I woke up in the same place, on the couch beside Sirius who was now passed out as well. The part of me that had still been lucid expected him to leave the moment I was asleep. Guess he really did feel guilty about having me stay. The children were out and about already, packing to leave. I pulled myself together, elbowing Sirius awake. He twitched for a second and I sighed,

"Come on, mutt, up you get. Time to go home."

He straightened a bit, blinking in the light while I grimaced at the scratchy quality of my voice. With him sitting a bit away from me I could feel the chill creeping back and shivered slightly, resulting in his arm going over me once again.

"They can handle the packing, I'm sure."

He made to go back to sleep but I elbowed him again,

"Reluctant as I am to step back into the cold I don't live at the Burrow, and neither do you. Therefore we have to pack our own things."

He snorted, snuggling further into the couch and pulling me closer to bury his head in my hair like I was a pillow. I stiffened, fighting off a violent blush.

"See, that's where you're wrong. I have a little minion that's probably already finished with my things as well as his own, and Ginny seems quite taken with you, I'm sure she's already gotten yours."

"I don't want to leave my packing to my students, think of the blackmail the twins could come up with!"

"What, afraid they're going to steal your knickers?"

"Not particularly, but I am quite nervous of what they'll do with all the information I've gathered on Ministry personnel, should they find my jacket."

He groaned,

"But I doubt little red would leave that jacket alone long enough for them to get their hands on it anyway."

After that I couldn't find a better argument, and I was comfortable and warm. So I sighed,

"You, sir, are a horrible influence."

I let my head fall to his shoulder and let the warmth call me back to sleep. When I woke green eyes were staring at me, large and bright behind thick lenses. I jumped up, left hand clutching my heart.

"Jesus, kid. Is something wrong?"

He rubbed his neck sheepishly,

"Ah, Mr. Weasley said to wake you, the Portkeys about to leave."

I nodded, elbowing Sirius, who groaned,

"Mara, we've been through this, there's no reason to move."

"The portkeys about to leave."

"And I can apparate."

"They're going to take down the tent."

He sighed, moving his arm so I could get up. I stood, cracking my back and rubbing at my right wrist absently.

"Did you see where my wand-oh, thank you Harry."

He handed it to me, still watching me with those unnerving green eyes. They looked calculating and I spent a few seconds trying to figure out what suspicious thing I might have done lately before shaking it off.

"I should go find Ginny, see if she has my coat. All of my things were in it still."

Harry looked skeptical and I pointed up at the tent ceiling,

"Bigger on the inside, my friend, bigger on the inside."
I found the girl, who hugged me tightly, threatening to break into tears until I assured her I was completely fine. She gave me my jacket back, thanking me profusely for its use. I swung it on just as Harry and Sirius exited the tent. Sirius was looking a bit red, and I frowned, worried for his health. Did he catch a cold or something? He seemed fine earlier. I went to ask only to find the Twins at my side, one of them patting my arm gently.

"You were right about Bagman, Professor."

"This morning we were counting the gold and it just up and disappeared-"

"-and Percy said it was Leprechaun gold. We have grounds for a lawsuit-

"-since you thought to have a contract put in ahead of time."

I waved them off,

"I had good intel on him, he's always been a bit flaky."

We gathered around the boot, and once again when we landed I ended up on my ass. I lay there for a second, still tired beyond belief, and the cold was slowly seeping back. The twin who had been to my left when I fell helped me up,

"You alright, Professor?"

I nodded,

"Yeah, yeah. I'll live."

The walk back to the Burrow was quiet, and Molly rushed to her children, mothering everyone in sight. I got a hug, just like everyone else, and said a quick goodbye to everyone as I made my way through. I stopped by Arthur,

"I need to get to Hogwarts. That Milo guy said he'd send ahead my prescription."

He motioned me ahead to the floo,

"Take care of yourself Mara, remember, go easy on the magic."

I waved to Harry on my way to the Floo, not managing to catch Sirius' attention. I shrugged it off and stepped into the fire, flooing straight to my office. Minerva and Poppy were waiting for me there. I was whisked off to the hospital wing where Poppy checked me over and Minerva raged.

"We didn't know if you were alive or not until a healer sent an owl to make sure you took your potions. The cruciatus, Mara, the cruciatus! What were you thinking?"

I shrugged,

"I was thinking that Arthur, his eldest boys, and Sirius could use some help clearing out the assholes in masks. They were torturing muggles, Minerva, elderly or child, they didn't care. I'd be willing to bet good money that their injuries and trauma aren't mentioned. 'No one hurt' or something like that."

Minerva snorted,

"Please, you're a teacher at Hogwarts, someone's going to hear you were hurt and toss that in the Ministry's face."

"Good, they need to sweat a bit, the jerks. I had Crouch trying to strong arm me into giving up private research material, the asswagon."

She looked like she wanted to say something about my language, but was sidetracked slightly,

"Private research?"

"Yeah, when I was found they did scans to certify I was a witch and found oodles of time energy, I was sort of doing private research and they want what I know."

She huffed,

"That is illegal, no way around it. Private research is extensively protected, it's the lifeblood of the magic community nowadays, if the government could just take it then there would be anarchy."

I was given a few potions and sent to bed shortly after that, told to rest for a few days. I was arriving back from the game on time, so I simply told the Doctor it went about the same as before, only with me there. I didn't mention getting hurt, breezing through as quickly as possible to hide in my room. I couldn't bring myself to tell him about it.

The opening feast sprung out of nowhere, and I found myself sitting irritably at the table with the rest of the staff, bundled up in several layers. I couldn't quite get rid of the cold properly yet. In the end it had worked its way into the news that I had been injured, but it wasn't mentioned to what degree, or how. Several students were pointing me out, whispering amongst themselves. I caught a few of them muttering about whether or not I was the defense teacher, since they couldn't see Remus' replacement anywhere. I wanted to roll my eyes, but refrained. I was paler than ever and Minerva was giving me that worried look that meant she was going to force me to have seconds today.

I saw movement at the Gryffindor table and smiled over at the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, all of them waving enthusiastically. I hadn't been back to the Burrow, sending letters to Molly saying that Poppy didn't want me leaving the castle. It painted a bad picture for my health, but really she wanted me where she could see me at all times. The sorting passed and dinner appeared, I was right, Minerva was determined that I would eat everything she could reach to push towards me. I glanced over at the Gryffindors every now and again, noticing that Nearly Headless Nick was nowhere near the Golden Trio. Hmm. I had prevented Peeves from screwing with the house elves, and only later realized that it would prevent the formation of S.P.E.W. Well, at least push it back a little bit. Fred or George were bound to mention where they kept getting the food from.

Dessert appeared and I snatched closer as much chocolate as possible. Minerva nodded in approval but Poppy made a tutting noise.

"Mara dear, if you were feeling the cold again you should have told me. I have Pepper Up, you know."

I made a face, pulling my plate of cake closer,

"Chocolate works much better."

She raised an eyebrow,

"Does it? All of the books say that Pepper Up's the only way to go about it."

I shook my head, motioning to the cake with my fork,

"Nope. Practical research trumps theory. I read up on it, but trial and error eventually got me what I needed to know. Chocolate is the best to eat for the chill, but human contact works better. Don't try to move too much unless you've already been awake for at least three hours, if you get too cold don't fall asleep, things like that."

She pursed her lips, thinking for a second before hesitantly inquiring,

"Do you think you could write these down? Heaven knows I'd hate to need them again, but…"

I nodded, smiling at her,

"Sure, I'll drop it by the Hospital Wing on Tuesday when I pick up my potion."

There was a few minutes worth of chatter before the food vanished and Dumbles dropped the bombshell of the tournament. I allowed myself to scowl at the room before clearing my face and sighing, rubbing at my temples. What was the Ministry thinking with this, the idiots. Actually...what were they thinking?

I frowned, glaring at the table, mind flashing through possibilities until Minerva jabbed me,

"Come along, whatever you're thinking about can wait till tomorrow. You even missed Alastor's grand entrance for Pete's sake."

I had the random thought of wondering who Pete was before I stood to follow her. She took my arm, helping me down the steps and I rolled my eyes, just knowing it was going to send the students who saw it wagging their tongues to the others.

"Minerva, I can walk on my own."

"Oh, hush, dear, you look like you're about to fall over."

We exited the room through the side door, and she waited until it slammed behind us and the noise from the students disappeared.

"Now, what was weighing on your mind this evening?"

"This tournament. It doesn't make sense. It's dangerous, people died in it all the time. I don't see the Headmaster agreeing to it being held again, never mind at Hogwarts."

"He didn't, he was furious about it for a time, but the Ministry insisted."

I snorted,

"They don't have the right, Hogwarts is-...subject to the control of the Governors."

Book two, they tossed out Dumbledore on Malfoy's say so. Malfoy. Loyal Death Eater extraordinaire.

"Who on the board has ties to the Ministry? Well, there's the one that comes to mind, but his son isn't even old enough to compete. So, what other affiliations does said person have?"

We reached my rooms, the trip not taking me nearly as long with Minerva helping. I scowled at the door as I opened it,

"I don't like this Minerva. Something's up here."

She patted my arm fondly,

"And I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it, stubborn as you are."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled at her.

"Thanks Minerva."

I glanced around my rooms, searching for the stack of papers I had prepared for the morning. The Doctor sighed from his portrait,

"You took them to your office three days ago, Mara. Are you sure you're alright?"

I shrugged, not looking him in the eye.

"Must be the weather."

I retreated into my bedroom quickly, and when I peeked out later to say Good night he had wandered out of his portrait, Fez gone.

~TimeLordOfPie