The Wizard's Guide to Timelords and Other Demons Book 1: The Forgotten War

The Meeting

The Hogwarts staff room, conveniently located on the ground floor of the castle, was a long, rectangular lounge with paneled walls and a dark wooden floor. On one of the walls, a fire burned steadily within a gray, stone fireplace, providing more than adequate heat to warm the room on this unusually cold winter evening. An assortment of desks and other furniture had been pushed aside to make room for a large conference table that had been situated roughly in the center of the room. Arranged about the table were numerous wooden chairs, upon which sat the Doctor, Elise, and a contingent of about twenty teachers that included Professors McGonagall and Snape. They were patiently awaiting the arrival of Professor Dumbledore.

Noticeably missing from the gathering was Professor Trelawney. Elise had been very concerned about her since the incident in her classroom this morning. She was also feeling rather ashamed about the memory spell she had cast on her, which made her believe she was Elise's aunt. It was necessary, she thought, but this did little to ease her guilt. She had grown quite fond of the crazy old Divinations teacher.

The Doctor leaned over to Elise from his seat at the table and asked in a hushed voice, "Are you also a witch?"

Elise laughed. "Several people have called me that," she replied. The Doctor looked bewildered as though he had missed the joke entirely, so she continued, "To answer your question, technically yes, I do possess magic, but it's not the same as the others. My magic comes from..."

The Doctor was disappointed that Elise was unable to complete that sentence as she was cut off when the door to the room opened abruptly and Professor Dumbledore entered, followed by an imposing mammoth of a man with a heavy black beard.

"Let's get started everyone. I trust that all of you have been introduced to the Doctor?"

Everyone at the table nodded in the affirmative. Minutes ago, while they were still waiting for the headmaster, Professor McGonagall had provided a brief introduction of the Doctor to those in the room that had not yet met him, though she had not gone into any details about his arrival or origins. To most in the room, the strange blue box that had mysteriously appeared in the castle's courtyard remained just that—a mystery. Of course, they already knew of Elise, having been introduced as Professor Trelawney's niece in the days prior. However, only Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall knew that it had been a deception. Elise squirmed, knowing that the rest of those in the room would almost certainly be told about her ruse before the meeting was over.

"Very well," Dumbledore said. Then, gesturing toward Hagrid, continued, "Doctor, allow me to introduce you to Professor Rubeus Hagrid who teaches our class on Magical Creatures. He will also be joining us this evening."

"Good to meet you Professor Hagrid," the Doctor said.

Dumbledore and Hagrid seated themselves at the head of the table... or rather, Hagrid attempted to seat himself but could not locate a chair in the room that was of sufficient size. Taking note of Hagrid's dilemma, Professor Dumbledore discretely waved his wand above the floor, conjuring a wooden bench about the size of a medium-sized rowboat, onto which Hagrid gratefully lowered himself, looking somewhat embarrassed. Then Dumbledore turned to address the room.

"Thank you all for coming," he began, "and allow me to get straight to the point."

Any lingering conversations among the teachers in the room came to an immediate halt and all was silent as everyone directed their attention to the headmaster.

"Events that have transpired in the last twelve hours," he continued soberly, "have convinced me that the Wizarding world, as well as the Muggle world, will soon be facing a peril the likes of which we have never before encountered."