nekare

So, I don't write HP fic for more than a month or something, and when I finally do, what is it? A crossover with Doctor Who. *headdesk*

Anyway, this was totally amberlynne's fault, since she requested Remus/Ten for her drabble, and this just grew, and grew, and grew... And grew. *even more headdesk* But ah well, it was GREAT fun to write, and so quick, too! (Er, so sorry guys, but the rest of the drabbles won't be as long. This was just me being surprisingly inspired *g*)

Title: Looking for Something
Pairing: Vague Ten/Remus, even vaguer Ten/Rose
Rating: G
Summary: Ten is quite fond of werewolves. So when he finds one in 1984, he really wants to keep it (only, he knows Rose won't let him. Oh, the misery.)
Word Count: 1515 OMG.
Author Note's: Written for amberlynne, who requested Ten/Remus, Library as a prompt and Gold as a color.

The Doctor and Rose get separated in 1984, but he reckons she’ll be all right, and after all, just what can happen in rural Scotland, anyway? So he shoves the concern out of his mind, thanks whoever that made him let her borrow the Sonic Screwdriver just before they lost sight of each other. It’s not like she can use it that well, but at least it’s something.

(He’s not sure if he really wants her to be untouched when they find each other again, wants her not to need him anymore.

And it frightens him.)

The moon is full, round and bright and yet it doesn’t stop him from tripping with branches and getting his suit dirty with mud. It’s only an hour away from dawn. He hears steps behind him, the sharp intake of breath that makes the puzzle fall into place (Animal behind you. You = prey. Run). So he does run, and he does trip once and yet again, for he very much prefers getting back into the TARDIS in one piece (and regeneration is such a bother, in the end – Rose is just so humanly mentally closed to the idea of accepting it).

But then there’s an invisible barrier, crackling under his fingertips as he tries to cross it and not looking back at the same time. There are some sorts of ruins on the other side, but if he blinks quickly he can he see the imprint of something else on top of them, an old-fashioned castle with turrets and lighted windows and the promise of home. But the barrier doesn’t give, and he turns to look at the beast that has already caught up with him.

And it’s so beautiful it makes him gasp. An enthusiastic Oh! leaves his lips, and the wolf (werewolf, if the shape of the snout is any indication) growls at the sound. “Easy boy,” the Doctor says, toying with luck, just as always. “Easy.” he repeats slowly. The wolf jumps towards him, and the chase is on again. By the time dawn comes, the Doctor’s tie is something of the past; his shoes are no longer white and he has blood streaming from three minor cuts (one of those from claws). The light is so sudden he doesn’t realize what it means at first, but then he turns around sharply and the wolf is gone.

A boy - a man, actually, is laying on the ground instead, golden light making the dry blood on his body shine.

He’s not entirely sure what to do, so he just sits next to him for a while, catching his breath as he checks every once in a while for the other man’s chest to rise and fall rhythmically. He then drags him slowly to a more secluded space, and wonders how is it that the man can still look beautiful even when not having that appealing fur from last night. (He doesn’t miss the fangs that much, though.)

A moment (or two, or three, or two hours, but who’s counting?), and he can hear something. “Albus, I think I found him!” A woman’s voice comes from not so far away, and the Doctor stands with his hands in his pockets, regaining his composure. “He’s here, he’s – oh, not alone…” The woman is middle-aged, hair already turning gray, her tartan hat making her look quite far more eccentric that her stern tone could indicate. “And who, pray tell, are you?” she asks.

He smiles, lifts his chin. “Hullo, I’m the Doctor.”

---

The castle he had only glimpsed last night turns out to be a school, a magic school at that, and everyone looks at him funny when he doesn’t seem too surprised at that. The invisible barrier had turned to dust with just a wave of the old, white-bearded man’s wand, and the Doctor asks questions until everyone gets sick of him. The wolf-boy (man he has to remind himself, he’s older than Rose, and he’s never thought of her as a child. And maybe that’s the problem, but let’s not go into that.) is a wizard, a former student that goes by the name Remus, and the Headmaster’s eyes twinkle in a frankly odd manner when the Doctor claims he wants to wait with him until he wakes up.

So he stays, and when Remus’ eyes open the Doctor is sort-of-but-not-really disappointed that they’re not the same gray as the wolf’s. “Hi, You tried to eat me last night,” he says as an introduction, and Remus groans and pales, and tries to asphyxiate himself beneath the blankets.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry, I have no control, I didn’t mean it I swear, please don’t tell the Ministry oh please, please, please--” The words don’t have any pause between them, and even the Doctor (talkative extraordinaire) has a hard time following. He frowns, a bit.

“Why would I?”

“--I really am, sorry, I mean, and it’s not like I—wait, you won’t?”

The Doctor shrugs. “It was nice exercise, the running about, and you were a fantastic thing to see.”

Remus frowns, winces as he shifts to get the blankets off his body. “Uh, I was what?”

“The prettiest werewolf I’ve ever seen, and trust me, I’ve seen a few.”

Remus stares, and the Doctor only tilts his head sideways.

---

They talk. They drink tea, brought by a short woman that goes by the name of Madam Pomfrey, and it feels surprisingly easy.

“So let me get this, you’re an alien, traveling in a police box?”

“It’s bigger on the inside,” he mutters crankily, his love for the TARDIS making him protective.

“Oh. Well, I don’t really know what to say to that. Drugs are bad, maybe?”

“Says the wolf-boy.”

“Point taken.”

---

Apparently, the Doctor had been quite a nice thing to happen (and isn’t he always, he thinks with glee), since the wolf had tore down the wall from his secure place to transform, and he had been heading to the town just before he had found something much more interesting. “Good to be of service, then,” the Doctor says over his tea (lemon, no sugar – so different from before), and Remus laughs in that contained way that makes the Doctor want to cringe a bit. He looks far too lonely.

“Don’t you have any pack to transform with?” he asks, and Remus’ eyes close for a second, not an expression on his face.

“I used to. A long time ago.” He turns to look at him, “But let’s not linger on the past. Wanna see something special?” he says, and there’s mischief in the voice, sounding a bit stale, as if not used in a long time.

“Are you sure you can move already?”

“If I don’t, I’ll go insane, so yes, quite.”

The Doctor still stays close to him as they walk through the empty hallways, ready to pull Remus up were he to falter, but he doesn’t, and the Doctor is a bit disappointed. (And just when did all this damned human negative emotions rubbed off on him?) “It’s summer, you know? That’s why there are no students, and it’s the only time of the year I can come and transform in here, it just wouldn’t be safe in any other time.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

A shrug. “I dunno, I just guessed mighty time travelers like you would want to know everything.” The Doctor laughs, and Remus seems amused. Then the younger man opens a large, wooden door, and the Doctor’s breath leaves his lungs.

“Incredible!” he exclaims as he runs to the middle of the giant library, turns around to take everything with a look of pure joy in his face, a wide grin going along with it.

“This used to be my favorite place of the school when I studied here myself,” Remus says as he goes near a bookcase and practically caresses the book. Oh, but the Doctor is growing fond of this one.

“I can see why,” the Doctor says as he puts on his glasses, as he opens a leather-bound book just for the pages to scream at him. “I can definitely see why.”

They smile at each other, and the silence between them is so companionable it should really be odd but isn’t.

(He finds Rose two days later, as he goes to this quite appealing candy shop at the town near the magic school to get some chocolate for Remus, and she pouts and rages at how he could have forgotten about her. It’s not like he did forget – he just can’t, not about her – and it’s not like she had such a bad time stuffing her face with floating ice cream when Honeyduke’s owners took her in, so he just buys her chocolate as well and takes her hand in the way back home. It kind-of-but-not-really appeases her.)

Remus declines his invitation to come along. He doesn’t really say why, but the Doctor, for once, doesn’t want to intrude.

Letting go it’s still a bit hard, though.