Immutable Forces

Summary:

What if right after the Doctor and Rose Tyler Returned from their confrontation with the Cybermen on the alternate Earth they found themselves someplace other than Jackie's front room? What if the TARDIS had been scared and hurt? What if she decided to run to the one man in all of time and space that she knew could help her? And what if that man was not the Doctor?

Author's Note:

Welcome to another chapter of Immutable Forces! Yes, I decided to write one more chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Still, even if you don't I still know that I enjoyed writing it and that's all that really counts.

Chapter 1 has been corrected with the help of my wonderful beta, and I hope you'll give it a peek and tell me what you think. Also, thank my lovely and talented beta, C, for all her efforts when it came to this story. She's not a Doctor Who fan but she worked hard to make sure I wasn't too far off the mark.

Further notes are at the bottom of the chapter. So, go read and hopefully review.

Disclaimer:

I do not own the publishing rights to Harry Potter or Doctor Who. This story is subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.

Chapter Two

"And none of this strikes you as even a teensy bit strange?" whined the Doctor as he followed Harry down yet another long passageway in the TARDIS. "I mean it's not every day you wander around inside an alien ship that is larger on the inside than it is on the outside, right? Doesn't it make you even a little nervous knowing that I'm an alien?"

In the two weeks since the arrival of the TARDIS and its inhabitants, Harry had spent almost all of his time working on repairing, or healing as he thought of it, the amazing ship. The problem was that the Doctor was slowly driving Harry insane. The Time Lord was continually annoying Harry about the young wizard's use of magic to repair the TARDIS. Harry, much to his credit, was not giving in to his growing desire to stun the Doctor and leave the annoying man sleeping until he was finished with the repairs. All the same, Rose and Ginny were taking bets on just how long it would take before Harry snapped.

"Doctor," Harry replied, his voice filled with exasperation. "I have two trunks at my flat that are larger on the inside than the outside. My friend Hermione even has a handbag that we used to store entire libraries and assorted other items in while we were traveling. As for you being an alien from another planet, big deal. I've fought dragons, rode on invisible reptilian horses, and come back from the dead. So excuse me if I'm rather used to things being a little strange."

The Doctor looked rather sulky about Harry's calm acceptance of the TARDIS and the fact that he was not human. It was just hard for him to take. Even amongst other aliens, the Doctor and his people had been unique. Yet Harry Potter, a supposedly fictional character, did not so much as blink an eye at the discovery of an alien or the Doctor's sentient time traveling spaceship. Add to that the fact that many of the things the Doctor had always assumed were only possible for his race were in actuality commonplace for the magical inhabitants of Earth, and it was turning out to be a very humbling experience for the Time Lord.

The Doctor, and his people before they all died, had always thought that Time Lords were the only race to create the technology required for this type of dimensional displacement. Yet here were a group of mere humans that could do the same thing with a wave of their wands. Not only that, but Harry was the first human that had ever been able to hear the TARDIS in the same way that the Doctor could. In fact, since their arrival on Earth, Harry was the only one she was talking to. The Doctor had not heard a single peep out of his ship since landing and it was killing him.

"Is she doing better?"

Harry turned back around to look at the Doctor. At first he had thought the Doctor was the one hurting the TARDIS. That changed almost the moment they stepped inside the TARDIS that first day. The Doctor had been heartbroken to hear that she was in pain, and since then he really had been doing his best to help Harry repair her. The thing was, and Harry was doing his best not to think about it, the man was a complete prat. The Doctor reminded him so much of Albus Dumbledore that it almost made Harry's teeth ache. Just like Dumbledore, the Doctor always thought he knew what was right for everyone, even if he was completely clueless. It just rubbed Harry the wrong way, but the Doctor did care for the TARDIS and that bought him a lot of patience in Harry's opinion.

"She's not crying as much as she was. She seems to be sleeping a lot right now. I think that's a good thing because it means she's healing. At least I hope that's what it means," Harry finally answered, opening a door and looking in on what appeared to be a war zone. "Make a note, this room can go."

The Doctor pulled out a notebook and sighed as he wrote, "This used to be Peri's room."

"Peri?" asked Harry as he closed the door on the burned out room. "Was she another former companion of yours?"

"Yes," replied the Doctor with a voice filled with sadness. "There have been so many of them, and I loved them all in one way or another. Some of them just seemed better than others. Peri was absolutely and fantastically brilliant… and I lost her."

Harry looked down at the Doctor, recognizing that tone of voice since he had used it more than once. "I've lost a few friends myself. The part about it that really bothers me isn't the fact that I lost them; it's the people that are forever trying to tell me that it wasn't my fault, especially if they weren't there. It's even worse if it was one of your decisions that got them hurt or killed."

"Yep," agreed the Doctor. "You make a decision and you know it has to be done. Then there is always someone that wants you to not feel guilty about it, but you do anyway. Ridiculous really, but they are forever insisting on it."

"I know exactly what you mean," agreed Harry as he opened another door to what appeared to be a broom closet. "People are always telling me 'it wasn't your fault' or 'you didn't have a choice,' but they don't really know, do they? Most of the time I think they just want me to stop feeling guilty so they don't feel bad for me anymore."

The Doctor nodded realizing that Harry might just be the first human he had ever met that really did understand him. True, the scale of their losses might be vastly different, but Harry had been forced into situations that had been just as hard on him as the ones the Doctor had experienced. What was more, Harry cared for the TARDIS as much as the Doctor did, and that counted very highly in the Doctor's book. Of course there was the whole "I'm a wizard" thing, but the Doctor was sure he would find the real answer to that problem eventually.

Elsewhere in the TARDIS two young women were sorting through the contents of one of the largest wardrobe rooms either had ever seen. Their instructions were clear, anything that was torn, burned, or covered in blood were to be thrown out. It was Harry's assertion, and the Doctor had reluctantly agreed, that there was no use holding onto so much old junk. The Doctor had argued that they were memories, but even Rose had to agree that most of it was just garbage.

"So, he just grabbed your hand and dragged you out of there?" Ginny was asking as she sorted through a pile of discarded clothing and straw hats.

Rose nodded, throwing yet another burned scarf into a dumpster. "Yeah. One minute I'm thinkin' I'm a goner and the next thing I know we're running hand in hand while these mannequins are chasing us."

"Sounds romantic," cooed Ginny.

"He was rather handsome," agreed Rose. "And every chance he got he was holding my hand after that. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. How about you and Harry?"

"Oh you know all about it," laughed Ginny. "I saw those silly books in your room. Harry just hates them, but when he found out how much children love to read them, he just couldn't bring himself to tell that woman to stop writing. You know, she just released a third one a few days ago. You just have to let me read the other four that haven't been written yet. I hope they don't make me look like too much of a cow."

Rose had to laugh at Ginny's unquestioning acceptance of time travel. "I don't think they did, though that last one was a bit disappointing. The author barely mentioned you except for a bit about Harry's seventeenth birthday and then at the end when he faced Voldemort."

"Oh, God," groaned Ginny, her cheeks turning red. "I hope she didn't write about everything we did on Harry's birthday."

"You mean you did more than just snog him for his birthday?" asked Rose, turning just in time to see Ginny turn even redder. "You did! Ginny, what did you do to that poor boy?"

Ginny laughed, hiding her face in her hands for a moment before looking up at Rose with a grin. "Well you didn't expect me to send him off for who knows how long without a proper send off, did you? I made sure that I was the only girl he was going to be thinking of while he was gone."

Ginny proceeded to tell Rose all about her present to Harry for his seventeenth birthday. Rose confirmed that the version of it that was in the books was far tamer than the reality, probably because it was intended for children to read. If they had published what really happened, Rose doubted they would have completely traumatized the little tykes, but the parents probably would have bought it.

"What I want to know is where in the world you got an outfit like that?" Rose finally asked.

"Oh, I found a magazine in Diagon Alley that had an owl delivery service," explained Ginny. "I just ordered what I wanted and they delivered it the night before Harry arrived. Then it was just a matter of casting a few privacy charms and locking the door. It was all worth it. Harry still says it was the best birthday present he's ever gotten. I can't wait to show him what I got him for this year."

Harry and the Doctor had so far made a list of almost two hundred rooms and compartments that could be gotten rid of. The Doctor had explained that the TARDIS grew new rooms as needed and could either reabsorb them, or in an emergency she could jettison them as had happened on several occasions. It was Harry's suggestion that they should ask the TARDIS to reabsorb any rooms that were no longer needed or damaged beyond repair. The thought was she could use the wasted resources to help herself heal. The Doctor regretted losing some of those rooms, especially those belonging to former companions, but he could not honestly argue with Harry's idea.

There were some rooms that he had absolutely refused to get rid of. One of which was his granddaughter Susan's room. Susan was gone, never to return and her room was the last connection to her that he still had. When he explained that to Harry, the Doctor was surprised to see a look of understanding in the younger man's eyes. Without a further word, Harry had nodded his acceptance of the Doctor's decision and moved on to the next room. There were a few other rooms like that, and for the most part Harry accepted the Doctor's reasons without argument.

However, their wandering through the TARDIS was not just to inventory her rooms. As they moved through the labyrinthine corridors of the TARDIS Harry was repairing everything he possibly could. With a wave of his wand and a mumbled Reparo Harry had already accomplished more to restore the ship to perfect working condition than the Doctor ever had, a fact that never stopped annoying the Time Lord. It was not as if he meant to let so many of the TARDIS systems fall into disrepair, but he was only one being. Even with a good portion of eternity available to him, the Doctor just did not see how he could be expected to repair every little thing that had gone wrong in such an immense ship. Yet that was exactly what Harry seemed determined to do, and in considerably less time than the Doctor would have ever thought possible.

"This is all minor," mumbled Harry after he repaired a secondary ventilation system in the guest wing of the ship. "There's a lot of it, but none of it explains how much pain she's in. And why in God's name are there so many Jelly Babies all over the place? Evanesco!"

"I used to have a bit of a thing for sweets," answered the Doctor as he watched the pile of nearly petrified candies vanish with a wave of Harry's wand. "Can't actually stand the things now, but there was a time when I never went anywhere without them. I much prefer bananas now."

"So this regeneration thing is more than just a new body then?" asked Harry as they moved further along the corridor.

"Yep," answered the Doctor with a wry grin. "Regeneration means a whole new me, right down to my personality. New everything, though all my memories and experience are still there."

"Sounds absolutely insane to me," Harry said with a chuckle. "If you have the ability to never grow old, why regenerate into a new person every so often?"

The Doctor shrugged and grinned innocently at Harry saying, "When you live as long as my people do, you need a bit of change every so often. Honestly, it keeps you from going insane."

"I guess," agreed Harry. "Voldemort would have given anything to be like you. Personally, I can't imagine living that long without having Ginny and my friends at my side."

"Before my people died, that was exactly what it was like," murmured the Doctor, staring off in to nothingness. "No matter how far away I was from them, my people were always with me like a whisper in the back of my mind. I was never really alone and every so often I would find some absolutely brilliant person to travel with me. Now I just have the TARDIS and Rose."

"Yes," agreed Harry. "Now you have Rose and her. I can't imagine that it really compares to losing your world and all your people, but you're right. You have Rose, and you have her, but I imagine it can still be lonely..."

His words trailing off in to nothing Harry stopped dead in his tracks, a look of understanding on his face. "I've got it! I know what's missing!"

The Doctor looked at Harry and understood exactly where Harry's intuition had led him. It was so simple and yet it had never even occurred to him. He felt so foolish to have never thought that just as he had been cut off from his world and his people, so had the TARDIS. Add to that the fact that the TARDIS' connection to the Eye of Harmony had been violently severed at the end of the Time War and it made for a shocking revelation. Sadly, the Doctor could do nothing for his beloved ship anymore than he could do anything for himself.

"The telepathic link to the other TARDIS' and to my people," the Doctor finally said out loud, watching as Harry nodded in agreement. "That's what's missing."

"Yes, she's lonely," agreed Harry with a sad smile. "And just like any living creature, when she's depressed she gets worn out faster."

The Doctor nodded, "It makes sense, Harry. Might explain why the TARDIS isn't healing as fast as she should, but I can't see that being the only problem. There is still something else wrong though, and we need to find out what."

Meanwhile, Rose and Ginny were busy taking a break in Rose's room. After carting out numerous carts full of worn or damaged clothing, the two young women were exhausted. Of course this meant that the best plan of action was to examine Rose's personal wardrobe while enjoying tea and biscuits.

"I love this skirt," Ginny squealed as she admired the jean skirt. "It's just so cute."

"Thanks," Rose said as she opened a new box of biscuits. "So, Ron and Hermione were never a couple? I was so sure they were meant for each other in the books."

Ginny laughed as she tried on Rose's denim skirt and admired the look in the full length mirror. "They were made for each other in the book, but that's just the book. Ron and Hermione, with Harry, of course, were always the best of friends. Hermione is nowhere near the swot that woman tried to make her out to be. Harry has talked with the author several times and she keeps telling him she's no good at writing romantic things, so she left out any of the more complicated relationships."

"So, if Hermione and Ron didn't end up together, then who did she end up with?" asked Rose, curious as to who could ever be a match for the brainy young witch.

"Rose," laughed Ginny. "Hermione's one of the smartest people I've ever met, but it still took her seven years to admit to herself that she was in love with Neville Longbottom. It wasn't till the final battle that they both admitted their feelings for each other."

Rose sat there, mouth hanging open, stunned at what she had heard. It took Rose a moment to wrap her mind around the idea, but then she looked at Ginny to try and see if maybe the younger woman was just winding her up. Never once while she was reading the books had Ginny ever thought that Hermione and Neville would have enough in common to end up together. Admittedly Neville had matured in the final three books, but to end up with Hermione of all people just shocked her.

"You're telling me that Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom," she began but Ginny cut her off.

"Hermione Longbottom now actually," corrected Ginny. "They just got married this last Christmas."

"Okay," continued Rose. "Hermione and Neville are a couple and they're married now? What else is different from the books?"

"Let me think," Ginny said as she closed the closet and returned to Rose's bed, flopping down on it and taking another biscuit. "Well, Harry and I knew we were made for each other the first time we saw each other at King's Cross Station. There was none of that silliness that woman wrote about and we were writing letters to each other constantly during Harry's first year. Then he saved me from the diary in second year after… someone… used the Imperius curse on me to make me write in the bloody horrible thing."

"So, he didn't ignore you all those years?" Rose asked as she poured Ginny another cup of tea.

"Are you kidding?" giggled Ginny, taking the cup of tea and another biscuit. "I practically snogged him senseless when he got back from his first year. My mum nearly lost it until Harry defended me when she tried to yell at me. After Harry saved me from the diary in my first year, Mum was already planning the wedding."

"So there was never any question that you two would end up together?"

"No," Ginny replied firmly. "The only time we were apart was when he went off to hunt down Tom, but even then we had a pair of two-way mirrors that allowed us to talk any time we wanted."

"Just talk?" teased Rose, for which she was rewarded with a very deep blush from Ginny.

"A lady never kisses and tells, Rose," stammered the blushing redhead. "Back to topic. Colin Creevey was only ever interested in Harry till he realized that Harry and I were together. After that he went and found his own man, or men actually. There were so many of them that it was hard to keep track of them all. Colin was a sweetheart, I was so happy for him when he met that nice Ravenclaw bloke. I cried for days when I found out that they had both been killed defending a group of first years down by the Quidditch pitch."

"What else, Ginny?" Rose asked, feeling both sad for Colin and happy that he had at least found someone before the end. "Who did Ron end up with? What happened to Sirius, Remus, and Tonks?"

Ginny laughed, closing her eyes to think. "Blimey. You really must have liked those books. Okay. Ron married Fleur Delacour right after graduation. Those two were so funny to watch when they first met. Fleur is part Veela, so Ron was always making a fool out of himself, but that worked out just fine. See, Fleur was so taken with Ron that she acted exactly the same way around him that he did around her. Now they are fine together, unless they surprise each other and then they get silly and giggly. It's actually rather cute, and they love each other so much. They're expecting their first baby any time now, that's why Ron isn't here with us. He's in France with Fleur waiting for her to give birth."

"Wow," stammered Rose. "I never would have seen that one coming. In the books Fleur marries Bill."

"That's a sick joke if ever I heard one," snarled Ginny, causing Rose to look over at the red haired young woman. Ginny was rigid with barely suppressed fury, but it was her cold tone that really shocked Rose. "We do not talk about William, especially around my mum. I don't know what that foolish author might be thinking, but if she puts William in her books as anything other than the murdering Death Eater scum that he was I'll sue her, if Harry doesn't first."

Rose was slightly stunned as she watched Ginny take a deep breath to collect her thoughts before continuing. "Enough of him though, you asked me about Sirius, Remus, and Tonks? Well, we lost Sirius a few years ago when the prat got too close to the Veil down in the basement of the Ministry. He fell through and was gone before we could even think of doing anything about it. Remus was the same way. He died during the last battle at Hogwarts. No one really knows who killed him, but several of us have our theories. Tonks went a little mad when Remus died. She ran in to the thickest part of the fighting, single-handedly taking out at least fifteen Death Eaters before Voldemort himself actually killed her."

"That's horrible," sighed Rose. "I had hoped that she and Remus would get to spend a lifetime together. Of course they both died in the books, but I always felt it was a bit clichéd."

"Oh, they were together," giggled Ginny. "They were in love with each other from the first time they laid eyes on one another. If Ron and Fleur are cute together, then Remus and Tonks were beautiful together. Harry and I used to say we wanted to be that in love with each other, but I don't think it would be possible for anyone other than them. It was almost as if they knew they weren't going to have that long together, so they took all the love they would have felt for each other over the course of a lifetime together and compressed it into just a little over three years. Their son, Teddy, is living proof of how much they loved each other."

"But he has to grow up without them," Rose said, remembering her own life without a father around and thinking how much worse it would be to lose both parents. "It's got to be rough on him."

"He's too young to remember them," Ginny said with a sigh. "Harry is there for him as much as possible, and of course so is Andromeda, but you're right. It's just not going to be the same."

"What was this room, Doctor?" Harry asked as he pushed against the blocked door.

"This is where the Eye of Harmony was kept after it was moved here from my world," answered the Doctor, his voice sounding lost and far away. "It was no longer safe there. My fault really, since I was the one that rediscovered it. One of my biggest mistakes since no sooner was it public than people suddenly wanted to control it. In the end I could only move it here in order to keep it safe. Not that it did me any good in the long run. In fact it was probably the worst idea in the history of all worst ideas."

Harry silently chuckled to himself. When the Doctor started rambling like this, he reminded Harry of Hermione Longbottom when she was talking about her husband or some new book she had found. Between the two of them, Harry was sure that the Doctor and Hermione could rattle off all the knowledge in the world in one breath. He wondered if Hermione would have the patience to not actually hurt the Doctor. She had mellowed a good deal since marrying Neville, but she had not mellowed that much. Then again, Hermione had surprised him more than once since he had met her, so who knew what might happen.

With a final great effort, the door slid open and Harry looked in to the room beyond the doorway. At first he thought it was his imagination, but then he realized that what he was seeing was absolutely real. Though he could see lights everywhere, there were shadows swirling around the room in wild and chaotic patterns. They almost looked alive as they circled a pit at the center of the room. The pit itself looked as if it contained a fire of pure white flames and he could actually feel the TARDIS' pain as he looked in to the room.

"Bugger," whispered Harry, staring in horror at the sight before him. "I think we just found what has been hurting her."

The Doctor nodded and Harry swore he saw tears in the strange man's eyes as he spoke. "I never knew… when I used the Eye of Harmony to end the war, I just assumed it had been destroyed. I mean, the TARDIS saved me so I thought she was safe. I didn't know."

"Evidently not," said Harry. "I take it that the Eye is still there in the pit?"

"Yes," agreed the Doctor. "Those shadows are spacial distortions caused by the fact that the eye is no longer sealed. It's burning and twisting the space around it."

"Which means it is burning and twisting her as well?"

The Doctor nodded again, seeming at a loss for words as he looked through the doorway at the chaos beyond. "We have to seal the Eye again. The equation that holds it in check keeps it from sucking the TARDIS inside, but the raw energy can do just as much harm. Problem is, we are not as well built as the TARDIS. There is no possible way for us to get close enough to close the Eye without being shredded, cooked, and turned to fine ash."

"Much like Hermione's cooking," joked Harry in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I wouldn't know about that," chuckled the Doctor.

"What do we need to do?" asked Harry, trying to see a way to seal away the ghostly white flames.

"I'm really not sure," admitted the Doctor, sliding down the wall opposite the door to sit on the deck. "If my people, my family, were still alive they might know what to do."

"Sometimes you just have to do it yourself," Harry said firmly, causing the Doctor to look up at him. "Sometimes family can't be trusted."

"What makes you say that, Harry?"

"Ginny's eldest brother, Bill, was the one everyone thought would be a major player in the war against Voldemort and his cronies. He was handsome, smart, and just had this charm about him that made you want to believe in him."

"I take it he wasn't what he appeared to be?" asked the Doctor, remembering the problems he had had with members of his own family.

"Seems a bit clichéd," Harry answered with a dry laugh, "but you're right. No one knows when, but at some point Bill decided money and power were more important than the little things. You know, little things like respecting life and family. Prat took Tom's mark and never looked back. Course, no one found out until it was too late. By that time he had already killed dozens of innocents, given Ginny a cursed diary to write in, and tried to kill me several times. And that was only the beginning."

"That's certainly not in the books," mused the Doctor. "He's a sort of romantic hero in the books. Well… when I say romantic I really mean tragic."

"I've noticed she likes to separate the story into clearly defined light and dark sides," Harry said, sitting down next to the Doctor. "I swear sometimes she's like a press agent for former Death Eaters, out to rewrite history or something. She tends to gloss over the nasty bits, and then exaggerates the bits that were just annoying. I mean, the bastard gave his own sister a cursed item that would have eventually killed her, and he didn't even blink an eye. I'm sure that earned him a special place in hell. Not one mention of that in her second book. Instead she blamed it all on a man that had been dead for eleven years. I'll bet she never tells her readers what really happened, or how he died in the end."

"You were the one that killed him, weren't you?" asked the Doctor, but he could already see the answer on Harry's face.

"Damn right I did!" snarled Harry. "I'm just sorry I didn't do it sooner, before he tried to rape Fleur and killed Fred for stopping him. Bastard killed his own brother, would have killed Fleur too, but she managed to escape. After that his secret was out in the open, but I don't think he really cared by that point. Three years later I confronted him during the final battle at Hogwarts. Bill managed to disarm me, thought he had me dead to rights. Least he did until I pulled out a Muggle handgun and shot him right between the eyes. I thought Arthur and Molly would hate me after that, but Arthur told me I was the sixth son he should have had. If Molly does mention Bill it's like he died the day he moved out of the Burrow."

"Bill killed Fred in your fourth year?" asked the Doctor, slightly puzzled at the difference from the book.

"Yeah," sighed Harry. "I know what you are thinking. That woman's publisher already sent me a copy of her manuscript for her fourth book. She created a character named Cedric something or other to be a fourth Tri-wizard champion. Of course, there never was a fourth champion or any age restriction. The only death during that tournament was Fred, and that was a few weeks before the third task. Fleur never even competed in the third task, and it was just Krum and me racing through that maze trying to hex each other as we went. I beat him to the Cup, barely, and the rest is history. A part of me knows why she didn't write about Fleur almost being raped, or Fred being killed, it being a kids' book and all. The rest of me wants to tell her to take that bloody book and bugger herself with it. Fleur is like a sister to me now and Fred doesn't deserve to be treated like a mere character. I just think they deserve more."

"That they do, Harry," mused the Doctor, standing up. "And maybe we'll be the ones to give them that."

Harry stood up and looked over at the Doctor. "You have an idea how to fix this?"

"Indeed I do, Harry," replied the Doctor with a wide grin. "With your magic, and my vast knowledge, not to mention a fair bit of luck, we're going to do the impossible."

"Sounds good to me, Doctor," Harry said with a wide grin. "I like doing the impossible."

"Right," the Doctor said, standing directly in front of the doorway. "In those books they talk about making Portkeys. Can you make one and send it on its way without anyone going along for the ride?"

"Sure," Harry said with a nod. "Where do you need it to go?"

The Doctor grinned, pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver and adjusting the setting on it until he had it set the way he wanted before turning it on and handing it to Harry. "I have this set to go off in sixty seconds. I need you to send it to that panel over on the far wall. It should appear slightly above that copper colored portion of the panel, and fall with the emitter facing the panel. I need it timed so that it turns on right as it reaches the panel. You have fifty seconds left."

"Not a problem," Harry assured the Doctor, taking the strange device from the Doctor. "Just give me a countdown to when I need to send it."

The Doctor nodded and watched as Harry cast the Portus spell on his beloved Sonic Screwdriver. When they reached the ten second mark Harry activated the portkey and set it on the deck plating pointing in the right direction. Seconds later there was a pop as the portkey vanished, reappearing on the far side of the unstable room. The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver activated just as it appeared, falling past the panel just as intended. Instantly the iris that normally covered the Eye of Harmony began to close. It was obvious that the Iris was damaged, but it worked well enough that after several moments it had sealed the Eye of Harmony.

"Hurry," shouted the Doctor, running in to the now stable room. "Repair the Iris while I reconnect the energy conduits and buffers."

"You used this as a weapon?" Harry shouted back as he ran to the Iris and began casting Reparo as fast as possible on the massive Iris.

"It was the last option," answered the Doctor as he scrambled around the room, reconnecting various cables and control circuits. "The war was going badly for both sides, but we were both so stubborn that it would have gone on for eternity. At least it would have if the Daleks hadn't discovered a way to destroy all life in the universe. Imagine every planet in the universe dead. I couldn't let them do that, so I stopped them. I locked both sides behind a time barrier and I released the full power of the Eye of Harmony. Everyone died…"

"But she saved you?"

"Yep," replied the Doctor as he finished with the last of the connections. "I watched as everything burned, ready to burn right along with my world and my people and suddenly the TARDIS was there. She materialized around me, and punched a hole right though the barriers I had raised. I'm a Time Lord and even I don't know how we managed to survive, but we did."

Harry finished with the last of his repairs, watching as the lights seemed to brighten slightly. "She loves you, Doctor. There was no way she could let you die, even if it meant she was in pain every moment since. I think that's why she never let you know she was in pain, so you wouldn't feel guilty about it."

"Most likely," agreed the Doctor, throwing a final switch.

Both men listened as the hum of the TARDIS' systems seemed to grow stronger. The lights grew even brighter and Harry could feel the TARDIS "sigh" in relief. It was the Doctor's reaction to the changes that surprised Harry as he watched the Time Lord fall to his knees and begin to weep. Harry knew what was going on, but he waited for the Doctor to explain himself.

"She's back," whispered the Doctor, his voice choked with emotion. "I can hear her again, Harry, and she's singing."

"I know," Harry replied with a smile. "I hear it, too, Doctor. I just have one question for you."

"What's that?"

"Wasn't this all a bit of an anti-climax?" asked Harry, thinking how easy it had been in the end to repair the TARDIS. "I mean you said it was impossible, but we just did it as easy as you please. What's that all about?"

To Harry's shock, the Doctor actually blushed at the question before answering. "I forgot about your magic being a factor. I knew based on my abilities and knowledge that there was nothing I could do short of ejecting the Eye of Harmony into the Time Vortex. That really wouldn't have solved anything though because the resulting release of energy would have destroyed the TARDIS, me, and most of the universe."

"Probably not a good idea then," Harry said with a chuckle.

"Nope!" agreed the Doctor. "With your ability, and a bit of cleverness on my part, we were able to close the Iris and thus reconnect the Eye as the main source of power for the TADIS."

"So, let me see if I got this right," Harry said with a wry grin. "You needed magic to fix her? And none of this strikes you as even a teensy bit strange?"

The Doctor turned to look at Harry, laughing as he did so because he remembered asking that exact same question earlier in the day. "You've been waiting to throw my words back in my face all day, haven't you?"

"Yep!" Harry replied, popping the P in same way the Doctor normally did. "Was worth the wait, too."

After a small, hastily thrown together party that included Harry and Ginny, the Doctor and Rose, along with Arthur and Molly Weasley, it was time to start thinking about what to do next. They were all sitting around the TARDIS control room, sipping tea and relaxing. Rose still wanted to check in with her mother, if only to tell her about Mickey's decision to stay behind in the alternate universe. The Doctor did not like the idea, but he understood Rose's needed to see her mother and that was enough for him. The problem was, would it be enough for Harry?

"I know you want to leave and I think she does, too," Harry said finally. "I just worry that the next time she gets hurt, she will hide it just like she did this time."

Rose shot the Doctor a glance filled with the desire for the strange man to do exactly what she wanted him too. "Doctor… are you going to ask them?"

"Ask us what?" chimed Ginny from her spot on Harry's lap.

"Well…" began the Doctor, standing and walking over to the control column. "I was going to ask if you might like to travel with Rose and me for a while."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other for a moment, and then grinned like Cheshire cats before answering. "What made you think you were leaving without us?"

Harry reached inside his shirt pocket and pulled out several tiny boxes that Rose realized were actually trunks. Then Ginny pointed at two brooms that were leaning up against the TARDIS' wooden doors. Rose giggled as the Doctor tried to remember when he had lost control of the TARDIS. Oddly, he did not mind that Harry could hear the TARDIS just as well as the Doctor himself. In fact, if he had to ask what bothered him the most about the situation it was just that Harry and Ginny had beaten him to the punch.

"Are you two sure this is what you really want?" asked Arthur Weasley of the young witch and wizard.

The Doctor and Rose both watched their new friends in the hopes of understanding their attitude. It was Harry that answered, but it was obvious that he and Ginny were thinking exactly the same thing. "We don't really have anything here anymore, Arthur. I've done what needed doing. Now I hide from my fans and hear the sound of my enemies at night when I try to sleep at night."

Ginny looked up at her parents as Harry spoke, then added, "I let Harry get away from me at the end of the war, and I've regretted it ever since. If he wants to go with the Doctor and Rose, caring for the TARDIS, then I'm going with him."

"Hold on, Arthur," interrupted the Doctor, running out of the control room and returning almost as quickly. "Take these!"

The Doctor handed Arthur and Molly a pair of his special cell phones. "I keep a few extras on hand so Rose's mum can always reach us if need be. The battery in them is good for about two hundred years, and by pressing and holding two or three, you can call Harry or Ginny any time you want."

The Doctor then tossed another pair of cell phones to Harry and Ginny. Harry's Seeker reflexes kicked in and caught both phones in one hand. "Since these two are going to be traveling with us for a bit, might be nice if you could stay in touch."

Ginny stared at her wide eyed father. "You ask Hermione to show you how to use that, Daddy. And don't you dare try taking it apart for any reason. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Gin," Arthur replied with a childlike petulance.

Twenty minutes later, as Arthur and Molly stood watching, the TARDIS slowly vanished from sight. Molly had expected something like this ever since the Doctor and Rose had arrived. Actually, if she was really honest with herself, Molly had expected this since the day Harry had killed Tom Riddle. Harry needed to bet away from the expectations that people placed on him and Ginny would never let Harry out of her sight again. Molly could hardly blame either of them for leaving with the Doctor, and she hoped that they found the peace they were looking for. Looking up at the family clock, Molly could not help but give a watery smile at what she saw Harry and Ginny's hands pointing to.

"Home," she whispered to no one but herself. "Could there ever be any doubt?"

Author's Notes:

Okay, all you Harry Potter canon purists out there can just calm down. I changed canon for two reasons. The first is to drive home the fact that this is supposed to be a "real" Harry and Ginny meeting the Doctor and Rose, not the ideal hero and damsel from a set of children's books. To that end I have placed them in a world where magic users have hidden their existence from even the Time Lords with the exception of a series of children's books based on Harry's adventures. The Harry in this story is not the one from the books. This is a stronger and more confident Harry that is still carrying around a great deal of emotional baggage after fighting in a war. I think it makes him more human. It also puts Harry and the Doctor on a more level playing field, allowing them to create a true friendship and not the Mentor/Apprentice type of relationship either has dealt with before.

The second reason I changed "canon" in this story is even simpler than the first. I changed it because I can. It's a story, nothing but a story, so help me God. I am not making money off of this and do it more to show my love of both these wonderful stories. (Although if anyone at the BBC wants to hire me to write for Doctor Who, I'd LOVE to!) Hopefully you like this story enough to understand it and just go with the flow.

Once again I've made this a self-contained chapter. That way if you love it I can write more, or I can let it go if you hate it. I hope you love it as much as I do, but then I am a bit biased. If I wasn't, I never would have written it.

Chris