I own no part of either the Harry Potter or the Doctor Who franchises. Thank you and please enjoy the following narrative.

Time Turning

Part I

"And remember, you mustn't be seen. Three hours ought to do it." And with that, Dumbledore left Harry and Hermione alone in the Hospital wing.

"What did he mean, three hours? Hermione, what are you doing!" Hermione's hand went to her hair and a look of dawning comprehension had alighted her face.

"Oh! That's what he meant…"

"What who meant?"

"The Doctor. Come on Harry!'

"Come where!" Hermione was practically dragging Harry as she raced over to the Hospital wing's broom cupboard.

"Hermione, what are you doing, we have to save Sirius! Get off me!" Before Hermione could open the cupboard door a strange light began emanating from the door jam, accompanied by an odd whirring sound.

"What the-" Harry began.

Hermione pulled open the cupboard door, only to be confronted by yet another wooden door, this one was blue.

Three thousand years after Hermione opened the cupboard, in a galaxy far, far away there was a spaceship and in that spaceship was a room.

The room was filled with odds and ends, mostly things that seemed to belong in an engine rather than where they were lying. They were old, some of them were beginning to rust. A dark blue wooden box began to phase into the room, whirring and fading before finally becoming permanently fixed there. Three people walked out of one of the double doors, though the newest recruit was practically skipping out of the blue box labeled 'Police Public Call Box.'

"It's a spaceship!" goggled Mickey Smith. "Brilliant, I got a spaceship on my first go!"

The blonde girl who followed inspected the room and said "Looks kind of abandoned… Anyone on board?"

The third personage strolled out of the box nonchalantly, making his way over to the blonde girl. The best word to describe his appearance would be brown. He wore a brown trench coat over a darker brown suit. His untidy hair was as brown as his suit and a pair of rectangular glasses covered his brown eyes. The brown eyes were alight as he too, examined the room.

"Nah, nothing here, Rose. Well! Nothing dangerous. Well! Not that dangerous." He paused for a moment before heading over to what could only be a control panel in the center of the room. "You know what, I'll just have a quick scan… in case there's anything dangerous."

Rose smirked as he started tapping at the buttons.

"So, what's the date? How far we gone, Doctor?" The brown suited man continued his inspection of the control panel, pressing buttons to his hearts' content. With a flourish the Doctor hit one last button and stared at a small screen.

"About three thousand years into your future, give or take."

The Doctor pulled a lever. The lights turned on and then the ceiling began to part above them, revealing a window to the stars above.

The Doctor continued, "Fifty-first century. Diagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey! Two and a half galaxies!"

Rose walked up to Mickey and placed her arms on his shoulders, "Mickey Smith, meet the universe. See anything you like?"

"It's so realistic!" Mickey exclaimed.

"Dear me," the Doctor's voice echoed in the background, looking around at the unused equipment, "had some cowboys in here! Got a ton of repair work going on."

After studying one of the screens a moment, the Doctor beckoned his companions over. "Now that's odd, look at that. All the warp engines are going… full capacity! There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe… and we're not moving. So where's all that power going?"

Rose frowned, looking around as though she was expecting something that was proving not to be there. "Where'd all the crew go?"

The Doctor leaned forward to tweak another knob on the control panel, then frowned.

"Good question, no life readings on board." He sniffed, then again. "Can you smell that?"

"Yeah," said Rose, also sniffing. "Someone's cooking."

"Sunday roast, definitely!" guessed Mickey.

The Doctor, still busy with the console, noticed an inviting red button and pushed it. There was a deep noise and the sudden rushing in of air as a wall slowly opened onto the most unlikely of scenes found in the fifty-first century. A room the complete opposite of the one the three travelers were standing in. It was circular and appeared to be walled with stone. It was hard to tell if the whole wall was made of stone because there were so many worn tapestries on them. The furniture was made of wood and the cushions were a worn sort of crimson. There was a small wooden table at the wall opposite an ornate stone fireplace. A flame burned brightly in the hearth. The doctor sprinted over to examine the new room.

"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Medieval by the looks of it. English, that's always something you should be proud of. Nice mantel." The Doctor pulled out something metal, almost like a small torch, his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the fireplace mantel and then looked at the metal device. "Not a hologram. Not even a reproduction, this actually is a Medieval mantel. Date unknown." He flicked the device with his finger, but to no effect. "Must be something messing with my screwdriver. It doesn't seem to be able to get a precise date. Anyway, this fireplace appears to be double-sided. There should be another room through there."

Rose looked through a glass paned window near the fireplace which held nothing but stars beyond. "There can't be, that's the outer hull of the ship, look."

"Hmm?" The Doctor had been staring at his sonic screwdriver again, as though willing it to show him the precise date, but still nothing. "Oh, I imagine it's some sort of spatio-temporal hyperlink, or something."

"What's that" asked Mickey, wrinkling his nose.

The Doctor shrugged. "No idea. Just made it up. I didn't want to say 'magic door.'"

"And exactly what is it that you expect to find on the other side of this 'magic door?'" asked Rose playfully.

"Something interesting. Let's have a look, see."

The Doctor crouched down just near enough to the hearth to look past the flame. Inside, looking back at them curiously, was a young girl. The girl had bushy brown hair and wore what could be mistaken for a black bathrobe which obscured her grey jumper. The robe had a crest clearly visible over the left breast. She leaned her head to one side, trying to have a closer look at them. It was too late to pretend they weren't there.

"Hello, and who might you be?" said the Doctor pleasantly.

"Hermione, sir, Hermione Granger. And you are?"

"Oh, I'm nothing, just the fireplace man. Routine check. Looks as though everything's in working order." The Doctor turned to face Rose, as if to say something, but then stopped, turning his attentions back to the girl.

"That's an interesting sort of uniform your wearing, almost like a robe... Sorry, I'm not quite sure I heard your name right, did you say Hermione Granger. Surely not the Hermione Granger of Gryffindor tower, right?"

"Well, of course I am the Hermione Granger of Gryffindor Tower. It isn't exactly a common name, is it? I was only just sorted a few hours ago, though. Oh, I can't believe it! I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow's classes, but I've already memorized all of the books. I just hope that's enough! There are so many things I don't know yet, you see, my parents were muggles, so I've had quite a bit of catching up to do. I mean, for example, I've read Hogwarts, A History, but never knew there was a fireplace man in Gryffindor Tower? Surely everyone else must have already known that!"

"Well, I rather doubt it." The Doctor smiled encouragingly, "Don't worry, you're going to do brilliantly and you'll be at the top of your class. Now, err, would you excuse me a moment."

The Doctor stood up and looked gravely at his companions. "You know how I told you that this ship was generating enough energy to poke a hole in the universe? I think I just found the hole."

Rose folded her arms, her eyebrows raised skeptically. "You can't be serious. Was that really just Hermione from the Harry Potter series?"

"Afraid so. But why would anyone want to tear apart the universe and create something so massive just to get inside of a castle with fictitious wizards. Well, I mean, aside from the obvious."

"See," Rose added smugly, "magic door."

Mickey was clearly lost. "You think someone wanted to get into the Harry Potter world? But it's not even real."

"Of course it's real! It exists in the hearts of billions of people on Earth, and off it for that matter. Billions and billions of children across galaxies fantasize about receiving an invitation to study at the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry. Some of them still do, long after their eleventh birthday. Everyone knows what it looks like, who's there and everything! The only difference is that someone has materialized it. Why?" The Doctor turned back to the mantelpiece and examined it, occasionally wrapping his knuckles on the surface, listening.

Rose tilted her head to one side and smirked. "Doctor, did you fantasize about receiving a letter from Hogwarts when you were an eleven year old Time Lord?"

The Doctor, with his hand firmly grasping the corner of the mantelpiece, smiled. "Nah, it took me a few hundred years to get around to the books. And yes, I have the seventh book, with a personal note from J.K. herself. It's somewhere in the TARDIS' library. Course, why bother with that when I can look at the real thing."

He pulled the corner. There was the sound of the stone floor grinding against itself as the half circle surrounding the fireplace began to turn, carrying the Doctor with it.

"Doctor!" Rose yelled.

And then her voice was suddenly gone, replaced instead by the sound of a clock ticking and the fire crackling in the hearth. The Doctor found himself in a room, identical to the other, only without Rose or Mickey inside. He stepped away from the fireplace and peered outside a panned window where a snowy white owl glided by in the night sky.

"Hello Hedwig." He whispered happily to himself.

"Fireplace man! It's so good to see you again."

The Doctor made a small jump and turned towards the voice. At a small table at the very back of the Gryffindor common room was the young girl with bushy brown hair. There were books stacked on the table and a roll of parchment lay in front of her.

"Is it? I was just in the fireplace, wasn't I?"

"No, it's been weeks since you last appeared. How did you get in? I've spent hours in the library searching for you, but I've never been able to find you."

"Well, that's because I'm a fireplace man, not a library one."

"I mean in the books, of course. There should have been some mention of you, perhaps as a ghost or something, but nothing! Why is that? Surely someone must have seen you here before?"

"I wouldn't think so..." The Doctor walked back over to the fireplace and began examining the mantle.

"So, how are Harry and Ron doing these days?" He asked conversationally.

"Fine, I guess. They're not exactly speaking to me at the moment."

"Already?"

"Well, we aren't really friends anyways. I mean, they're the closest thing that I have to friends here, aside from you that is. I don't think they really like me."

"Oh, I see, so, Halloween hasn't happened yet-" He banged the mantelpiece with his fist and then leaned back over it. "Oh, look, there must be some sort of loose connection with this, you really should call in a repairman."

Hermione's eyebrows knit together as she tried to process everything the fireplace man was saying. She settled on the last bit. "A repairman, at Hogwarts! Surely, you mean Mr. Filch, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose-" The Doctor looked absently at the clock on the mantelpiece, then froze. "Okay, that's scary… Hermione, don't move! Do you hear something?"

Hermione's eyes wandered around the room, trying to find anything worth worrying about. "No, only the ticking of that clock on that mantelpiece, why?"

"Because it's broken." He started backing away from the clock, eyeing the room too. "So, where is that mysterious ticking noise coming from? Snape, Snape, Severus Snape," He saw the look on Hermione's face and frowned. "Oh, never mind, you wouldn't get that joke anyway. Just stay there and don't move."

As the Doctor crept cautiously past Hermione, she instinctively pulled her legs up and held them to herself. The Doctor edged towards the tapestry, just behind where Hermione was sitting and pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his inside coat pocket.

"Is that a wand?" whispered Hermione, "Only I've never seen one like that before."

"Yeah, it's a metal wand thing, and no, you won't find that in the library either."

The Doctor suddenly pulled back the tapestry and Hermione nearly laughed with relief.

"That's just one of the suits of armor that inhabit the castle. It's really quite harmless."

The Doctor frowned. "Then why is it ticking?"

Hermione frowned too, trying to make sense of the new phenomenon. "Maybe it's Peeves, the castle poltergeist. He might have broken the mantelpiece clock and stuck another one inside the suit of armor to confuse people. He's done stranger things before-"

"No, not Peeves. I highly doubt he'd bother with such details. Besides, whatever is ticking in there is six feet tall by the sound of the resonance. So why are you here?" He whispered this last part as he raised his hand up to the helmet and gently began lifting the visor. The ticking noise became slightly louder. Hermione peered up into the helmet. Inside it was a glass dome filled with all the accoutrements one would find in a clock. The cogs moved in time with the ticks.

The Doctor stared at it in awe. "You're beautiful, no, look at you! I've never seen anything like you before. Hermione, this is a sort of repair man thing, it's really quite harmless-" There was a whirring noise as an armored arm creaked up, a blade extending out of its wrist and pointing at the Doctor's throat.

"Harmless!" squeaked Hermione.

"Well, generally speaking, yes. About as harmless as Grawp now, by the look of things."

The Doctor began backing away from the armor as it advanced on him.

"No, don't!" yelled Hermione desperately at the clockwork man.

The clockwork man, blade still at the ready, stopped and turned its head towards Hermione. All became quite still. The Doctor turned too, giving her a searching look.

"It listened to you. I wonder…order it to answer my questions."

Voice quavering, Hermione tried to sound as authoritative as possible. "Whatever he asks, would you please answer him?"

It had come out something more like pleading than ordering, but the clockwork man turned its head back towards the Doctor expectantly.

"You've never really ordered people around before, have you? Now then," he looked into the cog riddled face before continuing, "why did you do that? What's so special about her - no offense Hermione."

It was a deep mechanical voice that answered, "She will have the parts." The voice conveyed a single-mindedness stronger than any spell Hermione knew.

"Hold on, wait a second- let me look." The Doctor, who had been watching the clockwork man with great interest, had turned back to face Hermione. Before she could as much as blink, the Doctor had grasped her head between his hands, closing his eyes. Hermione barely had time to notice how gentle his hands were. It was almost like the way her father used to hold her head. What really made her jump, though, were the images that instantly flooded her mind. Her childhood with her mother and father, times on the beach, the smell of toothpaste at her parent's dental practice. There was the letter from Hogwarts and then the sorting hat debating whether or not to put her in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Then the images began focusing on her birthdays. During all the mental chaos, however, Hermione could feel something else just outside her own mind which reached into the eternities. A mind so unimaginably vast like she'd never known could exist. Then it was gone.

"No!" came the Doctor's horrified voice. She felt herself wake up a bit and stared as he began facing down the clockwork man.

"You've been scanning her brain! Why have you been scanning the brain of an eleven year old girl? Oh, don't worry," he added trying to comfort a terror stricken Hermione, "it's not after your brain or anything like that. Looks like it just wanted to know how old you are."

"Then why doesn't it just ask me?" she cried, "I'm twelve!"

The Doctor looked as though she'd cheated him somehow. "Hold on, aren't you still in your first year at Hogwarts? First years are supposed to be eleven not twelve."

"Yes, but my birthday was in September. I've been twelve almost a month now."

"Oh, right, well, that's probably confused its timelines a bit then. Anyway, what's her age got to do with anything?"

"We need the parts."

"Yes, but what parts. Why here, why now? Surely, you can get your precious parts elsewhere?"

"She is not complete."

"What do you mean not complete!"

The clockwork man seemed to decide that the interrogation was over. It advanced on the Doctor, who found himself up against the mantelpiece he'd arrived through. It raised the blade high into the air and then sent it arching back down towards the doctor, who dodged. Hermione gasped, clutching her hands across her mouth.

"Fireplace man!"

The blade, having missed the doctor had instead lodged itself into the clock on the mantel.

"This is just a nightmare, Hermione, don't worry about it. You were up too late studying knargles or whatnot and fell asleep. Everyone has nightmares. Even monsters have nightmares, don't you, monster?"

"What do monsters fear?" she asked.

"Me, ha!" He hit the mantel which spun around carrying himself and the clockwork man, leaving the world of Hermione and entering that of their own. The world where the Doctor's companions had been waiting for his return. Mickey gasped in surprise as the Doctor leapt towards what appeared to be a massive gun and grabbed it. Before the clockwork man could pull the blade from the clock , the doctor aimed the massive gun and pulled the trigger. A white cloud was propelled from the barrel, freezing the clockwork man on contact.

"Is that a freeze ray gun? I'd love a freeze ray gun!" Mickey exclaimed.

"Fifty-first century fire extinguisher. Here, you can have it"

"Whoa, thanks!"

The Doctor looked the frozen clockwork man over. The armor crackled and began chipping. "Shame about the armor, really. It was -"

Before the Doctor could finish, there was another creaking sound as one armored hands reached for its wrist, pressing a button. The clockwork man vanished.

"No, no, no!" He ran his hands through his hair. "There must be more of them somewhere on this ship, or… or back with Hermione! I've got to warn her! Be back as soon as I can! And no wandering off, you hear me!"

Rose shrugged her shoulders noncommittally as Mickey nodded, "Sure thing, boss."

The Doctor reached for the corner of the mantel and shot them one last meaningful look. "Don't go looking for it! That thing's dangerous!"

The fireplace began to spin once more. The Doctor, who was expecting another night time conference, had to blink in the sunlight coming in from one of the windows. There was a collective gasp as a small group of first years stared at him. Luckily, nobody else seemed to be in the common room.

"Oh, sorry, didn't think anyone would be here."

The smallest of the students, a young girl who was holding a thin leather book, stood up. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Just popping through- wait-" he looked at the girl more closely, "red hair, freckles and hand-me down robes -hello, you must be Ginny Weasley! Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor. Must have gotten lost somewhere behind a tapestry. Best be off! By the way," the Doctor pulled the edge of the mantelpiece, which began to revolve back towards his non-magical world, "I'd start thinking about chucking that old diary, if I were you."

What little he could see of Ginny's face was slowly turning bright red.

Once back, the Doctor turned to Rose. "Better not try that one again. Okay, so let's see if Hermione's looking into the fire yet."

"What do you mean?" Asked Rose. The Doctor failed to notice she was panting.

"Well, if Ginny Weasley is at Hogwarts and carrying a diary around, then we must be well into the second book The Chamber of Secrets."

"So?" panted Mickey.

"'So!' You have read the books, haven't you?" The doctor raised an eyebrow and gave Mickey a look of disgust. "I can just see you now, watching the movies as great, big dust piles heap up on the books. So, The Chamber of Secrets, that means that Hermione is - well was, or is going to be- petrified by the basilisk."

The Doctor paused for a moment, staring back at the two of them, both of whom he now noticed were covered in sweat. "I thought I told you not to go wandering off!"

Rose wiped the sweat from her face. "Couldn't help it."

"What happened? You look like you've been tossed into the lake and banged around by the giant squid."

Rose shot the Doctor a dirty look as Mickey responded. "I may not have read the books, but I certainly know about the three-headed dog. Came out of some drapes and had a go at us. Sprayed him with the fire extinguisher and we ran for it."

The Doctor glanced at the now barricaded door as three distinctly different growls harmonized on the other side.

"My, we have some cowboys in here! Must have been another doorway. I always did wonder what happened to Fluffy. Anyways," he continued, "the time runs differently between our worlds, thanks to the faulty wiring in the mantelpiece. We know that these clockwork people are trying to get some sort of part, presumably something powerful, that they believe only Hermione can provide them. The best way to discover if they've found what they're looking for is to stay in contact with their target. Needless to say, they can't do anything while she's a big petrified hunk of stone. So, let's look and see if she's gotten out of the hospital wing yet."

The three of them knelt down beside the hearth, trying to see the world beyond the flames. "Hermione? Hermione, are you there?"

They could hear a chair moving on the other side and after a moment Hermione sat down and sniffed. It was obvious to them that she'd been crying.

"Hello." she mumbled.

"Hermione, what's wrong, what's happened?" The Doctor asked, leaning in closer to the hearth.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that, well, I applied for my classes next term, but I don't think I'll be able to do them."

"You applied for every subject, didn't you." The Doctor replied knowingly.

"Y-yes, I know that I could do it, but when P-professor M-mcGon-gonagall sent my request for a time turner to the Ministry of M-magic, it-it was denied."

"What! No, they can't do that! Can't you just send in another application?"

"They said that they're decision was f-final."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know, I've done everything right and I'm the best in my year! Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore sent in really wonderful letters of recommendation. It's just that…" Tears were welling up again in her eyes.

"Yes…" The Doctor prompted.

"I suppose… it's just that, ever since the - the night with the suit of armor, I've always b-been n-nervous around them, the armor. I c-can't help it! So m-Madame Pomfrey wrote that I might n-not be able to c-cope w-with the stress of t-time t-tr-travel. And so the m-m-ministry said no!"

The Doctor stared blankly into the fire as comprehension dawned on him.

"I did this." he whispered. His head suddenly jerked back towards Hermione whose tear-stained eyes were on him. It was as though she thought he could do something about this. Well, he could.

"Listen, Hermione, you can't not do this. It's vital that you do this. I can help you, but you'll have to meet me somewhere. How about in the alleyway between Diagon and Knockturn. Can you do that?"

"When?"

"Just before the start of term. I'll be waiting there."

She sniffed. "It's not anything illegal is it?"

"'Course not! Just different, but similar to a time turner, yes. You do want to do this, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then trust me."

"Thank you." she whispered.

"What's going on?" called Mickey. The Doctor stood up and stared contemplatively at the clock on the mantel then sighed and turned to Rose expectantly.

"Rose," he asked, "how many books are there in the Harry Potter series?"

Her response was immediate. "Three, why?"

"Are you sure there aren't seven."

Rose winced, as if trying to remember something. "Yeah, I think so, that's weird, isn't it. A moment ago, I could've sworn there were more."

"That's why I have to go. If I don't, there won't even be a fourth book to read. This is my fault. Just my being there has messed with a clearly established time frame. Now I have to fix it."

"You said you've got something like a time turner," Rose said suspiciously, "but you're not seriously thinking of taking the TARDIS into the Harry Potter world, are you?"

"Yeah, what are you going to do, shove it through the fireplace?" Mickey laughed.

The Doctor grinned as he entered the TARDIS. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor!"

The TARDIS door closed and began whirring and phasing out of the room.