The Doctor
The Doctor paced around the small stairwell, every step echoing out across the endless staircases until the sound drifted into nothingness only to be replaced with his next step.
He needed a new plan. He couldn't pinpoint Harry by locking onto Harry's feelings of pain. Harry had too much pain in his past for the Doctor to find Harry in his present.
"If these are Harry's memories then there has to be an end to them," the Doctor said, still pacing. "But I can't take the time to review all of them while Harry might be bleeding out in his own mind. I just need a –" the Doctor stopped mid-step.
A child stared up at him with gold-flecked green eyes. Assuming the kid was human, the Doctor would place his age around seven or eight, but he wasn't sure if he should use human standards as a baseline with anything having to do with Harry anymore.
"Hello there," the Doctor got down on a knee to be at the kid's level. "What are you doing out on these stairs?"
The kid tilted his head to the side and his curly red hair flopped over with the movement. The kid gave no verbal response.
"You're not a normal part of the memories I've been watching, are you?" asked the Doctor.
Instead of answering, the kid grabbed ahold of the Doctor's jacket and tugged him towards the stairs.
"Now hold on," the Doctor said as the kid tugged on his jacket again. "Where are you taking me?"
The kid let go of the Doctor's jacket and gave him a flat look as if he was asking "You wanted to know how to navigate in here and now you're asking questions?" The look turned to a smirk as the kid pivoted and sprinted down the stairs.
"Wait a second!" the Doctor jumped up and bolted after the kid down and down and down.
Harry
Harry spun around. No new doors greeted him, only stairs going up and down. Harry took a deep breath. The air filled his chest. He let out the air in a stutter puff. He could feel his heartrates increase.
His knees buckled and he plopped down on the stairs.
Why did it have to be me? Harry wondered as he tried to breath. What did I do to deserve the life that I have?
Even as Harry thought that he wondered if this was how it would end for him. No more weird events. No more adventures with friends. No more random people trying to kill him. Just an eternity of his life and a life that didn't seem to belong to him replaying itself for all of eternity.
A tear pricked his eye as he gasped in air.
What would Ron and Hermione think happened to him? Would they run off to find him? Would they search for years only to give up when it was obvious that he was gone for good?
And what about Sirius? Sirius disappeared and Harry wouldn't know if he at least got out of this mess. Harry hoped he was ok. With all the years that Sirius spent in prison, he deserved to live more free. Even if Harry wouldn't.
Harry spiraled more and more until he ended up numb to the world around him.
Then- a growl.
Harry snapped out of his spiral. His green eyes refocused on his surroundings. He looked behind himself and jumped up in fright at what he saw.
A mass of shadows stood at the top of the staircase Harry just jumped up from. The shadows twisted and formed legs. It began stalking down the stairs, with slow precision like a wolf sneaking up on its prey before it pounces.
The shadows twisted into a muzzle. The creature snarled, showing more teeth than any animal Harry had seen before. Then, it opened its eyes. Glowing gold orbs locked onto Harry's own green.
Harry knew he had to run.
Harry sprinted towards the stairs leading down and away from the creature. Every step jerked at the wound on his side.
Harry's feet pounded on the steps as he took two at a time attempting to cover more ground. The growling increased. He took a second to look behind him. The creature was gaining.
Harry went to look forward again just in time to watch his foot connect with nothing. The stairs ran out. Harry didn't have enough time to stop himself before he tumbled over the edge.
He screamed and flipped around in the air. The creature stopped at the top of the stairs, watching Harry fall.