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

Thanks for all of the reviews, guys! Enjoy!

Chapter 6

A Night in The Hospital Wing

Rose crossed the colossal room in giddy silence, her hands gliding absent-mindedly over the tops of each bed as she passed them. The Doctor was sitting precariously on the end of a bed at the far side of the room, looking more than a little disgruntled with his current predicament. She stopped just in front of him, her heart beating faster than usual for no apparent reason …

She ignored it.

"Honestly, I'm fine! I don't need anything! What's that stuff for ?!"

Rose couldn't help but smile at his indignation. Madam Pomfrey bustled over from her office carrying two goblets and two identical, small potion bottles, placing one of each of them onto the small table beside his bed.

"Simply a potion for Dreamless Sleep, Doctor, I assure you it is quite harmless," she replied briskly as she leant the back of her hand against his forehead. The Doctor pulled away indignantly, scowling.

"But I don't sleep! I don't need to!"

And what do you mean by that, 'I don't need to'?Everyone needs sleep. It's natural, a force of nature, a healing process. You can't not sleep, Doctor!"

Flustered, the Doctor bit back a scathing remark in fear of saying something that would make things a whole lot worse for him. Instead, he purposefully avoided looking at Rose and point blank refused to watch as the Matron pottered about beside him. He looked over at Harry quickly, while she pulled various instruments from her pockets and placed them onto the bedside table beside the bottle and goblet. Harry shook his head a fraction of an inch, mouthing 'you're a wizard' to him as inconspicuously as he could. 'Wizard, not alien! And wizards do sleep!'

Finally getting it, he mouthed a silent 'Oh' to nobody in particular and blushed crimson, staring determinedly at the wall.

"I…I meant I don't…want…to…" he invented wildly, realising after the words had left his mouth that he sounded like a whiny brat. Scowl deepening, he shook his head and practically shouted at her, "I'm not drinking that!"

"Erm…it's probably best for you in the long run to just let her get on with it. You're never going to win," Harry muttered as he rubbed his eyes tiredly from the next bed. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but Madam Pomfrey seized the opportunity and shoved a strange object – one with a great resemblance to a thermometer only with blue buttons down the length of its spine - into it before he could get the words out. Rose snorted.

"The boy's talking sense for once, now lie back, please, and rest. You look like you've been on your feet non-stop for months!"

The Doctor was about to say it had been years and that he'd like to see her have a go at living his life for a bit, but Rose shook her head in warning and he dropped his gaze without saying a word.

"If I said I hated you would you leave me alone?" he mumbled, the words feeling uncomfortable and sounding somewhat muted as they fought their way passed the peculiar object she had forced into his mouth. Harry coughed rather suddenly and turned away, looking out at nothing in particular down the other end of the room. Rose spotted the wide and rather manic grin on his face, though, even if nobody else had caught it.

"Hmm."

Madam Pomfrey stopped and thought for a moment, her finger stroking her chin in mock-concentration.

"No, I doubt it," she replied finally, smiling. "Now rest! Goodness, you're worse than Potter!"

Harry suddenly looked back at her and glared.

"Hey!"

"Oh, I know. It's never you're fault…actually I must say, I'm becoming rather accustomed to having you around, Potter. And I can't say that about most patients… Nah, you're not that bad, are you?" she smiled fondly at him. Harry rolled his eyes, swung his legs up onto the bed and fell back against the pillows.

Having finished examining the Doctor, she reached for one of the bottles and goblets and walked around to Harry's bed, placing them onto his bedside table, in perfect imitation of the pair on the Doctor's own.

"And you already know what to do, so I'll just let you get on with it." She suddenly looked up at him in concern. "When was the last time you had a good night's sleep, Harry?"

"Probably the night before His death," Harry replied quietly, refusing to meet anybody's gaze as he stared at his hands. "I hardly get two hours these days. And I very much doubt that a small bottle of Dreamless Sleep can do much for me anymore."

"What about a larger dosage? Do you think that could help?"

Harry frowned and shook his head slightly.

"No, I…I'm not exactly 'sleeping' when I do fall asleep, so I don't think it would make a difference. There's no point in me taking any to be honest. It won't have any effect."

The Matron nodded in acceptance, but she was clearly unhappy with his answer.

"Well, don't feel obligated to take it, it's entirely up to you. I don't want it to go to waste if possible, as the War's making it much more difficult to get a hold on medical goods at the moment. If it will help, then I want you to try it, but if not, don't worry too much.

"You, on the other hand," she added as she straightened up and turned to the Doctor once more, "are a different matter entirely."

She watched him for a few moments before turning to Rose. "You make sure he takes it, Miss, or there'll be trouble!" she said firmly.

He glared venom back at her, sticking his tongue out with such sincerity that he looked like a four-year-old who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and didn't like the repercussions. It suited him; his previous incarnation could never have looked so cute and innocent if he'd tried. Rose nodded, fighting the urge to burst out laughing at the look on his face, and, satisfied, Madam Pomfrey returned to her office, closing the door behind her.

The Doctor immediately turned on Rose the second Madam Pomfrey was out of ear-shot.

"Don't say a word!" he whispered dangerously.

Rose couldn't hold back any longer. She burst into fits of infectious giggles and threw herself onto his bed, banging her fists against the sheets and howling with laughter. When she finally managed to catch herself, she sat up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and watched him beadily.

"Have you quite finished?" he asked, trying to sound hurt that she could laugh at his expense, but he failed miserably when he could no longer restrain a smile.

"Yes, I think so," she replied, grinning. "Aww, you're just a big softie, really, aren't you? You act all tough but when you screw up you're just like a little kid. It's so sweet! I've never seen such a side to you before. But then… I haven't really seen much of this new you," she added thoughtfully.

The Doctor shifted uncomfortably.

"I am sorry about that, but I had no other choice. It would have killed you," he said, quietly. "I couldn't let that happen. Least of all because your mum would have killed me afterwards..."

Rose felt a familiar tingling feeling in her chest, and was mentally screaming with joy. But she wouldn't… not yet…

She knew exactly where the conversation was heading, but she wanted to hear him say it. She wouldn't get her hopes up, just in case …

"And why not?" she asked airily, forcing herself to remain calm and keep her voice devoid of all excitement, trying to sound as blasé as possible whilst internally hoping that, at long last, he was going to admit it to the both of them.

By contrast, the Doctor looked utterly terrified. It cost her all the self-control she possessed to keep herself from laughing again.

'So he can face all those near-death experiences but can't say three simple words…'

He gulped, and opened his mouth, but no words came out. Rose was smiling broadly now. He swallowed, glanced at Harry's bed and seemed to become instantly concerned.

Rose glanced across to see where he was looking and her smile softened.

Harry was asleep, his chest rising and falling gently, a slight frown gracing his young features, making him look older than he was. He looked so sweet and innocent, that she felt hatred bleed through her veins towards everyone who had taken away his youth. The stopper remained firmly in the tiny bottle, the goblet untouched. He wasn't going to be having a quiet night.

Rose jumped as the Doctor suddenly spoke, dragging her mind back to the present.

"He's had such a hard life already, and he's nowhere near the end of it," he said softly, apparently more to himself than to her.

Rose looked at him and saw the sympathy and pain he was feeling towards a boy he hardly knew burning deep within his eyes.

The Doctor'd had a narrow escape, but she'd make him say it… sooner or later…

But maybe right then and there wasn't the time.

Sighing and shaking her head, she considered the teen thoughtfully, respect ablaze within her chest as her eyes lingered for a moment on the wand upon his bedside table.

"It's funny, but when you … you know … I just trusted him immediately… I mean, he just sat there, totally calm and focused, his wand pointing at your heart… but it didn't really worry me much, I was more scared about what was wrong with you than what he was going to do… and he was so understanding. He asked me what I wanted him to do, told me there was another way if I didn't want him to… but I let him."

She chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip, watching their new acquaintance through curious eyes. After a moment, she shrugged and turned to see the Doctor watching her with a small, proud smile on his face. Choosing not to ask, she went on.

"I just… I don't know… I just somehow knew that he could do whatever it was. I didn't even know what he was going to do to begin with, and even when he explained it to me I didn't understand it, and yet I let him do it…"

She fell silent, thoughts barely making sense to herself, let alone to him. Suppressing a shudder, she wrapped an arm unconsciously around herself and shrugged again.

"Why do we trust him so much when we don't know anything about him? Who is he? What has he had to face in the past to make him feel so insecure and vulnerable that he wouldn't willingly talk with you?"

The Doctor studied Harry's sleeping form for a few moments before he looked directly at her, his reply low and carefully considered.

"Well, 'The Boy Who Lived'… he's survived an attack, obviously. There's some sort of evil, someone or something terrorising the Wizarding World, and they've attacked Harry at some point, but failed. There's probably some sort of potion or spell that kills people on contact, but Harry's survived somehow, making him 'The Boy Who Lived'.

"'The Saviour' and 'The Chosen One' suggest he's set to destroy whoever this evil is, and he's obviously grown up with that reputation from a young age, or at least, that's what I can figure from what we've heard so far. But I don't understand! He's how old, seventeen? Why is so much expected of him?"

Rose shook her head slightly.

"You'll have to ask for details tomorrow when you talk to him. Say, where's that girl who was with him?" she asked suddenly.

The Doctor frowned and looked around. Now that Rose had mentioned it, he hadn't seen Harry's friend since she'd left them out in the corridor.

Glancing around the ward with a frown on his face, his eyes were soon drawn to the only cubicle in the ward that looked unlike all of its fellows. There was a curtained bed at the far end of the Hospital Wing that he hadn't paid any attention to, up until this point.

It had his undivided attention now, though.

He jumped quickly from his own bed and placed a finger to his lips, warning Rose to keep quiet. Hesitating for only a second, he walked slowly but purposefully towards it, before abruptly stopping beside the dividing fold in the material.

"What was her name, again?" he whispered.

"Harry called her, Gin, I think."

"Ginny then," he muttered to himself. Looping a long finger into the material, he rustled it ever-so-slightly and cleared his throat.

"Ginny? Ginny, is that you?"

Nothing. The Doctor glanced at Rose, who nodded, a concerned frown on her face. Sharing her worry, he paused for a split second, then pulled back the curtains to see Ginny sitting on the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms hanging over them. Her head was resting on top, scarlet hair covering her face, hiding her from view. She was silent, but her trembling shoulders gave her away. She was crying.

Rose and the Doctor shared another look before he moved closer and sat on the end of the bed.

"Ginny?" he said quietly.

And it was all she needed.

She howled and threw herself at him, arms around his neck as she cried into his shoulder. The Doctor looked up, startled, while Rose watched her in silence. She looked close to tears herself, and simply gave a half-hearted shrug when the Doctor gazed weakly at her, begging for orders on what to do next. Ginny looked utterly distraught.

"He's ill!" she wailed, her voice muffled slightly as she clung to the Doctor even tighter. "He w-won't listen! He w-won't stop! He's just fighting and fighting, but he c-can't do it any more! He can't carry on, I can tell. He's g-going to give up soon, and I don't know what I'd do if he d-died!"

The Doctor raised his hand and made to place it onto her back, but stopped, confused. Then thinking that it was probably the best way to comfort her, he continued, rubbing her back gently, almost fatherly.

"Ssh, it's alright. Let it all out," he whispered.

"Ron and Hermione have n-noticed too. He doesn't eat, he c-cant sleep, he just works and studies. I haven't spoken to him s-since Bill's Wedding. Tonight was the first time I've seen them since t-they left us, since h-he left me. Ron's been w-writing to me every day, and Harry's been the s-same. Always working. I've been a-awful to him, and it isn't even his fault. He doesn't d-deserve it!

Silent tears were falling from Rose's eyes now as she watched, powerlessly. Neither of them could think of anything to say to make her feel any better.

"I just w-wish this War would end, and th-that he'll come back to me, safe. I d-don't know what to do anymore! I miss him. I k-keep having nightmares. I'm scared I'm going to w-wake up one morning and his death will b-be in the Prophet, and all h-hope will just vanish. Darkness takes over everywhere. E-every beautiful thing dies. My l-life dies. Harry dies!"

"Hey, come on now. Don't think like that." The Doctor's voice was soothing, gentle. He lifted her head and cupped her cheek, forcing her to look at him. "You need to stay strong for everyone. For you, for your family…for Harry. He told us, you know. He didn't need to say it, we just saw it. He loves you, and he'd give anything to be able to be with you. But he can't, not yet, so he needs you to stay strong for him. He's fighting for you, so you need to fight for him."

Ginny sniffed and wiped forcefully at her eyes. "I'm s-sorry," she muttered. "I just want my life back. V-Voldemort's taken everything from Harry already; his parents, S-Sirius, Dumbledore, the ch-chance for a n-normal life. And it h-hurts, because he's so good and kind and true, and he sh-shouldn't have had to put up with e-everything he has, everything he is still having to c-cope with. It just isn't fair!"

She fell against his chest, sobbing. The Doctor held her, providing her with what little comfort he could offer. In truth, he knew there was nothing he could say that would help, but she seemed to be calming down as she sat with him. Rose turned away, walking slowly back down the ward towards the Doctor's bed. She sat down heavily, wiping at her own eyes, and stared at Harry, feeling anger at the world burn harsh and relentless through her veins.

He seemed tense. His breaths were shorter, sharper, less natural, and he was fidgeting considerably. He tossed violently and Rose debated with herself about how kind it would be to wake him. She knew he received little sleep, but also knew that if she was suffering from nightmares, she'd rather someone woke her. He seemed to calm as she watched, so she left him as he was, hating herself for it.

After a few minutes, the Doctor and Ginny walked out from behind the curtains, Ginny hiccupping quietly as she held onto his hand.

"Now, I think you should get yourself up for a nice, hot bath, and then have a good night's sleep. A bit of chocolate wouldn't hurt, either. And if anyone asks you why you're still awake…tell them it's Doctor's orders," he smiled.

Ginny coughed, a small smile just visible at the corners of her mouth, and looked him in the eye.

"Thank you, Doctor," she said, quietly. "And I'm sorry, Rose."

"Don't worry about it, you love him. It's not your fault, and don't you ever tell yourself it is. You just keep your chin up, yeah?" Rose said, attempting to lift the spirits in the room a little.

The Doctor squeezed Ginny's hand encouragingly and smiled down at her.

"You look after yourself, all right?" he said firmly.

Ginny nodded and turned to leave. But stopping at the door, she glanced back at Harry, and sighed heavily. Rose had the impression she wanted to say something, but after a few moments of tense silence, the young girl simply shook her head and walked away, leaving the door to swing gently shut behind her.

Turning away with a sigh of her own, Rose turned and threw herself face down onto the Doctor's bed once more, suddenly feeling shattered. She glanced upwards as she felt him sit next to her and offered him a tentative smile - one which was returned incredibly reluctantly, before vanishing completely.

He seemed a lot more subdued, his mood darker than it had been minutes prior, and he was gazing into space in silence, probably contemplating everything that had happened to them in such a short space of time…

"Oh, you need your medicine, Doctor," she suddenly remembered. She stood up and reached for it, pulling the stopper from the bottle with a tiny pop. She poured the strange purple liquid into the goblet on the table and examined it with interest. "It looks quite nice actually, mind if I try some?"

"If you want," he muttered distractedly.

Then, he suddenly realised what he'd said and shook his head quickly. "No, at least one of us has to have a clear head. I don't have a clue where we are, and from what we've seen so far this evening, wherever 'here' is isn't safe. I'd rather you didn't, Rose."

Rose nodded, pulled her jacket from her shoulders and hung it over the end of her bed before jumping onto it herself. She sat on her knees and watched as the Doctor stood and picked up the goblet. He stared at it, apprehensively.

"Are you not getting changed, first?" she asked.

"Into what? I didn't think we'd be staying very long, so we left everything in the TARDIS," he replied. She let out a silent 'Oh' and returned to watching him. He paused.

"She wouldn't poison it, would she?" he asked nervously. Rose laughed.

"Doctor, she's a Ward Sister, not a Serial Killer!"

"You never can tell…if I showed you Hitler as a child and pointed him out to you and said, 'he's going to grow up to perform mass genocide', you'd think I was crazy. Innocence hides evil remarkably well when it comes to you humans."

Rose blinked innocently at him, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Shaking her head, she shrugged, face blank.

"Fascinating stuff, Doctor, I'm sure. Now, are you going to drink that stuff or am I gonna to have to call the Matron back in here to make you?"

"Yes, Miss," he muttered, tones dripping with sarcasm as a scowl slipped effortlessly onto his face. Grinning, she nodded her approval and sat back, watching him intently.

But the smile didn't last long.

The Doctor held his breath and downed the lot in one swallow. Immediately, feeling surprisingly weak, he stumbled backwards and all but fell onto the bed in a sprawled heap. He tried to sit up, but couldn't. He felt drained, and suddenly had a rather strange desire to close his eyes. He couldn't fight it. His breathing softened, his body relaxed. Rose stared, her heart hammering, slightly.

"Oh," he murmured, the sound almost lost to the silence that had encompassed the Ward.

"What is it?" she asked quickly, watching him with unbridled concern.

"Sleeping pills," he murmured, his voice growing steadily fainter. His words emerged horrifically slurred; she could hardly make them out.

"What?"

"That's all it is…sleeping pills…I'm going to kill her…"

And he was gone. Rose stood up and moved across to his bed. She sighed and set to arranging him into a more comfortable position, momentarily checking his breathing as she leant awkwardly over him.

When she had finished, she clambered back onto her own bed and watched him for a few minutes, thinking about nothing in particular, until she found herself falling backwards, into darkness…

The Doctor awoke slowly, feeling strangely drowsy to say he'd had such help with sleeping. When he was awake enough to feel, he faintly registered a pair of eyes staring intently at him…

So Rose was awake then. If he had been awake too, he would have been annoyed, but instead he wanted to drift off again, ignore everything until later.

Later was good.

Unfortunately, the watching eyes had a rather different set of plans for him.

"I wondered how long you'd be out. I think you needed that," came Rose's cheery voice, cutting through him painfully as he tried to disentangle his mind from the desire to sleep again.

He groaned and blearily opened his eyes, trying to raise himself enough to see her. He couldn't, gave up the attempt, and fell back onto his pillows, his eyes closed again.

"Now, we're not having none of that, Doctor," she called. She clambered onto him and sat on his legs painfully.

"Oh, get lost, Rose," he slurred, attempting weakly to kick her off. She wouldn't budge.

"Well, someone's a little tetchy this morning. I think I can see why you don't sleep much. You're clearly not a morning person, Doctor."

He reached across for a pillow and threw it at her, but she simply threw it back and jumped on his knees.

"Oh, Rose!" he cried. He sounded genuinely exasperated with her, and he looked shockingly tired. There were deep bags below his eyes, and he seemed paler than usual. She softened as she watched him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Doctor, but Madam Pomfrey wants you up. The Headmistress is coming to see you soon, and I think you've got to attend a meeting later on. You need to get up!"

The Doctor sighed and opened his eyes again, blinded slightly by the lights around him. He forced himself into a sitting position and yawned.

"Wow, you look exhausted," Rose said. "Which is strange because you've been asleep for the past eleven hours. Do you usually sleep for that long?"

He shook his head, rubbing at his eyes vigorously. "Usually a couple…a couple of…hours," he said, stifling another yawn. "All right, I'm up…sort of... so what did you say?"

"McGonagall's coming to meet you. It's pretty big news out there, actually." The Doctor jumped as Harry spoke.

"What is?" he replied quietly, still half-asleep.

"The arrival of two strange 'wizards'."

An eyebrow raised, Harry considered him thoughtfully, a small, sad smile on his face as he drank in the Doctor's distinctly ruffled appearance. Shaking his head a fraction, he let his legs swing gently over the edge of the bed. "Wow, you look worse than I do and that's a feat all in itself. Are you alright?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, then quickly closed it and shrugged. Running a hand over his face, he tried to untangle his mind from the sleep-induced web of tiredness that had enveloped him.

"I don't know," he said at last, concerned for himself. His voice was quiet, the words slightly muffled. "I'm not supposed to sleep. Like I said last night…I don't need to. I mean I was out about a week ago, but that was because of regeneration."

"Come again?" Harry asked, confused.

"Never mind," Rose replied when the Doctor failed to answer, being too preoccupied with remaining in a position that vaguely imitated 'upright'.

"What did she give me, again?" he asked, worriedly. "That potion… it's done something."

"Well potions usually do'do something', Doctor, that's why people use them," Harry replied, smiling slightly. "It was just for dreamless sleep. She gives it to people who've faced near-fatal situations. Stops them having nightmares."

"Well whatever it was, it isn't agreeing with me," he muttered, scowling darkly at the Matron's office door before dropping his head back onto his pillow. Rose rolled her eyes and turned to Harry, but she wasn't quick enough to hide the grin on her face.

"So are a lot of people involved in near-fatal situations at this place, or what?" Rose asked as the Doctor worked on pulling himself round.

"No, just me. She stocks up whenever I'm around. It's kind of depressing, actually…"

He trailed off as three familiar faces stuck their heads in from behind the door at the end of the room and smiled at him. "Hey guys!"

"Hi, Harry. We didn't know she was keeping you in, too," called Ron, as he, Hermione and Ginny made their way over to them. "We were sat up hours waiting for you, last night. What are you doing in here?"

"Keeping our guests company," was the response he received.

"Hi, Doctor," said Ginny, happily. The Doctor smiled weakly at her, still not feeling himself.

"You seem brighter, today," he observed.

"Well, you were right. A good soak and a decent night's sleep and I felt right as rain this morning!"

"Why, what was the matter, Gin?" Ron and Harry asked. Avoiding both their gazes, Ginny blushed and spared Rose a nervous glance before shrugging nonchalantly.

"Nothing, I just…felt a little under the weather last night…you know, studying and stuff…" and she fell silent. Harry nodded in understanding and dropped his gaze guiltily, while Ron shifted uncomfortably. Hermione sat herself on the end of Harry's bed and watched them, feeling slightly detached from it all. There was silence until a new voice broke the tension for them.

"Sorry, is this a bad time?"

Rose and the Doctor looked up to see an older witch standing above them. She was tall and thin, wearing a long, emerald cloak and glasses. Her black hair was wrapped into a tight bun at the top of her head, and it had caught Rose's attention immediately. She stared at it in wonder.No-one could be so perfect with their hair. There wasn't a strand out of place, and she suddenly felt rather uncared for in her own appearance.

"Morning, Professor," Harry said. "Guys, this is Headmistress McGonagall. Headmistress, this is the Doctor," he gestured at the bed, "and Rose."

McGonagall reached forwards and shook first the Doctor's hand politely, and then Rose's.

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm feeling inclined to ask you where you're from, but something tells me that the conversation that would follow would take a few hours. Would you be agreeable to a discussion in my office? Naturally, I would like Mr Potter and Miss Weasley to join us, as they found you. As for Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, I believe that you'll be joining us inevitably if Harry comes along, so there's no point in asking you." She smiled slightly, as they both nodded in agreement. "I thought so."

She turned to the Doctor. "Do you feel up to a few questions?"

"If I can ask a few myself," he relied, grinning. He seemed a little more alert now, and was rapidly returning to his youthfully cheeky self. Rose smiled.

"Naturally. Poppy?" she called.

"Yes Headmistress?" Madam Pomfrey called back as she emerged from her office.

"Are Potter and the Doctor ready to leave?"

"Yes, Headmistress."

"Good. Then I shall meet you all in my office in twenty minutes. Depending on the outcome of our meeting, I may be asking you and your associate to take part in another meeting this afternoon, Doctor. One which will hold great meaning for Potter. He has some rather important news to disclose to the Wizarding World."

The Doctor inclined his head, grinning. With a smile of her own flitting momentarily across her face, she nodded back, before bidding the group farewell and sweeping silently from the room.

As the door clicked, the Doctor raised his eyebrows at Harry who stared resolutely back.

"I'm not saying a word, yet," he said firmly. "You'll have to wait and see, along with the rest of the world. But I will tell you this…it's going to mean a lot more work for me."

The Doctor and Rose glanced quickly at Ginny here, just in time to spot the crest-fallen look in her eyes, before she masked it and smiled happily at Harry.

"So you're going to be busy then?" she asked, trying to sound happy but her voice shook slightly as she said it.

Harry smiled softly and stared wistfully out of the window.

"Gin…you have no idea…"

Thanks guys! Sorry it's a bit dull, but the next chapter should make up for it…hopefully…

Please review, anyway!

Blessed Be,
xXx MissHaunted-MoonLight xXx