, anyway, this is Rose we’re talking about! She’s probably in the thick of this whole mess anyway. We find her, we’ll probably find- Eh. Who knows what we’ll find.”
“How do you plan on tracking her?” Ianto asked curiously
The Doctor began to rummage around in his pockets. “I know that Rose happens to wear her TARDIS key around her neck. If I know her, which I do, then she hasn’t taken it off. I can use mine to establish a link to the TARDIS and route that to her key- but oh, darn it! I left my key in my other trousers!”
The Doctor gave a frustrated huff as he pulled both his hands out of his pockets, empty, and grabbed his hair. Captain Jack rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, silver key. He whistled to get the Doctor’s attention and then threw the key at him. It was only the Doctor’s fast reflexes that allowed him to catch it.
“Use mine,” Jack instructed.
“You kept your key, Jack?” the Doctor asked
ldquo;Of course I did. You didn’t think I’d give up on you and Rose that easily, did you?”
“Nah,” the Doctor said. He was doing something to the key using the Sonic Screwdriver, but he stopped to look up at his friend, wearing an affectionate smile. “You’re very persistent. I learned that straight away.”
Jack winked at him, then grew more serious. “So how is this key going to work, then?”
“The closer we get to Rose,” the Doctor explained, shutting off his Sonic and putting it back in his pocket, “The hotter it gets.” He frowned at the looks everybody was giving him. He said indignantly, “What?”
“That’s a horrible idea,” Hugo huffed. He grabbed the Sonic Screwdriver too quickly for the Doctor to protest. “Give it here.”
“My screwdriver!” The Doctor squawked. Hugo rolled his eyes.
“Honestly, Doctor. I won’t break it.” Hugo grabbed his wand and conjured up a piece of parchment. He concentrated as he waved the wand and worked the spell. As he did so, he muttered, “I wish Rose was here. She was always much better at Charms.”
“If Rose was here we wouldn’t be having this problem,” the Doctor grumbled, arms crossed. He was obviously still annoyed at having his Sonic Screwdriver taken away from him. It was moments like these that Al understood why Rose used to call him The Oncoming Pout.
Hugo finally finished and handed both the key and the parchment back to the Doctor. The key was the same as it had always been, the parchment was newly draw on. There were no labels, only lines, so it took the Doctor a moment to recognize it for what it was: a crude map, with their path laid out for them
Jack, plucking his key out of the Doctor’s hand, praised Hugo by saying, “Amazing.”
“That’s much better than running around London,” Al said, smirking in the Doctor’s direction, “Waiting for a key to warm up and cool down would’ve taken ages.”
“It would’ve worked!” The Doctor protested.
“Not before we were- I don’t know- beaten by vikings or something.”
“Actually, the vikings are friendly. It’s the Native Americans you need to worry about,” Ianto said. The Doctor gave him a look that clearly said that Ianto wasn’t helping.
“I wonder if they’re the same ones we met earlier, Doctor?”
“They seem to have an odd hatred of men in suits,” Ianto pointed out helpfully.
“Guess that answers that question,” Jack muttered
(Chapter 12 part 2 here)