A Home Away From Home
Author Note: All familiar ideas stem from Russell T. Davies, not me. OK, so I said to myself 'that's it, no more fanfiction for a good long time', but then I remembered how Martha and Tenth are said to be fellow Potter freaks, and well, this... thing was born! Set immediately after 'Gridlock'.
The Doctor had been worried about Martha - she'd holed herself in her room for the night and the morning. Just when this current train thought about how long she had shut herself for had reached its peak, he heard familiar heels. He raised his head.
"What had you been doing?" he asked, nothing but curiousity lacing his tone.
"Well you'd talked about your home planet. I felt homesick-" and struck a finger up before he could be sympathetic "-and delved into your library. I found a familiar Earth book to make me feel closer." she smiled, now holding a volume with a silver, red, purple and black spine. The Doctor immediately knew what it was and grinned.
"The Deathly Hallows." he said, many emotions now filling his voice. Martha nodded.
"You said 'wait 'til you read book seven'. When I decided to come on board, I hadn't."
"That's because it hadn't been released then." the Doctor said with a sly wink. After a flitting case of exasperation crossed Martha's face, he asked something. "How far have you got? Bill and Fleur's wedding?" he pondered. Martha shook her head. "Past that. Harry's just asked Kreacher to fetch Mundungus." she said. The Doctor made a noise with his throat. "Was that the sound of-" but Martha was cut off.
"Yes it was. The sound of dung." the Doctor chuckled. Martha wanted to throttle him.
"I don't know why I put up with you..." she trailed. The Doctor winked again.
"Because you need someone to help you in your Harry Potter indulgences." he said.
"There's that. Don't you dare spoil the ending! I know you cried." the medical student replied. "But then again, you trusted me enough to tell me that." she continued. The Doctor nodded, itching to tell his companion a crucial plot point, but didn't do so. "Ron and Hermione end up married, I can guess." Martha quipped. "Too much tension to for that not to happen." she laughed, but it was a hollow laugh. It was then the Doctor realised. Tension or not, Ron and Hermione hadn't been pining for each other. Martha was pining for him. And a prominent wave of guilt came crashing down on him, especially when he remembered the name of Ron and Hermione's daughter.
"You could tell that from the second book, though." he said with a smile, trying to banish his guilt and make the best of the fact he had a fellow Potter maniac on board. Martha laughed, agreeing with him. "In the fourth book, definitely." he mumbled.
"Fraternising with the enemy!" Martha said in what she thought was a 'Ron' voice. "Such a shame it's fiction... what I wouldn't give to throw a few Wizarding Wheezes around here. Would the Tardis be resistant to them?" she pondered.
"I suppose. Leave a few scorch marks on the exterior, mind, if the product had fire as a result. I think it would all depend on what the product was." the Doctor laughed, silently thankful that it was fiction since Martha would be all... well, Martha and throw the twins' products around the console if the series was real - the pure hints of being a fan.
"You're clearly a fan of substance." he said. Martha rolled her eyes. "Good old J.K."
"Good old J.K." she agreed. "It was a guess that 'Expelliarmus' would make the Carrionites flee." she declared, holding back a clearly huge laugh. The Doctor, on the other hand, was holding back a huge groan at this - he'd met his match on the franchise's trivia. But then he grinned suddenly, stumbling upon something witty.
"Madame Pomfr-" but Martha caught him off-guard in a flash.
"Don't. You. Dare." she hissed comically, a fire in her eyes. But he dared to anyway.
"Madame Pomfrey would meet her equal." he finished with a cheeky smile.
"Oh." Martha's jaw went in slack in surprise to the compliment. "Didn't expect that."
"I'm full of surprises, Miss Jones. You have yet to see them all." he smiled, yet making it clear in his tone about Rose, even if her name was unspoken. They both ended up laughing, the Doctor trying to read Deathly Hallows over Martha's shoulder.
AN: Well that was weird, writing HP as an outside universe of sorts, after working on the inside for a couple of years or so in a majority of my work. And to make it clear, I like Martha more than Rose, but I felt the references were needed.