Chapter Text
The Tardis doors flew open as the Doctor and Rose barrelled inside, laughing. For the first time in a very, very long time, nobody died! All the empty children and adults had been restored to themselves, with the help of another man in a spaceship filled with nanoparticles.
"It's almost a shame to leave." Rose said, smiling as the doors swung shut behind her. "Just as the party was about to start!"
The Doctor grimaced. "Not much cause for celebration in the middle of a war. Hopefully the small victory today will be enough to carry many of them through to the very end."
Rose's smile faded slightly. "It's a shame you can't just whisk everyone away to safety. Most of them will die in the war regardless."
"I know." Rose could see the conflict in his eyes. For one who looked so young, the Doctor's eyes always reflected his true age. So, so old. "But if I did, the whole of mankind's future could be rewritten. Then you might not even exist. Imagine, an Earth with no Rose Tyler! We can't be having that. Your mother would try to kill me! Again!"
Rose laughed. "She'll try to kill you anyway. Death by slap!"
The Doctor shook his head, fond. "Good old Jackie Tyler."
"What about Jack?" Rose asked. "He's not from earth, not in the same way they are. Couldn't we save him, somehow?"
The Doctor sighed, but his eyes softened. "Oh, alright! We'll pick him up on the way. We have planets to save and entire galaxies to visit!"
Rose grinned. "Where do you have in mind?"
"The world is our oyster, Rose Tyler! Well, universe. All of time and space at our fingertips! Only one question remains unanswered."
Rose smirked. "Oh yeah? What would that be?"
The Doctor smiled widely. "Why is the phone ringing?" Before Rose could respond, the Doctor was back out of the door.
"No- wait - Doctor!" Rose dashed after him, almost crashing headlong into him. She teetered on the edge of the doorframe, arms windmilling to try and regain her balance. Space stretched out below her. The Doctor reached out to steady her, holding the phone in his other hand.
"Hello? Who is this?" Rose leaned closer, but couldn't hear anything other than static. "Hello? Anyone there?"
Nothing. The Doctor hung up the phone, but his expression darkened.
"Odd." Rose frowned, still slightly breathless from her almost-fall. "Maybe they're in trouble?"
"No one in the universe has that number. Other than you, myself and your pain in the backside mother."
"Oi, watch it! That's my mum you're talking about!" Rose whacked him on the arm. "Did you hear anything at all on the other end?"
"Only static, although it was too uneven to be static. The pitch kept changing and the speed increased, like a human child having a panic attack."
Rose's brow creased in worry. "Should we check it out?"
The Doctor shook his head, scanning the phone with his screwdriver. "Can't. No readings. Let's see if the Tardis picked up a signal." He didn't wait for a response, he simply grabbed Rose's hand and ran back inside. "Don't touch anything." He warned. Rose crossed her arms and huffed.
"Never do."
Whatever the Doctor was trying to do clearly wasn't working.
"Phone records are clean." He muttered to himself. "No signals or attempted communication picked up at all. Impossible! Fantastic! But mostly concerning."
"So how do we find out what it was? Surely you can do something?"
The Doctor sighed. "You humans, always so impatient. We'll leave it for now, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, I have all the time in the universe! Fancy a spin over to the Planet of the Seven Suns once we've picked up Jack? Gorgeous place, the planet has five and a half suns if you can believe it!"
"Five suns? Not Seven?" Rose quirked a brow at the Doctor, who waggled his own back.
"Seven? Why would there be seven suns?"
Rose sighed. "You just said the planet was called the Planet of the Seven Suns! What was I supposed to think?"
"So? You're called Rose and I didn't expect you to have a green stem and red petals instead of a face now, did I?"
"You're impossible!" Rose snapped, but she was smiling.
"Yep! You love it. Want to do the honours?"
"Please!" Rose eagerly stepped towards the Doctor, grabbing the lever with both hands. "Wait, hold on. How does a planet have half a sun?"
The Doctor ignored her. "On my count." He pranced to the other side of the console, pressing buttons too fast for Rose to keep up with. She swore he just did it to show off, but who was she to deny him his fun? "Three, two, one, Now!"
Rose pulled the lever down hard. Instead of the usual Tardis wheeze, the ground shook violently beneath her feet, knocking her backwards. The lights went out and an alarm blared loudly from the centre of the console.
The Doctor was at her side in an instant, yanking her to her feet and pulling her backwards to the railings.
"Stay there and hold on." He ordered as he dashed back to the console, which was showering them with sparks.
"I swear I didn't do anything!" Rose shouted over the alarms. The floor jolted her again and she gripped the rails for support. "Only the lever, like you said!"
"I know!" The Doctor called back, hands flying across the console. "We're being pulled through the time vortex, the Tardis must have intercepted a signal. I don't understand why that would cause her to-"
All of a sudden, the cloister bells fell silent. Still, the Tardis still didn't stabilise. The red light emitting from the console flared brighter and Rose screamed as the Tardis span wildly.
"Try not to panic!" The Doctor called out, slightly quieter now that there were no alarms to compete with.
"Don't you tell me not to panic!" Rose yelled back. "We're being flung about in time and space in a blue wooden box!"
"Hey! Don't you dare insult her like that, she's given you experiences of a lifetime! I don't understand why the alarms have turned o-"
"I don't know if you can hear me," Rose jumped, not expecting to hear a child's voice in the middle of a Tardis emergency. The voice echoed in the absence of alarms. "But Mrs Danish always says to ask for help when we're in trouble."
"Doctor, who is that?"
"I have no idea!" Rose had never seen the Doctor look so frazzled.
"Can you please help me? You see, there's this crack in my cupboard wall. It's been there for a very long time, ever since I turned my teacher's wig blue."
"Doctor!" Rose screeched as the Tardis dropped dramatically.
"Just hold on! I'm sorting it!"
"It's getting bigger. Sometimes I can hear it whispering to me. It says scary things and it gives me bad dreams. So please, if you're listening, please send someone to come and fix it! My aunt and uncle don't believe me, they said I'm making it up because I'm a freak. But I promise, it is real! I just want it to go away! Please make it go away! Please!" With a loud crackle, the fear-filled voice was replaced with the return of the alarms.
"No!" The Doctor roared, pressing buttons and switching switches like a madman. "No, this is bad! Very, very bad! Impossible!"
"What is it?" Rose asked. "If I'm going to die, I want to know!" She hauled herself upright and started to stumble towards the console.
"You're not going to die! I don't think so, anyway. We appear to be- but that's not-"
"What?"
"No wonder the old girl's throwing a tantrum, this goes against every rule in timelord -"
"JUST TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING!"
The Doctor levelled Rose with his best unimpressed look. It was immediately undermined by the Tardis trying to bowl them both over again.
"We're crossing Dimensions." The Doctor explained, gripping the console tightly with both hands. Rose followed suit. "Something is dragging her through, listen!"
"I can't hear anything over the alarms!"
"Listen under them then!" The Doctor retorted. "The low rumbling, hear it?"
"No!"
"Oh. Well, sounds like a you problem to me. We're almost through, brace for impact!" Rose shut her eyes and clung to the console as tightly as she could. She felt one of the Doctor's hands overlap her own, anchoring her further. With one last shudder the Tardis stilled, steam pouring out of the engine.
"Can you switch the alarms off?" She asked, somewhat grumpily.
The Doctor pressed a button and finally, finally, they were rewarded with silence.
"Alright?" The Doctor asked.
Rose wiped her hands on her jacket. "Think so. I'm alive, aren't I? You?"
"Fantastic!" The Doctor clapped once. "Does our universe have a Surrey?"
"Yeah, it's on Earth. Why?" Rose stepped towards the console. The Doctor pointed at a map on the holographic screen.
"We appear to have landed in one. Here, look! Surrey, England, Earth, The Milky Way, The Virgo Supercluster, The Laniakea-"
"Alright, alright! So what, we're on Earth?" Rose asked, pointing at the map.
The Doctor nodded, pointing his screwdriver at the console. "Yes. But no. But yes! Sort of. Not really?"
"Not helping."
"Right, right, sorry. The old girl's very banged up. She'll need a few hours to fix herself, she might need a helping hand from me later. You know the shaking and alarms?"
Rose nodded. "Funnily enough it was hard to miss them, yeah." She quipped. The Doctor ignored her.
"That wasn't us falling through the time vortex. It was us falling out of it. Well, kind of. Not really."
Rose raised her eyebrows. "Sooo, why aren't we back in space?"
The Doctor sighed, as if Rose were being particularly difficult. "Because we weren't falling. Come on Tyler, keep up!"
"You just said we were falling! What was I supposed to think?"
"Give me a minute!" The Doctor snapped back. Rose rolled her eyes. "It wasn't just you that got taken by surprise, you know. We're in another Dimension."
"An alternate universe? Really?" Rose was aware she sounded sceptical. She was.
The Doctor nodded. "Yes, I suppose. In some sense."
Rose groaned. "Don't start that again!"
"Anyway, all that matters is we're here, which is scientifically impossible. No species should be able to travel across Dimensions, albeit a few exceptions."
"Why not? Didn't you say the Tardis is bigger on the inside because of dimensional engineering? Why is this any different?"
"An excellent question! Dimensional engineering is different to travelling across Dimensions."
"How?"
"One has a capital letter."
Rose gave the Doctor a look. He sighed. "Imagine you're a stick figure on a piece of paper, and someone draws a vertical line in front of you and behind you. You're stuck, because you can't go around and you can't dig down or climb up. Why?"
Rose frowned. "Because that would require at least one limb being able to move outside the paper."
The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Exactly! You'd have to be 3 dimensional. For humanity, time is linear. Time is the vertical line on their piece of paper, yes?"
"But not for other species."
The Doctor bopped her on the nose. "And not for Rose Tyler! That's what dimensional engineering is for timelords - humanities' vertical line. But there is always something inaccessible to the thing before it. For humans it is time, for timelords and other time travelling species, it is other Dimensions. Or alternate universes, if you prefer. Not parallel ones, mind, those never intersect. Alternate Dimensions are more like an interconnected web. They should still be completely barred from access for most, however. Can you see where I'm going with this?"
Rose frowned. "Dimensions are the vertical lines and timelords are the stick man?"
"Bingo! Rose Tyler, supreme clever clogs! I knew I kept you around for a reason! You understand, then?"
"I think so?"
"Good, because it isn't like that at all."
Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "Seriously?"
The Doctor stared at her, incredulous. "Of course it isn't! Dimensional travel is far too complex to be compared to a stick man and a line! All you need to know is that it is completely impossible for us to be here. How we're going to get back I have no idea."
Rose's stomach dropped. "What, I might never see my mum again?"
"I'll do everything I can to get us back." The Doctor promised. "If we can be pulled through, we can almost definitely reverse it. Not with the Tardis in this state, though. We need to find the child that sent the message. If we can figure out how we got here, we have much better chances of leaving."
"Do you think he was the one that brought us here? He only sounded like a little kid!"
"Quite possibly. You'd be surprised what little kids with big imaginations can do. Keep your wits about you, I have no idea what we're walking into. You ready?"
Rose shrugged. "As I'll ever be!"
"Come on then! This is going to be fantastic!"
They stepped out of the Tardis together (after Rose had changed back into her own, ordinary clothes), arm in arm. The street they'd landed in the middle of was completely empty. The Tardis stood out like a sore thumb in amongst the uniform houses. Something about them set Rose's teeth on edge.
Every house was and identical shade of white, with identical mowed lawns and identical picket fences around the identical front gardens. The only visible differences between each house were the cars and curtains hanging in the identical windows.
"July 31st, 1990." The Doctor said. "Summer. Crikey, it's warm! It's not usually this warm in England on your Earth."
"I don't like this." Rose whispered, gripping the Doctor's arm slightly tighter.
"Me neither." He answered. "It's boring. I bet nothing interesting ever happens around here. Let's have a bit of a poke around, shall we? The kid must be nearby." Without another word, he turned and headed straight for the nearest house, pulling Rose along behind him.
The woman who answered the door looked exactly how Rose expected her to. People who lived on these sorts of streets looked down on people like her, who lived in small flats and from paycheck to paycheck.
"Hello." The Doctor greeted politely. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose. We're looking for a child." He held up his psychic paper with a flourish.
"A child?" The woman looked them up and down haughtily. "Not mine, I assure you. My Tommy is an angel, he has no need for a psychiatrist."
"Yes, a Psychiatrist! That's what I am! Do you happen to know of any children who live nearby that might need one? We were told this street but I've forgotten the exact address."
"Then I suggest you find a phone and call your supervisor." The woman was beginning to look suspicious now. "We all keep to ourselves on this street, Doctor...?"
"Just the Doctor." The Doctor held out a hand. The woman didn't shake it. "Well, if you're sure everything is quite well, then we'd best be off. We wouldn't want to cause any trouble, the last thing a peaceful street like this needs is gossip. Thank you, ma'am." The Doctor turned and Rose followed suit.
"Three, two, one..."
"Wait!" The woman hissed. The Doctor turned around slowly, eyebrows raised. "Yes?"
"There is... one child... that springs to mind, now that I think about it."
"Is there really?"
The Doctor nudged Rose. "Curb the sarcasm." He warned her quietly.
The woman bit her lip and beckoned them closer. The Doctor and Rose leaned forwards expectantly. "The house directly across the road, number 4, do you see it?"
They both nodded and glanced over at the house. Nothing about it stood out, it was identical to all the other houses on the street.
"The Dursleys live there. Picture perfect family. Mr Dursley is a very prominent figure, and Petunia is beloved in this community."
"Is she now?"
The woman nodded sharply. "Oh yes. Knows everything about everyone, doesn't she? Manages to keep her own business disgracefully quiet. Their son is in my Tommy's class at school. Scares the other children half to death. Enjoys it, too." Rose and Doctor exchanged an awkward look.
"I'm not sure that's the child we're looking for-"
"No, I know." The woman leaned in even closer, until all of their foreheads were practically touching. "They have another child in their house, Petunia's nephew I believe. He's a very... unique child."
"In what way?"
"My Tommy says he never speaks at school. Petunia is always complaining about his awful behaviour. And his clothing, positively disgraceful! Petunia says he refuses to wear anything clean or new. He never lets her cut his hair, so he looks incredibly scruffy. His parents died in a car crash when he was just a babe, poor thing, but it really isn't an excuse for bad behaviour!"
"I see." The Doctor's voice had gone cold, but the woman didn't seem to notice. She wittered on, oblivious to the frosty look the Doctor was giving her.
"He's always in the garden, getting absolutely filthy. The children at school like him even less than Dudley, my Tommy says he's very introverted and a bit odd. If there's a child on this street in need of professional help, Doctor, it's that one. The boy doesn't belong here, he's never even tried to fit in. Perhaps it's his foreign heritage."
"You know what I hate about streets like this?" The Doctor said suddenly, pulling his head back away from the woman's to meet her gaze head-on. "You're all obsessed with appearances and complain when there isn't enough gossip to be shared, but the biggest and most concerning rumour of all always flies right over your silly little heads."
"Excuse me?" The woman gasped, affronted. "How dare you-"
"No, how dare you! Thank you for your help, madam, but we must be going now. Tata!"
"Wait, but-"
The Doctor ignored her, storming off in a huff. Rose jogged after him.
"Right under their noses." He muttered angrily, kicking at a loose stone as they walked across a street. "A child who doesn't speak, wears hand me down clothes and is regarded as a problem, even by his own family. How do they never see it?"
"Doctor, calm down!"
"I am calm! This is calm! My middle name is calm! The Doctor calm Doctor!"
Rose grimaced. "No, that's awful."
"You're right. Never saying that again. You know, on most planets children are regarded as the most sacred things in the universe. Why do human beings insist on treating half of theirs so terribly?"
Rose's eyes widened. "You think he's being abused?"
The Doctor's expression darkened. "It would take a very, very desperate child to be able to pull the Tardis into another dimension. Even then, it still shouldn't be possible at all. I don't like it when things don't make sense, Rose!"
"Really? I couldn't tell!" The Doctor glared at her and she looked away. "Sorry. You going to knock?"
The Doctor lifted his hand, but hesitated. "Any sign of trouble, you go straight back to the Tardis. No arguments."
"Alright." Rose nodded reluctantly. "I understand. New Dimensions equal new danger and all that."
"Exactly."
A man answered the door. He was quite large and scowled at them, doing his best to look intimidating.
"What is it?" He asked sharply. "We don't speak to cold callers."
"It's a good job I'm not a cold caller then!" The Doctor smiled cheerfully and handed him the psychic paper. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose Tyler. I assume you're Mr Dursley. We're here to help!"
The man glared down at the paper. "What's this for? How do you know my name?"
"It's my credentials."
"It's blank."
Rose did her best not to look surprised. The Doctor raised a brow. "Really? Your imagination must be truly appalling."
"I don't approve of imagination." The man grunted. "Now, if you're done wasting my time." He moved to close to the door.
"Wait!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Not quite. We're here to check on a child. A small one, messy hair?"
Mr Dursley's expression soured. Rose suppressed a grimace as the veins in his forehead began to throb.
"Who are you?" He snarled.
"I told you, I'm the Doctor."
"Doctor? Doctor what?"
The Doctor blinked. "Well, that's a new one. Just the Doctor, if you don't mind. This is Rose. We would like to speak with the child, please."
"Whatever it was he did, be assured we'll punish him. If that was all, I have business to attend to." He tried to shut the door again, but this time the Doctor casually put his foot in the way.
"The child hasn't done anything wrong." The Doctor told him. Mr Dursley laughed disbelievingly. "No, really! We're here to check on him."
Mr Dursley's red face paled dramatically. "You're - you're - from that lot?" He hissed.
"Yes." The Doctor nodded. He pulled out his screwdriver for dramatic effect. "Now, please step aside and let us see the child."
"We were promised -"
"I don't care. Now move or I'll zap you." Mr Dursley squeaked and backed away. The Doctor pushed his way inside the house. "Tea would be lovely, thank you." He added nonchalantly.
Rose squeezed passed Mr Dursley and followed the Doctor into the living room.
"I demand you leave at once, sir!" Mr Dursley had seemingly recovered his confidence. The Doctor dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
"Not until we've seen the child. I'll have two sugars in my tea, please."
"Just milk for me." Rose added, doing her best not to laugh.
"Vernon? What is all that racket?" Rose turned to look at who must have been Mrs Dursley. She was small and skinny, with an abnormally long neck. "Who are these people?"
"They were sent to see the boy." Mr Dursley snarled. "They're refusing to leave. Do you know them?"
"I've never seen them before." Mrs Dursley narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
"Just two people who really want a cup of tea." The Doctor's smile didn't reach his eyes. "And to see the child you seem so desperate to hide."
"He doesn't like visitors." Mrs Dursley said, flexing her fingers nervously. "He's a difficult child, best not to disturb him."
The Doctor sat down on the nearest sofa, crossing his arms. "We're not leaving until we've seen him."
"Now listen here-"
"No, you listen!" The Doctor leapt to his feet, stormed towards Mr Dursley and pressed the screwdriver into the side of his neck. He whimpered pathetically. "If you do not show us the boy right now I will make your life a living nightmare. Do we understand each other?"
"Garden." Mrs Dursley's voice shook. "He's in the garden."
"Thank you." The Doctor stepped back. "Was that really so hard?"
Rose followed the Doctor into the garden nervously, not really sure what to expect. The Doctor's rage seemed to have erased any lingering concern about the dangers of this universe, as he didn't tell Rose to turn back.
The garden appeared empty at first glance. The flowerbeds were neatly arranged and almost perfect in presentation, the fence and patio were the cleanest Rose had ever seen, and there wasn't a weed in sight.
"Hello?" The Doctor called softly, scanning the air with his screwdriver. "I'm the Doctor, I'm here to help." He frowned down at the scan's results.
"There's energy disruption." He whispered to Rose. "Not sure what's causing it, the sonic can't pick it up. The boy is behind the shed."
Slowly, they made their way to the far end of the garden. Rose heard the bushes rustle and what sounded like stifled sobs. "It's okay!" She said quietly, gently pushing the bushes to the side. "We aren't here to hurt you."
"P-please go away." The boy whispered, shrinking back as they squeezed through the bushes to join him behind the shed. It was pretty cramped. "Leave me alone."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." The Doctor told him. "Not when you asked for my help."
The boy wiped his eyes and looked up at the Doctor suspiciously. His glasses were broken and dangling from one ear. He took them off and tucked them neatly into the pocket of his oversized trousers, tied around his waist with a shoelace. "I didn't ask anyone for help."
"Are you sure?" The boy nodded. "Have you ever asked for help?"
The boy sniffed quietly. "When I was six. But nobody came, so I stopped asking."
"We heard you, and we've come to help." Rose promised him. "Trust us?"
The boy eyed them cautiously. "Prove it."
"Was Mrs Danish your teacher? The one who told you ask for help whenever you're in trouble?" The boy's eyes widened. Rose knew it wouldn't be enough to gain his complete trust immediately, but it was a start.
"How did you know?"
The Doctor smiled. "I told you, we heard your message."
The boy tilted his head. "Who are you?"
"I am the man that fell from the stars!" The Doctor declared, offering the boy his hand. "But you can call me the Doctor, everybody does. This is my trusty sidekick, Rose Tyler."
"Oi!" Rose smacked him gently on the arm. "Don't be rude."
"What's your name?" The Doctor asked, ignoring Rose entirely.
"Harry." The boy whispered. "Harry Potter."
"Harry Potter? That's a brilliant name! Well then, Harry Potter, why are you hiding behind the shed on such a fine day like this?"
"Because it doesn't follow me here." Harry's eyes darted towards the shed. Rose had a feeling he wasn't talking about the crack in his wall.
"I understand." The Doctor slid down the fence so that he was sat beside Harry, arms balanced casually on his bent knees. Rose crossed her legs and sat in front of the bushes, shifting slightly to the right when she saw Harry's panicked expression.
Okay, don't block the exit, she thought to herself. Noted.
"I can't imagine your aunt or your uncle squeezing behind here." The Doctor commented lightly, seemingly reaching the same conclusion Rose had. "It's the most amount of peace you get, isn't it?"
Harry shrugged, absently drawing patterns in the dirt with a single finger.
"I don't deserve peace." He said, quietly but with conviction, as if it were a perfectly normal thing for a child to say. "Not when I cause them so much chaos."
"Hey, now, I'm sure that isn't true." The Doctor admonished gently. "All children deserve peace."
Harry shrugged, face void of emotion. "Not children like me."
"Do they scare you?" The Doctor asked. Harry looked up hesitantly. "Your aunt and uncle."
"No." Harry answered, shaking his head. "Not anymore."
The Doctor tilted his head. "Interesting." He said, mostly to himself. "So you'll beg the universe to help you fix a crack in your wall, but not remove your from your relatives house? Why?"
Harry stopped tracing the dirt. "I don't know." He whispered. "I think I just... gave up on ever leaving here. No one else would want me, anyway. I have nowhere to go. A crack in the wall would be easier to fix. "
The Doctor hummed thoughtfully. "You know what I think?" Harry shook his head. "I think that it must be one scary crack in your wall."
Harry burst into tears. "Sorry!" He gasped through suppressed shudders. "Sorry, can't help it, I just-"
"Breathe." The Doctor said gently, not moving any closer or further away. "It's okay, you're okay. Tears are good for the soul."
"M'not supposed to cry." He mumbled, hiding his head in his hands as he shook, trying to get his tears under control. Rose shot the Doctor a worried look. The Doctor looked furious.
"How old are you?"
"Ten." Harry's voice wobbled. He wiped his eyes his sleeve. "I turned ten today."
"Happy birthday!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, we'll have to find a present for you! There's plenty of cool gifts in my ship, you can choose anything you like! Within reason, obviously I wouldn't let you take something that could harm you, or could harm anyone else, but-"
"Doctor." Rose said pointedly, nodding Harry's direction. "Not the time."
"It's always the time for birthdays!" The Doctor corrected with a bright grin at Harry. Harry smiled shakily back. "But seriously, Harry Potter, you're 10. Cry whenever you feel like it. Oh, how about the bubble room! Best place for a party! But first, shall we take a look at that crack in your cupboard wall?"
"No one else can see it." Harry explained as they emerged from the bushes, crawling out from behind the shed. "The Dursleys think I'm making it all up. Dudley told everyone at school I'm crazy."
"Is that why you stopped talking?" The Doctor asked.
Harry narrowed his eyes, but nodded.
"Excellent! Always listen to a child, Rose, rule number six. The others don't deserve to know the truth if they're not going to listen, Harry. Come on then!"
"Wait!" Harry called after the Doctor. "We can't go inside! I'm not allowed inside until I've finished all my garden jobs!"
The Doctor crouched down in front of him. "Do you trust me, Harry?"
Harry wrinkled his nose. "I don't think so. Not yet."
The Doctor nodded. "You're a wise young man. Never trust a stranger, not until they prove you can. Stick with me. I won't let the Dursleys touch you."
Harry took a step back, shaking his head.
"Harry." Rose knelt beside the Doctor. "The Doctor can't prove you can trust him unless you try, okay? I know you're scared, but you're also very brave. You can do this."
Harry must have sensed Rose was telling the truth. After a moment's hesitation he nodded determinedly, jaw set.
"Okay." He said, just loud enough for Rose to hear. "I'll try."
The Doctor threw the door open with a flourish. "Fantastic!"
Harry led them to the cupboard under the stairs. The Dursleys were still in the living room, apparently too terrified to confront them. "This cupboard? Not the one in your bedroom?" The Doctor asked, surprised. Harry opened the door without answering the question.
When the Doctor read the sign on the inside of the door, he gritted his teeth and hissed quietly. He looked almost murderous. For a moment, Rose caught a glimpse of the timelord that was fresh out of a multi-galaxy war. When she caught sight of what he was looking at, she understood why. Harry's Room.
"You sleep in here?" She asked Harry, trying not to show him how much it affected her. Harry nodded, as if it were perfectly normal for a boy to sleep in a cupboard.
"The crack was here." He squeezed past the Doctor and clambered onto the tiny mattress, pointing at the wall. It was blank. "When I turned my teacher's wig blue by accident. I could hear things inside it. That's when the nightmares started."
The Doctor hummed, reaching past Harry to feel the wall for himself. "Can you see it now?" He asked. Harry nodded.
"It started moving not long ago." Harry glanced nervously at the living room door. "I was running away from Dudley, my cousin, when I blinked and tripped. Next thing I know, I'm on the roof of the kitchens. Since then, the crack's been following me everywhere. I can only see it when I'm not looking directly at it, and it stopped whispering today."
The Doctor scanned the wall with his screwdriver. "What's the last thing you heard it say?"
Harry frowned. "Are you my mummy? Something like that."
The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look. Rose of confusion, the Doctor of concern. Rose could see the fury brimming under the surface. Her own blood was boiling.
"No readings." The Doctor said to himself. "Except for an energy disruption. Why are there no readings anywhere here?" He pointed the screwdriver at Harry, who flinched. "No readings on you either, just another energy disruption. Harry, are you a human?"
"I think so?" Harry gave the Doctor an odd look. "But I am a bit of freak."
"No, you're not." Rose smiled conspiratorially and winked at Harry. "But that one is. Two hearts!"
"Two?" Harry's eyes widened. "That's so cool! How-"
The Doctor barged into the living room, wielding the screwdriver. Mrs Dursley screamed. "Human!" The Doctor checked the readings three times before stepping back. "All human! But no readings on the child and no useful readings on anything suspicious. Why? Rose, back to the Tardis. Hopefully she's recovered enough to give us something useful."
"You're leaving?" Harry asked, looking disappointed. "But what about the crack in my wall?"
"Harry." The Doctor knelt down in front of him. "Can you see the crack right now?"
Harry nodded slowly. "Just there." He pointed slightly to the left, but his eyes remained fixed on the Doctor. "Everything else is blurry, but the crack never ever is."
"He's talking nonsense!" Vernon snapped, shaking himself out of his stupor.
"No!" The Doctor barked. "You don't get to speak! Harry, with me. I need to check some things."
"Hold on a second!" Vernon snapped. "This is my house! The boy stays here, he's a liar!"
Rose reached out and squeezed Harry's hand.
"I'm a Doctor." The Doctor's voice was calm, but Rose had never seen him stare at a human so coldly. "I need to assess him, I will judge whether or not he is lying, and I will decide where he goes until then. Understood?" He lifted his screwdriver. Vernon whimpered, confidence forgotten. "Good. Harry, let's go."
The Tardis looked much better already. Harry gasped as they entered.
"She's magic!" He whispered. "She's looks so small, but she's massive!"
"Welcome aboard!" The Doctor threw his arms out wide. "The Tardis! My space and time machine! Isn't she gorgeous?"
"She is." Harry nodded seriously. "Can she understand us?"
"Yes!" The Doctor nodded proudly. "Very much so. She's a sentient ship."
"So she's like a spacegirl?" Harry frowned.
The Tardis hummed quietly, the light in the centre of the console flashing green. Rose blinked, surprised. She'd never seen the Tardis reply so obviously to anyone other than the Doctor. Perhaps she really liked children.
"Yes, very aptly put. My spacegirl." The Doctor patted the console fondly. "Now, onwards we go! Follow me!"
The Doctor led them through the winding corridors, until they reached a door Rose hadn't yet seen.
"Welcome to the bubble room!" The Doctor announced, looking very pleased with himself. "Full of bubbles, some big enough and strong enough for you to float around in!"
Harry's eyes shone.
"Stay with him." The Doctor muttered to Rose, stepping out of the room. "His entry to the Tardis should have been enough to kickstart the readings. I need to fiddle about with the settings, see what I can find. Will you be alright here?"
"Of course." Rose said quietly. Harry hadn't moved, as if waiting for permission to play. "Go, we'll be fine."
Rose and Harry spent at least two hours in the bubble room. It took a while for Rose to persuade Harry he was allowed to play (she was going to kill his aunt and uncle, just let the Doctor try and stop her) but once he was sure he wouldn't be punished, they'd had plenty of fun. By the time the Doctor was finished, they were wet through and laughing uncontrollably.
"Enjoying yourselves?" The Doctor asked, amused. Harry nodded vigorously, wiping his bubble beard off his face. He tossed them at Rose, who flicked them back. "Good. Harry, I have good news!"
Rose narrowed her eyes slightly. The Doctor was smiling but there was something wrong, she could tell.
"You got rid of the crack?" Harry asked hopefully. "I can't see it now."
"That's because the crack isn't a crack, not exactly." The Doctor sat cross-legged on half a giant bubble on the floor. "I forget how comfortable the seats are in here. The crack is more like a tear."
"What do you mean?" Harry's brow furrowed.
"Rose and I, we're weirdos." The Doctor said very seriously.
"Oi! Speak for yourself!"
"We're from another Dimension! Sort of. It's like your Dimension, we still have an Earth, but it's different."
Harry frowned. "Different how?"
"Ours doesn't have magic." The Doctor whispered. Harry looked sceptical.
"Yes it does." He said. "Otherwise you wouldn't be sat on a bubble in a ship that's smaller on the outside."
"Excellent point!" The Doctor exclaimed. "But that's just extremely complicated and clever science. Humans haven't reached the Gallifreyan level of sciency yet. But in your Dimension, right here, magic is different. The Tardis tells me, Harry, that you're a wizard."
"I am not." Harry shook his head. "I would know."
"You did turn your teacher's wig blue." Rose pointed out. "And ended up on your school roof with no idea how you get there."
"That was an accident!" Harry argued. "Or a coincidence. No, I can't be a wizard."
"Okay." The Doctor said simply. "I understand, it's hard to believe. The Tardis told me there's a magic school, so I guess we'll find out if you ever hear from them. Until then, it's perfectly okay for you to not believe a single word I'm saying to you."
"Please don't tell Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia." Harry begged, suddenly anxious. "They don't like talk of magic."
"Alright." The Doctor agreed. "But only on one condition."
"What?"
"If they make you sleep in the cupboard ever again, you do what you did before and summon me here."
Harry frowned. "But you came years late! And I don't even know how I did it!"
"The crack that started on your wall." The Doctor explained. "It's a tear in the fabric of the. The reason you can't see it now is because that crack is directly linked to the Tardis."
"Wow!"
"I know! It's fantastic and impossible!" The Doctor looked delighted. "Now that you've been on board, the Tardis has used her link with you to gain an understanding of your Dimension. From now on, our appearances when you call for us should be much more reliable. And-" The Doctor pulled a notebook and pen from his pocket. "This is the Tardis' phone number. Phone that and we should be able to speak to you. How does that sound?" He tore the page gently from the pad and handed to Harry, who looked uncertain.
"Can I not just stay here?" He asked quietly, looking nervous. "I'll be good, I promise! No one wants me here anyway."
"Oh, Harry, they do." The Doctor assured him, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "You just haven't met the right people yet. We'll come and visit, all the time. I'm afraid that I can't have children live on the Tardis, because some of the places she takes us to are very dangerous, and very scary."
"Oh." Harry looked down at his feet. "Okay."
"But when you turn 18, you summon me here. If you still want to come and travel with me, then you will be absolutely more than welcome. We'll still come and visit you, of course." He added hastily. "But I can't drive the Tardis here, you have to call for her. Anytime, you understand?"
"Yes." Harry whispered. "Thank you."
"Come on then!" The Doctor ushered them both out of the room. "There's a room next door that will dry you both off, then we're going shopping! You, young man, need some better clothes."
They took a bus, as the Tardis was still not quite ready to drive. Rose and the Doctor helped Harry pick out some new clothes, books, and toys. They also took him to get a new, functional pair of glasses that were actually his prescription. Harry took great joy in throwing the broken frames Petunia had given him away.
They bought him dinner, then returned him to the Dursleys. They didn't leave until they'd witnessed Harry carrying all of his new belongings into what they discovered was Dudley's second bedroom. Vernon and Petunia, when faced with the Doctor's fury, couldn't exactly refuse to keep Harry in the tiny cupboard under the stairs.
The Doctor tore them a new one, making sure they knew he would be returning regularly to check that Harry was being treated correctly. Both of them were quick to agree, but Rose had a bad feeling. Unfortunately, there wasn't much more they could do.
"Are you sure we can't just take him?" Rose asked as the Doctor prepped the Tardis for the journey back. They'd had to yell at a group of boys who were throwing rocks at her. The ringleader was a large, blonde boy that resembled Mr Dursley.
"It's too dangerous." The Doctor reminded her. "Things also work differently here. The magic I was telling you about? It's quite sentient. If we take him now, it could destroy this entire Dimension. He's quite significant to their future."
"How do you know?"
"The Tardis told me. Not a lot, but enough to know he must stay. However, if we come back and find that those awful people have moved him back to that cupboard, I will do everything I can to get him into a better living situation."
"Okay." Rose nodded. "Not good, exactly, but better than nothing."
"I know." The Doctor said. "I hate it too. Now, then, let's go save Jack, shall we?"
Rose wasn't sure why the Tardis could get back so much more easily than entering. She wasn't entirely sure why the Doctor couldn't just drive her back in if he could drive her out, either. But the Doctor was hardly going to explain, he rarely explained anything as it was. Maybe one day, she would know.
"You know, if I'd taken all those empty children." The Doctor said, pulling Rose from her thoughts. "And one of them had been your ancestor, you might never have existed. Then they never would have been saved in the first place, because we never would have gone and met Jack. The universe would have thrown an absolute fit, she hates paradoxes."
Rose pretended not to know why he brought it up all of a sudden. He was reasoning with himself, trying to assure himself that he had made the right call both by Harry and the people they'd left in the middle of a World War.
"The Universe is a she?" Rose smirked, indulging him. "Of course she is. Come on then, spaceman! Let's go and save what we can whilst we can, yeah?"