It was rather a strange experience, meeting Harry Potter for the first time.
The young man was stood outside the chapel that Rose had been taken to, with a rather annoyed look on his face, a neighbour possibly.
"They do this every week," he'd muttered under his breath.
"Excuse me," he'd called out to the man stood on the stairs.
He'd looked over at them and raised an eyebrow, leaning over on his cane, focusing his attention on them.
"Excuse me," he'd repeated, "What do you mean they do this every week?"
The man who had introduced himself with the rather obviously false name of 'Evan Evans', had been very attentive and had invited himself into the chapel along with them, helping out where he could but otherwise staying out of the way.
The Doctor's issue with the man was that he worked too well with them, with him.
Something was wrong with him, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was obviously from another period of time altogether. His mannerisms, while they'd adapted well to his environment, were very much out of place.
So, the Doctor came to the logical conclusion that the man was attempting to steal his TARDIS, something which was happily not the case.
Well, not happily, he supposed, considering the man, Harry Potter was his actual name, was stuck in a universe not his own.
Watching the dark-haired man walk about one of his kitchens, freshly cleaned and shaven, wearing a set of his too-large clothes, making them all a snack before they set off on their next adventure, he made a silent promise to keep him safe.
If he could never get back to his own universe, he would have a home here, with him.
Show Me The Way Home
When Harry had come back from clothes shopping, the Doctor had to admit that the clothes he'd picked out were very fitting.
He was wearing black torn jeans, which had a purple flannel shirt half tucked in, over which a jacket, black leather with white faux fur lining the inside, was casually thrown over the top, a pair of black military combat boots adorned his feet, which his jeans were also tucked into.
"Well don't you clean up nice?" Rose questioned, rhetorically, the Doctor had to agree.
"Here's your clothes back," Harry told him, passing him a bag filled with clothing to him, "Thanks for letting me borrow them."
The Doctor watched him silently as he pulled his hair, which had been restored from its matted mess into a silky looking stylish mess, into a ponytail.
A part of him, which he dared not look into, for fear of being saddened too much, decided that he'd look far nicer with a beard.
Show Me The Way Home
A few interesting revelations about his universe hopping guest had come about that day.
One, Harry had been arrested, multiple times if his word was correct.
This didn't come as too much of a surprise, considering the fact that he knew his alternate self, and if they'd travelled together for at least a little bit, which was what seemed to be alluded to, then it wasn't too far of a stretch to say they'd gotten into some trouble.
Two, Harry was a wizard, as in real magic, brooms, and owls flying about the place.
He didn't seem as keen on actually using his magic as he would have expected, however, seemingly preferring to take things into his own hands and do them by his own strengths, which was honestly rather admirable, considering he could quite literally get the same results by a flick of the wand as it were.
The fact that he was a literal book character was rather amusing, honestly.
Three, Harry smoked.
Honestly, that was fine by him, just so long as he didn't smoke in the TARDIS.
It was a very difficult smell to get out of the console room.
It was much later that night, after all the humans on board the TARDIS had gone to sleep and he himself was beginning to drift off that the little things he'd learnt about him tried to come together in a way he was uncomfortable with, so he pushed it to the side of his mind.
It was unhealthy to project your dead best friend on someone else, after all.
Show Me The Way Home
Walking down a large corridor to meet Henry van Statten's 'pet', the Doctor looked at Harry out of the corner of his eye.
He was walking with his back as straight as it could be, chin held high, and a rather commanding yet blank look on his face.
Henry van Statten was very obviously attempting to ignore him but wasn't successful if the nervous gazes he kept throwing him were any clue.
For such a short man, Harry Potter held the authority of a man in great power.
The way that he'd managed to make Henry van Statten submit to his will by just staring him down back in the man's office was a true testament to the man himself.
Holding yourself confidently and speaking with a commanding tone really could get people to listen to you, no matter who they were.
Show Me The Way Home
Harry had seen Daleks before.
More than that, Harry had been in a position where Daleks had caused great destruction in his life.
The way he stared almost vacantly at it while they were trapped in the cage with it had spoken volumes.
He'd been quickly dragged out of the cage after he began electrocuting it, and he'd grabbed Harry's arm, gently pulling him out alongside him as he went.
The man was very quiet after that, responding to his question with a nod of the head instead of a verbal answer like he'd been expecting.
His eyes, normally a bright green, had been shadowed in a way he'd never seen on the young man's face.
And yet, even with the trauma, he must be reliving, he could still find it in himself to offer the Doctor support, silent though it were, when he'd begun talking about the Time War.
Show Me The Way Home
"Apparently, it does not like to be tasered, who knew?"
The Doctor could see the way that he was holding himself on the screen, seemingly relaxed as he kept his wand pointed at the Dalek.
But he could see the way his shoulders trembled, hear the way his voice hitched ever so slightly.
Harry was completely terrified of the Dalek, but there was something else there too.
And yet, he hid these so well that none of the humans in the room could see it.
He was acting strong, not for the people that worked for Henry van Statten.
Nor was he acting strong for the Doctor, having already proven his terror of them in front of him earlier.
No, there was only one person that the Doctor could think of that he'd be acting strong for, Rose, who'd cried when she thought he had died, trapped in the vault with the Dalek.
The Doctor wasn't even sure that he was aware he was doing it.
But he could respect it, at the very least.
Show Me The Way Home
When Henry van Statten shot Harry, he was angry but not surprised.
A man like that does not take being told what to do lightly.
And Harry had told him what to do, he'd pushed him in a way he did not like.
And then he'd harmed his 'pet' without being told that he could harm said 'pet', even though it had been decided that the Dalek needed to die.
He was truly a petty man, and he couldn't find it in himself to feel sorry for what Goddard had planned for him.
After the Dalek had been dealt with, he'd supported him into the TARDIS's med bay, where he'd removed the bullet and had the flesh re-knit itself using one of the untranslatable medical devices, which he'd creatively renamed 'flesh re-knitter' in English.
He'd looked down at his hands, soaked in blood, human this time and sighed.
Show Me The Way Home
Having life-threatening adventures with one human, while the other was unconscious in the med bay was quite a strange experience.
The first adventure without Harry had been to a news satellite, where Adam, possibly one of the most stupid twenty-first-century humans he'd ever met, had decided to have a computer implant.
Something which he would be unable to use back in his own time, apart from possibly a very disturbing party trick.
He had a very strong feeling that had Harry been awake to see it, he would have spent quite a while just straight-up mocking the boy.
The second adventure without him had been to the day of Rose's father's death.
He'd been very worried for his wellbeing when the TARDIS's existence just stopped when Rose had saved her father's life, but once everything was resolved, he'd checked on him and he'd been fine.
Other than his moment of non-existence, it had actually been one of the least threatening adventures he'd been on.
Perhaps Harry would have appreciated pictures?
Show Me The Way Home
One of the things that truly unnerved him about Harry was his ability to accurately predict how he was feeling.
He'd been able to do it since he'd met him, going out of his way to cheer him up when he began feeling even slightly down.
He'd also picked up on the fact that this regeneration of his enjoyed bitter-tasting foods a lot more than sweet ones, bringing him dark tea instead of milky, or even coffee instead of tea, picking out dark chocolate instead of milk, because he knew the Doctor would prefer it.
The way that he'd managed to slot the Doctor into his life as though he were just an extension of himself was scary.
Because he'd only known one other person who'd managed to do it that well.
Show Me The Way Home
Everything that he'd tried not to project onto his universe hopping friend crashed down the second he dragged him into his bedroom after he'd gotten drunk.
Stacks of books piled everywhere in all sorts of languages.
Including Circular and Modern Gallifreyan.
All the little things that he'd learnt about Harry suddenly slotted together in a way that he just couldn't ignore.
So, he helped him to bed, and feeling rather guilty, he asked a question that would either confirm or deny his thoughts.
"Hey, Koschei?"
There were a few ways the Doctor could see this going.
One, he'd snap out that wasn't his name and that he knew that.
Two, he'd be confused as to who that was.
Or three, he'd just ignore it because he was drunk and half asleep.
A sleepy hum came from him and the Doctor was certain that it had been the third option until he heard him mutter.
"Yes, Theta?"
He breathed in sharply in surprise, not having expected that response of all things.
But honestly, perhaps he shouldn't have been too surprised, he was from another universe after all, who knew what the differences between the two were.
"Nothing, just go to sleep."
With that, he made his way down the stairs and out of his room.
He had to admit to himself that he felt rather guilty about asking him like that, he wasn't in a state to defend his private life, after all.