Harry couldn't sleep. It wasn't exactly an unheard of problem for him; it was hard to sleep in a small, dark, often too hot or too cold cupboard under the stairs. He'd learned to ignore most of the hurts; he'd been here for as long as he could remember. But tonight, no matter how long he lay on his bed, curled up under the blankets trying to fight the cold, he couldn't drift off.

He was worried and that didn't often happen when he was locked in his cupboard. Usually, he was angry at Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia for shoving him inside and locking him up like an animal in a cage. That should have been the case this time too. His offense this time had been completely not his fault and yet he'd had to suffer for it. He'd been running from some bullies at school after lunch when suddenly he'd not been at school anymore. It was the strangest thing; one moment he'd been running across the playground and the next moment he had been in a field miles from school. He'd not exactly been happy about it even though it had got him away from his tormentors. He'd had to walk all the way back home and by the time he had, it had been well into the evening. The school had called Uncle Vernon and told him that Harry had skipped his classes. Uncle Vernon had shoved him under the stairs and locked him in without any dinner.

Normally, he would be angry and at first he was. He hadn't done anything wrong and his punishment was too harsh. But what worried him was the Dursleys had gone out for the evening, saying they would return at the end of the weekend. Harry hadn't thought that they meant that; surely they wouldn't really leave him in here for two whole days. But as they night grew darker and later and they never returned, Harry worried that they meant it. How could he stay in here for two days without any breaks?

Harry worried about it for a long time; how long he couldn't say because it was so dark. Eventually though, his body tired enough that his began to slow and even the shivering of his body and the rumbling of his stomach couldn't keep him up. He was just at the verge of sleep when he was violently woken again.

Harry heard such a loud crash that it shook the house. He sat bolt upright in bed as the sounds of crashes kept coming, issuing in different places. Harry scrambled to the door but the grate was closed and he couldn't see anything. He kept hearing the sound of something scrapping against the floor and assorted crashes that sounded like something breaking.

"Hello? Is someone out there?" Harry asked in a small voice. He realized that it was a stupid question. Of course someone was in the house and it wasn't his Aunt and Uncle. That meant it had to be burglar or some of other bad person. He shouldn't have said anything; he was only nine and he couldn't fight anyone, small as he was. He instantly got quiet; hoping whoever was ransacking the house wouldn't know he was there and leave him alone.

Harry's heart was thumping against his chest, his pulse in his ears as he heard the sound of the crashing progressing from what sounded like the living room to the kitchen. Harry heard the loud sound of smashing glass; it sounded like one of Aunt Petunia's expensive glass vases or cake stands and he hoped that he didn't get blamed for breaking it.

After the loud crash of glass, it was suddenly quiet. Too quiet….Harry's breath was coming in fast and he resisted the urge to call again. He heard nothing else and though he hoped that whoever it was had gone already, he hadn't heard any doors so he couldn't be sure they had left. Harry sat crossed legged on his bed, as his heartbeat steadied. He'd never go to sleep now so he just sat back and tried to relax.

Harry's heart was almost beating normally again when he began to smell the smoke. At first he thought that maybe it was someone's grill or fire outside. When he began to smell smoke coming up under the door, he knew he was wrong.

Harry rushed to the door as quickly as he could in the door, yanking on the handle with all of his might. He pulled and pushed against the door with his full weight but it was no use; there was no way that he was going to get it open. The smoke was flooding the small space, making his eyes water and his lungs burn.

"Help! Help!" Harry yelled as loud as he could, coughing between calls. The house was going to burn down and he was going to die trapped in this small cupboard! Panic flooded through his veins as he yelled all the louder; at this point he wanted the burglar to hear him. Being kidnaped by a burglar would be better than roasting to death.

Harry pounded on the door until his arms ached; his head swam from the smoke and he knew he was soon going to be in trouble. No was one coming, he thought as he got dizzy and fell to the floor…no one…..

Harry was slumped on the floor of the cupboard, almost unconscious when suddenly the door was flung open. Harry squinted up at the man standing in the doorway. He was a strange sort of man, the last kind you'd expect to be a burglar or murderer or something. He was tall and skinny, with odd clothes. He wore an old looking jacket even though he was a young man, accented with bright red suspenders and a bowtie. "Are you a burglar?" Harry asked, feeling drowsy as he looked up at the man.

"Nope, I'm the Doctor" the man said brightly. He glanced back toward the kitchen. "Your house is on fire, by the way. Run!"

The strange man grabbed Harry's hand and they took off. Harry didn't know why he trusted this man but he just felt an instinctive trust when he looked at him. Plus, he'd just saved his life so what choice did he have but to trust him?

Harry and the Doctor ran down the hall and toward the front door. When he looked behind him, he could see a fire raging in the kitchen, smoke billowing throughout the house. He felt frozen for a moment but the Doctor pulled him, making him run.

As soon as they burst from the house and into the front yard, Harry gulped the clean, cold night air happily. He coughed a lot but he felt better. "What just happened? How did the house catch on fire?" Harry asked. He looked up from where he had his hands on his knees coughing but he looked up, the Doctor was already taking off.

"Hey! Wait!" Harry said, taking off after him.

The Doctor was running around the house to the back, a strange device in his hand shining green light. "Can't wait…I've got to catch…!" the Doctor said. He shone his strange deceive around the back window that led into the kitchen where smoke was rushing out.

"Hey, are you the one that broke into my house?" Harry asked, catching his breath beside the Doctor as he appeared to scan the wall.

"I didn't break into your house. A Zorbin did" The Doctor said. He looked at his device critically before taking off into the next door neighbors' yard.

"What's a Zorbin?" Harry asked as he ran after the Doctor, the cold ground under him making him wish he had worn shoes.

The Doctor looked around into the night air, his breath coming out like a cloud. "There! There it is!" The Doctor pointed toward a huge shrub and ran to it.

Harry thought he must be seeing things. The creature he saw burst from the bush looked like a cross between a dragon and a cat, both furry and scaly and incredibly ugly. It hissed and fire came from its mouth, a burning a patch in the grass as it ran. What was that thing? Harry had never seen anything like it; he was both scared and excited.

"That thing set fire to the house?" Harry said as he ran along the grass of several homes in Private Drive, trying to catch the odd creature.

"Yes…..he didn't mean to though. It's only a baby, you see. Can't control its fire yet" The Doctor explained mildly.

"So…..it's like a dragon?" Harry asked. He couldn't imagine dragons existed; how cool would that be?

"No, I told you….it's a Zorbin" the Doctor explained.

The Zorbin dove into a drain pipe at the end of someone's drive and the Doctor crouched down at the end. "You…..uh, what's you name again?" The Doctor asked.

He hadn't asked before but Harry didn't point that out. "I'm Harry" he said.

"Alright, then Harry. You stand at the other end and catch him if he comes out your end" The Doctor explained.

Harry crouched at the end of the pipe and looked in. He could see the small creature curled in a ball in the middle. "Is it dangerous?" Harry asked. It seemed a bit late to be asking.

"No….well…not much" The Doctor said.

Harry looked over the pipe at the Doctor. "So, why have I never heard of a Zorbin?" Harry asked.

"They don't have them on your planet. Oh….yes!" The Doctor's face exploded with excitement as the Zorbin rushed into his arms. The Doctor cradled it like a puppy, petting its head. It began to making purring noises, smoke coming from its mouth happily.

Harry was trying to wrap his mind around what he thought he heard. "My planet?" Harry asked. "This is the only planet, right? At least with people on it. I mean…only crazy people believe in aliens, right?"

Harry was beginning to suspect that the Doctor was a crazy person, especially when he grinned wildly at Harry's statement. "Then I must be crazy' the Doctor said, "Always knew I was…..you're not the first person to point that out"

The Doctor began to walk across the neighborhood, petting the Zorbin and giggling like a child. Harry should have just gone to the neighbors and called the fire department; that would have been the responsible thing to do. But Harry did the irresponsible thing; he followed the very strange Doctor who he had just met and knew nothing about.

"So, you believe in aliens?" Harry asked the Doctor, trotting up beside him.

The Doctor smiled proudly at him. "I am an alien." He said.

It took several seconds before Harry could begin to walk again. An alien? Surely he hadn't really just met an alien. "You can't be an alien…..you don't look like an alien" Harry said as he and the Doctor came up to a big, blue box that said Police Public Call Box. He was a bit relived; maybe he would need a police man.

"Let me guess; you expected green skin and a big head? Come on Harry, be original; you're a smart boy, right?" the Doctor said as he opened the police box door.

Harry felt annoyed for a moment but didn't argue the point. "Well…I didn't think an alien would look like a human" he tried to argue. A second later, all arguments vanished from his head.

Instead of stepping into a small wooden box like he expected, Harry found himself in what he could only describe as a space ship. On the inside, it was much larger than the outside, full of flashing lights and color; it was awe inspiring and amazing. Harry felt his eyes go wide and his mouth hang open. The Doctor stood next to him, still holding the Zorbin and watching him with a grin.

"It's…..it's…" Harry started but seemed to have a hard time finding the words that he wanted to use.

"Perhaps you're searching for something about its size being much larger than it appears?" the Doctor asked, almost hopefully.

"It's a space ship" Harry finally managed to say. He couldn't believe he was actually in a real, live space ship. Part of him was sure that he must still be in his cold, dark cupboard, dreaming this all.

"Well, technically I guess" the Doctor said, sounding a bit disappointed. "But it's so much more than that. TARDIS…time and relative dimensions in space. She's quite a beauty and all mine"

The Doctor ran his hand affectionately along the console like she was a person. "She can take you anywhere and any when in time and space." He said proudly.

Harry's eyes shot toward the Doctor. "You mean, like time travel?" he said hopefully.

The Doctor smiled. "Exactly like time travel" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Harry's head was spinning. All of his life, he had always hoped there was more; more than the Dursleys, more that Private Drive, more than his dull, humdrum existence. He wanted so desperately to know that what he had wasn't all there was and the Doctor and his TARDIS was proof of that. The universe was bigger than he could possibly imagine and he couldn't wait to see it.

"But, first, we have to take this little guy back home" the Doctor said, patting the Zorbin and walking to the console to press some buttons.

"Can I come with you?" Harry asked before he stopped himself. He thought about the house burning down, his family coming home to it…he didn't know what would happen to him then. He didn't want to stick around to find out.

The Doctor hesitated. "I'd love for you to come with me. But…wouldn't you're parents miss you?" he asked.

Harry felt like he had been punched in the stomach but he knew that it was a valid question for anyone that didn't know he was an orphan. "I don't have parents. I live with my aunt and uncle" Harry said, looking away from the Doctor before looking back. He knew he'd see sympathy in his eyes; people always looked that way when they found out.

The Doctor recovered quickly. "Well, I wouldn't want to take you from them. Most guardians don't take kindly to that" he said.

Harry began to feel panic rising in his chest at the thought that the Doctor would leave him here and he'd have to deal with Uncle Vernon's wrath. He could already imagine the veins on his head popping out, his face turning red as he began to scream. "Please, Doctor; take me with you" Harry said, trying hard not to sound desperate. "I promise I'll be good and I'll help you. When Uncle Vernon comes back and he and Aunt Petunia see that the house burn down they'll probably do much worse than lock me in a cupboard all weekend."

The Doctor paused, his whole expression darkening. "You mean to tell me just now, you were locked in the cupboard and that's why you couldn't get out?"

Harry felt guilty for a second as he saw the Doctor getting angry; he never told anyone about that before and he knew he wasn't supposed to. "Well…yeah" Harry said hesitantly. "That's what they do when they get mad. When they come back home and see the house has burned down they won't believe me when I say it was a Zorbin; they'll think I'm just lying and I'll be in huge trouble."

Harry could see anger like a wave flash through the Doctor's eyes. He thought maybe he would yell or scream but he didn't; it passed and then he was smiling. "Well, then...I would love to have you as my traveling companion, Harry" the Doctor said.

The Doctor put the Zorbin down on the grown and motioned for Harry to come stand next to him. Harry's heart was soaring with excitement so much he felt he might explode. He hardly dared to believe that he was really going to escape the confines of the Dursleys' house but that was exactly what the Doctor was suggesting.

As Harry came to stand next to the Doctor, he began to press buttons and leavers on the console that made the TARDIS come to life with light and sound and possibilities. So many possibilities….. The Doctor was grinning widely and Harry felt his heart burst with excitement as they Doctor turned toward him and spoke.

"So, Harry….where in all of time and space do you want to go?"