The first thing that Hermione noticed when she regained consciousness was that she seemed to be in a high tech infirmary of some sort. However, she was apparently the only patient because there was only one bed in the space. Her new location seemed to suggest that somehow she had successfully apparated despite those spells that she remembered striking her at the last minute. At any rate, it seemed unlikely that she had been captured because it was next to impossible to believe that Death Eaters would have put her in such a clean and comfortable place.

That thought relieved her enough that when the next thing that caught her attention was the fact that someone had removed her clothes and that she was in her underwear, she did not freak out as much as she could have. Fortunately, she had also noticed that she had been cleaned up a bit and that there was a blanket covering her. The knowledge that someone had tried to take care of her helped to reassure her, as well...at least until she realized that she was not alone in the room.

"Hello there!" came a cheerful English voice with a distinctly Northern edge to it.

Hermione quickly turned her head to the side to see a man leaned casually against the wall. He was tall with short cropped dark hair, rather prominent ears and nose, and piercing blue eyes. He was not classically handsome, but his looks were rather striking - especially since he was dressed completely in black from his leather jacket down to his boots. The fashion statement seemed rather incongruous with the pristine white infirmary environment. Nevertheless, Hermione could not help but to notice that the overall look was quite attractive, as well.

As she focused back on his face, though, she also noted that he was older than her. In fact, he was probably about Remus's age. At that one thought, however, all of her observations crashed to a stop as her eyes filled up with tears as the memories rushed back. She had seen him fall. Remus was gone. They were all gone.

The young women broke down then and cried out in grief and anguish.

The Doctor had been feeling strangely protective of the mysterious girl and had kept a close watch on her in the infirmary. Consequently, he noticed the instant her eyes fluttered open. He stood back for a moment, however, in order to watch her reaction. He looked on approvingly as she visually assessed her surroundings first before she checked her physical condition. He also noted how she relaxed slightly when she realized that she was in no immediate danger...but that she never let her guard down completely.

Those little actions directly substantiated his suspicion that she was used to fighting for her life. It was then that he deemed it appropriate to call her attention to his presence so that she would not be frightened or worried when she finally realized that someone was in the room with her. Then he watched her as she assessed him, much as she had done with the room before. She did not seem to register him as a threat, either, and that pleased him greatly for some reason.

Therefore, he was not prepared for the tears when they came – especially when she cried out, "They're all gone!"

It was then that he realized that she was alone. Something resonated inside of him at the thought because he knew that type of grief all too well. His hearts went out to her and without even stopping to think, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms to comfort her. He did not say anything, though. He just held her as the sobs racked her thin frame.

With such closeness, though, he was hit again with that sense of the extraordinary. She was definitely human, the medical scans had confirmed that, but his heightened senses kept registering something unusual. It was nothing unpleasant or bad; there was just something very different about her. The woman in his arms had a spark to her that he had never really seen before. However, he could not focus on that when she was hurting. Instead, he found that he just wanted to help her in any way that he could.

...

The tears stopped as quickly as they began as Hermione came back to her senses and realized that the strange man was holding her as she cried. In her surprise, she pulled back from him slightly, and looked him straight in the eyes. When blue met golden brown, the Doctor finally realized that he was holding an attractive and almost naked woman – and for the first time in centuries, his hearts stuttered. However, he forced his thoughts away from that unexpected reaction in order to look back at her calmly. After all, it was important to him for her to know that he was not a threat to her.

It must have worked because, after a moment, the young woman visibly relaxed.

For her part, Hermione hoped that her normally sharp instincts were still functioning correctly because, for some strange reason, she felt quite safe with the man - even though she also got the distinct impression that he could be very dangerous if he needed to be. Other than that feeling, though, he looked quite ordinary. However, she knew better than most that looks could be deceiving and both her senses and magic told her that he was about as far from ordinary as he could possibly be. There was definitely something very different about him.

For one thing, she could have sworn that she had felt a double heartbeat as he held her. For another, he smelled like (and here she took another quick sniff to confirm it) Time. She had learned early on during her adventures with the Time Turner that, oddly enough, time travel had a very distinct...if inexplicable...essense. After all, she had experienced it with every single jump, so it was engraved in her senses...and, therefore, there was no doubt that the man in front of her reeked of it. In fact, it seemed to be woven through his very being somehow. It was not unpleasant, though. In fact, it was actually overwhelmingly comfortable in a way.

But who would smell like the essense of Time? She pondered the possibilities, each one as unbelievable as the next, before she decided to be the bold Gryffindor that she was and come right out and ask.

"Time...Why do you smell like Time?" she finally inquired aloud, much to the great surprise of the man who was still sat on her bed, but who had slid a bit away from her when she had stopped crying and started to assess him so intensely again.

When he did not answer right away...mainly because he was still staring at her in amazement...she finally realized what else she was missing. Where was her wand? Did she drop it when she was hit with those spells while apparating? Hermione's eyes searched around the room hopefully, but when she still did not see it, she looked back at the man in front of her, instead.

Does he know who I am? Is he a wizard? she wondered.

That could explain the essense of Time to some extent, but this room obviously had too much technology in it to be part of the wizarding world. Therefore, would she be breaking the Statute of Secrecy if she revealed her magic to call for her wand or not? It might be nearby, after all - especially since she did not know exactly where she was. Maybe her first order of business should be to figure out her location and exactly whom she was with. Was he an ally, enemy, or just someone who happened to be in the right place to stumble across her? Even though he still had not answered her first question, it was time to ask the more important ones...and so she did.

"Who are you? What and where is this?" She insisted in a tone that was much closer to that of her former self than it had been before as she easily met his eyes again and gestured to the room around them.

...

The Time Lord, however, just continued to stare at his guest in surprise and wonder.

Who was this girl? How could she possibly recognize the smell of Time? He wondered as his hearts jumped at the possibilities - even while he sternly reminded himself that she was definitely human.

He had established that fact already. He was positive that she was British, too, since her accent was from the southeastern part of England to be exact. He knew that for certain because England had always been one of his favorite places in the universe…and he had visited it…and its people…many times in many different bodies. What he did not know was what made this one so different? He could not quite figure it out and he considered peeking into her mind for the answers to the mystery. He decided against that drastic action for the time being, though - especially since he could always do it later as a last resort, if necessary. Therefore, he gathered his scattered thoughts back together as he decided to be truthful and simply introduce himself as such.

"I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet ya," he finally replied with a manic grin to hide his uncertainty, "and this is the TARDIS." He paused to gesture vaguely around the space they occupied. "Care to tell me who you are and why...how...you…dropped by…rather unexpectedly?"

Hermione just eyed the man for a long moment since she had a feeling that he was not telling her the whole truth. Plus, she was concerned by the "dropped by" comment. Had she just apparated into wherever this was, then? She still did not know, so she ignored his question for the time being...at least until she received a clearer answer for her own.

"Did you say the TARDIS? What is that? Where is that?" she repeated as she looked around again, confused, before she added another question as a second thought suddenly occurred to her. "Also, this may sound a bit strange, but are we still in Scotland...or did I make it to England?"

That last question caused him to look at her even more intensely. If she originated in Scotland, why would she possibly suspect that she was not still there? How was she attempting to travel to England? Did she know how she ended up on his ship in the first place? Why was she not more concerned about the strangeness of their situation? In fact, she was acting oddly calm now - as if this kind of thing happened to her all of the time.

What did that mean?

There were just too many questions and not enough answers. What if she was not as harmless as she seemed? The Doctor finally decided just to peek into her mind and see if her surface thoughts could help him to figure out what was going on. He would be in and out quickly...and she would never even know that he had there. At any rate, that was the plan. However, it did not turn out quite as well as he had hoped. In fact, he only managed to retrieve her name before she caught him and threw him out of her mind.

"Get out of my head!" she exclaimed in fury as soon as she felt that familiar tickle. She focused her core magic to stop the mental intrusion as she slammed up her Occlumency walls. Statute of Secrecy be damned! she thought forcefully and decided that she could not wait any longer.

Therefore, she redirected her magic and shouted out, "Accio wand!" as she hoped against hope that it was nearby. Consequently, she almost cried in relief when it zoomed into the room and landed in her hand. In a heartbeat, she was out of the bed and had the familiar weight in her hand pointed towards the strange man who called himself the Doctor...whatever that meant...even though she was still clad in only her bra and knickers.

Far from acting angry or scared, though, the man seemed to be strangely delighted at the unexpected turn of events. "Fantastic!" he exclaimed with a wide grin and a sparkle in his eye. "You're a witch!"