"And here we are!" The Doctor grinned, throwing his arm off a lever as he looked at Amy.
"The beach?" Amy asked.
"Yes."
"For sure?"
"Yes!" He grinned.
"A nice, beach with sun?"
"Well, two suns, but yes!" The Doctor grinned.
"And sand?"
"Well, small tiny, itty bitty grains of precious stones, but yes."
"And refreshments?"
"Well, depends on what you considerer refreshments, but if you mean liquid you can consume, then yes."
"Hmmm." She said as she stepped up to the door.
"Should I go get the towels?" Rory asked.
"Not yet. I want to check first."
"Oh come on," The Doctor whined. "I said beach, and we're on a beach."
She raised a brow at him and popped her head out the door.
"Oh, yes, the beach." She smiled at him, pulling back inside. "With nice, thick rugs, and a roaring fireplace, and bookshelves. Looks like a study, but if you say beach."
"A study?!" The doctor scrunched up his brow. "No it's a beach."
She stepped aside and he popped his head out.
"Well, I suppose it looks like a study." The doctor said reluctantly.
"A pretty posh one." Rory noted looking into the warm room filled with shelves of books and a roaring fire and armchairs. "Nice portrait."
The Doctor looked up at the portrait over the fireplace and froze like a deer in headlights. Before they could blink he had grabbed Rory, and dragged him inside, slamming the door.
"I said beach right!?" The Doctor squeaked, voice high. "Let's be off then."
The doctor headed for the controls but froze mid-step as a loud knock rang out.
"Come now Doctor," a voice called from outside. "Running away from old friends, don't be a child."
The Doctor cringed and Amy and Rory looked at him.
"I'll get the tea ready." The man outside said. "And you get your scrawny arse out here."
They stayed silent, even the TARDIS seemed quiet as they heard the man turn and walk off, a door shutting somewhere out there.
"Doctor, who is that?" Amy asked.
"Oh, just an old companion. Now, Beach!" The Doctor said with fake cheer.
He flung a lever up and started to push buttons. Amy raised a brow at Rory who gave her a hopeless shrug.
"And we're off!" The Doctor smiled.
The TARDIS gave a huge lurch and a high pitched screech that had Amy and Rory slamming their hands over their ears whilst also trying to grab something.
"No! Don't do that girl!" The Doctor squeaked. "Come on! We have a beach to see!"
The TARDIS gave a distinctively petulant hum and then went dark. Silence rang for a moment.
"Well, seems she thinks you should stay here." Amy said.
The Doctor made a wincing sort of expression and refused to look at the door.
"You can sit in here, but I'm going out." Amy said. "You promised me a beach with refreshments, and while I may not get the beach, I'm still getting my refreshments."
"Amy!" The Doctor cried out as she strode out.
"Um, yeah she's in a mood." Rory said.
"She's always in a mood." The Doctor sighed.
"I can hear you!"
They hurried after her to find her making herself comfy on a small two person sofa which Rory quickly joined her on.
"So who's place is this?" Amy asked, looking around.
"And old…companion." The Doctor sulked flopping into a dark blue armchair. "Travelled with him a few years back."
"And then just dropped him off?" Amy asked.
"Oh, no he asked to be dropped off. Had to go defeat a Dark Lord and all." The Doctor grumbled.
"And I was successful you know."
They all glanced up and Amy and Rory blinked in surprise at the man who sauntered into the study carrying a tray of cups. He was a skinny man, very lean, short on height. His hair was a mess of dark locks and small wire frames covered some of the greenest eyes they had ever seen. Other than that he looked quiet average and unassuming, especially in plain jeans and a red shirt with what looked like a roaring lion on it. He set the tray down on the small round table to the left of an armchair and poured four cups of tea.
"Sugar?" He asked. "Milk?"
"Please." Amy said looking about.
"Thanks?" Rory said more cautiously.
The man smiled at Rory and poured before handing over the steaming cups.
"Hmm." Amy smiled as she sipped it. "You make a nice cuppa."
"Thanks." The man said with a lopsided smile. "Doctor?"
"….fine." The Doctor sighed, accepting a cup and sipping. "You remember how I take my tea exactly."
"Course I do." Harry smiled.
"Well I like it differently now." The Doctor grinned.
"New man, new tea?" The man chuckled. "And new companions."
Amy and Rory glanced over to see the man smiling softly at them.
"I'm Harry." He finally introduced.
"Amy Pond." Amy said. "And my husband Rory."
"Nice to meet you.
"We are on earth right?" Amy looked about again.
"Right in London." Harry chuckled stirring his own tea.
"And you're one of the Doctor's old companions."
"Yes." Harry smiled. "He's lost his big ears and leather fetish, and even his pretty face and swishy hair since I last saw him, but same Doctor."
"It was not a fetish!" The Doctor flushed. "And my hair was not swishy!"
Harry chuckled and even Amy grinned teasingly at the blushing Doctor.
"Why did my TARDIS come here?" The Doctor finally demanded.
"I asked her too." Harry sipped his tea calmly.
"Can you do that?" Amy asked, astonished.
"No." The Doctor said.
"I can." Harry smiled at her, teeth glinting in the firelight.
"Yes, well you're not exactly normal." The Doctor sighed.
"You're human though, aren't you?" Amy asked.
"Sort of." Harry and the Doctor answered at the same time.
"How can you be 'sort of' human?" Rory asked.
"Remember the Homo Reptillia?" The Doctor asked.
"He doesn't look scaly." Amy said.
"No but they weren't the only other native people to earth. Harry is part of a group of people that evolved from humans."
"Evolved? You mean he's an evolved human?" Rory blinked.
"Yes, his people have evolved to harness certain energies in the earth." The Doctor said looking at his tea. "I could tell you what ones but you wouldn't understand. To put it simple terms, what he and his people are able to do would be magic from your perspective."
"Are you serious?" Amy smiled.
"Quite." The Doctor grumped.
Harry smiled at her expression and quirked his fingers. Amy nearly screamed as cushion she was leaning against tugged out from under her and landed on the ground, straightening as if alive and brushing itself off with its tassels before striding over to Harry and hopping up to nestle under his arm.
"Oh do shut your mouths. It's not that impressive." The Doctor pouted. "Not half as impressive as the TARDIS."
"It just walked on its own." Amy protested.
Harry laughed.
"So there are a bunch of people who can make pillows walk living on earth?" Rory asked.
"They are a dwindling species." The Doctor sighed, sipping his tea. "Endangered if you will and they don't even realize it."
"How can you not realize that?" Roryr blinked.
"To put it simply," Harry spoke up, "My people can do great feats you would consider magical, but they lack common sense it seems. They think we are a flourishing society, hidden from you normal folk. They hid themselves away hundreds of years ago due to prejudice from both sides, and have since cut off contact. Every once in a while a normal person will be born with our ability and we take them in, but they are never loud enough to be heard about 'normal' things. My people numbered about 200 000 in the world in the year 1999 and they thought the normal folk might outnumber them only by a small margin."
"Sorry, hidden?" Amy asked.
"We have our own society hidden in yoru own." Harry smiled. "We have the ability to steal memories and we have used that ability to erase any mention of our presence."
"This is crazy." Rory said.
"No more crazy than usual." Amy snorted, sipping her tea. "So what, the Doctor just ran into you one day and you went traipsing off with him."
She noticed the Doctor's wince and perked up a bit at the scent of a story.
"We are human for all our ability." Harry said. "And so we have good and bad people. I grew up an orphan because of one such bad person. An evil man tried to take over our society and he started a civil war amongst us that lasted generations with only a short break. He killed my parents and when he came after me he failed for reasons I can't explain to you. I was then raised by my normal uncle and aunt who quite disliked that I was not normal."
"And the Doctor saved you?" Amy asked
"Not quite." Harry laughed. "I lived with this family until I was accepted to a boarding school that taught my kind. I attended for five years, and the bad man who I mentioned before, came back in that time And who do you think he wanted to kill the most."
"The one who had bested him before." Rory winced.
"So the most evil man of our century put all of his effort into murdering a boy. And he failed, again and again thanks to my own desire to survive."
"Good on you." Amy murmured
"I suppose." Harry smiled at her. "But one day he tricked me. I went rushing after him to save someone I thought was in trouble. For my foolishness I lost my Godfather whom I'd met a few years previous."
"Lost as in?" Amy asked slowly.
"Lost from the world of the living." Harry smiled sadly. "And then I was sent back to my uncle and aunts, all contact with my few friends cut off."
Amy winced and Rory frowned deeply.
"And then the Doctor came barrelling into my life."
"I mis-landed." The Doctor muttered. "Was aiming for London and hit a posh little neighborhood in Surrey. Landed right in a living room."
"I suppose it was luck on my part." Harry smiled, eyes far away.
"And you what, just ran off with him?" Amy asked with a smile.
"Oh no, he kidnapped me." Harry laughed.
"Rescued!" The Doctor protested. "I stepped out of my TARDIS to find this obese, horrid man, hitting this scrawny kid for what sounded like burning some bacon."
"Always were touchy about the bacon." Harry sighed as Amy and Rory stared.
"So of course I grabbed the kid and yelled at the man about manners and then spirited him away." The Doctor shrugged. "Was going to drop him off at a place of his choice but he said he had no other place to go."
"Rough year for me." Harry winced. "And with the loss of contact I thought my friends didn't want anything to do with me. I begged him to take me far away."
"And I refused, said I'd take him to a youth hostel or something." The Doctor fidgeted, looking ashamed. "I was at a very low place in my life at that time and wanted nothing to do with anyone."
"But I begged and pleaded." Harry laughed. "And made him angry."
"You made him angry?" Amy asked in surprise.
She was surprised when the doctor looked down sadly, looking extremely ashamed of himself. She had never seen that look before.
"And so he took me somewhere." Harry laughed. "Took me to see the future of my people."
There was a moment of stretched silence as Harry stared at the fire wistfully and the Doctor refused to meet anyone's gaze.
"And what was it like?" Amy finally asked.
"In the year 2158." Harry smiled sadly. "You finally discover us."
"…And that's a bad thing?" Rory asked. "Do we pester you to do lots of tricks or something?"
"Humans are an ugly race." Harry said simply.
"You lot are so prejudice." The Doctor said almost bitterly downing the rest of his tea in one gulp.
Rory and Amy glanced at one another, getting a bad feeling about this.
"You discovered us," Harry said, "And you wanted our ability. So you rounded us, and cut us open trying to find out how were are different."
Amy covered her mouth in surprise and shock and Rory winced, looking down.
"You wiped us out within two years." Harry laughed. "My people were always so assured of their superiority but by that time you had such advanced weapons we stood no chance."
"Did…did any survive?" Amy asked softly.
"Some." Harry smiled. "Some smart ones got a ship and loaded it full of my people and the creatures like us and headed for the stars. I have no idea where they went but they're probably out there, hiding."
"And you showed this to an abused teen?" Amy demanded of the Doctor.
"I was at a dark time in my life." The Doctor wilted. "And he had pushed some buttons so I took him to one of their labs."
"Dissection is cleaner then you think." Harry hummed as they all winced.
"I realized what I had done immediately." The Doctor sighed rubbing his face.
"And I asked to go home." Harry smiled. "So he took me home, looking all mopey and sorry and dropped me off."
"That's it?" Amy demanded.
"Well no. I was home for about a week when a familiar blue box popped up in the kitchen." Harry laughed. "But a different man popped out with a pretty blonde girl name Rose. The Doctor explained it had been almost three years for him and that he wanted to make up for what he had done. So I went with the two, with the new happier Doctor and his pretty Companion, and for a year they showed me the stars."
Amy looked at the softly smiling man who seemed quite content, eyes glazed as he remembered planets and times she knew had been so wonderful.
"But I had to go back, had to return and defeat the bad guy. So they dropped me off at school, only a month having passed to all my friends. And I waved them off, went to school and spent two years defeating the bad guy."
"You won." The Doctor smiled softly. "You always were a hero."
"Heroes are overrated." Harry snorted. "I was a warrior."
"More than that." The Doctor murmured, looking at him.
"As I said the day you came to see what I had done," Harry laughed. "I am a Master."
"A what?" Amy asked.
"I saw him once after our adventure." The Doctor said. "Right after he had gathered three items of unimaginable power."
"When I said I was Sorta human," Harry smiled at them. "I lied. I used to be. Now I am more and less at the same time."
"What?" Amy asked.
"He finished a puzzle." The Doctor frowned at his empty cup. "A puzzle that was thousands of years in the making, one that had been lost to legends that reached to the farthest Galaxy. He found the Three Keys of Death."
"The Deathly hollows." Harry chuckled.
"That doesn't sound good." Rory said, worried.
"In the wrong hands, it could be devastating." The Doctor said. "If something like the Daleks had finished the puzzle they would be ruling the universe."
"You can't just get all three pieces." Harry seemed to remind the Doctor.
"No, I suppose there is more." The Doctor shrugged.
"What do they do, what did you get?" Amy asked.
"Unimaginable Power over ….well, over life and Death." Harry smiled.
"He became a Higher Being." The Doctor said. "And could have chosen to move from this plane of existence. But as you can see, he likes to pretend he is still a human. Now, you've distracted us long enough. Why did you pull the TARDIS here?"
Amy jolted as she realized that this whole thing had started with that simple question and had somehow become about how this man was not human.
"I felt when you jumpstarted the Universe." Harry smiled.
"You felt it?" Rory asked stunned.
"Higher Being." Harry smiled at him. "I felt it. I felt everything restart and realign. And that's when I noticed a small missing detail. I hadn't sensed it before in this mess of life, but when you did that I looked for it just to check in on it and suddenly realized it was gone. And has been for a while. Do you know of what I speak of Doctor?"
The Doctor was frowning in thought, eyes locked on Harry as Harry relaxed further into his chair lazily.
"Rose Tyler." Harry said when the Doctor didn't answered.
Amy saw something flash through the Doctor's eyes. Knew it was misery and loneliness and happiness and missing. Amy only had a vague idea of who Rose was, just from stories the Doctor sometimes told her when he was tired and had let his shields down. But Amy knew, knew deep down that Rose Tyler was the thing the Doctor missed most in the entire world. Knew she was the one thing the Doctor wanted more than the universe.
Amy had watched his dance with River Song. Watched him and her Daughter flirt and flit through the other's live. And she'd also noticed that they both seemed to do it only because that's how it was. It was paradox. Neither really loved the other in a romantic sense, but it was what had happened and what was happening and it didn't have a beginning or an end. It just was. River had come to them a few times to visit and just talk with them and one night she had sat down with Amy and in a soft quite voice said she was sure the Doctor only thought of Rose when they kissed. River had been quite drunk and Amy hadn't really understood at the time. But watching that look pass the Doctor's face she knew this Rose was to the Doctor what Rory was to her. He would wait thousands of years and never stop loving her.
"I waited for you to come find me." Harry said. "And then I got quite fed up with that and pulled you here myself."
"Why would you wait for me to come here? Why would I come here?" The Doctor asked, standing, suddenly looking irritated.
"I was waiting for you to ask for my help of course."
"In doing what? Comforting me?" The Doctor snapped. "She's gone Harry. Trapped in a different universe. There is nothing I could do and I certainly didn't need your help getting over her."
"Oi!" Harry scowled, standing up. "I might have had a crush on you but I told you I accepted the fact you didn't return those feelings. I was not trying to take her place!"
Amy and Rory looked between them in surprise as they glared at one another. Then suddenly the Doctor sighed, rubbing his nose.
"I'm sorry. I know. I'm just lashing out."
"I know." Harry sat back down. "How have you been?"
"Was doing pretty bad. But I made some new friends. And then I met the Ponds." He smiled softly at them.
"You still hurt though." Harry said. "Rose was….you and Rose were made for one another."
The Doctor smiled sadly and sat back down.
"Why did you think I needed your help?" The Doctor asked finally, calmer.
"Because I can help you get her back." Harry said simply.
There was a moment of silence as the Doctor stared at Harry in disbelief.
"Don't do this" The Doctor said in a strained whispered. "Don't taunt me with what I can never have."
"You're such an idiot." Harry laughed. "I'm a Higher Being now. And one that directly deals with Life and Death and all that is in between. I have more than enough power to help you get through to another universe without destroying everything."
"How?" The Doctor asked. "You may have gotten the power, but you don't have the knowledge, the understanding."
"Don't treat me like a child doctor." Harry said pouring another cup of tea as Amy and Rory barely dared to breathe, watching the byplay. "How long do you think it's been since you last visited?"
The Doctor looked around and then back at Harry.
"You're older." He said finally. "A hundred years?"
Harry burst out in laughter, nearly snorting his tea and smiled widely at the Doctor.
"Oh, Doctor." He grinned. "You're either loosing your game or distracted by the thoughts of Rose if you missed something like that. Hermione dear, how old am I now?"
"And why should I know Harry?"
Amy and Rory nearly leaped out of their skin, eyes darting to the portrait who rolled her eyes at Harry. The red head in the background hid a chuckle behind a cough, his arms wrapped around what they had previously thought to be a normal painting of a happy couple.
"You keep track so much more accurately than me."
"Then I." The woman corrected. "And to be precise, 833 years Harry.
"I'll be 850 this year." Harry chuckled. "I'm catching up to you Doctor."
The Doctor and the Ponds gaped at him.
"What, but…" The Doctor spluttered.
"Plenty of time to learn." Harry grinned downing the last of his tea as he stood. "Now shall we shake the world, split the universes apart and get your dear Rose back?"
"Its…its still impossible.: The Doctor said weakly. "I left my duplicate with her. She can grow old and be happy with him."
"Oh Doctor." Harry smiled softly. "He grew old with her, but she stayed the same. They led a happy life but he died yesterday. That's why I call you now, why I waited so long."
"What?" The Doctor asked in shock.
"You may be good Doctor, but even you could not pull all of Time and Space from her when she willingly took it in." Harry said smiling oddly. "Especially when it did not want to leave. Some things are meant to be and the Bad Wolf has been waiting to be born for a long time."
"Bad Wolf." The Doctor swallowed.
"It is not a bad thing Doctor. She has had almost eighty years to learn to control it. And it can be controlled. It wants to be controlled. It was meant for Rose Tyler, just waiting for her. So she could be with you."
"You make it sound like the universe meant for us to be together." The Doctor tried to joke, falling back into his seat with a sort of weary shock.
"You have worked for time and space, making things right for so very long," Harry said softly, "You don't think it would try to help you in return?"
The Doctor said nothing, looking at Harry with wide hopeful eyes. Harry smiled and held out a hand. The Doctor took it weakly and Harry pulled him to his feet.
"Well," The Doctor cleared his throat. "Ponds, would you like to help me rescue Rose Tyler?"
"Only if we can come to the wedding when she gets back." Amy grinned leaping to her feet.
"What?" The Doctor squeaked.
"River will want an invite also." Rory said.
"And I'll definitely want one for this good deed." Harry laughed. "I'll even sponsor it for you?"
"Who said marriage!?" The Doctor squeaked.
"Doctor, it's Rose. You and Rose." Amy said.
"The Doctor and Rose Tyler." Harry grinned. "Doctor Tyler, shall we go tear the universe open and get your Rose?"
"Geronimo?" The Doctor said, a small smile breaking out.
"Geronimo!" Harry laughed as the TARDIS lit up, humming with agreement.
.-.