Chapter 06

Romana found the Doctor 'relaxing' in the library, at least he said he was relaxing, it looked suspiciously like sleep to her.

He'd been particularly reflective since re-meeting his old friend Professor Chronotis.

"So where are we off to now Doctor?" She asked.

"Hmmm?" He said, his voice muffled from underneath a book.

"I was just in the console room, we're not moving," she said as she strode over to the mess of shelves the Doctor called a library, why he couldn't keep a system like a library she didn't know. Looking at the shelves it was as though several systems had come crashing together.

"You said something about stretching our legs," she reminded.

"Metaphorical legs Romana, broadening the mind," he said in a speed of movement leapt out of the chair and out the door.

In the console room he was in a rush of movement around the console. Romana watched him for a moment. "Are you alright Doctor?"

"Alright? Alright?! Of course I'm alright Romana, why would you think differently?" He looked at her.

"You have been, subdued since we departed Cambridge," she commented, not rising to his tone.

"Well, meeting old acquaintances does that, reminds you how old you are," he said. "You're not that old Doctor," Romana commented, flicking a button on the orbital rectifier as she did so.

"Old? No I suppose I'm not," the Doctor lifted his head a little higher.

Romana smiled. "So?"

"Old acquaintances…" He repeated Romana's statement. "Why not just say friends, when you mean friends."

"I didn't know you had any old friends, especially for someone as young as you Doctor," she asked playfully.

"Yes. I am rather young…but there is a friend, he's quite young himself, I haven't visited in…" He trailed off. Moving around the console again.

"Where are we going now?" The Doctor made 'shushing' noises to her.

"Delicate stuff, temporal coordinates need to be exact. Especially with the remains of the randomiser still in the old girl."

Romana crouched down beside K9 who was sitting in the corner of the console room. "Where are we going K9?"

K9 jerked forward extending a sensor toward the console. "Earth, mistress."

"Earth? Again?" Romana sighed.

"To see an old, young friend of mine, you'll like him." Then the Doctor rushed out of the console room.

-/

Romana watched the rise and fall of the central column for a few moments and briefly considered following the Doctor, which was when he burst back into the console room carrying several boxes which he promptly emptied out onto the console.

"What's all this Doctor?" She looked around at the assorted mess.

"A gift, a little something I was working on…oh long ago," he explained.

"Which is?" Romana prompted, flicking down a switch on the console.

"Emergency beacon, useful for my friend," he explained.

"Always in emergencies?" Romana wondered.

"He does have a habit of it," the Doctor admitted.

"Rather like you," she muttered.

"Hmmm. What? Oh I suppose he is, rather clever, intelligent, sense of humour," the Doctor said.

"I meant getting into trouble," she said with a grin. "So who is he?"

"He?" The Doctor wondered.

"Your friend we're off to visit," Romana clarified.

"Oh, Harry Potter," he grinned.

-/

Romana walked over to the door out of the console room after the Doctor had finished telling her about Harry Potter, his friend he'd known for…several lives.

"Going so soon?" He said not looking up.

"Well if you're making that, I should get him a gift, since he's such an old friend of yours," she explained.

"Young," he corrected after she'd put such emphasis on old.

-/

The Doctor looked up from his handiwork as Romana walked back into the console room carrying a small box and placed it on the console.

"How long till we land K9?" Romana asked.

"Imminent mistress," K9 reported.

"Finished?" She leaned over to the side of the console where the Doctor was standing.

"Of course," he said.

"And?" Romana asked.

"A fully functioning Spacio-Temporal Emergency Beacon, just what every traveller needs." He looked over at her grinning, challenging.

She delicately removed the lid of the box, allowing the Doctor to gaze into it. "Rock?"

"The energy enhancing stone from Crinoth, given the tele-psychic nature of whatever your Potter friend is up to, it might prove…" Romana explained.

"Fortuitous, yes, excellent work, an excellent idea," he began walking around the console throwing bits of brick-a-brack onto the floor and into the corners of the console room. "Excellent work," then he almost shouted. "How long K9?"

The central column dropped down as the TARDIS materialised.

"Arrival, master."

The Doctor harrumphed and grabbed the spacio-temporal emergency beacon and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Come on, let's go and surprise him," the Doctor proclaimed.

-/ - \\-

Vernon Dursley didn't like being disrupted from his breakfast, it was just as well that disturbed freak had wondered off when he did, though when the other freaks came around they could have dressed more normal.

Vernon opened the door wishing the incessant knocking would stop and was greeted by a mad idiot, who looked like he was one of the cult of freaks.

"Hello there Vernon!"

"Hello," Romana greeted to the rather large man.

"What the bloody hell do you two want?" He exclaimed.

"Three, don't worry K9." The Doctor patted the back of K9's head. "He probably just didn't see you." He looked back up at Vernon. "We're just here to see Harry, you don't mind do you?"

"I bloody well do mind, that freak isn't here," the large man said.

-/

"Freak?" The Doctor looked coldly at him. Romana had only heard the Doctor use that tone in exceptionally dire circumstances or when he was distinctly angry. "Freak? Harry Potter is more a man than you could ever have the potential to be. What do you mean isn't here?"

The large man blinked for a few moment at the Doctor's changing of tact.

"Ran off in the night, after he blew up my poor sister, he deserves never to come back after that!" He almost spat.

"But he will, and you Vernon will let him." The Doctor jabbed a finger at him, then crouched down. "K9 how many people in the house?"

"Scanning…" His ears oscillated. "Sensors indicate three humanoids within the house master."

"Now that your metal mutt has told you, good bye. Freak," he said and slammed the door.

"Any traces of psychic energy K9?" Romana asked.

"My sensors cannot differentiate between sources mistress." Romana looked back up at the Doctor who was looking up at the window on the second floor, in thought.

"K9 can you isolate the energy specific to the first floor and trace it?" She asked.

"Affirmative mistress, a faint path is present, coordinates are…" K9 began to reel off a set of numbers.

"Back to the TARDIS, K9 shut up." The Doctor turned on his heel and strode back to the TARDIS.

-/ - \\-

"Short hops are always tricky even with precise coordinates!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Especially since you insist on keeping the randomiser connected, there's been no sign of the Black Guardian," Romana said.

"It's not working, it's just connected, the old girl doesn't like being poked and prodded," he said as he patted the console.

"And this was the closest you could get to the end point of the energy your friend has in common with?" Romana gestured around the alley way the TARDIS was currently parked in.

"Dimensional disturbances mistress prevent accurate lock of specific energy signature and extrapolation of exact coordinates." K9 said as he trundled out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor lifted up his hat looking around and then pointed, the only way out of the alley. "This way."

-/ - \\-

Romana followed the Doctor and K9 into a dingy looking drinking establishment. Its name, barely visible; stated it was the 'Leaky Cauldron'.

"Ah bar keep, way to Diagon Alley?" The Doctor was saying.

-/

Tom looked at the two muggles, they had to be, if they didn't know the way to Diagon Alley. They could have been wizard and witch recluses, especially given their…odd ways.

But had to be muggles, plus there was the tin dog the man kept talking to. The lady smiled at him as she followed the man.

"Now K9, simple puzzle, which stones?" The Doctor was standing out in another alley.

"You do bring me to the most wondrous locations Doctor, what next a rubbish tip?" Romana said looking around.

"What?" The Doctor looked around seemingly for the first time noticing where they were. "Oh I suppose it's not the most auspicious of entrances, but appearances can be deceiving, much is the appearance I like to upkeep." He brushed down his coat.

"Processing master," K9 said his ears continually oscillating.

"It doesn't look like anywhere that could lead to 'large shopping area'. These people haven't mastered even the simplest of lighting let alone any sort of dimensional compression techniques, that's far above a level 2 civilisation." Romana commented.

"Level 2?" The Doctor asked slightly distracted.

"Fires, gas lights, outside this place is probably level 5, but in there," she finished and shook her head. "There wasn't an ounce of technology in there."

"Three up master…" The Doctor was touching the bricks with his finger, unsurprisingly for Romana nothing happened.

"Maybe it's just a parlour trick that your friend dreamt up," Romana proclaimed.

"Nonsense," the Doctor dismissed.

"Suggestion master," K9 began.

"Yes K9?" He asked.

"An implement, to interact with the barrier may prove more fortuitous," K9 offered.

"Excellent idea K9!" the Doctor praised as he began patting down his pockets.

"So there is a barrier here K9?" Romana asked.

"Yes mistress, a physical barrier on .888 recurring on the Silverberg scale."

"Psychic energy is holding a physical barrier up," she surmised.

"Precisely," the Doctor grinned.

"Bafflegab, it's preposterous, the amount of energy that…" She trailed off as the Doctor finished tapping the bricks with his sonic screwdriver. They began to slot and fold away revealing a large, though narrow alleyway before them.

-/

Her and the Doctor's people had perfected the art of dimensional transcendentalism centuries ago, though it was still a sight for a civilisation that from appearances and through the various spectrums that Time Lords could see was a level 2, or at the most level 3 civilisation, using, existing in a dimensionally transcendental area.

"A dimensional pocket, naturally formed and artificially maintained," she mused as they walked out into the alley way. Romana brushed her hair away as she looked into the opening.

"Magic, Romana, wonderful brilliant magic!" He grinned as they walked slowly down the alley.

Romana looked down at K9. "Any energy readings K9?" She asked him as the Doctor was looking around, pontificating on the human race. K9's ears twitched.

"Negligible mistress," K9 reported.

"Negligible?" She repeated,

"Energy readings confirm presence of Silverberg energy, fluctuations suggest energy is prevalent throughout whole area," K9 continued.

Romana exhaled. "Psychic energy on a scale this large…it's unheard of."

"Unheard of isn't impossible, just unlikely and what is unlikely is almost as likely. Nothing is impossible, what permeates survives and what survives breeds," the Doctor said ominously as they walked along through the cobbled streets. "And the human race is good at that, surviving, breeding, ready to change and develop, a wonderful species. Wonderful."

-/ - \\-

Harry lifted the final book onto the counter and waited for them to be tallied up. They weren't tomes, not even his school books, he shuddered at the thought. Hagrid's gift had meant that he didn't have to buy it. Through trial and getting his hand bitten he'd discovered how to subdue it, but it only stayed that way for a few hours then resumed trying to chew through anything in sight. He'd eventually used an old belt that he assumed used to be Dudley's from before Jo Grant had taken him on a shopping spree, that adventure felt like an age ago. He'd asked Tom the bartender if he could take one of the small boxes the butterbeer was delivered in, there were several at the back of the pub and was the perfect size to stop the book moving too much, especially with his cauldron sitting on top of it.

As he paid for the books Harry mused on his choices of school subjects. The only subject he was still unsure of was Divination, he had read in several places that it was the most unreliable of magic and that if you didn't have the 'gift' it was unlikely that you would progress.

Which made Harry wonder why it was offered at Hogwarts, unless the theory was just as interesting, in that being able to identify a divination person or event, then the knowledge of it became useful.

The Doctor had mentioned some things in his previous visits, though Harry wasn't sure what he really thought on some things. The Master also had mentioned being able to manipulate people through questions and their answers to give the appearance of able to divine something from a person.

He'd decided mentally that he was going to have a go at it for as long as he could and then, if not throw himself on Professor McGonagall's mercy and hope she would allow him to change. He had in mind already Ancient Runes, history was something he'd been curious about ever since Barbara and Ian had told him their stories of the Aztecs and Marco Polo, and seeing ancient man. But what had made him not elect it was his dreams, obviously not the conventional divination (or what he had been able to uncover thus far by flipping through his text books). But he wanted to know if being taught how to interpret or 'see' might be of helpful.

Harry tested the weight of the bag he was given, it weighed of hardly anything, perhaps one or two paperbacks rather than the 6 books he'd found on the "notorious" Sirius Black, whom he had seen endless articles in the Prophet all distinctly lacking on the information front.

'Go back through the records, history will be written down somewhere' He was sure Barbara had said, or quite possibly the Doctor, the one who Jamie and Zoe travelled with.

Harry was jostled out of his thoughts as he tripped on a larger than normal cobble stone outside Gringotts, he'd done it several times before, and even sat and watched from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour as many people walked by it, some tripping some others. That had been an oddly enlightening day.

Looking around he took in the wonderfully weird sights of Diagon Alley, as he did so he saw two figures and a metal dog walking down the alley toward him.

The Doctor, last year hadn't really told him much about his previous incarnation, the one he was destined to meet, but Harry was willing to bet that the man with the long scarf, curly hair and wide eyes was him.

-/ - \\-

Romana watched as the Doctor stopped and then increased his pace.

"Harry James Potter. You've grown."

"Doctor," Harry said with a grin as the Doctor reached forward, shaking his hand and giving him a one armed hug. "You've changed, again."

The Doctor shrugged. "This is Romana, Romana, Harry Potter, a very good friend."

"Thank you Doctor, I can introduce myself," Romana shook her head at him.

Harry smiled, offering her his hand. "Romana."

"And this is K9," he pointed at K9. "K9, Harry Potter."

K9 twitched. "Master. Harry Potter, stored and memorised Master."

"Master?" Harry raised a curious eyebrow at him.

"Perhaps we should go back to where you're staying, Harry?" Romana said looking around, they weren't so much attracting a crowd but they were getting curious glances.

"Of course, of course. Lunch, middle of the day break, definitely in order," the Doctor said.

Harry allowed the Doctor and K9 to take the lead and walked slightly slower with Romana.

"You know he's a Time Lord then?" She asked him.

Harry nodded. "What gave me away?"

"You knew he's changed, again. Honestly he's gone through more bodies than a fluttering." She shook his head.

Harry frowned, he was sure he'd heard of that before. "An insect, found around Mount Cadon and other areas" Harry paused and saw Romana was looking at him oddly. "On Gallifrey."

"He has shared a lot with you," she said in a short tone.

"I've known the Doctor a long time, well it feels like a long time," Harry sighed. "Almost every time I meet him, he's on another regeneration."

"He seems to go through them like hats," Romana commented.

"Or outfits," Harry said with a chuckle. "And you, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry asked as they continued slowly along the alley.

"Me?" She asked. "Oh, second. I was bored with the old one."

"Bored? You can do that?" He asked astounded.

She shrugged.

Harry looked ahead at the Doctor, he'd picked up some odd device that looked like a glass spinning top.

Romana followed his gaze. "It's more of an art. The Doctor does it in emergencies."

"Not always," Harry said quietly. Romana stopped him walking and looked at him. Harry sighed.

"When he was exiled to Earth, he said his people forced a regeneration on him."

Romana looked shocked at this information. "He never…" She started.

"I don't suppose he wants to talk about it, it's in the past. I'm not sure I should even be saying anything, it's just…" Harry began in a worried tone.

"No one to talk to about it," she said. "Come on, other wise he'll end up buying half the alley and even the TARDIS isn't big enough for all this."

"Bar keep. The private parlour if you please," the Doctor announced in a hushed tone as he entered the bar. Tom the bar keep looked over at Harry and Romana, Harry shrugged at his curious glance.

-/

Once they were seated and food arrived for them the Doctor began to ask about his previous year, and why he was in Diagon Alley.

Harry explained about what had happened his previous year, going into detail about the Weasleys, conscious of what the Doctor knew…that is would know when he had last seen him, when the Doctor would see meet him again…

Time travel was confusing. Harry wondered if that was part of being a Time Lord, being able to understand the ebb and flow of time.

"We encountered a book like that, not literally speaking but, it was still most distressing." Romana said.

Harry could almost imagine a book that time travelled, or made someone travel to a certain location, it seemed fantastical in one sense, though he was sure Ron would say it was just magic, but it was good to know that the Doctor also encountered something book related, that indirectly tried to kill him.

They continued, each swapping stories with the other, as Harry began telling the Doctor and Romana about his battle with the basilisk.

"And this 'phoenix' caused localised cell regeneration?" Harry looked at the Doctor. "Roll up your sleeve Harry. There are many animals in the universe with remarkable properties," he explained looking at the faint scar that remained on his arm.

"Remarkable. The healing abilities of the bird must share some genetic heritage with the…" Romana began to say but the Doctor urged Harry to continue with his story.

-/

"You met the Daleks' creator?" Harry asked amazed.

"Twice," the Doctor said.

"What was he like?" Harry asked curiously. He'd heard about the Daleks several times, from the Doctor (each time he'd met him) and from Ian and Barbara, Jamie, Jo and Sarah Jane Smith. Each time the idea of them had scared him, made him curious, he had some pity for them, especially now that he knew they had a 'creator', rather than being forced into it by necessity.

"A megalomaniac of the highest order, a brilliant twisted scientist." As the Doctor began to tell him what Davros did, while the Doctor was on Skaro he pondered with half a mind if the Doctor dreamt or had nightmares about Davros or the Daleks as he did, Voldemort.

The Daleks or was it Davros who influenced them to such a great extent, they both shared ideals with Voldemort, racial purity, megalomania…

Actually, as Harry reflected that was all that he really knew about Voldemort, while flipping through the various tomes (and they really were tomes) there weren't many that really got into the ideas behind Voldemort and his followers aside from the whole 'blood purity' thing that Malfoy spouted last year.

"Harry…?" The Doctor began. And then repeated. "Harry?"

"Do you think he's alright Doctor?" Romana wondered.

"Just a bit of thought behind the eyes, my teachers always said was a dangerous thing," the Doctor mused.

Harry blinked, he'd been caught up in one of his thought wonderings. "Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about, thinking is a marvellous thing Harry, I often talk to myself. They're some of the best conversations in the universe, chatting to oneself, don't you think Romana?" The Doctor wondered to himself.

"Certainly Doctor, yes of course," she replied as she smirked at Harry.

"Now, a gift." The Doctor withdrew a small box from his pockets and handed it to Harry.

-/

Harry looked at it, the Doctor grinned and nodded.

Inside was a small slightly flat sphere, with an indent in it. Harry looked over at the Doctor, his expression querying him.

"Given your tendency to get into dangerous situations," the Doctor started.

"You can talk Doctor," Romana added.

"Yes, but a citizen of the universe such as I has had over 400 years experience." He said sitting up a little straighter.

"I don't think we should be calling on who has a more dangerous life, after last year I'm not sure how much more dangerous Hogwarts can get," Harry pondered.

The Doctor nodded sagely. "Brave heart Harry. This will hopefully be of use. It's a Spacio-Temporal Emergency Beacon."

"A Spacio-Temporal Emergency Beacon," Harry repeated.

The Doctor nodded. "Keep it with you in the direst of emergencies, when you, and only you push it and it will send a signal to the TARDIS and alert that you're in trouble, the TARDIS will lock on where and when and it'll send me straight to you," the Doctor explained.

"And whatever trouble I find myself in?" Harry looked to him.

"Trouble is where we function best, isn't that right K9?" The Doctor looked down at his robot friend.

"Affirmative Master," he agreed.

"And something from me," Romana said as she put her gift in front of him.

It was dark crystalline rock.

"It enhances certain energies, the Doctor explained the theory along your…your abilities function and this might allow for temporary enhancement. Or it might do nothing, this is all a little new to me," she explained with a smile brushing her hair over her shoulder with one hand.

Harry nodded in slight understanding, the dark crystal was large enough to hold and tapered out to a point, if he could hold it in front of his wand…maybe nothing would happen as Romana said.

Later that night, after he had seen the Doctor, Romana and K9 off on their way, the police box's noise of dematerialisation seemingly not disturbing anyone in the surrounding areas. Harry sat down on his bed in front of him; a book on one of the most "notorious criminals" and a bag of jelly babies. Perhaps this great criminal would, like Salyavin and the Doctor end up being a 'boyhood hero' of his. Stranger things, after all had happened.

-/ - \\-

As Harry tried to push himself up, to grab at the crystalline rock, the rock he'd been given, that he'd kept in his pocket ever since he'd mastered the Patronus charm, he knew he'd need to use it. Earlier, with Hermione he hadn't been ready, too busy encouraging her to help.

But now, as the Dementors approached faster and faster and unconsciousness came closer and closer he was sure, as he tried to grab at his pocket he was sure he saw…it couldn't be…it couldn't…

-/

The dark hospital ward dissolved, Harry had the sensation of flying. A blur of colours and shapes rushed past him, he could feel the blood in his ears pounding, then suddenly with a wompth, he felt solid ground on his feet once more.

"Hermione what?" Harry shook his head trying to clear his head.

"In here," she said quickly grabbing and dragging him toward a broom closet.

"Hermione what, how?" He repeated.

"Harry, we've gone back in time…three hours," Hermione said wuickly as though she was talking about dinner.

A chill went down his back, time travel…

"Fascinating," he whispered a grin forming on his face. It wasn't anything like the Doctor had talked about, more an HG Wells Time Machine experience, without the time machine. He'd certainly have something to chat to the Doctor about when he next 'dropped in'.

"Fascinating that's all you say?" She stared at him.

Harry was caught up in his thoughts as Hermione explained where and when they were.

"So how did you get that hour glass thing, that's your time machine?" Harry asked amazed, thought he admonished himself, he shouldn't have been amazed after all two of his friends were aliens, one travelled around in a police box. The other travelled around annoying the Doctor, 'being evil' according to the Doctor, the Magister was just…another sort of person, Time Lord.

"It's a Time Turner Harry…" Hermione started to explain.

Harry nodded as she explained, but he had to stop her. "You're using a time machine to take extra classes?" He finished in an incredulous tone.

"Yes Harry," Hermione replied seemingly unfazed by his tone "but I don't understand what Dumbledore wants us to do? Why did he tell us to go back three hours? How's this going to help Sirius?"

Harry nodded for a moment, thinking, he decided to leave the question of using a time machine to take extra classes for another time. After everything the Doctor had said about time travel to find it here…it boggled belief, even after all this it was unbelievable.

Harry thought for a moment and then explained his plan to Hermione.

"Dumbledore said – he just told us where the window is – the window of Flitwick's office! Where they've got Sirius locked up ! We've got to fly Buckbeak up to the window and rescue Sirius! Sirius can escape on Buckbeak – they can escape together!"

"If we manage that without being seen, it'll be a miracle!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione" Harry started curiously. "what if we just run in there" He motioned toward Hagrid's hut "and grabbed Scabbers?"

It was of course against various elements of time travel, but he and Hermione were already crossing along their own time streams, so they were obviously breaking some rules or maybe…

"No! Don't you understand?" She said in a terrified whisper. "We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody! You heard what Dumbledore said, if we're seen…"

Harry pondered this information, and was determined to talk to the Doctor, or the Magister about this. Maybe they weren't changing the past at all, maybe they were being the past. Maybe they were always a part of the past and now they were just living through that bit were the puzzle pieces fell into place.

Harry shook his head, time travel was complicated. Even when you were experiencing it, it was just very complicated rather than being an outside observer.

Or maybe, Harry thought to himself, maybe they were writing over the past, changing it subtly.

Harry and Hermione had just watched Crookshanks, themselves and everyone else go through to the Shrieking Shack. Being a bystander in all this was weird; he'd told Hermione just that, despite his friendship with two time travellers it was still weird.

"Harry there's still something I don't understand…why didn't the Dementors get Sirius? I don't remember them coming, and then I think I passed out…there were so many of them," Hermione was asking.

Harry sat down beside Hermione, as he did so the crystalline rock dug into his leg, reminding him.

He explained to her, seeing the Patronus galloping across the lake as he passed out. Hermione's mouth was slightly open throughout the explanation.

"But what was it?" She pressed.

"A Patronus, a real, powerful one," Harry explained.

"But who conjured it?" Hermione continued to ask.

Harry smiled. "I thought it was my father," he said in recollection.

"It could've been a teacher," she leapt in.

Harry looked at her. "I was just about to continue," he said irritably.

"Sorry Harry," she said.

"I know it couldn't have been, but now with your time turner, I think, I know it was me," he said with certainty.

"You?" Hermione looked at him.

"Us," he said.

Hermione blinked as realisation took hold. "You mean we…Harry."

"This means that we were always going to time travel, maybe that's how Dumbledore knew what to do," Harry pondered.

"You don't mean….destiny?" Hermione asked unsure.

"No." Harry shook his head. He'd asked the Doctor about this, when he'd spent time with him and Jo Grant, the concept of time travel was curious, and while when he was 11 it was hard enough to wrap his head around, now experiencing it made a tangled sort of sense. "It's all…" Harry struggled to put into words "Wibbly, web of time stuff."

"Web of time…stuff?" Hermione queried as Harry nodded.

-/

Now they were standing out on the lake, just hidden by a bush, Harry started to remove the rock from his pocket.

"What's that Harry?" Hermione hissed.

"Something a friend gave, I think…" Harry said focusing on some of the happiest moments he could think of, it was already welling up in him, bubbling within.

"Hermione, a Patronus works by banishing Dementors, I wonder what would happen if it was supercharged?" Harry felt a grin forming over his face as he continued to think on those happy memories, those times when he met the Doctor, when the Magister taught him those methods to control and contort the mind, those ways to channel his thoughts, all of it within as he focused, focused on the spell.

Hermione stared at him as he stood up, holding the rock in front of his wand.

"Harry what are you…" She started to ask.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry shouted, energy, passed through his wand, hitting the alien rock and exploded with such a force it blew him backwards.

"Harry!" Hermione pulled him up.

He watched as a huge deer ran towards the Dementors, there was a shrieking and a smell. Harry wrinkled his nose, it was like burning hair…and other things he didn't want to think about.

"Harry the Dementors…" Hermione said with wonder and some disgust, they were ripping into flames as the stag ran around them, it wasn't just banishing them, it was tearing them apart, ripping them to shreds, burning them.

"Fantastic!" Harry exclaimed quietly.

Then the stag came cantering back to them.

"Prongs," Harry whispered, his hand stretched out to the Patronus. It felt warm, then it dissipated. "Fantastic!" Harry said again to himself as he grinned looking out across the lake, there was barely any evidence that the Dementors had been present, save for a few pieces of burning fabric.

"Harry!" Hermione dragged him back behind their hiding place. "What did you do? What was that?" She seemed on the edge of panic.

"I told you, that was me, us being the past," he said simply.

"And that rock?" Harry looked down at the rock, it had changed colour from a black to a white-ish grey. "Something a friend gave me, it intensifies energy…it worked didn't it?" He smiled to himself.

Hermione eyed him. "It didn't just banish it destroyed the Dementors. That was more than just advanced magic Harry…that was, destroying them completely…" Hermione finished in something of a mutter to herself.

"And if I hadn't we'd both be dead Hermione," he said calmly, but mentally thought back, the first time around he hadn't smelt anything or heard anything even though he was on the verge of passing out the first time…

-/ - \\-

Harry couldn't believe it, they'd rescued Buckbeak, Sirius and now despite having travelled in time, they were running out of time, running back to where they had started from.

Maybe this wasn't like the Doctor travelled in time, this was about living the same time over again. Which he supposed limited the time travel to a certain time, lest you travel so far back that you lived the same time over and ended up older than when you started, drastically older, Harry made a mental note that he should ask Hermione whether she actually gained any time through this form of time travel, which would make her a year older…or would it?

Harry came face to face with Dumbledore, caught up in following Hermione and pondering the nature of time travel. How did Hermione do it, time travel and not think about all this, didn't she understand how complicated it was?

"Well?" He asked.

"We did it…" Hermione started to say.

Dumbledore beamed at them. "Well done" He listened for a sound inside the hospital wing. "I think you've gone, too. Get inside, I'll lock you in."

-/ - \\-

After speaking with Remus and Dumbledore Harry found himself outside Professor McGonagall's office.

Despite the prophecy (or whatever it was) that Trelawney had given him about Sirius, it was one version of the future. Harry had decided, through his time travelling that he could alter it, even if it was just slightly, it meant that destiny didn't mean anything, getting a glimpse wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, he certainly didn't want to waste his time at Hogwarts to grasp at a glimpse of the future. He wanted to experience it, or prepare for it, not be given vague interpretations of it, especially from Trelawney.

"Mr Potter," she greeted as she looked up from her work.

"Professor," Harry said calmly as he walked up to her desk. "I'd like to put in a petition to change one of my classes."

"Oh?" She peered at him over her glasses. "From what class into which class if I may ask Mr Potter?"

"Divination, to Ancient Runes Professor," he said calmly.

"That is a lot of work you will need to catch up on Mr Potter, why if I might ask, aside from Sybil's charming teaching methods?" The edges of her mouth quirked slightly.

Harry pondered for a moment. "I want to make my own future Professor. I don't think I'm going to find it in the bottom of a tea cup," he paused and then smiled. "Only if it's a nicely brewed one, at the end of a hard, complicated day, and then I'll enjoy the tea, not the leaves."

Harry was surprised when the Professor laughed. "Yes Mr Potter, I think you can change classes, I will have a reading list and extra course work for you before the end of school and inform Sybil that you…will no longer attend her classes."

"Thank you Professor," Harry smiled to her, she still had a smile on her face.

"Good day Mr Potter."

-/ - \\-

The Doctor danced around the console, flicking switches and pulling levers.

Charley watched in amusement at his florid display at flying the ship. He turned to look at her grinning at him.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"You, with all this, it's like you're some fabulous industrialist flying his magical contraption, and it's wonderful," she said.

"Charley, Charley, Charley…you always see the best in me," he grinned and continued his dance.

"So where are we heading for this time…" Charley mused to herself as she walked over to the side of the console that displayed the planet information along with the time and date.

"Humanian Era, Earth. Oh," she stopped.

"Oh. Earth is my favourite planet," he almost pouted,

Charley glanced at him. "I didn't mean it like that Doctor, I just thought we were going somewhere weird and wild, a real adventure."

"Because you Miss Pollard as an Edwardian Adventuress deserve to go somewhere wild, with giant rabbits, a pink elephants and purple horses with yellow spots?" He wondered grinning at her.

Charley turned away in a rush. "That's not very nice Doctor, you're just being stupid!"

"No, no, no, no Charley, I would never be stupid, not like that," he rushed around to face her. "I really have met a giant rabbit, a pink elephant and a purple horse with yellow spots."

"Really, let me guess and you all met with Lord Byron on the shore or Lake Geneva for hot cross buns and chocolate éclairs?" She crossed her arms.

"No, but that would have worked also. It was the Third Galactic Peace Conference," he said as he continued his moves around the console. "A load of boring speeches about the fate of the galaxy, talking instead of doing."

"And that's what we're up to Doctor?" Charley challenged.

"Hmm?" He asked looking up from the console.

"Doing instead of talking?" She repeated.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, yes, Charley of course we are."

"So, again Doctor, what is on Earth?" She asked.

"Earth, lots of things," he said with a grin.

"I meant why are we going, is Earth going to be invaded by the evil Drahvins, or the secret cult of Sutekh?" She said putting spooky emphasis on the words.

The Doctor stopped in his tracks. "No, not yet I don't think, where did you hear that names?" He asked curiously.

"Your library Doctor. Father would have a fit if he'd ever seen a library like yours, have you got a system or is it just random?" She challenged him.

"Maybe it's a random system Charley?" He asked in a serious tone. "They're often the best sort, keeps you on your toes."

"So…?" She tried again.

"A friend Charley, an old friend," he explained.

"Like the Brigadier?" She asked.

"Yes, yes, yes. He's someone I've known for a long time," he grinned at her.

"He must be pretty old then." The Doctor looked up at her. "Well not old, just if you've known him a long time."

"I like to think of myself as barely middle aged Charley." The Doctor reached into his waist coat, watching his pocket watch and then seemingly randomly wrenched down the handbrake on the TARDIS console.

Charley's ears were filled with the noise of materialisation.

"Excellent," he smiled and wondered over to the row of filing cabinets and began to rummage through them, throwing various things over his shoulder.

"Now what are you looking for Doctor?"

"Oh, this and that…ah," he said removing a dark brown sleeveless top.

Charley wrinkled her nose it smelt, odd, like old leaves, or leather that had been in the sun for too long.

"What's that?"

"A vest, weaved by the fire transporters of Hyspero, now if I can just find the…" He handed the top to Charely and pulled out another draw, and turned around grinning at her, they were a pair of trousers, lighter in colour.

"And what do 'fire transporters' do when they're at home?" She asked.

"They don't have a home, wanderers. Nomads, selling their wares, fire, Charley, fire! Riding across the great plains of Hyspero. Their fires have warmed the chilled bones of travellers, cooked the spoils of bandits, and kept lit the way for thieves and assassins." He explained with flourish.

"It sounds a charming place," she commented.

"It is," he smiled and grabbed a thin leather satchel and stuffed the two items of clothing into it."

"But why have you emptied half of the draws out for it?" She wondered.

"Very useful, impervious to fire, weaved in the desert by talking spiders and dancing snakes to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star…" He trailed off.

"You're making it up!" She challenged.

"Only the song part, they wouldn't tell me the name of the song," he continued with a broad smile.

Charley shook her head at the Doctor's grinning face.

"Come on don't dawdle Charley, we're off to see the wizard," he said as he bounded up on the stairs by the door.

-/

Charley stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around, expecting to see castles or something instead the TARDIS was parked on the side of a road, all around them were houses, all exactly the same.

"Like gingerbread men aren't they, with their gingerbread houses all the same, in a row," the Doctor said as Charley managed not to jump, just.

"So when are we Doctor?" She asked continuing to look around to find something that would help indicate so.

"Didn't you see when you were studying the console?" He wondered.

"Not quite, the dials were still moving slightly," she answered.

"Undecided…through the whirligig of time," he mused and licked a finger holding it up to the air. "It's the 20th of July 1994, we're in England."

"Nineteen Ninety Four?" Charley repeated. It didn't look like much, even when they met the Brigadier it hadn't been much, this was even less so…it was so repetitive.

"Little Whinging," he said in a dull tone.

"Little what?" She wrinkled her nose.

"In Surrey," the Doctor clarified as they turned a corner down another street.

"Doctor. This doesn't look like somewhere a wizard would live," she observed.

"Appearances can be deceiving. Here we are," he said indicating number 4.

"Here?" She asked, it looked the most boring of all the houses, so very...picaresque, yet, not.

"Yes," his tone had changed to a slightly more…not grim but a more down tone as he approached the door and knocked firmly eight times.

When the door opened a rather large man was standing in the door way.

"Hello there Vernon." There was an icy coolness Charley rarely heard in the Doctor's voice. He was still smiling, but it was a much cooler smile that seemed to barely reach the rest of his body.

"What, how, how do you know my name?" The man huffed.

"We've met before" he smiled "Though you wouldn't remember, I'm the Doctor by the way, this is Charley."

"Hello there," she greeted with a slight wave.

"You, you…" He started.

"Me. Is Harry around?" The Doctor pushed his way past Vernon and into the house. "I do hope you've been treating him nicely."

"Boy!" The man shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Vernon who is it?" A thin woman followed by a…Charley blanched at the size of the…person she was sure her eyes bulged out slightly. Moderation was clearly not something his parents had strived for. If he was their son, maybe he was some odd experiment or something, she turned to ask the Doctor, he just nodded to her.

"Coming Uncle Vernon," said a young man's voice as Charley heard footsteps running down the stairs.

"Boy, these people are here to see you. I don't want any of that stuff going on," the large man threatened.

"Hello Harry!" The Doctor rushed forward enveloping Harry in a hug.

"Doctor!" Harry said, his voice muffled by the velvet of the Doctor's coat.

"Hello Harry." The Doctor blinked and looked around. Vernon and they other two and disappeared into the kitchen. "Oh, looks like Vernon has disappeared. Pity."

Charley could tell he didn't mean it at all.

"Charley, I'd like you to meet Harry Potter, one of my best ever friends. Harry this is Charley Pollard one of my best friends ever," the Doctor was almost bouncing in excitement.

"Hi," he offered her his hand.

"Hello." She took his offered hand. It was rough, calloused in odd areas of his hand, as though he spent a lot of time writing, her father had pointed out to her accountants often had calluses from all the writing they did.

"Why don't we head out for some lunch Harry? I'm sure your relatives won't mind," the Doctor leaned into the house further but there was no sign of them.

"Okay Doctor, I'll just get my shoes," Harry said as he turned to go back up the stairs then half way up he said "I've got loads to tell you and loads of questions."

"Questions, for me? Harry, Harry, Harry, you shouldn't have, questions are what I love!"

-/

As soon as Harry had disappeared up the stairs the Doctor had his sonic screwdriver out opening a lock on the cupboard under the stairs.

"What are you doing Doctor?"

"Just making sure of something Charley, just making sure…" The Doctor wrenched the door open and sighed, there was nothing but broken toys in the cupboard and old rags.

"What were you expecting to find in there?" She asked.

"Nothing, Charley. That was what I expected," he said shutting the door.

-/

Harry came running down the stairs to meet the Doctor and opened the door, a grin on his face.

"Don't you need to tell your relatives where you're going?" Charley asked as she passed him out the door.

"Them?" Harry glanced back as he shut the door. "They don't care where I am as long as I'm home to cook their meal for them," he replied with a shrug and a bitter tone.

"So Harry, how have you been?" He asked.

"Good…and I have so much to tell you Doctor!" Harry said; excited.

"Yes, yes, yes. Let's find somewhere for lunch," the Doctor said walking ahead rubbing his hands together leaving Harry and Charley walking together.

"Is he always so…?" Harry began.

"Bouncy?" Charley tried.

"Yeah," Harry nodded.

"Don't you know him?" She asked.

"I do…but I've met…different aspects of him."

"So the Doctor tells me you're a wizard," Charley asked curiously.

Harry blinked. "Yeah. And yourself?"

"Edwardian Adventuress," she said proudly.

"Cool," Harry said with a smile. "So how long have you been travelling with the Doctor? What dangerous things have you gotten into?"

"What do you mean?" Charley asked, though there had been some…maybe more than some dangerous things.

"You know he's travelled with other people…" Harry asked slowly.

"Yes," Charley answered slowly, the Doctor had mentioned other people.

"He can't help himself, danger follows him, a bit like me," Harry chuckled.

-/

Harry's eyebrows were raised, an airship, she'd escaped an airship on what sounded like a dragon. Though he supposed that considering he'd flown around on Buckbeak they were probably even on that front.

-/ - \\-

"Now Harry what did you want to ask me?" The Doctor said once they were seated in a restaurant that Harry didn't even know was in Little Whinging, only some doors from the library, he supposed he'd never had cause to walk the extra few doors down from the library. The Doctor had a hint of pride as he asked the question.

"Oh so great Time Lord you are?" Harry joked. The Doctor stared back at him, brushing a piece of imaginary lint from his jacket, Harry met his gaze.

"Honestly you two," Charley said with a huff making Harry grin.

"What?" She looked at him curiously as he smiled..

"Just reminded me of a friend," Harry answered.

"So what did you want to ask the Doctor, before you get into a staring or insult match," she pressed.

"I've had both become the start of excellent conversations Charley," the Doctor commented.

"I time travelled Doctor!" Harry announced, the Doctor snapped his head around and stared at him.

"You…?" The Doctor began.

"Yeah, not what I expected, damn confusing," Harry started.

-/

The Doctor mused to himself as Harry told his story. The Web of Time was a complicated and sometimes fickle thing, and Harry and his friend Hermione's involvement did seem somewhat reckless. No worse than he'd done himself, but it being Harry's first foray into the fourth dimension it was of concern. Though Harry seemed both concerned and elated that he had altered the past, slightly, perhaps for the better. Again something that he had done often, and would continue to do. Perhaps his experiences were rubbing off on Harry.

Then there was the casual way that Harry's friend Hermione had been given a 'time turner' (a device he'd never heard of, but he added it to his growing mental list of things to investigate at a later date) to take more classes. That was sheer lunacy, risking crossing your own timeline, frequently throughout a year, it was beyond lunacy. It was breaking one of the laws of time.

At least Harry seemed to indicate wizards had some rules, logical ones, not seeing or meeting yourself. But even so, the amount of temporal energy that must have been swimming around Hogwarts…

"Of course!" He exclaimed. Harry and Charley stared at him. Harry had was just finishing telling Charley about his second year at Hogwarts.

"Doctor?" Harry asked curiously.

"There must have been huge" Hhe made a grand gesture with his hands, Harry made to grab the Doctor's wine glass, but Charley was already holding it steady, they grinned at each other. "Amounts of temporal energy around Hogwarts. It would allow you to alter your past, becoming it so easily. It probably explains why your professor had her 'premonition'."

"You mean bits of the future were leaking back and she was picking up on it, like an old radio?" Charley asked.

"Yes, yes, yes Charley exactly, that's it!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Why Trelawney though?" Harry wondered.

The Doctor shrugged. "Hermione was probably using her time turner first to get to that class, so your teacher was one of the first exposed. Though she could have a small level of temporal sensitivity." Harry scoffed as the Doctor added "It would have to be very small, otherwise she would have noticed instantly your friend's time stream crossing."

"Ah ha," Harry pondered.

"You actually understood that?" Charley looked at him.

"Yeah, I think I do," Harry mused.

"You do?" The Doctor looked at him curiously.

"Remember when we sat around and chatted about that alternate future with the Daleks and all?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes…such a time ago, I was young then," the Doctor said wistfully.

"You're not now?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor grinned at him. "We're all young, just depends how you count."

-/ - \\-

They were taking the long way back to Privet Drive, through the park that was when the Doctor presented him with his early birthday gift.

Harry ran his hands over the material, it, like many of the Doctor's gifts felt other worldly. Though he wasn't sure what he'd need clothing that was impervious to fire for.

"Keep it for a rainy day," he said mysteriously.

"Is it going to be raining fire anytime soon Doctor?" Harry asked.

The Doctor just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Web of Time, I know," Harry muttered and replaced the clothing in the satchel.

Then before Harry was aware of it they were walking up to a police box.

Charley watched Harry as he saw the TARDIS and saw him grin at it.

"Still haven't fixed the Chameleon Circuit," Harry observed.

"I like her like that," the Doctor countered.

"I remember you going on about how it got stuck, that it used to be all these amazing things," Harry reminded him.

"Don't you like it?" The Doctor sounded hurt. Harry ran his fingers over the wood, which wasn't wood, there was a faint humming under his fingertips.

"Well Harry, look after yourself, no giant snakes." The Doctor hugged him again and opened up the TARDIS doors.

"Of course not Doctor, but trouble does seem to follow me, as it does you," Harry said grinning at him as he disappeared into the TARDIS.

"It was very nice meeting you Harry," Charley said.

"As with you Charley," Harry replied with a smile.

"Take care," she smiled kindly.

"And you. You'd better go, I'm sure he's getting impatient," Harry said looking into the blackness of the space beyond the doors.

"He can get impatient," she huffed and then hugged him and stepped into the TARDIS.

Harry watched as the TARDIS growled at the space around him and whipped the leaves on the ground up as it disappeared.

-/ - \\-

Minor edit done in March 2021.

A/N:

For the Fourth Doctor this takes place just after the (unbroadcast) story Shada (and a little bit after The Horns of Nimon), Shada had some nice themes to pick up on that I felt went well with this chapter and the Doctor and Romana.

So far this first part of this chapter was one of the hardest parts to write. Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor is quite a hard character to get a hold on. When you watch him it's all there, not just the delivery but the body language, how he moves through the scenes. Capturing that…often madness was tricky.

This chapter actually ended with Harry reading about Sirius, but then I decided to add the 'time travel' section of Prisoner of Azkaban. Which I'm mostly happy with, I've actually rewritten it a few times, I didn't want to make it seem like Harry couldn't have produced the Patronus without the rock, that's what he did the 'first time around', then the second time around he destroys them.

The last section also again wasn't going to be in this chapter, I've actually written a plan for this story, one that I keep swapping around and the Eighth Doctor part I've moved around a bit, trying to find where it would fit. But there's a nice bit of symmetry, Harry meets the Fourth at the start of this chapter and then the Eighth at the end.

Just one note about Charley, she's from the 1930s, The Wizard of Oz the film was released in 1939. The book was published in 1900, but doesn't (as far as I can tell) contain the words "we're off to see the Wizard". (Which is why she doesn't think about other bits of The Wizard of Oz, I had some other references I was going to throw in, but as that section is from Charley's POV it wouldn't have worked).

I put in the various things about Harry being unsure about Divination because…well with the Doctor's influence I don't think he'd want to be in it, and his experiences in this chapter show that more so. So he'll be studying Ancient Runes instead.

The section with the Eighth Doctor takes place after Harry returns from Hogwarts but before the Weasleys turn up to take him to the World Cup.

Writing the Eighth Doctor's dialogue is almost as hard as the Fourth, but instead trying to pack in Tom Baker's performance I'm fitting in Paul McGann's performance and all the technobabble that explains the time travel elements in Prisoner of Azkaban.

The Eighth Doctor and Charley are from Big Finish's audio dramas, and is set after Minuet in Hell.

Thanks for reading.