Author's Note:

Ambrose: Hello, and welcome to the ninth chapter of our story, "Might I Introduce?". So, been a while, eh? Well, about that . . . SNOW! SNOW! IN LONDON! We were just a wee bit occupied, you see - especially considering we seem to have dislocated or pulled something in our arm, and it bloody hurts. Still, we haven't got school, and we've been wanting to update for a while now, so - here we are! OK, now that's over with - Professor?

The Professor: On to the disclaimer! Harry Potter and all other people, places, concepts, species', etc that are affiliated with the Harry Potter universe are the intellectual property of J.K. Rowling, and of course all those guys at Warner Bros. who do the movies probably own a bit too. Doctor Who and all other people, places, concepts, species', etc that are affiliated with the Doctor Who universe are the intellectual property of the BBC and the various editors and writers, ect. Any and all other references to outside TV shows, movies, cartoons, books, etc, are not in any way inclined toward encroaching copyright. Bit of a mouthful, that is.

Ambrose: You don't say? Well, what more can we say but; enjoy, read and review friends! And we're still ahead - by twenty three votes! Wow, wow, wow! Why, I could just burst into song - but I won't, 'cause you humans don't much appreciate Book-Wolf symphonies such as mine - shame, really. But anyway - enjoy!

(Chapter Nine - Start)

"I don't have a man crush!"
Sarah and Harry sent the Doctor an odd look at his sudden proclamation, and Harry took in the scene.

They had made it back to his house (Base of Operations, Harry, Base of Operations - ) in what seemed like record time - of course, that may have been something to do with Harry literally slamming the accelerator into the floor of his car the moment all seat-belts had been done up - and Harry had immediately rushed upstairs to get some clothes on. It hadn't anything to do with what must've been the biting cold of February - werewolves ran at a higher temperature than humans, as well as whatever species the Doctor was - but more the blushes and discomforting looks he'd been subject to in the car.

Harry wasn't normally self-conscious about his body, but spontaneously transforming - and walking about naked - in front of four near-strangers did things to your outlook.

He had, after a brief mourning period for his battered old denim jacket, slung the bomber jacket that Hermione had given him for his eighteenth birthday - she said it made him look like a detective (in a good way, apparently) - atop of his usual shirt and pants combo. After digging out one of his replacement pairs of shoes (dark blue Converse - according to Marion, they were the unofficial off-duty UNIT footwear), he had run a hand through his supernaturally messy hair before hurrying back downstairs.

Rose and Mickey looked embarrassed, gleeful and smug at the same time as they remained seated around the kitchen table, while the Doctor had his face in his hands and was shaking his head as he leaned on the table. Sarah and Harry were half-seated, half-stood on the kitchen counter with the biscuit barrel between them, and Harry finished off the bourbon in his mouth before speaking.

"If we could stay focused for a minute?" They all made vague sounds of agreement, and Harry sighed in relief, before signalling the Doctor to take the floor. The taller man sprung up from his chair as if he'd been electrocuted, then began to pace and talk at the same time - Harry suspected this was a habit of his.

"OK, so - there's a whole suitcase of bad going on at that school. Agreed?" He looked around, and they nodded. He started ticking things off on his fingers. "One - kids and teachers are vanishing into thin air. B - no, wait, sorry - two, teenagers are getting straight A's in every class and they're actually taking extra classes. Three, or C, or driya - we have multiple barrels of mutagenic oil being used as cooking fat for chips." He shook his head. "No respect, these guys."

Rose was frowning, and interjected before the Doctor could continue. "Bu' - they're jus' kids. Why them? 'S it the Demon 'Eadmaster, or somethin'?" She grimaced, as if expecting to be laughed at for her analogy, but no-one did - they were too busy trying to come up with an answer.

Harry went first. "Maybe they're doing something to the kids - trying to control them? Make them into some kind of army?" The Doctor shook his head. "Too much effort, too little gain - the children would make terrible soldiers, and any alien with half a brain would know that." Sarah cut in. "Maybe it's not that smart - maybe, it doesn't realise - "

The Doctor shook his head again. "Even if it were that thick, it'd know from first-hand observation how humans fight - and that the kids just aren't invasion material. We're dealing with something smarter than your average Klingon, here." Mickey snorted at the reference, before giving his own two cents. "Maybe i' needs 'em? Like, i's feedin' off-a them, or . . ."

The Time Lord was considering it, and he stood stock still for a moment before letting out a groan and running both hands through his hair - then, he dragged his hands down so they were clasped over his mouth like he was praying, and paced again. "Nah, it isn't eating them - well, I don't think so - but if it were stealing their life energy away, we'd notice. The parents would notice - the kids themselves . . ." A silence prevailed, before Harry tried to inject some humour into the discussion.

"It IS school, after all - maybe they think it's just the learning that's making them so sleepy." The Doctor grinned tiredly. "No - but good idea." Harry grinned back at him, not even sure why he did it, and they held each other's gaze for a moment before breaking off. Rose, not to be overshadowed, tried to express the still-forming theory in her mind, with thoughts of 90's television still on her mind.

"Could i', be, um, using their brains? I mean, a school's th' only place you ge' away wi' givin' people things to solve, so . . ." The Doctor felt a surge of excited realisation well up in his chest, and then he was talking at ninety miles an hour. "You're right, 'course you're right - the kids are like one big calculating machine, adding up and writing and all of that, and that's why they need the oil! They're speeding up the kid's minds, so that they'll work out - whatever it is - faster. Oh, Rose you're a genius!" He swept her up in a hug, and Harry traded looks with Sarah, before grabbing another biscuit and scoffing it.

Mickey chose that moment to let out a jaw-popping yawn, and Rose grinned at her friend, then turned to the Doctor with a look of utter solemnity.

"A genius who'll cry Mum if she's woken 'fore ten, so go fin' somethin' to do while she sleeps."

------

"Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"Sorry?" The four others stuffed into the car all turned to look at Harry, who they had assumed was sleeping, with confused expressions, and Harry sighed before elaborating. "It's a game. One of us gives the name of a movie, and another one of us gives us one that starts with the final letter of the first." Their expressions held. "Oh, come on! It's Sunday, these aliens aren't coming along for a while, not without looking like complete freaks. We need something to keep us entertained, so - Raiders of the Lost Ark." There was silence in the car.

"K-19: The Widowmaker." Rose, Mickey and Sarah turned to the Doctor in consternation - why was he going along with this? "What? He's got a point." Harry nodded. "Good movie. R . . . Resident Evil." The Doctor shivered. "Labyrinth. Now that was a good movie, 'specially since I was in it." Harry laughed incredulously. "It's true! I was the voice of one of those red birdy things - got to meet Bowie and everything." No-one spoke for a while - not one of them would admit to trying to find a movie beginning with H.

"Hairspray."

------

"I pity police officers."
"I know - they have to do 'surveillance' all the time."
"No, not that - I just think it's a godawful uniform."
"Oh, just you wait till 2036 - neon blue jackets and Barbie pink helmets."
"Shut up."
"I'm being serious!"

"And so am I - here they come." With that, the Doctor shut up. He quickly jogged the other three members of their party from what looked like a not-so-restful sleep (Rose was muttering about the Sugar Puff Monster), and he soon saw the teachers. All thirteen of the new additions to Deffry Vale School were marching into the entrance hall of the school, apparently oblivious to the quintet huddled in the car, and Harry leant a foot on the accelerator, as well as keeping a hand on the ignition - quick escapes were usually the norm for him. Thankfully, however, the formation of suited men and aproned women paid them no heed, and soon they were gone.

Harry relaxed, foot and hand easing off, and turned to look at the back seat. "Mickey! Get ya arse off me hand!" There was a quick scramble of movement, along with quite a few 'masculine' whimpers of pain, and then silence as they all righted themselves. They looked collectively to the Doctor, who had his gaze fixed to the school. His voice cut through the sudden tension.

"Unofficial Ofsted time, I think." No one laughed, no one even said anything, and there was very little noise in the car park, save the ever-present Sunday morning bird song, as they moved toward the school. The Doctor fished out his sonic screwdriver, a grim look on his face, and the quiet sweep of the glass door only seemed to add to the eerie feeling that seemed to fill the air - they all knew the risks, they all felt terrified at going on in without the upper hand, and they all knew that there was a very real possibility they might not come back out again.

Quite why these thoughts hadn't occurred to them before was a mystery, but they had no time to question their sudden feelings of unease - they had a job to do. The Doctor whispered instructions to them, careful not to send them off on their own; that would be like asking for trouble. "Sarah, Mickey, you're with me - we're gonna go check the computers. Rose, Harry - Headmaster's Office. Any problems, we meet back here - any questions?" They shook their heads, the Time Lord nodded, and they split up, Harry and Rose going up the stairwell while the Doctor, Mickey and Sarah doubled back through the dining hall and went upwards.

------

"So, where're you from?"
"Surrey."
"Not America, then?"
"Do I sound American?"

"Nah - I was jus' thinkin' you migh' be an American werewolf in London." There was a slightly smug grin on Rose's face as she pulled off the inevitable stock joke, and she nearly let loose a laugh at the almost insulted look on Harry's face. "Yeah, well, just call me Larry Talbot and get it over with." It was Rose's turn to be confused. "Larry who?" Harry shook his head, tutting slightly. "Forget about it." Apart from the clip-clop of their shoes, silence reigned supreme once more.

"How's a girl like you get into these sorts of situations, anyway?" Rose sent him a look, and he shrugged, intoning, "Would you rather the silence?" She conceded the point, and she began to explain how she had met the Doctor. "Jus' by chance, really - there was this lottery money, see, and the shop I worked at was closin', so I got the job o' bringin' the stuff down ta Wilson, the electrician who won it. Was only 'bout fifty quid, but anyway . . . I get down to the place where they store all o' the dummies an' clothes, try to find the bloke. Have a bit of a looksie." She stopped, and Harry immediately said, "Ey, come on - sounds like it's gonna get interesting!" She grinned.

"Well, yeah - so, I'm down in th' basement, all o' these shop window dummies around, when the door closes. I run back, 'cause I think it's some kinda joke; then, I turn round, and one o' the dummies is just sorta - there. It moved, creaks an' all. So, freak out time - I back up, an' up, and it raises i's 'and." Harry was drawn into the story, his attention focused onto her like a magnifying glass. She continued. "Then, like outta nowhere, someone grabs my 'and. I turn round, and there he is." Harry nodded. "The Doctor." She nodded. "An' it just, sorta, went on from there." Harry was silent, and Rose quirked her head at the silent lycanthrope.

"Wha' bout you? Bet you got a story worth tellin'." Harry gave a haunted grin, and she shivered. "You could say that."

(Flashback - August Third, 2003)

"So, what is it again?" Harry spoke into the radio Remus had gifted him before clambering down the ladder, and there was a crackling as the reply came. "They've no idea, apparently - 'course, I don't buy that, not for a minute, but they don't seem in the mood for a talk. All they say is something big." Harry gave an incredulous laugh. "Something big? What, have the crocodiles suddenly gone bipedal?" Remus was quick to retort. "That's alligators, Harry, and no, they haven't - the WII - " Harry laughed again. "The what?" There was a growl in Remus' voice as he replied.

"The Whatever-It-Is. And it doesn't match any known animal, Muggle or Magical. I've checked. All I get is steel and plastic." Harry's eyebrows rose. "Steel and plastic? Remy, it's a sewer, not a junkyard - are you trying to tell me there's a dumpster monster down here?" Clunk. Harry's head whipped around, and he missed Remus' reply. CLUNK. There it was again. CLUNK. Getting closer, too. As the forth clunk made itself known, Harry was gripped by a sudden feeling of fear, and he instinctively made for cover, ducking into an alcove.

Just in time, as well. A fifth clunk sounded, and then there was silence. Harry could feel his heart beat accelerate - that was a quick result, wasn't it? But what was it? He remembered the radio still clutched in his hand, and he quickly switched it off before Remus managed to get him found by whatever was just around the corner. Speaking of which . . . Harry, accustomed to sneaking around by his school years, craned his head as minutely as he could manage around the alcove corner, but he gave a slight huff.

There was no way he could see through all this dark. He strained his eyes, but he couldn't for the life of him see through this black. Then, as if in reply to his thoughts, a light seemed to appear in mid-air. Harry rose an eyebrow. It was blue. There was a blue, rectangular slat of light hanging in the air of a London sewer. He was officially seeing things.

"YOU, WILL BECOME, LIKE US."

And Harry couldn't deny the metallic arm that was reaching for him was real.

(End Flashback)

"Harry? Harry!"

The werewolf in question blinked, still partially immersed in the memory of that London sewer, before seeing the here and now - which involved a rather concerned-looking Rose. He grinned, trying to reassure her while hoping she wouldn't question him, but she seemed too worried about him to leave it alone. "Wha' was tha'? Ya went all - " She seemed unable to express herself, instead settling for a rather odd hand gesture, and he grinned again - for real, this time. "Just a memory. Sorry to worry you." She nodded, satisfied for the moment that he was all right, and they started off down the corridor.

"Going somewhere, Mr Potter?"

(Chapter Nine- End)

Ambrose: Well, that's one chapter we're ecstatic to finally have finished. We started writing it two weeks ago, and we just kept hitting wall after wall of block. Still, we got there in the end, didn't we? Even if the first half or so may seem a bit disconnected. We got to go and see Bolt last week! In 3-D! And it rocked! But now we have loadsa homework - feel pity, minions!

The Professor: He's on a bit of a sugar high at the moment, so ignore him. So, what did you think? Love it, hate it? Not worth reading? Make sure you tell us, m'kay? We NEED to know, people. See you all next chappy, if you're still reading. Make sure you leave a review!