"Oi! You!"
He looked up sharply, glasses falling askew on his face. A girl with flaming red hair was stalking toward him, robes flying out behind her. In no time at all, he'd discerned that she was Gryffindor, 5th year, and really, really angry.
"Who, me?" he asked, a cheeky grin flashing across his face.
"Yes you, smart boy," she spat, flinging herself down next to him and getting in his face. "You and I need to talk."
He took his glasses off and set them next to the book open in front of him. He slowly pushed the girl back a bit before saying, "I don't believe we've met. I'm…"
"I know your name. Honestly, what kind of people name their kids…"
"Don't make fun of my name!" he protested. "It's not polite, considering I don't even know yours."
She rolled her eyes. "Donna," she said. "Donna Noble."
He grinned wider. She glared harder. "Donna Noble," he said, rolling the name around. "Funny, considering…."
"My house, yeah. Look, Doc…"
"Doc?"
"Short for doctor? I heard a Muggle use it once."
He nodded. "I'm actually muggleborn, so I know what doc means. I wanted to know why you're using it."
Donna picked his glasses up from where they rested on the table. "You really expect anyone to call you anything else with glasses like these?"
He snatched them away from her and tucked them into one of the pockets he'd sewn into his robes. "They're necessary for sight, Donna Noble."
"They're decoration and you know it."
He sighed. "Well, if you're going to insist on calling me that, at least use the full word. Or even...yes, the Doctor!"
Raising an eyebrow, Donna sneered, "The Doctor?"
He nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I like the sound of that!"
Donna rolled her eyes again. The Doctor (he really did like the sound of that) noticed she tended to do that a lot. "Fine, Doctor. We still need to talk!"
"About what?"
"Well, it's about Professor Flitwick, right? And…"
Donna proceeded to rant for a solid minute and a half (the Doctor counted) about how difficult Charms was, how annoying Professor Flitwick was, and how she was so sick of him favoring Ravenclaws.
After a while, the Doctor held up a hand to stop her. She looked shocked, smacked his hand out of the way, and snapped, "Oi! What are you doing?"
He stared at her, offended. "You just smacked my hand!"
She stared at him, offended. "You just tried to shush me with a hand! In my face!"
The Doctor shook his head. "You were talking for a solid minute and a half without actually telling me what you need."
"Oh," Donna said. "I need help in Charms."
"Yeah," the Doctor said, exasperated. "I gathered."
Donna smacked his arm. "What is that supposed to mean?"
They then spent the next five minutes arguing about Donna's intelligence, the Doctor's intelligence, and insulting each other's houses.
Suddenly they heard a small, "Hey!" coming from down the hall. The Doctor stood up in the middle of Donna's sentence, rushing out into the hallway to investigate, robes fluttering behind him.
"Oi, where are you going?" Donna called incredulously, chasing after him.
They emerged into the hallway to find a little Slytherin first year standing there, staring up at two Ravenclaw 6th years holding his bag above his head. "Give it back!" he said, trying to jump and grab his bag from there.
"Go on, little snake," they taunted. "Go on! Jump for it!"
He tried, he really did, before he jumped too high, landed wrong, and fell to the floor in a heap. The Ravenclaws laughed before dropping the bag to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere. They walked away, still laughing.
The little Slytherin boy sat up and began to gather his belongings, sniffing softly. Donna watched as the Doctor rushed over and began to pick up supplies as well, handing them to the boy with a small smile. She saw the Doctor talking to him, speaking softly. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but she saw the Slytherin boy stop crying. As she walked forward, she heard, "There's nothing wrong with being in Slytherin, you know, Jeremy. It's a great house. You should be proud to be in it."
Donna glared down the hall at the Ravenclaws, feeling anger rise in her chest. Who picked on a little kid because of what house he was in?
"Oi! Asshats!" Donna stormed down the hallway, fists clenched at her sides.
It took the Doctor a moment to realize what she was doing. By the time he did, she was halfway to the where the Ravenclaws had stopped, staring back at her confusedly. "Donna!" he cried, handing the first year a quill and racing after her, stumbling as he stood.
"What do you think you were doing?" Donna called. The Ravenclaws started to back up a bit, unsure about this Gryffindor 5th year yelling at them angrily. "What do you mean picking on that poor kid!"
"Donna, no!" the Doctor said, coming up behind her and grabbing her shoulder. She shrugged him off and continued moving. "Donna…"
"Don't Donna me!" she said. "These jackasses need to be taught a lesson!"
"Not like that," the Doctor said. Donna turned back on him, starting to protest, before she saw the look on the Doctor's face. It was hard, cold. She'd never imagined he could have such a face. He looked down at her, then back up at the Ravenclaws. His own house, she thought. Then he brushed past her, getting in their faces.
"You don't do that," he said. His voice was low, cold. "You don't. Ever. Do that. Do you hear me?" The Ravenclaw he wasn't looking at started inching away. His head snapped toward him, trapping him in his glare. "You pick on a small child because of something he had no choice in, eh? But you're in my house. My house. Ravenclaw. Do you have any respect for your own house?"
"Doctor," Donna said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder. He turned around, staring at her. "Stop," she said. "Let them go." Her anger was gone, replaced with fear of what the Doctor would do if she wasn't there. "We could tell a teacher. It's fine. Look, he's fine, Doctor. Jeremy's fine. Let's go."
The Doctor began to turn back to the Ravenclaws, only to find them staring at him in horror. He sighed, looking down. "Go," he said. "Now."
They ran away, shoes squeaking on the stone floor, echoing off the walls. Donna stood there for a moment, waiting for the Doctor to move.
All of a sudden he snapped out of whatever mood he was in. His face was lit back up, the bounce was back in his step, and he was already moving past her to where little Jeremy was still sitting on the floor, staring in awe at what had just happened. The Doctor held a hand out to him and helped him up. Then, getting down on one knee so he could look Jeremy in the eye, he said, "Are you alright?" Jeremy nodded. The Doctor grinned. "That's good." Placing a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, he said, "Don't ever let anyone tell you you're a bad person for being in Slytherin, okay?" Jeremy nodded again, a small smile on his lips.
As Jeremy was leaving down the hallway, Donna went up to the Doctor. "That was a good thing you just did." She smiled, the first one the Doctor had seen. "I'm impressed."
The Doctor looked at her for a moment. Slowly, a grin spread across his face. "And that was quite the show of bravery, Donna Noble." He held his arm out to her, gesturing for her to take it. "I think we could grow to like each other."
Donna looked from his elbow to him, then grabbed it and dragged him bodily down the hallway. "I still need help with my homework, dummy."
The Doctor's protests echoed in the empty stone hallway.