I ignored the byplay with the Malfoys, sending a genial smile to Draco when I saw him. I was a bit shocked when he smiled back easily, but I shook it off, listening to the Bulgarian Minister go on about the Boy-Who-Lived. I glanced at the man,

"The kid is right here, you know. You could say something to him rather than about him."

I could feel eyes on me and saw Fudge staring,

"My dear, you know Bulgarian?"

I frowned,

"No, I-oh. I guess I do."

The translation matrix. I wasn't paying attention and it did it's job beautifully. That piece of the TARDIS was still in my head, then. I can work with that. It may link me to the other dimension enough to get back...

I was caught up in translating for the minister for the next few minutes, which to me was a weird repeating of what I said, only looking at different people when speaking. Apparently if I direct it at the Bulgarians it came out in their language, at Fudge and it was English. It was weird and I dreaded it cutting out randomly and me left stupidly just repeating a phrase in English. However that didn't happen and I was left in peace when Bagman shouldered up,

"Everyone ready? Minister-ready to go?"
The mascots came first and chaos followed. Narcissa Malfoy only barely missed Draco as he made to follow his classmates over to jump from the box, and I rolled my eyes as I caught the back of his coat, pulling him easily back into his seat, the impact startled him enough that he looked around.

"Clear your mind, kid."

He sniffed in annoyance,

"Well, that's specific."

My mouth twitched in an aborted smile that he caught anyway. I shrugged,

"Don't think of pink elephants."
I turned back to watch the disgustingly perfect women continue their routine, noticing from the corner of my eye that Draco was having a small freak out from only being able to think about pink elephants. The veela left and Draco sniffed,

"That was rubbish advice."

I raised an eyebrow at him,

"Hmm, really?"

He nodded and I shrugged,

"Well, you managed to not take a header out of the stands, so I'd say it did pretty well."

His face went blank, probably running through it. He had been so worried about suddenly thinking about elephants that the veela weren't on his mind. I winked, turning back to see the leprechauns. I plucked a piece of gold from the air as it came my way, turning it over for a bit to try to see the difference between it and real gold, perhaps a bit in the weight, I think. I tossed it aside, and when Percy looked at me like I was mad I shrugged,

"Leprechaun gold. It's gonna fade in a few hours."

Percy wilted slightly and went to drop it. I stopped him, leaning in and whispering,

"The stasis charm I told you that keeps food fresh? Should make it last a bit longer should someone accidentally use it to get change or a butterbeer or something. I'm told only Goblins can tell the difference at a glance."

He looked torn between the legal thing, and being held back by his family's status. Eventually he pocketed it, whispering back to me,

"Well it's not like I can grab more now, you explained in full view."

I rolled my eyes,

"Explain it to your brothers when it's over and 'confiscate it'."

I didn't feel too bad about money laundering of a sort, they shouldn't throw around shit like this if they didn't want it used. Plus, my views on 'stealing' are a bit lax, the Doctor tends to point the sonic at an ATM and go from there. My morals, in this case, were not learned from the best of sources. So I just let Percy nod his head and added 'corrupting children' to the list of reasons I was going to hell.

I watched the game itself in awe, it was so much better than reading about it, or watching the snatches from the movie. I hadn't bothered to get omnioculars for myself, but either way I could tell what was happening. I didn't know which team to cheer for, Krum would be at our school soon enough, but Ireland was going to win. Plus the Weasleys were all cheering for Ireland. I refrained from taking a side, and noticed Percy eyeing me for it. I shrugged, calling over the noise just barely so he could hear me.

"Doesn't matter anyway, Krum with the snitch and Ireland gets the win."

He rolled his eyes, recognizing the twins bet, I had noticed that he'd bullied Bagman into the contract earlier, but the Ministry official hadn't been overly worried about it. Before Percy could comment the Irish scored a goal and he joined his family in the cheer fest.

I outright cackled when Mr. Weasley turned the veela into a life lesson, just like in the book.

"And, that, boys, is why you never go for looks alone!"

I watched the fight for a bit until the game pulled me back in, people flying everywhere, evidence of masters of flight. I envied them for a second before mentally reminding myself that I had once or twice single-handedly flown a time machine through space. I win, leave it there.

Fred and George's prediction came true, and I grinned, cheering with them.

We paraded back to the tents in a whirl of heady victory. Sirius was carrying Harry on his shoulders, cheering loudly the whole while, and Harry was looking the happiest I'd ever seen him. I felt a rush of pride in that I had helped put it there, but moved on quickly, there was still a lot to be done. Ginny nearly fell asleep in her cocoa, like in the book, but I managed to slide the scorching drink out of the way before it could meet her face. Hermione and I took an arm each and led her over to the girls tent. It was considerably smaller than the one all the boys shared, but there were less of us after all. The girls changed into their pajamas and as the only one in the tent allowed to use magic I set up the silencing charms so the boys next door wouldn't hear the gossip and giggles. Now that Ginny was away from her father's line of sight she was awake and chipper, I eyed her for a bit, but she showed no shame. I hoped her compliance would be back when we got to school, I am not a doormat, our friendship outside of Hogwarts shall not be used against me on the inside. Dear lord, I'm making it sound like a prison gang.

The girls changed into pajamas but I sat at the table with them still in jeans, having changed into a black batman t-shirt, jacket draped over the back of my chair, wand beside my tea. The girls had glanced at my scars, and kindly ignored them. I was able to relax and they didn't send me pitying looks. I figured they were used to Harry's scar getting comments and knew how he felt about it, they were most likely applying the same principle to me. I couldn't remember if the danger had happened well after the match, the next night, or right after. I made sure that we could hear the revelry outside, just in case, and Ginny asked about it, nose wrinkled.

"Why don't you silence the outside, too?"

I shrugged, taking a sip of my tea before answer while adding more sugar,

"Well, if your father calls for us to get up in the morning and we don't hear him because I fell asleep and didn't take it down then we're screwed. I'd rather not get caught as an accomplice to letting the two of you break whatever curfew he set."

I didn't notice the exact moment that the cheers turned to screaming, but I realized it shortly before I heard Mr. Weasley yelling at the boys. I stood, grabbing my wand, throwing my jacket at Ginny, who couldn't find hers in the chaos of the tent.

"Come on girls, out, out, let's see what the fuss is about."

My voice was calm and steady, either because I knew what was going on already, or from experience with stupidly high stress situations I wasn't sure. Hermione looked suspicious for a second and I rolled my eyes, putting my hands on her shoulders and hating that she was my height.

"Hermione, I worked with time, the raw force of everything that ever was, is, or could be. Stress I can handle, stress I am used to. Suspicion from one of the few intelligent people I trust, that I cannot handle at the moment. So please, just come with me."

She looked me in the eye for a second before relaxing under my hands and nodding, looking determined. Ginny grabbed one of her hands, as well as mine and I dragged the two of them out of the tent, wand in my right hand because Ginny had my left. I didn't let it bother me. I could write well enough with it, wielding a wand with it shouldn't be too much of an issue. We were met with the others from the remaining tent, their hair wild, and most of them in pajamas and bathrobes. I scowled at Sirius as he was eyeing my already tied shoes, and jeans.

"I don't sleep on Thursday nights, it's a good night for thinking."

I wasn't lying, I often don't sleep on Thursdays. He seemed to recognise this because he rolled his eyes, sending Harry towards the other kids as Arthur explained,

"Head for the woods, hide! Stick together, I'll come get you when it's over!"

I went to follow them, only to have Sirius catch my arm. Ginny didn't let go of my hand, looking terrified. I glanced back at the other 'adult's' that I was apparently supposed to join. I grabbed the closest Twin, transferring Ginny to him, looking her in the eye and saying with the conviction of one who's read the future and knows that it's truth,

"Go with them, don't get separated. You. Will. Be. Fine."

She didn't look so sure so I poked the jacket she was wearing,

"I am paranoid as hell, okay, so that jacket has enough wards to stop Bombada Maxim at ten paces, believe me I tested it. This does not mean be careless, understood?"
She looked relieved, but then it fell as her brother tried to drag her along,

"But what about you, you'll be in danger, shouldn't you take it?"
"Psh, I've seen worse. I'll be alright, go!"
She finally let her brother drag her away and I followed Arthur who glanced at me from the corner of his eye,

"Is it true? What you said about the jacket?"

I nodded, eyes darting around us at the gloom,

"Yes. There's also enough chocolate in the pockets to induce sugar coma, so the lot of them should find it advantageous."

The brunt of the action came into view, muggles held in the air, people in masks laughing. We split up then without a word, I saw Percy start to come with me but I motioned him to his brothers. I couldn't protect him as well as they could. Charlie fought dragons, and Bill unraveled ancient and powerful magic everyday. They would keep him safe. I crept through the tents, keeping cover as I picked off some of them, right until they noticed me. One of them used the imperious on a muggle, having them walk into a tent, crushing and getting tangled. He laughed, a strange sound among all of the violence all around us.

I was flushed out of hiding by a flash of red light in the corner of my eye that sent me rolling out of the way and popping up to send a jinx their way. I summoned one of the muggles that was floating, grabbing a nearby wizard and shoving her at him. It was an elderly woman. Easily in her eighties, if not more. Her skin was like paper and she looked just as delicate. The wizard was young, probably just graduated, though not from Hogwarts. I sent him a stern look and he scurried off, carrying his new charge. I sent a curse at one of the Death Eaters that tried to get past me to her. One of them left to find easier prey, but three stayed. I sent a wave of water at the lot of them, just to make their lives miserable, and then a curse while they were blinking the liquid out of their eyes. I did things like that for the next few minutes, unable to knock them out, there were too many against one of me and I was still relatively new to this magic thing after all.

I knew we didn't have too much longer until Morsmordre spread across the sky and they all fled. In the books no one was hurt. Well, the Prophet said no one was hurt, but they weren't exactly the most trustworthy or sources. I spent most of my time dodging and thanking God that Zoopy had better aim than these people. Mostly. There were three of them and I was only used to fending off a fairly swift house elf. These were adult wizards with experience dueling in war, from the first time Voldemort rose. If someone was seriously hurt or died then the consequences would be worse if they were found out. Then again, perhaps at this point they don't care.

I was knocked backwards into a tent pole, head hitting the ground viciously when I dropped. There was a ringing in my ears, and I felt slightly sick, my wand a few stops away. I reached for it with my right hand, only to have a black boot descend on my right wrist with a sharp crack. I screamed, cutting it off quickly and breathing in quick short bursts, trying to hold back the pain. Right, I'd been holding it with my right hand, because Ginny had been holding my left...so my wand hand was still intact. They were laughing and saying something, but the words were all jumbled, and my ears weren't working properly. My vision was a bit fuzzy and I had to blink several times to get it cleared enough to figure out where they were. Wands were pointed at me and I had a feeling they were going to lift me into the air like they had the muggles. I raised my left hand, wand flying into it. Some spells are always more powerful with a wand. I sent hexes at the two that I could see, rolling to try to get to my feet, sending explosive lights down to blind them, closing my eyes at the right moments.

I didn't see the third one, but I felt it.

"Crucio!"

I dropped to the ground, screaming, curled in on myself and just waiting for it to end, or death to come.

It dropped and I sucked in breath quickly, hearing still mostly out of focus. My throat burned, and my muscles were on fire, but I was alive with my sanity intact which is more than can be said for others who have been under the curse.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and automatically pointed my wand to them, blinking for several seconds before I recognised Sirius. I lowered my wand, letting my head fall back to the ground, just breathing. Sirius spoke again and I realised he must have been doing so the whole time.

"Mara? You alright?"

I nodded, limbs shaking.

"Yeah, just...just give me a second."

My voice was scratchy and I wished I had some water. I could probably magic some up, but I really wasn't feeling up to the effort. He didn't look so sure, pointing to my arms.

"Did they do this?"

I glanced over at the scars, shaking my head slightly.

"No, old, old. Had 'em for a while."

Though a curse would be useful if it could scar the injury almost immediately. Think of how streamlined torture would become, no one dying of blood loss halfway through...but I wasn't going to be the one to create such a curse. Torture isn't my thing.

I stuck up my left hand,

"Help me up?"

He complied, easily getting me to my feet and holding me in place when I started swaying a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I sighed,

"Not particularly. I'm not actually versed on what spells leave long lasting damage, but those probably did their share."

I held up my right wrist, turning it over to see the mottled bruising starting to form, as well as the protrusion of bone at the side.

"Ow."

The pain from my wrist was pale in comparison to what the dark magic had done, so I wasn't particularly worried about it at the moment. Sirius however,

"You're hurt! Come on, let's get you to Arthur, he went to find the children. I'm sure one of those ministry idiots knows a bit of healing magic."

He put a heavy arm over my shoulders and I leaned into him, soaking up the warmth. I hadn't realized just how cold I'd been. The chill of the dark magic mixed with the night air had me cold inside and out. But he was warm, and letting me lean on him so it was all good. He probably wouldn't have the heart to tease me about it later, kicking a dog while it's down wasn't his thing, anymore at least. And if he did then I couldn't bring myself to care at the moment.

We moved slowly, passing several groups of people gathering themselves together. There were tears and sobs of relief from those finding loved ones who had been lost in the chaos. I heard familiar voices from our tents as we approached and sighed, trying to take some of my weight off Sirius. He wouldn't allow it,

"Come on, Mara, you're not fooling anyone. Take help, no one's going to think less of you for it."

I didn't really have the energy to argue, starting to finally truly feel the pain in my wrist. We came into sight to see several redheads arguing, a few dark heads among them. Sirius called ahead of us, and I could feel the rumble when he spoke.

"I found her!"

They stopped and turned to us, I was hiding the awkward bone sticking out of my wrist the best I could, turned away from them. Not a sight for small children. Or medium ones. Or the larger ones.

I waved with my left hand, holding my wand awkwardly in my right, fingers not wanting to move properly. I was rushed by the kids but Sirius put a hand out,

"Stop right there! I'm not having any of you manhandling her until we have a healer take a look."

Ginny's eyes were shining with tears,

"Are you hurt?"
I shrugged on of my shoulders, trying not to lean on Sirius as much as before and failing miserably, drawn to the warmth as cold crept into what felt like my soul.

"I just need rest, I think…"

Sirius snorted,

"Yeah, only rest, sure. Arthur?"

The Weasley Patriarch nodded, turning to Bill.

"Go get Milo, he should be in the same place as before."

Bill rushed off and Sirius started walking again, and I was forced to follow or lose my heater. He helped lower me down onto the couch in the guy's tent, trying to leave but I caught his arm shivering. I didn't have words to say 'stay and be my heater' so I let go, dropping my hand and leaning back, closing my eyes. I didn't notice when a blanket dropped over me, but it was there when I woke, a stranger with blue eyes and ruffled brown hair trying to maneuver to get to my broken wrist. I lifted it, taking the fact that Sirius, Arthur, and Bill were calmly letting him go about moving me around. He must be the healer, Milo. I held back the references to Milo Thatch and Atlantis, still unsure if Atlantis wasn't a thing here or not.

He took a look at my wrist and I fought for control of my thoughts for a while, just too tired to be bothered with paying attention. Magic would fix up my wrist and I would be allowed to sleep, then I could go back to the school and this would all be behind me.

I was jerked awake when the warmth returned to my limbs with a slight shock, I sat up, blinking hard for a few seconds. I was faced with a two horrified Weasley's, a stoic Sirius, and a furious healer. He pointed a finger at me threateningly,

"When were you planning on telling me that wasn't your only injury?"

I blinked at him,

"What?"

He scowled,

"You were held under the cruciatus curse for several minutes, that kind of magic doesn't leave you unmarked! Could you not feel the chill?"

I leaned away from him slightly,

"Well, yeah."

He huffed,

"I'm assigning a potion regime for you to take, try to cut down your magic usage for a few days at least."

He spoke with Arthur for several seconds before turning back to me,

"I'll be owling them to Hogwarts, be sure you take them. I'm going to owl Poppy as well, so she knows you're supposed to be doing it."
I winced, no way in hell was she going to let me get away with forgetting it, no matter how disgusting they tasted. Arthur followed Milo, and Bill stood there for a second before pointing to the outside,

"I'm, just going to let the kids know you're alright."

Sirius crossed his arms just standing there for a second.

"It's my fault. I should have let you leave with the children. You weren't confident in fighting, I should have seen it."

I stared at him for a second, and he turned to leave.

"Hey, wait a second."

He stopped and I motioned him over, feeling the chill returning to my limbs and hating it.

"I don't blame you, but if you feel the need to make it up to me get over here."

He approached warily, as if expecting me to hit him. I patted the couch beside me and he sat hesitantly. I automatically leaned against him, pulling the blanket closer.

"There. I think it's an animagus thing, but you seem warmer than other people and the aftereffects of that curse are chilling my insides. Hope you don't mind being my personal heater for a bit."

I faltered near the end, and dropped off before I could hear his answer. He didn't violently push me off at least, and I no longer felt like my soul was leaking from my pores.

~TimeLordOfPie