"Doctor?" Rose said. Her voice carried a mixture of relief and shock, "How were you able to call my cell?" She could envision his mischievous expression during the short pause between them.

"I managed to make it back to the TARDIS," he said, while doing something close by. His voice carried the usual exhilarated tone. The others watched Rose, curious to what he was saying but anxious to leave before they were attacked again. "Xenophilius gave them a good run for it. I also convinced the Order that I am not the enemy." The TARDIS hummed in the background.

"The Order? What is that?" Rose asked, causing Harry's head to quickly turn in her direction.

"Haven't you ever read Harry Potter?" the Doctor asked exasperatedly.

"No, Doctor," Rose said with a hint of annoyance, "not everybody in the world has read Harry Potter, you know."

"Every Briton worth their salt has," the Doctor mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Rose said. "I didn't quite hear what you said."

"I said no matter, I shall explain. The Order of The Phoenix is the equivalent to Torchwood. This group was created by a man named Albus Dumbledore years ago for the same war against the Dark Lord," the Doctor summarized the background for her.

She hardly noticed that Harry was now standing in front of her. "What about the Order? Is everyone alright?" Harry said directly. His concern was still on those that they were force to leave behind.

"Yes, everyone is fine. The Order outnumbered them," the Doctor replied loudly, upon hearing Harry's questions and understanding the young man's fears. Harry nodded in appreciation of the news and returned to his friends. "Are you and Emma alright?" the Doctor asked, trying to keep the worry from his voice.

"Yes, we're fine…we sort of teleported to Tottenham Court Road," Rose said, still a bit thrown off about it all. Everything was happening in rapid succession. "Those…Death Eater people found us in a café. But how, when they were at the wedding?"

"Did any of you say the Dark Lord's name?" The Doctor quizzed her intently. There was a long pause between them.

What did that have to do with anything? Rose thought to herself. Then again, much of the time, little that the Doctor did made any sense at all.

"Yes, Hermione did just before they came in," Rose replied back, she heard the Doctor swear to himself. Another pause met them. Rose knew that he had discovered something.

"Whatever you do, do not say his name," he said, making a point to emphasis on how important it was, "After the Minister of this realm was murdered, they placed what was called a Taboo Charm on the word in order to locate where Harry Potter or those fighting with him are. Tell the others." He said again very objectively. "And Rose…" He always had such a hard time when it came to anything sentimental.

"Yes, Doctor," she said, it took her back to when they were on Krop Tor. Seconds before he had gone down into the Satan's Pit.

"Please be safe," he said. The emotion could now be heard clearly in his voice. It was no longer masked. It was always so hard on him when they were spilt apart like this. He felt like it was his duty to protect those who travelled with him. She wished time and time again that she could take that burden off his shoulders.

"I will and you do the same," Rose said echoing the same concern for him in her own voice.

"You know me, I live for danger," he said, regaining his lighthearted manner again. "Keep in contact. Tell me where you are. I'll be on my way." He reassured her. "I have to do something for the Order of The Phoenix. One more thing, don't let Harry open that watch at any costs," he added seriously. The young woman looked at the young man briefly.

"Why? Does it have anything to do with the Carrionites?" she asked, moving closer to the wall.

"No, it has nothing to do with them but everything to do with Time Lords," he said gravely. "If it falls into the wrong hands…You know the outcome," Rose couldn't help being a little scared about this.

"What can happen if it's opened?" she questioned him. She waited for his riddle of an answer. She had the assumption that it was what ripped opened the Vortex again.

"If opened, Harry Potter would not exist anymore. Ryder will be reborn. The fob watch is part of something called the Chameleon Arch. It is used to hold the removed biological make up of a Time Lord. If one should ever decide to become human to protect themselves from imminent danger. It had my son's name on it in Gallifreyan. The language of the Time Lords," the Doctor explained soberly.

"Somehow Ryder's DNA has been put into that watch. That is impossible since he never survived. But it could have worked with the Chameleon Arch, if the person had something of Ryder's. Meaning…" The thought trailed off into nothingness.

"Meaning Harry could be the human version of Ryder," Rose finished for him in a hushed voice, making sure the others didn't hear her. The tension seemed to seep through the phone.

"That we don't know if he is for sure. Remember how you were when you looked into the heart of the TARDIS?" He asked intently of her.

"Yes, my head hurt so badly…." Rose said thinking back to when she did that to save him.

"The human mind cannot handle the thought process or the knowledge of a Time Lord. If that isn't Ryder and he opens it, his mind will burn up from the intense overload. Don't let him open it yet… He isn't ready for the truth…" The Doctor said grimly, "In time we will know the truth. If he is Ryder, he will have to make a choice at some point but not right now. When the time comes he'll have a hard enough time deciding," he sighed softly.

"You speak as if you have had experience in this," Rose said, picking up on the pure voice of reason and remembrance. He laughed softly.

"I have…I used the Chameleon Arch myself with Martha to escape 'The Family'. Hardest choice that I had to make. That is why I want him to be sure," The Doctor said sadly. Rose admired him even more…he was always so candid with her, "Tell him nothing until he is ready."

"Rose?" Emma said questioningly knowing that the others wanted to leave. The blonde young woman nodded and held up her hand.

"Can do, Doctor," Rose assured him, "Be safe…" As she hung up, Emma could see that she wanted to say something else to him. She held her phone to her heart for a minute. Emma fully understood that feeling.

The young blonde woman quickly went back into the business like mindset when she joined them. Ron was still unpleased at the fact that Rose had to travel with them. It, however, made Emma more curious as to what their journey consisted of.

"Where do we go from here?" Rose asked what Emma was thinking. Hermione's chewed on her lip in thought. "The Doctor said that there is some kind of Taboo Charm on the Dark Lord's name."

"So, if we say his name the Death Eaters will be able to find us?" Hermione said sharing glances with the boys. That must have been how the Death Eaters were able to find them so quickly.

"Yes, it doesn't matter how protected we are. They will find us," Rose said taking charge again, "Harry, do not open that watch you have on," she said directly to him, knowing he would ask for a reason behind the request, "It works as another way of tracking your whereabouts," Rose lied firmly. "If you open it, they will find us."

Harry seemed to be questioning her words before giving a short nod in acknowledgement. Emma could tell that there was something more behind the explanation. Whenever Rose lied it was for a good reason.

"Where do we go now?" Ron asked Harry, attempting to not let Rose butt into their obvious group dyanmic. Harry rubbed his forehead in thought.

"The only place that I can think of is Grimmauld Place," he said with a heavy sigh. No one could object to the suggestion. They basically didn't have anywhere else to go. The five grouped together to prepare for another Apparation trip.

Harry gave Emma his best reassuring look before she cautiously took his arm. Though Luna trusted him, Emma couldn't do the same. How could she, when they kept the reason for their escape so secret?

It didn't add up at all to her but she knew they would find out in time. Emma barely felt Rose taking her own arm. Still unsure about what was about to happen. Without the Doctor, she had to make sure that Emma was safe. The café was sucked into the swirling colors and the five disappeared into the void.


The Doctor's mind kept going back to the moment when the Master revealed himself. Why didn't he do anything? What stopped him from doing what he knew had to be done. They had a content game of cat and mouse going on between them.

Things were much worse than the Doctor had thought. Not only did the Master rip apart the threads of the universe but he was also among those who wanted the Dark Lord's will. From what the Doctor had heard from everyone else the combination of the two was a very dangerous thing—to every sentient being in all the universes.

The Master would soak up everything that Voldemort would show them. The two were almost one in the same. Both wanted the same goal. World domination… Which meant that once Voldemort found out what the Master was capable of; he would want more than destruction of Earth.

That made finding his enemy so much more critical for the Doctor. He almost feared that this would be a match that he couldn't beat. He may have been in way over his head. He had to focus on his companions first.

After Emma and Rose vanished from the wedding, the Order of The Phoenix had cornered him still under the assumed name of Barty Crouch Jr.

They began questioning where he had been hiding for all of these years. Usually, he knew about the world he was in due to travelling to almost all of them more than once. Or he followed his instincts about it. This was different…he for the first time knew nothing. His death had been suggested by almost all of the members except for one.

Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, had pointed out that if he had been the real Barty, he would have killed all of them earlier or fled with the other Death Eaters. That and he had been very submissive when they approached him. Nothing how the real Barty Jr. had been.

Grateful for the man's reasoning, the Doctor had complete respect for him. He saw Donna's grandfather, Wilfred in him. The eye wanting to see good in all, when most defaulted to the human nature.

He now sat inside of the Weasley home ,taking everything in. He could tell that before the wedding it was filled with a jumbled and cluttered array of furniture. But warming, welcoming and cozy whenever guest were brought inside. Very much used for a family that had so little and so much love to give.

Molly had made sure that the house was spotless and perfect before the wedding. The inner turmoil of everyone thinking they were unfit for the new in-laws. The Doctor loved the quaint feeling he got from it. This was something he never really experienced since he left Gallifrey.

He had seen some of what families were meant to be when he had traveled with Rose and Donna. It was the very thing he had had once upon a time. It was the reason why he had let Rose go when the rip between dimensions was closing. It was why he decided to erase every memory of him from Donna's mind. So, they would never have to be without something so wonderful.

"I see why Harry loved coming here so much," Luna Lovegood said, watching the Doctor study everything. "It carries that aura of being home and safe. The one place one can feel a part of something. Much like how you are with the TARDIS. It's your safe haven." He faced the young woman curiously. It was odd hearing such blunt honesty from someone else.

"Yes, it was my safe haven for the longest time…I never really felt safe anywhere else unless one counts my home, Gallifrey," The Doctor said reflecting on the past hundred years. "And then there came a time, Gallifrey ceased being home…"

"And you were welcomed among the stars," Luna added knowingly. It amazed the Doctor with how insightful Luna was. Seeing things that are too often dismissed-so much like himself.

"Rose and Emma are in good hands. The best we have in this world," Luna said reassuringly, as if reading his deepest hidden thoughts again. "Then again I would and do trust Harry, Hermione, and Ron more than anything." Her silvery blue eyes wandered around the Doctor's head.

"Why is that?" He inquired of her, intrigued. She smiled as she met his eyes.

"Because they are my friends. They wouldn't just let the dark side win. Harry never has. I know that the others feel the same. We have to stick together till beyond the end," Luna said, her voice through the mistiness held a determination that didn't have any bounds. "We have to make sure Harry isn't alone."

The Doctor felt a sting in his hearts, months ago when Earth was on the brink of its biggest war. All of his companions had rallied together to fight by his side. Knowing the risks not caring about what fate lay before them. Just as the Order and those who were fighting in this war were doing.

"If he is your son then we can't lose," Luna continued, with absolute conviction. The Doctor tried to stuff down the mounting guilt inside of him.

"I lost my son…" he said emotionlessly. The darkness momentarily took over his features. He wasn't going to let himself be sucked into this set trap.

"My mum always said that things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect. Maybe your son isn't lost but just waiting to be found," and with that, the girl left the room.

He was caught off guard by her wisdom. He had become so blinded to his own desire to stop the Master that he had forgotten the truth.

Something—the major something—that separated him from the Master, was that the Doctor saw the true beauty of the human race. How reliable and able-minded they could be. The Master just saw them as pawns in his never-ending quest for power. He missed that vital fact when he created this new reality, where fictional and real universes were blended.

The Doctor had been wrong about Harry and Luna proved it. Harry was the key to the Master's downfall. That meant Harry would have to give up more than he ever expected. Ryder would have to be reborn. It was virtually the same difficult choice that the Doctor had had to make.

He would rather leave the boy where he was and not take him away from what he knew. He wanted to prolong it even more. Yes, he himself chose his path. He wanted to keep the path that he knew as a Time Lord. Hoping that would put an end to those around him giving everything up for him. Unfortunately, it never seemed to go that way. Someone always sacrificed so much for him in the end. Rose again left behind her family for this. The fate of three people rested in his hands. It was the curse of being a Time Lord…the curse of being The Doctor.