Last chapter! Thank you very much for reading!

"Sorry to keep you trapped in here, Donna." The contrition on the Doctor's face made her smile. That he cared so much about her happiness that he would feel bad about such a minor thing warmed her heart.

"Trapped in the TARDIS? That's like being trapped in Disneyland. Plenty to see in here. Besides, I could use a bit of relaxation right about now." She held up the book that was open in her lap. "And, this isn't a history of wizard music, 1500-1700."

Stuck waiting for the coordinate calculations to complete, they were lounging in the TARDIS library, which today appeared like an enormous study from a country manor: four stories of polished mahogany shelves ringing the room, with movable ladders. The Doctor and Donna sat in cushy armchairs in the center of the ground floor, beneath the glass dome far above them that revealed an open blue sky with fluffy clouds, though Donna was not quite sure it was the same sky she would see if she stepped out of the TARDIS right now. She picked up her mug of tea from the end table nearby and sipped.

"Oh, that reminds me!" The Doctor jumped up from his chair and, thrusting a hand in his pocket, drew out a worn-looking leather tome. He flipped through it, grinning with his tongue curled upwards.

"What's that?"

"It's a book on advanced magical theory. I had a lovely long chat with the headmaster of the school of magic, one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Magnificent name! Splendid chap. Gave me this book. Back in a mo'." Taking the rungs by twos, he bounded up a ladder to the second floor and carefully placed the book on a shelf. He then descended about a third of the way down the ladder and leapt the rest of the way down to the ground. "Very wise man, and a powerful wizard. Wish we had more time here. I could have learned a lot from him."

"You learn from him? Never thought I'd hear you say that."

The Doctor plopped down in his chair and picked up his lime and soda. "Everyone has something to learn, and everyone has something to learn from."

"Well, aren't we stuck here for another couple of days? We could go back, spend them at the school. No one would know." Donna stopped. Though the Doctor was trying to appear neutral, absorbed in sipping his drink, she could tell something else was bothering him. She placed her mug on the table and leaned forward. "What's wrong? What are you not telling me this time?"

Putting down his glass, he ran his hand through his hair, gazing at her intently. Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, he inhaled deeply, then murmured, "I almost ruined everything, Donna."

"What? How? You're the one who stopped that Worm bloke."

"No, before that. I… It's complicated. So, Voldemort, right? Evil wizard, evil minions, likes snakes, the whole bit. He was killed a while back and has just returned. Don't look at me like that. Happens all the time. The Ministry of Magic won't admit he's back, so Tonks and Moody and Lupin and Dumbledore are working in secret to get ready for him to make his move.

"Remember what I told you, Donna, back in Pompeii? I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. This is what I can see, here in this world.

"There's a war coming for these people, these wizards. Terrible things are going to happen, and many, many people are going to die, both wizards and Muggles. All of the timelines lead to this, and to one person in particular, someone I don't know. And this is a fixed point: the war must happen, though its outcome is not fixed. I don't know who will win. But it's in the future, maybe three, four years from now. Our friends here are preparing for it, and if they are fully prepared, they have a good chance of winning.

"But their only chance is to have that time to prepare. I don't know what it is that Voldemort has that makes him so powerful now - some weapon, maybe the lack of strength in his opposition, perhaps it's some unassailable defense. Maybe the person the timelines are converging on isn't ready yet." He shrugged. "But if the war starts now, Voldemort will win."

He scrubbed his hand down over his mouth and chin, then exhaled before continuing.

"You saw what happened when Dawlish recognized Wormtail. He was going to bring it to the attention of the Ministry. It was more than just his job on the line. The moment the Ministry acknowledges the return of Voldemort…" He exhaled heavily. "The war almost started today, and it would have ended in death and madness. All because I look like a dead wizard."

"You can't blame yourself for that. Even just being here in this universe was a matter of chance."

The corner of his mouth twitched with a wry smile. "I seem to be pretty good at bringing disaster wherever I go."

Donna pursed her lips. "That's rubbish. Doesn't matter who's to blame. Matters what you do about it." She got up and, moving to the Doctor, sat on the arm of his chair, putting her arm around his shoulders. "That's what you do. You fix stuff. You can't get bogged down in who's to blame, 'specially when it's not you or anyone. C'mon." She jumped up and dragged him out of the chair by the hand. "Show me the swimming pool."

"Now?"

"We have two days here? You're not going to spend it mooning around, and I'm not going to spend it dry. Bet you sink like a rock."

Ignoring her attempts to pull him out of the room, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. "You saved my life, you know, knocking me to the ground like that."

Donna snorted and mock-punched him in the arm. "Just trying to knock some sense into you."

"No, I mean it. That green light? It's a death spell. It touches you and you snuff it. Nothing you can do. Only one person's ever survived it, a tiny baby, and no one knows why."

"A baby? Blimey, who casts a death spell at a baby? This world is mental."

She tried to pull him towards the door again, but he held her back once more. "Thank you. You always bring me back down to the ground. Donna, you're brilliant."

"'Course I am. Now let's go!"