THE DOCTOR, THE ARENA, AND THE LEGACY OF HARRY POTTER

Chapter1

I pull my battered trunk along the concrete floor of platform 9 and 3/4 and my black cat Jack Harkness is cradled in my arm. My dad walks behind me carrying another of my trunks, smiling and waving at all his old classmates. He taps me on the shoulder, and I turn around and I see a massive grin is plastered on his face. A mix of feelings are bubbling away in my stomach like the Muggle school stews my best friend Mickey Smith had told me about that they eat in the winter back in his boarding school. Platform 9 and 3/4 isn't anything like the happy place Dad had once told me about. There were still fresh memories of the Great War, and it reflected on the parents faces. Old students, I tell myself. They're the ones that saved Hogwarts almost fifteen years ago. I bite my lip and I place my trunk with all the other luggage and dad places my other one next to it. I wrap my arms around his waist tightly and he embraces me. I breath in his smell of cologne and fabric softener, and I realise how much I'm going to miss him.

"Tell mum I'm gonna miss her heaps," I order dad. "And say bye to Mickey, too."

Dad nods. "It's a shame mum couldn't be here," he says. "But we both know the rules."

"Yep," I say softly. "Muggles cannot pass through to platform nine and three quarters."

We hug for what seems forever, and then dad lets go.

"Now," dad says and he holds my shoulders. "Have you got everything? Wand, books, quill?"

"Yes. I'm gonna be fine," I say. Dad looks at me sadly and kisses my forehead. "I'll miss you," he says sadly. I smile at his puppy-dog eyes.

"Bye," I say and I walk off. I see dad disappear through the entry to platform 9 and 3/4, back to the London Station, back to the Muggle world.

I suddenly see a flash of orange hair coming towards me. The person bumped into me, making me stumble over and trip on my own feet, falling to the cold floor with a thud, crashing into a few legs on my way down. Everyone around me starts laughing and sniggering as I start to stand up. The red head turns around with an astonished look on her face, and I take a good look at her. She's an older student, a girl, with blazing orange hair, a horse-like face and blue-green eyes. She extends out a helping hand, and I take it with a thankful smile and bright red cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," she says in a London accent. "I guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's alright," I say in my dirty cockney accent. "I do it all the time. Making an idiot of myself, that is."

The girl laughs. "I guess it's partly my fault. I'm Donna, by the way. Donna Noble." Her hand strikes out and I obediently shake it.

"Rose Tyler." I say and let go.

"You're a fifth year, aren't you?" Donna asks.

"Yeah," I reply. "How'd you know?"

"My brother's a fifth year. I'd know a fifth year from a mile off."

A piercing whistle from the train commander almost deafens everyone in the station and now all the attention is on him, not me, which is a good thing. An eerie silence fills the platform.

"ALL ABOARD!"

I look back at Donna as the loud noise erupts again.

"Well, I'd best be going. Get a good seat and all." I say.

Donna smiles. "Know anyone?" she asks.

I laugh. "I'm not very good at making friends."

"Don't worry," Donna re-assures me. "I was the same on my first day. Maybe you'll meet my brother,"

"Yeah, maybe," I say.

"Anyway, I'll see you later eh?" Donna smiles and waves as her friends pull her onto the train.

I walk to the fifth-years carriage, and wait until everyone in front of me piles onto the train. I notice out of the corner of my eye, a boy is leaning on the platform wall, staring at me with chocolate brown eyes. I look at him and I smile without a second thought. He's dressed in a black sweater and faded blue jeans with old, ratty, red Converse trainers on his feet. Brown, scruffy hair was partly flipped to one side, sticking up on end, his nose straight and thin, sticking out in a point at just the right moment. The pink lips that smiled are thin, and his jaw juts out slightly in a cute way. The line onto the carriage was slow moving, but eventually I was near the front of the queue of students. I didn't notice the boy had somehow ended up next to me. I look up at him and smile. He smells of aftershave and clean skin, and something about him made my stomach do one of those inside-out numbers.

"I saw you fall over there," he says in a cute British accent. "You alright?"

I freeze. Was this really happening? Or was my brain playing tricks on me again...?

"Um, yeah, I guess," I say, and I rub the nape of my neck. The boy chuckles. "How come I haven't seen you around Hogwarts? You new or something?" I ask him.

"No," the boy says. "I got expelled a few years ago, for exploding a laboratory, but my parents begged the school to take me back. You don't remember me?" I try to recall the boy in a younger form, but nothing springs to mind.

"No, sorry." After a moment, he clears his throat and waits for a few more people to step onto the train.

"So, I guess you have a compartment load of friends waiting for you, eh?" the boy asks me. I look down at my feet and take a big step onto the dark turquoise carpet of the train.

"Nah," I say. "But you don't look like you're that popular yourself."

The boy smiles. "Yeah, you're right." He slips his hand in my own and pulls me along the hallway of the train.

"We can find a place, then. Allons-y."

Halfway down the carriage we found an open compartment, and the boy slid open the door for me with a cheeky grin. I sat myself down, and Jack jumped out of my arms onto the soft cushion of the seat next to me. The boy sits opposite me and stares at Jack's bright green eyes.

"So who's this then?" the boy asks me, pointing at Jack.

"Oh, this is Jack. Captain Jack," I say with a ridiculous smile that I've had stuck on my face since I've met this boy. Jack jumps off the seat and into the lap of the boy. He scratches Jack under the chin and smiles. "And who are you?"

The boy shoots out his hand. "I'm the Doctor."

"The Doctor?"

"Well, my real name is-"

"JONATHAN SMITH!" a familiar voice shouts from down the hall of the carriage. She slides the door open with such force it makes the Doctor and I almost jump a metre in the air. "There you are! Rory told me that you were somewhere with Craig. I've been looking all over for you, lugging your bloody suitcase up and down these carriages. Blimey, I swear that bloody thing is bigger on the inside. And don't even get me started on the owl."

"Oh, whoops. I totally forgot." The boy says and helps the person bring the bags in and place them up on the top shelf.

The girl comes into our compartment, and then her horse like face comes into view. It's Donna.

"Oh, hello again," she says to me.

The boy looks at me with a confused look. "You two know each other?" he asks me.

I look up at Donna and she laughs.

"You could say that," she giggles and sits down next to the boy. "This lump's my step-brother, by the way."

"Constant reminder that she can boss me around whenever our parents aren't here," the boy tells me. Donna digs him in the ribs and the boy yelps like a five year old girl. He scares Jack. "Well, you need someone to look after you." "Excuse me," the boy says. "I'm very capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much,"

Donna laughs. "You call 'looking after yourself' walking into a pole, eh? Remember last week?" The boys cheeks glow bright red. "I couldn't help it," he says. "That book was really interesting." I giggle. It was funny watching brother and sister quarrel over absolutely nothing. I thought it was unusual, though, since I don't have any siblings.

"Anyway, I'll see you guys later," Donna says after a moment. "The train's gonna leave in a few minutes." The door squeaked open and closed with a bang. "Anyway, you were saying," I say as Jack jumps up on my lap. I scratch him under the chin and he lets out a contented purr.

The boy cocks his head to the side, but then realises what I mean. "Oh, right. I'm the Doctor."

I laugh. "You were about to tell me your real name." I correct.

"John Smith," he says. "But seriously, just call me Doctor."

"Okay then, Doctor." I say. His hand stretches out in the same manner of his sister's, and I shake it.

"Rose Tyler."

"Pleasure to meet you, Rose Tyler," the Doctor smiles.

I stroke the silky lump that's on my lap and I try to think of what to say. Then I remember getting that letter in the mail about the Hunger Games, and asking how many times you'd like your name to be in the tributes bowl.

"So. How many times is your name in the tributes bowl?" I ask him.

"Oh, only five times. Nothing spectacular." the Doctor says. "What about you?" I don't want to say. Doctor had only put his name is five times, and that seems like nothing compared to mine. "Forty-two," I say. The Doctors eyes widen in astonishment, and I smile in embarrassment. "Wow," the Doctor says. "You're pretty brave." I don't know what he's talking about. I mean, The Hunger Games is an eating competition, right?

"Yeah," I say. "I can eat ten pies in ten minutes. What about you?"

The Doctor looks confused. "What has that got to do with anything?" he asks me.

"The Hunger Games is an eating competition, isn't it?" I ask.

The Doctor's jaw hangs open and his eyes widen even more. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you?"

"And what's that?"

"A very bad position."