The Apple Alder Tree: Part Two
`That's the strange part' Harry said putting a hand on her shoulder `they don't usually walk around'
`Who doesn't usually walk around?' Hermione said with trepidation as she thought she knew the answer. Harry looked around at them for a few moments, sorrow in his eyes and actions as he looked back at Hermione and spoke his next words softly.
`The dead'
`These…people…are dead?' Hermione stuttered out, instantly conscious of just how many were walking about the room, bumping of the walls and each other as they tried to get to wherever they wanted to be.
`Most definitely' Harry said taking her hand and leading her back towards the door where the doctor was stood watching them `no brain activity or respiratory action, no life whatsoever'
`So how are they walking about' Hermione asked throwing a look over her shoulder to check on them, a feeling of uneasiness had spread over her as the thought of sharing a room with the dead came to the forefront of her mind.
`No idea' Harry said simply as he walked up to the doctor `What's your name?'
`I'm Doctor Andrews' the doctor said as he rubbed his eyes with his hands, desperate for sleep.
`Doctor Andrews' Harry started as he watched the man closely `have you got an idea, however ludicrous or crazy the idea might be, of how this has happened?'
`None' the man said with a sad little smile.
`Come on!' Harry said dramatically `you've worked your way up to a Doctor on the world famous Aguilera Space Station! You must have some theory!'
`Well…' the man said looking flattered by Harry's praise `I've got a feeling it might be a disease, infecting through the air vents which are heavily used on the station'
`Is there any link between the victims?' Harry said, and Hermione could tell he wasn't sure on this theory.
`You must know as I do that in medicine there is always a link' the doctor said sighing `but we haven't been able to work one out yet…it affects the old and young, male and female, all different blood groups and backgrounds, across every floor on this space station'
`We need to work out that link!' Harry said looking at the man desperately `otherwise we'd just be shooting blind, and that usually just leaves us with a hole in the foot'
`I think we're probably all out of feet by now' the Doctor said sighing.
`So I think the…' Harry started but Doctor Andrews interrupted him.
`Hand on and watch this' the doctor said pointing at the walking bodies `this is by far the strangest thing in this situation'
`Stranger than the dead walking and Christina Aguilera as an ex-President?' Hermione said sceptically receiving a blank confused look from the doctor.
Hermione stared at Harry who was watching the dead in the manner she had seen him often, when he was trying to detect magic and power and all those things that Harry seemed to own so well. A low rumbling sound similar to the sound that let you know thunder was on its way, started to echo throughout the room as she watched Harry place a hand to his chin as his eyes focused on what was happening around him. She watched closely as his sparkling green eyes darted around the room, his face the picture of concentration as he stilled to one of his calmer moods, his work mood.
The low rumbling was increasing in noise as she dragged her eyes from Harry and tried to find out what crazy future machine could be making such a racket, but the sight before her made her take a step back in shock. Each and every body had stopped dead in their tracks as they looked up at the ceiling, a blank expression that could only ever be worn by the dead on their face, as their mouths were open and every single one of them was groaning in perfect sync with each other.
Her eyes darted around, checking what exactly was going on, but seconds passed as no answer found its way to her and the noise had stopped, and the dead carried on their aimless walk like no distraction had occurred.
`So what did you see?' Hermione asked eagerly to Harry.
`Nothing' Harry said brightly as he turn towards her with smiling `no magic, no power, no crossover between by standing dimensions, no time vortex problems or underlining phantom situations, no nothing!'
`So we're not dealing with something all powerful?' Hermione asked as she took his words as encouragement.
`Not in the conventional sense of powerful anyway' Harry said with a little tilt of his head `although this does make things a little harder to sort out'
`Because you have no idea what t is?' Hermione asked.
`Exactly' Harry said beaming at her.
`Excuse me but what the hell are you two talking about?' the Doctor said, his hands were outstretched like he was somehow grasping for some knowledge of what was happening in front of him.
`I'm sorry, forgot you were there!' Harry said bashfully turning towards the man `but it is a good thing you're here'
`You better start making some sense' the doctor said warningly, Hermione could tell he was know on his last legs and that the only thing that was keeping him moving was a belief in his work.
`He rarely does that' Hermione said friendly to the man.
`Hermione's right on that one, but this time it will' Harry said brightly `What's exactly just happened there?'
`Just what you saw' the man explained `no brain function during the whole thing, and it shouldn't be happening, but every two hours like clockwork it happens'
`Exactly every two hours?' Harry said thoughtfully `now that's interesting…completely and utterly confusing and perhaps useless… but none the less interesting'
`Who the hell are you two?' the man demanded.
`Doctor Potter and Nurse Granger, but that's not what's important' Harry said confidentially and quickly `what is important is that I'm not going to let one more person die if I can help it'
`And how are you planning on doing that?' the man said raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
`I don't know yet' Harry said shrugging `but I'm sure I'll figure something out'
`What Harry's trying to say…' Hermione said stepping in as the man looked close to breaking `is that we'll do all we can to help, Harry really is a talented Doctor'
`Thanks' Harry said seriously `and all I need is you to do one thing'
`Which is?' the man said seriously, the idea of a cure had overridden any worried he had about Harry's sanity.
`I need you to crack the link between the victims' Harry said seriously in his work voice `scour the paper work, do whatever you can, and however unlikely the link is to being the cause you still write it down'
`And then you'll be able to cure it' the man asked hopefully.
`As I said before, I'll stop anyone else from dying' Harry said confidently, as he started to walk away as he added `I'll be back in a few hours'
Hermione walked fast to catch up with her, not wanting to or having the time to spare a second to look at the walking dead, groaning every two hours, bodies. She walked beside Harry as he strode purposefully through the corridors and out of the hospital, silent in concentration as thought as he took every step.
`So where are we going?' Hermione asked as they reached the busy street and knew they wouldn't be overheard.
`Section B' Harry said simply not looking at her but searching the walls for whatever he wanted to know.
`Where that Claudia works?' Hermione said in shock `why?'
`She works here, she knows the place better than we do and might be able to help' Harry stated like it was just a normal everyday fact instead of his wish to talk more to a beautiful woman.
`Why not ask that Doctor Andrews?' Hermione said as casually as she could as they started walking down an empty alley that looked exactly the same as the main street only thinner.
`Because I need him to work on finding out a link' Harry said, his eyes still searching about them for where they were going.
`Oh' Hermione said, hoping beyond hope that Claudia might be too busy too help them with.
Harry stopped in his tracks and smiled, and as Hermione followed his line of sight she saw the reason, Claudia was inserting her ipod into the wall again.
`Found her' Harry said brightly, walking of quickly as he approached her `Claudia!'
`Oh, Dr. Potter!' Claudia said, flashing Harry an `I'm perfect' smile. In Hermione's opinion anyway.
`Call me Harry' he said charmingly with a friendly smile.
`And you can call me Hermione' she added as she tried to be acknowledged by either of them.
`Although you can call her anything you want, she's a very flexible nurse' Harry said with a grin which made Claudia laugh, throwing her hair back as she did.
`So what's brought you to section B, Harry?' Claudia asked. Hermione didn't like the way that she had said Harry and wondered how many times she would have to hear it.
`To take you up on your offer of answering my questions' Harry said brightly.
`Oh' Claudia said a little disappointed `shoot'
`How long has this station been running?' Harry asked as he looked straight into her eyes.
`This one?' Claudia said looking upwards in thought for a second `About 10 years'
`What do you mean by this one?' Harry asked, running a hand through his hair.
`This is the fourth Aguilera Space Station' she answered factually.
`What happened to the other 3?' Hermione asked curiously, it seemed strange to be on the forth of anything,
`The first one exploded, that was a black day, everyone died' Claudia said shaking her head `the second one was attacked by the rebellion, damaged too badly to carry on operating, and no one knows what happened to the third'
`What do you mean?' Harry asked, he was looking more confused than she had ever seen him, a sight that made her heart skip a beat.
`It was lost' Claudia said simply `one day it was there, the next it was gone'
`How in gods name do you just lose a space station with fifteen hundred people on?' Hermione said in shock, the death toll for Aguilera Space Station was in the thousands.
`That's just it, no one knows' Claudia said, her voice going low as she looked about to check they were alone.
`Ok…' Harry said slowly, pausing as he thought this information over `Second question, who's in charge here?'
`You don't know?' she asked suspiciously.
`I'm new here' Harry said quickly.
`But still…' she said softly as she looked at him confused before she shook her head and carried on normally `It's Mr. Bell'
`And how do I go about seeing Mr. Bell?' Harry asked.
`It's very hard, you have to make an appointment years in advance' Claudia explained.
`Scratch that' Harry said running his hand through his hair `how do I go about seeing him right now'
`That's impossible' Claudia answered.
`Scratch that question then' Harry said a little frustrated `Where is his door?'
`Why do you want to know?' Claudia asked, a little bit of fear was in her voice.
`So I can see him right now' Harry answered `and don't give me any you can't, because I'm sure as hell going to try!'
`But…' Claudia started but Harry gave her a determined look that stopped her instantly `…oh, ok…use any of the elevators and got to the top floor'
`Thank you' Harry said brightly but still stood on the spot `do you wan to come with us?'
`What? To see Mr. Bell?' Claudia said in shock `I don't think that's a good idea…'
`Claudia, I promise you two things, the first is that it will be fun' Harry started, leaning slightly in `and the second is that I won't let anything happen to you'
`Um…' Claudia said eyeing him before nodding her head `Ok'
`Fantastic!' Harry said joyously `let's get going'
`Hang on' Claudia said `I need to fetch something'
Hermione watched as Claudia walked through the door to Section B to fetch something, before she was on her way back to turn their duo into a trio, a prospect she wasn't exactly delighted with.
`Why did you invite her?' Hermione demanded, not even trying to hide the anger in her voice anymore.
`What?' Harry said taken aback by her anger.
`Why is she coming with us?' Hermione said throwing her hand to her hips in anger.
`Because she might be helpful' Harry said looking at her in panic.
`And I'm supposed to believe that's the only reason?' Hermione asked sarcastically.
`Doesn't really matter what you believe' Harry said shrugging `the facts are much more important than either mine or your beliefs'
`Why thanks for that!' Hermione said rolling her eyes.
`Are you going to carry on being like this or do you want to hear something important?' Harry said annoyed, the first time he had been like that to her.
`Sure' Hermione said shortly.
`Fine, I wont' Harry said simply, turning his head to look to see if Claudia had come back. Hermione watched him for a few seconds, but couldn't help but be curious as to what he had found out.
`Harry, tell me' Hermione asked, as nicely as she could.
`Well…' Harry said brightly, his eyes shooting back to hers `Space Station Aguilera didn't have four models, in fact it didn't even have two as the first one lasted over two thousand years'
`But she just said…' Hermione said confused.
`Exactly!' Harry said excitedly interrupting her `and as far as I can tell she's telling the truth which means that time line itself has changed!'
`What?' Hermione said wide eyed in confusion.
`This was never supposed to happen' Harry explained as he looked positively thrilled at this turn in events `somehow events have been altered, changed, and this is now happening'
`But how's that possible?' Hermione asked as theories of time crammed her mind.
`Time's alterable, forever in a state of uncertainty' Harry started to explain `and somehow all this has happened and now I have to set it all right again!'
`So we change things when we travel' Hermione asked, slightly worried at this idea.
`Not really' Harry explained as he ran a hand through his hair `actually I'd have to say no, in the bigger picture anyway'
`But what about the butterfly effect?' Hermione asked.
`I loved that film' Harry answered with a smile.
`You know that I meant the theory behind it! You know the one where a single butterfly by beating its wings can eventually cause a hurricane' Hermione explained.
`Rubbish' Harry said shaking his head `pure scientists who use numbers instead of facts and forget about the human soul'
`So what's the real deal?' Hermione asked impressed at Harry's knowledge and his life once again.
`God knows!' Harry said throwing his head back and laughing `but what I know is that you can change things, little or catastrophically huge, depending on how you play things, how cautious you are'
`You've never stuck me as cautious!' Hermione teased.
`I'm not' Harry said shrugging `but fortunately enough I've been doing this long enough and I'm clever enough to not do something stupid'
`So in the end it comes down to man making his own destiny?' Hermione asked.
`Fantastic! I couldn't have put it better myself!' Harry said smiling `but not just anyone could do what we do, a lot of people mess everything up, kill themselves and others, destroy the world they belonged to'
`So what you're telling me is I should be grateful that I have you?' Hermione asked.
`Was there ever any doubt on that?' Harry said looking into her eyes, and she knew the answer. There was never any doubt.
`You sure you're not going to invite her to travel with us?' Hermione asked nervously.
`Well I don't like using the word impossible anymore' Harry said as he put his hand up to her face and ran a finger along her cheek `but I doubt it'
Hermione felt Harry's fingers calmly working in circles across her cheek and the feeling of goose bumps spread across her back, and it was only this that made her not shout at his answer that was hardly thrilling.
`Uh-hum' Claudia said appearing from seemingly nowhere next to them `shall we get going?'
`Yep' Harry said dropping his hand and following her as she led them to an elevator.
`I don't know if we can use this elevator' Claudia said as she pushed a button by the side of the door which opened it and the three of them walked in, doors slamming shut behind them `my access isn't enough, but yours might just be'
`Don't worry about my access' Harry started as he got out his wand and pointed it at the controls `It's good enough for anywhere'
As soon as Harry had put his wand away Hermione felt her stomach lift slightly in a way what only an elevator could make and she knew that they must be going up.
`You're not really a doctor, are you?' Claudia asked him.
`Why do you say that?' Harry asked curiously.
`You ask such strange questions, about the space station, you didn't even know Mr. Bell…' Claudia stopped to think for a moment as he put a finger to her lips `and there's something behind your eyes…I don't know how to describe it… something that is bigger than this place'
`Well…' Harry said looking at her in surprise and marvel, before he gave her a smile `I'm not quite a Doctor, but I do save a lot of people'
The doors blinked open in a flash, the high beep of doors opening that she was use to in the twenty first century sounded making her smile, as they stepped out into the brightly lit room.
Hermione looked around and saw that except for the odd piece of furniture or computer terminal the whole room was painted entirely in crème, giving the room more of a yuppie's flat than of a multi billion pound company.
`There' Harry said pointing at something but Hermione couldn't exactly see what he meant at first, but almost jumped as she spotted it. A man was seated at one of the table, dress completely in crème so that he mixed in with his background in an almost abnormal way.
`Hello!' The man said blinking with surprise as he noticed their arrival, his hair was heavily slicked back with what appeared to Hermione to be oil, as he stood up from his chair and walked confidentially up to them with his hand outstretched `We don't usually get visitors all the way up here'
`That's ok' Harry said slightly taken aback as he shook his hand.
`My name is Mr. Bell, my friends call me Bill, so you wonderful people can call me that also!' he said taking Hermione's hand in his and kissing it, his lips were wet and sticky and brought out the urge for Hermione to wipe it away.
`I tried to stop them Mr. Bell, but they wouldn't listen' Claudia said rather desperately, cheering Hermione up with the first kink in her defence, Harry however hadn't seen this as a problem.
`I can vouch for her on that one, Bill Bell' Harry said kindly shooting Hermione a smile at the mention of his name which nearly made her laugh `pesky girl tried to thwart out attempts at this unexpected meeting'
`Although it is unexpected, I suspect it will prove most delightful' Mr. Bell said with a little nod to the three of them, Hermione however was finding it hard to breathe as the mans aftershave was so strong she thought she could see its steam rising off of him `and Claudia mustn't worry about this old mans reaction!'
`Thank you Mr. Bell' Claudia said with that damning model like smile of hers.
`We're here to tell you something is wrong!' Hermione said butting in to their love fest `people are dying'
`And the biggest problem is their not dying completely' Harry added.
`If their not dying completely then what is the problem?' Mr. Bell said weighing them up.
`Their brainless corpses walking around' Hermione said in desperation, she didn't need another man in her life to not take things seriously.
`Sounds like my nephew!' Mr. Bell joked, making Harry throw his head back as he laughed as hard as Hermione had ever seen him.
`That was fantastic!' Harry said between his fits of laughter.
`Very funny Mr. Bell' Claudia said with a laugh Hermione thought must be faked.
`It wasn't that funny' Hermione muttered under her breathe, and as the words escaped she was thankful no one had been listening, so she added louder `But it is still a problem!'
`Yeah…a problem' Harry added as he tried to stop himself from laughing.
`I wouldn't call it a problem as such' Mr Bell said, looking extremely pleased with their reaction to his joke, as he ran a hand through his extremely greasy slicked back hair which made his hand shiny with the left over wax.
`Zombie like creatures running around isn't a problem?' Hermione said wide eyed in disbelief.
`Of course it isn't!' Mr Bell said dramatically waving his hands to show how much it wasn't, but only succeeding in flinging leftover wax over the three of them.
`How is that not a problem?' Harry said suddenly serious, his eyes squinting slightly as he looked at the man in front of him like he had only just noticed him.
`Because, young man' Mr. Bell said as he sighed like this should have been obvious `we are the people who have don't it to them'
*
Hope you enjoyed that chapter, Sorry for the late update, I lost my new job and now looking at the prospect of not being able to pay me rent! So all fun and games for me!
Anyway, I hope Mr. Bell is horrible enough for you! I got creeped out writing him, but that might be because he's slightly based on an old boss of mine who was the friendliest freak in the world! Anyway, hope you like it, although I guess no ones a fan of Claudia?
Till next time…
Jms Granger.
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