Cedric Diggory was one of my students, so he knew who I was fairly well. This is probably why he simply stared, dumbfounded, when I was pointed out amongst the Weasley clan. While his father fawned over Harry for a little while the kid stared at me. I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms.

"Hello Mister Diggory. Having a nice summer?"
He nodded, still looking unsure of how to react. I was wearing normal muggle clothes, like everyone else, skinny jeans, my converse, and a long sleeved AC/DC shirt, a black jacket thrown over the top to help with the cold. I looked like a college student. Which is probably why Amos Diggory elbowed him when he caught him staring.

"And who's this young lady?"

The twins didn't bother holding back their laughter, Sirius either. Arthur at least tried to hide it, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry as well. Ron was just looking confused.

I stuck a hand out, smiling blandly,

"Marissa Swift, the Hogwarts Muggle History professor."

He had the sense to look apologetic, but not to shut up.

"So you're American then, how's it going in the states? I heard there was an issue with goblin rights, some sort of rebellion brewing in the lower half, near the border."

I raised an eyebrow, making a mental note to check up on that shit.

"I wouldn't know, I'm out of contact at the moment.

I was saved by the portkey, but after I landed on my ass right next to Harry I wished I had just endured the questions, or better yet, conned one of the older Weasleys into side along apparating me there. I hadn't met them before in my life, but I could probably make it happen. I stared up at the sky for a second before tapping Hermione, who was slumped over on top of me.

"You alright there, Hermione?"
She jumped up as if stung,

"Oh, I'm so sorry professor-!"

I waved her off, standing and brushing off my jeans.

"It's fine. I wasn't exactly the picture of grace either."

She still looked unsure, looking me over for injuries and trying not to be obvious about it. I glanced around us, taking in the sight of the camp grounds.

Hermione and I chatted about the coming year, with me being thrilled she had decided to keep my class. It wasn't required after third year, but the first year it was offered had been an exception. By upper level classes would probably be tiny from now on, but they'd only have those who wanted to be there. Translation- we were going to do cool shit and the losers who quit would just miss out.

Arthur turned to me for help with the Muggle money and I blanched, grabbing Harry lightly by the jacket and thrusting him forwards as tribute.

"Um, no, American. I have no idea what to do with that stuff."
I watched silently as they obliviated the muggle, scowling at the wizards who did it. The twin to my left nudged me,

"Professor?"

I shook my head, continuing to scowl at the wizard until he left.

"Sorry, bad experience with memory modification. Not. A. Fan."

I sometimes still shed a tear thinking of Donna...

Ron snorted,

"I second that."

I glanced at him curiously and that was all he needed in order to launch into the tale of the wonky teacher. I was cackling by the end of it,

"I told Pomona we should have standardized testing to earn teaching degrees in the wizarding world. Muggle worlds got one up on us in that department. Background checks, drug tests, competency tests, psych evaluations, though that last one would probably be the end of me."
I was jokingly mournful at the end, and the twins nodded solemnly,

"Indeed, it would be-"

"-a right shame to lose you-"

"-because of something as-"

"-fickle as sanity-"

"-or lack thereof."

I rolled my eyes at them and glanced over at how the tent was progressing, I lunged to Harry's side, catching one of the poles before they could beam him in the head.

"Okay, how about I try helping here. I've done a good bit of camping, I think."
Harry understood perfectly but Ron looked skeptical,

"You think?"

I shrugged,

"Well, I don't know if it could count strictly as camping we seemed to be on the run from various small governments every time we ended up in the wilderness, and the plants were always trying to kill us, and the Doctor wanted to keep anything that was fluffy, never mind that it could breath fire, or had seventeen heads, or spoke through a mouth on its re-"

I cut off, clearing my throat,

"Ah, never mind, Harry could you hand me that bit of rope?"
Sirius was cracking up, and Ginny was struggling to hide a smile so I figured I got away with nearly being crass in front of the kids. Wow, am I bad at this teacher thing.
The tents still looked a bit run down when we finished with them but they were bigger on the inside. Just like home. I grinned around me,

"Gotta love the dimensionally transcendental!"

Of course now Hermione knew that I was aware of how the tent got to be that way, so she was close to demanding an explanation when Arthur sent her and Harry off for water. I raised my hand like in school, grinning like a loon when he called on me, looking amused.

"Yes, Marissa?"

"Can I go with them to get water? You know, adult supervision or whatever?"

Sirius snorted from where he was looking through the kitchen,

"Adult?"

I scowled at him but Arthur nodded and waved me on before I could comment. I rushed out of the tent with them, cheerily using my well traveled experience to point out which country certain accents where from, and which flag outside which tent was from were. I called out a cheery greeting to the American teens from the Salem Academy that we passed, and they waved vigorously at the sound of a familiar accent, they started calling out,

"Texas!"

"Florida!"

"New York!"

So I responded with a cheerful, "Montana!"

Harry elbowed me as we walked away,

"You could go talk to them you know, the ministry couldn't stop you from finding out about what's going on there, or sending a message over with them."

I shrugged, taking in all the green that we had wandered into,

"Nah, I'm not going to drag underage teenagers into my mess."

They chatted with Finnegan, whose mother took some time to speak with me, while he looked at us nervously from the corner of his eye.

"Now, my Seamus tells me you're American."

I raised an eyebrow at her, nodding.

"Yes, last time I checked."

She examined me, eyes sharp,

"Hm, I've heard strange things about you Americans lately. Makes me wonder why Dumbledore would have one of your kind working in a school."

I blinked at her as the four teenagers looked at her in various states of shock, horror, embarrassment, and anger.

"I haven't been back to America in years. I started traveling, ended up here, I have no idea what they're up to back there, but I'm not in the know."

My bland tone, and lack of anger had her suspicious look faltering.

"Yes, well, see that you do stay separate from it all."

There was a moment of awkward silence between the three of us as the Finnegans left, but I broke it by nudging Ron,

"Hey look, it's that seeker guy."

His head whipped around and he stared, elbowing me right back out of habit, probably came from having so many older siblings.

"That 'seeker 'guy'! He's not just any seeker, he's bloody brilliant!"

Once we got to the water we got to observe the drama caused by Archie and his dress. Hermione and I had to excuse ourselves to die of laughter before we returned, keeping semi-straight faces. I watched the man saunter off wearing his dress and snorted a bit, turning it into a spectacular cough that turned right back into laughter once he was out of sight. Hermione glared at me weakly, trying to keep from breaking down again also.

The kids struggled with their water a bit until I tapped each container with a finger, winking at them.

"Feather light charms. We're supposed to go easy on the magic, but as long as it's wandless and discreet they can't complain."

We were held up by several students, most of whom seemed terribly surprised to see a teacher out in the real world, dressed like an actual person. Thinking back on the books, the teachers never did interact with anyone outside of Hogwarts or the Order. That may just have been Harry because of his isolation, but even now they weren't seen. Dumbledore had them at school year round, and I had to wonder if they prefered it that way, or he was keeping them there. I had nowhere else to go so it didn't matter either way to me, but the thought of his manipulations going to the teachers personal lives was a bit disheartening. I still didn't know what to think of the guy.

I sat with the two as Arthur explained the people from the Ministry, finally matching faces to the names and information I had. I was lounging in the grass in front of the fire when the Weasley boys appeared. I waved at Percy, who collapsed in the grass beside me. I knew in the book he had been pompous as hell at this point in time, but right now he just looked a bit tired, and excited to see the game. He engaged the twins in talk about the upcoming match and I felt a little twinge of pride in being able to keep him closer to his family this time around. His sort of betrayal in the books had devastated everyone, Molly especially. The other two, Charlie and Bill however, were looking at me still, confused. The one with the longer hair, Bill I'm assuming, spoke up.

"Ron, is this another one of your little friends?"

The twins cackled, with even Percy snorting, but Ron went a bit red.

I waved at them, giving up completely on ever being seen as an adult.

"I'm his professor actually. Marissa Swift, pleasure to meet you."
They looked dumbfounded and I resisted the urge to scowl. They were both sevens at the very least, but if they wiped those stupid looks off their faces they could easily escalate to the 8 or 9 area. I felt guilty for eyeing my students brothers, so I quickly turned my mind to something else, and caught the approach of Ludo Bagman.

I raised an eyebrow,

"Arthur, I believe we have company."

The guy swept in, in a flurry of conversation and bright colors. I waited quietly until the twins stepped forward and placed their bets, catching one to the side while Bagman engaged the other and Percy about the fake wand.

"I don't trust him. I would get something solid in writing."

He observed me for a second and I feared he would just shrug me off, but he nodded,

"If you think it's wise, professor. It can't hurt either way."

Good, one less thing to trouble the kids.

"You can get Percy to help draw something up quickly and witness it, I'm sure he'd be willing."

Percy was well aware this time around that Ludo Bagman wasn't the most trustworthy of people, and had about as much honor as a pigeon.

The twin looked skeptical, and I rolled my eyes, grabbing Percy's sleeve and yanking him over to us.

"Percy, help your brother."

The poor kid just nodded, not bothering to ask what it was. Fred, I'm pretty sure that's who it was, looked stunned, but didn't look the gift horse in the mouth. I left them to plot and spring the paperwork on Bagman before the start of the game, retreating to the fire, pulling an entire bag of jumbo marshmallows out of the pocket of my jacket, winking at Harry.

"Let's do this camping thing right, shall we?"
I engaged the younger kids while Arthur spoke with Bagman, unable to keep from tensing at the word of Bertha Jorkins having gone missing. I furrowed my brow, staring into the fire. So, there goes Nagini horcrux. That makes my life a bit more difficult. I felt someone poke me on the arm and met the concerned eyes of Hermione,

"Are you alright Professor?"
I smiled weakly,

"Fine, fine, just, something in the back of my mind that I just can't quite recall."

Sirius sat down next to me with a heavy thud, grabbing a marshmallow and spearing it before sticking it over the flames.

"Did you know Bertha?"

Damn observang dog.

"I...don't think so."

Ron and Hermione looked skeptical but Harry waved them off and I knew he would be explaining things to them later. Oh well. Not like it was a secret. Or a well kept one in any case.

Sirius just nodded, examining his marshmallow.

"Hmm, you don't happen to have the chocolate and things in your pocket, do you?"

I whipped out the other smores ingredients with a grin,

"What do I look like to you, of course I have the stuff!"

The wizarding kids were walked through making s'mores while Harry was treated to a tale of his mother as a teen teaching the marauders and their then girlfriends the wonders of muggle camping. She had been on the trip as a friend of Remus' girl, rather than with James. There was a rather funny bit where she threw her smore at him, that had the twins eyeing their food with a gleam in their eyes.

I caught Percy being called Weatherby and narrowed my eyes at Crouch, examining him. He caught my eye, and deviated from the script I remembered, throwing me for a loop.

"Ah, Miss Swift, was it? I'd heard that you found a position at Hogwarts, wonderful for you after the...ah, incident with the Aurors."

I took a slow, deep breath in to keep from punching him in the face. His manner was grating on my nerves and the thought that he had managed to keep office after denying Sirius his original trial only added fuel to the fire. And there was the thing with his son. Using dark magic to keep him in line, not cool.

"Yes. Indeed."

"Fudge mentioned to me that you were working on something to do with time energy before your mishap, we were wondering if you would be willing to come into the office and tell us a bit about it."

That was not actually phrased like a request.

I raised an eyebrow at him,

"I do not think that wise."

His expression furrowed for a second,

"And why not, Miss Swift?"
There was a tinge of anger, which was better than the distracted aloofness of before.

I shifted where I was sitting in the grass, the picture of lazy and uncaring,

"Because it was not work contracted by your government. I was private sector, I do believe, which means I have no need to answer your questions."

He drew himself up to his full height,

"You are a guest of our government-"

Okay, temper snapping. I'd been in this kind of situation before, but long separation from the Doctor in physical form meant that I wasn't going to respond as I would if he were here, I was going to take a leaf out of his book and be the immovable rock in the equation.

"I am no guest, as you well know. My mail is intercepted, by passport denied exit. When I'm allowed to at least visit my mother I'll think about it. For now I believe I'll keep all thoughts, theory, and research to myself. Have a good day, Mr. Crouch."

I slid to my feet easily, nodding to him and ducking into the tent. Power plays, if I had permission to leave the country I could get a bit more done. For example, tracking spells in Albania. Bertha was missing, but that doesn't mean Tommy boy was there still.

And while I should stick around the the coming action I wanted to be able to leave should the need arise. I could always leave with the law watching and sneak back inside just like old times. I was working on enchanting some psychic paper, but it was difficult when trying to keep well away from dark magic so that I didn't accidentally end up with another like Riddles diary.

I waited for several minutes, twirling my wand between my fingers. After around ten I stuck my head out of the tent,
"Is he gone?"

When Arthur nodded I waltzed out, tucking my wand away.

"Good. Can't stand that man. Not particularly sure why, something tickling the back of my memory again. Reminds me of someone…"

I was thinking that ambassador on the Satellite around the moon of Desarrian. It was stupid difficult to work with that bastard getting in our way. Good people had died that day, but of course his royal asshole-ness had walked away even richer because of bullshit future-y insurance mumbo jumbo.

I sat back down, elbowing Sirius,

"Hey, I thought dogs couldn't have chocolate."

I managed to snag one of the little squares of Honeydukes, eyeing it.

"Just not the same as Hersheys."

Percy was frowning on my other side, deep in thought,

"Could they use mouthing off as an excuse to arrest you?"

I raised an eyebrow at him,

"Fudge doesn't have a leg to stand on. I'm not going to go to the press, of course, Skeeter is a stone cold bi-bat, yeah sure that will do. But as long as he believes I could tank public opinion of him then I'm pretty much untouchable. However we're at a stalemate. He won't let me have my basic human rights, I won't tell him squat. I've forgotten more about time travel than the British ministry will ever know."

Percy accepted that last bit easily enough, but Arthur looked intrigued,

"Albus told us about the ministry causing you to lose your memory, so before that you worked in research for time magic?"

I nodded, snagging more of the chocolate.

"Yup. Something like that. I actually seem to recall something about a temporal displacement fracture in Montana and then hitting my head in London. I am also positive that the year was all wrong when I got there, but then I got apparated and something foul tasting was shoved down my throat, so it's all guesswork."

There was a beat of silence before I changed the subject,

"Anyway, I'm a shameless eavesdropper, and I want to know what I missed about what's happening at Hogwarts."

I watched those still students at the school deflating, and raised an eyebrow. Ron groaned,

"Well then it's all over. We were going to ask you."

I shrugged,

"I've been working on a pet project of mine, no rest for the wicked and all that. I don't socialize with the staff much so they probably never thought to tell me."

Of course I knew it was the tournament, but I wasn't actually told, so it would be best not to 'know'. Arthur shook his head in amusement,

"I'll tell you later, Marissa. For now let's hear about this project of yours."

I froze, glancing at Sirius, who caught the action and started giggling. I elbowed him but he didn't stop. I huffed,

"I'm just….well it's...look, you probably don't want to know."

Sirius nodded, still trying to catch his breath,

"Plausible deniability and all that."

He promptly launched into more laughter and I resisted the urge to kick him. Percy seemed to get what I was talking about, and rolled his eyes at the both of us.

It wasn't long before we were all released onto the souvenir people, and I'm including Sirius and myself with the children. I had remembered the twins having no souvenirs, their gold going to that cheat Bagman, so with the fruits of a picking up a few shifts at the Three Broomsticks I handed a pair of omnioculars to each of them. When they tried to protest I glared them down,

"I have no little brothers to spend money on, let me get the mothering out of my system when someone can benefit from it. But if your father asks you held some money back from Bagman."

Their father did indeed ask, and looked relieved when they answered like I told them to.

"Good, good, so you are smart enough to not give away all your savings." He'd drifted off, the twins looking slightly offended. I clapped them on the shoulder, dragging them over to the posters.

"Shake it off, boys, you probably just got away with gambling in front of your father."
I heard a slightly distant 'It's time' and grinned,

"Come on, you heard the man!"

We swept off towards the stadium, following the trail of lanterns.

~TimeLordOfPie