Title: Doctor Who: New Timelines

Author: TardisIsTheOnlyWaytoTravel

Setting: Follows books 1-5, AU of sixth year. Follows previous story in the series.

Summary: Sequel to "Doctor What?"

After watching Doctor Who, Harry realized that what he needed to defeat Voldemort was a time machine. Taking Ginny along for the ride, he changed the past; when they returned to their own time however, things had changed so much that there was no longer a place for them in the new timeline.

Ginny and 'the Doctor,' are now wanderers in the fourth dimension, intertemporal tourists, occasional heroes, trouble-magnets and sources of weirdness in the lives of everyone they encounter…

Author notes:

This was originally written back in 2007, but the prospect of typing the huge thing filled me with horror. But here it is. Finally.

I'd advise reading "Doctor What?" first.

DOCTOR WHAT: NEW TIMELINES

PART ONE

Two students sat in a Los Angeles high school attending a physics class, one bored, the other listening raptly.

"Was this really necessary?" 'Ginny Prewitt' hissed.

'Harry Riddle' nodded absently,

"Ywah, me and the TARDIS wanted to know more about how she works."

Ginny went back to sitting in incomprehension as Harry cheerfully took cryptic, messy notes.

"And why'd you have to use the name Riddle?" Ginny could stand it no longer.

"Well, he's not using it," Harry pointed out, smiling in an irritating manner.

The school bell rang.

"Lunch!" Harry cheered, instantly diverted, and dragged Ginny by the hand, "let's go to that Japanese place at the mall! We can have miso soup!"

"Yay," Ginny groaned, "my favorite."

"Or you can have something else," Harry added generously, "but I want miso soup."

Once they'd bought their lunch, Ginny watched in disbelief as Harry sang a small song of praise to the Gods of Soup before he began to eat.

"Doctor…" Ginny stared. "Did you just give thanks to the Gods of Soup?"

"Soup is good," Harry defended himself, "I'm just showing my appreciation…" he trailed off at her look.

"It's a good thing the TARDIS can get in and out of locked rooms," Ginny noted, "or you'd spend the rest of your life in a padded cell. Is all this time travel getting to you?"

/Help!/ Their banter was interrupted by a telepathic yell. /Weirdoes! Help!/

"TARDIS!" Harry yelled, and a minute later was sprinting off towards the nearest exit.

Ginny sighed,

"Why is it always me who pays the bill?"

-

Harry slowed a few metres fro the TARDIS and approached cautiously.

"It's a TARDIS!" a member of the small crowd insisted, "I saw it materialize this morning!"

"What are you doing to my phone box?" Harry glared, "I'll have you arrested for tampering! You –"

"Doctor? What's going on?" Ginny came to a stop, "who are all these people?"

"Doctor?!" There was a chorus of excited and disbelieving cries from the small group.

"Thanks Ginny," Harry grumped, "thank you for revealing my secret identity to the Doctor Who fans. Good job."

"Oops," Ginny shrugged dutifully.

"We're your most devoted fans," the guy on the 'it's a TARDIS, really!' side of the argument squealed. "Take us with you!"

He tried to seize Harry in a hug.

Harry yelled in horror and fled into the depths of the TARDIS.

"I don't do domestic!" a wail drifted back from the rapidly-retreating figure. "Ginny get rid of them. Now!" He ducked sideways into a doorway which the TARDIS helpfully vanished so that no one could follow him.

Ginny tried not to giggle to herself as she gazed at the dismayed and crestfallen fans.

"Sorry about that," she snickered as the TARDIS sent her a mental image of Harry barricaded in his room, "he doesn't like any touchy-feely stuff."

"Is he really a nine hundred year old alien?" a woman asked curiously, looking as though she wasn't sure whether to believe Harry was really the Doctor or not.

"No, he's a wizard of indeterminate age," Ginny said with a straight face, "greater than Merlin and rumoured to be the son of Zeus himself."

"Wow," the girl was wide-eyed as the TARDIS snickered in the back of Ginny's head, "are you serious?"

"Yep," Ginny confirmed, "I'm a wizard too, but any normal wizard is like a bug next to the great and powerful Doctor."

The TARDIS' snickering turned to full-blown laughter.

"Okay," the fans were respectful, "we'll… we'll just go. We're really sorry for upsetting him, and if he ever needs, you know, a place to stay or anything…"

"Thanks, that's really kind of you," Ginny said smilingly.

"What did you tell them?" Harry demanded when he finally came out of hiding, "why was the TARDIS laughing?"

"Nothing," Ginny wore an innocent face and changed the subject, "have you learnt enough physics for us to go somewhere else now? It's been a week. I though I'd finished with school. And I never learnt muggle stuff anyway."

"I guess so," Harry agreed. "Where do you want to go now?"

"Well we haven't seen the current wizarding world really, just the Hogwarts Great Hall," Ginny decided, "let's go see how our 'remove Voldemort' misson changed things."

/Done/ the TARDIS said happily, /and I'm running low on fuel, so pick up some more dragon's blood while you're out./

"We've got to find a cheaper and less conspicuous fuel," Harry muttered.

o0o o0o o0o

"By the way," Harry said casually as they walked down Diagon Alley, "I got you something." Patting his copious pockets, he finally found what he was looking for.

"A video phone!" he beamed.

Ginny stared at the muggle device as he proudly rambled on.

"I made some modifications of course, the principle one being that it now runs on magic, but if you press the little lightning-bolt button in the corner here," his grin was slightly sheepish, "it instantly calls my phone."

Ginny examined the camera phone before putting it in her pocket with her wand.

"Than you, Doctor," she said dutifully. Harry got the weirdest stuff, but it could be useful.

Harry beamed before looking around.

"I wonder how the brooms rate now?" he said thoughtfully.

Together the strolled into Quality Quidditch Supplies, where almost immediately a small person cannoned into Harry.

"Oops!" With a cheeky smile Violet Potter stepped back, expression changing to one of recognition, "hey, you're the guy who appeared in the Great Hall!"

Harry coughed in slight embarrassment.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Ginny," he agreed.

"Violet Potter!" called a stern voice, and a determined woman came gliding forward on graceful steps, "if you don't' stop shooting about like a …"

Somehow her gaze had transferred to the jacket behind the girl, and now it travelled upwards to Harry's surprised face.

"Merope?" Harry asked, even as she exclaimed, "you!"

Merope Potter might now be ninety-seven, and wearing expensive robes and succeeded in having her vision slightly corrected, but she was somehow still recognizable as the youngster they had rescued.

"You haven't aged a day!" Merope exclaimed. "Nor you!" she told Ginny.

"You know them, Nanna?" Violet asked curiously.

Merope stared at the two time travelers with a peculiar expression.

"They rescued me from my father and brother," she said softly, "had me adopted my the Flamels, and paid for my education. A relative of mine, you said?"

She gave them a piercing, slightly off-centre stare.

"Well, he does look just like Harry," Violet agreed, surveying the boy who looked strikingly like an older version of her brother. Her brow creased as she looked at Ginny. "And you look like Ginny Weasley form Jasmine's year… and your name's Ginny, too…"

"Time travelers," Merope's face was lit by recognition. "That's what Uncle Nick said you told him, time travelers trying to prevent a war, I'd forgotten. You look like my grandson and Ginny Weasley because you are."

Harry scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah," he admitted, "we prevented the war alright, but wrote ourselves out of the timeline."

"Why me?" Merope wanted to know.

"You never went to Hogwarts," Ginny said seriously. "You stayed with your dad until you fell in love with a local muggle, Tom Riddle, who you fed love potions and married. When you got pregnant you stopped the potions and he left you. You died after giving birth to Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Things sucked," Harry agreed. "Your son grew up in an orphanage," he took up the tale, "and never knew love or kindness. Obsessed with his heritage and immortality, he killed the father who rejected him and became the Dark Lord Voldemort, beginning a campaign of terror and genocide that spanned decades."

"Until Harry stopped him," Ginny said proudly, "he survived the Killing Curse as a baby, and it bounced off him to hit Tom and knock him out of his body."

Harry looked unhappy that this part of the story was being told.

"Tom spent a decade as a disembodied spirit while Harry was sent to live with his abusive muggle relatives –"

"Ginny!"

"–and went to Hogwarts, where he was famous and had lots of adventures. Then Tom was resurrected, and there was a prophecy that only Harry had the power to defeat him, and somehow Harry got hold of a TARDIS."

"The Department of Mysteries," Harry explained, "a nice bloke called the Fox helped me out."

"The Fox?" Merope choked, "the Unspeakable's Head of Interrogation and top assassin?"

"Really?" Harry was surprised, "wow, actually, that explains a lot."

"That's our Harry," Ginny grinned.

"You can't tell anyone who I really am," Harry told his sort-of-family members.

"Alright," Violet agreed. "Hey, Nanna?"

"Very well," Merope decided to keep her benefactors true identities secret.

"Great," Ginny said cheerfully, "let's look at brooms then. What do you think of this one, Doctor?"

"No," Harry shook his head emphatically, "it has no style, look at it."

"This fro ma man who chooses to travel in a phone box," Ginny retorted.

/Hey! Watch it, sweetie./

"Sorry TARDIS," Ginny apologized. "What do you recommend then, Flying Wonder?"

"This one," Harry said loftily, "and recall that I was the youngest member of a Hogwarts house team in a century and the school's star player. They tried to recruit me for the English team for the 1999 world cup, you know."

"They did not!" Ginny wsa shicked.

"Yeah," Harry said regretfully, "but I had to say that I didn't know if I'd still be alive then."

"Ouch," Violet said gravely. "I feel you."

Merope scowled at her granddaughter's use of American slang.

"So where were you last?" Violet asked curiously.

"An American high school," Ginny groaned, "Harry decided to learn physics."

"Hey, at least it wasn't Alabama," Harry told her, "They practically have 'proud to be backward,' as their state motto. They still get mobs lynching witches down there."

Violet hung off Harry's arm and smiled at him. He was way cooler than her counterpart, and nicer too.

"You guys have to come to Hogwarts," she declared, "you're a much nicer Harry than my brother. Ginny can come too," she added generously.

"Gee, thanks," Ginny muttered.

Harry was at a loss,

"Uh…"

"Don't pester the boy," Merope ordered. "I'm sure he has better things to do."

Harry looked torn. Ginny groaned mentally.

"Maybe," he agreed, "I have a time machine, after all. Ginny and I can go travel for a while and then come back to Hogwarts in time for the beginning of term."

Ginny sighed. Dammit, family had always been his weak point.

Violet did a dance.

"Great!"

-

"Are you planning to spend a whole year there?" Ginny demanded as the TARDIS took off.

"Why not?" Harry shrugged. "I love Hogwarts. Listen, what name do you want to go by? I'm thinking of Tom Riddle." He gave a devious grin.

"Why?" Ginny moaned, "why must you always use his name, for Merlin's sake?"

"Peculiar sense of humour," Harry said cheerfully, "so what name do you want?"

"I don't know. Where are we?"

"The Founders time," Harry replied happily, "I thought it'd be nice to meet them."

Ginny just shook her head as Harry grabbed his jacket and bounded out the TARDIS doors.

o0o o0o o0o

The red-headed man glared.

"Look Sal, I don't care what you say, there is no excuse for keeping a pet basilisk in a school."

The stylish man across from him looked bored.

"Yet your griffins are entirely acceptable."

"They're family guardians!" Godric threw his hands in the air, "and they're not indiscriminately-killing monsters that drop a man with a mere look!"

Godric's apprentice whispered to Salazar's.

"A pet with the same talents as it's master," he said under his breath.

Alexander smirked in reply.

"I could say the same about Godric, Max," he whispered back. "Those griffins divide their time between fighting and preening."

The two shared a snicker.

"Keep her in your workshop then," Godric was exasperated by now, "I don't care, as long as she's not terrifying the students."

Salazar looked down his nose,

"Sempronia does not terrify anyone."

"I hate to contradict you," an unfamiliar voice said apologetically, "but one of the most common characteristics of a basilisk is that it scares people stiff. Literally, in some cases," the voice added as an afterthought.

Both Founders and their apprentices turned to stare at Harry and Ginny. Ginny's modern robes were off enough, but Harry's 20th century muggle clothing looked downright peculiar.

"Who are you?" Salazar demanded.

"And what do you know about basilisks?" Godric put in.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Ginny," Harry introduced, "and I know a fair bit. When I was in Rome –"

"Doctor," Ginny interrupted before he could begin relating a long, detailed story about their travels in Rome.

"Right," Harry agreed, "no rambling stories about Rome, okay. But I met a basilisk there and we became great friends." He sighed regretfully, knowing he'd probably never see her again. "Which reminds me, I've got one of her eggs back in the TARDIS and it's going to hatch any day now, so Gin if you hear a snake, close your eyes and call for me."

"What?" Ginny swelled in a manner highly reminiscent of Molly Weasley and seized his ear, "and when were you planning on telling me this?"

"Ow!" Harry winced as she twisted his ear, "as soon as I found the right moment, I swear! But we've been so busy, visiting Peru and then twentieth century America – ow!"

Huffing, Ginny let go of Harry's ear, which he patted gingerly.

"Honestly, Harry –"

"Doctor," he corrected. Why did all his female friends end up saying 'honestly, Harry' to him? He wasn't that bad, was he?

" – Doctor, then, you have about as much common sense as a flea."

"Am I to understand," Salazar interposed, his voice smooth as silk but the dark eyes watchful, "That you are a Parselmouth?"

Harry nodded proudly.

"So is Master Salazar," Alexander observed, eyes glittering. "How… coincidental."

Harry yelped and leapt away from him, wide-eyed in horror,

"My God, you look just like Snape back home!"

"Doctor, you're being rude," Ginny told him. She eyed Alexander. "Mind you, you're not wrong, or anything."

"No doubt the Snape of your acquaintance is some relation," Alexander said stiffly, "as I too am a Snape, but that does not excuse your behaviour."

"Sorry," Ginny apologized, as Harry was still staring, appalled, "Snape was sort of his father's arch-nemesis, and his potions teacher, and made the Doctor's life miserable. I'm afraid you brought back some bad memories."

"Don't worry about it," Max chipped in before Alexander could speak, "the sight of Xander here brings back bad memories for everyone."

Alexander sent his fellow apprentice an unloving look.

"Thank you for your contribution, Maximus."

Max made a face.

"Don't call me that, you know I hate that name."

"Mind your manners, then."

Godric cleared his throat and they fell quiet, remembering that they were not alone.

"Where are you from?" the Founder asked Harry.

Harry threw his arms wide in reply.

"The future!" he exclaimed expansively, beaming.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"You're embarrassing," she muttered under her breath, then louder, "the twentieth century, originally, but we changed the timeline and now we don't belong anywhere."

"Great!" Godric beamed, with a beam to match Harry's, "welcome to Hogwarts!"

Salazar stared in disbelief,

"you're going to just take their word for it?"

Godric shrugged,

"Why not?"

Salazar was speechless. Max and Alexander sniggered.

"Cool," Harry was cheerful, "can we stay for a while?"

"Sure," Godric agreed, "you can teach the unapprenticed students Runes."

"But I don't know any Runes," Harry protested.

Godric was unfazed,

"Don't worry, we'll lend you some of Row's books, you'll be fine."

"What can I do?" Ginny demanded Godric.

"Uh…"

"Who are these people?" Rowena demanded, approaching with Helga. Harry bowed.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Ginny. We're time travellers."

"And new teachers, apparently," Ginny put in.

"Doctor? So you're a healer?" Helga asked.

"No, but I'd like to learn," Harry said hopefully.

"What do you know then?" Rowena was getting irritated.

"Um," Harry thought, "professional broom making, how to renew blood-based wards, Quidditch, how to knock a troll out its own club, the jive, how to defeat a basilisk with only a phoenix and a hat, some grade ten physics, how to duel, basic first aid, never to fly while intoxicated, believe me it's a really bad idea, how to steal a New York taxi cab…"

Harry was on a roll now,

"…all the verses of 'Charge of the Light Brigade' by Tennyson, how to make the perfect coffee, the charm to make my eyes twinkle like Dumbledore's…"

"Stop! Stop!" Rowena waved her hands in a scissoring motion, "okay, okay, you're allowed to teach. What about you??" she asked Ginny. "Are you competent enough at anything to teach it?"

"I can make brooms too," Ginny offered, "and fly them, and –"

"Very good," Rowena decided, "you can teach the students how to make and fly their own brooms. When you're not teaching, feel free to observe lessons."

"Right," Harry agreed, and the next day got to teach his own class.

-

"Okay, this next rune is like a lightning bolt and means… something…" Harry consulted the book on his desk, "uh, good fortune or something. Any questions?"

Blank stares, then one student raised his hand,

"Master Doctor, have you actually studied runes?"

"Maybe not," Harry conceded, "okay, then who'd like me to teach them how to hang someone upside down from the ceiling without a spoken incantation?"

All the hands went up.

At lunch Salazar noticed something odd,

"Doctor," he drawled, "did you teach your students anything you weren't supposed to?"

"No," Harry looked innocent, "why?"

Behind him with a startled "hey!" another person joined the gaggle of students dangling upside down from the hall ceiling. He shrieked and waved his arms indignantly.

Salazar raised an eyebrow at Harry.

"Um, well," Harry whipped out his wand, "obliviate!"

Hurriedly he conjured a large mattress and thought, liberacorpus!

Screaming, the upside-down students plummeted towards the floor, but fortunately all landed on the mattress in a tangle of limbs. Several tried to complain to Harry, but he covered his ears and went back to his meal.

"That's better." He noticed Ginny staring disapprovingly, "what?"

-

During their stint as Hogwarts teachers Harry and Ginny learnt about blood magic, runes, wards, wandless magic, sword arts, and healing, but after several months the two decided that it was time to move on. The Founders were almost teary-eyed as they left, and presented the time travelers with a farewell gift.

"Sapient pearwood," Godric announced with a flourish as the four witches and wizards dumped a small log on the control room floor, "excellent for making loyal trunks and wands that work only for their owners."

"Uh, thanks." Harry wasn't sure what Godric meant by 'loyal trunks' but it sounded useful. "We'll miss you all."

"Good riddance," Salazar grumbled, but there was a tiny smirk at the corners of his mouth, "you won't be corrupting my snakes any more. Take care of yourself, you incorrigible nuisance. And you as well, of course, Ginny."

/Interesting material,/ the TARDIS noted, /it indeed appears to be mildly sentient. Where to now?/

/Londinium, early first century,/ Harry decided. /I want to learn how to make wands out of this stuff, plus I still have that basilisk fang from second year. Let's go to Ollivanders in its early days./

-

A short while later Harry and Ginny stepped out into ancient London, Ginny in clothing appropriate for a lady of high birth, Harry in his usual garb of slacks, sneakers, shirt and leather jacket.

"How come you get away with it," Ginny grumbled, "but I've got to wear period clothes?"

"I'm a bloke," Harry explained, "ow! and I have a magnetic personality," he added hastily, realizing belatedly that his first response could be construed as sexist. "These are misogynist times, Gin."

"Prat," Ginny sniffed contemptuously as she looked around the street, "where do we go?"

Harry approached a Roman villa.

"Here," he said, and entered.

"Who are you?" a man with an Egyptian accent asked.

"I'm the Doctor," Harry replied, "and I'm here to see the wand maker Ollivander."

"It's wand crafter," and the dark eyes flashed, "I would think that one in a profession like your own would have respect for mine, healer."

Harry looked startled for only a moment.

"Forgive me, I'm greatly ignorant about such things. I cam because I have in my possession a basilisk fang and a supply of sapient pearwood, and wanted to find out whether or not they can be made into wands. I heard that Ollivander is the person to go to if it is possible."

The man gaped.

"Basilisk fang and sapient pearwood? I would be honoured to form wands from such material. What of the lady?"

"My friend here would like a sapient pearwood wand if it is suitable," Harry explained.

"Alright," the wand crafter agreed, very happy at the prospect of working with such rare and difficult materials, "bring the materials in and I'll have a look at them."

Harry and Ginny returned twenty minutes later with the fang and a small hunk of sapient pearwood.

"Excellent!" Ollivander's eyes gleamed, "let's find cores for you, hold this."

Harry obediently held the piece of wood in one hand as Ollivander shoved things in the other.

"Unicorn hair? No. Acromantula silk? Hmm. Phoenix feather? Not quite. Ashwinder eggshell? Powdered griffin talon. No. Elven hair? Dragon's blood?"

As the small bottle was thrust into his hand, Harry felt a surge of warmth.

Ollivander was delighted,

"Ah! Dragon's blood!" and put the bottle to one side so that he could test Ginny with the sapient pearwood.

At 'powdered unicorn horn' she gasped, and Ollivander placed the jar next to the dragon's blood, looking satisfied.

The process was repeated for Harry' basilisk fang, which would be use for the wand shaft. At 'occamy feather' a cool, calculating feeling slipped over Harry and he shivered involuntarily.

::Nice.::

He didn't realize he'd spoken in Parseltongue until Ginny let out an alarmed glance and he noticed the wand crafter's wide eyes.

To his surprise the man seemed to be not frightened, but deeply awed.

"A priest of Asclepius," he breathed, "I had wondered how you obtained the fang." To Harry's perturbation he bowed, "I am honoured that you would seek me out for this task, speaker of the serpent's tongue."

Harry scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, aware of Ginny smiling.

"Erm, you're welcome. I'll tell everyone you made our wands for us, if you like."

"That is very kind of you," the wand crafter was very sincere, "if the results of my craft are to your liking, revered speaker, would you condescend to bless my family line?" He looked hopeful.

"Uh," Harry didn't know what to do next, "um…"

Suddenly a little door at the back of his head opened and foreign knowledge walked through.

How do I know that? Harry asked himself in shock, but said aloud,

"As a Chosen of Asclepius, god of healing, lord of serpents, I do bless you and your line. You and all your descendants shall be known as the finest wand crafters in all of Brittany for a thousand years, or for as long as Asclepius deems them worthy. So mote it be."

Magic shimmered in the air and melded itself against Ollivander, who was shocked by his good fortune.

Eventually he recovered enough to say,

"Return in a week's time, the wands will be ready by then."

"Okay," Harry agreed, "but I'd just like to know, what's your full name?"

"Severus Octavian Leander Amadeus Ollivander," Ollivander said, "my mother was Egyptian and my father was an Athenian who served in the Roman army. My mother wanted to name me Tutankhorus, but was overruled."

A week later (from Ollivander's perspective anyway; Harry and Ginny just popped forward a week) the two time travelers returned for their new wands.

Ollivander handed them the sapient pearwood wands, and a small dagger.

"Let some blood fall on them and they will bond to you," he explained.

Harry pressed the tip of the blade against his thumb and let several drops of blood fall onto his wand, which hummed faintly and absorbed it. Ginny followed suit.

Ollivander brought out a slim object wrapped in cloth which eh handed to Harry.

"Only one immune to basilisk venom may handle it barehanded," he told Harry, "it still secretes minute traces of venom nonetheless strong enough to kill within minutes."

-

/Your wands are trying to talk to me,/ the TARDIS informed Harry and Ginny the moment they stepped inside. /Doctor, the wooden one is willing to share with the basilisk wand but not the holly one, it says the phoenix feather is far too possessive./

Harry sighed but put his original wand carefully away in a keepsake box in his room.

"Sorry wand, but you belong to Harry Potter anyway, not the mysterious Doctor. I'll always treasure you, though."

He returned to find Ginny waiting.

"I want to know more about that 'priest of Asclepius' stuff," she ordered.

"Me too," Harry agreed. "Let's visit one of his temples."

They stepped out into a room carved in white stone, with a slightly larger-than-life, painted marble statue of a frowning man with an enormous snake curling around his right arm, draped around his neck and coiled at his feet.

::How dare you enter this sacred space:: hissed a man as he entered the room.

::Wait, I'm a speaker.:: Harry explained quickly. ::Someone told me about Asclepius and I wanted to find out more.::

The priest's attitude changed.

::Oh, you've been Chosen by Asclepius himself, I see. Yet you don't know who he is?:: He tutted disapprovingly, ::Asclepius is the god of snakes and of healing. This is the smaller temple dedicated to his aspect as Emperor of Serpents. There's a much larger temple dedicated to his aspect as patron of healers, most people go there to be cured of illness, they don't bother honouring him for his rule over the snakes. Anyone blessed with the gift of serpent's speech is a Chonsen one of his, and they may train as priests.::

::Can I train?:: Harry asked.

::Certainly, but if your companion cannot speak the parsel tongue then she cannot remain here.::

Harry relayed this to Ginny.

"Oh fine," she huffed, "I'll just live in the TARDIS, and mingle with the locals. Maybe I'll find something interesting."

"Okay," Harry agreed.

For a long time Harry trained as a priest with the priest he had met, Thaddeus, who was the head priest at the temple. Thaddeus was astonished to learn that Harry was a wizard; apparently few Parselmouths were. Harry wondered how many other 'magical' gifts were floating around in the muggle community.

Finally Harry finished his training. A small snake was tattooed onto the back of his right shoulder with a type of red ink, and he was presented with a set of priest's robes and three medallions.

Each showed a likeness of Asclepius on one side and then a picture of a snake on the other. One medallion however hung from scarlet ribbon instead of a leather thong, and its thin edge was inscribed with tiny runes.

Thaddeus explained that this last medallion belonged only to those among the priesthood, but that the other medallions were for his family.

"I will miss you, my friend," Thaddeus said seriously as he and Harry exchanged manly back-thumping hugs, "take care of yourself and that red-headed witch you refuse to admit you love."

"Because I don't," Harry protested, yet again.

"Denial is not only a river in Egypt, Harry," the priest smirked.

Harry found Ginny in the nearby town, in the garden of a lovely villa, dining with a girl around her own age. Ginny wore a toga and a crimson cloak, and her copper hair was pulled back into a loose bun and had a gold fillet threaded through it.

No, no, Harry tried to convince himself, I have not been developing feelings for Ginny. She doesn't look ravishing at all.

/Liar/ the TARDIS informed him helpfully.

The two women came to greet him as he approached.

"This is my cousin, Hadrian. Hadrian, this is Phaedra, her husband is the governor of this area."

Phaedra smiled at Harry.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. Are you here to take Ginevra away? I'll be quite sad if you do; there are so few other noblewomen here, you know. She told me all about your traing. Have you finished it?"

Harry nodded.

"Yes, and I'm afraid Ginny and I will be leaving."

The two women hugged, Phaedra dashing away tears, and promised not to forget each other.

"Ginevra?" Harry raised his eyebrows as they left the villa. "Ow!"

"Shut up," Ginny instructed, "or I'll hex you."

Harry shut up.

o0o o0o o0o

Ginny and Harry next stopped at Delphi, on the TARDIS' suggestion.

"We want to see the Oracle," Harry explained to a nearby priestess. Her eyes widened a tiny bit as she noticed the medallion he wore, and soon the pair was ushered into a small chamber where a woman sat alone. Her head tilted back and her eyes clouded over with white as she looked at them.

"Who first?" the hollow voice demanded.

Harry stepped back, leaving Ginny. The Oracle beckoned her closer.

"You will discover hidden talents," she told Ginny, "that will either be a blessing or a curse, and love and time shall be the forces to shape your life. You," her unseeing gaze turned on Harry, "There will be danger in your future," she intoned, "danger, and a great deal of… coffee?"

"Yes!" Harry said happily, while the Oracle looked confused, "go coffee!"

The woman shook her head as though to clear it and continued,

"You shall become legend made flesh, a mortal elevated to godhood, and wherever magic speaks its name there shall darkness fear, The Oncoming Storm, the Lightning Child, he whose name has been lost to Time: the Doctor."

The Oracle blinked several times and her eyes slowly cleared as Harry and Ginny left, and a disturbed expression appeared on her face.

"Weird," Ginny noted, "especially the part about coffee."

"Coffee is good," Harry said sagely.

o0o o0o o0o

Their arrival at Atlantis proved to be unusual for everyone concerned; as soon as Harry and Ginny stepped out of the TARDIS they found themselves surrounded by a dozen witches and wizards, each aiming a wand or staff at them.

"Who are you?" a Atlantean witch demanded.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Ginny," Harry said, "is there a problem?"

"No one should be able to get onto this island, the wards prevent it," another person said.

"Wards, schmauds," Harry said with a dismissive wave, "eh, we've got the TARDIS."

/Hi./

Several Atlanteans dropped their wands in shock.

"Your machine is telepathic?!" someone asked in astonishment. "That is worth studying."

Somehow Ginny and Harry found themselves and the TARDIS the subject of intense study by Atlantean researchers, who were happy to provide tuition in various fields in return.

The Atlanteans were very advanced, and explained that Atlantis had originally been taught healing by the High Elves of Luciswood, before contact with humans had been forbidden by the elven council. The Atlantean healers most recent accomplishment was the creation of a potion that once consumed suspended the aging process, gifting the patient with eternal youth and life as long as they were not mortally injured.

Unfortunately the invention of such a miraculous and important potion led to argument, then fighting, and finally outright war.

Harry and Ginny watched from the mainland as the island sank beneath the sea thanks to a botched elemental spell, taking most of its citizens, and the secrets of immortality, with it.

"It's sad," Ginny sighed, "for such a peaceful and enlightened civilization to collapse on itself like that."

"Mmm," Harry agreed, "we barely got out in time. Think we'll ever use those vials we rescued?"

"Maybe," Ginny said thoughtfully. "But we've got a long time before we need to make that decision."

-

END CHAPTER

Author notes:

Up next is that promised time at Hogwarts. Possibly a meeting with high elves, also! If you have any ideas for where/when they should visit, feel free to make suggestions!

Another, fantastic melding of Harry Potter and Doctor Who is "Harry Potter: Bad Wolf" on portkey dot org by jms granger. Its sequel is posted there, too.