AN: Okay, so I'm back with an update. I looked at this fic earlier and realised that it really is going slowly this fic is now over four years old and just as it is getting older it is also growing, slowly I will admit. I want to thank everyone who has stuck with this fic over that time, I know that I am not the most reliable of posters and getting an update from me is sometimes like pulling teeth.
I also noted that between fanfiction{.}net and archiveofourown{.}org this fic has nearly 200 reviews/comments, over 300 have favourited/bookmarked it and over 600 have signed up for alerts on this fic. Thank you to all of you I read all the comments and try to reply to them all, they mean a lot to me, but I had never properly looked at the numbers until today - totally stunned.
When Harry awoke that morning the first thing that he did after he had assured himself that he was in his new room and not back in the cupboard under the stairs at his aunts, was to go and find his parents. His fathers had told him that as long as their door wasn't closed he could enter their room, and if the door was shut he could knock and wait for them to answer. It was open though, so he made his way into the room to see if they were awake. The bed was empty though, and it looked as though it had been left in a hurry as it hadn't been made. Harry took a moment to straighten the covers a bit before leaving the room in favour of the living room. His parents may still be at home, he knew that they had to go into work today, but it was still rather early, Uncle Vernon had never started work before nine am. He had always said that the important people only worked between nine and five and Harry was sure that his father's were important people.
They weren't in the living room though, so in a last attempt to find them he headed to the kitchen, only to find a sight more horrifying than Aunt Petunia's attempts at cooking. His Uncle Doctor was alone in the kitchen, surrounded by mess. There was no other word to describe it, it looked as though the man had emptied out all of the cupboards onto the counters and the floor. There were kitchen appliances and dishes everywhere, cereal boxes strewn over the floor. Harry shuddered at the thought of what his Tad would say if he saw the state of the kitchen and resolved to make his uncle put everything back where he had found it.
"What are you looking for?" Harry asked his godfather as he took a step into the room, careful not to stand on anything.
"Tea" The Doctor answered, "I can't seem to find it though."
Harry just stared at him for a second, all that carnage was over some tea. He walked over to the counter that held the kettle, and reached up towards the small canister that was labelled tea, pointing it out to his uncle.
He watched as the man seemed to blush a bit, then recovered himself, "What do you know, it is always in the last place you look."
Harry looked at him funny, surely the alien realised that once you found something you didn't keep looking for it. Of course you found it in the last place you looked for it. Harry really didn't understand adults sometimes, they were so confusing.
"Have Dad and Tad left for work?" Harry asked, he was sure that they had, but it was better to confirm it.
"Yep. Just me and you today. They should be back for dinner, or they were intending to be home for dinner at least." His uncle replied. "What do you want for breakfast?" He asked as he looked around at the mess that he had created, "Maybe we should go out for breakfast."
Harry just shook his head. "Nope. I'll have these." He said as he picked up a box of cornflakes from the floor, "And you can start putting everything back before you make your tea."
His uncle looked as though he was going to refuse so Harry glared at him, the glare that Aunt Petunia had always turned on him when he thought about not doing something, she had always seemed to know.
"Fine", the alien grumbled as he took the box of cereal, fixing Harry a bowl.
He then started moving about the kitchen throwing longing looks at the tea canister as he started to tidy the mess that he had made under Harry's supervision. When everything was away he made his way straight to the kettle putting it on and grabbing a cup to make his tea.
"So what do you want to do today?" The Doctor asked, looking Harry over where he sat at the table, still in pyjamas, nowhere near ready to do anything fun.
"I don't know. Maybe you could tell me about your travels with Dad and Aunt Rose." Harry asked.
The Doctor nodded, "We could. Or we could go to the park or the cinema. Or there is this great little amusement park I know on Pluto."
Harry just shrugged, "Tad says we're not to go travelling in the TARDIS."
The Doctor looked put out for a moment before replying, "Oh well. There is still plenty to do on Earth. Go and get dressed."
Harry went to his room, choosing clothes for the day and dressing quickly, just in case his godfather started to make a mess somewhere else. He didn't want to have to spend the day watching the man clear up the messes he made, he had been promised that he could visit with the TARDIS today and he wanted to talk to her about empathy and what being an empath actually meant for him. He knew that she was the one to talk to, she was the most knowledgeable of all the people or beings that he knew. His godfather was pretty smart as well as his aunts and uncles and his parents weren't too bad either, but the TARDIS she was in a league of her own. He had felt how old and knowledgeable she was when she had spoken to him about the books the other night. If she was willing to talk to him, he was willing to listen to everything she said and learn from her.
He found his godfather in the living room staring out the window. He walked into the room to catch the other man's attention, "Can we visit with the TARDIS?" he asked, knowing that it was better to get permission than just going off, he didn't want to get into trouble.
His godfather nodded and led the way to the cupboard where the TARDIS was parked. He opened the door then stepped back allowing Harry to enter first, following behind him and shutting the door securely. Harry walked straight up to the centre of the console and began lightly touching it as he reached out a bit with his mind to feel the TARDIS, almost shivering as she reached back.
It was weird to feel someone else touch his mind like this it was a hug to his mind, the TARDIS was soothing, a bit like a parent, but not quite. He tried to put his question to her mentally and felt the feelings of laughter and love flow from her in response, as well as an image. He watched the image and came to the realisation that the TARDIS wanted him to come to.
He nodded at the TARDIS, his godfather noticing and asking what the TARDIS was getting him to agree to. Harry just smiled before explaining that the TARDIS wanted him to call her grandma.
The look on his uncles' face was hilarious and it made him giggle, his grandma laughing along with him in his mind, the vibrations reverberating around the room allowing his uncle to feel how amused she was. It was nice, Harry thought, they were having a laugh, but they weren't making fun of his uncle like his cousin Dudley had done to him for a laugh, this was friendly, especially as his uncle joined in.
Harry spent most of the morning with his grandma, asking her and his uncle questions to hear what they each thought, their answers often so varied that he had trouble believing that they were answering the same question.
For lunch his uncle made him a sandwich and gave him a banana insisting that he should eat at least one banana a day as they were good for him. Harry just nodded, wondering if the obsession that his uncle seemed to have with bananas was an alien thing or not. Instead of a sandwich his uncle had four bananas for lunch before he insisted that they go out for the afternoon.
Once Harry had finished eating he said goodbye to his grandma and was bundled into his little coat, his scarf wrapped round his neck, and his hat and gloves in his pockets in case they were needed. His godfather then shut the door behind him then took Harry's hand and led them out into the street in search of a park.
An adventure his uncle called it, neither of them knew where the park was, so they would find it together, and anything they saw or encountered on the way was part of the adventure. Harry wanted to ask someone directions, but he was sure that it would ruin his uncles game so resolved to walking the streets until they came to a park. As it turned out there was one not too far away from where he lived and he and his uncle had taken the longest route to it possible.
They didn't stay at the park for too long, it was December after all. They stayed just long enough for Harry to have a shot on everything, and a few more goes on the things that he particularly enjoyed like the swings. To be honest he didn't know who had had more fun on the swings him or his godfather.
As they were about to leave the park his godfather got a phone call from his dad, his parents weren't going to make it home in time for dinner. Harry spoke to his dad on the phone, the other man sounded really sorry that they hadn't been at home when he woke up and that they wouldn't be there for dinner either. He did promise that they would be home in time to put him to bed and read him a story and that one of them would be at home with him in the morning.
Harry had told him that it was okay, he knew that they had to work and that he was having fun with his godfather. His dad told him that they loved him before asking to be given back to his godfather. Uncle Doctor spoke to his dad for a few more minutes before hanging up and turning to Harry.
"Okay, so it's just two for dinner. I know exactly what we should have." He said as he bent down and picked Harry up. "I'll carry you, we'll be quicker."
"Where are we going?" Harry asked, curious as to what his Uncle was going to feed him for dinner, hopefully not more bananas, while he liked them he wasn't as near as fond of them as his uncle.
"You'll see." His uncle replied. "I know that there is one just up here, I checked once I knew where you lived."
Harry looked at the man, it was obviously something that he enjoyed as he had looked into it. He supposed that he could go with it, you never know it may be something that he would enjoy. He didn't have a big list of dislikes anyway.
He looked around as they came up to a small shop that smelt of oil, he looked at his uncle who was sporting the biggest grin on his face that Harry had seen. He looked even more excited than he had about the bananas.
"Chips." he said with glee in his voice, "What would you like Harry?"
Harry looked at the menu on the wall, but he hadn't really had any of it before, so he had no idea what he would like. He told his uncle this and the man seemed thoughtful for a minute before he smiled.
He then turned to the woman behind the counter ordering a large fish and chips, a small chips, a steak pie and a king rib. Harry watched as everything was packaged into paper then put in a bag and his uncle paid for it.
Once they were back in the house his uncle explained that the small chips were for Harry as everyone had to like chips, and that he could try some of his uncle's fish, have some of the king rib and some of the pie to see what he liked. Figuring that this was okay, as it would allow him to get an idea of what he liked, Harry nodded and went to go to the kitchen to get plates but his uncle called him back.
Confused Harry asked why he wouldn't need a plate and his godfather explained the process of eating food from the paper, something that he had never seen before. When his aunt and uncle had fish and chips they always had it on a plate, the paper banished to the bin almost as soon as it arrived in the house.
The food was nice, the chips meeting both his and his godfather's approval, and Harry quickly claimed the steak pie for himself, not particularly liking either the king rib or the fish. Once he had finished eating his uncle said that it was time for a bath and then pyjamas on before he could watch some TV for a bit.
His bath showed Harry that his godfather was as big a kid if not more so than his dad. He ended up covered in more water than Harry and it was him that was having the bath. It just meant that while he changed into pyjamas his uncle had to clean the bathroom floor before going and changing himself. When his uncle reappeared in dry clothing Harry was already sat on the couch watching cartoons.
It wasn't long after they sat down together that the front door opened and his dad and tad came into the room. They each gave him a hug and a kiss before sitting down and asking him to tell them all about his day. He started at the very beginning, telling them all, much to his uncle's dismay. The look his Tad was throwing his godfather could kill, but the shocked looks on his parent's faces more than made up for it in his uncle's eyes when he told them about his talk with grandma.
Finally his parents decided that it was time for bed, and they had him tucked up in bed ready for a story. That night he chose to hear about one of his mum's adventures at Hogwarts trying to infiltrate the house of the lion. It didn't take too long before he was asleep dreaming of moving staircases red and gold and silver and green. It had been a long day after all, looking after his godfather was more exhausting than he had imagined.