It was about a month before the end of term when the little blue box appeared in the Gryffindor common room.

Remus Lupin looked up from his parchment; Sirius didn't notice because he was sleeping (and snoring). Although Remus suspected that even if he had been awake, he wouldn't have noticed a thing.

"Scotland, 1977!" a man said in a fascinated voice from inside. The door opened: he was standing with his back facing Remus. "A bunch of ruins that I've heard are some of the spookiest ruins anyone has ever seen. Well, besides me, of course." The man had very tall hair, Remus thought, and is he wearing a trench coat with converse? There was a red haired woman inside the box (although, now that Remus was looking, the inside looked a bit bigger than it should) too. She was staring at Remus.

"What?" the man said. "Don't you like it?" He turned around. Remus didn't phase him. "Oh, hello!" he said, striding out of the box towards Remus, as jolly (a word Remus usually reserved for Santa Claus or Dumbledore, but it seemed to fit this man) as ever. "I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend Donna Noble. Nice place you've got here." He stuck out his hand.

Remus shook it. "Er. I'm Remus. Lupin. Remus Lupin. And this is my friend Sirius, er, Black, but he's sleeping so he can't shake your hand. I mean, obviously." Remus jabbed Sirius's ear. Sirius snorted and flopped onto the floor. "He's really very impossible to wake up. Sleeps like a dog, ha ha."

The Doctor smiled. This man smiles a lot, thought Remus. "So where are we exactly?" the Doctor's friend Donna asked.

"Well." Remus said. "Er. Scotland, yeah, 1977."

"So you did go to the right place!" said Donna to the Doctor. "He never does," she mock whispered to Remus.

"You're not helping," the Doctor told Donna. "Yes, but aren't there ruins here?"

"Er. No? I mean, that was sort of a pointless question, sorry, Doctor."

"Yes. He's clever!" the Doctor told Donna. "You're clever!"

"Well, no, I was just stating the obvious," Remus said. "I just study a lot so I don't fail my classes. My friends are the clever ones. They never study. And they made a map. I mean, well, I helped, but it was their idea."

"So what is this place, again?" the Doctor asks, unperturbed by Remus's ramblings.

"Oh. Er. This room?" Remus couldn't decide if he could trust the Doctor. For one, he didn't seem like a Muggle (he randomly appeared in a little blue box), but he obviously hadn't heard of Hogwarts before. Remus didn't know what to make of him.

"Yeah, let's start with that."

Remus opened his mouth to speak right when Sirius let out a giant snort. Remus, overtaken by the stress of possibly telling the whole Muggle world about wizards and the nervousness that always comes with being questioned, started laughing hysterically.

"Look at that," Donna muttered to the Doctor, "you've made him go mad!"

"I haven't made him go mad," the Doctor scorned. "I just want to know why he won't tell us where we are!"

"Maybe we're at an asylum," Donna said. "Just my luck, as always."

"No, we're at a school," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket. Remus had stopped laughing at this point.

"How did you know that?" Remus asked incredulously. "And what's that?"

"I'm the Doctor, I'm very clever. And this is a sonic screwdriver."

"Oh, but electronics don't work here..." Remus said quietly enough that the Doctor couldn't hear him; he found the idea of the Doctor being confused very amusing, for some reason. Donna, however, heard him. She didn't say anything, though. Remus thought he was getting rather fond of Donna.

The Doctor held his screwdriver out to the air and pressed a button. Nothing happened. "What?"

"What's the matter, Doctor?" Donna asked. "Screwdriver not working?"

"No," the doctor whacked the screwdriver, "it's just," whack," acting a little," whack, "wonky," whack. Nothing happened.

The Doctor looked around wildly at the red and gold of the common room. His eyes were wild, big, his mouth was slightly open and his tongue was curved forward and touching the roof of his mouth. It looked odd but strangely attractive at the same time. "He does this when he can't figure something out," Donna told Remus. "Come on, Doctor, let's focus on asking the boys questions, hmm?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll get the sleeping one. Sirius, you said his name is?" Remus nodded. "Okay, and Donna, you can talk to Remus."

Remus sighed. Sirius was horrible at keeping secrets especially when he's just woken up. "We're at Hogwarts, it's a school, like you said. This is the Gryffindor common room."

Donna and the Doctor stared at him. "Why wouldn't tell us this before? And why won't my screwdriver work?"

Another sigh. "You should come with me." Remus bent down and shook Sirius. "Sirius, you great useless ball of fur, wake up!"

"Why'm I on the floor?" Sirius said groggily after he opened his eyes. He sat up and looked at the Doctor and Donna. "Hey, who's that? And what's that telephone box doing in the common room?"

"That's the Doctor and that's Donna. We're going to take them to see the headmaster." He bent down and whispered in Sirius's ear, "I think they're Muggles." He helped Sirius up and they turned to face the two newcomers. "Follow us," Remus said.