A Doc, A Bookworm and a Box

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own any of the characters written about in this story.

Chapter One: Hermione

The Second Wizarding War had been over for five years. Five years of peace, in which the Ministry had worked almost day and night to rebuild what had almost been destroyed at the hand of a Dark Wizard. Five years in which the wizarding world had struggled to recover from its losses and regain the spirit of magic. It had been a long journey, but everybody was beginning to think that they were almost there and Hermione Granger, now a chief investigator in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had been an integral part of getting back to a state of normalcy.

Normal for witches and wizards, that was.

She sat at her desk poring over the massive pile of folders that had built up over the course of a week. Mostly paperwork—she'd wrapped up most of the investigations already, with the exception of a few loose ends here and there. Now it was closing in on late evening. This was the part of the week that Hermione should have liked most. It meant getting to go home and have a hot bath, and getting to spend the weekend having dinner with her family away from family—the Weasleys.

She imagined that Ron was already planning a night out for just the two of them, as he had for most of the past few years since they'd started dating. And if the thought of that made her skin crawl just a little bit she ignored it. After all, she was very happy. Hadn't she gotten everything she'd always wanted? The war was over, with her and her two best friends unscathed and she had even walked away in a great relationship with the boy she'd liked ever since her third year of school.

So if she was starting to realize that it just wasn't enough, that she wanted…more…then she certainly wasn't going to admit it.

"Hermione! Are you busy?" Looking up, she saw Jason Wills standing in the doorway to her office.

"I'm about to go home for the weekend," she said, slapping the cover closed on the last of her workload. "Please don't tell me you've got something new."

"I'm sorry," he said. He winced when Hermione cursed, edging over to her desk and laying it directly at the center of the rest of them. "Just got it from the Minister himself. This is something big, everybody's in on it until we figure out what it is."

"Right." Ignoring the disappointment, and outright denying the tiny thrill of relief she felt, Hermione flipped to the first page. Her eyebrows shot up as she read, and then reread the details of the case. "You have got to be kidding me," she said.

"Absolutely not. You'd better get going soon, I think Potter already went down."

"Of course, then." Hermione got up, shrugging her official robes off her shoulders. "I'll be off." She traded the robes for an angle-length trenchcoat, something she thought of as a suitable alternative to magical robes when going out on a case. After all, you never knew when you may have to speak to a muggle—something that the rest of the Ministry sometimes forgot she thought with annoyance, remembering all the memory erasing charms she'd been forced to use when she first started.

In her left hip pocket she stuck a handful of small bottles filled to the brim with brightly colored potions, and on the right she placed a small leather-bound tome—a condensed magic book that acted as a quick reference to any curse, charm, or spell that had ever been created.

Then, in a pocket that she herself had sewn right over her heart, she slid the most important tool a witch or wizard could ever have. In her case, a fifteen inch long amalgamation of vine wood and dragon heartstring. Then, firmly locking the door to her office she made her way through the already emptied Ministry and down to the designated Apparation and Disapparation area.

For just a brief moment she was annoyed, thinking of the hot bath that waited her back at the little London flat she shared with Ginny. Then, remembering the strong likelihood that Ron would be there, she remembered that she had more important things to attend to. So rather than focus on her warm bed, a few blocks away and in walking distance, she thought of a field several miles to the north and, more to the point, just outside the front doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When she arrived she found herself in the company of two dozen other Ministry employees. "Harry!" she cried out, seeing her oldest friend. She saw him make his apologies to the two young wizards he'd been speaking to and made his way over. But by the time he'd reached her, Hermione's attention had already been devoted to the large crater a couple hundred feet away and…more importantly...to the enormous disc-shaped object that was centered inside it.

"What the hell is that?" she spat out.

"I don't know." Harry moved close to her, lowering his voice. "Just don't say it, okay? I know what it looks like, but…"

"It looks like a bloody spaceship!" she blurted out. Harry cringed, and automatically everybody who had been close enough to hear her had spun around.

"Hey, did Potter share his theories with you?" laughed a witch Hermione recognized from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department.

"I told you it wasn't a theory," he said, obviously having been over this argument before. "It's just a…its just that it looks a lot like a spaceship. Like a…like a…"

"Like an alien spacecraft," finished Hermione. "But they're not real. Maybe this is some sort of muggle hoax," she said.

"I'm sorry, but we've been over that already. There's traces of magic all over that thing," said Harry. "And they were there before it crash landed."

"Crash…landed?" Hermione spat out.

"You did notice the crater, didn't you?" Harry hissed. "The students saw it fall out of the sky this afternoon. They've been ordered to stay inside until the mess is cleared up."

Hermione was shaking her head before she even realized what she was doing. "So there's a witch or wizard somewhere replicating what the muggles think of as alien spacecraft? And to what bloody purpose?" she hissed.

"It's our job to find that out," said Harry. "My bet is its one of these freelancers that sprouted up after the war…you know, using the lowered restrictions to make muggle money with our magic," he said.

"Right," said Hermione. "Replicate a spaceship to make money off of muggles and then crash land it in the one place where not a single muggle can see it." She turned and gave Harry her best nice try, but I think I may have a better plan look.

With a shrug, Harry moved away from her. She followed him as they walked to the edge of the crater, a precipice that led to a drop of at least fifty feet into the ground. "According to Kingsley there are some muggles trying to get a closer look. He…ah…took one of them prisoner."

"Prisoner?" Hermione shrieked. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Not a proper prisoner. We've just got him here for interrogation," said Harry.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, right?" she said in a panic. Harry averted his gaze, and without so much as a warning Hermione smacked him in the arm. "You bloody git! You're the one who caught them!"

"They managed to breach the magical security!" Harry hissed. "That means there's something going on here…something that even the Prime Minister of the muggles is refusing to talk about!"

"Well, then what do you need me for?" she said. Once again she caught the look on Harry's face. She groaned, putting her hand over her eyes.

"We need you to talk to the muggle," said Harry.

"Why me?"

"This man…he talks in riddles. You're clever and…well…you're pretty," he said, blushing a little as he said it. "You're the only witch high up enough in the Magical Law Enforcement that the Minister trusts with this."

Hermione sighed. "And I'm muggle born, and…and that's a bloody spaceship. Wizards don't believe in aliens Harry. But this muggle does, doesn't he?"

Harry coughed. "Well…" he said slowly. "It's not just that."

"Then what it is?"

Harry put his hand on her shoulder, as if bracing her. "This muggle claims to be an alien."

The man had been seated in one of Hogwarts empty classrooms, and when Hermione found him he was leaning back in the teacher's chair, feet planted on top of the desk. "I've come to ask you a few questions," Hermione said. The man glanced up.

"Hello there!" His feet dropped to the ground and he extended his hand to hers. "Are you one of these wonderful humans who believes in magic?" he said animatedly.

"I…of course I do," Hermione stammered. Then, catching herself, she straightened to her full height. "Never mind that, I'm asking the questions. My name is Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you Miss…or is that Inspector? What do Magical Officers call themselves?"

"I don't care what you call me," Hermione interrupted, becoming increasingly annoyed. "What I need to know is what a muggle is doing in a highly restricted area! Did somebody let you in?" she demanded. Without realizing what she was doing Hermione had leaned over the desk so that her face was mere inches from the mans.

"I flew in," he said.

"That's impossible. There is a barrier surrounding the school, both from above and below."

"The school? That explains the wee little chairs! And the desk!" he laughed. "My, my, just when you think you've learned all you need to know about a race they come and surprise you. Just how many secret….mystical…organization things are there on earth?" he said. He had picked up a small portrait from the edge of the desk, staring at it as he turned it back and forth. "What is this, making this picture move? It's not a hologram…"

"Put it down," she demanded, "and talk to me." Physically removing the picture from his hand, she set it down out of his reach. "First tell me your name, and the names of any witches or wizards that you associate with."

The man raised his eyes to hers. "I'm called the Doctor," he said. "And I'm afraid to disappoint you, but I don't associate with witches and wizards." He stood up, reaching for something in his pocket. "Because witches and wizards don't exist."

Hermione reached for her own pocket. "Drop whatever that is," she barked.

"You drop whatever you've got," the man ordered back. He slowly withdrew a metal rod topped with a dull blue light. Hermione took out her wand and pointed it directly at him.

"A stick? You're going to attack me with a stick?"

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted. The thing flew out of his hand and landed in hers. She swiftly pocketed it, keeping her wand trained on him. "You keep your hands where I can see them," she said. "And why don't you start telling me everything you know."

The man continued staring at her. "All right," he said finally. "But I want you take me to see whatever landed out there." He pointed through the window and to the field. "And then I want you to tell me where a whole mess of humans got their hands on ancient alien technology."

Hermione sat down across from him, keeping her wand trained on him. "Okay. Start at the beginning…Doctor."

The man grinned broadly. Before he started speaking Hermione took in the appearance of him…tall and slender, dressed in a suit and trainers on his feet. "I'm an alien. I followed that vessel because I saw it passing through your atmosphere."

"I'm supposed to believe in aliens and spaceships and…are you kidding me?" she choked out.

"You're expecting me to believe in magic and wands and…and unicorns and pixie dust," he said with a disgusted look on his face. "Why don't you just agree with me that maybe we aren't going to see eye to eye on this matter?"

"Okay, fine. So it came from outer space," she said. "And so did you. So where is your spaceship, Doctor?"

"It's in the forest over that way."

"You parked your spaceship in the Forbidden Forest?" Hermione shot to her feet. "Bloody hell, it'll be destroyed by the centaurs in no time flat! It could hurt them! Come on, you're taking me to it." She grabbed a hold of his jacket, leading him out of the castle.

"Hermione, where are you…"

"Busy!" she shouted to Harry. "Now show me!" she hissed.

"Your wish is my command. But just so we're clear, this place is called the Forbidden Forest?" he said, looking out at the heavy outcropping of trees that surrounded the castle.

"It is."

"And I'm supposing that it's forbidden then?" he said.

"From most, yeah," she said, jabbing him with the tip of her wand more out of annoyance than anything. That big warm bath was looking better and better as time went by, especially as it didn't look as if she were going to be getting home anytime soon. The Doctor led her straight to the edge of the forest.

"Now you said something that fascinated me," said the Doctor as they began to walk. "You mentioned Centaurs?"

"Centaurs, yeah. I guess you didn't know they were real?" she said.

"Big hairy blokes, half-horse on the bottom and man on top? Yeah, I know them. I just don't know what they're doing here on earth, that's all," he added in a low mumble.

"So you believe in centaurs but you don't believe in magic? You really are a strange muggle," said Hermione. She finally relaxed, placing both her own wand and the Doctor's weapon in her pocket.

"And just what does that term mean?" he said. "It's rather strange isn't in? Muggle…mug-mug-muggle." He enunciated each syllable slowly, as if considering the phrase.

"Muggles are non-magic people," said Hermione. "So tell me…why is it you believe in centaurs if you don't believe in witches?"

"Because centaurs are real. They have there own planet, there—" With a gesture he pointed upward into the sky. "In the Alpha Centauri system."

"Are you mad?" said Hermione. "Do you mean to tell me a star in the Centaurus constellation is the home to real centaurs?"

"The centaurus constellation?" The Doctor seemed to consider this. "Right clever, that is. Their kind were always stargazers. I bet a whole mess of them landed on earth a few centuries ago and taught humans everything they had to know about…oh bloody hell, what am I going about that for?" He cut left through a large row of shrubbery and Hermione followed. Had she not been looking where she was going she would have run directly into the side of a large blue box that had suddenly grown up right in her path.

"What the heck is this?" she shrieked.

"My ship! Beautiful, isn't she?"

"It's a monstrosity. Looks like rubbish," she said, rapping it on the side. "Now I know you're mad. I ought to just have the Minister wipe your brain clean and send you on your way."

The Doctor was staring at Hermione in horror. "You didn't just say that," he said in disbelief.

"Say what?"

"How could you say that about the Tardis?" Before Hermione could realize what was going on the door to the blue box was being yanked open and she was draw inside. And just when she thought she was going to be crammed right up next to the stranger she realized that she was in the middle of what was actually a very large space…and, whatever she might think, she was indoors.

"Oh, thank goodness, it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," she said with a sigh. The Doctor was staring at her expectantly and she raised her eyebrows. "What? I'm supposed to be impressed?"

"You mean you aren't?" his tone was incredulous.

"All I see is a muggle in possession of magical artifacts…which, in case you weren't aware, means that you are subject to immediate confiscation of said magical artifact." Hermione extended her wand and recited something that the Doctor didn't quite catch. His wrists went rigid and a smoky white material seemed to wrap around them. "I'll send somebody to retrieve it."

As he was led back from the Tardis, the Doctor was shaking his head. They were always impressed by the whole bigger inside than on the outside thing…what had gone wrong?

"Still no clue what it is?"

Harry shook his head in response to Kingsley's question. "Not a clue."

"What about that strange bloke? Hermione didn't get anything out of him?"

"I don't know. Hermione went storming off with him that way about a half hour ago." Harry pointed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

"Well, when she comes back tell her that we're calling off the investigation."

Harry did a double take. "You're what?" he stammered.

"I got in touch with the Prime Minister. She seems to have some idea of what's going on. We've authorized an organization called Torchwood to enter the premises and remove the artifact…with permission to erase their memories after they leave, of course."

"But do you think that's wise sir?" said Harry. He looked back down at the metal vessel. "It managed to get through the magical barriers."

"A fluke," said Kingsley firmly, "and one that we will investigate thoroughly. But we've been able to determine there's nothing remotely magical about it."

"In other words, it isn't our concern," said Harry. He rumpled his hair thoughtfully. "What do you think, Kingsley? Is it…I mean, do you think it's possible that those are aliens?"

"Of course not Harry…there's no such thing," he said, clapping Harry on the shoulder.

"But how can we be certain? With all the stars out there maybe there's something we've missed…wizards and muggles alike."

Kinsgley was shaking his head. "I just can't believe it. That sort of thing is impossible."

"I used to think magic was make-believe…impossible," said Harry. "Then one day a giant man brought me a letter and a whole mess of things changed in my life."

Kingsley turned to look at him, face breaking out into a broad and friendly grin. "Who knows, Harry? Maybe you're right, but it doesn't look like we're going to find out today. Come on, I'll buy you a drink at the Three Broomsticks…"

And they were just about to move from the site when they heard a strange pinging sound. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure. It sounds like…hammers."

They moved back to the ridge overlooking the ship. "Somebody's beating on it from the inside," said Harry. The sound grew in intensity, small metal domes appearing across the form of the ship. "Somebody's beating their way out!"

"This is madness!" Kingsley shouted. "Everybody, there's someone in there! Get that top open, they could be in danger!"

As one every witch and wizard moved to the edge of the crater, withdrawing their wands. Together they began to cast a severing spell, separating in one clean cut the roof of the craft from the rest of it.

What stood there, blinking in the sudden sunlight, was the last thing that Harry could possibly have expected. "Are those…are those house elves?" he said in astonishment.

"Really big, really ugly house elves," Kingsley said quietly. He stood up at attention, waving his hand. Every single one of the creatures, now armed with small silver hammers, turned and stared. "I am the Minister of Magic!" he called out. "Tell me who did this to you!"

"Power!" the House Elf cried back. Although just at this moment Harry was beginning to think that calling them that wasn't exactly correct. They had bulbous eyes, and large pointed ears just like their counterparts in the kitchens of Hogwarts. But there was something more to them…first off they were wearing clothes, which meant that whatever they were they weren't slaves.

Second of all, their mouths were filled with rows of sharp yellow teeth. Several had metal hoops through their ears, and many more had black tattoos marking their skin. But the biggest indicator that there was something odd with the creatures was the fact that the one who had just spoken, the one who was their leader, had just lunged at Kingsley with a shrill scream emanating from its lungs, teeth bared and headed straight for Kingsley's throat.

"Petrificus totalus!" Harry shouted. The spell hit the creature, causing it to wheel backwards for a moment blinking its large yellow eyes. But he wasn't stunned…far from it. Now he turned his full attention on Harry and began to creep towards him with a snarl at the back of its throat.

"Have you power?" it hissed.

"Er…hello, nice to meet you. I have friends that are house elves," he said cautiously. His gripped his wand beside him. "His name is Kreacher…you'd like him," he offered.

"What the hell is this? Some sort of house elf revolution?" muttered the man standing nearest to him. The thing turned its full attention on him now, springing before anybody had a chance to stop it. It lunged toward the man, sinking his teeth deep into his throat. Then, to the surprise of everybody, a bright yellow glow surrounded the both of them.

Harry felt a sinking in his stomach. "They're level 3 creatures! They will kill you! Everybody at arms!" he cried out. Over a dozen more of the creatures had now sped up the ridge from the fallen ship.

Across the crater he saw Kingsley staving off an attack. All across the field there were wizards battling the monsters but…and this was the strange thing to Harry…their magic didn't seem to be doing the littlest bit of good. "What's going on?" he groaned.

Just at that moment he saw movement from across the field. "Hermione! Get back!" he called out. This was of course the wrong thing to say because Hermione immediately broke out into a run, moving as quickly as she could towards them. The man from earlier was running behind her, hands together in what he recognized as a binding spell.

"Hermione! Go get help!"

"Bloody hell!" she cried out. "They're house elves!"

The man standing next to her looked goggle-eyed in shock. "You think these things are elves? And you think that I'm the one who's mad?" he said.

"Do you think you can help us?" she said.

Suddenly looking very serious, the Doctor looked at the man who had just been killed. "Absolutely. It's what I do."

Hermione seemed to wrestle with herself for a moment. Then suddenly she seemed to relent. "Fine." Immediately the bond she had put on his wrists was broken and he could move again. The first thing he did was dart out to her chest, grabbing from her pocket the object she'd taken earlier. "Sorry, pardon me," he said. "Now, the first thing you need to do is stop using your technology to fight the monsters. They're feeding off it."

"Technology?" said Harry.

"Magic! What you bloody call magic!" he said.

"Who the hell are you anyway?" said Harry in astonishment.

"The Doctor, apparently," she said. "Doctor, meet Harry."

"A pleasure." He spun around, hitting the creature with a blast of blue light from the thing he was carrying. "Now if you don't mind I think we have a school to save. Or hadn't you noticed?" he asked.

"Noticed what?"

"Those things." The Doctor turned to look at the castle that loomed high up overhead. The sun was glinting off the highest windows. "They're after your children."

They fought their way to Kingsley. "Order off all attacks!" said the Doctor.

"Impossible!" shouted Kingsley. "These things are…"

"Sir." Hermione reached out and took him by the arm. "I'm sorry, but I think he's right. We need to retreat…get inside the castle. They can't get inside, at least not immediately. These things are feeding off our magic. We're only making them stronger."

He stared at her for a long moment and then nodded, putting his hand behind her back and pushing her up the small hill and toward the front door. "Everybody to the castle!" He cried out. "Come on!"

They all rushed inside, closing the great door with every manner of spell and enchantment they could think of. There was a great deal of incomprehensible gibberish and panting for several moments until finally Hermione stood up. "They want our magic." Spinning around she jabbed her finger into the Doctor's chest. "Tell me everything you know. I might just be inclined to start believing in all your alien stuff if you make sense."

"Lovely, Hermione was it?" the Doctor said. "As far as I can tell the lot of you have gotten a hold of an ancient alien power source. What you all call magic."

"You're saying magic is alien?" said Harry in astonishment.

"It's pretty standard, really," said the Doctor. He started pacing back and forth. "A dying race seeks to leave behind a legacy somewhere, so they scour the universe looking for some poor primitive race to leave saddled with their 'gift'."

"It's happened before?"

"At least a dozen times with humans." The Doctor turned to face Hermione. "So you get a nice little parting gift from a now dead species, but only a handful of humans are compatible with the power source. So you get witches and wizards, and…"

His face seemed to light up suddenly. "Of course! Moegle!"

"Moegle?" Hermione spat out in surprise.

"It's an ancient term. A lot older than your earth. It means Other."

"So what's happening," said Hermione slowly, "is that magic is really an ancient power source given to us by aliens. And those things out there want it."

"Want it?" the Doctor moved close to the door. Outside they could hear the creatures scratching and clawing at the wood. "They think they deserve it. You hear that? What they're saying? The rightful heirs…"

Hermione paled. She looked at the Doctor's face then, cautiously, pressed her face against the wood. After a few moments she moved away. "How do we stop them then? How could we possibly stop them if we can't use magic? Doctor." She reached out, gripping the lapel of his suit. "There are hundreds of children in here. Hundreds of children who have this power, or whatever you want to call it. Save them."

The Doctor stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. "Right. We better get to work. Who knows the school best?"

All together everybody turned to stare at Harry. "Well, I guess that would be me then."

"I need some things."

Despite the tense situation Harry smirked. "I think I know of a place that'll have everything you could need, doctor."

Kingsley went to apprise the Headmistress of the situation while Harry and Hermione escorted the Doctor up the winding staircases and through the dark corridors. "Do these pictures actually move?" he asked in astonishment.

"Magic," said Hermione, smiling up at him.

"Interesting. Give humans one of the greatest powers in the universe and they use it to build bloody moving pictures."

"Muggles created the telly didn't they?" said Harry.

"Never thought of that," said the Doctor with a shrug. "I suppose you're right."

They turned a few more corridors, until finally they came to a large stretch of empty wall. "Why are we stopping?" whispered the Doctor. Hermione put her finger to her lips and gestured for him to wait. Harry began to move, back and forth across the corridor, and then as if out of nowhere a door appeared in front of the both of them.

"A hidden door! A very hidden door! Very impressive."

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement," said Hermione.

They stepped through the door and into a place that was immediately familiar to both Hermione and the Doctor. "This looks like the inside of your police box," she said.

"It doesn't just look like it. It is the inside of the Tardis." The Doctor was nodding, and then suddenly he grinned again. "Brilliant! Hermione, I want you to do exactly as I say. Harry, I wanted to ask you something…"

"Yes?"

"You acted as if you knew the creatures before they went all…bitey and tried to kill you. Have you seen anything like them?"

"They look just like house elves," said Hermione. "They're…"

"Slaves. A slave race…one that has had the docility bred out of them. And one that is still compatible with the old magic."

"How did you know?" said Hermione.

"When you're old enough you've seen it all," he said. "Harry, are there…elves…here?" When Harry nodded the Doctor started to laugh. "Great! Go and get them. Tell them we need them."

"Only if they're willing!" Hermione called after him as he took off. The Doctor started to gather up tools and bits and pieces of other devices. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to build a device that will reverse the brainwaves of the creatures. That should stimulate a sort of devolution. If we can capture the brain pattern of the creatures you know as house elves we should be able to stimulate the alien creatures into mimicking the neurostructure of the elves."

"So what you mean is we're turning the monsters back into elves?"

With a smirk on his face the Doctor nodded. "Good, yeah. That's exactly it."

They met the elves in the Great Hall. "So, do we have a volunteer?" he asked.

At least a dozen of them stepped forward. One of the larger elves, this one dressed in a tall pair of socks and a knit sweater rather than a pillowcase, like his brethren, raised his hand. "I was friend of Dobby. Dobby died to protect us. I will do whatever I must to protect us."

"Good man…elf…" the Doctor said. He knelt down, attaching a small spherical object to the creatures head with a series of little nodes. "It shouldn't hurt. Just hold on tight."

Then he clicked on the machine and everything began to pulsate. The elf went rigid, though his eyes were wide open. "The pulse will reach the monsters through the door. Is there a way to see what's going on?"

Harry nodded. He picked up a broom from the floor and kicked off the ground with it until he was flying at a level distance from one of the highest windows. "It's doing something!" he called down.

"Are they changing!"

"They're…slowing down. Wait…what just happened?"

"It's not working!" Hermione scrambled to the ground. The elf had regained consciousness and was beginning to protest that it was a bad elf for betraying his friends. He was about to punish himself when Kingsley stopped him.

"Magic interferes with mechanical objects," she said.

"A power surge," said the Doctor.

"Only an object powered by magic will work on Hogwarts grounds," she said. "It's in Hogwarts: A History."

"He's a space alien, I don't think he's read Hogwarts: A History Hermione!" shouted Harry.

"Well, what can we do?" she shouted back.

"Magic…the power! It can't hurt them but it may speed up the transformation," he said. He knelt down and ripped the cover off of what he'd built. "Come here, Hermione," he ordered. Without a thought she sat down on the ground beside him. He pulled her magic wand from her pocket, wrapping wire around the length of it. "Hold on tight," he whispered, holding her hand around it.

She felt like fire and ice, both at the same time, were ripping through her veins. The world began to fade in and out. She heard the words 'surge' somewhere outside of her consciousness. Finally it was enough. The world went black for a moment and then filled with color and sound again as she woke up, staring at the ceiling of the Great Hall.

"I haven't seen it since that night," was the first thing she said. The Doctor pulled her to her feet and she stumbled against him, groaning a little bit. When she looked around she saw that the door was open and a line of naked house elves, looking more than a little confused, were being handed new white pillowcases by the Headmistress.

"You did a wonderful job," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder. "What did you mean? That last thing you just said?" he asked.

Hermione glanced up at the ceiling of the Great Hall. "Up there. It's charmed to look like the sky above it. The last time I was here—that I really looked at it—that ceiling was burning bright red, like fire. We had a war, you see." Hermione brushed the hair out of her face, falling into step beside the Doctor as they made their way through the room. "A terrible war. So many people died…"

She felt his hand squeeze her shoulder. "I know how that feels," he muttered.

"Harry was the real hero." She looked over at her friend. "He died that night. He died to save us and he came back. But he's still just an ordinary man…and one of the most extraordinary I've ever known. Some people said I was a hero too."

She looked up at the Doctor, tears filling her eyes. "You know what I think?" he said. "I think you are." He took a step away from her. "And I think you're brilliant."

Hermione smiled. "A lot of people think I'm brilliant."

He began to laugh. "I've got to get going," he said. "Why don't you come with me?"

Hermione stared at him in shock. "What? You mean…" She began to smile, slowly. "You mean travel into outer space in a little blue box?"

"That bit of rubbish…as you so kindly put it…can travel clear across the universe and back," he said.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Hermione mused.

"It can travel through time," he added.

"I've been through time before," she said, eyes brightening. "That wasn't so bad either."

"Think about it Hermione. Every book ever written, and you could read every one of them…"

"Books?"

She seemed to think about it for a moment, then linked arms with the Doctor. "Harry?" she called out. He looked up at her. "I'm going on holiday. Tell Ron…well, just tell him I'll be around."

Then Hermione and the Doctor walked up the stairs into Hogwarts. There was a strange sound, a pulsating that filled the air. Several witches and wizards ran up the stairs, but Harry stayed put, suddenly besieged with melancholy at the idea that one of his first and greatest friends would no longer be there.

With a sigh, he smiled at the table where the three of them once sat. "To Hermione," he said quietly, raising an imaginary glass of pumpkin juice. "Here's to your own adventure."