Author's note:

Wow! Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! For a first timer, I can't believe I've been so well received! Thank you! (And a GREAT BIG HUGE shout out to Casie, AKA Mecha Springs, for her FAB review that made me cry!!!)

Your reward? A LOVELY long chapter for you all. Thank you again, and don't forget to put in more of your great reviews!

The Doctor was beyond ecstatic to find that they were entering the very ancient castle he had seen earlier, and was in more amazed at the people it contained.

Teenagers from all ages were greeting each other after a summer long separation, and many things were hooting and meowing from cages. The Doctor was also puzzled to find that some of the older students were dressed in black robes, with a small emblem stitched on them.

He had no time to inspect them, though, as he was being hurried on by Dumbledore.

'Come along, Doctor. Students! Don't forget to change into your robes!' He called out. Many students scuttled out of their way as Dumbledore charged through, but many stopped to give curious looks at the man following him, who appeared to be enjoying himself immensely.

'WOW!' He exclaimed at one point, running up to a boy holding a cactus, which gurgled happily to itself. He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them on to inspect it more thoroughly.

'What's this?' He questioned the stunned boy holding it.

'Err…' The boy stammered. 'It's a…'

'Doctor!' Dumbledore called from the other end of the corridor.

'Yes! Sorry, coming!' The Doctor called back. He grinned at the confused boy, and hurried on after the old man.

They soon came to an ugly gargoyle statue in a small corner of an unoccupied corridor.

'Doctor?'

'Yes?'

'I would prefer it if you didn't choose to hear what I am about to say.'

The Doctor gave an understanding nod, and reached into his pockets. What he pulled out of them were his prized earplugs. He put them in.

'Thank you.'

'Sorry?'

'Thank you.'

'Still can't hear you.'

'THANK YOU DOCTOR.'

'Alright! No need to shout.' The Doctor protested, giving Dumbledore an affronted look.

Without the look of man who had just been insulted, Dumbledore grinned and turned to the statue of the gargoyle.

'Sugar quills.' He murmured.

The Doctor stood back in amazement as the gargoyle moved upwards in a twist, revealing a spiralled staircase. It ground to a halt, and Dumbledore turned back to the Doctor, who was replacing his ear plugs.

'How'd you get it to do that?!' He questioned him. 'Well, could just be a simple piece of voice recognition technology…'

'Yes.' Dumbledore chuckled. 'I suppose you could call it that. Coming?'

'Oh yes.' The Doctor said enthusiastically.

Dumbledore began the ascent, with the Doctor following behind like an excited puppy.

***

'Take a seat.' Dumbledore said casually as they entered his office.

The Doctor stared in awe around him.

The office was absolutely huge. (Bigger than the TARDIS control room, he suspected. Although he wasn't about to tell Dumbledore that. He would hate for someone to know that they had something bigger than his.)

The Doctor was curious to find that there were a lot of paintings on the wall, some of which seemed to be glaring at him. He also thought he saw one sneeze. There were a very interesting range of strange instruments upon Dumbledore's desk; they tinkled to themselves happily. He had an itch in his hand to pick them up and take them apart to see how they worked, but Dumbledore was already taking a seat behind the desk.

'Please, sit.' He said again, motioning lazily.

A chair flew up behind the Doctor, whacking him on the back of the legs.

The Doctor sat down, giving the chair an odd look.

'Something strange is going on here.' He concluded.

Dumbledore chuckled. 'So, Doctor. Tell me how you got into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?'

'Hogwarts?' Where's that, then?'

'Here.' Dumbledore gestured all around him.

'I see.'

'Professor Dumbledore, I must protest. How could you let a muggle into Hogwarts?' The Doctor's mouth fell open (A rare occurrence) at an angry looking painting, which was glaring at him.

'That's enough, Professor Black.' Dumbledore said sternly.

'Excuse me.' The Doctor said, rising up to walk to the painting. The man within it backed away warily. 'I am not a Muggle, whatever that is. I am a nine hundred year old time lord. And you are a painting.' He stated simply. With an injured sniff, the man stalked out of the painting.

A moment lapsed by, and Dumbledore was surprised to find the Doctor trying to prise the painting off the wall.

'What are you doing, Doctor?'

'Trying…to find out…how you get this…thing to work…' The Doctor explained in between grunts. 'Can't do it without my screwdriver.' He said wistfully as he abandoned the impossible task.

'Doctor?'

'What?' The Doctor said irritably. He had just about enough of this place.

'Are you a wizard?'

'No I'm not. I'm a bloody time lord.'

'I see. So you do not practice magic?'

'Magic?' The Doctor made a disbelieving noise as he sat back down again.

Dumbledore raised one eyebrow calmly.

The Doctor watched in amazement as a huge, crimson bird flew down gracefully from some unseen place and perched himself of the front of the desk.

'Hello.' The Doctor whispered in awe. The bird, as said before, was of a crimson plumage, which was wonderfully highlighted with streaks of orange. A sharp, black eye eyed the Doctor curiously; the Doctor felt the bird X-Ray him, in the same manner that his master did.

Unfortunately, this wonder was not to last for the Doctor, for the bird began to combust rapidly.

The Doctor gave a yelp and fell off his chair (For the second time that day.) as the bird was consumed in flames that reached as high as the ceiling.

'YOUR BLOODY BIRD'S ON FIRE!' The Doctor shouted over the flames.

'I know.' Dumbledore said calmly.

'AREN'T YOU GOING TO DO SOMETHING?!'

Dumbledore shrugged calmly. 'No.'

A second later, the flames calmed down as quickly as they had come, and they left something completely unexpected. The Doctor approached the thing gingerly, half expecting to catch fire again.

What was left was a small, grey baby bird, which squawked at Dumbledore helplessly.

'Yes, Fawkes. Back to the perch.' Dumbledore said quietly, and gently picked it up and tenderly placed it on a perch. Its tiny talons gripped it for all its worth, and it promptly fell asleep.

Dumbledore chuckled at the Doctor, who was struggling to speak.

'That bird…' He said, pointing a shaking finger at it.

'Yes. Fawkes the phoenix.' Dumbledore said simply, giving the sleeping bird an expression full of fondness.

'Was on fire…'

'Yes. That is something they do.'

'And is now…'

'A baby again? Yes. That's their lifecycle.' Dumbledore explained patiently.

The Doctor's shaking hand struggled to find the back of the chair. When it did, he looked at it, and jumped away again.

'I promise you, Doctor. That won't catch fire.' Dumbledore assured him with a small smile.

After giving it a cautious glance, the Doctor sunk into it heavily.

'Drink, Doctor?'

The Doctor gave a small nod, giving the slumbering bird a worried look.

Dumbledore procured another one of those wooden sticks, and pulled a small piece of paper towards him. He waved his stick over it, and it twisted itself up and ripped itself apart. The pieces shuddered, and pieced themselves together to make a simple, metal goblet. With another flick of his stick, a torrent of water spouted from it, and filled the goblet. Another flick stopped it, and he handed the goblet to the Doctor.

Without really caring now what means the drink had been created by, the Doctor take it gratefully and drowned it in one swig.

'What scientific theories do you have for that, Doctor?'

For the first time in his nine hundred years, the Doctor was well, and truly, stumped.

'None, really.' He said grudgingly. He hated the fact he had to admit this. He also hated the fact that the man in front of him clearly knew more than himself.

'I see.' Dumbledore said humbly. 'So this…' The Doctor stared as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver from his robes, 'Is not your wand?'

'Wand…'

Dumbledore continued. 'This is a wand.' He showed the Doctor his stick of marvels.

'So it is magic…?'

'Yes, Doctor. Magic.'

A moment lapsed by.

'Alright then.'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'You do amuse, Doctor.' He handed him back his beloved screwdriver. The Doctor snatched it back and shoved it in his pocket, but grinned at Dumbledore.

'Thanks. Those boys had it off me.'

'Harry Potter and Ron Weasly? Yes. I think they had every right to.' The Doctor waited for Dumbledore to elaborate, but he didn't continue.

'Well, Doctor. Are there any means you can get back to wherever you came from?'

'Ah. Well. Have a problem there.' The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. 'My…ship. Is broken. Don't know why she brought me here, but it took a hell out of her.'

'I see. How long will it take to fix?'

The Doctor bit his lip in thought. 'Couple of hours.' He said after a moment of deliberation.

'Well, why don't you explore?'

Something at the very back of the Doctor's mind thought it would be a very good idea.

'Don't see why not.' The Doctor said with a wide grin. 'How long can I stay?'

'Up to you, Doctor. Your help would be most appreciated.'

'Righty-ho!' The Doctor held out his hand to shake. 'I shall.' Dumbledore shook it warmly. 'So be it.' He said with a kind smile. 'I look forward to having you here.

With one last grin, the Doctor exited the office, with every intent of knowing his way around this castle as well as he knew his way around the TARDIS.

Dumbledore watched him go with a curious expression.

'What do you think, Fawkes?' The small bird lifted his head at the sound of his name.

'A useful ally, don't you think?'

Fawkes gave a chirp, presumably of agreement.

Dumbledore flicked his wand in the direction of the goblet; it returned to its original state of a plain piece of paper.

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