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

The House Call Redo

With every passing moment the Doctor regretted even more Elise's decision to remain behind at Hogwarts while he, Dumbledore and Professor Snape ventured off to visit the nefarious evil sorcerer everyone had been fussing about. Despite the amazing displays of magic he had seen him produce earlier, the Doctor was quite alarmed to discover how ineffective his wizard friend Dumbledore had become once he had been relieved of his wand, which had happened shortly after their arrival in this musty old mansion. What's more, it turned out that Professor Snape was evidently in league with the dark side and had turned on them the moment his associates had ambushed them.

Elise had claimed, nearly at the last minute, that she was not feeling quite herself and should probably sit this one out. No one had faulted her at the time of course, considering the ordeal she had suffered earlier that day, and all were very understanding. Particularly Professor Snape, who had been the cause of that suffering after all.

Still, Elise had seemed fine prior to that and had been very eager to be part of the adventure. The Doctor considered her absence most unfortunate. Elise's ability to conjure up powerful magic without a wand would be very useful at this moment.

Snape a traitor--again? Elise losing her nerve? Something didn't seem right to the Doctor. But as he and Dumbledore were escorted down a long hallway to an encounter with who-knows-what, something even more vexing was plaguing the Doctor's mind. The uneasy feeling he had had when he first arrived was growing stronger, and he was beginning to sort through what it was all about. Their hooded captors led them to a closed door at the end of the hall where they stopped and waited.

"Professor Dumbledore," the Doctor asked in a whisper, "by any chance does your magic include abilities such as, say...time travel?"

do, Doctor, but with certain limitations" he replied. "There is a small magical item called a Time Turner that may be employed to travel short distances into the past—usually no more than a few hours. Obviously, this can entail a small degree of risk, but we do follow specific guidelines to minimize harmful effects."

Small degree of risk? The Doctor thought. Like cataclysmic causality paradoxes? Then he continued with his inquiry.

"Would you be able to sense if such a device had been used?"

"Generally, no", the Dumbledore replied. "However, I have on occasion been able to discern its usage from certain inconsistencies in my surroundings."

"Do you sense any such inconsistencies at this moment?"

Dumbledore discretely surveyed his surrounding and then paused for a moment to ponder.

"I do not," he responded. "Why do you ask?"

The Doctor's response was abruptly cut-off by one of their escorts who did not approve of his prisoners engaging in chatter.

"Silence, both of you!" he barked through his mask. The Doctor felt something pointy poke into his back. Probably a wand, he thought.

The Doctor had earlier attempted to disarm the Death Eaters (was that what Dumbledore had called them?) using his sonic screwdriver, which generally worked well against most weaponry, with the exception of those that might be made of wood—like magic wands. It was an embarrassing moment, and the sniggering Death Eaters were so amused that they didn't even bother to take away the sonic.

After several minutes of waiting, the door in front of them opened into what appeared to be a large study, filled with many more masked Death Eaters. By the increased pressure of the pointy thing pushing into his back, the Doctor surmised that they were being invited in.