Lost in thought, the Doctor didn't even notice the banquet was over until the brown-haired girl from the sorting tapped him on the shoulder and asked him nervously, "Are you coming?"

"Oh, um yes, just thinking. Thank you."

"You're welcome." She said. The Doctor got up and began walking in the direction of the prefect that was gathering the first-years. The girl walked beside him. "You're John, right?"

"Yup." he said, popping the 'p'. "And you're Jennifer."

"Yeah."

At this point in the conversation, the Doctor noticed that Jenn had an accent that was undoubtedly not British.

"American, are you?"

Jenn took a bit of a step back from the Doctor with an offended expression on her face. "Canadian."

"Sorry 'bout that."

"It's ok. Not many people can tell the difference." she said with a resigned sigh.

"Oh, no, I can see it now."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah." the Doctor said, even though he had no idea of the differences. He had barely been to Canada, and not for any extended period of time.

"Thanks. I know you're just trying to make me feel better. But it's only the ones who have lost something great who do that."

The Doctor let out a little laugh at this 11-year-old's profundity.

"Am I funny?" she said sharply. "I'll leave if you're making fun of me."

"No, not making fun of you. Just thinking about something I saw earlier."

"Good. I detest people who are condescending, and it's never kids, it's always adults. It's strange having a child be condescending towards me."

The Doctor looked with interest at this child who could see so clearly at such a young age. She was coming scarily close to the truth though. Thankfully, he was saved from explaining himself by the prefect calling out, "First-years come this way." and the prefect left along with the group of happily chattering first-years.


The group of students left the great hall, following the prefect. When the group so students reached the staircases, a gasp went up.

"Yes, the staircases move. Come along." said the prefect.

They followed him up to a door with a bronze, eagle-shaped door knocker on it. The eagle opened its mouth, and in a soft, musical voice, asked, "What is time made of?"

The Doctor piped up at the back. "It's an effect that will end when matter doesn't exist anymore."

The door clicked open, and everyone looked at the Doctor.

"Are you going to go in?" he asked, not unkindly.

"Yes, of course. Everyone follow me." said the prefect, and he walked into a large, circular room, carpeted in midnight blue, with large arched windows with blue silk curtains, and a ceiling painted with stars. There was a statue of a woman wearing a diadem in between two doors on the other side of the room, and the room was comfortably furnished with chairs, tables, and plenty of bookcases.

"Dormitories are over there, boys on the left, and girls on the right. Your trunks are already in your rooms. Goodnight." The prefect walked off, and joined several other Ravenclaws of similar age.

"Goodnight." the Doctor said to Jenn, and went into his dormitory room, and found six four poster beds, every one with a trunk at the end of it. The Doctor found his trunk, and began changing into his pyjamas, when the other five boys burst in, laughing and talking loudly.

"Oh, hello. I'm Thomas Berry." said the boy in the front.

"Jimmy Brooks."another piped up

"Alonzo Hall."

"Elton Kinney."

"Joshua Flores."

"Caleb Barnett."

Each boy introduced himself in turn, and then Alonzo asked, "Who are you?"

"The-" the Doctor broke off and corrected himself. "John Smith."

"Why'd you say 'the' first?" asked Elton.

"Oh, um, at home, my friends call me the Doctor. It's kinda my nickname."

"We'll call you that then, alright, Doctor?" said Thomas.

"If it's alright with you, I'm going to go to bed." the Doctor said, drawing the curtains about his bed shut.


A/N: I'm thinking about doing a chapter with Rose's and Jack's first experiences as well, tell me what you think about this.