Coda

The room that Voldemort had appropriated as his study was the finest room in Malfoy manor. Filled with ornate furniture, from bookshelves to chairs and tables, it was a typical example of the grandeur and luxury the Malfoys had enjoyed for generations. Portraits of long-dead family members lines the walls, glaring with repressed anger at the unwelcome presence that had just entered the room: the Dark Lord himself, with Nagini at his side.

It didn't take long for Voldemort to realise that something was amiss. A big, blue box was sitting to the right of the fireplace. He recognised it immediately.

"Crouch!" he hissed, drawing his wand.

"It's 'the Doctor', Tom," came the Doctor's voice. Two of the couches in front of the fireplace turned around, revealing the Doctor and, to Voldemort's surprise, Bellatrix's blood-traitor sister's auror daughter.

"You dare –"

"Yes, he dares," the auror said. "Your name is Tom, is it not? Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Romana, but you probably knew of me as Nymphadora Tonks. I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you."

With a flick of Voldemort's wand, both chairs hurtled toward him, stopping a scant few inches away. Both the Doctor and Romana stared up at him, seemingly unconcerned.

"I don't care what you or your friend are calling yourselves, 'Doctor'," Voldemort said, positioning his wand under the Doctor's chin. "I may have failed to kill you once, but there's nothing stopping me from doing so now."

"I can think of something," the Doctor said calmly, eyes flicking to Romana.

"Your 'Romana' friend? All she will be is a meal." Voldemort's lips contorted into a cruel smile. "Nagini, lunch…"

The snake slid forward, raised itself up so that its head was at eye level with Romana, and lunged – only to be stopped mid-strike as Romana's hand darted out and grabbed hold of it. Nagini hissed furiously, mouth opening wide in a fruitless attempt to reach its prey.

"You were saying?" Romana asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

Voldemort stared furiously at Romana for a second before turning to the Doctor. "Avada –"

The Doctor's arms shot up, and the next moment his fingers were touching Voldemort's temples. Voldemort's spell died in his throat, his eyes rolling back in their sockets as the mental onslaught began.

"What are you doing?" he managed to splutter, as he tried vainly to block the incursion. But it wasn't working. His occlumency techniques were useless in halting the probing advance of his mental intruder. It was too much. Everything went black.

"Wiping your memory," the Doctor said to the unconscious wizard. "The last thing we need is for the Dark Lord to be aware of Time Lords and their technology. I promised mister Malfoy I'd get you off his back – for that at least."

His job done, he retreated from Voldemort's mind. "I'm sorry," he said to the prone figure, who, without the Doctor supporting him, collapsed to the floor. "If you weren't so instrumental to wizarding history…if you weren't a fixed point…" He smiled sadly.

Nagini was struggling furiously in Romana's grip, her tongue extended so that it almost touched Romana's nose.

Romana stared into Nagini's eyes and, drawing upon the translational powers of the TARDIS' telephathic circuit, she spoke in parseltongue. "Stop. Sleep. Forget." Her voice was layered, compelling the snake to obey her. It did, stopping its fervent attempt to attack her. Its eyes closed, and Romana gently lowered it to the floor.

"Time to go?" the Doctor asked.

"Time to go," Romana agreed, and together they walked over to the TARDIS and entered it.

Moments later, with a wheezing, groaning sound, the blue box disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence.

~8~

"That was the last we ever saw of Romana. When Luna told us that she'd asked about a blue box, we knew we'd never see her again. That didn't stop us though. We told Dumbledore everything, and he made sure Professor Smith – the Doctor – had an arrest warrant in his name. He got the aurors to look for Tonks too, but of course they never found her. How could they? They even checked her parents' place, when they got there, they found the entire house missing. According to the muggle council, there had never even been a house there. But we knew there had been."

Harry stared off wistfully into the distance. His son, Albus, looked up at him expectantly.

Finally, Harry continued. "I've always wondered what I'd do if I ever saw the Doctor again. I doubt I will. But he has a habit of turning up when you least expect it. So you need to promise me, Al, if you ever see him, to run fast in the other direction. Avoid him. And let me know."

Albus nodded. "I will, dad."

Harry smiled. "I know you will. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Albus closed his eyes as his father turned off the light and left the room. He'd have to sleep well – what with his first day of Hogwarts tomorrow!

It was going to be an eventful year. He just didn't know it yet.

Several hours later, while in the middle of a deep sleep, his mouth opened. It remained open for several minutes before:

"We are coming."

The End

Author Note: It's finally finished! Thank you to everyone who read, followed, favourited and reviewed! It's been quite the journey!

When I first started the story, I intended it to be the second of a trilogy. And while I'm not sure whether or not I'll get round to writing the third story, I've left in the original ending that I envisioned so as to remain faithful to both the original intent of the story, and to leave things open in case I do get round to writing it.

Until next time,

JSmith25