Too Close For Comfort, Doctor
by
xXx MissHaunted-MoonLight xXx

Quick update this time. I'm on a roll!

Hope you enjoy it!

And again, thanks for the reviews, guys! All are read and appreciated.

Chapter 5

A Hogwarts' Healing Hand

Even through the darkness Harry could see how pale the young woman had become. Her eyes fell onto the wand in his hand, to the way he was holding it so amazingly steady, not quavering in his aim at all. She looked down at the Doctor's face, and Harry quickly noted the emotions burning deep within her eyes. She really loved him, in so many ways.

But she couldn't tell him. So many secrets were kept within her that she was beginning to become overwhelmed by them all …

Harry shook himself mentally, clearing his throat in the hopes that it would clear his mind at the same time.

"What was your name, again?" he asked quietly. She turned to him, noticeably shaking, and locked her eyes onto his.

"Rose," she replied, her voice breaking. "Rose Tyler." She hesitated, eyeing him shrewdly before asking, "how old are you?"

"I was seventeen two months ago. July 31st," Harry said.

Rose stared at him. She paused, and then asked, "look, be honest. Have you ever done this before?"

Harry studied her long and hard. She really was a beautiful young woman. A Muggle, according to the Doctor. Barely five minutes had passed since she had stumbled unintentionally into a world completely unbelievable to her race, completely invisible. No motives, no reason; simply that she had been brought there. Well, nothing was ever a coincidence during these dark and dangerous times. Every sinister act, every mysterious occurrence happened for a reason. This was Voldemort. And yet as remarkable as it seemed, at that moment, even knowing that she was somehow involved with the War, Harry couldn't help but trust her.

"No," he said, quietly, sympathetically.

She sighed heavily and nodded in reluctant acceptance. Harry lowered his wand, stood up and moved around to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, tears welling. He was beginning to feel rather guilty with himself. She was the second young woman that night that he had seen in tears, and on both occasions, it had been his fault. He watched as she wilfully stilled her trembling hands and gazed up at him, wide-eyed.

"And…whatever it is that you're about to do…will it be painful?" she asked.

"Not nearly as painful as what he's going through now," Harry replied, heavily. "Internal bleeding isn't a very pleasant experience. I could wait, if you want. Ginny will be back soon with Madam Pomfrey. She'd fix him up in no time, but I'm not sure if he'd last that long, to be honest."

"But, but…but who said anything about internal bleeding?"

Harry stared at her.

"He did."

"But…but he hasn't said anything!"

"He didn't need to. The way he was holding himself, the pain he was experiencing, the bruising on his stomach. They all point to internal bleeding. That isn't a bruise if you examine it closely. It's blood."

Rose looked confused. "No…no it was a broken rib," she muttered wildly. "Even hesaid it was! Why would he agree with me when I said it was that if it isn't? How could he not know about it being internal bleeding?" she asked tearfully.

"Hedid know," Harry replied.

Rose was dumbstruck.

"But he wouldn't lie to me! He wouldn't keep something that serious from me if he'd known. Why would he do that?"

Harry shook his head, sighing heavily.

"I'm sorry, but I can't answer that one. You'll have to ask him."

Rose glanced around, looking strangely lost and confused with everything. Harry waited silently, feeling increasingly more nervous. If they wanted to help the Doctor, they needed to do it fast. Finally, she looked back at him, her face set.

"What will you do to him?"

"Hopefully stop the bleeding long enough to move him. I'm amazed he's managed to walk all the way out here with injuries like that. There's a spell, one that one of my friends came across while we were studying over the holidays. She was looking through a medical journal of one of the Founders. Only, it hasn't been used in years. No-one bothers with methods like this anymore. Perfect for us, because the spell won't be registered, which means the Ministry won't come looking for us if we ever perform it. So we practiced it. I haven't used it on a human-being before, though. Haven't used it on a living creature before, actually."

He sighed and turned to her.

"What do you want me to do?"

Rose stared at the Doctor before answering him.

"Do it," she said, firmly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do it, but be quick!"

Harry nodded and turned back to the Doctor, determination set within his stunningly green eyes.

"Right, pull his shirt up," he ordered quickly. "The wound has to be visible if this is going to work."

Rose did as she was told, her fingers trembling as she loosened his tie and pulled it free, before unfastening the buttons on his shirt. Funny, she would have been more than willing to perform such an intimate act on any other occasion, bust she wasn't sure she wanted to see him like this.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen his new chest before. It had only been a few days since his regeneration; a few days since the Sycorax…

Rose was pulled from her wandering thoughts when Harry raised his wand once more and pointed it at the Doctor, expression one of utmost concentration.

"Oh, you're not going to like this," he muttered. "I'm really,really sorry, Doctor!"

Both Harry and Rose jammed their eyes shut, Rose vehemently turning her head away and dropping it against her chest, unsure about what was going to happen but pretty damn certain that she didn't want to witness whatever it was.

"Viscus curatio!"

As the words echoed ominously around her head, Rose suppressed an anxious cry as a soft, pale blue light burst from Harry's wand tip and illuminated the back of her eyelids. The strange light began to wrap itself around the Doctor's body, shrouding it in its eerie glow, the light burning marks into her mind despite her inability to see. For a moment, nothing happened, and as Harry forced his eyes open, fully aware that he needed to know what was happening despite his desire to not know, he held his breath.

After a few heart-stopping seconds during which nothing of significance happened at all, the Doctor began to shudder violently. Rose gasped and placed her hands on his chest, the movement snaking through her tense arms enough to shock her eyes open again as she tried to keep him steady. Harry lowered his left hand and placed it on the Doctor's thigh, whilst still holding his wand steady in his right to keep the connection flowing.

He was mentally kicking himself for doing this. There weren't enough words in all invented dictionaries to describe how much he hated himself right at that moment. To inflict pain like that onto a complete stranger was near suicidal, and he also had good reason to believe that the spell he was using had been illegal at some point in history. That in itself was not a very comforting thought.

After about thirty seconds, Harry lifted his wand and the connection failed. The light faded, and the Doctor fell still. Harry looked quickly at Rose, who was paler than ever and looked like she was resisting the urge to vomit. She half-nodded at him and leaned forward, watching her companion anxiously.

"Doctor?" she called softly, tentatively squeezing his shoulder. "Doctor, can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Harry and Rose shared a horrified glance, turned back to him, and waited. Just as Harry was beginning to seriously doubt his own magical ability, there was a low moan from beneath them, and Rose gasped. To their pure delight, the Doctor groaned and began to stir. Harry sighed as intense relief washed over him and smiled at Rose, who positively beamed at him in return.

"Oh my God…it worked," Harry muttered faintly, more to himself than to Rose. "The spell actually worked…I can't believe I just didthat!"

Rose jumped to her feet and threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. Harry almost fell backwards but managed to steady himself at the last second, welcoming the embrace with dazed appreciation. "Oh, I couldkiss you, you know!" she cried happily.

The sound of rushing footsteps echoed across the lawn behind him, and Harry turned in time to see Madam Pomfrey and Ginny running over to them. Two simultaneous cracks rent the still night air and Rose cried out in shock as Ron and Hermione materialised feet in front of her.

"How did you…?" but Ron cut Harry off before he could ask.

"McGonagall's altered the Apparition field," he said quickly. "I heard mum telling George about it during the Holidays. Any member of the Order can Apparate within the grounds or castle at any time. She changed it the night after Dumbledore's death, saying she didn't want to have to go through something like that ever again. She was always thinking about the number of Order members who would have been perfectly willing to help that night but couldn't because they were unable to make it to Hogwarts in time."

Harry nodded in understanding and Hermione took advantage of his silence to uncover a few answers.

"You said you needed help, Harry. What's wrong?" she asked anxiously.

"There have been a few new arrivals this evening. And one of them happened to be seriously injured. I tell you, Herms, that new spell of yours is amazing!"

Ron and Hermione stared at him, his words taking a fair few moments to fully sink in.

"What have you done?" Hermione whispered dangerously. She looked rather menacing as she stared him out, willing him to answer her in any form of negativity.

"It'sokay, guys. It worked," Harry said, smiling his reassurance. Hermione's face instantly relaxed, and she grinned in giddy relief. Ron looked stunned.

"You mean you used it? And it worked?" he asked in awe.

"Yep!" Harry replied, positively beaming now.

"Oh Harry, I'm so proud of you," Hermione said softly, her face breaking. "I was beginning to worry about what would happen if I fell ill and neither of you two could do anything about it. I'm really glad you've cracked it!"

"Hell, forget about that! He's amazing!Genius!" Rose squealed. She looked like a hyperactive eleven-year-old as she bounded around them and threw herself onto the ground beside the Doctor. Ron raised his eyebrows in wonder but Harry simply shook his head, smiling.

"Don't even ask, Ron. Don't even ask."

Harry walked forwards and knelt down beside him, smiling. Ron and Hermione hovered behind, muttering to each other, smiles easily visible on every face against the soft glow of the moon.

The Doctor groaned again and sat up, eyes unfocused and his skin pale.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked quietly.

"Erm…yes, I think so," he replied, confused.

"Come on, I'll help you up." Harry offered his hand and pulled the Doctor to his feet. He swayed a little but managed to steady himself, just as Madam Pomfrey skidded to a halt in front of them.

"MyGoodness, look at the state of you! Miss Weasley told me what happened, but there seems to have been a slight alteration to his condition in her absence. He doesn't seem to be as unconscious as he was supposed to be before," she said as she hurried forwards and began checking everything from his forehead to his toes.

Unfortunately for her, that was made a little bit more difficult by the Doctor examining himself at the same time, mentally registering the fact that all traces of his injury had apparently vanished, and that he was standing in the cold night air with his shirt completely undone.

"All thanks to him," Rose beamed. "Sorry, what was your name again?"

"Harry Potter," he replied smiling. "You have got to be the first person to ever ask me for my name!"

Rose wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or not, but as his smile widened at her lack of understanding, and as she spotted the looks on his friends' faces, she decided that he was more than happy with the fact that someone alive didn't know who he was.

"What's this, Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked, wide-eyed. "Youdid it? Well I never... That's extraordinary! And what a job you've done too. What was the problem?"

"Internal bleeding."

"Well I never…" she repeated, distractedly.

Rose suddenly remembered the little something that she needed to ask the Doctor, and walked over to him, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"You lied to me, Doctor," she said quietly.

His expression changed from puzzlement to sadness faster than blinking. He looked up at her, apologetically, and sighed.

"I didn't want you worrying. Besides, I didn't realise it was as bad as it turned out to be. I thought I could handle it," he replied guiltily, staring at his feet. Rose moved closer and reached for his hand. "And have you quite finished?" he asked harshly as Madam Pomfrey began tracing her hands down his back, still muttering to herself.

"You need a thorough examination. Internal bleeding is no soft matter, I'm afraid. And I would like you to spend the night in the Hospital Wing, too. Simply as a precaution, of course. Well Potter," she called briskly. "I can't fault your work, it seems. You'd make a fine Healer. Now come along, all of you. You'll catch your deaths out here!"

Rose watched as she turned and began to shepherd Harry and his friends towards the castle, before turning back to the Doctor, tears brimming.

"How could you even think about hiding something like that from me?" Rose asked, sounding hurt as they began to make their way towards the castle. "If you'dtold me, we could have helped you sooner. I thought we told each other everything."

"Oh, and that reminds me," Harry said quickly, interrupting just as the Doctor opened his mouth to reply. "What were you two doing, listening in on mine and Ginny's conversation and exactly how much did you hear?"

Rose promptly forgot about her disappointment with the Doctor and glanced shiftily at him instead. He in turn scanned his surroundings for an escape route. When he was spared the courtesy of finding one, he returned to examining his laces.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I'm still trying to discover myself. Curiosity is apparently one of my newest qualities. I couldn't resist. Like I said before, you have an amazing way with words. Rose was in tears!" he smiled.

Rose glared at him and hit him playfully on the arm.

"Hey, I was not!" she replied, mock-scathingly. She stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head slightly. He couldn't hide his grin, though.

"What do you mean, 'trying to discover yourself'?" Hermione asked curiously, glancing back over her shoulder at him from her place at Ron's side.

The Doctor grinned at her lack of knowledge and Rose rolled her eyes, not liking the thought of them giving him yet another thing to feel superior about.

"It's been less than a week since my… never mind. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. Let's just say I'm undergoing a little journey of self-discovery, only it's a little more 'in depth' than usual. Searching foreverything, if you will."

"Come along! It's freezing out there!" came the Matron's sharp tones from the Entrance Hall.

"Is she always so… er… professional?" the Doctor asked conversationally.

"Only when it concerns me," Harry replied, grinning. "I'm her favourite patient. Must have spent half of my life in the Hospital Wing, when you think about it. What do you say, Ron?"

"It'sgot to be more than half, Harry!" Ron laughed. "Quidditch injuries, inept teachers, mystical creatures who worship your very existence, demons of darkness," he smiled as he counted them off one by one on his fingers. "Hey, the reasons mount up! You have your own personal bed, don't you Harry?" he added, in mock-seriousness. "She keeps it perfectly magnificent and snaps at anyone who dares to even touch its feathery softness. Such a mother figure, our Matron!"

Hermione snickered but hastily turned it into a cough when she saw Harry's face.

"What? He's got a point, Harry!" she exclaimed as the six of them walked through the doors. Madam Pomfrey had already vanished from sight, presumably up the staircase.

There was a moment of silence as the wards examined them, the Doctor and Rose becoming uncharacteristically tense, but after a few seconds, the feeling of mental absence from their bodies vanished and they started to climb the marble staircase towards the upper floors. "To be honest, I'm amazed you've made it to your seventeenth birthday. But saying that, it's even more amazing that we've all survived this long," she added thoughtfully. "Hmm, we need to start looking after ourselves a little more."

Harry's voice was becoming steadily less audible as they continued up the many staircases towards the Hospital Wing. "No can do, Herms," he muttered wearily, all lightness and enjoyment draining away, almost as though someone had left a tap running. "With a War on, the last thing we should be doing now is looking after our health." Ginny moved into step beside him and sighed heavily.

"Youshouldn't think like that, Harry" she mumbled. "I wish you would start taking care of yourself more."

"Sorry, Gin. I would if I could, but I can't. We'll just have to wait, that's all." He stopped for a second, and leant against the corridor wall, pulling his glasses from his nose. He hastily wiped at his eyes and tried, but failed, to stifle a yawn. Ginny stepped across and reached for his hand, which was hanging loosely at his side as he fought to keep his eyes open. Both were completely unaware of the large smiles plastered over Ron and Hermione's faces at that point. The two of them walked past, smiling.

"You don't need us now, so we'll meet you back in the Room of Requirement, Harry," Ron called, glancing back. Harry nodded and half-heartedly raised his hand to show he had heard. Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and together they walked on down the corridor, talking quietly to each other.

Harry sighed and, leaning against Ginny slightly for support, dragged himself from the wall and continued down the corridor towards the open doors of the Hospital Wing.

The Doctor suddenly halted in his tracks, causing Rose to walk straight into him. She hissed angrily in annoyance but her expression quickly softened as she looked up at him. He seemed to be battling with himself, as though daring himself to do something that a part of him didn't really want to do. He stared at Harry, worried, curious and confused.

"Harry, I think I need to talk to you," he said, quietly. Harry stopped and turned to him, frowning slightly.

"What about?" he asked. His voice was slightly slurred, as though he was beginning to forget how to use it. The Doctor quickly registered how drained Harry was looking. There were large dark circles beneath his eyes, which were fighting – and losing to - the urge to close on him. He also looked rather pale, and thin too. Unhealthily so. He wasn't eating properly, it seemed. The Doctor sighed and stepped forward, deciding that his indecisiveness would have to wait.

"Well, you've just saved my life, you're talking about a War, Rose and I have been pulled out of our own timeline into this remarkably bizarre place, and I can tell that there's something bothering you from the way you look. It seems to me that you need to talk to someone a lot more than I do, if I'm honest. There's something on you're mind, and I'm relatively certain that you could reallybenefit from a friendly discussion."

Harry sighed and leant against the wall once more. Ginny's fingers interlocked with his and he squeezed them gently before looking at her, apologetically.

"Gin, could you give us a moment? Go and find Madam Pomfrey and tell her we'll be with her in a few minutes. Please?" he added slightly pleadingly as she simply stared at him. Ginny nodded and disappeared through the doors into the Hospital Wing.

Harry knelt against the wall and sank to the floor, his arms hanging over his knees and his eyes closed.

"I was waiting for something like this. Unfortunately, you're asking for answers that I can't really give. Mainly because I don't know anything about where you're from or what you're doing here." He opened his eyes and locked them with the Doctors', his expression unnaturally grave.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know you. Wizard, Muggle, Death Eater, Alien. I just can't be sure. You say alien, but can you prove that? I don't wish to sound inconsiderate, but how can you expect me to open my heart to you when I know nothing about who you are?" he asked softly. Shaking his head, he shrugged half-heartedly and turned away, contemplating the fingernails on his left hand as though they were the most interesting things on the planet. "The things you can apparently 'tell' about me are things that I can't even share with my two best friends. What makes you think I'd be willing to share them with you?"

"Harry…"

"No, I'm sorry. I've no guarantee that anything I tell you will be safe. You appear out of nowhere, no explanation, no reason, and after being in your company for less than fifteen minutes I saved your life. Should I regret it? I really don't know. How can you think I'd just drop everything else that is happening in my life just so that I could have a heart to heart with a complete stranger?"

He smiled sadly and stared at the floor. The Doctor dropped to his knees in front of him. Harry seemed to look even more tired up close, and his complexion was far too pale; he appeared to be exhausted and rather ill. Struggling to lift his head, he forced himself to meet the Doctor's gaze unwaveringly, refusing to appear weak, despite his body constantly fighting to tell him that he was.

"Doctor, too many people are after my life at the moment, and from where I'm sitting, you could simply be another buyer, prepared to place a higher bid for it. I'm sorry if you think I've offended you, but being me, I can't be taking risks. I've a duty to the Wizarding World, to all of man-kind, and I could never forgive myself if anything jeopardised my chances at completing it."

The Doctor said nothing. He merely nodded slightly and gazed at Harry, a look of deep understanding and sympathy alight in his fathomless brown eyes. Harry smiled weakly and turned away. He stumbled to his feet once more, starting off slowly down the corridor again, but a hand grabbed his arm and he was halted. Rose moved out from behind the Doctor and stood in front of Harry, a look of intense compassion on her face.

"Rose, no..." the Doctor started, but she shook her head in warning, not even bothering to look at him, her eyes boring into Harry's.

"Let me do this, Doctor," she called crisply. The Doctor sighed and fell silent, knowing better than to argue with her.

Feeling the Doctor's eyes leave her as he ran a hand through his hair and turned away, Rose suppressed a tiny smile and instead refocused her attention on Harry, who was fruitlessly attempting to avoid her penetrating gaze.

"What if he could prove himself to you?" she asked softly, squeezing his hand gently. "You have every right to be worried, hesitant, and anxious. I know how strange these circumstances are. Believe me; I was just as apprehensive as you are now when I first met the Doctor. Hell, it wasn't even the one you're looking at! I've had the honour of being a companion to two of him … well, sort of, anyway. It's only been about a week with this new one. I'm still trying to figure him out, actually."

Harry finally turned to look at her, open-mouthed, an eyebrow raised in complete and utter confusion and his expression one of mild amazement.

"What do you mean, two of him?" he asked, startled. He looked quickly at the Doctor who simply shrugged, a tiny smile playing across his lips as he stubbornly studied one of the moving portraits on the wall.

"Well, what I tell you, or he tells you, depends entirely on how willing you are to listen to us," she replied firmly. "And you can't tell me you're not even a little curious. It seems to me that both of you have a lot to talk about, and I think that if he could prove his honesty to you, you'd be willing to listen."

Harry considered her. "Rose, I'm seventeen. And despite the fact that I'm still supposed to be in school, disregarding my inability to be in a stable relationship with someone I love at my age, ignoring the reality that says I should be with my parents, my family, I'm not. I don't have a normal life. Everywhere I go its 'the Boy Who Lived', 'the Saviour', or 'the Chosen One'. Never 'Harry Potter'. And yet even with all of that, I've learnt to cope with my situation. I can just about hold it together now. But if you come along and throw something else on top, I'm not sure I could carry on."

Rose could see, right there, the truth within his astonishingly emerald eyes. He felt such regret at the world for not being able to have a normal life, for not having what everybody else had, but at the same time, he wasn't overwhelmed by jealousy either. He had accepted it, despite how much he hated it. She wouldn't give up, though. No way. They could help him, if only they could get him to accept their assistance.

"Wow, that's like the complete opposite to what I've had to put up with. I wasn't anybody, back home. Useless, unhelpful, going nowhere in life. A total nobody. It was all I could do to remind myself everyday that I would, someday find my purpose in life, constantly telling myself that I had to hold on, that I had to persevere until something better and far more amazing than I could ever possibly have dreamed of came along."

She paused and reached out for Harry's hand, gripping it tightly and smiling brightly as she stared him dead in the eye. "And then I met the Doctor. And he changed my life. He's shown me so much, and I don't mean planets, and aliens and spaceships and things. He's shown me a better way of living, of being. I've discovered so much about myself since I met him, about me as a person.

"He's a good man, and I really think he could help you, Harry. He's helped me," she added gently, softly.

Harry looked up at the Doctor again, watching the slight beacon of hope that was blossoming deep within his bottomless, omniscient eyes. Harry hesitated, sighed deeply and then genuinely smiled. The first true smile he'd felt in months.

"Alright," he finally conceded. "It'll have to wait until morning, though."

The Doctor beamed at him as Rose turned and grabbed his hand again, nodding her gratitude. Harry inclined his head once and turned away, sparing them a brief, grateful smile before walking the rest of the way towards the Hospital Wing.

"Come on, we'd better get you to Madam Pomfrey, or she'll do her nut," he said quickly as he disappeared through the doors without so much as a backward glance.

Rose and the Doctor walked down the hallway hand in hand, but he stopped her just outside the door. Staring straight into her eyes, he gave her hand a gratified squeeze.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, for once not bothering to mince words.

"For what?" she asked, smiling.

"Everything you just said," he replied. "I know how difficult my changing was for you, and there is no way you've accepted it fully yet. Iwouldn't have done, if it were me."

Rose shrugged, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, there's still some days when I can't quite understand the whole thing myself, but it's getting better. I've still got loads of questions though. You've just been so busy lately, and I haven't been able to talk to you properly since Christmas."

The Doctor smiled sadly, but brightened slightly as he clapped his free hand reassuringly onto her shoulder. He leaned forwards and whispered seductively into her ear, sending shivers running down her spine, "so … with that being the case, I think...when this is all over...I need to have a little talk with you, too."

He grinned cheekily and winked at her before vanishing into the Hospital Wing. Rose shivered slightly and felt a strange tingling feeling inside her chest, filling her with a warmth that did little to ease the confusion she felt. Shaking her head in mild disbelief and not a small amount of restrained excitement, she turned to the open doors and practically skipped through after him.

Thanks for reading, guys! As always, Reviews of any form are most welcome! I hope you enjoyed it! Update coming soon!

Blessed Be!
xXx MissHaunted-MoonLight xXx