I was correct in the assumption that 'confiding' in Snape would mean that I was going to be left mostly alone. Well, I wasn't bothered about one subject, but I was hardly ever left alone during the day. I had yet to see a House Elf, though. Hagrid had showed up in the Staff Room at one point, scaring the bejesus out of me when I turned around and ran face first into his knee. I squeaked, something I would deny viciously later.

Someone behind me snorted as I looked up, way up, into a face full of beard. We stared at one another for a second before I summoned the part of me that was used to interacting with 'different' looking beings. I grinned,

"Hi."

"Er, Ullo."

There was silence for a few more seconds and McGonagall laughed at me. Laughed! I turned to glare at her, which just made her laugh harder, some of the others in there for breakfast were giggling too. She waved her hand a bit, gasping for air.

"It's nothing dear, don't mind me."

I looked up at Hagrid, who looked down at me. He shrugged, so I just ignored her, getting on with the introductions. Talking to Hagrid about magical creatures was somewhat similar to when the doctor found a new species that fascinated him. True, the Doctor never attempted to hatch a dragon in his house, but if he had found one he damn well would have tried.

When he told me this was his first year serving as the Professor for Care of Magical Creatures it set off a red flag. It was the first real piece of hard evidence I had to where I was in the timeline. I couldn't be sure if this followed the books. I had no way of knowing if this was simply coincidence, or if what I had read was completely wrong in some areas, or deviated slightly in others. Hell, it could follow the movies.

I faced a moral dilemma. If the books were completely correct then did I sit back and allow innocent people to die? Or did I let time play out as it was meant to be, just like the Doctor had always required we do. Then again, he'd changed things before. But I wasn't a Time Lord, I wasn't gifted with knowing what was a fixed point in time and what wasn't. For all I knew this entire story was fixed, and nothing I tried to do would change that. What would the Doctor do? He would enjoy magic, he would have fun, and adventures, make discoveries. He would stay close and watch it all play out in front of him.

In the end, the choice jumped out at me, a bit on accident.

It was at lunch one evening, just before an official staff meeting when most of the teachers would be meeting to approve something or another that I wasn't involved in. I had a piece of chocolate in one hand and a History of Magic book in the other.

"Minerva?"

The name request had probably been a method to gain trust in order to wheedle the story out of me. It failed of course.

"Yes dear?"

"Why are there only classes for History of Magic, and Muggle Studies? You'd think there would be another history class, Muggle Studies couldn't possibly cover it all. Like a sort of...'here's what the muggles think happened' class."

Surprisingly it was the Headmaster who answered me.

"Marissa dear, that was a class at one time. However, it hasn't been offered at Hogwarts since my time as a student. The teacher, a Professor Fallon I believe, retired and there was no one qualified to take his position. You see, he was a muggleborn, and studied their history in depth as a hobby in his younger years. It was a course that was required for third years, and then on became an elective."

I raised eyebrow, watching the old man unwrap some mystery piece of candy.

"I'm sure it couldn't be that hard to find someone willing to teach it. History's a great subject, honestly if someone just wanted to do blanket coverage they could buy a muggle textbook and make them read it for an easy A-sorry, O, class."

There was a sparkle in his eyes suddenly, that made me wary of whatever was coming next.

"My dear, do you still have memories of what you learned in the muggle world about history, and their side of it?"

I considered it for half a second,

Refusing to bow before a tyrant emperor.

Running from men in clanking armour.

Smelling the smoke of a pyre, being accused of witchcraft.

That last one was slightly ironic, but I shook off the memories.

"Yes, I remember. But what I learned in school was most likely heavily propagandized by the American public school system. What I learned in...independent study contained several sides to different stories that conflict with several popular beliefs. There's no one tale of how history played out, but there is a grain of truth in almost every story."

"And how many of these stories do you now know?"

I thought on that for a second. What did I remember from college? Add that with what I saw in person…

"A lot, surprisingly. More than I had first assumed."

"Well then, it looks like we can add that class back into the curriculum!"

I was breaking off a piece of chocolate when he said this, and nearly dropped it.

"What? Who would teach it?"

"Why my dear, you of course! It gives you very good reason to stay at the castle even past the start of the school year, which is coming soon, now that I think of it."

I stared at him for a second before giving a slightly hysterical giggle.

"Oh, um, no, I don't think-children. Yeah, I can't teach."

He waved off my stuttered concerns.

"Nonsense, child, you explained to us the uses of muggle telephones easily enough. I'm sure you'll do fine."

I blinked slowly before turning to Minerva, who was watching the proceedings with interest.

"But I'm not qualified to teach! Isn't that a thing in the wizarding world as well? Or is it just a muggle thing where you have to go to school and earn some special degree to teach children?"

Pomona snorted,

"That would be a muggle thing. If only. Otherwise we wouldn't have had that idiot teaching here last year."

There was a collective shudder, even from Snape over in his dark corner of the table. I raised an eyebrow, but they waved me off, obviously not wishing to talk about it. Dumbledore was scribbling away on a piece of parchment when I next glanced at him. Seeming to sense my eyes on him he looked up, eyes still twinkling.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Marissa. I'll dig up some textbooks for you and find you a classroom. You should get started on lesson plans. I'll add the elective to the list being sent out to fourth year and above, as well as add it to the list of classes required by third years. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the board of directors."

He was gone in a flash of floo powder and I was left gaping at the empty fireplace. I turned to Minerva, expression still slightly vacant.

"Did...did I just get a job?"

She put a hand to my shoulder gently,

"Yes, you did."

"Oh."

The very next day after breakfast I was led to a classroom and told I could arrange it as I saw fit, and left alone. I stood in the doorway staring for several minutes, trying to take it all in. It was out of my hands. I was going to be at Hogwarts, whether plot was happening or not. Actually, this would be the ideal place to set up shop. Even if I was planning to stay out of it Hogwarts would be relatively safe for me, so long as I stayed out of everyone's way. And if I wished to change things, well, Hogwarts is where it all happened.

Dumbles probably had something planned that involved me. For some reason I doubted he did anything randomly. Unless that was his craziness poking through. Sometimes I think he and the Doctor could be related.

There were windows on the far side of the room, with my desk at the front, and the windows to the right. There were long-ish two person tables and chairs, rather than individual desks/chair combo things. All were stacked up in a corner of the room. I used magic to clear away the dust, proud of myself when it only took two tries to get the whole room. Levitating the desks and chairs into place took a while, but I frankly wasn't big enough to cart those desks all over the room on my own. Simple rows and columns layout, I doubted I was going to bother with a seating chart or anything like that.

In the books the kids had chosen where to sit, and who to sit by. Perhaps I should screw that up when it came time for partner projects…then again I hated partner projects with a vengeance when I was in school.

I had received a syllabus of sorts, of what I was supposed to teach, and how many grades I was supposed to take. That was annoying. I didn't want to read a bajillion essays done in the five minutes before class. The textbooks stacked in the corner of the room were ancient. Neither World Wars were included. It was the most racist thing I had ever read. I considered stalking up to the Headmaster and throwing one at him, but managed to control myself. It's not like the book was strictly needed. There were books in the library with references to Muggle views on history that they could use as sources.

I considered redacting pieces of it, but thought better of it. Some seventh year could undo it for all of them, and then they'd know I wanted to hide it from them. I had to wonder how history had managed to turn out okay without the Doctor. Then again, if there's magic, there might be no aliens, then there would be no need for the Doctor to swoop in and save the day. There was no one to save the day from. Except Captain Moldy shorts, but he's a different story. I pushed the books over to the side of the classroom, deciding I could use them as an example of propaganda.

Muggle history. I would have to start at the very begining with everyone. Pangea and evolution. Joy. I could just imagine what the purebloods would have to say about this class. At least I had the power to hand out detention.

One of my pet projects met a breakthrough only days after I got a job, and I couldn't help but squeal a bit in excitement. There were papers and books scattered everywhere in my classroom because honestly my office wasn't big enough for the way I spread out when I research.

I compiled all the relevant things, grateful I had decided to stick it out a few more minutes rather than go to lunch. I took my research, bursting into the staffroom with a large grin.

"I've found it! I knew I remembered something about this! Who wants to make a painting?"

I was met with stares and mostly confused looks. I rolled my eyes, finding a seat and plopping down the books I had found.

"I use Kitings Method and take what little memory I have of someone and make one of those moving portraits of them, hopefully this helps spark off other memories!"

Pomona Sprout pointed to a certain point in the book,

"It says here for the magic to take the person must be dead."

"They are dead. Very dead."
Sort of dead, actually. Regenerated is basically the same as dead in some ways. Being in a different dimension would keep their 'life signature' from interfering with the enchantments in any case.

Minerva pointed out a different passage.

"It says that both wielders of the spells must contribute memories of the deceased."

I wilted, closing the book.

"Well. Never mind then, I guess."

I didn't get to finish my walk of shameful failure back to my classroom, Dumbledore spoke up.

"There are several solutions available to you, if you wish to still go through with your plan."

I slammed back into the chair, books on the table again.

"Go on…."

He chuckled,

"If they need only have a memory then you could put one of the person in question into a pensieve and share it that way. Though that may not be strong enough to sustain the spells. The best way to go about it would be to allow a legilimens into your mind and share the memory through that method."

I was rifling through one of the books the moment he had said 'legilimens'.

"Mind arts, yada yada, really rare, few can manage it, fewer can protect themselves from it, yeah, I don't think that one will work. It's not like I can just throw a stone and hit a mind reader. Never mind find one who'd be willing to help. And then there's finding a mind reader that would help who wouldn't also tear through my now delicate mental state like it's rice paper."

I shut the book,

"And pensieves are notoriously rare as well, so I'm not holding out on that falling into my lap. No, I think it's best to give up now before false hope infects me and this gets too far."

I waved goodbye, slipping out the door quickly so I could sulk somewhere quiet. My classroom was the first choice, and I left the research lying around, not quite ready to give up, no matter what I told everyone else. I moved on to other projects, keeping an eye out for leads to the portrait. No matter that there were at least two legilimens and a pensieve already in the castle, I wasn't supposed to know that. This was a world of magic, nothing was truly impossible. I'd see the Doctor again, somehow.

~TimeLordOfPie