Out of the Aether

By Archdruid89 and mrgriffingiles

A/N: Hello everyone, this is a short story collaboration between Archdruid89 and myself. This story is a companion piece to my Harry Potter/X-Men crossover The Uncanny X-Men: Mutants and Magic and takes place in the same universe. This story is a crossover with Doctor Who as well, much in the same vein as Doctor Who: A Regrettable Rescue one-shot story. The purpose of this is story is to give an idea of what Nathan and Rachael Summers were up to when they were traveling with the Fourth Doctor during the time of Mutants and Magic (a little peek of what's to come in the great Doctor Who tradition of SPOILERS!). It also ties back to the Harry Potter universe by introducing Lara Oz, a Hogwarts dropout turned adventurer. Hope you all enjoy the story.

Chapter 1:

The wind was picking up as Lara Oz looked upon the old dinosaur statues of Crystal Palace Park. At the moment her mind was drifting over the many travels she had undertaken over the past year. It had been exactly one year since she had dropped out of Hogwarts to pursue her own interests. It was also an escape from the anti-Slytherin bias of her peers. The half-blood eighteen-year-old continued her walk through the park silently counting her steps for no good reason. She was nervous and with each she counted, a sense of urgency bled through her whispers as she counted.

London this time of the year was quite windy and mostly overcast with the occasional rain. Still, it was home for the spectacled girl as she carried on toward a hidden little corner of the park. Lara had counted exactly 49 paces and when she reached the corner she pulled out her wand. After making sure nobody was around, she gave her wand a wavy flick. Lara's wand would have stood out, even in the Wizarding World. The wand was made of ginkgo wood with a kraken-beak core, and around ten inches long. It was shaped like an octopus's tentacle with a bluish-green hue. It was an unusual wand that was well suited to Lara.

Lara silently flicked her wand again at the corner. A 'doorway' appeared. She stepped through and soon found herself in Diagon Alley. The doorway was a secret entranceway to the Alley, it was largely unknown to most people. The doorway made use of a Vanishing Cabinet, but that was all Lara knew of it. Only the landlord of the Leaky Cauldron knew about all of the details of the doorway. The landlord only told those who had earned his trust of this entrance to the Alley. It was a rare honor to have bestowed on oneself because Tom, the landlord, was extremely distrustful and suspicious of many people due to his experiences in the First Wizarding War. Those select few swore an oath to Tom not to reveal the doorway to others unless he gave them permission to tell others who have proven their trustworthiness.

Lara had earned this honor by impressing Tom with her drive, honesty, and struggles at Hogwarts. Tom was very sympathetic to her regardless of her being sorted into Slytherin. He learned that not all Slytherin students believed in the ridiculous and notorious pureblood supremacy ideologies. Lara was a prime example of a "good Slytherin". She was disgusted with the pureblood idiocy. It was this sort of hatred that caused so many problems in the world.

Lara also felt that Slytherin House was too privileged and seemed to have no checks against their influence. Lara didn't know why her House had this influence. She did have her suspicions. She thought a lot of the most wealthy and high-status families tended to be sorted into Slytherin. Of course, many of those families did display traits favored by Slytherin. So it was somewhat easy to see why they got sorted there. With the wealth and power of these families, it wasn't too much of a stretch to figure that they believed they were entitled to the influence they had.

Lara's family on the other hand weren't as well to do as say the Malfoys, but they did work in several of the offices in the Ministry of Magic. Plus, not everyone in her family was even a member of Slytherin House. She had at least a few relatives that sorted into the other houses. She had an uncle who was in Hufflepuff and her mother was in Ravenclaw. A couple of her younger cousins were in Gryffindor. Lara's father and maternal grandmother were placed in Slytherin, but it seemed like the Sorting Hat had made a mistake. Lara felt like she was an outsider in her House and had only a couple of friends. Fellow House members saw her as an eccentric nobody. Other students in the other Houses likewise didn't think much of her. Plus, the prevalent attitude against Slytherins added to that.

Lara tried to make it clear that she wasn't like the other Slytherins to students outside of the House. This was to no avail. Many told her that she was exaggerating and simply trying to cause trouble. No one would really give her a chance to express her dislike of the Slytherin influence. Regardless, there were some students that knew she was different from most Slytherins. Lara had even tried to discuss this with the staff. Again, they simply blew her off. Lara had even gone to Dumbledore himself, to discuss how she witnessed Professor Snape allowing the Slytherins to have their way. Even noting how disruptive it was to the whole school. The Headmaster of Hogwarts vehemently insisted that Professor Snape had "his utmost trust" and he made sure to discipline the Slytherin students accordingly. This meeting led Lara to angrily believe that Dumbledore didn't care about the welfare of the school, nor students either. That the powerful Slytherin families had basically bought the old coot off.

Lara wasn't the only one to bring this up to the Headmaster. Many students went to Dumbledore to complain about the inexcusable acts Snape has done. But Dumbledore flippantly brushed it all off. He refused to do anything about Snape's poor behavior and terrible teaching. Lara had hoped that the same accusations coming from an actual Slytherin student would give the case against Snape considerable weight. She even had detailed evidence showing that Snape had allowed Slytherin students to sabotage the other Houses in his Potions classes. However, she too was brushed off. Which further cemented Lara's distrust in Dumbledore.

The breaking point for Lara came when her assignments were sabotaged in Potions. Being a meticulous student, Lara made sure to follow instructions to the letter. Her academic prowess could give that fourth-year student, Hermione Granger, a run for her money. So it was very unlikely that she would mess up a simple assignment. The assignment involved making a Wound-Cleansing potion, and Lara had done a great job with it. She was ahead of most of the other students in the brewing of the potion. So, Lara took a small breather while waiting on the potion to be heated up. The student sitting next to her took note of this.

His name was Marcus Flint, the Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He wasn't a pleasant student and had a particular meanstreak when it came to playing the sport. Marcus was far from being a model student in academics as evidenced by him repeating a year. Like many Slytherins, Marcus tended to have the privileged mindset. He hadn't been paying attention in class, and thus was far behind on the assignment. So he attempted to get Lara to help a fellow Slytherin. However, Lara quietly refused his request. By refusing Marcus, she unwittingly became his target.

Marcus raised his hand and asked permission to use the restroom, which Snape granted without delay. As he walked by Lara's desk, Marcus stealthily dropped a handful of ground bitter-root into Lara's cauldron. Lara was reviewing her notes and didn't notice what Marcus had done. It was too late when she heard Marcus snicker while he left the room. By then her potion began to bellow out purple smoke and a few pink sparks. The smoke caused her to gag and it stained her face.

Other Slytherins had seen what Marcus Flint had done and loudly laughed when Lara desperately tried to nullify the alchemical reaction. Snape himself immediately seized upon Lara and dismissed her from the classroom. To add insult to injury, he also gave Lara detention. As the purple-stained girl got up and left, Marcus crossed her path returning from his restroom trip. He told her loudly that he hoped she 'got the message about what happens to traitors'. Snape didn't even say a word to Marcus about his admission of committing the act. Tears streaked Lara's eyes, and she had made up her mind. She decided to drop out and went to go pack her things. To hell with the detention and the lot of them. The following morning, she left Hogwarts for good.

Those painful memories were mostly behind Lara now, though remembering them did still sting. That didn't matter as she was free. Even though her family was somewhat disappointed with Lara dropping out, they nonetheless didn't blame her too much. Leaving the secret doorway, Lara made her way to her semi-permanent residence, the Leaky Cauldron.

Once inside in the Leaky Cauldron, Lara greeted Tom and quickly got a room for the night. This was normal for Lara, and Tom ensured that she got her usual room. It was the one at the end of the hallway on the second floor. Lara didn't even skip a beat when she opened the door. Her backpack was set at the foot of the small, but cozy bed, and she took off her leather trench coat. Lara shifted her attention to a new concern as she dug through the coat's pockets. Wrapped up in an old white handkerchief, was a small brass-colored set of connected rings with an hourglass full of black sand and a bronze-colored chain. Lara believed that it was a Time-Turner. It looked a bit rough on the edges and appeared to be very antiquated. In all of her travels during the past year, this was the most amazing artifact Lara had ever come across.

Lara had acquired it under remarkable circumstances. A few weeks ago, she had found the Time-Turner in a market stall of secondhand jewelry. Lara was making her way through the streets of a market in a semi-rural community in Poland. The market had a variety of wares, but what amazed her was the abundance of magical items in the stall where she found the Time-Turner. Nearly all of the magical items were harmless amulets, and Lara suspected that the muggle who owned the stall was unaware of their true natures. So no reason to worry about them or alert the authorities.

Then there was the Time-Turner. Lara knew about these incredible artifacts. They could allow someone to travel backward in time a few hours or more. They were strictly regulated by the various magic ministries due to the potential harm they could do if used improperly. However, this Time-Turner was odd. Despite the additional research, Lara did after buying it, she couldn't find anything that would explain the odd look. The best she could figure was that it had either been an obsolete model or that it was personalized for the witch or wizard who owned it before her. However, Lara did suspect that there was more to it than either of those hypotheses.

What made it stand apart was the black sand in the hourglass. This characteristic alone was enough to tempt her into buying it for a few zlotych. Despite being worn and old, Lara thought it looked pretty. So, she bought it and studied it. At first, it was a curiosity to her, and she was somewhat tempted to use it. However, Lara stopped herself from using it due to the possibility of breaking the law. This quickly devolved into anxiety as she was unsure if she should keep it.

The worn appearance also added to Lara's hesitation. She didn't need the time-turner to explode or something while using it. So she decided to return to London, and seek out a friend who worked in the Ministry of Magic. That way, they could take it out of her hands and keep the temptation at bay. Luckily for Lara, she had a strong will to resist such temptations. The idea of time travel was still tantalizing though. As a traveler, Lara could easily imagine which time periods she wanted to visit. It fell nicely in line with her dream. A dream she was currently living now.

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Meanwhile, halfway across the universe, a lone blue police box was orbiting a reddish-hued planet in a binary star system. One would be forgiven for thinking that a British police box doing this would be impossible. That would be the case, if it weren't for this police box being a Gallifreyan Type 40 time capsule. Though the operator would prefer calling it the TARDIS, which is short for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. This outdated craft belonged to the being known simply as the Doctor, a renegade Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor could use the TARDIS to travel in space as well as back and forth through time. For centuries, the Doctor has traveled the cosmos on a journey of exploration and to fight any sort of wrong-doing he came across. To those he helped, he was a hero. To his enemies, he was the bringer of darkness. Whenever the Doctor was, you could bet that some sort of adventure was afoot.

It was not uncommon for the Doctor to have companions to travel with him. Over his past incarnations, the Doctor had a large entourage of friends who joined him in these adventures. This time the Doctor was accompanied by two eighteen-year-olds who were currently nervously sitting around the hexagonal control console located in the much dimensionally bigger space within the police box. They were Nathan and Rachael Summers. They were brother and sister, fraternal twins in fact. Another companion of the Doctor's that joined the twins was a small, grey robot in the shape of a dog named K-9.

The TARDIS had broken down because of a tachyon storm in the Time Vortex. The energies of the storm struck the TARDIS so badly that she had to undergo an emergency materialization. These sorts of storms were uncommon and normally were easily avoided by the TARDIS. This one was like a spacetime hurricane and it was roughly the size of the Solar System. The tachyon storm came about so quickly that the TARDIS could not get away in time. Bolts of tachyon energy slipped right through the TARDIS's force fields and disrupted the dimensional stabilizers. Without these, the TARDIS could not travel into the Time Vortex. So it was up to the Doctor to repair the TARDIS's dimensional stabilization systems in the lower levels.

"I wonder how much longer the Doctor is going to take? He's been in the lower levels for an hour now," said Rachael, as she played with the ends of her red hair.

"Repairs are estimated to take one to one and a half standard hours, mistress," K-9, the robot dog, replied.

"We just got to be patient, after all, it's not like we can walk out the door," Nathan said.

The siblings had been traveling with the mysterious Doctor for some time now. The experience had taught them that times like this were serious, but there was little they could do in assisting the Doctor. So, they had to play a waiting game. The reason why Nathan and Rachael were traveling with the Doctor was due to a revenge plot.

The Summers family were members of the X-Men, a group of superhumanly powered individuals born with amazing abilities known as mutants. On Earth in the present time, mutants lived as an oppressed minority among the 'normal' humans due to the widespread ignorance, fear, and hate of mutant powers. The X-Men were dedicated to the cause of fighting for equality and peaceful coexistence between mutants and normal humans. They did this by showing that mutants could use their powers for the benefit of humankind as a whole. The X-Men also served as teachers that taught mutants how to use and control their abilities. These goals and actions were collectively referred to as 'Xavier's Dream' after their founder and leader Professor Charles Xavier. Not all mutants shared these views, and there were those who would misuse their powers. Thus the X-Men stood ready to fight these threats to defend both mutants and normal humans alike.

One of those threats was the ancient being known as Apocalypse. He was the most dangerous and difficult foe the X-Men had ever faced. Not only because of Apocalypse's immense powers but also because of his belief in the most extreme version of 'survival of the fittest'. The last time the X-Men defeated Apocalypse, the wrathful mutant took revenge by infecting the Summers twins with the techno-organic disease. The ancient being's attempts to manipulate time had gotten the Doctor's attention. Which led him to help the X-Men stop Apocalypse. This was fortunate because the twins could be cured of the disease in the present and the twins' condition quickly became worse. The Doctor knew that the disease could be cured in the future, and offered this solution to Scott and Jean. Left with little choice, the twins' parents agreed to let them go to the future.

The Doctor took the teens to the Bi-Al Foundation hospital in the year 5010. One of the Doctor's many friends who worked at the hospital, Dr. Fredrick Marius, managed to undo Apocalypse's evil. The treatments were very extensive and were similar to present-day chemotherapy. It was a rough treatment for the twins. Nathan had nearly died due to being in the worst condition. Luckily, the advanced medicine of the 51st century was enough to grant the twins a new lease on life. However, both teens wore the silvery and scaly scars of the disease. Nathan's entire left arm and the left side of his torso were covered with the scars, while Rachael's scars were less severe. Hers lined her face in fine web-like lines. The scars were a reminder of why people like the X-Men and the Doctor were needed in the world. To show that even the worst of plots could be stopped.

While waiting on the Doctor, the twins thought about home. All of the members of the X-Men were family to Nathan and Rachael. They missed them more than words could say. They did get to call home from time to time, but it wasn't enough. They had been away from home for three years in relative time. Two and a half of those years were spent getting medical treatment. The remainder was spent going through various unexpected adventures trying to get back home. The TARDIS had a mind of her own despite the Doctor's piloting skills and intent. Even though it was perhaps the most exciting and the most annoying aspect of traveling with the Doctor, the TARDIS always took them where they were needed.

The last time Nathan and Rachael got to talk with their parents, they were informed that their parents had adopted a teen by the name of Harry Potter, a fourteen-year-old magi-mutant from the UK. Being a magi-mutant meant Harry could use magic on top of his mutant powers. The siblings were told about Harry's past of being orphaned, a Dark Wizard named Voldemort always trying to kill him, and the abuse he went through living with his relatives.

The twins further learned that Harry was a student of the Hogwarts School Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry was brought to the Xavier Institute when his mutant powers emerged due to an attack from a psychic vampire called the Shadow King. The Shadow King also murdered Harry's cruel relatives. Currently, it was unknown why the Shadow King murdered them but could be seen as a sort of twisted blessing. It was also discovered that Voldemort had tried to get Harry involved in the Triwizard Tournament in a plot to kill him. Harry had no family aside from his godfather. His godfather, Sirius, was on the run because of crimes he was falsely accused of. Thus it was easily understandable why Scott and Jean adopted Harry. Nathan and Rachael looked forward to having a younger brother and hoped that they could get home soon.

There were other developments aside from Harry being adopted into the family. There were other Hogwarts students who had also been brought to the Institute. These magi-mutants came to Xavier's due to the rising anti-mutant sentiment at Hogwarts and to receive training for their mutant abilities. The anti-mutant hysteria was due to Magneto's recent attack on a nuclear missile base. Some officials in the Ministry of Magic wanted to use the mutant-hunting robots, known as Sentinels, to "combat" the "mutant threat". Thus, the X-Men needed to stop the Sentinel program. Not only were these robots a means of oppressing mutants, but they also had a tendency to turn on their operators. So the X-Men had their hands full. Nathan and Rachael felt that they had missed out on so much. It was a lot to take in. It wasn't just the recent developments either. They had missed holidays, birthdays, and activities such as hanging out or going on family hikes. Nathan and Rachael sat in silence as they waited. There was no need to talk about it when they were thinking of the same exact things.

In the TARDIS's lower levels, the Doctor was in one of the narrow service corridors. Unfortunately, he wasn't having an easy time with it. The TARDIS's obsolescence was one of the drawbacks she had. The Doctor was constantly having to repair broken down systems even though the TARDIS did have the ability to repair herself. A lot of the time the Doctor would simply tinker with the mechanics in the hopes of improving the functions of the TARDIS. Though sometimes, the living vessel would protest. Her age made her quite stubborn on top of her already eccentric attitude. Nonetheless, the Doctor was quite fond of his TARDIS.

"Damn!" the Doctor exclaimed as he removed a piece of burnt circuitry in a tight space.

The space was hard to get into due to the Doctor's tall and lanky frame, but he managed. Though at the cost of getting a creak in his neck and back. At first, there was a lot of smoke coming off of the circuitry, which made it hard for the Doctor to see the extent of the damage. The air filtration units kicked in and removed the smoke from the area. This allowed the Doctor to finally get to work. Then an electrical arc shot out from the brunt circuit. It nearly burned the Doctor's ridiculously long scarf. Once the Doctor righted himself, he pulled out a plastic sheath from his coat pocket. He placed the sheath over the exposed points that caused the arc. Once that was complete, the Doctor was able to reach the fried stabilizer behind the circuitry. This wouldn't be the last incident, however. A lapse of attention caused the Doctor to hit his head on the low ceiling.

"Ow!" he cried out as he began to rub his head.

After the pain had passed, he got a good look at the stabilizer. The stabilizer looked like a burnt matchstick on the upper end, but the lower half was mostly unaffected. That meant the surge protector managed to take the full impact of the tachyon energy. The Doctor was delighted at this because it meant that the repairs wouldn't take as long as he initially thought. Most of the damage was the main circuit pathways that came from the 'match head' end of the stabilizer. So it was a matter of pruning away the damaged circuits so that the TARDIS's self-repair system could kick in. That would save a lot of time, though it would still take a few hours before the TARDIS could leave the binary star system.

"Well. Could be worse, at least it wasn't the central gravity pathway" the Doctor said to himself as he set about clearing the pathways.

Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, the tool began to buzz as the Doctor waved it around the stabilizer. Before the Doctor's blue eyes, the new pathways grew, much like how a slime mold grows. Once the circuit growth was completed, the Doctor left the service space with a cheeky grin. He knew that the twins would be happy to hear that they would be back on the figurative trail soon. The Doctor headed back to the control room with his long, multicolored scarf trailing behind him. However, right before entering the control room, the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. His curly hair began to curl like it was about to rain. Then the Doctor was struck with a sudden feeling of confusion as a sharp pain went through his brain. He began to hear familiar voices shouting, and the flashing of blue lights all around him. The trace-like vision caused the Doctor to nearly fall over but luckily caught himself. Being a Time Lord, the Doctor had modest telepathic abilities. His psionic senses were especially sensitive to the flow of time. Whatever triggered this incident had a strong psionic disturbance accompanying it. The Doctor wasn't the only one who was affected by the disturbance.

"NATHAN!"

The Doctor immediately rushed into the room and found Rachael cradling an unconscious Nathan. It seems that the disturbance overwhelmed the poor teen.

"What happened?!" the Doctor asked Rachael as began examining Nathan. K-9 was already scanning the young man.

"I'm not sure, he just passed out," Rachael said worriedly.

"Master, analysis indicates a surge of psionic energy has rendered him unconscious," K-9 answered.

"That would explain the funny feeling I got too," the Doctor said as he began to scan Nathan with his sonic screwdriver.

While the Doctor's telepathic abilities were nowhere near as powerful as Nathan's, he had much better resistance to these kinds of psionic-temporal disturbances. Nathan's telepathy wasn't normally affected by temporal anomalies. So, this gave the Doctor a rough idea of how powerful this disturbance was. Racheal cradled her brother, hoping the Doctor could help him. Fortunately, Nathan began to wake up.

"Ah…" Nathan quietly said as he rose to his feet.

"How are you feeling Nathan?" the Doctor asked as he finished his scan. He also began to check Nathan's eyes with a small flashlight he got out of his coat pocket.

"It was like a truck slammed into me, but… I… think I had a… vision of the future," Nathan continued, squinting as the Doctor shined the flashlight into his eyes.

"A vision of the future?" Rachael asked, puzzled as she stood up with her brother to steady him.

"What did you see?" the Doctor calmly asked Nathan, now taking the teen's pulse.

"I saw the three of us trying to help a girl run away from something, and there were blue flashes of light," Nathan answered, still dazed from the experience.

"Let me check the chronometric sensors," the Doctor said grimly.

"Do you think it was an attack or something?" Racheal asked the Doctor with a serious look.

"I'm not sure, but the disturbance is certainly of a temporal nature," the Doctor answered.

The Doctor stared off into space with a seriously grim look on his own face. His mind quickly raced through various hypotheses about what caused the disturbance. The Doctor briefly paced around the control console and quickly turned to his robotic companion.

"K-9, do a full-spectrum sweep in psionic wavelengths. See if there is anything local causing the disturbance," the Doctor commanded.

"Affirmative Master," replied K-9 as his antenna dish ears twisted.

Rachael tried to quickly think up some ideas that may assist the Doctor in figuring out what caused the disturbance. She reasoned that if the supposed vision of the future the Doctor and Nathan saw, then the screaming in the vision meant there's going to be danger involved. Nathan was now back to feeling like himself. He did a quick telepathic scan around the TARDIS to see if he could sense anything out of the ordinary. Maybe even an echo of the disturbance. Aside from the presence of Racheal, the Doctor, and the TARDIS, Nathan didn't sense anything more. The Doctor busied himself with a readout from the TARDIS's sensor suite. The Doctor looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. While he stood there, the Doctor made mental relativistic calculations to determine the source and direction of the disturbance. If his math was correct, then he knew where disturbance came from. He only had to wait on K-9 to be sure.

"Master, no local psionic anomalies detected in the local spacetime coordinates. However, this unit's sensors did manage to detect an echo from the disturbance. The echo signal was weak, and suggests that the anomaly originated beyond 10 parsecs from our current location, within an error margin of plus and minus 0.985631…"

"Alright, that will do K-9. That confirms my calculations," the Doctor said, cutting off K-9.

The twins looked at one another as the Doctor hurried to the other side of the control console. He quickly typed up a few more equations and looked up at the twins with a grin.

"Well, by a remarkable coincidence the disturbance came from Earth and from your time," the Doctor said with excited anticipation.

"You mean after we figure out what's going on, we get to go home?" Racheal asked excitedly. She could barely contain herself upon hearing the Doctor's news.

"Yes. The TARDIS can trace the echo straight back to Earth. We wouldn't have to worry about being sidetracked. Ha Ha!" the Doctor said as he began to put in the spacetime coordinates so the TARDIS could lock on to the echo.

Nathan was excited himself but stopped when he thought about the damage the TARDIS had just received.

"Doctor, are we even able to leave? I mean the damage…" Nathan tried to say before being cut off by the Doctor.

"Actually, before the disturbance occurred, I was going to tell you that the repairs were quite minor."

"Oh, well, that's good. But what about the tachyon storm?" Nathan asked.

The Doctor took on a grim look. He had forgotten about the tachyon storm. The Doctor didn't know if the storm had stopped.

"We'll have to take that chance. Hopefully, it may have ceased by now," the Doctor responded.

With the TARDIS locked onto the echo trace, she dematerialized back into the Time Vortex.

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Back on Earth, Lara continued to pace back and forth in the Leaky Cauldron impatiently for the past hour. She had just sent an owl to her friend to see if he could meet her. Lara hoped that alerting the Ministry of her discovery would keep her out of trouble for having it. Luckily, her friend would be able to ensure that. Not to mention, he was probably the best wizard that could assist her.

Lara's friend was Thorin Eaton. He was a wizard that was under the personal apprenticeship of Saul Croaker, an Unspeakable in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. Thorin was dedicated to a career in researching time-magic, and had started to make a name for himself in the field by formulating theories about alternate timelines. While his research on the subject was still in the beginning stages, Thorin had managed to impress Croaker and other time-magic specialists. The Ministry regularly published his work in academic works. Thorin was a year ahead of Lara at Hogwarts. He was the only real friend she had, thanks to their shared interest in travel and Muggle culture. When Thorin graduated, Lara was all alone to face all of the issues she had with the school. Fortunately, they kept in touch through letters. Lara would vent excessively about the crap she went through, all while Thorin reminded her to keep her head held high. While Thorin didn't approve of Lara dropping out of Hogwarts, he knew that it was probably for the best. It pained him when thought about the things Lara had gone through. Personally, he wanted nothing more than to beat the hell out of Marcus Flint.

When Thorin got Lara's owl, he expressed a small grin hoping to hear about her adventures in Europe. However, when he read the letter the grin went away and in its place a look of concern. As soon as he finished reading the letter, Thorin immediately went to his boss to discuss the subject. As he approached his boss's office, Mr. Croaker was actually in the hallway. This made things a bit easier.

"Mr. Croaker?" Thorin called.

Croaker walked up to Thorin.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked. "And I've said before, you have earned the right to call me by my first name, son. Only other people in the Ministry call me 'Mr. Croaker.'"

Thorin felt his cheeks go pink. While he felt honored to be on a first name basis with Saul Croaker, Thorin felt that the man deserved nothing but the utmost respect.

"Sorry, boss. But, I just received an owl from an old friend of mine who dropped out of school from Hogwarts. She found something that I think we need to investigate."

Thorin presented Croaker with the letter that Lara sent. Croaker read through and was stunned at the description of the unusual Time-Turner. While Lara gave a good description, Croaker knew that they would have to examine the artifact in person.

"Fascinating, but this is most troubling," Croaker remarked, his eyes were full of worry.

Being a little startled by his boss's change of demeanor, Thorin continued to go over the details with Croaker.

"She told me in her letter that she found that it was broken and was very worried some wayward muggle might buy it and discover its power. She bought it knowing how dangerous it is to use unregulated Time-Turners. Lara still has it, and I can go to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron right away," Thorin continued.

"While you're away Thorin, I'll do some research and send word to the Polish Ministry to see if they have any information on this Time-Turner," Croaker replied.

Thorin nodded. He went back to his desk to fetch his coat and hat. Then he headed over to the fireplace in his boss's office. He pinched up a bit of floo powder from a container hanging on the mantle and threw the powder in the fireplace. The flames turned emerald green and Thorin called out "The Leaky Cauldron!" before stepping into the glowing fire on his way towards his destination. Croaker knew that Thorin would be able to make sure that the Time-Turner got back to the Ministry safely. So, the old man sighed with a little relief and went to his office to begin his research. Maybe some of his tomes on the history of Time-Turners could shed some light on why this one was so different.

In a small alleyway in Diagon Alley:

VROOMPH! VROOMPH! VROOMPH!

The TARDIS lands, but all isn't well. The doors open up, releasing thick, billowing clouds of smoke. The Doctor and company stumbled out, coughing their lungs out. The tachyon storm had not gone away when they reentered the Time Vortex. The TARDIS could barely dodge the bolts of energy. Before they reached Earth, a bolt had struck the TARDIS just like earlier. However, this bolt was far more damaging. Luckily, despite the damage, the TARDIS had managed to materialize safely. Nonetheless, they made it to Earth and at the right moment in time.

"Is everyone alright?" The Doctor asked, with a small cough.

"I think we'll be fine, Doctor," Nathan said as he took a deep breath of fresh air.

Rachael was gagging too much to answer.

"Master, the TARDIS self-repair systems will take approximately twelve hours to repair the damage," K-9 responded.

"Oh, I think we have twelve hours to spare. We need to find where that disturbance came from," the Doctor said as he puts\ on his fedora and locked up the TARDIS.

"Where are we?" Rachael finally got out, red in the red from coughing.

"Well, we're in London, 1994. However, it's not a part of London you're likely to be familiar with," the Doctor replied.

Upon leaving the alleyway, Nathan and Rachael noticed the oddly dressed people wandering about. They were dressed as witches and wizards. It became clear that they were in the same place Harry came from: The Wizarding World. The whole area reminded the twins of the various alien planets they visited as they traveled with the Doctor. It was fantastic and utterly unbelievable. There were people flying above the streets with brooms. Some people were performing spells with their wands. The street was filled with various shops that looked like they had been around for hundreds of years.

"Did the smoke make us high or something?" Rachael asked, having trouble accepting what she saw.

"No. Nor is it Halloween," the Doctor replied with a grin. He then turned to K-9

"K-9, are you able to get a stronger trace on the echo?"

"Affirmative, master," the tin dog replied.

"Lead on," the Doctor commanded.

Moving his radar dish ears, K-9 led the Doctor and the twins to the source as requested. Despite the wonderful and strange surroundings, the Doctor's entourage easily stood among the locals. Racheal noticed how some of the people gave them anxious looks. When she looked back, they quickly turned away as if they had been caught red-handed. As for Nathan, his psionic senses were abuzz with the thoughts and feelings radiating from the locals. However, this buzzing feeling had something else to it. Perhaps it was the magic use. Nathan remembered how of the X-Men's allies, Dr. Strange told him about how magic and psychic abilities were similar to one another though different. Yet, Nathan's psionic senses couldn't fully grasp the magical aspect. It was a grainy sort of impression, similar to how a faint image can appear in TV static. Still, Nathan found the experience interesting. The Doctor thought to himself as they followed K-9 through the crowds. He had visited the Wizarding World a couple of times in the past, but he never got to be fully immersed in it like he was right now. It certainly delighted him that his favorite species still have a few surprises for him to discover. Humans, no matter what kind they were, always managed to catch the Doctor's interest. Soon, the entourage came to the front door of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Master, the trace terminates here," alerted K-9.

"How convenient, a pub. Let's have some lunch while we look for clues, eh," the Doctor said to the twins as they entered the pub.

Unknown to everyone on Earth, a small flying saucer hovered over the darkside of the moon. It was a golden brass color, with a spinning midsection and five hemispherical domes on the underside. The top had a larger dome lit up with yellow lights. Inside of this saucer was perhaps the most concentrated form of evil known to the universe.

"REPORT!" screeched an electronic voice.

"DISTURBANCE WAS BEEN TRIANGULATED TO SOL 3! FULL ELECTROMAGNETIC SCAN REVEALS A CYCLE OF TWENTY MEGA REELS BETWEEN PULSES!" said another.

Daleks. A race hellbent on exterminating everything that wasn't a Dalek. They were shaped like saltshakers with two lights and an 'eyestalk'. They were armed with an energy gun and a plunger-like manipulator arm. The disturbance had also caught their attention as well. The Daleks were always on the hunt for anything that could be used as a weapon. Given the temporal aspects of the disturbance, it brought the possibility that they could master time travel. Not only would they win their war against the Movallans, but they could also take on the might of the Time Lords. Such would inspire joy in a Dalek if it could feel such an emotion. The saucer left the darkside of the Moon and turned invisible so it could sneak onto the Earth's surface.