Entry tags:

2007 fest, doctor who

a DOCTOR WHO crossover for bzzinglikeneon

Author: violet_quill

Recipient: bzzinglikeneon
Title: All a Bit Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Crossover Fandom: Doctor Who (10th Doctor)
Main Characters: The Doctor, Martha Jones, Sirius Black, James Potter, Jo Rowling
Summary: The Doctor takes Martha on a side-trip to Hogwarts to show her that magic may be even more real than she thought. They arrive on a very special day in 1975, and find themselves interfering with a certain schoolboy prank...
Notes: Takes place immediately following "The Shakespeare Code." I hope I did justice to your favorite Marauders! Also, there really was a four hour delayed train between Manchester and London, or so the story goes...


Martha stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. Green, rolling hills as far as the eye could see. In the distance, the ruins of a castle - uninviting to the point that she didn't care to look at it, eyes flickering over the lake instead. "Oh, it's beautiful! Are we on another world? The remains of some lost civilization?"

"Nope," said the Doctor. "Scotland. Gorgeous, isn't it?"

Martha blinked. "I've been to Scotland. Sure, it's lovely, but this... it's..."

"Magical? You're very perceptive, Martha Jones. Do you feel it in the air?"

The air indeed seemed to crackle with it, whatever it was. She forced herself to look at the ruins again. A "no trespassing" sign teetered precariously on a nail sticking out of a tree trunk. "What is this place?" she asked, even though she felt the words sticking slightly in her throat, as if they didn't want to come out. And somehow her mind didn't seem to want to hold onto the thought, but rather to force her to look away, back towards the beautiful hills...

"Huh? Oh!" The Doctor pulled the sonic screwdrier out of his breastpocket and aimed it at the ruins. A few moments later the image waved and was replaced by a gigantic well-kept castle.

Martha rubbed her eyes. "That - that wasn't there a second ago!"

"Well, it was there, but..."

"What is it? Where is it? The architecture is strange, but it's weird, like there's something familiar about it."

The Doctor grinned. "That, Martha, is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

* * *

As the pair of them hiked up one of those rolling Scotland hills towards the castle, Martha bombarded the Doctor with questions in quick succession.

"So it's real then? It's all really real?"

"If it's real then how can it be books?"

"If this is Hogwarts then does that mean that Harry Potter is up there? Are we going to meet him? Oh, oh! Can we meet Snape? I've always wanted to meet Snape!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes at that last bit. "One of those, are you? He doesn't look like Alan Rickman, you know."

"I don't want to date him," Martha laughed. "I just want to find out if he's evil or not. C'mon, you've read book seven - what happens? You can tell me! I'm about to find out anyway, right?"

"Nope," said the Doctor. "Sorry, Martha, but you're not going to meet Harry Potter. Maybe Snape, though..." He looked thoughtful, glancing up at the clouds. "I'd say it's about, oh, nineteen seventy-five."

Martha blinked. "Seventy-five? Why'd you bring us here then?"

He reached over and patted her shoulder. "Wouldn't want to spoil you, now would we? Besides, it's safer here. Don't have to worry about Voldemort lurking about in turbans, or basilisks running amok, or werewolves..." There was that thoughtful look again. "Okay, well maybe there's still a werewolf, but he's a very responsible werewolf."

"Remus Lupin," said Martha knowledgably, and then her eyes lit up again. "Oh! A young Sirius Black! Now him I could date."

"He doesn't look like Gary Oldman, you know."

Martha flashed him a smile. "Jealous? C'mon, Doctor, you never answered me about how it's all real..."

"Oi there!" called the Doctor suddenly, and Martha turned to where he was shouting. A girl in a blue and bronze school uniform was darting across the lawn, dark pigtails flying behind her. She paused when she saw the Doctor calling to her.

"You lot late too?" she asked, pushing glasses up on the bridge of her nose. "I don't even like Quidditch, but it's Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, you know!"

Martha clapped her hands. "A Quidditch match! Can we go? Please, please, please?"

"Well, I suppose we can, Miss Jones," said the Doctor, hooking his arm through hers. "Didn't I promise you a good show? I daresay the last one got a bit interrupted, by horrible wicked wit - " He cut himself off and cleared his throat, looking at the Ravenclaw girl. "Nevermind that. Lead the way then, if you don't mind? We've come for the match but I'm afraid we're a bit lost."

* * *

The Doctor and Martha were settled snugly in the Gryffindor cheering section. The Doctor said it was because the maroon of Martha's jacket blended in the best, but she suspected that he knew she was a bit of a Gryffindor at heart.

The student announcing the game was just getting through the Gryffindor players, and shouted as the last flew through the gates, "And the captain of the Gryffindor team, Chaser extraordinaire... JAMES POTTER!"

Martha clapped wildly and joined the yells of the students sitting around her. Even the Doctor joined in, looking almost as giddy as she did. "I haven't seen a Quidditch match in ages," he confided as a very young-looking Madam Hooch let a Snitch loose into the stadium. "And I've certainly never seen him play."

"It's brilliant!" Martha cried, looking out at the game. "Look at them, all... flying and stuff!"

"Better flying than falling," someone sitting in front of them piped up.

"I dunno, the time that James flew smack into the goal and knocked out cold was pretty funny," the boy sitting beside him added.

"Or that time the bludger knocked him off his broom and he hurtled into the teacher's stands and practically into Dumbledore's lap," added the first.

"For a chaser extraordinaire he sure does spend a lot of time in the hospital wing," the second boy snickered.

"Hey!" Martha said, thumping the boy on the shoulder. "I think he's a great Quidditch player."

The boy turned, a half-smirk set on his lips, but it morphed into a rather charming smile when he saw her. "Hey Wormtail, I think James has got another admirer. Sorry, but you're going to have to fight Evans for him. Maybe the two of you could just start a fanclub."

Martha's mouth dropped open. "Wormtail?"

The boy cleared his throat, and a sweep of dark bangs fell into his eyes. "Peter, I mean. Who are you, anyway? I'm pretty sure I'd remember you."

"I'm Martha," she said, sneaking a glance at the Doctor, the expression on her face making it clear that she was trying to contain a squeal of joy. "And you're Sirius Black."

"Of course I am. See?" He nudged Peter in the ribs. "I told you everyone knows me."

Peter, who never quite met Martha's eyes, shrugged a little. Martha tried to imagine him turning into a cold-blooded killer and it didn't quite work. He was all pudgy and blond and sad. She rather wanted to give him a hug.

"So Martha," Sirius continued, still grinning at her, "who's your friend?" He nodded to the Doctor.

Suddenly Peter let out a whoop of joy. "There now, you see!" he said, looking at Sirius. "You're too busy flirting and you didn't even see James score a goal!"

"He scored?" Martha repeated, disappointed, at the same time that Sirius insisted, "I wasn't flirting, I was talking."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Okay."

"Honestly," said Sirius, "you think I'd bother with another bird with eyes for Pro - for James? Now her friend..." He tilted his head in a rather miniscule way, but suddenly the dazzling smile was focused on the Doctor instead. "Bit old, but..."

He was interrupted by Peter grabbing his arm and diverting his attention back to the field where James Potter was about to score another goal.

Martha gaped at the Doctor, who blinked a little and said, "I do believe that fifty-seven hundred fangirls just punched the air."

* * *

Gryffindor won; although it took their Seeker what seemed liked ages to catch the Snitch, the team was still well ahead by that time. When it was all over Martha looked down at Sirius and Peter and asked, "Where's Re- I mean, I usually see the pair of you with another bloke, yeah?"

"Remus?" Peter piped up. "Oh, he's not feeling well, tonight's the - "

Sirius elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "Tonight he's got to spend studying for this wretched Potions test and he's absolutely sick about it."

The Doctor glanced up at the sky. "Oh, I see."

"Speaking of Potions," Sirius suddenly continued, "has your nose gone back to normal, Snivellus? I can't tell, always looked a bit wonky to me."

The Slytherins were filing down from their section of the stands, and a scowling boy with black hair was blocked from continuing along his path, by Sirius sticking his arm out over the rail.

"You know perfectly well that my potion was perfect," the boy hissed. "I don't know what you slipped in it when I wasn't looking, but..."

"Oh-ho! Got a bit of an ego for someone who can't seem to find the bath..."

The boy tried to move to the side and past Sirius' arm, but Sirius grabbed the shoulder of his robes instead.

"Sirius!" Martha couldn't watch this anymore. "Don't be such a child, let him go."

Sirius looked back at her, surprised, which was enough for the boy - who Martha had worked out by this point to be Severus Snape - to wrestle free. Martha tried smiling at him, but Snape only sneered at her. "I don't need some girl rescuing me. You're probably just another Mudblood like Ev - "

"Don't. You. Say it."

This was a new development - James Potter on his broom, hovering just to the side of Snape, his wand jabbed neatly against the Slytherin's throat.

"Allllll right then, that's just about enough of that," the Doctor said, bouncing to his feet. "Didn't you know, I'm a new, ah, professor, and I'm about to take away House points from the lot of you!"

Sirius looked at him skeptically. "You're a professor? What subject?"

"Ah - "

"Muggle History!" Martha blurted, and the Doctor gave her a grateful look.

Snape muttered something unintelligible under his breath at that, but apparently it was convincing enough for James to reluctantly drop his wand and Snape to shuffle away.

Looking a little sheepish, James said, "Where's Evans?"

"Probably waiting for you by the locker rooms like she always does," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "She didn't even sit with us, she was with that gaggle of girlfriends of hers instead and you know how Marcy Liversmith can't stand to look at me right - "

"Right," said James.

"So yeah, next time you're defending her honor you might way to make sure she's here to appreciate it," Sirius snorted.

"Right." James glanced at the Doctor and Martha, as if he wasn't sure what to say, and finally just nodded and took off on his broom again.

Sirius looked warily at Martha. "You're not a teacher too are you?"

"I'm - " She hesitated. "I'm his uh, assistant."

"Speaking of which, Miss Jones really ought to get on with assisting me," the Doctor cut in, grabbing her arm. "It was lovely meeting you boys. I'm sure I'll see you in, er, class."

As the Doctor dragged Martha away, she thought she heard Peter laughing, and something along the lines of, "I can't believe you tried to chat up a teacher!"

* * *

"What was that all about?" asked Martha as she and the Doctor hiked away from the Quidditch Pitch and towards the castle.

"I... think we might have accidentally changed things," the Doctor said morosely.

"Changed things? With that little conversation? How much could we possibly have changed?"

"Oh... fate of the world," the Doctor said dismissively. "But it's okay, I think we can fix it."

"Wait," Martha said, stopping in her tracks. "How do you know we've changed something? Do you have some Time Lord super power that lets you see into the alternate future or something?"

"No, I just know how it's supposed to go. I didn't realize what day it is. Look." He started walking again and Martha followed, but only because he was talking, too. "You remember the prank, right? Sirius tricks Snape into going to the Shrieking Shack on a full moon - "

"Right!" Martha interrupted, eyes bright. "But James pops in at the last minute and saves his life."

"Right," the Doctor repeated, "but you see, James does that because of a fight he had with Lily earlier in the day - she finally got through to him just how childish his and his friends' bullying was. So when James found out about Sirius' plans... he stopped them, lest he ruin any chance he had with Lily."

Martha frowned. "But how do you know that? That hasn't been in the books. Unless it's in the last one..."

"Not every detail of an event is in a telling," the Doctor said, sounding a little impatient. "Trust me, if Harry Potter's life story were given in that amount of detail there'd be a lot more complaint about the length of the books than there already is."

"But were you there?"

"I've had some conversations with the person who parsed it all out. Look, I haven't even gotten to the important bit yet. See that?" He pointed up at the sky. "There's going to be a full moon tonight."

Martha nodded. "Peter rather let that slip, didn’t he."

"Not the most clever of the lot, for sure. All right. So that little confrontation with Snape and Sirius and James... we interrupted it but it was supposed to go on for longer. Long enough for Lily Evans to come looking for James."

Martha blinked. "And to prompt that fight!"

The Doctor nodded, looking pleased. "Gold star. Yes. They're supposed to fight about the bullying today, but now they're not because it didn't last long enough for Lily to see. In fact, if James and Lily aren't on the outs they might stay together to celebrate the Quidditch match, and - "

"And James won't find out about the prank at all!" Martha's eyes widened. "But then... there won't be anyone to stop Snape from going into the Shrieking Shack. Remus might kill him!"

The Doctor nodded gravely. "Or wound and curse him, at the very least. And I'd hate to think what would happen if there were a very angry, very clever werewolf at Voldemort's disposal. Not to mention that Remus might very well be locked up for good. And as for James Potter and Lily Evans..."

Martha shook her head. "She'd probably never forgive him, even if it wasn't his idea. They might not get married. There might not be a Harry Potter!"

"Indeed. And what that means... well, it could mean a lot of things. Maybe there will simply be no one to bring Voldemort down and he'll destroy the Wizarding world. Maybe he'll kill wee Neville Longbottom. Or maybe Neville will become the Boy-Who-Lived. But in any case, that's an awfully big change to history."

"And all because you had to call yourself a teacher and intervene," Martha said with a lifted eyebrow.

"Well couldn't very well let it go on," the Doctor said sheepishly, "even if he did call you a mudblood. Could have clocked him one myself, actually."

Martha smiled.

"All right then, easy enough to fix, yeah?"

"We've just got to find James and tell him about the prank," said Martha, "and make sure he knows that he should stop it. You don't think that'll mess things up?"

"Seems like things should work out about right in the end," the Doctor said, nodding.

"Isn't it a bit strange that we happened to show up here on an important day like this? You didn't do that on purpose did you?"

"Nope," said the Doctor as he changed directions.

"Rather like winding up with Shakespeare when those witches happened to be there..."

"Just lucky I guess. C'mon then, Miss Jones, looks like you'll get to meet Harry's mum and dad yet."

* * *

Lily Evans was even prettier than Martha had thought she would be. Not like a model or anything, but just pretty - the type of girl that a boy like James Potter would change his mischievous ways for.

It wasn't difficult to part her from James; the Doctor simply pulled his "new teacher" routine and Lily was thrilled to discuss the new "Muggle history" curriculum.

James looked distinctly uncomfortable as she and the Doctor walked away, chatting. He turned to Martha and cleared his throat. "Hey, he isn't going to mention, uh...?"

She shook her head. "Not a chance. But look, James - "

He looked puzzled. "Do I know you?"

"Ah, no. But I met your friends earlier, remember? And see, the thing is, I accidentally overheard them talking, and I think you ought to - " She really should have thought ahead of time how she was going to say this. "I think they're planning something really dangerous. A prank."

James frowned. "What, on Snive - on Snape? Don't you think he deserves it? He called you that name too, after all!"

"But Sirius is going to send him into the Shrieking Shack after Remus!" Martha blurted.

James' eyes widened. "How - how do you know about that?" He grabbed Martha's arm and pulled her to the other side of the tree they were standing beside, even though there was no one anywhere around them anyway.

"Um," said Martha. Then she just sighed. "I just know, okay? And I swear I won't tell anyone. Me and the Doctor, we won't be here very long."

"The what?"

"The Doc - nevermind. James. You need to stop Snape from going into the Whomping Willow. I know you probably think it would serve him right to get hurt after all that snooping he's done trying to figure out Remus' secret. But think about what would happen to Remus if he hurt - or even killed someone! And also - " She gave him her very best Woman's Look. "Think of what Lily would think."

James bristled. "Snivellus is a right prat to her, even after her sticking up for him!"

"It's not just about Sni - about Snape. It's about growing up. Granted, I don't really fault Sirius for a little arrested development, what with that family of his, that awful mother - "

"How the bloody hell do you know about Sirius' mum?"

"Focus, James!" Martha chided. "That's not important. What's important is you realizing that there are more important things than petty rivalries. You need to grow up and think about consequences. And you need to show Lily that you've grown up. She's not going to want to marry a boy. Be a man!"

James gaped. "Who said anything about getting married?"

Martha bit back a smile. "At the very least, do it for Remus, okay? You don't want the four of you to be split apart, do you?" She said that with a small note of sadness, knowing what was to come. She wanted so badly to tell him. To warn him about Peter, about what was going to happen.

But she couldn't.

"You two have a nice chat then?" The Doctor was walking up to them, Lily in tow.

"Oh, right, we were just - Quidditch," said Martha quickly. "I'm a big fan."

Lily gave her a wary look and then turned to James. "Did you still want to go for that walk by the lake?" she asked, suddenly a little shy.

James opened his mouth, then looked at Martha for a split second, then up at the sky. It was growing dark. The very first hint of the rising moon. "I've - no, I'm sorry, Lily, but I just realized something I have to do. Right now. Can I - some other time?" He looked at her, eyes pleading.

Obviously disappointed, Lily just nodded.

James shot one more look at Martha, then took off at a full sprint.

"The Whomping Willow is in that direction," the Doctor murmured in Martha's ear. "Good work."

Lily was looking that way too, watching James until he disappeared at the horizon.

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder. "He's a good lad."

"Yeah," said Lily, "he is. Sometimes I just..."

"Just give him a bit longer," said Martha. "I think he might surprise you."

* * *

"So we saved the world again, have we?" Martha commented as she and the Doctor headed back to the TARDIS.

"Well," the Doctor began flippantly. "We did muck it up first, so does that really count?"

"You still haven't explained to me how all this stuff works!" Martha insisted. "All this Harry Potter stuff. Real wizards? You had that whole sciencey explanation for the witches back with Shakespeare!"

The Doctor lifted an eyebrow. "Do you really want to know? I could tell you about an alien race with certain telekinetic and telepathic powers that intermingled with humans thousands of years ago, leaving their descendants behind... or maybe I could just tell you that there is a little bit of magic left. Some places."

Martha sighed. "I do rather think that in this case I prefer the magic. And you're not going to tell me about J.K. Rowling and how this is real but still books and how you know about even more than's in the stories?"

"They only become stories in the telling, Martha," the Doctor said enigmatically.

"Well what about us? Aren't we in the story now?"

"I... think I have an idea about that, actually. But come now, Martha - I promised you a trip to the future, didn't I?"

Her eyes lit up. "Brilliant! Hey, it's rather funny, isn't it - the Harry Potter books. If J.K. Rowling hadn't written them, I wouldn't have known about expelliarmus and who knows what random word I'd have thrown at Shakespeare for him to use against the witches. It might not have even worked! Good old J.K., right?"

"Funny, that," the Doctor agreed, looking thoughtful. "Come on, then. How do you feel about New York?"

* * *

The train, running from Manchester to London, was delayed. A young woman with blonde hair and a spiral notebook was tapping her pen impatiently against the cover when suddenly a tall, thin man with a long overcoat pushed through into her car and plopped down across from her.

He was grinning wildly. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Hallo," he said.

"Hello," she returned politely.

"I'm the Doctor," he said, and stuck out his hand.

She was used to nutters on the trains. She was used to nutters everywhere, really. "I'm Jo," she said, and shook his hand. At least he seemed very well-groomed.

"Jo," he repeated, sounding thrilled. "It's so lovely to see you, Jo. So here's the thing. Just to cut through some of the pleasantries, I know that you're a witch."

Her mouth dropped open.

"Now I'm not exactly a wizard, not really, but can't really say I'm a Muggle, either, I'm sort... something else. But the thing is, the thing is, Jo, I know you're a witch, and more importantly, I know that you're thinking of writing about Harry Potter."

She clutched her notebook protectively. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. Actually, we've already met. Well. You haven't met me, but I've met you. And I'm going to meet you again, about... oh, ten years from now, and it's going to be a bit odd because I'm going to act like I've never met you before, but you can just sort of smile and nod through that, and then we'll be good mates, promise."

She stared at him as if he was completely mad. "The future? But time turners don't - "

"Oh, no time turners, don't worry about that. Though I guess you could say I'm here on a mission. I really want you to write that book. About Harry."

She sighed. "Well it is such a good story, and now that I've been living as a Muggle for a few years I just know that they'd eat it up... but I don't know the whole story, you know, and it doesn't seem right to be making up the details."

"What if I could fill in some of the gaps for you?"

She looked impressed. "You were close to the action?"

"Something like that.

She tapped her pen on her notebook again. "It's an awfully good story," she said again.

"It's only a story in the telling, Jo," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Well, I hear the train's delayed for a while..."

"For four hours," said the Doctor.

"Why don't we spend the time telling each other stories, then?" she suggested.

"Oh, I'd like that," the Doctor said, settling back in his seat and looking as if he'd just met Santa Claus. He was already working out how he'd leave himself and Martha out of the story, tell it how it should have been... or had that never happened? Sometimes these things even give Time Lords headaches. "I'd like that very much. Just one thing, Jo?"

"Hmmm?" She flipped open her pad.

"That disarming spell, Expelliarmus, that's an awfully good one."

She blinked. "I suppose so. It's very useful."

"Good." He kicked his feet up on the chair beside her. "Use that one a lot."

She lifted an eyebrow, but just said, "Sure."

"Good old J.K.," murmured the Doctor, pushing up his sleeves.

She paused in her scribbles. "J.K.," she said thoughtfully. "I like that."

THE END.