The day of the first Quidditch match the weather was shit. I watched the Gryffindor team struggle to get food down, while I was vibrating with excitement. I could almost feel the eyeroll Snape threw my way. Minerva gave me a pat on the shoulder,

"It's fine, dear. Be excited about it if you wish. Someone around here needs to dispel this gloom."

I walked with the other teachers to their section of the stands, part of me wishing I could sit with the students, their sections seemed more exciting. But we did have the announcer at least. It was the most exciting sports event I'd ever attended, and I'd been to the World Cup Finale in 3034. That was a spectacle. I got lost in the game, cheering fanatically at every exciting moment, trying not to take sides.

I noticed the moment the dementors came out in force. The cold seeped into our bones, and my breath became visible. I drew my wand, patronus streaking out to accompany the students through the air, absentmindedly informing those beside me of my logic.

"It would suck to fall from that height." I'd always wondered why none of the teachers capable of the charm had done it then, especially Dumbles.

The fox herded the players towards the ground, ending the game as the dementors came closer, the fox seemed to sense Harry weakening, because as he started to topple from his broom it streaked towards him. I had barely enough time to hear Dumbledore slowing Harry's descent. The dementors were too close, and my patronus too far away.

'Mara! Mara, don't you dare! Don't you dare give up now, Mara! This isn't over, I swear it isn't!'

Doctor?

I shot up in a bed, sucking in air like I was surfacing from the lake, eyes wide. I was close to hyperventilating until I noticed the people were crowded around the bed to my right, they had turned and were looking at me, pale underneath the grime that covered them. I didn't realize I was shaking until one of the twins stepped over, patting my shoulder gently.

"It's alright Professor, you're in the hospital wing. Do you remember what happened?"

I glanced over at where Harry was lying in bed, feeling the shame from failure creep over me.

I sighed,

"Yeah, I remember. Harry fell of his broom, didn't he? If I'd been a bit quicker with that patronus neither of us would have ended up in here, kid."

I banged my head back against the wall, wincing and feeling a lump on it. Must have hit my head when I passed out. I glanced back up at the twin that was at my bedside,

"How'd the match go, though?"

Oliver Wood spoke up, face grim, and I absentmindedly wondered why he was here. Wasn't he supposed to be 'drowning himself in the showers'?

"Match was postponed. Diggory would have had the snitch while Harry was falling, but he saw your patronus, and realized something was up. We would have lost otherwise…"

I snorted,

"I'm more worried about people's health at the moment, how is everyone?"

Angelina patted my shoulder gently,

"Everyone's fine other than you and Harry. Well, and the broom…"

Harry's reaction to that suggested he already knew his broom was gone. I winced in sympathy,

"What will he fly for the rematch game?"

No answer. Ew, a school broom then. I sighed,

"Perhaps you can petition that next weekend Slytherin plays Hufflepuff instead, they got a break for seeker injury, your seeker's technically injured as well…"

Wood practically danced out of the Hospital Wing to find Minerva and I watched him for a second before I couldn't hold it in any longer. I snorted, and it turned into full on laughter a few seconds later. I wiped my watering eyes,

"Oh, jeez, you kids will be the end of me."

"But we almost were."

It was the first time Harry had spoken since I woke, and he sounded sullen.

"If you hadn't been worried about us then you would have been able to protect yourself."

I rolled my eyes,

"Not gunna happen, kiddo. I've put my life on the line for worse causes than innocent school children. And those two not-so-innocent devils."

The twins pulled a wide eyed look and I laughed for a second,

"Not, fooling me kids. I've caused enough trouble, I know how to spot it."

I heard shuffling from the other end of the hospital wing and sighed,

"Is there enough time for escape?"

I glanced at Harry, and saw he was in agreement. I made to stand but Poppy rushed into the room, carrying a tray. She saw me trying to get up and glared. I grinned nervously,

"Hey, Poppy. Lovely to see you. I can see you're busy, so I'll just be on my way-"

"I don't think so young lady. Eat this chocolate. I'm keeping you for observation, you and Mister Potter both."

We groaned in tandem, earning snickers from the Gryffindor team. I mock glared at them,

"Whatever happened to respect, eh?"

Malfoy didn't mock Harry for his episode, none of the Slytherins did. I found out why in my first class on Monday. A fifth year Slytherin girl raised her hand before I could start the lesson. I groaned dramatically.

"Is it going to be that kind of day? Because all I've got to drink in my desk at the moment is tea, and that won't help if it's that kind day."
A few students laughed, but the girl persevered. I sighed,

"Fine, what is it?"
"Why did you send your patronus away? We heard you were hurt because you did, so why would you do it?"

Is 'children are sacred' not an easy thing to understand here?

"As a teacher the students are my responsibility. We here at Hogwarts are around you more often than your own family. Is it really so odd that we would care about your wellbeing?"

"But more than your own?" I rolled my eyes at the girl,

"Yes, more than my own health."

I leaned against the back of my desk,

"I have no family of my own. Therefore I find the grumpy children and young adults that I have to somehow prepare for the world are very good for filling that void in a grumpy adults heart."

I stood up,

"But, I am not the Grinch, and I'm not planning to steal Christmas anyway so that's irrelevant at the moment."

The one Muggleborn Gryffindor in the class chuckled at my joke and I pointed to him dramatically.

"Someone did their research!"

I reached into my desk and pulled out a random piece of candy, tossing it to him.

"Now, who knows the names of the two guys who supposedly founded Rome, I mentioned them last week…"

Classes went similarly that week, with various other kids asking if I was alright, rather than why. It was kind of stupid. Snape had risked himself for students before, hadn't he? Perhaps not publically at this point in time. By the end of that week I was practically pulling my hair out,

"Why can't these children just accept that there's an adult that cares about their health?!"

Percy just sighed, continuing to flip through his notes.

"I don't know, Professor. Perhaps it's because you're new."

I grumbled about it until it blew over, and the Christmas season was upon me. The first kid to wish me a 'Happy' Christmas the day before break began came as a surprise. It was Ron Weasley, just as the class was packing up to leave. I sat down heavily in my chair, staring at nothing.

"Oh. Christmas. Right."

Pansy paused,

"Are you alright, Professor?"
I waved them away,

"Go on, I'm fine, just being all old and alone over here."

The Hogsmeade weekend saw me in casual clothes, blending in with the teenagers. I wandered into Honeydukes, sticking around until I saw Ron and Hermione gather around the unusual tastes center. I watched their strange conversation with two people, and someone invisible. I rolled my eyes, deciding to let them have their fun. Sirius Black wasn't actually after him. I wandered around Hogsmeade, unsure what to do with myself. I'd already gotten various gifts for the other staff members, and bits of candy were set to be sent to some of the students. I had no shopping to do, and I wasn't even certain why I was there. Until I saw the door to the Three Broomsticks slam open, and no one exit. Footprints appeared in the snow, rapidly heading out towards Honeydukes. I watched Ron and Hermione hustle to keep up, stopping when the door to Honeydukes slammed open. I saw them stop, speak softly, and then head back to the castle.

I managed to corner Harry in the library one day when they were searching through law books. I slipped into the aisle beside him where he was flipping through one of the books. He jumped about a foot in the air when I spoke.

"So, care to explain something for me?"

He put the book back, watching me warily.

"Professor?"

I smirked,

"Well in Hogsmeade the other day your friends seemed awfully worried about these footprints left behind by some invisible guy…"

He was tensed and looked a bit desperate.

"It wont happen again, Professor, I just wanted to-"

I flopped my hand lazily through the air.

"Stop, kid. Not interested. I wanna know how. No harm, no foul, as they say. Of course if anyone asks I had no clue you were ever outside of the castle."

He stared at me for a second and I elaborated.

"You're not an idiot, Harry. I'm trusting you not to do something stupid with this ill begotten freedom of yours. Now spill, I hate those dementors with a passion, I wanna avoid 'em just as much as you."

That night most of my planning had fallen into place. I fed Sirius, plopping down on the ground more roughly than usual and staying silent, pulling him into a doggy friendly hug the moment he was done.

"Things just got ten more levels of confused, canine."

I kept the hug, knowing that if he could see my face the troublemaker would be aware I was fudging the truth slightly.

"Harry, ah, Harry Potter, one of my third year students. He has this...this map. It's accurate, very accurate. It tells not just the locations of walls and rooms, but people as well. Pettigrew...everyone says he was a hero, died a hero. But then why is his name on the map?"

The dog went still, tail freezing mid-wag. I continued,

"I thought of following it, but Harry had the map still, and I wasn't willing to confiscate it from him. Kid has enough problems. I...don't know what to do anymore. Who is the bad guy, who is wrong, who do I listen to? Because Fudge doesn't rate high on the 'people I trust' list, hell, he isn't on it at all. Dumbles himself barely has a place down there in the middling to bottom range."

I gave a tighter squeeze for a split second before releasing him to fall onto my back in the grass, watching the blue slowly fade from the sky.

"I'm out of ideas. After this I wait and see. I never was one for patience. But if there is some sort of threat to one of my students…"

I growled, low in my throat, the way Madame Vastra had taught me that was as accurate as a puny humans vocal cords could get.

"I'm almost tempted to turn to divination of all things…"

I stood suddenly, brushing myself off. I held out my hand and the handkerchief flew into it, as per usual. I vanished it with a flick of my fingers.

"I should get going, before this makes me lose my mind…"

There was was a tug at my jeans, and I glanced down, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, this is new." I could barely contain my excitement. Plans, plans, plans. Trelawney never makes a prophecy about wormtail, therefore it never needs to come true. Honestly, I wasn't sure how Voldie would manage the Triwizard thing without his babysitter. Then again, I didn't care much.

He lead the way to the Whomping Willow and I eyed it warily.

"If this is a new game you wanna try, 'dodge the tree', well, I usually play that while driving a car. I'm not good at it then either."

He had to stop for a second, I don't know if he was rethinking his choice of ally or trying not to 'doggie laugh'. When he continued he darted into the trees reach, whapping the knot before rolling out of the way of one of the branches as it fell into listlessness. He looked back at me, tongue lolling out, before he entered the tunnel at the base of the tree. I waited for a second, examining the tree. The dogs head popped back out, just staring at me. I groaned,

"Fine, fine. We'll see where this goes then. You'd better not be a serial killer of some sort. I swear I read something like this in a murder mystery."

We reached the end of the tunnel, and I followed the dog up the stairs of the Shrieking Shack. We entered one of the rooms and I had barely a second to think before his form blurred and a rather skinny, pale, tall man was standing in front of me. I blinked once. Twice. Then swore explosively.

"What did I just fucking say about serial killers? Damn it, of all the times for me to do something spontaneous...let's just follow the dog, it's a rather nice dog, I'm sure nothing will happen. Oh, I'll just find out I've been feeding the fugitive. If I get out of this that's the name of the fucking book I'll have to write."

I had started pacing halfway through, and Sirius was just looking at me, trying not to laugh. I glared at him, hands on hips.

"Well, what the hell is this? Because if you're going to try to pull a Slitheen and wear my rotting carcass as a skin suit around the castle then you picked the wrong fucking victim, buddy."

I put my hands up a weak approximation of a martial arts ready position.

He finally laughed, explosively. There were slight tears in his eyes. I sighed, sitting down in one of the few non crumbling chairs and crossing my legs, waiting for him to finish. He brushed the water out of his eyes, before sighing.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that, Swift."

I wrinkled my nose at him,

"You do realize that solidifies the 'you're insane' theory, right? Randomly laughing when people threaten you?"

He snorted, actually sitting down on the dilapidated bed. Obviously, I am not considered a threat.

"Swift, do you want to know the truth or not?"

"Well, curiosity killed the cat."

"And satisfaction brought it back. Besides, I don't think you're much of a cat person."

I rolled my eyes,

"Fine, out with it canine."

"I'm innocent."

"...go on."

The next hour the ex convict spoke, and when he was through his underused voice failed him.

I sighed, reaching into my robe pocket and pulling out a bottle of water.

At his expression I explained.

"I used to...travel with someone who put something like those undetectable extension charms on pretty much everything. Now that I've figured out how to do it there's no stopping me. I've got the Second Year Ravenclaw's homework in one of these suckers, and don't even ask about my bag."

He snorted, taking a sip from the water before croaking out,

"So, do you believe me or not?"
I met his eyes, grey. Not a color I had encountered before in humans.

I found myself nodding.

"And I have a plan, if you're willing to cooperate."

He shrugged,

"My plan was just 'kill the rat'."

I rolled my eyes, standing swiftly and sticking my hands in my pocket.

"How about one where you can escape alive, clear your name, and take your godson away from the miserable muggles I've heard horror stories about."

I knew I had him at the last bit. I raised an eyebrow,

"So, canine, what's it gonna be?"

He ran a large hand through his bedraggled hair,

"We'll do this your way."

A pause, then,

"Are you really planning to overthrow Fudge?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"...A bit, yeah."

"Then yes. That useless bastard is going down."

~TimeLordOfPie