Hermione Granger's first introduction to magic was far different than what everyone thought it to be. Long before Professor McGonagall arrived on her parent's doorstep with her Hogwarts letter in tow, but sometime after her first instances with accidental magic, Hermione began questioning the possibility of magic after a strange encounter on a seemingly ordinary afternoon several weeks before Christmas.
It all began one afternoon as a seven-year-old Hermione found herself rushing home with the neighborhood bullies in tow. She was by no means a popular child, especially then, for it seemed that the Muggle children could sense subconsciously that there was something decidedly strange about her. It had been an almost common occurrence that she found herself being berated for her intelligence, for her appearance, or for her lack of friends, and it appeared that this day would be no different.
She had suffered a long day at school of being subjected to the emotionally draining cycle of praise from her teachers and the subsequent belittlement of her peers. She rushed home, as she did most days, in order to escape to the safety of her two loving parents in their quaint dwelling where she could exist unafraid of judgment. Though it seemed she was faced the unfortunate fate of being tailed home. A bothersome group of slightly older boys heckled her from several paces behind, and tears blurred her vision no matter how hard she tried to fight it. As they grew louder and bolder in their taunts with each progressing block, Hermione knew that they could see how they were affecting her and tried to quicken her pace in hopes of maybe losing them before reaching her home.
She glanced up toward a coming street sign, finding with much dismay that she had quite a ways to go before reaching home. With a sniffle and a huff she continued to trudge on when something caught her eye. Across the street, blocking of the mouth of an alleyway that Hermione would sometimes use as a shortcut home, was a bright blue Police Call Box. Hermione remembered reading a book from her father's study that featured a brief history of the public call boxes. She distinctly recognized the build as being one that hadn't been used in the London area for many years, the design was inefficient and took up too much space, yet clear as day there one stood. This one, had appeared seemingly in the last few hours since she had been in school, however its placement was such that Hermione highly doubted it had been constructed by the government, which made it very curious indeed.
She stopped as she reached the street and stared at the call box, momentarily forgetting the reason she had been so hasty in her journey home in the first place as she cautiously stepped toward the big blue structure. So engrossed was she in her curiosity that Hermione failed to notice that the three boys who had been tailing her had caught up. The heckling return anew as one of the more bolder of the three pushed her to the ground while the others laughed. Immediately, she berated herself for letting her curiosity get the better of her because now it was unlikely she would be able to get away from these boys at all.
She quickly picked herself off the ground and slowly backed away from them as they closed in on her, jeering at her tears that had begun to fall once more. Her eyes widened in fear as her back hit one of the doors to the box, she was trapped and they were getting closer. Then, like a miracle, the door next to her opened as a tall skinny slip of a man in a dark brown suit and red trainers burst from the call box's interior with a fierce expression. He turned to her briefly, eyes softening momentarily before turning back to the boys who had frozen in fear, his eyes cold as ice and his posture rigid as he watched them.
"You know, if there's one thing I hate more than anything in the universe it's a bully." He intoned softly his Scottish lilting voice hard as steel as he advanced on the boys who cowered down in further. "You will leave this girl alone henceforth and you will tell others to do so as well and anyone who doesn't will hear from me. Trust me when I say you really don't want that. This is your one warning, am I understood?"
The boys nodded fervently staring at the ground and huddling closer to each other as they intoned quiet and frightful "Yes sir," to the man before them.
"Good. Now, best apologize." The man growled out lowly glaring at the boys who continued to cower. "Then I'd leave...on the double now!"
The boys chorused out a soft and quick "Sorry Hermione," before they all ran off faster than she had seen anyone run away before. The strange man watched them go, his posture remaining stiff for a few moments after they disappeared around the corner, as if he somehow expected them to come back for more trouble, before he turned back to her with soft eyes and a kind gentle smile.
He took a slow step and crouched before her, acting almost as if she was an injured animal. Hermione observed him as he moved closer and was shocked by how young he looked. His suit was very sharp, dark brown with powder blue pin stripes, his hair was messily brushed upwards as long sideburns crept down either side his face. It was then that she noticed his eyes, though they twinkled with mischief and kindness they were far far older than the man appeared. Strangely, Hermione did not find this fact unsettling. No, as he gazed at her, his smile wide and friendly, eyes dancing with mirth and concern, Hermione felt herself calming from the stress of the whole experience. Timidly, Hermione raised a hand to dry her eyes with her sleeve when the man placed in her hand a soft handkerchief, which held beautiful and intricate embroidery of strange circular designs, before sitting back on his haunches again like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Hermione, eh? That's a good name innit? Brilliant, truly and very pretty, guessin' your parents big on the classical literature. Though can't blame 'em really, books are great...love a good book." He rambled his voice warm and kind as he smiled on at her.
"Thank you sir, for helping me, to be honest I wasn't quite sure how I was going to get out of that one." She said her voice still unsteady from crying.
"That's alrigh'. Sorry I wasn't 'ere sooner, didn't notice right way, what with the maintenance." He spoke distractedly looking over her shoulder at the box with his brow furrowed. He turned his attention back toward her with a little frown. "That happen a lot does it?"
"Unfortunately." She said with a sigh. "They don't like me much at school I'm afraid. My parents say it's cause they're jealous of my skills, but honestly... they just think I'm a freak." Hermione replied quietly absently playing with the handkerchief, slowly becoming more interested in its design.
"Ah. Well...just between you and me, I don't think that'll be a problem anymore. Didya see how fast they ran." They shared a chuckle, the man's eyes twinkling with relief as he watched her laugh. "Listen, your folks are right ya know? Often when you're smart or successful or just a wee bit different, there's gonna be some nunce out there who feels threatened by that. Just keep in mind that for every single one who doesn't see just how brilliant you are, there's always gonna be the ones that do, and they're the ones that truly matter."
Hermione sniffed and nodded in agreement taking his kind words to heart. He smiled even wider as she did so, and stood offering her a hand in raising from the ground. She allowed him to pull her up, hissing as the skin of her knee that had been scraped with her fall was aggravated once more. He watched her, brows furrowed, the small concerned frown returning as he scratched the back of his neck.
"You're hurt, oh that won't do at all. Suppose you would be though, that was quite a tumble you took. Listen, I can fix that right up for you. I got a medical kit inside." He smiled and threw a thumb over his shoulder toward the police box whose door was still slightly propped open a small sliver of warm light escaping out. "Can take ya home while I'm at it too."
Hermione watched him cautiously at that, the weariness of strangers, no matter how kind, that her parents taught her when it became apparent she would have to see herself home from school resurfaced.
"Are you a policeman then?" She asked suspicious.
"Ahh…no, I'm really not." He gave a quick smile and a shrug as she raised her eyebrow at him and put her hands on her hips.
"Then why do you have a police box? Furthermore, why would you put it in an alleyway. Not only is that highly suspicious, I'm sure you're breaking more than a few laws right now."
"Well….it's not really a police box...and it's really very temporary. Bit hard to explain actually." He shuffled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck again causing Hermione to frown. "Your parents counselors?"
"No, they're dentists. What does that have to do with anything?" Hermione inquired growing defensive of herself and her parents profession when with man gave a wince and a noncommittal shrug. "Who are you, really? I come this way everyday from school, I've never seen you, nor have I seen this box."
"It's a big city though, innit?" He supplied evasively.
"Quite a small borough though, innit?"
She crossed her arms in defiance as she scowled at the man, her seven year old face wearing a look of such sheer exasperation that the man before her let out a bark of a laugh before bowing down toward her level once more.
"Oh! Oh, you are brilliant, cheeky, but absolutely brilliant. Alright you win, I'm the Doctor." He said with a wide smile holding out his hand to her with an expectant look though Hermione just stared at it.
"The Doctor? And what sort of name do you call that? I mean honestly, Doctor who?" Hermione replied, eyes narrowed with her chin jutting up to the man that still towered over her even as he bowed to be near her level.
He laughed, he had the nerve to laugh at her questions, like it was some cosmic joke. He piped down when her look of disinterest intensified and she turned to leave in annoyance, he lightly touched her arm causing her to turn to glare at him once more.
"Just the Doctor, honest." He reached out his hand toward her once more winking slightly "And you are?"
She thought about it for a moment, before deciding that the polite thing for a man who chased off her bullies would be to at the very least introduce herself. So she extended her own, much smaller hand, which was immediately engulfed in much larger ones of the very strange man before her.
"Hermione Granger." She supplied stiffly with a tight cautious smile.
"Hermione Granger...Hermione Grrranger! Oh that's brilliant!" He smiled brightly eyebrows raised in excitement as he dropped her hand standing once more. "An absolute pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, an absolute delight! Tell ya what, I'll just pop inside get that aid kit for you and be right out. How's that?"
He didn't wait for her to answer, instead bounded toward the police box with a wild enthusiasm that she rarely saw in people outside her own age group, certainly not a man of his age. Hermione unconsciously followed him toward the doorway as he flung the ajar door to the police box open, rushing inside with a child like skip in his step. As the door opened, Hermione's jaw dropped at what she saw inside. It was impossible, absolutely impossible. She backed away from the doorway and took stock of the size of the call box before her shaking her head in disbelief. There was no explanation for it at all, but the fact remained that the interior of 'the Doctor's' police box was somehow bigger on the inside. Hermione couldn't contain her curiosity, and against her better judgment, cautiously stepped through the doorway looking around at the giant impossible room in wonder.
The Doctor had dove under a glowing console of some sort and was rummaging around softly mumbling to himself as he threw pieces of clothing and strange foreign objects over his shoulder as she approached him. His actions added a cacophonous soundtrack to the soothing humming and groaning that seemed to reverberate around the room. Slowly, she advanced up the walk toward him, her feet softly clanging against the metal grating of the ramp, her hand trailing up it's cool solid metal railing. Everything was solid around her, the lighting was warm, casting the room in golden and green hues from the ambient lighting and that which caused the console to glow respectively. She reached the platform the Doctor was knelt upon though his back still to her and his expression still distracted with his rummaging. Disregarding him for the moment, she turned toward one of the strange swirling pillars that stood massive around the platform and ran a hand over the solid coarse grain of the stone in awe. This place, whatever it was, was magnificent.
"Aha! There you are ya blasted lil' dalek. Hermione! I found-oh…right then." The Doctor stood holding a bag aloft and pivoted swiftly toward the door noticing her at once in her amazed observation of her surroundings. "Sooo, you alright? This place it has a tendency to make people well...ya know."
He moved toward her slowly with a raised eyebrow grasping the small first aid kit in his hand. Hermione found that she could only look at him wide eyed, mouth ajar as she tried and failed to come up with some response to what she was seeing, but it was all too much to take in.
"Ah, right then, shock. Happens to the best of us, not often mind you, but at times." The Doctor said with a laugh and a slight shake of head.
He smiled gently and directed her to an old dilapidated couch on the other side of the room. Putting on a pair of square frame glasses he set to work gently rolling down her sock and disinfecting the wound with a strange blue liquid that didn't sting like the alcohol her mother used. As Hermione watched him carefully attend to her wounds in a manner similar to one would image a man named the Doctor would, the questions and the curiosity came back to her in full force.
"W-what is this place? How is it...I mean Doctor it's bigger, it's bigger on the inside!" Hermione burst out growing increasingly more excited as she went on. "That can't be physically possible, can it? I mean I'm sure there's a million theories out there why it woul-" She was silenced by a finger being placed on her lips. She looked up and was met with wild eyes and an amused smile.
"TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. Yes, it's bigger on the inside, and yes it is possible, does it break a few laws sure, but really...laws are there for the breakin' aren't they?" He stood with a dry chuckle and wiped his hands on his trousers before clasping them behind his back. "Now! There you are, good as new. How 'bout that, huh?"
Hermione looked at her knee, surprised to see not a bandaged, but miraculously unblemished skin. She quickly looked back toward the Doctor but he was no longer standing near her but facing the screen for his strange console, clacking away at his typewriter.
"But how...this isn't possible." Hermione said as she rose from her seat gesturing all around her.
"Not with that attitude it's not." The Doctor laughed as he turned toward her once more leaning against his console. "Listen...honestly it's best if you sort of well, not ask many questions, too short of time really. Not that I don't think you wouldn't understand, because you're brilliant Ms. Granger, but I do have to getcha back to your parents. For now, let's just say it's all a big mess of sciencey mincey spacey wacey with just a bit of...magic." He justified slowly with a derisive snort.
"Magic?" Hermione crossed her arms staring at him in disbelief. "Honestly?"
"Oh yes!" He answered with a clap of his hands. He shifted his weight off the console and started to mill around it, hands flying over dials at inhuman speeds.
"So...you're not going to tell me anymore? I mean I guess you're right, there isn't enough time. But you'll be here tomorrow right?" She asked starting to trail after him with a hopeful expression. "I just thought well...I'm really clever you know, like you, and perhaps maybe we could be friends."
He stopped abruptly and looked at her curiously. His face suddenly looking very sad, his eyes once again seeming all too old for his face as he looked down at her. He stepped toward her kneeling down in front of her with a frown that seemed uncharacteristic for what she had come to know as his demeanor.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, but I won't be 'ere tomorrow. But we could, you know. You and me, we'd be the best of friends. We'd go everywhere you and I, all of time and space, everywhere and everywhen, being daft, fixing things, seeing all the wonders the universe has to offer. Oooh they'd talk about us wherever we went. The brilliant lass and the Timelord with her, The Doctor and Hermione Granger, what a team we'd make. You just wait and see, one day, one day when you're older, you'll see...just watch us run. But, not now I'm afraid." The Doctor smiled sadly placing tender hands on her shoulders.
"Why not now?" Hermione asked sadly.
"Where I go, what I do, is far too dangerous for a seven year old young woman such as yourself." The Doctor smiled softly looking into her forlorn eyes. "I've lost far too many friends in my time Ms. Granger, I couldn't in good conscious put you in danger too."
"But one day?" She asked growing hopeful once more.
"Oooh, Absolutely!" He smiled eyes lighting up once more. "I promise you that, cross my hearts. Till then...I think I can honestly say, you're gonna have a brilliant life. Absolutely brilliant. May not look like it now, but just you wait. I reckon you're gonna go on quite a many adventures of your own and you'll meet the most wonderful people, and make brilliant friends along the way."
Hermione smiled at the thought. Traveling the universe with this strange man would be great fun, but really the idea of having adventures here on solid earth with friends of her own was also an exciting prospect. She didn't know how he seemed so confident in his predictions but she didn't care, for once her young mind was more than okay with forgoing logic. She surged forward and wrapped her arms around his thin frame in an engulfing hug which he returned in earnest, holding her tight as he stood once more to swing her around as she gleefully laughed. With a sigh, the Doctor placed her on the ground once more, ruffling her hair and tapping her nose with a soft, sad smile before nodding toward the door.
"Well Miss Granger, getting quite late. Whaddaya say we get you home?" He asked as he shrugged into a long brown coat and held out his hand.
Looking at her watch, Hermione saw with a shock that her parents would be home in a three hours. With a soft sad smile at the idea of her afternoon of wonder and fun coming to an end she gave a nod and took his hand walking toward the door at a leisurely pace. As they walked the Doctor talked. He spoke of all manner of things, of far away planets in times a long ways from then, and of rulers and writers from ancient times who he was great friends with. He spoke quietly to her with much pain and reverence of his home-world, of how beautiful, how magnificent it once had been, and of the monsters, both within his people and the aggressors who attacked them that caused him to be alone. He told her stories of friends he'd made recently, those who travelled with him and did wonderful things. Of Jack Harkness, a reformed con-man who couldn't die, of Martha Jones, a young doctor who walked the Earth to save the human race, of Donna Noble, a brilliant woman who didn't know her own worth that sacrificed something she loved to save the whole universe. Of Mickey Smith, who for all he had doubted was in fact far braver than anyone he'd ever met. Her told her of Rose Tyler, a woman he loved implicitly though he never told Hermione this, she could tell, his brilliant Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, who had sacrificed again and again because she couldn't let injustice stand, who he had lost and watched as she moved on toward her happy ending without him.
They made a full circuit around the neighborhood, Hermione grasping the Doctor's hand in her much smaller one, leading him surreptitiously the long way around toward her house, as she listened to his tales enraptured. He was far too interesting, and even though she knew she had to get home, she didn't want him to leave either. His brain was chalk full of everything and anything the universe had to offer, knowledge she could only dream of obtaining. But all good things must come to an end, and with fifteen minutes to spare they finally rounded down her street. Hermione grew silent and sullen as they reached her house gripping tightly to the Doctor's hand, afraid if she let go he'd disappear into the ether as a figment of her imagination, and this wonderful day would all be a dream. They reached her door and Hermione turned to him with a frown as he crouched down in front of her letting go of her hand and smoothing down her hair as much he could with brows furrowed in concern.
" 'fore you say it, it's not goodbye. Oh no, not goodbye at all. I'll keep my promise Miss Granger. You'll see me again." He said sadly as he watched her.
"But it won't be for a long time will it?" She asked once again playing with the handkerchief he'd handed her earlier, distracting herself with it's beauty.
"No. I'm afraid for you, it will be quite sometime. But be good, be brave, be the brilliant young woman I've had to pleasure of meeting today, and those years will fly by, you watch." He said with such a strong faith she had to believe him.
His smile grew vibrant as he looked at her and she couldn't help but to return it. With a nod, her smile grew in strength, hope and defiance growing in her eyes as she looked forward to the future. Hermione gripped the handkerchief tightly before handing it back toward the Doctor only for him to push her hand back with a shake of his head.
"You have that, have that on me Hermione Granger. Somethin' to remember me by."
With that she surged forward, launching her young body at her new friend. The Doctor caught her, as she instinctively knew he would and after a moment returned her embrace, tightly holding onto her with his cheek resting atop the crown her her head. Hermione stayed with her arms wrapped tight around the Doctor's neck for perhaps a moment too long, trying in vain to delay the inevitable, before pulling back with a sniffle and a wobbly smile which the young old man returned in the full vibrant force only he seemed capable of. Standing to his full height once more, the Doctor reached out, patting her head softly with a tired sad smile before stepping off her porch and out onto the path. He turned once more and waved causing Hermione to smile brightly.
"Take care of yourself Doctor! Till the next time." She called after him, waving excitedly in return.
With a nod and a casual salute her direction, the Doctor turned and walked away. Hermione stood on her front step and watched his retreating long coated back till he disappeared around the corner into the dreary evening that had descended upon her borough. Later that night, after saying goodnight to her parents and completing her nightly routine, Hermione laid in bed tracing the intricate lines of the handkerchief that the Doctor had given her. With a soft smile she began to doze off, all the while imagining listening to the fading tearing, groaning whine from several blocks away. That night she dreamed of stars and far off worlds and impossibly large blue boxes. It would be years before she heard that sound again, before she would set foot inside that magical box once more. Years before the days of the Witch and the Timelord, of the time of the Doctor and Granger, but come they would. And it was all exactly as he said, absolutely fantastic.