The Doctor abruptly turned away from her and flew into the large, blue box leaving Hermione standing alone utterly perplexed and speechless. Thousands of thoughts swirled around Hermione's brain. She could not understand how he could possibly not know that this police box was clearly a magical object and was even more intrigued by how he'd come across it.

On top of all that, she was preoccupied with his shocking revelation that he wasn't a human and was, in fact, a Time Lord - whatever that meant. Truthfully, Hermione didn't believe him. A Time Lord wasn't even a real thing. At least, it was something she'd never come across in all of her extensive research. He had to be lying but why she had no idea.

Only a few seconds had passed, though it seemed a lot longer to Hermione. The Doctor stuck his head out of the double doors with a cheeky twinkle in his eyes.

"Um, sorry, but are you coming? Or are you going stand out here all day?" he said, disappearing back inside without waiting for an answer.

Hesitating for just a few seconds more, Hermione cautiously followed the Doctor into the enchanted police box. This time she looked around at the oddly decorated room with far more concentration than before in an attempt to drink in every single detail. She noticed the odd, round objects plastered over the walls and ceiling, the strange but perfect curve of the entire room, and all of the strange objects including the giant round table that was covered in hundreds of knobs and buttons while being connected with a strange, glowing tube in the centre of the room.

The Doctor was running around the table, pressing the buttons and pulling at different levers. He then grabbed the long brown coat that was lying on one of the chairs and threw it over one of the railings surrounding the two of them. Turning to Hermione, the Doctor looked deep into her eyes, clearly a little apprehensive.

"So," said the Doctor. "What do you think?"

It took a moment for Hermione to be able to find her voice.

"I- I-," said Hermione.

She was having some trouble forming her thoughts into words. After taking a deep breath, everything she had been thinking in the last few minutes came pouring out in a rush.

"I don't know what to think! First, you appear out of thin air and save me from that hideous creature, the likes of which I have never seen before and hope never to see again. Then, it appears, that you are, in fact, a Muggle who has no idea of magic. And yet, when I performed magic you barely seemed surprised. It was as though you had been expecting to see it for a while and I had just confirmed it for you. On top of all that, despite telling me that you aren't, I think you must be a wizard. You can deny it and you can deny knowledge of magic, but you clearly have a magical object in your possession right here."

Hermione gestured around the room without breaking stride.

"And I don't know how you acquired this enchanted police box if you aren't magical, but either way there is definitely something you are not telling me. And I acknowledge that you say that it isn't magical but what you are suggesting is utterly ludicrous. It's not plausible. Another planet? Strange machinery? What nonsense! And on top of that, you try to fool me into believing that you aren't even human, that you're a Time Lord. I've never heard of such a thing. None of it can exist. None of it does exist. It is just. Not. Possible."

All of this was garbled and barely understandable since Hermione had said all of this without drawing a breath. There she stood, her face felt hot and her heavy breathing was the only sound in the entire room. The Doctor merely looked at her, a slightly wary expression on his face. He walked towards her, eyes wide with excitement and a maddeningly knowing look that clouded his dark eyes. Hermione stared back, waiting for the crazy man to finally say something. To tell her that she was right and that this had all been a poor joke. That he really was a wizard. That he was a human.

"Hermione Granger," said the Doctor, finally breaking the silence. He said her name with some kind of reverence. "You are so human, so unbelievably and amazingly human. And yet, you are like no other human I have ever encountered."

The Doctor paused, looking intently at her face as though willing her to understand.

"I am not a wizard. I cannot do magic. I have never even encountered magic before, not real magic anyway, and I am finding all of this… extremely hard to believe." said the Doctor as he waved his hand around in her direction.

Again, he paused but Hermione was barely breathing now.

"Everything I have told you so far is true. I am a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and this is my spaceship. It's called the T.A.R.D.I.S. It is not run by magic but is pure alien technology. It is a mystery to your people and most likely always will be," said the Doctor continued. "Clearly we are both as mystified as one other, so how about, rather than talking, I just show you?"

The Doctor grinned at her and the expression in his eyes was similar to that of a small, eager child at Christmas. Hermione hadn't even begun to process all of this yet. It didn't make any sense. This place had to be magical, it just had to be. There was a chance that the Doctor had no idea of what he has; a chance that he could be entirely ignorant. She'd just have to prove to him that what he was saying was utterly impossible. Hermione furrowed her brows in confusion. The thing was, despite the fact that there was no way he could prove anything that he was saying, he still seemed so sure… so confident. Hermione thought all of this extremely quickly but managed to recover equally fast.

"What do you mean show me?" said Hermione.

"How about we go on a little trip?" said the Doctor, grinning.

Hermione stared back, perplexed.

"A trip to where?" said Hermione, confusion colouring her tone.

"Anywhere you like. Anywhere throughout time or space! That's what T.A.R.D.I.S. stands for, after all. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. So, now you know and it's your choice, to come with me or to stay here."

"Time or space?" said Hermione, scoffing as she took in what the Doctor had said. "That's not even remotely possible. Witches and wizards can go back in time by using a time turner but no more than a few hours. Perhaps yours is bigger so it may be able to travel back a few months or so but to suggest any time at all is absolutely preposterous."

The smile on the Doctor's face had grown as Hermione spoke.

"Is that what you think?" he said. Hermione gave a small, curt nod in response. "Well then, I suppose I'll have to show you."

"What do you mean… show me?" asked Hermione tentatively.

"I'm going to take you on a trip, to anywhere in the universe. I could take you to another planet. I could take you to the past," said the Doctor, suddenly serious again. "I could even take you to the future."

Hermione looked up into the Doctor's face and saw the honest sincerity there. She started to wonder whether he could be telling the truth after all. And yet, there no way he could be. It just wasn't possible. But there was a feeling that she just couldn't shake and something in his face that she couldn't help but believe, at least in part.

For a moment, Hermione seriously considered going with him. She wanted to find out for sure whether or not he was telling the truth. If it was all a ruse, as she suspected, then she'd know right away and be able to be done with the entire thing. But, if the impossible happened and she discovered that it was all true then she'd be able to see so much, learn so much. Also, she'd be able to spend more time studying the fascinating police box known as the T.A.R.D.I.S. and could find out about the powerful magic it obviously encapsulated. Hermione's mind flew over these thoughts extremely quickly and she had all but told him that she would come when the realisation hit.

"I can't go," said Hermione with a sigh. "If I disappeared, my family would worry. My friends would look for me. I can't do that to them."

The Doctor continued to smile at her, unaffected by her speech.

"You did hear me when I said it travels in time, right?" he asked. Hermione nodded, pursing her lips in defiance. "Well then, you know that I could take you to Ancient Greece or fifty million years into the future and get you back here in 10 seconds. I could get you back yesterday if you really wanted."

"Really?" said Hermione, equally intrigued and incredulous.

"Yep," shouted the Doctor as he jumped up and ran around the large, round table. "So, where to? Where would you like to go?"

Hermione stared at him. It was such an open-ended question. There were so many places that she wanted to visit, so many things that she wanted to see. How he expected her to pick just one she had no idea. On top of that, if she made the decision and it transpired that he was as deluded as she thought he was, then she was sure to be disappointed. He sounded so sure and so truthful but everything he said was completed illogical.

Through her entire thought process, the Doctor had merely stared at her with that excitable puppy-like expression on his face. As she stared back at him, Hermione felt his enthusiasm affecting her. She grinned back at this strange and possibly insane man, unable to disapprove.

"Anywhere," she said. "You pick."

The Doctor's grin widened and he let out a loud, joyful laugh. Running around the gigantic table, he began to flick and push buttons once more. The large, glowing tube connected to the table had begun to move and make an indescribable noise that filled the entire room. Hermione watched the Doctor as he worked, running this way and that. The Doctor abruptly stopped in front of Hermione and looked down into her face, holding onto a strange lever but not pulling it.

"Ready?" said the Doctor.

Hermione hesitated for only a half a second before answering.

"Ready," said Hermione.

"Then hold on!" he shouted, pulling the lever. "HA!"

The room suddenly jerked to life and Hermione clung on to the side of the table for dear life, wrapping her hand through a large hole in the metal. The Doctor stood beside Hermione, also clutching onto a spare chunk of metal all whilst smiling down at her. He let out a great whoop of laughter as the room threw the two of them around. It was so infectious that Hermione joined in.

Time for another adventure.