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When Rose met Harry.
A fixed point in time, that was what this child’s destiny was. The Doctor’s gaze was fixed on a young child currently being ostracized during recess in primary school for his worn clothes and broken glasses--currently held together with a bit of tape at the bridge. As the Doctor watched, the child with unruly black hair and wide, expressive green eyes played in the dirt away from all the other children, seemingly content with being alone. Somewhere off to his right was Rose nattering away on her mobile with her mother. After the incident in which the Doctor had made a slight miscalculation and arrived a year late to drop the girl off, Rose was making absolutely certain to maintain contact with Jackie Tyler, her mother.
Hanging up the call, Rose smiled broadly at the Doctor as she came up next to him. “This is nice. So, where are we… no wait, when are we?” she asked, smirking playfully. Rose leaned against the fence next to the Doctor, phone safely stowed away in a jacket pocket.
The Doctor sniffed the air. “Earth, England, Surrey, Little Whinging, 1986.”
That information wiped the smile from Rose’s face, leaving a pout in its place. ...Though she did wonder how her friend could have come across that sort of information from simply taking a sniff. Then again, this was probably something to do with Time-Lord physiology that she didn’t want to look too closely at or even think too hard about. “Nineteen-eighty six... Surrey?” Rose asked. ”Surrey? I thought we were going someplace interesting. Not Surrey in the eighties. Surrey is boring.”
“Boring? Anyplace is interesting if you look deep enough.” Bright blue eyes twinkled. He was right. The small child playing by itself had a fixed destiny, that much could be told simply by looking at the boy. While the Doctor wasn’t certain as to what that particular destiny was, he did know that it wasn’t pleasant. Dark days were coming. By the haunted look behind that child’s eyes, at least a few cloudy days were already behind the boy.
It didn’t take long for things to get ‘interesting’ as a set of large boys took it upon themselves to harass the small boy playing by himself. The Doctor noted, none too happily, that the small child took off running. A whale of a boy chased the smaller one, looking somewhat humorous as he broke out into a waddling run.
“Oi! You!” Rose yelled, pointing at the obese child. “Lay off the pipsqueak!”
While Rose’s outburst barely phased the larger child, the small one with dark hair dared a grateful glance back. That was enough to fully enrage Rose, and the Doctor suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for the overweight child for the tongue-lashing that Rose was capable of giving.
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All Harry wanted to do was hide. Anywhere was an option. Was ‘anywhere’ an option? He’d settle for anyplace whatsoever. There were police, firefighters and worse, his Aunt had been called in. Unfortunately ducking under the desk was right out, since he’d been hurried off to the Headmaster’s office shortly after having been ‘rescued’ from the top of the kitchens. Not that Harry even knew how he’d ended up on the roof in the first place. One moment he’d been running away from his cousin Dudley, the next he was up on top of the kitchen roof. That was then, and now… well, now he was in the Headmaster’s office.
Instead, Harry ducked his head as Aunt Petunia sobbed. The strange man and lady who had shouted--to be honest, if anyone had asked him, he’d have said that they’d yelled--at Dudley in the yard were also there in the Headmaster’s office. Aunt Petunia started shrieking louder than Harry had ever heard before. Harry ventured a peek to see what had set her off. The strange man with the big ears had shoved a little slip of paper into Aunt Petunia’s line of sight. Doctor, he’d said his name was ‘The Doctor’...and the blonde was Rose.
“Right, Harry,” the Doctor said, grinning warmly at Harry and offering his hand, “It looks like you’ll be coming with Rose and me.”
Almost like a trapped animal, Harry looked at the hand as though it were something that would possibly bite him. “I… I am?” Afraid, but more afraid to try talking to anyone else, he cautiously slipped his hand into the larger one. Perhaps, maybe, just this once, someone he attempted to trust wouldn’t bite.
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“Come along, Harry, do try and keep up.” The Doctor’s disposition was still on the bright side. Next to him, hurrying as fast as short little legs could carry him, Harry tried to do just that.
“Doctor!” Rose hissed. They were out of the schoolyard and briskly headed back towards the Tardis, this time with a small child in tow. That had NOT been in the plans. Not that there had been any plans in the first place. Rose’s eyes flashed. “You can’t just walk off with a kid! I canna even… Why are we walking off with a kid?!”
“Harry, Rose, his name is Harry.”
“For the love of…” This time Rose growled. A few quick steps and Rose was at the Doctor’s side. “Come on, kid.” In one smooth move she picked the boy up and braced him against her hip. “No bloody way your little legs will keep match with this idiot. An’ last thing you need to do is run to keep up.”
“Sorry,” Harry murmured under his breath.
“Plenty of time for running later. Running, good for the heart, always nice to work up a little sweat now and then.” The Doctor amusedly struck at his chest as they reached the Tardis.
“Still, Doctor, why the kid?”
“Simple. We’re taking him away from prying eyes, and speaking of eyes… I think that someone is in need of new glasses.” The Doctor reached over and tweaked young Harry’s nose.
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It didn’t take long for word of Harry Potter’s disappearance to make it back to Dumbledore. By that evening, the Order of the Phoenix was at the Dursley home.
The only clue there was behind the young boy's disappearance was that a man and a woman had walked off with him. Neither Vernon nor Petunia Dursley were particularly forthcoming with more details regarding the disappearance, though then again, they hadn’t been all that interested in having Harry residing at their home in the first place. If Harry had died, that would have been something significantly noticeable, and the protection spell around the Dursleys’ home would have activated. And yet...nothing happened.
Dumbledore's slight sliver of hope remained because of one incantation. Hogwarts’ roster, the list that kept track of all wizarding children (including those born into Muggle families) that one list never removed Harry's name. It took a mighty bit of magic to be able to hoodwink one of Hogwart's most basic--and impressive--enchantments. As far as the magics surrounding the school were concerned, in 1991, Harry Potter would be enrolled for class.
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The Tardis was parked in the alleyway just behind the Tyler’s flat, and the sun was barely coming up over the London skyline. It was a short layover, where the Doctor did his usual and unfortunate dance of fending off of Rose’s mother, Jackie’s, advances. By now Harry had apparently come to the decision that this strange man was safe, and was following close behind.
Jackie Tyler took notice of the new child in her home after he peered out from behind the Doctor. With a bright smile, she knelt down to Harry’s level. “Hullo.” Jackie was still in her dressing gown, blond hair mussed but for the most part pulled back out of her face in a messy ponytail. Make-up from the night before was still present and more than a little smudged. “And who would you be?”
After a moment in which Harry tried to find his voice and failed, “Harry Potter,” the Doctor answered.
In the hours that passed, Rose had to struggle to contain her rage as small details of Harry’s life were slowly pulled from the boy by her mother. The fact that a child of Harry’s age and size was suspicious. Added to that, the skills necessary to easily operate a stove and make a breakfast that consisted of something more substantial than a bowl of cereal had been the tipping point for both Rose and Jackie. To say that they were horrified was an understatement. For his part, Harry had done his level best to be helpful in the Tyler home and was increasingly anxious, because he could tell that people were becoming upset, and he didn’t know what he was doing wrong. Nobody was shouting or smacking him. What was going on?
“Doctor,” Rose hissed once she was out in the living room, and out of earshot of Harry. “We are calling child services. Now! Those prats had that kid doing chores like some servant and made him live in a cupboard!”
“I know.” Flipping through a book, the Doctor didn’t seem phased by Rose’s revelation. The book didn’t hold much interest and it was shortly set down on the coffee table in the middle of Jackie’s living room. A grin was offered up to the irate blonde glaring at him. The last thing the Doctor would admit, least of all to Rose, was that the Tardis had arbitrarily decided to dump them in 2006 instead of taking them to the planet Barcelona in the thirtieth century like he wanted. "Go ahead, call child services on a family that locked a boy in a cupboard some two decades ago. Should be an interesting exercise. I can't wait to hear how they respond."
Rose studied the Doctor’s face. “There’s… there’s got to be more to it.”
“There is.” That grin broadened when a small child peeked shyly around the corner. “Harry, come on over here.”
The boy edged into the room, and waited uneasily.
Harry was scooped up into the Doctor's arms, and the Doctor settled down onto the sofa. "Harry, what do you know about your parents?"
It was clear that the question was touching on an unwelcome subject as Harry squirmed uncomfortably. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said that they were nothing but worthless drunks. They died in a car crash when I was one." Glumly Harry reached up and gingerly touched the lightning shaped scar that was hiding under his hair. "It's how I got my scar."
"First off, your Aunt and Uncle are idiots for filling your head with rubbish like that." The Doctor grinned, his bright blue eyes twinkling like stars. "They were wizards, same as you...which is why the Dursleys acted like complete twits towards you. They don't like magic, or anything they think is odd--"
"Odd like you, Doctor?" Rose chimed in, arms folded comfortably across her generous bosom.
"Something like that," the Doctor's grin grew, "but, problem is, Harry is about as magical as it gets, and those two tried to extinguish in the worst way possible that magic.”
Harry looked back and forth between Rose and the Doctor. For a moment it looked as though the child was trying to decide whether or not an adult was trying to make a joke. His expression one of concern and nervousness, as though he didn't dare contradict an adult. "But," Harry's voice was as small as his own physical stature, "there's no such thing as magic."
"Well, yes and no. What you lot do is actually an elaborate manipulation of psychokinetic energy, which tends to look a lot like magic. It's in your blood."
"Wait, you mean this kid really can do magic? Like, all hocus pocus, abracadabra," Rose gestured wildly to emphasize her point, "an' poof he pulls a fluffy white rabbit outta a hat?"
"Exactly."