It wasn't until he was a few months into his new body that he learned she'd never read Harry Potter.
"Rose Tyler, how can you not have read one of the most iconic series in all of human history?!"
She'd just shrugged and went back to whatever magazine she'd been flipping through.
The next day, books 1-6 were on her dresser; the final book wasn't quite out yet in her time line.
"But we live in a time machine!" she'd argued, having devoured the books as soon as she'd received them, enjoying them much more than she'd anticipated.
She loved the magic and mystic, the characters and adventures, the thrill of fantasy.
"Ah ah ah," the Doctor teased, hiding away the final installment Rose was so eager to read. "All things come to those who wait. It comes out in a few weeks; you'll just have to be patient."
"Bit rich, coming from you," she grumbled, but resigned herself to wait.
July 21: she'd circled the date on the calendar she always kept synchronized with Earth time. Unbeknownst to her, the Doctor was planning on taking her to the midnight release party in London. He'd gotten House robes and scarves for them: Gryffindor for her, Ravenclaw for him.
He was so tempted to cheat, but Rose, surprisingly, asked him not to. She was enjoying the thrill of the wait; as she marked another day off her countdown, she felt more and more excited. So the Doctor acquiesced; after all, it was only a few weeks away. A few weeks was nothing to a Time Lord. July 21, he could do that…
But on July 8 she was gone…