Chapter Two:

Albus Dumbledore was very old and very tired. At the age of a hundred and fifty he had had many years to live. In those many years he had seen both terrible and joyous things, many a birth and many a death. But none hurt as much as the most recent ones.

James and Lily Potter, dead. Little Harry missing, presumed dead or kidnapped for nefarious motives. Peter Pettigrew, their best friend, their comrade, Harry's unofficial uncle, the traitor whose hands their blood soaks. Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, having disappeared after hearing such news. Remus Lupin, catatonic with grief and horror.

Never before had Albus so truly felt his age; removing his glasses, his sad, dead eyes surveying his office. So much power he had, but he was useless. Wanting to redeem as many as possible he had caused more deaths than needed. His non-violent stance was the downfall of so many innocent lives.

No more; no more trying to maintain the status quo for fear of the future. No more peaceful old grandfather, no more ineffectual advisor.

He looked up to a wheezing sound, stunned to see a muggle police-box fading into view. Could it really be?

A young man bound out, although his dark eyes belied his true age, shouting, "Al! Good ol' Al!"

"Doctor?" Dumbledore ventured, wand aimed.

"Yep." He popped the 'p', "Now, I know I look a bit different, died a few times since I last saw you but…" he pulled out a drawstring satchel, "Jelly babies, nasty things, can't stand them myself but I used to and I know you do…So why don't we put that wand away and I have someone I want you to meet, again, you should know him—"

"Doctor," a blonde young woman came out of the blue box, pushing a sleek pushchair. The hood was down, preventing anyone from seeing the child within, "yer rambling again."

"Ah," he blushed slightly, "right. Al, meet my companion, the love of my existence, my goddess of time, Rose Tyler, hailing from London 2005 originally. Rose, love, meet my very dear, if dense, friend, Albus Dumbledore, Order of Merlin First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief of—"

"Pleased ta meet ya Headmaster Dumbledore," Rose cut across the rambling, "Sorry we just dropped in."

"Always happy to see the Doctor and meet his lovely companion," Albus smiled warmly, "and I see that there is a new Time Lord…"

The Doctor's smile was taut, "Yes and no, you see Albus…"

Oh dear, 'Albus' huh? This was either very bad or very good and with the week Albus had been having he'd bet on it being very bad indeed.

But before the Doctor could continue, the child began bawling. Acting quickly, Rose opened the cover and scooped up a very familiar baby boy, "C'mere Harry, what's wrong huh?" she took a seat with him, him on her lap.

"Albus, meet Harry," the Doctor spoke sadly.

"Lily called you?"

"Yes, but we were too late for her or James…"

"You must let me put him with Pet—"

"Oh no you don'!" Rose snapped, "Petunia Dursley hated Lily with a passion! She an' that whale of a husband of hers will abuse him!"

Dumbledore tried to placate her, "Now, now I'm sure such a rivalry is past; surely you must see that it is best that he be with family."

"He is with family," her eyes had a faint glow to them now, as she held Harry protectively and measured the distance between them and the TARDIS, "We will not allow him to be put into an abusive home…"

"He's not human anymore Albus," the Doctor broke in.

"What? What could you possibly mean by that?"

"That scar was infected by a parasitical creature, we were able to remove it but it nearly killed Harry. We had to turn him into one of my kind. As such, it is best that he remain with me, Rose, and the TARDIS. We will raise him in the ways of humans and send him here when it comes time but I doubt he'll remain on Earth past his University graduation." Each word was measured and calm, but the law was being set down. Harry Potter would be raised by the Doctor and Rose Tyler. No force in the Universe would be able to change that.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, I agree. But you must allow me to notify his Godfather and an uncle of sorts…"

"Black and Lupin," the Doctor nodded, "are okay to be notified. In fact," the man pulled an envelope from his pocket, "This, is a list of instructions. For your eyes only, you hear me? You follow these to the letter and the Magical World will be much better for it."

Dumbledore took it with trembling hands, nodding. Then he gulped, before deciding, "Elsy!"

A small green creature appeared, "Yes Master Longbeard?"

"Elsy, I'm giving you a new assignment…You'll be going with Harry Potter, taking care of him until he comes to Hogwarts…"

"Yes Master Longbeard…"

The Doctor and Rose sighed, but agreed to take the elf with them. After all, someone needed to care for Harry while they were imprisoned/waiting-for-execution/saving-worlds.

They spent hours, hammering out a plan for Harry's education. This allowed Dumbledore to observe their interaction with the boy.

Harry seemed happy, babbling to Rose and occasionally the Doctor. After a while Rose had handed the boy to her partner before heading back into the ship. In the moments she was gone, Harry had managed to work his way into the Time Lord's coat, and had had to be pulled from a bottomless pocket where he had found an older model of the screwdriver, a very hideous and very long scarf, and some sort of sculpting clay that was a neon orange color.

"Now Harry," The Doctor spoke softly yet firmly, "we've talked about this. You can't go digging in my pockets. And don't play innocent, I know you understand me. Give me back my items please."

Harry pouted but did as told. With a laugh the Doctor wrapped Harry loosely in the scarf, winding him up like an Egyptian mummy. This set Harry into giggles as he was spun from the wool cocoon as Rose returned with a tray laden food.

"Banana mash baby mush for Harry," she said with a cheery tone, handing the Doctor a jar of baby food and a small spoon, "To be fed to him by the expert feeder. A banana peanut butter jelly sandwich for the alien with an oral fixation—"

"You don't ever complain about my 'oral fixation' when I—"

"Moving on!" Rose shouted over him, face burning Gryffindor red. He merely chuckled and began coaxing Harry to eat his lunch. Rose sat down with a glare in his direction and began talking again, digging into a plate full of chips, "So, we know we want him to be fluent in Latin…Should we leave it there?"

"Mandarin Chinese becomes a popular language," The Doctor spoke, "Any Time Lord worth anything will be able to speak it without a TARDIS translating."

"Isn't that one of the hardest languages to learn though?"

"Earth language yes, universal scale, no. There are much harder ones. And the huge brains Time Lords have make learning such language considerably easier than for humans."

"How popular is it?"

"Once you lot start colonizing the universe it's the most common language; most service industries depend on it as their main language."

"Alright, so he'll learn Chinese…" she nodded, "Any other Earth languages?"

"There has been talk about reinstating an inter-school competition," Dumbledore spoke up mildly, "between Hogwarts and her sisters schools, the Soviet Union serving school Dumstrang and the French serving school Beauxbatons."

The Doctor eyed him, eyes darkened once more, "Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament…I dare say that should Harry find himself being forced to compete against his will, my lovely Rose and I shall be most…Unpleasant…" his voice was soft but Dumbledore shivered as the man's power lashed out.

"Yes, I agree," the old wizard stumbled, "I quite agree. We'll be reworking some of the rules to help avoid the…fatalities...that seem to plague this competition….but we'll keep a close eye on Harry should the Tournament occur during his schooling…."

"Thanks Al," and the Storm was gone, replaced by sunshine and calm winds. Dumbledore thought he was about to have a heart attack from the change in mood of his friend.

Harry began to become fussy, having finished with his food; the Doctor, grinning in his mad way, scooped him up, exclaiming, "Time for a nap wee one!" With that he carried the boy into the TARDIS, leaving Rose and Dumbledore alone.

As soon as the door was shut Rose was in Dumbledore's face, glaring him down with golden eyes. He tried to probe her mind but was rebuffed like a swat fly.

"Listen closely ya ol' goat," she hissed, eyes boring into his, "I see every plot you've concocted or will concoct involving Harry. This is yer only warnin'; forget it. Forget every little trial, every little quest. You are the grown man, you will defeat Voldemort. An' you will do it with a smile or so help me I will trap you in the heart of a Supernova for all eternity. An' then, then I'll punt you inta a black hole. Imagine that. You'll be immortal but you will feel the burns, yer body will forever burn an' reform. Over an' over again. I did that ta friend on accident, wanted ta save his life but I went overboard ya see? Made it ta where he can't die, he keeps reformin' an' resurrecting. Even when he's been vaporized. Now imagine what I can do when I'm truly pissed off…"

And he saw it; if the Doctor was The Oncoming Storm, she was something much worse.

"What are you?"

She smirked, "I am Rose Tyler, Companion to the Last of the Time Lords; I am Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth. I am Rose Tyler, the girl who looked into the Heart of the Last TARDIS. I am The Bad Wolf. I see all of time and space. I control all of time and space. The Universe bows to me. I created myself, lead myself to becoming The Bad Wolf. I passed through the Void when such should have been impossible. I walked the Dimensions and Universes to come home. I am the one who tethers the Storm; I am the mate of the Storm. And now, now I'm a mother looking after her child."

"Hey Rose!" the Doctor poked his head outside the TARDIS, frowning, "The Master's kicked up trouble on Vegas; we have to go grab him and Lucy before they're executed!"

"Comin' Doctor." She gave one last glare at Dumbledore, before smiling and bidding him farewell, heading into the ship.

"Be with you in a bit," the Doctor nodded to her as she passed him, "You might want to talk to Elsy."

"Yeah."

The Doctor walked over to Dumbledore, looking down and saying, "I heard everything she said. I won't stop her if it comes to that. I'll help. I have let you take liberties with your scheming but no more."

"Hey! Doctor!" Rose called out, "Donna and Brion are ready for their pick-up!"

Then the man grinned again, "Bye Al! Make sure you follow that list!"

And then he hopped back into his box and disappeared; Dumbledore gulped, before setting to work.