AN: I just had to write more about the IDRIS and answer all the questions that I had that I just couldn't fit into the last chapter. So, this is a little bit short, but it answers what I want it to answer, and hopefully you'll enjoy it!

Lily very much enjoyed visiting the IDRIS as the days, weeks, months passed. With it, she could be alone and not alone all at the same time. The IDRIS was a confidante to whom Lily could whisper secrets and know that no one else would ever hear them. Of course, she had a great many questions for the room, the beautiful spaceship which had travelled so very far from home.

"Out of curiosity, are you a boy IDRIS or a girl IDRIS?"

"Neither. IDRISes don't have gender. We simply are."

"Ah. And how do you change so easily?"

"The same way a TARDIS does. I am old, I know how to hide the control panels so that I might be mistaken for an average room, but I do have some machinery to me, including a chameleon circuit, or course."

"How old are you? How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I've lost track of my age. I'm just old. I wasn't meant to count years. I've been around here for a few centuries now. The castle was here already. I just sort of snuck in when nobody was looking, and I've been here ever since."

Since it had been here so long, the IDRIS had its share of stories to tell.

"I cannot tell you how many times I've been turned into a bathroom. I've had to be a bedroom on several occasions as well, and a supply closet, and a disposal bin, and so many other things. I've even gotten to the point where I can take some supply of food, although that can get tricky, so I save it only for those who truly need it. I've had dungbombs thrown in me. I've had vomit spewed across me. I've an entire archived room that is filled from front to back and from bottom to top with things people have needed to hide. I think –I think –it may even have that lost Diadem or whatever it is those Ravenclaw children talk about so much."

The IDRIS proved to be a very useful friend, as well, making sure the TARDIS was well taken care of. It kept a secret compartment that Lily alone could access, as it had taken a particular liking to her. She need only walk up to the wall across from the tapestry and whisper, and the room would show itself to her.

"Why is it, exactly, that you open up immediately for me, but you make others walk past three times before letting them in?"

"Because it's funny… and, of course, completely harmless." This statement made Lily laugh.

The TARDIS was growing quite beautifully inside the IDRIS. It had a certain mothering nature to it, surprisingly, and took great care to protect the TARDIS from harm in its childhood stages. Indeed, the IDRIS was able to connect telepathically with the TARDIS, making their nurturing transaction turn into a full-blown friendship.

"I told it not to call me mama, if that's quite alright," the IDRIS told Lily.

"That's fine. Out of curiosity, what does it call me?"

"Firehead."

Lily giggled. "I'm glad to see that it's creative. Could you tell it to call me by my name?"

"Of course." The IDRIS stopped making noises temporarily as it communicated with the TARDIS. It finally answered, "It is willing to settle on the name Tiger Lily."

"I like that." Lily smiled.

She could see that, as the TARDIS grew, it began to test its abilities. It was clear that the chameleon circuit was working properly, because the TARDIS would readily adjust itself to whatever Lily told it to. At most times, she decided it would be best to keep it looking rather like a desk, in case the IDRIS made a mistake and allowed the wrong person to go see it. Still, Lily had gotten her beloved plant to imitate a chamber pot, a fish tank, and a rather elaborate statue. It was still small, and so she could not enter to see how it was functioning on the inside.

"Your TARDIS is growing just fine, don't you worry," the IDRIS reassured her. "It's healthy. You can often tell from the outer appearance."

"I'm sure, much in the same way that you can tell its size." Lily smirked.

"Smarty pants."

How odd, Lily thought, how she could joke with the IDRIS in a way she could joke with no one else. Her parents understood the ways of being Time Lords, but understood almost nothing about magic, and her friends at Hogwarts understood magic, but knew nothing whatsoever about Time Lords. How odd that the IDRIS was neither magical nor Gallifreyan, and yet it understood her so well. If she believed in pure luck, Lily would deem meeting the IDRIS as the luckiest event in the universe, but Lily also knew better than to ignore coincidences.

"Why are you here? I understand about the hole between universes, but why here? Why Hogwarts?"

"Well, Tiger Lily," the IDRIS explained, "I was on Gallifrey with the Time Lords and TARDISes for so very long, but they certainly didn't need me. Most of the universe could use something like me, I'm sure, but, one look inside, and they simply wouldn't believe. I would be rendered useless. But you –the wizards, I mean –you lot believe. You know that some things may seem strange, but the world is strange and it's alright. Most cultures, most planets don't want to think that." It sighed. "The whole concept is sad. So much to understand, so much to become familiar with, and they want nothing of it."

Lily knew exactly what the IDRIS was talking about. She thought of her sister, who even knew how mad the universe was, and who still berated and shunned her for being a witch because it was simply unnatural. The thought was enough to make Lily cry. "I'm glad I've got you, IDRIS."

"Me, too, Tiger Lily. Me, too."