Chapter 18 - Geronimo!

Months passed. Slowly, Hogwarts began to heal from the devastating events it had experienced. New trees were planted in an effort to regrow the Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts' grounds were watered so that grass would once again cover the soil, and the Whomping Willow began to regrow its branches. However, the rubble from the collapsed parts of the school itself could not be cleared until the holidays, and so several out-of-bounds places sprung up all of the castle in an effort to keep the students away from the debris. Filch took to patrolling these sites, and threatened any student who came to have a look with long, painful detentions in the dungeons.

The Ministry, too, had taken an interest in the school's affairs. Dumbledore and the other teachers had had to hand in reports to the Ministry detailing what had happened, and an official inquiry was ordered to investigate how and why the school and its grounds were damaged. As much as Dumbledore regretted doing so, he found himself completing copious amounts of paperwork regarding the deaths of almost a hundred students.

In the future, the month of February in the year of 1996 would be called 'undoubtedly one of the worst in the entire history of Hogwarts.'

Professor Smith's disappearance did not go unnoticed either, and after the euphoria of Voldemort's retreat had died down, the teachers spent several days trying to ascertain his whereabouts before the Ministry found out. Unfortunately, find out they did, and Dumbledore was hit with a heavy fine and threatened with forced removal from the school for hiring a teacher with no credentials or Ministry qualifications on the spot, in addition to letting this 'Doctor John Smith' start a new subject without notifying the Ministry. The furore over this 'mystery teacher' and the events at the school was so great that the Daily Prophet ran the story on the front page for several weeks. Additional fuel was added to the fire with the emergence of an inside story from Rita Skeeter, who claimed to have been abducted and horribly tortured by unknown assailants until being rescued by Bartemius Crouch Junior.

For Harry, Ron and Hermione, though, Professor Smith's extended absence was incredibly disheartening. After all, they had made him promise to return once he had spoken to the zygons. Now, four months later, and with their OWLs only a few days away, it seemed unlikely that he would return. For someone who all three regarded with a huge amount of respect and awe (though Hermione's levels of awe and respect were far lower) to break their word was tantamount to betrayal. They voiced their concerns about this to Tonks, who had been assigned to the school to protect it from any other surprise attacks. True to her blunt nature, the auror had told them all to forget it and move on with their lives, saying that they should expect this kind of thing to happen often in the adult world. After saying this, though, she confided in them that she was just as downhearted as they were. Something about the trio's eccentric science teacher intrigued her, and she was determined to find out what.

Recent events had taken their toll on Tonks as well. After seeing how easily her fellow aurors were subjugated by what Professor Smith had called a zygon hypnosis device, and after many of her colleagues had died as a result of the exploding ship, Tonks had realised just how dangerous an auror's life could be. So much, in fact, that she was beginning to have second thoughts about continuing on in the profession. This surprised and saddened her a lot, as being an auror was all she could remember ever wanting to be. While her mind wanted to remain as an auror, her gut instinct had other ideas, and began, for some inexplicable reason, to take more of an interest in the sort of sciency stuff she'd find in her dad's television shows. She kept these new feelings to herself for the time being, not wanting to bother anyone else with the information, especially as they all had more important things to worry about.

When the long week of OWL exams did arrive, it finally seemed as if school life was back to normal. Then came the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

Harry had allowed himself to be fooled by Voldemort into thinking that Sirius was being held prisoner deep in the Ministry of Magic. He, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville and Ginny had mounted a failed rescue mission that nearly had them all killed; only the timely intervention of several members of the Order of the Phoenix prevented their demise.

However, the outcome of the battle was far more tragic: Sirius had been killed, murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange. The death of someone Harry was coming to regard as a father figure had a profound effect on the young Gryffindor. In the weeks afterwards, he detached himself from his friends, wandering the many corridors of Hogwarts alone, mourning Sirius and kicking himself for walking willfully into Voldemort's trap.

It was on one of Harry's lonely walks that he ran - literally - into something very, very unexpected.

"Oof!"

Harry rubbed his head and stared at the object he had walked into. For a moment, he couldn't believe it, it was impossible, he had last seen it months ago, he had given up hope! But there it was, standing in the corridor; Professor Smith's blue box.

The door creaked open, and Professor Smith's head popped out.

"Harry!" he cried upon spotting the dumbfounded boy in front of him. "Told you I'd be back! I just popped up to the zygon spaceship, told them that they had the go-ahead to live in the Lake, gave them my screwdriver, had a chat with Zyrath - nice bloke by the way - then came straight back." He beamed happily.

"Y-y-you're back!" Harry stuttered.

"I agree," Professor Smith said, beginning to frown. Harry was behaving oddly, had something gone wrong?

Harry suddenly scowled. "You came back...after four months!" he practically shouted, all the suppressed emotion of Sirius' death bursting out of him. "When you said you'd come back, we thought you'd be back in a couple of hours, a couple of days at the most, but instead it's four whole months!"

Professor Smith winced. "Sorry," he whispered guiltily. "I didn't mean..." He trailed off. What more could he say?

Harry took several deep, calming breaths. "Have you any idea what's happened since you left?" he said miserably. "What happened at the Ministry, how I was so stupid, how Sirius died..." At this, his resolve broke, and he dissolved into tears.

"Err, I'm sorry, I suppose," Professor Smith said, thoroughly confused. What had happened at the Ministry? Who was this 'Serious' person? He'd obviously been someone of great importance to Harry.

"It's my fault that he died, and I hate myself for it," Harry admitted, sniffling and wiping the tears from his eyes. "If I had the chance to get away from it all, I'd take it."

An idea sprang into Professor Smith's mind. "Well," he said slowly. "You could always come with me."

Harry looked up, eyes wide and hopeful. "Really?" he said. "I'd love to!" He opened his mouth, ready to say 'let's go', but he suddenly thought of Ron and Hermione. He couldn't go with Professor Smith without them coming either, could he? They deserved this as much as he did, after all, they had both been severely injured at the Ministry and would also relish the opportunity to escape from everything as well.

He bit his lip. "Can Ron and Hermione come too, Professor?" he asked hopefully. "They've...been under a lot of stress too, and I think they deserve a break too."

Professor Smith grinned. "The more the merrier!" he said happily. "Let's go and get them, shall we?"

Ron and Hermione had been visiting Hagrid regularly since Voldemort's surprise attack, and he had been a great source of advice for dealing with the emotional effects of the aygon invasion. Today, however, they had confided in Hagrid their feelings about Harry's current behaviour, how he had been distant from them, and that they wished he would let them comfort him. Hagrid had nodded understandingly, saying that he knew from experience that Harry was very upset and wanted to be alone, but would eventually become more open again. As such, they left his hut feeling a great deal more cheerful than when they had entered it.

As they made their way back up to the castle, they detected a faint, wheezing, groaning sound. Recognising it immediately, Hermione turned to Ron in surprise.

"Ron, did you hear that?" she asked. "That's the sound Professor Smith's box - the TARDIS makes! He's coming back!"

"About bloody time," Ron snorted, looking around for the source of the noise. "Where's the thing going to apparate, though?"

He was answered almost immediately as the landscape around him and Hermione began to blur into an entirely different appearance. The two students watched, open mouthed, as a large, gleaming room materialised around them. Professor Smith and Harry were standing on a raised glass platform, just in front of a hexagonal console, with a large cylinder stretching connecting it and the roof. Several flights of stairs branched off from the platform, giving the impression that the room they were in was only a small part of a larger building.

"Hey, I know this place!" Ron said, looking up at Professor Smith. "This is your blue box!"

"Correct, Mister Weasley!" Professor Smith called. "You're inside the TARDIS once more."

"Wow, it's just like Ron said!" Hermione breathed. "You've put an undetectable extension charm on it!"

Professor Smith frowned. "No, don't be silly! Undetectable extension charms are finite. Transdimensional engineering is infinite!" he said proudly.

"B-but infinite space is impossible!" Hermione protested. "It goes against ever principle of magic!"

"It's not magic, it's science!" Professor Smith corrected. "I'll explain later if you want," he added, seeing Hermione's confused expression.

Ron walked up the stairs leading to the platform.

"You came back," he said sharply. "Why?"

Professor Smith looked down at his shoes in embarrassment. "I, err, overshot," he said guiltily. "I meant to return a few hours later. But, as an apology, I've offered all three of you a place onboard!"

"So?" Ron asked, unimpressed, as Hermione slowly made her way up the stairs, only for her eyes to almost fall out of her head upon spotting the console in front of her.

"Professor Smith says he'll take us with him," Harry explained. "To wherever we want to go, as a chance to get away from everything for a bit."

Ron's eyes brightened, and he looked hopeful. "Yeah?" he said. "Great! God knows we need a break!"

"Hermione, you wanna come too?"

"Mmhmm," Hermione said absently, still engrossed with the console. She reached out to pull a lever, but Professor Smith quickly slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch the helmic regulator!" he said hurriedly. "Who know's where we'll end up!"

"But this place is so amazing!" Hermione said. "What does all of this do?"

Professor Smith grinned. "Timey-wimey stuff," he said. "But you haven't seen anything yet. You haven't even found the library!"

Hermione nearly fainted.

"I think that's a 'yes' from all of us, Professor," Harry said, looking at his bushy-haired friend as she streadied herself against the handrail.

"Off we go, then!" Professor Smith cried, and he pulled a lever. Immediately, the room shuddered, and the familiar wheezing, groaning sound began.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all grabbed hold of the console for support as Professor Smith ran around it, pulling levers and flicking switches.

"What's happening?" asked Hermione.

"We're dematerialising," Professor Smith explained. "The TARDIS is entering the time vortex!"

"Where are we going?" asked Ron.

"I don't know!" Professor Smith laughed.

"When are we going?" said Harry.

"I don't know!" Professor Smith said again, imitating the trio by grabbing hold of the console. "But I do know one thing!"

"What's that?" the trio asked at the same time.

Professor Smith grinned. "Geronimo!" he shouted, as the TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex, transporting its occupants to their next adventure.

A thousand miles away, on a large, rocky outcrop in the middle of the North Sea, the Doctor sat impatiently in his past self's cell in Azkaban, waiting for the TARDIS to arrive. When at last the blessed wheezing, groaning sound could be heard, he stood up and dusted himself off.

No sooner had the TARDIS fully materialised then he pushed open the doors and walked in.

"You took your time," he noted drily.

"Had to drop Clara off," replied a woman. "She made me stay and eat one of her souffles."

The Doctor snorted. "Where'd she get the milk?" he joked.

"Hmm?"

"Never mind, dear, I'll tell you later," the Doctor said absently, and he flicked a couple of switches on the console.

The woman crept up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"You know," she said quietly. "It's almost a year since you found me. Do you remember?"

The Doctor smiled reminiscently. "I remember it well, dear, I remember it well."

The End

The Doctor will return in Harry Potter and the Witch's Secret

Author Note: And, to lead into the sequel, I give you the biggest cliffhanger of the story!

I'd like to thank everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed the story over the past few months. These gestures of appreciatiation are, err, much appreciated!

JSmith25

Edit: The sequel has now been published. It can be found on my profile or on the Doctor Who/Harry Potter crossover page.

Replies to reviews:
Haven Wood: Thanks! That question will be answered in the sequel, and there's a very simple explanation for it!

Insanityisgood25: Thanks! Hehe, good! Don't worry, though, everything will clear up in the sequel!

Wonderbee31: The wait is almost over!

TracyFace33: Yes. Basically, the Doctor scanned Tonks with the screwdriver, Tonks snatched it from him, then kept it for several days, only to eventually give it back after Voldemort ran away. The Doctor then went to the zygon spaceship and left it there. The zygons then gave it to the past Doctor when he vortex manipulatored there just before the ship exploded. In other words, wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey! Thanks! No problem.

CybeleSummon: The sequel will be published sometime between now and the 11th. Thanks, and I hope you will enjoy the sequel!

87: It seems everyone wants to know what the deal is with Tonks! I can't for the life of me figure out why! :p Don't worry, all the dangling plot threads regarding Tonks will be tied up in the sequel.

SuOmAlAiNen92: Yes, I totally agree! Thanks! My intention is that, apart from this story and the sequel, the plot of the Harry Potter books still takes place, with inly a few minor alterations, obviously. Regarding Tonks, well, you'll have to wait and see!

Yes, I have read your sequel and I think you should leave it as a separate story; the first has a definite end that you would have to change if you were to merge the two together. Both stories are very good too, I might add. Well done!