AN: Ok, three more chapters after this one, after that I need to write more before I can post again. Who do you think Ulrir might have sent them to?

It looks like my update didn't get published, so I'm trying again...

***HPadMwaB***

Some days later, Harry broached the subject of the Anomaly. They were parked in the Vortex after an adventure on Crespallion, and Harry was sitting thoughtfully in the pilot seat. When the Doctor asked him where he wanted to go next, he hesitated. "You said you had a friend who could help me with... the thing in my head."

The question was proof that the topic was occupying the boy's mind, considering he remembered that stray remark from two months ago.

"I did say that, yes," the Doctor confirmed. "No guarantees that he'll be able to help, but he's spent more time studying telepathy than I ever did. Too much to do, me."

"Do you think we could go there?" Harry asked.

"Sure thing, if you want. At the very least we can go and listen what he has to say about it. Is it bothering you? Can you feel it?"

"No, but... it's not normal. I just want to be normal."

The Doctor scoffed, although with a smile to show he was only joking. "Psh, normality is overrated. Just look at your aunt and uncle, what did being normal ever get them, eh? But I do understand what you mean. Normal or not, that thing is up to no good, so it's probably best to get rid of it sooner rather than later. You are being protected, but I don't know how, so I don't know how long either. First lets get some sleep, and then we'll go find my friend."

***HPadMwaB***

Harry stepped out of the TARDIS with some trepidation. It was one thing to ask for a solution for the Anomaly, but another entirely to potentially get it.

They had landed in a cave, apparently, although the floor was smoother than he'd expected. He could see the cave roof, despite there being no obvious light source. He did see some structures that might be houses – or might be something else enitrely, for all he knew.

The Doctor followed him out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, it's a bit further on."

Harry followed willingly, although he did grab the Doctor's hand.

They had not gone far when a humanoid figure came towards them. Harry had seen enough aliens in their travels up to now that he hardly blinked at the pitch-black colour of the person's skin, or the striking contrast with their white hair. He did note with some curiosity the pointed ears, but even that failed to hold his attention for long when the person smiled at the Doctor and extended his hands, fingers spread.

"Doctor! I thought I heard your ship. It has been many turnings of the planet since you last visited us. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

The Doctor smiled back and touched their fingertips with his own.

"Ulrir, well met! It has been a while, for both of us. That business with the berserker mushrooms, wasn't it? With that Gygax fellow? I was... what, on my third face? Must have been, I'd only just got my exile lifted.

"Listen, I've come across something of a mystery, and I was hoping you'd take a little gander, tell me what you think."

Ulrir inclined his head. "Of course, Doctor. Anything for an old friend."

"Is there somewhere a little more comfortable to talk? We're a bit out in the open here." He looked up at the cave roof. "Well, relatively speaking."

Ulrir laughed. "Certainly. We will go to my dwelling. Who is your friend?"

After introductions had been made and Ulrir had enquired after some people he'd met last time, the Doctor explained what he'd seen in Harry's mind.

"I'd hoped, since you made telepathy your life's study, that you might know what the Anomaly is, and how to deal with it in a manner that doesn't harm Harry."

Ulrir turned his gaze towards Harry, who had not said much yet.

"I can certainly look, see what I can find. Harry, kindly close your eyes and imagine a door. It can be any door you wish, you will be on one side and you will hear me knocking in three... two... one."

Harry closed his eyes as instructed. The first door that he thought of was the one in the cupboard under the stairs. He frowned at it. That door was part of his old life, where everything was aggressively normal and the best thing that he could expect to happen was that he got food into his tummy.

He had a new life now, where he didn't know what might happen from one day to the next. He could play with blue-skinned children, or stand on the moon (a moon, anyway, somewhere and somewhen), or enter a glowing cavern. Anything was possible, and so his door should show that.

He nodded when his new door showed the by now familiar blue. Better.

Right on cue, a knocking sounded. It was the oddest thing, because his ears couldn't hear it, and yet it sounded like a bell, only inside his head. It was a very different sensation than when the Doctor had done this.

From the other side of the TARDIS door, Ulrir's voice sounded.

"Harry, you will have to open the door, otherwise I won't be able to enter." Harry opened the door just a crack and peered out. Ulrir was sitting cross-legged on the other side with a patient expression on his black face.

"I understand it's scary letting someone into your mind," the man said when he noticed the boy peering out, "but if you don't, I won't be able to help you."

That decided Harry. Well, that and the fact that Ulrir seemed prepared to wait as long as needed for Harry to open the door. And the Doctor trusted him, so that was a definite point in his favour. He pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped to the side.

Ulrir smiled and inclined his head.

"Thank you, Harry," he said, suddenly standing next to him. Harry blinked, looking from Ulrir to the place he'd been sitting just a moment ago. There had been no transition, no getting up and taking two steps. One moment he was sitting, the next he was standing just inside the door.

"How did you do that?" he asked shyly. By now he was used to the Doctor answering all the questions he might ask, but he hardly expected other adults to extend him the same courtesy. For all he knew, the next question he asked might lead him right back to 'don't ask questions!', his aunt's standard reply.

Ulrir didn't seem to mind, though. "You have to understand we are not on the physical plane. We are inside your mind, where the normal rules do not apply. The key is imagination. If you can imagine it, it can happen.

"So, how about you and I go find this Anomaly of yours?"

Together, the two of them started looking around, until they could see the black mass of roiling shadows and the golden net surrounding it that the Doctor had described. With a thought, they were right next to it, and they could see the tendrils trying to escape and the net stopping them time and again. It was a mesmerising sight, and they stood looking at it for some time. It could have been minutes, or hours. Time acted funny like that when you were inside your own mind.

Eventually, Harry reached out, too quickly for Ulrir to react, and touched the golden net. He couldn't explain it, but he felt deep within that he needed to do this, and that the net would not harm him.

The golden glow from the net surrounded his hand, and suddenly he was suffused with such warmth and joy and love as he had rarely felt in his short life. The sensation brought tears to his eyes.

Ulrir made a gesture, possibly to try and stop him, but broke it off when he saw nothing bad was happening.

"Come," he said instead, "I have seen enough. Let us go back. Close your eyes, and I will count down from five. When I reach one, we will be back in the physical world. Five... four... three... two...one."

Harry opened his eyes again to find himself back in his seat, with the Doctor looking intently from him to Ulrir and back.

"How did it go?" he asked as soon as they were both looking at him.

"Doctor," said Ulrir, "I have been able to ascertain the Anomaly and the defense against it, but I'm afraid there is little I can do to help. We are not talking about pure telepathy here. There are souls involved, Doctor. Both the Anomaly and the protection have their origin in souls, and both are separate souls from Harry at that. That is all I can see, I do not know how this situation came about, and I will be unable to fix it."

The Doctor's face dropped. "So there's nothing you can do? We are back to square one?"

Ulrir looked unimpressed with the Doctor. "I did not say there is nothing I can do. I cannot fix this, but I can give you the temporal-spatial coordinates of a place where I'm certain there is someone who can help you. I haven't personally met them, but I know of their existence."

"Oh. Right. And you never leaving your cave? How did you come by this information?"

Ulrir smirked. "I have my ways, Doctor. There are more ways to travel than physically."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Fine, keep your secrets. What are these coordinates then?"

When he heard the answer, he frowned a little. "Are you sure? These are for Earth. They shouldn't have the technology for telepathy at that time, nevermind anything to do with souls!"

Ulrir leaned closer. "Who said anything about technology?" He winked at Harry before turning back. "Trust me, Doctor, that's where you want to go."