Tristan Parkes: Day of the Dementors

Tristan woke around 10:00. his mind a little foggy regarding the events of the previous night. After a shower, during the course of which his clothes were cleaned by the nanite-washer, Tristan's mind had cleared up considerably. Remembering about Ashlee staying in the TARDIS, Tristan quickly dressed, and headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

As it turned out, Ashlee was sleeping in even later than Tristan, so Tristan cooked a couple of omelettes and toast and sat down to read an electronic version of Ashlee's book on a datapad while he ate. Tristan was so busy reading the witty words of Douglas Adams that he barely heard Ashlee come in.

"Morning, Ashlee. There's an omelette and toast for you over on the bench. You'll probably need to give it a minute in the microwave, though," said Tristan, without even looking up from his datapad.

"Um, thanks. Good morning to you, too," replied Ashlee as she put her food into the microwave and started it going. While waiting for the microwave, she remarked to Tristan: "This TARDIS of yours is like a maze. I have no idea how you manage to remember where everything is."

Tristan looked up from the datapad and replied, "I spent fifteen years building this thing, so it's hardly surprising that I know where everything is located."

"Okay, makes sense. I still don't see why you couldn't have come up with a layout that's easier to navigate," replied Ashlee, as she took her food out of the microwave and sat down at the table opposite Tristan.

"Well, I really only just built on sections as I needed them, or as I thought up ideas for new sections. Given my approach to construction, it's hardly surprising that the layout isn't exactly planned out. The various sections are planned out themselves, but the TARDIS as a whole is not," replied Tristan. "I see you're still wearing your clothes from yesterday. You've still got that dirt on your shirt from when I pushed you out of the way of the Dementor," observed Tristan, changing the subject.

"Yeah, well I couldn't figure out how to get the shower working, and it's not like I brought any other clothes with me."

"The shower's easy to use: just key in how hot you want it, press the 'Start' button, and use the onscreen slider on the control panel to adjust the flow-rate. When you're finished, just hit the 'Stop' button, and the water shuts off immediately. Okay, you're right about not bringing any clothes with you, but you could have put your clothes in the nanite-washer while you had a shower. I did," replied Tristan, indicating his clean clothing.

Ashlee was about to reply, when the pair were distracted by the arrival of a catlike creature with oversized ears and a tail like a lion's.

"Morning, Aster. How was your night?" asked Tristan, picking the animal up and giving it a scratch behind the ears. "Yes, I slept very well, too. I know what you want: breakfast." Tristan put Aster back down on the floor and headed over to the kitchen replicator. He selected a steak from the list of foods, and cut it up into bite-sized pieces, which he then transferred to a bowl and placed on the floor. "Enjoy your meal," said Tristan, as Aster began to tuck in heartily, and went back to his own breakfast at the table.

Ashlee peered at Aster and said: "I've never seen a cat like that before. What breed is he?"

"Aster isn't a cat," replied Tristan. "He's a Kneazle. Kneazles can interbreed with cats, though."

"A Kneazle?" asked Ashlee. "Oh, so is he a magical creature?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. You might want to look them up in the database next time you use it."

"Sure. Is he friendly?"

"Well, he's certainly friendly to me, and I have heard about Kneazles being friendly with Muggles, but they usually take to wizards and witches."

"Thought I'd ask. I work at an animal shelter and I come across cranky cats all the time. Never come across one of these before, though."

Aster had finished his meal and started rubbing Ashlee's leg. "I think we can safely say that Aster likes you, Ashlee," replied Tristan, with a chuckle.

Ashlee reached down and started to stroke Aster. "Hey. Aren't you a handsome one?" she said to the Kneazle.

"He certainly is," replied Tristan. "He's also quite a tough one. His name is actually a shortening of 'Asteroid'. I gave him that name because of how tough he is."

Ashlee laughed, and replied, "A lot better than my cat. She was named after a packet of chips!"

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Tristan, laughing.

"Nope. I don't know if you've ever seen the brand of 'Ruffles' chips. If a packet was left on the table, she'd jump and try to open them. Hence her name."

"Cute and annoying, I guess," replied Tristan. "I suppose you should consider yourself lucky that I like cats and Kneazles better than dogs and Crups."

"I'm guessing Crups are a magical sort of dog," said Ashlee. "Well, I like dogs. I love them. But I've always had a fondness for cats. They're just so elegant and independent. And they have really individual personalities."

"Well, you wouldn't get along with a Crup," replied Tristan. "They look like a small dog, but they are extremely hostile towards Muggles, and fiercely loyal to wizards."

"Hmm. Glad one of those never came through the shelter."

"Highly unlikely. The magical governments put a lot of work into keeping magical creatures hidden from Muggles."

Ashlee stood up and stretched. "Speaking of animals, I'd better get back home."

"Well, seeing as I've told you how to use the shower here, you may as well make use of it and you could get your clothes nanite-cleaned while you're in the shower."

Ashlee blushed at Tristan's offer. "Thanks, but I really need to get back to my place." With a smile, she added, "You wanna come with?"

"We could take the TARDIS and save walking several kilometres."

"Sure. My flat is a short walk from the park."

"Right. Well, let's head to the control room, and I'll materialise the TARDIS in the park and disguise it as a large tree."

They arrived in the control room, and Tristan started setting the controls.

While Tristan was setting the controls, Ashlee asked: "Don't you think people will suddenly notice a giant tree appear overnight?"

"Actually, no," replied Tristan, with a knowing look. "It really is quite surprising how unobservant people can be, especially if they have a psychic signal being broadcast so that they don't notice something. It works with varying degrees of success, depending on the individual."

"Well, that's a relief. The last thing you need is to be noticed."

"That's what the cloak is for. Anyway, here we go!"

The central column in the control room started pulsating with only green light for a few seconds before it stopped, and returned to its idle state of spiralling red, green, and blue light. "We're here," announced Tristan. "I'm just setting the cloak. Done."

Tristan opened the doors to the TARDIS and stepped out though the portal, feeling the electric tingle as he went through it. He stopped for a moment to admire the computer's handiwork in the detail of the hologram from inside it, then stepped through the hologram. Walking through the hologram was a bit like walking through fog, only the particles were solid, instead of liquid, and Tristan could feel his skin being bombarded by thousands of tiny particles as he walked through the hologram.

A minute later, Ashlee stepped out of the hologram, causing it to shimmer for a moment as the particles making up the hologram realigned themselves.

"That feels strange," commented Ashlee. She then turned to Tristan and smiled. "Alright. Follow me," she said, and led Tristan up a semi-deserted street to a grey building. "Don't get paid that much so this is the best I can get."

"Doesn't look that bad to me," replied Tristan.

"Well, it could be better. At least its clean and close to work."

Ashlee inserted a key into the front door and headed upstairs, with Tristan following close behind. A couple of flights up, she stopped at a door, unlocked it, and headed inside, Tristan close behind.

"Ruffles! Puss, puss, puss!" called Ashlee, who was soon greeted by a fluffy grey cat darting towards her. "Hello, darling," she said, picking up the cat and cuddling her. "Did you miss me?" Ashlee cooed to Ruffles.

Ruffles responded by purring loudly.

"So, you're the crazy cat Ashlee's been telling me about," said Tristan, reaching out to stroke Ruffles. "I wonder how you'd get along with Aster?"

No sooner had Tristan said this, then Aster turned up.

"Speak of the devil!" exclaimed Tristan. "I must have forgotten to lock the TARDIS."

"I don't know. She's only ever been around people," replied Ashlee

Ruffles jumped down from Ashlee's arms and started sniffing Aster's face.

While the cats were bonding, Tristan got out his remote control and pressed the lock button. A light on the remote acknowledged that TARDIS was now locked.

"Seems Aster likes your cat," observed Tristan.

"Same to you," replied Ashlee. "Well, my darling, looks like you've found yourself a friend," she said, addressing Ruffles, who turned her giant green eyes to Ashlee and purred.

Ashlee headed into the kitchen, followed by Ruffles and served up the last of a can of cat food from the fridge for Ruffles. After feeding her cat, she came back out to where Tristan was standing with Aster in his arms.

"I'm gonna have a shower. Help yourself to anything in the fridge and watch whatever you fancy on telly." offered Ashlee. "And watch out for Ruffles. She'll sit on your lap the instant you sit down."

"Not if Aster gets there first," replied Tristan.

Ashlee laughed and walked off, leaving Tristan to inspect the flat. The flat itself was clean and tidy (much tidier than Tristan's bedroom and workshop in the TARDIS), the walls were covered in family snapshots, and the furniture didn't match.

As he'd already eaten, Tristan decided to see if Ashlee had anything of interest to watch. Looking through her limited collection of DVDs, Tristan found a number of musicals, 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', a few other Tim Burton Movies, and about five thrillers. Finding nothing of interest, Tristan tapped in "025" on his Pattern Buffer and hooked up the presented device to Ashlee's TV. With the device hooked up, Tristan was able to access the TARDIS computers and he selected the first episode of the 2005 series of Doctor Who.

Near the end of the episode, Ashlee came in wearing a fresh pair of jeans, a black tank top, and tugging a brush through her wet hair. She smiled with amusement at the sight of the two felines draped quite comfortably across Tristan's lap.

"Having fun?" she asked.

"Well, your cat and my Kneazle certainly seem to be. I'm just enjoying an episode of Doctor Who," replied Tristan.

"Oh, that show?" replied Ashlee, pulling back her wet hair into a ponytail. Smiling bashfully, she added, "Haven't got that great a selection, have I? I tend to hire movies rather than buy them."

"I have a big database of video files in the TARDIS data core. This is one of them," replied Tristan.

"I don't recognise this episode. Then again, I didn't watch all of them. Dad did, though."

"I'm not surprised you don't recognise it. It's not going to be broadcast until the 26th of March this year."

Ashlee laughed triumphantly. "Alright! Sneak preview!"

"You might put it that way," replied Tristan, grinning.

"Looks like you're useful for something after all," said Ashlee, smiling cheekily.

"Hey!"

Ashlee darted away, laughing. "Just kidding!"

"Well, what do we do now?"

"First things first, we better separate the lovebirds," replied Ashlee, indicating Ruffles, who was cleaning Aster's face.

"Come along, you," said Tristan, picking up Aster. "I'd better take him back to the TARDIS. He looks a bit unusual to fit in around here."

"Yeah, miniature lions don't quite fit the bill."

"I'll be back in a minute." Tristan got out a device, tapped the screen on the device several times, and vanished in a cloud of blue sparks. Tristan arrived back at the TARDIS inside the hologram, unlocked it, headed inside and put Aster in the corridor from the control room. After making sure that Aster had not followed him back outside, Tristan locked the TARDIS again, then teleported back to Ashlee's flat in another cloud of sparks.

"You're like bloody Houdini!" exclaimed Ashlee. "Disappearing and re-appearing all over the place."

"Technology and magic at their finest. That teleportation device was invented by my great-grandfather when he was in his fifth year at Hogwarts."

"And I thought my dad was smart."

"What field does he work in?" asked Tristan.

"Parks and Recreation."

"Politics?"

"No. Council."

"That's still Politics. Just on a smaller scale."

"Yeah, he's more of a horticulturalist."

"Has a love of plants, eh? Does he have a degree in Botany?" inquired Tristan.

"Not sure. But he used to work in Botany Bay. That's him," said Ashlee, pointing to a picture on the wall.

"Looks like a nice fellow. Ah, well, we'd better figure out what we're going to do today. I'm concerned about those Dementors."

Ashlee sat down, and Ruffles pounced on her lap. "Yeah. What were they doing here, anyhow?" she asked.

"That, my dear Ashlee, is a very good question," replied Tristan, sounding strangely like Sherlock Holmes. "Given the fact there is no record of Dementor activity in Australia at this time, I think we have quite a mystery on our hands."

"So, Sherlock, what's your theory?"

"The best I can come up with is that there is something or someone drawing them here," replied Tristan. "Voldemort took advantage of the Dementors in the two Voldemort wars of the late twentieth century."

"Voldemort?" asked Ashlee, with a chuckle, "What kind of a dumb name is that?"

"It actually originated in an anagram of the wizard's real name. If you take 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' and rearrange the letters, it spells out 'I am Lord Voldemort'," explained Tristan. "Nasty fellow he was. He was killed back in 1998 by a young man named Harry Potter. I actually know Harry as a friend of the family."

"So, this dude, Tom, was killed by a friend of yours," said Ashlee. Then with a curious look, she asked: "Is he still alive in your time? God, how old do you wizards get?"

"Harry's still alive in 2103. He's one-hundred-and-twenty-two years old. Most wizards make it to one-sixty and after that, they'll have about another twenty years left. The record is two-hundred-and-one, and is held by a witch who died in 2053.

"That is old," exclaimed Ashlee. "Anyway, why would Tom send out Dementors?" Smiling mockingly, she added, "Please don't tell me he's trying to take over the world."

Tristan shook his head and replied: "It can't be Tom Riddle. He's been dead for the last seven years. Harry made sure of that." Tristan paused for a moment, thinking, then continued. "It is possible that something inanimate is drawing the Dementors here, but I don't know what it could be. It would definitely have to be magical, though."

"But there can't be anything magical around here, can there?" asked Ashlee. "Well, before you came along, anyway," she added as an afterthought.

"Of course there can be," replied Tristan. "It could be something artificial made by Australian wizards who don't know what they're doing. My great-grandfather ran into some temporal trouble in his sixth year at Hogwarts because of some idiots messing around with temporal spells." Tristan pondered for a moment, then decided that wasn't particularly likely. "On the other hand," he added slowly, "it could be something naturally-occurring, like something that landed in a meteorite."

"A meteorite?" asked Ashlee. "It would have been reported on the news."

"Not necessarily," replied Tristan. "Australia is a big place, and most of a meteorite burns up in the atmosphere. Someone could have found something magically charged that came from space, and they don't know about the magical charge."

"Okay," said Ashlee, as she stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna make a cup of coffee. You want one?"

"Sure. Milk with chocolate, if you've got it."

Ashlee smiled, and replied, "I think I've got some chocolate topping stashed away somewhere." She headed off to the kitchen, turned on the kettle and pulled a couple of mugs out. "Not a coffee fan, huh?" she asked.

"No, I meant coffee with milk and chocolate in it," replied Tristan.

Ashlee grinned and exclaimed: "A mocha it is, then!"

"Whatever you want to call it. I just use cold milk, chocolate powder, and instant coffee," replied Tristan, rolling his eyes.

Ashlee shrugged and smiled. "Whatever." She opened the fridge and exclaimed, "Dammit! I'm out of milk." Tristan could hear her looking in various cupboards and murmuring to herself, "I'm out of a lot of things, actually." Slamming the last cupboard shut, Ashlee called out to Tristan: "I'm going to the shops. You wanna come too? It will be a good opportunity to stock up on some decent supplies."

"Well, you were complaining about the quality of my ingredients when you cooked last night," replied Tristan. "Sure, I'll come along. It'll be interesting to see how things have changed over a hundred years."

Ashlee grabbed her purse and a long, black trench coat and started to head for the door. "Hope you've got cash, cause I can't pay for both of us."

"Cash! Damn! I don't have any," exclaimed Tristan. "All financial transactions in 2103 are carried out electronically. I don't have anything that would be accepted as currency in this time," he elaborated.

Ashlee simply smiled and said, "Don't worry. You've only got to have a sample, right?"

"What are you suggesting?" asked Tristan, suspiciously.

'I hope she's not suggesting that I scan the items with my Pattern Buffer and not buy them,' thought Tristan.

Ashlee smiled innocently, and replied: "I need pretty much all the basics: bread, eggs, cheese. You could take a bit of everything I buy and when we get back, you can raid my pantry for anything you fancy."

"I think I get what you're suggesting now," said Tristan. "We buy a little of everything, and I use it to update the Pattern Replicator database back at the TARDIS. Does that sound about right?"

"Yep. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go."

"And you can pay me back by helping lug the bags back here!" Ashlee added with a laugh.

"I can do better than that," replied Tristan. "I could magically enlarge a bag and cancel out most of the gravitational force exerted on it."

"Um, yeah. Okay. Just as long as you don't need cat food. Ruffles would kill me if I gave away any of her food."

"I replicate Aster's food like I do my own," replied Tristan. "I don't need any canned cat food. Besides, I don't know if he'd like it, anyway."

Ashlee laughed at this and added, "And mum tells me I spoil Ruffles. Well, lets go!"

"Let's," said Tristan, following Ashlee out the door.

Tristan and Ashlee entered a store and Ashlee had the bad luck of getting a squeaky trolley. "Bloody thing," she muttered to herself. As she headed through the shop with Tristan following, she asked: "Anything in particular you fancy?"

"Well I could do with better-quality versions of the ingredients you used to make dinner last night," replied Tristan.

Ashlee laughed. "How about I just bake some and you scan that?" she asked as she pulled a can off a shelf. "It would save you cooking."

"What if I want to cook something? I would like to have better patterns in the replicator database," replied Tristan.

Ashlee smiled at this. "I'll give you the recipe. So, do you have any favourite foods?" she asked.

"You just had to ask one of the hardest questions, didn't you?" replied Tristan, dryly.

Ashlee poked Tristan playfully in response to his sarcasm. "Come on, Trist. I feel like treating you, so pick before I change my mind."

"I can't make up my mind!" exclaimed Tristan, with obvious frustration.

Ashlee laughed at this. "Okay, okay. I'll make it easy for you. Do you like chocolate?"

"You already know the answer to that from my response about the coffee this morning."

Laughing again, Ashlee responded with, "Then I'll get you a nice big block to remember this time by."

As they made their way through the shop heading to the confectionary line, Tristan added, "Just make sure it's dark chocolate. I've never liked milk chocolate, even as a kid."

Ashlee smiled and replied, "Sure." Walking by the shelves and picking up items here and there, Ashlee asked Tristan: "So, are these replicator things common in your time?"

"Nope," replied Tristan. "They are a very recent technomagical invention. I built the first working model on Christmas Eve, 2101."

Ashlee gave a mock sigh. "I feel so privileged! I'm walking and food shopping with a genius!" she said with slight playful sarcasm.

Tristan just laughed at Ashlee's response.

Eventually they reached the chocolate display, and Ashlee said: "Well. Go ahead and pick one. Or two. I don't really care."

"Well, I'd better pick carefully," replied Tristan. "I might not get another opportunity to get some really good chocolate."

Tristan proceeded to examine one block, then put it back and examined another. He put that one back too, before finally throwing the third block into the trolley.

Ashlee, who had been watching him with an amused look on her face, said: "You can get more than one, you know. I think satisfying your sweet tooth is the least I can do."

Tristan started tossing one block of each type of dark chocolate into the trolley.

Ashlee whooped softly. "Go for it! Show that choc who's boss."

Grinning, Tristan replied: "What can I say? I like chocolate."

Ashlee laughed with him, and replied, "Then you and I are gonna get along just fine." Ashlee proceeded to reach forward and grab a block of chocolate with the words 'Top Deck' on it for herself.

Half an hour later, they left the shop with Tristan carrying one small plastic bag containing all the shopping; he had enlarged the inside of the bag with a handy spell, which no travelling wizard should ever be without.

"Thankyou for carrying my shopping," said Ashlee, mock sweetly.

"It's easy if you know the right spells, and can perform them," replied Tristan.

"I just hope the eggs don't break."

"They won't. I took the liberty of reinforcing their container." Tristan suddenly stopped and said: "Wait. Do you feel that?"

Ashlee started shivering and asked, "God, what's happening?"

"Dementors," replied Tristan. "They're around here somewhere."

Ashlee pulled the goggles-disguised-as-sunglasses and microwave gun out of her trench coat. "I'm ready," she announced.

Tristan tapped in the code for a microwave gun on his pattern buffer, and replied: "Me too. Let's microwave some Dementors."

Ashlee smiled, despite her shivering, and exclaimed, "Yeah, baby!"

As Ashlee was looking around for any sign of Dementors, Tristan suddenly exclaimed: "Dementor at three o'clock!" Turning to the crowd, he shouted "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" From the sound of Tristan's voice, the crowd could tell that he meant business and wasted no time in complying with his order.

Ashlee took aim and the Dementor and fired. "Did I get it?" she asked.

"Yep. Nice shootin', Tex."

Ashlee raised an eyebrow whilst searching for more Dementors, and asked, "Tex?"

"I've seen too much Yank content," replied Tristan. "There are definitely more Dementors around here. I can feel it. Where are the blasted things?" he added with a note of frustration.

Ashlee slowly panned her view over the scene, then suddenly pointed in the direction of a parked car. "There! Over there behind that car!"

"Damn. The metal will reflect the radio waves from the guns. Let's move!" Tristan started to run around to the other side of the car, with Ashlee following. "You take the one on the right, I'll take the one on the left."

"Gotcha," acknowledged Ashlee. She then ran to a spot where she could get a shot off at the Dementor, ducked down, and shot it. "Eat microwave, bastard!" she cried in triumph.

Tristan, meanwhile, ran past Ashlee, and fired off his gun while moving, but missed his target. A second shot got the Dementor he was after, and it exploded in a blinding flash of light and a cloud of steam. "I think that's all of them," panted Tristan.

As it turned out, Tristan was wrong. One Dementor started to sneak up behind Ashlee, who gasped and dropped her gun, falling to her knees with tears running down her face.

"Oh, no you don't, you bastard," snarled Tristan, in quite a frightening fashion, and shot the Dementor when it was only a metre from Ashlee. "Gotcha! I'm certain that's the last of this batch." Addressing the crowd, Tristan shouted "YOU CAN GET UP NOW. THE DANGER HAS PASSED."

As the crowd rose again, Tristan noticed Ashlee on ground, crying quietly. He went over to her and kneeled down beside her.

"The bastards really take it out of you, don't they?" said Tristan, with an air of bitterness.

Ashlee shivered and whispered tearfully, "That was horrible."

Tristan broke off a piece of chocolate from a block and gave it to her. "Eat this. It'll help make you feel better."

Ashlee popped the offered piece in her mouth. "Yuk. I hate dark chocolate," she muttered weakly.

"Sorry," said Tristan, sheepishly. "Here's a piece from your block," he said, then stood up and looked around.

Ashlee looked up at him and wiped her eyes. "What are we gonna do now. These people saw everything."

Tristan tapped in "901" on his pattern buffer, and handed Ashlee a metal ring with bands on the top, crossing at right-angles and forming a hemisphere. "Put this on your head. It will protect you from the mass-Memory Charm I'm about to perform."

Ashlee quickly complied with Tristan's instructions, then Tristan cast the spell. The crowd's eyes glazed over for a few seconds, then returned to normal. "Done. They don't remember a thing about our fire-fight with the Dementors."

Ashlee nodded and stood up, supporting herself against the car.

While Ashlee was finding her feet again, Tristan spotted a man sitting on the ground with a blank expression on his face, his eyes devoid of life, and his fingers moving randomly. Tristan immediately recognised what had happened and cursed: "Damn. We didn't get them all in time." Gesturing to the man, he added, "That is the result of a Dementor's Kiss."

Ashlee shuddered and turned away from the sight. "That's awful." Looking at Tristan, she asked: "What are we gonna do with him?"

"End his suffering," replied Tristan, grimly. "I really hate using this spell," he said with a pained look on his face. Pointing his wand at the man and looking away, he then said gloomily: "Avada Kedavra." After casting the spell, Tristan looked appalled with himself.

Ashlee watched the man crumple over and gave out a soft cry.

"He's dead now," said Tristan in a flat monotone. "That spell was the Killing Curse. Instant death to the target. Works on anything living. It also happens to be illegal to use on humans and other sentient creatures, but the victim of a Dementor's Kiss is no longer counted as human, so I won't get into trouble with the law."

Ashlee put a hand softly on his shoulder. "It was the kindest thing to do."

"I know. It doesn't make me feel any better about it though."

Ashlee wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a warm hug. Tristan, however, was too gloomy to return it.

"Come on. Let’s go home," whispered Ashlee, retrieving the shopping bag and leading him gently down the street with a comforting arm around his waist. Tristan just took her lead, unable to think of anything to say.