Chapter 4: Batman's a Git
A man ran down a dark corridor scanning his surroundings. He ran past a wall-size window and briefly glanced out the window before continuing to run down the hall. He seemed to be on some sort of spaceship. The man was looking for something and or someone. Up ahead, he saw a familiar looking woman.
"Carina!" The brown-haired/eyed man ran towards a woman with black unruly hair.
"Doctor! Where have you've been? Did you destroy it?" The woman named Carina questioned.
"Yes. We have sixty seconds to make it to the Tardis before this place blows. C'mon!" The man named the Doctor grabbed the woman's hand and the two began to run.
Suddenly, a wall exploded behind them sending them forward onto the floor.
"I thought you said we had sixty seconds before this place blows up!" Carina exclaimed.
"I did. I don't think that was the explosive I set up!" The Doctor replied.
"Exterminate!" "Exterminate!" A robotic voice exclaimed.
The Doctor and Carina looked behind them to see three robotic machines. They quickly picked themselves off the ground and began to run as the machine started to shoot red beams of light at them. The Doctor led Carina into another room pulling out an object from his pocket that resembled some type of mechanical screwdriver. He pressed a button and the screwdriver made a buzzing noise as two metal doors closed the room off. He turned around and a tall, blue Police Box was in his peripheral. The Doctor went over to the box and opened the door with Carina following him inside. The box seemed to be bigger on the inside and in the middle of the room was the control panel. He went over to the panel and pressed several buttons before pulling a lever. The box made a funny sound as it disappeared off the ship.
"What luck! The room I chose was where the Tardis was. Just in time too. We had two seconds left." The Doctor said.
The woman glared at him. The Doctor saw her glare and said, "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"
Carina sighed exasperatedly. "I don't think I can do this anymore."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows.
"Doctor, I thought when we got together we'd settle down and have a family."
"Carina, a lot has changed since then. It's too risky."
Carina sighed again. "I have to tell him." She thought.
"Doctor, I need to tell you something." Carina began.
He looked at her waiting for her to talk.
"What if I told you I was pregnant?" Carina questioned.
A few moments passed until the Doctor cleared his throat and asked, "Are you speaking hypothetically or are you actually pregnant?"
Carina looked at him and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was actually pregnant.
"How long?" He asked.
"A few weeks." she replied. "Look, I'm keeping the baby. So, if you don't want to be involved I suggest you drop me back on Earth-"
"Are you crazy? I'm not going to abandon you!"
Carina was shocked. "But you just said that it was too risky."
"Some risks are worth taking." The Doctor said.
Carina smiled at him then hugged him.
"I've been thinking of names." Carina said.
"Already?" The Doctor smiled at her.
"What do you think of-"
"CLAIRE! Wake up! It's the first day of school!" Claire groaned as she heard Hermione yelling as she pulled open the curtains.
As the curtains opened, light flooded into the room and Claire could hear Evy and Charisse groaning about the suddenly bright room.
"Hermione! Shut up! It's too early!" Claire complained pulling her cover over her head.
"Well, I'm sorry. All of you need to get up and get dressed. Class starts in 45 minutes." Hermione said. "I'll be in the common room waiting for you Claire."
Hermione left the room as Claire pulled off the covers and changed into the Hogwarts uniform. She was wore pants instead of the skirts as she never was one for wearing them. She put her shirt on and slipped on her locket. She slipped on her combat boots and placed her wand in the side of it. Claire then went to brush her teeth and comb her hair. She pulled her hair into a ponytail then grabbed her robe and bag before heading downstairs. She found Hermione, Harry, and Ron waiting for her to go down to breakfast. They sat at the Gryffindor table and Claire and Ron simultaneously began piling their plates with food. Hermione and Harry watched amused. Claire saw this and said, "What are you two smiling about?"
"You and Ron." Hermione said.
Claire and Ron looked at each other.
"Well, when you live with him for eleven years, you take as much food as possible before he eats it all." Claire said biting into her buttered toast.
"Look over there!" "Where?" "Over there next to the tall ginger and the brunette with the ponytail!" "Did you see his scar?"
Throughout the first week of school, Harry tried his best to ignore the people staring and pointing at him as he walked to his classes. Claire, Ron, and Hermione saw how Harry wasn't used to people looking and gawking at him. Claire had managed to scare away several people by threatening to throw them to the giant squid if they wouldn't stop staring him like an animal in the zoo. Harry was thankful for her doing this. Hermione, however, scolded her saying that she could've been a bit more polite which caused Claire to roll her eyes.
Harry discovered that the teachers at Hogwarts weren't all that bad and the classes were pretty cool. Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, was kind and taught them how to take care of all types of strange plants and fungi as well as what they were used for. The History of Magic teacher, Professor Binns, was a ghost and he tended to drone on with a monotone voice throughout the class making it hard for most of the students to stay awake. Professor Filtwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who stood on a pile of books to see over his desk. This almost made Claire laugh when she first saw him. Professor McGonagall was the Transfiguration teacher. Harry discovered she was a strict and clever teacher. She warned the students in their very first class that if anyone messed around in her class they would leave and never come back. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, was a bit of a joke. His room smelled of garlic, which everyone said it was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would come back to get him one day. His turban he wore was apparently a gift from an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a zombie, but they weren't sure they believed it because when Seamus Finnigan asked him how he defeated the zombies, Quirrell went pink and started to talk about the weather.
Friday morning the four friends headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"What have we got today?" Harry asked.
"Double Potions with Slytherins," said Ron as he poured sugar into his porridge. "Snape's the Head of House for Slytherin. They say he always favors them."
"Wish McGonagall favored us." Harry said. Professor McGonagall was the Head of Gryffindor House, but it didn't stop her from giving them a stack of homework the day before.
Just then, the mail arrived. Hundreds of owls flew in dropping off packages and letters to the students. To Harry's surprise he was one of those students. He tore open the letter and saw that it was from Hagrid asking if he wanted to have tea with him that afternoon. Harry replied back saying yes and sent the letter to Hagrid.
"Well, we better hurry. Class starts in fifteen minutes." Hermione said.
They soon arrived in the cold dungeons. Claire's teeth were chattering as she tried to rub her hands together for warmth.
"If I wanted to go to Antarctica I would've left already. It's too freaking cold down here!" Claire muttered. "I'm bringing a parka next time."
They settled into their seats and a man with a hooked nose, greasy black hair, and a black robe entered the room. The man's robes flowed behind him like a bat's wings. It reminded Claire of the muggle superhero comic book character Batman (Mr. Weasley had brought home a comic book from work a couple years back and gave it to Claire sense she liked to read). The man introduced himself as Professor Snape in a monotone voice and then began to take roll. He paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, yes," he said. "Harry Potter. Our new-celebrity." He put emphasis on the word celebrity. Claire was beginning to not like this man at all. He began to talk in his bored-like tone about how Potions was an art and at some point said, "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death-if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Claire had raised her eyebrows at this to her friends. She couldn't believe what he said. It took every fiber of her sarcastic being to not reply with a snarky comment.
"Potter!" Snape said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Claire could see that Harry had no clue what he was talking about. Hermione, no surprise there, had raised her hand. Claire thought it was completely unfair that he was asking these questions to Harry when he hadn't even taught the class anything yet.
"I don't know, sir." Harry said.
Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "Tut, tut-fame clearly isn't everything." Snape continued to ignore Hermione's hand.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione began to raise her hand even higher. Harry had no clue what a bezoar was either. Claire glared at Malfoy and his goons shaking with laughter at Harry's misfortune.
"I don't know, sir." Harry replied.
Snape continued to taunt Harry and Claire's anger was increasing by the second. Finally, she spoke up for her green-eyed friend.
"Professor, it's clear Hermione knows the answers. Why not just try her?" Claire said.
Snape glared at Claire.
"Five points from Gryffindor for your snide remark, Smith." Snape sneered. "And since you think it's okay for you to instruct me how to teach why not share with us the answers to the questions."
"Asphodel and Wormwood make a powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of the Living Death. A bezoar is found in a goat's stomach and can save you from most poisons. And monkshood and wolfsbane are from the same plant called aconite." Claire replied.
Snape looked furious and then said, "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"
Things only continued to go down hill from there. Snape tended to pick on the Gryffindor potions. He didn't say anything about Claire's because she had done it correctly. He seemed to pick on Neville the most. Neville, the poor boy, had been so nervous that he managed to ruin his potion. The whole class was standing on their stools as the potion had spread across the floor. Neville, who was drenched in his potion, moaned in pain as angry red boils appeared over his arms and legs. Snape scolded him and told Seamus to take him to the hospital wing. When Neville left, Snape then rounded on Harry and Ron who had been working next to Neville.
"Potter! Why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point off for Gryffindor!" Snape scolded.
Harry had to fight the urge to yell back at the teacher, but Ron kicked him under the table to keep this from happening. However, despite Hermione's best efforts, Claire decided to speak up.
"Maybe if you weren't too busy picking on Neville then maybe he wouldn't have put in the quills. But I guess that would just make too much sense, wouldn't it?" The class was in shock as Snape's face contorted in anger.
"Detention tonight at 7pm, Smith. And fifty points from Gryffindor." Snape said.
The bell rang soon after and the Gryffindor's praised Claire for standing up to Snape. However, Hermione told her she shouldn't disrespect teachers and then stomped off to the library. Harry and Ron talked to Claire about the incident in Potions as they headed to Hagrid's hut.
"You were bloody brilliant, Claire!" Ron said.
"Yea. And by the way, thanks, Claire. I appreciate what you did. Sorry about the detention." Harry said.
"No, problem Harry. That's what friends are for. Besides Batman's a git." Claire replied.
Harry snorted at her comment while Ron asked what batman was. Claire said that she'd tell him later. They soon came to Hagrid's hut. Harry knocked on the door and then they suddenly heard a dog barking.
"Back, Fang-back." Hagrid's face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. He told them to hang on and then let them in.
"Make yourselves at home." Hagrid said letting go of Fang. Fang then bounded straight towards Claire. He licked Claire. Claire thought Fang was sweet and the dog seemed to really like her. Harry introduced Ron to Hagrid.
"Another Weasley,eh?" said Hagrid looking at Ron's red hair. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." Hagrid then began pouring tea for the three pre-teens. He then gave them some rock cakes. The three didn't particularly like them but they ate them to be polite to Hagrid.
"And this is Claire Smith." Once Hagrid said this he dropped the teapot on the floor in shock. He quickly recovered saying that the teapot was slippery. Claire, Harry, and Ron couldn't help but notice as Hagrid seemed surprised when he heard Claire's name.
"It's nice to meet you Claire. I remember your parents. They were truly the nicest people I've ever met. Though your mother had quite the temper." Hagrid said as he cleaned up the broken teapot.
Claire blushed when he talked about her mother's anger as she had demonstrated earlier in Potions that she was truly her mother's child. Hagrid asked the trio about their first week of school. Harry and Ron soon began to talk about the Potions incident. Harry said that Snape seemed to have it out for him.
"Rubbish! Why should he?" But as Hagrid said this he averted eye contact with Harry.
"How's you brother Charlie?" He asked Ron. "I liked him a lot-great with animals."
While Ron told Hagrid about Charlie's work with the dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper lying on the table. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet: Gringott's Break-in Latest. Harry read the article and then remembered on the train that Ron told him someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but he hadn't mentioned a date.
"Hagrid!" said Harry."that Gringott's break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"
Hagrid again avoided Harry's eyes as he offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again and remembered Hagrid had emptied the vault 713, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. He wondered if that's what the thieves were after.
The trio soon headed back to the Great Hall. When they sat at the Gryffindor table, Fred and George sat next across from Claire.
"We heard about your little outburst in Potions, Claire. And we must say-" George began.
"that we're extremely proud of our little Claire-bear!" Fred finished.
Claire glared at the twins.
"I told you two to stop calling me that! It's annoying!" Claire exclaimed.
"That's why we do it, Claire-bear!" George said ruffling her hair.
"Now, if you'll excuse us-"
"we have somewhere to be." And with that the two ginger twins left.
Claire rolled her eyes at them and muttered under her breath about how she was going to hex them if they didn't stop calling her that. Claire finished eating then realized it was almost time for her detention.
"Well, I'll see you two later. Off to the dungeon's for Batman's detention." She left the boys and headed for detention. Claire went to the Potion's classroom and Snape said she was going to be alphabetizing the ingredients. This is going to be a long knight. She thought to herself. That was a sad excuse for a joke.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Who only what you don't recognize (backstories, original characters/plots). I also do not own the songs. All rights go to their original artists.