HP/DW: Clarke's Third Law (7/20)
Summary: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So what happens when witch meets scientist, and each tries to teach the other about their brand of magic? Things become a tad confusing. And more than a bit fantastic. Doctor/Rose
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter. I just think it would be cool if the two worlds got together. Stars and Magic? What could be better?
Note: A play on the idea presented in the Season 1 episode "Father's Day," but not exactly a rewrite. Set right after the Unquiet Dead, before Rose and the Doctor return home to deal with the Slitheen.
Chapter 6: Sundae Bloody Sundae
He had done it. Finally done it. After so many years, so many failed attempts, he had finally done what no other had. His master would have been so proud, had he lived. His wife, too.
But they were gone.
Dead.
Lost so many years ago that, were it not for the burning devotion he felt to both, he would have hardly remembered them.
Now he could change it. He could fix it. His master would rise again, triumphant, and he would be beside him.
First, though, he needed to get inside. There was little he could do from out here, even with his knowledge of history. He huddled in a corner of the alley, knowing that being seen was something that he could not allow to happen.
Not here.
A loud whir caught his attention. From out of nowhere, it seemed, a large blue box materialized into the dank alley. After a few minutes, two people emerged. One, an older man, dressed in almost all black, was throwing on a leather jacket to protect him from the cool air.
His companion was young, blonde, and familiar.
So familiar.
But that was impossible. She shouldn’t be here. Then again, neither should he. He couldn’t question it. However it happened, it was a stroke of luck. She was one of them. Her blood wouldn’t activate the wards. He would just need to get her alone.
The two were joking.
“Great place to land us, Doctor.” She wrinkled her nose and lifted her foot up as she stepped in something vile.
“At least I got the date right this time,” he brushed off. He took her hand and the two began to walk out of the darkness and into the sunshine.
He followed.
The Dark Lord would rise again, and she was the key to it all.
Several Minutes Earlier
Rose had saved her planet. She had seen the end of the world. She had met Charles Dickens. She was currently living on a bigger-on-the-inside-spaceship with a standing invitation from her time-traveler best friend to go anywhere she wanted.
Well, right now, Rose Weasley desperately wanted a sundae.
But not just any sundae! One of Florean Fortescue’s sundaes. Complete with whipped cream, fudge, and a cherry on top.
Personally, Rose thought that it was a completely reasonable request. The Doctor, however, didn’t seem to think so.
“A sundae?” He laughed from the other side of the console. “I give you all of time and space, and you ask for a bleedin’ sundae?”
“Why not?” Rose shrugged. “Besides, it’s time for me to go home anyways.”
The Doctor’s smile fell. “Oh.”
Rose understood his reluctance, so she continued. “If I’m going to be staying here any longer, I need my own clothes and stuff. Can’t keep borrowing from the TARDIS wardrobe.”
The Doctor smiled again, warming her heart. Rose hadn’t known the Doctor for very long, but in that short amount of time, she had gotten the impression that he didn’t smile like that very often. The fact that she could get him to do it made her very happy.
“Alright then. We’ll pop the TARDIS into Diagon Alley, have your sundae, stop by your place to get what you need, then-”
“Off we go!” Rose cheered. Rose recognized the sight and sound of the Doctor beginning to dial in their coordinates, even if she had no idea how he was doing it.
“Not too long after we left, yea?” she requested politely. “Maybe just a day or two? I don’t want my family to worry too much.”
“Your wish is my command.” The Doctor said simply. Rose watched him from the Captain’s chair, fiddling with her wand. She sat up straight as she remembered something.
“I never asked, but how did you find out about magic?” Rose asked. The Doctor looked at her blankly.
“Whad’ya mean?”
“Well, c’mon,” she protested, laughing. “It’s the best kept secret in Britain! Not just anybody learns about it! Alien or not! So c’mon then! How’d you know?”
The Doctor gave her a mischievous smile. He looked like a schoolboy about to put a tack on his teacher’s chair.
“Let’s just say I’m a good friend of Merlin’s.”
Rose almost toppled to the floor in shock. “What, seriously?”
“Oh yea,” The Doctor beamed. “We’re so close, in fact, you might even say we’re almost the same person.”
“You’re telling me you’re actually Merlin?” Rose asked, unable to believe it. The Doctor nodded.
Rose had seen paintings of Merlin, and the Doctor looked nothing like him. Unless, of course, the Doctor was some sort of master of disguise. Rose doubted it, considering the fact that he always wore the same thing, no matter where they went.
“But in paintings and stuff Merlin is always depicted as an old man!”
“History gets it wrong sometimes, Rose,” The Doctor reminded her. Rose shook her head though.
“Yea, but that’s for Muggles. Wizards have a different way of keeping track of history, you know that.”
“Well, this was a long time ago. I was a completely different man, so to speak.” The Doctor said. Rose got the impression that his words had a double meaning, as they often did. He talked like that a lot, the Doctor did. Rose didn’t want to risk ruining the good mood, by delving into it, so she let it pass.
“But you don’t have magic!” She argued. The Doctor gave her the Look. The same look he gave her on Platform One when she asked him who he was. It was also the same look he gave her in Cardiff when she had argued with him about recycling dead bodies. It was the look that made her feel tiny and small and young, and reminded her that, for all that he looked like and talked like, the Doctor was not human.
Not by a long shot.
“Magic is just another form of science, Rose. Take the Muggles. They have numbers. Give ‘em the right ones, the right equations, and they can split the atom. Wizards use words. Words, said at the right time, in the right way, with the right wand movement. You lot can use that to harness psychic energy, do almost anything. ”
“And you can do it, too?” Rose asked.
“O’ course I can!”
“You think you’re so impressive!”
“I am so impressive!”
“Merlin’s beard,” Rose whispered after giggling for a minute, shocked. Then she paused and smiled teasingly at him, tongue poking out from between her teeth. “Sorry, or would that be ‘the Doctor’s beard?’”
The Doctor pointed a small mallet at her. “I did not have a beard. Now hush up and hold tight. Its’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
“Isn’t it always?” Rose asked. The TARDIS chose that moment to give a particularly large jolt as it landed,
throwing Rose from her chair and onto the floor. The grating dug into her ribs a bit, making her gasp. Once the shaking had stopped, she hauled herself to her feet using the chair for support.
“If I didn’t know any better,” she sputtered accusingly at the Doctor, “I’d say that you did that on purpose!”
“I would never!” The Doctor laughed, shrugging on his leather jacket. Rose laughed and followed him outside. Wherever the Doctor had parked them, there was no sunlight. It seemed to be a small alley, from the looks of it.
She coughed as she breathed in some of the dank air and the ungodly smell.
“Great place to land us, Doctor.” Rose felt something squishy beneath one of her feet and lifted up her shoe, revealing something gooey and brown. Bile rose in her throat. I really hope that’s mud.
“At least I got the date right this time,” The Doctor told her proudly. He took her hand and lead her out of the alley and into the sunshine. This was the Diagon Alley Rose remembered. There were people bustling about, vendors hawking their wares.
Rose felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle and she turned around quickly. She blinked into the shadows of the alley, but couldn’t see anything. For a moment, though, she could have sworn she was being watched.
“Rose?” The Doctor questioned, looking back with her. He gave her hand a gentle tug, trying to make sure she was okay. She shook the feeling off.
“It’s nothing,” Rose denied. “Just a shadow. Listen, you mind if I stop at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes? See how construction is going? I won’t be long,” Rose assured. “Just goin’ to pop in and say a quick hello.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” The Doctor nodded.
“Why don’t you head to the Leaky Cauldron while you wait?” Rose offered. “Might not be a good idea for you to go hanging around the shop, in case somebody saw you or something.”
“Nobody saw me,” The Doctor huffed.
“Still,” Rose pushed him gently towards the pub. “Go and have yourself a pint of, well, whatever it is you drink. We’ll meet at Florean Fortescue’s in an hour or so, alright?”
“Alright,” The Doctor perked up a bit. “Wouldn’t say no to some Butterbeer, truth be told.”
They parted, each walking their own way. At one point, Rose looked back in time to see the Doctor about to enter the pub. He caught Rose’s eye and gave her a little wave. She laughed at his antics and returned it. Once he entered the Leacky Cauldron, Rose turned around and walked quickly in the direction of her Uncle’s shop.
She couldn’t help but notice subtle differences in Diagon Alley, though. The people, although plentiful, were not loud. There were no children running about in the streets. Wizards and Witches walked quickly, if not urgently, with their heads down and hoods up.
The shops looked different, too. Diagon Alley shops rarely changed. Instead, they simply acquired new owners, who usually preferred to keep things as they were. Her Uncles’ shop was one of the newest shops Diagon Alley had in a while. Still, the shops were different. It was subtle, sure, but there. Some were newer than Rose had remembered. Others, more worn down. It was all very odd.
Picking up her pace and deciding that she wanted to see her uncle and find the Doctor as fast as she could, Rose looked about her warily. It wouldn’t be good to be caught off guard.
“Oomph,” she gasped, as she accidentally bumped into an older wizard. Caught off guard, indeed, she thought wryly.
“Watch it!” the man snapped, righting himself. He stalked off, mumbling. “Stupid kids, always running about. Don’t they know there’s a war going on?”
“War?” Rose muttered. There hadn’t been a War since Uncle Harry defeated Lord Voldemort, but that was almost thirty years ago. “What war?”
Looking around, Rose caught the attention of the nearest witch. Not much older than she was, the witch was plump, with a kind, but worn, face. “‘Scuse me, miss? Is there some sort of war going on?”
The witch looked at her as though she were daft. “Of course there is! Where have you been?”
“Away,” Rose answered. Then, trying to divert the attention back to the war, she asked, “Who’s it against? The war, I mean?”
“Who else? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!”
“Lord Voldemort!” Rose gasped. The witched shushed her, glancing around fearfully. Rose whispered, “but he was defeated years ago!”
“I wish,” the witch sighed. Rose looked around the Alley again, trying to make sense of everything. None of this made sense. The witched looked at her, concerned. “Are you alright, love?”
“I just,” Rose stuttered. The witch patted her on the arm.
“One of those nights, then?”
Rose forced a laugh. “Yea, something like that. You mind giving me the date? The entire thing?”
“April 4, 1980,” the witch said. Rose felt nauseous. The Doctor had gotten the date right. He just overshot his landing and got the year a bit wrong.
Again.
Honestly, why did she have to land herself the only alien in the universe who couldn’t even drive his own bloody space ship!
“Right, o’course,” Rose muttered. She turned to the witch. “Well, thanks for your help. I’m going to go strangle somebody now.”
“Oh, okay,” the woman said, taken aback. Rose didn’t stop to assure the woman that she didn’t mean it. She was too desperate to get the Doctor and then get out. Of all the years to land in, it had to be during the middle of the First Wizarding War.
As Rose walked, she pulled her own hood up, and kept her face down, too. The last thing she wanted was to be noticed. Rose hadn’t had much experience in this sort of thing, but, from Rose remembered from those Muggle films she had seen with Hugo, nothing good ever happened when a person was seen out of their time.
As Rose made her way to the Leaky Cauldron, in between plotting ways to kill the Doctor and imagining all of the ways this could go wrong, Rose couldn’t help but mull over the date. April 4, 1980.
Something very important happened here. She was sure of it. She just couldn’t remember. She blamed Professor Binns’s ridiculously long lectures, casting the thought out of her mind. It probably wasn’t-
Rose screamed as the glass window of the shop next to her shattered, sending shards everywhere. Around her, everywhere she looked, people were scrambling for a place to hide as Death Eaters invaded the Alley.
Of course,” she thought, crawling underneath some of the rubble. April 4, 1980: Date of one of the largest attacks on Diagon Alley in history. Rose watched, horrified, as men, women and children fell around her. She heard sobbing from next to her and Rose saw a little boy, no more than seven years old, huddled under a piece of wood, trying to protect himself.
There’s nothing you can do, she reminded herself, you can’t change history. This already happened.
But the Doctor says that time is fluid! That it isn’t fixed!
Back to Future! Think Back to the Future! You change something here, who knows what you’ll go back home to!
I can’t just leave him here!
Alright, then. Get him then get out of sight. You can’t be seen. Find somewhere safe to hide. Being killed wouldn’t be good either.
Having completed her moral battle, Rose hauled herself up and grabbed the little boy’s hand. He went to scream, so she covered his mouth and raised her finger to her own lips. He quieted, sensing that she was a friend. Using the debris for cover, they began to head away from the center of the chaos. Off in the distance, she could see an abandoned building, looking relatively untouched. She knew the building survived because she had seen it, looking much the same, in her own time. If she could just get there, she could hide out in one of the back storerooms. The only problem was that there was a lot of open space in between her and the safety of the store.
Taking a deep breath, she hopped to her feet and pulled they little boy up with her. They ran for all they were worth. She could hear the screaming behind her but, miraculously, nobody seemed to notice her. Risking a glance backwards, Rose realized that the Aurors had arrived, and were keeping the Death Eaters busy.
Rose almost sobbed with relief when she reached the store. She yanked the door open and shut it behind her, gasping loudly. The boy plopped down on the floor, spent. The slamming of the door stirred up dust that probably hadn’t been moved in months, if not years.
“Hello?” she called hesitantly. Nobody answered, so either nobody was here, or they were very good at hiding.
Satisfied that she was alone for the time being, she turned to her new friend. “Whats your name, sweetheart?”
“Russell,” he sniffled. “Russell Jones.”
Rose smiled gently. “Pleasure to meet you, Russell. I’m Rose.”
Russell smiled at her.
Rose eyed the outside of the shop, where chaos still reigned. “Whad’ya say you and I go into the back and look for a place to hide, yea?”
Russell nodded and took her hand again. They walked swiftly into the back room. Hopefully she could find a place to hide amongst the stacks and stacks of boxes. Speaking of...
“You know what this shop is for?” she asked him curiously. “I’ve always wondered.”
Russell shook his head. “It’s always been here. Mum says that it was open when she was a kid, but she can’t remember what it used to sell.”
“Well, let’s have a look, then.” Rose smiled. She opened one of the boxes gently. Rose pulled out an old robe and saw more lying underneath it. So it was a clothing shop.
She wrinkled her nose at the ugly color of the polyester. No wonder it went out of business.
Rose was just about to place the robe back in the box when pain exploded in the back of her head.
She saw a flash of green light and heard the thud of a body hitting the ground.
Russell...
Then, darkness.
(Chapter 7 here)
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter. I just think it would be cool if the two worlds got together. Stars and Magic? What could be better?
Note: A play on the idea presented in the Season 1 episode "Father's Day," but not exactly a rewrite. Set right after the Unquiet Dead, before Rose and the Doctor return home to deal with the Slitheen.
Chapter 6: Sundae Bloody Sundae
He had done it. Finally done it. After so many years, so many failed attempts, he had finally done what no other had. His master would have been so proud, had he lived. His wife, too.
But they were gone.
Dead.
Lost so many years ago that, were it not for the burning devotion he felt to both, he would have hardly remembered them.
Now he could change it. He could fix it. His master would rise again, triumphant, and he would be beside him.
First, though, he needed to get inside. There was little he could do from out here, even with his knowledge of history. He huddled in a corner of the alley, knowing that being seen was something that he could not allow to happen.
Not here.
A loud whir caught his attention. From out of nowhere, it seemed, a large blue box materialized into the dank alley. After a few minutes, two people emerged. One, an older man, dressed in almost all black, was throwing on a leather jacket to protect him from the cool air.
His companion was young, blonde, and familiar.
So familiar.
But that was impossible. She shouldn’t be here. Then again, neither should he. He couldn’t question it. However it happened, it was a stroke of luck. She was one of them. Her blood wouldn’t activate the wards. He would just need to get her alone.
The two were joking.
“Great place to land us, Doctor.” She wrinkled her nose and lifted her foot up as she stepped in something vile.
“At least I got the date right this time,” he brushed off. He took her hand and the two began to walk out of the darkness and into the sunshine.
He followed.
The Dark Lord would rise again, and she was the key to it all.
Several Minutes Earlier
Rose had saved her planet. She had seen the end of the world. She had met Charles Dickens. She was currently living on a bigger-on-the-inside-spaceship with a standing invitation from her time-traveler best friend to go anywhere she wanted.
Well, right now, Rose Weasley desperately wanted a sundae.
But not just any sundae! One of Florean Fortescue’s sundaes. Complete with whipped cream, fudge, and a cherry on top.
Personally, Rose thought that it was a completely reasonable request. The Doctor, however, didn’t seem to think so.
“A sundae?” He laughed from the other side of the console. “I give you all of time and space, and you ask for a bleedin’ sundae?”
“Why not?” Rose shrugged. “Besides, it’s time for me to go home anyways.”
The Doctor’s smile fell. “Oh.”
Rose understood his reluctance, so she continued. “If I’m going to be staying here any longer, I need my own clothes and stuff. Can’t keep borrowing from the TARDIS wardrobe.”
The Doctor smiled again, warming her heart. Rose hadn’t known the Doctor for very long, but in that short amount of time, she had gotten the impression that he didn’t smile like that very often. The fact that she could get him to do it made her very happy.
“Alright then. We’ll pop the TARDIS into Diagon Alley, have your sundae, stop by your place to get what you need, then-”
“Off we go!” Rose cheered. Rose recognized the sight and sound of the Doctor beginning to dial in their coordinates, even if she had no idea how he was doing it.
“Not too long after we left, yea?” she requested politely. “Maybe just a day or two? I don’t want my family to worry too much.”
“Your wish is my command.” The Doctor said simply. Rose watched him from the Captain’s chair, fiddling with her wand. She sat up straight as she remembered something.
“I never asked, but how did you find out about magic?” Rose asked. The Doctor looked at her blankly.
“Whad’ya mean?”
“Well, c’mon,” she protested, laughing. “It’s the best kept secret in Britain! Not just anybody learns about it! Alien or not! So c’mon then! How’d you know?”
The Doctor gave her a mischievous smile. He looked like a schoolboy about to put a tack on his teacher’s chair.
“Let’s just say I’m a good friend of Merlin’s.”
Rose almost toppled to the floor in shock. “What, seriously?”
“Oh yea,” The Doctor beamed. “We’re so close, in fact, you might even say we’re almost the same person.”
“You’re telling me you’re actually Merlin?” Rose asked, unable to believe it. The Doctor nodded.
Rose had seen paintings of Merlin, and the Doctor looked nothing like him. Unless, of course, the Doctor was some sort of master of disguise. Rose doubted it, considering the fact that he always wore the same thing, no matter where they went.
“But in paintings and stuff Merlin is always depicted as an old man!”
“History gets it wrong sometimes, Rose,” The Doctor reminded her. Rose shook her head though.
“Yea, but that’s for Muggles. Wizards have a different way of keeping track of history, you know that.”
“Well, this was a long time ago. I was a completely different man, so to speak.” The Doctor said. Rose got the impression that his words had a double meaning, as they often did. He talked like that a lot, the Doctor did. Rose didn’t want to risk ruining the good mood, by delving into it, so she let it pass.
“But you don’t have magic!” She argued. The Doctor gave her the Look. The same look he gave her on Platform One when she asked him who he was. It was also the same look he gave her in Cardiff when she had argued with him about recycling dead bodies. It was the look that made her feel tiny and small and young, and reminded her that, for all that he looked like and talked like, the Doctor was not human.
Not by a long shot.
“Magic is just another form of science, Rose. Take the Muggles. They have numbers. Give ‘em the right ones, the right equations, and they can split the atom. Wizards use words. Words, said at the right time, in the right way, with the right wand movement. You lot can use that to harness psychic energy, do almost anything. ”
“And you can do it, too?” Rose asked.
“O’ course I can!”
“You think you’re so impressive!”
“I am so impressive!”
“Merlin’s beard,” Rose whispered after giggling for a minute, shocked. Then she paused and smiled teasingly at him, tongue poking out from between her teeth. “Sorry, or would that be ‘the Doctor’s beard?’”
The Doctor pointed a small mallet at her. “I did not have a beard. Now hush up and hold tight. Its’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
“Isn’t it always?” Rose asked. The TARDIS chose that moment to give a particularly large jolt as it landed,
throwing Rose from her chair and onto the floor. The grating dug into her ribs a bit, making her gasp. Once the shaking had stopped, she hauled herself to her feet using the chair for support.
“If I didn’t know any better,” she sputtered accusingly at the Doctor, “I’d say that you did that on purpose!”
“I would never!” The Doctor laughed, shrugging on his leather jacket. Rose laughed and followed him outside. Wherever the Doctor had parked them, there was no sunlight. It seemed to be a small alley, from the looks of it.
She coughed as she breathed in some of the dank air and the ungodly smell.
“Great place to land us, Doctor.” Rose felt something squishy beneath one of her feet and lifted up her shoe, revealing something gooey and brown. Bile rose in her throat. I really hope that’s mud.
“At least I got the date right this time,” The Doctor told her proudly. He took her hand and lead her out of the alley and into the sunshine. This was the Diagon Alley Rose remembered. There were people bustling about, vendors hawking their wares.
Rose felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle and she turned around quickly. She blinked into the shadows of the alley, but couldn’t see anything. For a moment, though, she could have sworn she was being watched.
“Rose?” The Doctor questioned, looking back with her. He gave her hand a gentle tug, trying to make sure she was okay. She shook the feeling off.
“It’s nothing,” Rose denied. “Just a shadow. Listen, you mind if I stop at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes? See how construction is going? I won’t be long,” Rose assured. “Just goin’ to pop in and say a quick hello.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” The Doctor nodded.
“Why don’t you head to the Leaky Cauldron while you wait?” Rose offered. “Might not be a good idea for you to go hanging around the shop, in case somebody saw you or something.”
“Nobody saw me,” The Doctor huffed.
“Still,” Rose pushed him gently towards the pub. “Go and have yourself a pint of, well, whatever it is you drink. We’ll meet at Florean Fortescue’s in an hour or so, alright?”
“Alright,” The Doctor perked up a bit. “Wouldn’t say no to some Butterbeer, truth be told.”
They parted, each walking their own way. At one point, Rose looked back in time to see the Doctor about to enter the pub. He caught Rose’s eye and gave her a little wave. She laughed at his antics and returned it. Once he entered the Leacky Cauldron, Rose turned around and walked quickly in the direction of her Uncle’s shop.
She couldn’t help but notice subtle differences in Diagon Alley, though. The people, although plentiful, were not loud. There were no children running about in the streets. Wizards and Witches walked quickly, if not urgently, with their heads down and hoods up.
The shops looked different, too. Diagon Alley shops rarely changed. Instead, they simply acquired new owners, who usually preferred to keep things as they were. Her Uncles’ shop was one of the newest shops Diagon Alley had in a while. Still, the shops were different. It was subtle, sure, but there. Some were newer than Rose had remembered. Others, more worn down. It was all very odd.
Picking up her pace and deciding that she wanted to see her uncle and find the Doctor as fast as she could, Rose looked about her warily. It wouldn’t be good to be caught off guard.
“Oomph,” she gasped, as she accidentally bumped into an older wizard. Caught off guard, indeed, she thought wryly.
“Watch it!” the man snapped, righting himself. He stalked off, mumbling. “Stupid kids, always running about. Don’t they know there’s a war going on?”
“War?” Rose muttered. There hadn’t been a War since Uncle Harry defeated Lord Voldemort, but that was almost thirty years ago. “What war?”
Looking around, Rose caught the attention of the nearest witch. Not much older than she was, the witch was plump, with a kind, but worn, face. “‘Scuse me, miss? Is there some sort of war going on?”
The witch looked at her as though she were daft. “Of course there is! Where have you been?”
“Away,” Rose answered. Then, trying to divert the attention back to the war, she asked, “Who’s it against? The war, I mean?”
“Who else? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!”
“Lord Voldemort!” Rose gasped. The witched shushed her, glancing around fearfully. Rose whispered, “but he was defeated years ago!”
“I wish,” the witch sighed. Rose looked around the Alley again, trying to make sense of everything. None of this made sense. The witched looked at her, concerned. “Are you alright, love?”
“I just,” Rose stuttered. The witch patted her on the arm.
“One of those nights, then?”
Rose forced a laugh. “Yea, something like that. You mind giving me the date? The entire thing?”
“April 4, 1980,” the witch said. Rose felt nauseous. The Doctor had gotten the date right. He just overshot his landing and got the year a bit wrong.
Again.
Honestly, why did she have to land herself the only alien in the universe who couldn’t even drive his own bloody space ship!
“Right, o’course,” Rose muttered. She turned to the witch. “Well, thanks for your help. I’m going to go strangle somebody now.”
“Oh, okay,” the woman said, taken aback. Rose didn’t stop to assure the woman that she didn’t mean it. She was too desperate to get the Doctor and then get out. Of all the years to land in, it had to be during the middle of the First Wizarding War.
As Rose walked, she pulled her own hood up, and kept her face down, too. The last thing she wanted was to be noticed. Rose hadn’t had much experience in this sort of thing, but, from Rose remembered from those Muggle films she had seen with Hugo, nothing good ever happened when a person was seen out of their time.
As Rose made her way to the Leaky Cauldron, in between plotting ways to kill the Doctor and imagining all of the ways this could go wrong, Rose couldn’t help but mull over the date. April 4, 1980.
Something very important happened here. She was sure of it. She just couldn’t remember. She blamed Professor Binns’s ridiculously long lectures, casting the thought out of her mind. It probably wasn’t-
Rose screamed as the glass window of the shop next to her shattered, sending shards everywhere. Around her, everywhere she looked, people were scrambling for a place to hide as Death Eaters invaded the Alley.
Of course,” she thought, crawling underneath some of the rubble. April 4, 1980: Date of one of the largest attacks on Diagon Alley in history. Rose watched, horrified, as men, women and children fell around her. She heard sobbing from next to her and Rose saw a little boy, no more than seven years old, huddled under a piece of wood, trying to protect himself.
There’s nothing you can do, she reminded herself, you can’t change history. This already happened.
But the Doctor says that time is fluid! That it isn’t fixed!
Back to Future! Think Back to the Future! You change something here, who knows what you’ll go back home to!
I can’t just leave him here!
Alright, then. Get him then get out of sight. You can’t be seen. Find somewhere safe to hide. Being killed wouldn’t be good either.
Having completed her moral battle, Rose hauled herself up and grabbed the little boy’s hand. He went to scream, so she covered his mouth and raised her finger to her own lips. He quieted, sensing that she was a friend. Using the debris for cover, they began to head away from the center of the chaos. Off in the distance, she could see an abandoned building, looking relatively untouched. She knew the building survived because she had seen it, looking much the same, in her own time. If she could just get there, she could hide out in one of the back storerooms. The only problem was that there was a lot of open space in between her and the safety of the store.
Taking a deep breath, she hopped to her feet and pulled they little boy up with her. They ran for all they were worth. She could hear the screaming behind her but, miraculously, nobody seemed to notice her. Risking a glance backwards, Rose realized that the Aurors had arrived, and were keeping the Death Eaters busy.
Rose almost sobbed with relief when she reached the store. She yanked the door open and shut it behind her, gasping loudly. The boy plopped down on the floor, spent. The slamming of the door stirred up dust that probably hadn’t been moved in months, if not years.
“Hello?” she called hesitantly. Nobody answered, so either nobody was here, or they were very good at hiding.
Satisfied that she was alone for the time being, she turned to her new friend. “Whats your name, sweetheart?”
“Russell,” he sniffled. “Russell Jones.”
Rose smiled gently. “Pleasure to meet you, Russell. I’m Rose.”
Russell smiled at her.
Rose eyed the outside of the shop, where chaos still reigned. “Whad’ya say you and I go into the back and look for a place to hide, yea?”
Russell nodded and took her hand again. They walked swiftly into the back room. Hopefully she could find a place to hide amongst the stacks and stacks of boxes. Speaking of...
“You know what this shop is for?” she asked him curiously. “I’ve always wondered.”
Russell shook his head. “It’s always been here. Mum says that it was open when she was a kid, but she can’t remember what it used to sell.”
“Well, let’s have a look, then.” Rose smiled. She opened one of the boxes gently. Rose pulled out an old robe and saw more lying underneath it. So it was a clothing shop.
She wrinkled her nose at the ugly color of the polyester. No wonder it went out of business.
Rose was just about to place the robe back in the box when pain exploded in the back of her head.
She saw a flash of green light and heard the thud of a body hitting the ground.
Russell...
Then, darkness.
(Chapter 7 here)