Chapter 7 – Muddled Names and Lost Appetites
"Can you please let us in?" begged the Doctor.
"No. No password, no entry." The Fat Lady smirked at them. "You'll have to wait there."
/Let me handle this/ the Master told the Doctor. The he turned to the Fat Lady.
"Let us in NOW!"
"That kind of attitude is not going to get you anywhere," said the Fat Lady in a disapproving tone. "Someone needs to learn some manners."
/Ha!/ said the Doctor. /This is brilliant. Someone's actually standing up to you and your bullying/
/Oh, do be quiet/ said the Master, flopping down onto the floor in disgust, unused to not getting his own way. The Doctor sat down beside him.
/Are you ok?/
/Why would you care?/ The Doctor rolled his eyes.
/Are you that stupid? Can you seriously not see what's right in front of your face?/ The Master stood up.
/Potter and his boyfriend are here/
/Can't you just listen to me? For once?/
/No/
"Are you going to get ready for the ball?" asked Harry excitedly, at the exact same time as Ron said:
"Did you get dress robes?" They both laughed.
"Oh, and can I have my map back?" Harry asked.
"No," said the Master. Hermione came up behind him.
"Oh, you are silly," she said, with an air of superiority about her. She pointed her wand at the Master. "Accio Marauder's Map." The map shot out of the Master's pocket, who blinked in surprise, and flew into Hermione's waiting hand. "Here you go, Harry. I'm going to get ready." She flounced off.
"Well that solved that problem," said Harry.
"Indeed it did," said the Doctor, glaring at the Master.
"We're going to get ready now," said Ron. "In the dorm. But there are toilets down the corridor. We'll meet you outside of them, ok?"
"Yeah, sure," said the Doctor, and he left the common room, the Master, of course, at his heels.
/Here are your robes/ The Doctor handed the Master the package which was tied with string. He attempted to untie it, but his fingers kept fumbling over the knot. Then he tried to bite through it, but his teeth weren't very sharp and the string was particularly thick, so he failed at that as well.
/You got any scissors?/
/No. Do I look like I would have any scissors?/ It was a rhetorical question, but the Master answered it anyway.
/You just seem like the sort of person who would carry a handbag/
/Manbag/ said the Doctor. The Master smirked.
/See?/
/I don't carry a handbag! Are you questioning my masculinity?/
/Yes, indeed I am/
/Ngh!/
/You say that a lot.../
/That's because you're so bloody infuriating/ The Doctor suddenly had an idea. He pulled the Master's laser screwdriver from his pocket and used that to cut through the string.
/Give me my screwdriver back!/
/You not going to say thank you for untying your dress robes?/ The Doctor cut through his own string with the laser and then slipped it back into his pocket.
/Bastard/
The Master had to admit that the Doctor did look good in the blue dress robes.
/You don't look half bad yourself/ said the Doctor, eyeing the Master's black and red attire appreciatively. The Master's pale face flushed pink with blush.
/Let's go/ he said, but the Doctor could see the pleased smile playing on his lips. They left the bathroom to find Harry and Ron stood waiting outside. Harry was wearing very posh looking emerald green robes which, the Doctor noticed, matched his eyes. Ron, on the other hand, was wearing what looked like a very frill, pink dress. The Master opened his mouth opened his mouth to comment, but Ron's glare made him think twice.
"Don't say anything," Ron growled.
/Wasn't going to anyway/ said the Master to the Doctor when he saw him smirking.
"Let's go," said Harry, taking the still angry looking Ron's hand and leading the way. The Time Lords followed.
/Do you think we should go get Donna?/
/Who the hell is Donna?/ asked the Master with a start.
/Martha. I meant Martha. Of course I meant Martha/
/Then no, we shouldn't. I don't like her/
/You don't like many people/
/Well I particularly don't like her/
/And I know for a fact that she particularly doesn't like you/
/Oh?/
/You really are as stupid as you look! You tortured her family!/ The Master sniffed.
/Let's not go there, shall we?/ So he didn't. He didn't want to spoil the evening, and the Master seemed... almost humane tonight. /Humane? I'm a time lord, not one of your precious humans/ If he had been speaking out loud, he would have spat the last word out. Maybe not, then, thought the Doctor.
They walked down the stairs, along with all the other pairs of students on the way to the ball. Harry and Ron seemed to know everyone.
"There's Neville. Looks like he's found a girl to go with after all," said Ron, pointing to the boy who had been in the common room earlier. He had a small, dark haired girl in a frilly blue dress hanging off his arm.
"And Hermione, with Ginny," said Harry, which made Ron frown. Hermione was wearing a beautiful, floaty pink dress and Ginny was in dark blue. Obviously, the pink would have clashed terribly with her hair.
"She's my sister," muttered Ron, but he left it at that. They pointed out other names and other faces, but they simply entered the Doctor's head through one ear and out through another. And then he saw someone out of the corner of his eye who made him stop and turn.
/Is that...?/
/Yes, it's Martha. Come on, I'm bored/
/Who's she with?/
/Don't know, don't care. Come on!/ The Master was getting impatient. The Doctor gazed back at Martha, who hadn't seen them. She was talking animatedly to a tall, heavy set, dark haired man who wasn't wearing dress robes but what looked to be some foreign country's traditional outfit. Martha looked in control again, and much how the Doctor was used to seeing her, as opposed to the frightened, lonely girl who had left them only a day or so ago. He wondered who the man was.
The Yule Ball was to be held inside the Great Hall. As they waited outside it, Harry whispered over his shoulder to the Doctor.
"I forgot to say, Merry Christmas!" The Doctor looked startled.
"Christmas?" He hoped that this Christmas wouldn't be anything like the last one he had 'celebrated'. Or the one before that, to be honest.
"Yeah," Harry laughed. "Anyway, I'll see you later. Champions dance first." He took a rather disgruntled looking Ron by the arm and followed three other pairs to the front of the crowd.
"Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang, Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies," Hermione whispered excitedly from behind. "And Viktor Krum with... who's that?" The Doctor looked.
"Martha Jones," he said.
Eight o'clock arrived, and the time lords were swept forwards by the mass of students. The decorations in the hall were exquisite. The Master had a taste for style, and he was relieved to see that the decorations managed to look both Christmassy and tasteful. The walls were covered in frost, sparkling and glittering in the light from the lamps on the tables. There were garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the ceiling, the amazing ceiling showing the snowy night sky.
/This is amazing/ The Doctor glanced at the Master in surprise.
/I didn't know you were interested in anything other than power, death and destruction/
/I do have style, Doctor/
/I see that now/ He eyed the Master's robes appreciatively.
/Pervert/ But he said it in a jokey way, and smiled at the same time.
They were sitting at one of the tables together when Hermione and Ginny wandered over, clutching at each other and laughing. They sat down with the time lords and picked up a menu each. The Doctor had been wondering about these, because on some tables people were already eating, but no waiters had arrived to take orders.
"Pork chops," Hermione said out loud, and the dish appeared before her. She laid down the menu and began to eat. Ginny followed suit with the turkey option. The Doctor cleared his throat.
"French onion soup." And then: "Mint humbugs."
/Mint humbugs?/
/They were on the menu.../ The food appeared before him in a sparkling golden bowl. The humbugs arrived on a tiny, golden side plate.
/How... amusing/
/What are you going to have?/
/Same as you, I guess. Only minus the humbugs/
/But that's the best bit!/
/You are a very strange man, Doctor/ Then the Master said loudly:
"French onion soup." It appeared before him and he picked up his spoon.
/I'm ravenous/ he told the Doctor.
Ten minutes later, and the Doctor had finished his soup and had moved onto the mint humbugs. The Master, however, had barely eaten a mouthful.
/What's wrong? You not hungry?/ The humbug wrapper crackled as he unwrapped the sweet.
/I'm starving. But I'm not/
/I don't understand/
/I feel like I should be really hungry. I'm supposed to be really hungry. But in reality, I can't eat anything/
/Oh.../ The Doctor looked worried. /Are you ill?/
/You don't get it! There's nothing wrong. I'm just both hungry and not hungry at the same time/
/Just try to eat something? Please?/
The Master managed half of his soup.
/Let's go find Donna/ said the Doctor.
/Who is this Donna woman?/
/Donna? I said Martha/
/No you didn't/
"Hey, Hermione?" Hermione looked up, surprised.
"Yes?"
"You know you got Harry's map back?"
"Yes?"
"Can you do the same thing, but for my sonic screwdriver?" Hermione nodded, and removed her wand from some pocket in her dress. She pointed it at the Master, who scowled at her. If looks could kill, and all that.
"Accio sonic screwdriver." The screwdriver flew from inside the Master's robes and into Hermione's outstretched hand. She handed it to the Doctor.
"Thanks," he said, smiling.
/I hate you/
/That's nice to know/
/Give me my laser/
/No/
"Come on," the Doctor said. "Let's find Martha."