Chapter 6

The table in the kitchen had expanded to fit the group that crowded around it. There was a mass of gingers on one side, and Rose had to bite back a giggle as the Doctor watched them longingly. Tonks slipped into her seat next to Remus, and Rose and the Doctor sat down across from them. An older witch in tartan robes was next to the Doctor, and she nodded gravely at him, her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of tea. She cleared her throat, and the group quieted, although the twins kept muttering asides to each other. The Doctor leaned back on his chair's hind legs and spoke.

"Right. For those of you who don't know yet, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose, and we are all in my frankly magnificent time ship, a.k.a. the TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. I travel through time, but no, we are not going to go back and kill Tom Riddle as a baby. I have to stay within the structures of history, or else all of existence falls apart. Trust me when I say you don't want to see that—it's not pretty. What I can do, though, is offer you this: a safe place to rest and regroup." His good cheer faded abruptly. "I know what it's like to fight a seemingly hopeless war. I know how utterly demoralizing it can be. You're safe here, and you aren't missing anything out there. We're suspended outside of time, at the moment. Rose and I will help as we can, but our roles will primarily be as facilitators, not participants." His eyes cut towards her at that, and she frowned but nodded. He smiled again, and set his chair down with a thump. "And that's all I have to say, really, and that's something I never thought would come out of this mouth."

Rose snorted, "Me, neither." He shot her an amused glare, and she poked her tongue out at him.

Professor McGonagall nodded again and spoke. "Thank you, Doctor. For those of us who have been cut off from outside contact, I believe a review of recent developments may be in order. Kingsley? If you could share what information you have gathered?"

He cleared his throat, but before he could speak, a deep voice interrupted from the Weasley clan. The man who spoke was stout and broad-shouldered, his bright red hair trimmed close to his skull. "Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but I have to ask, why are we trusting this bloke? He says he's some time-travellin' alien, and we just go, whelp, better tell 'im all we know?"

"He may not look it, but the Doctor is one of the Wizarding World's oldest friends, Charlie. He can be trusted implicitly. He helped Albus write the charter for the original Order of the Pheonix, though he wore a different face at the time."

Tonks sat up excitedly, and Rose blinked. Though her hair was still vividly pink, her face had changed entirely. "What, are you like a Metamorphmagus, then?"

"Nope. Time Lord, me. I only change when I've been mortally wounded."

There was an awkward silence in the kitchen.

"Well, that's one way to kill the mood, George."

"I'll say, Fred."

Professor McGonagall gave the twins a severe glance, and they subsided. "Kingsley? If you would proceed?"

"Thank you, Minerva. According to the sources I have at the Ministry, Tom has been able to attach not only a locator spell to all wands that have been catalogued through the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, but also a Ministry monitoring charm, much like the ones that are added to all wands of underage wizards. Any Muggle-borns who managed somehow to escape being relieved of their wands and sent to Azkaban are unable to perform any magic without Tom's knowledge. It's how the Snatchers have been able to find the Muggleborns on the run so easily." Andromeda sobbed quietly, and Tonks reached out to grab her hand.

"Any news about the trio?"

Kingsley's jaw tightened. "Not since their break-in. We do know that 12 Grimmauld Place has been compromised, though. Apparently they were staying there before the break-in, and one of the Death-Eaters was brought back with them in the chaos." Molly's hands tightened around her napkin, and Arthur rubbed her shoulders gently. "They were able to escape him and leave, but it opened the location to the Death-Eaters."

Tonks frowned. "It hadn't been compromised before then?"

"Oddly enough, it hadn't. The Aurors who were sent by the Ministry found no trace of Death Eaters previously to Yaxley's entrance. Snape hadn't been near the place."

"He's been rather busy at Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall spat. "He's keeping a tight leash on us. Any professorial decisions, changes in curriculum, punishments and the like, they all have to be approved by him personally. The students who have caused the most trouble have vanished, but I don't think it's the Carrows' doing—the school itself seems to be protecting them. Remus? What news from the magical creatures?"

"The centaurs have refused to meet with me. If they're disparaging towards wizards, their view of werewolves is lower than dirt. Hagrid's visits to the giants seem to have done some good—several of the tribes I'd seen refused to speak to me, but they had also driven off Tom's representatives, at least. The worst of the situation is with the weres. I've been trying to reason with different packs, but they'd rather have some power as Tom's muscle than be completely disenfranchised under the Ministry. He's got recruiters everywhere I go. It's been as much as I can do to simply stay out of their sight."

At that, the Doctor spoke up. "I might be able to help with that, actually. You saw the gadgets Rose and I were working on the other night?" When Remus nodded, he pulled out one of the perceptions filters and held it up. "These should be work. It's a personal perception filter—Rose's idea, and quite brilliant." He beamed at her and settled his arm across the back of her chair, and Rose blinked. After how jumpy he'd been around her earlier, this fawning was disconcerting. "You won't be invisible when you slip 'em on, just unnoticeable. Now you do have to be careful about putting them on and taking them off. If you do that around anyone, they won't shield you properly, so make sure you're alone. If I put it on now, for example, it wouldn't work, because you all know that I'm sitting right here. If I was out in the corridor, though, I could put in on and come in here with no one the wiser—they bounce people's perception of you off like a mirror, so any noise, any movement you make the other person will chalk up to whatever excuse their poor little brain can come up with. Dead useful things, really. I made enough for each of you, and I have more spares if you can get them to people who might need them." He pulled more out of his pockets and began passing them around the table. Fred and George were studying theirs with naked greed.

"Blimey, if we could develop some of these for the store—"

"Imagine how well they'd go over!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, unless you have access to Korpatian wire from the Tirinium mines in the 34th century, I don't think you'll really be able to replicate these."

"And aren't we all thankful for that." Minerva stood and set her empty mug in the sink. "I think I will avail myself of your offer, Doctor, and find myself a place to rest."

At her pronouncement, the meeting broke up. Rose and the Doctor led the Order members to the spare bedrooms, and the Doctor wandered off down the hallways. When he slipped into the library a few hours later, Rose had changed into warm pajamas and was curled up on the couch, paging through Advanced Potions Making.

"Oh! I didn't realize you were still up. We've got plenty of plotting to be done when the others wake up, y'know—I do love a good plotting session. Gets the blood pumping, does plotting."

Rose, meanwhile, rested her chin on her fist and stared at him. After a moment, the ramble trailed off. "What?"

"What was all the cuddliness at the table about?"

"What do you mean? We're always cuddly. We're so cuddly we're practically teddy bears." Rose raised her eyebrows, and he winced. "Okay, let's just pretend that last bit never happened, shall we?" Rose smirked but stayed silent, and finally the Doctor flopped down on the couch next to her, his lower lip protruding heroically. "There are too many sons in the Weasley family. Bunch of big, strapping boys, that lot. They really should have had more girls. Don't you think Charlie would have been a lovely girl?"
Rose started giggling madly, and the Doctor's pout grew. "What?"

"You're getting jealous again, aren't you?"

"Rose, they're all big and strapping and ginger. It's just not fair, that."

"Y'know, if you want to be ginger that badly, we could always get Mum to dye your hair."

"Rose, I am not about to let your mother smother my rather magnificent Time Lord head in putrid chemicals. I mean, blimey, have you seen that woman's hair? I'd rather be shaved bald, and I really don't think I have the noggin for it this time around. Why are you glaring at me?"

"Doctor, Mum does my hair."

"Ah." He paused for a long moment. "And a very lovely job she does, too."

"Nice try."

"No, really. I've quite fond of your hair. It's very… blonde."

"You're really not helpin' yourself, right now."

"What? It's true! Your hair's lovely, all soft and gold and fragrant. Which honestly, considering how many chemicals it takes to make it that shade, is rather astonishing."

"Thanks."

"You know, I think I'm detecting a note of sarcasm in your voice."

"What, really?" She widened her eyes and batted her lashes, and the Doctor swallowed heavily. She snickered. "I just keep thinkin' about how much Fawkes seemed to like your hair earlier. Although that shouldn't've surprised me, considerin'."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "Considering what, Rose?"

"Well, a phoenix is a type of bird, isn't it? He must've felt right at home, up there."

"Are you saying something about my hair, Miss Tyler?"

"Oh, I'd never do that." She shrieked with laughter when the Doctor dove at her, his long fingers tickling her mercilessly. After a rather breathless struggle, Rose managed to pull a pillow out from behind her back and walloped the Doctor's head with it. His thick frames went flying, and he cried out in shock.

"My sexy specs!"

"Your what?" Rose crowed, and the Doctor blanched.

"You didn't just hear that."

"You wish, mister. Oh, I'm never gonna let you forget that."

"Promise?"

Rose stared up into the Doctor's suddenly serious eyes and swallowed. "What?"

He flushed and jammed his glasses back on his nose. "Nevermind, gob just got ahead of me again. You know how it is—I should really try some of those Everlasting Gobstoppers, see if they actually live up to their claims—"

"Doctor." She reached out and grabbed his hands, which were nervously toying with the book she'd been reading. "I promise."

"Oh, Rose." He stared at her and tucked her mussed hair behind her ears. His eyes softened, and he smiled gently at her. "You should get some sleep. We'll have a busy day tomorrow." He stood and walked out the door, leaving Rose dazed on the couch.

She let her head flop back heavily and groaned, scrubbing her hands across her face. "Blimey, he's tryin' to kill me. He's gettin' me so keyed up I'll explode. It's the world's sexiest way to die." She glared at the ceiling. "And now I'm talkin' to myself like a nutter." At that, she stood and left the room.