The next morning I bundled up yet again, wearing leggings under my boot cut jeans, two pairs of socks under my boots, and a recently obtained Weasley sweater with a blue 'M' on the front over a long sleeved shirt. My robes were wrapped tightly around me, and I was clutching my coffee for dear life, sitting curled up in my chair rather than on the desk.

My first class had Cedric Diggory in it. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, my seventh years. I waited for the proper time for class to start, and silence fell when I stood, setting down my coffee. I sighed, picking up the chalk and writing out a page number.

"This year there was a text included in your school lists for this class. Please take it out and turn to the page indicated."

They did as they were told, none voicing their confusion on having a book this year.

"The book was written by Muggles. As a professor I can put in special requests for Flourish and Blotts to stock certain books specifically, which is good for you guys because running around Muggle London looking for it would probably not have gone over well."

I pointed to the number on the board,

"This page starts with the specific period of study for the Seventh year curriculum. In advance, to address the confusion over the differences from last year I will explain, so put your hand down, please, Mister Barrett, I'm getting there."

I waited for him to lower his hand slightly sheepishly before continuing.

"Last year was the re-introduction of the class. Therefore blanket coverage went to all year levels. However, now it is going on to what will be considered 'normal'. Third years will start with in depth coverage of early history, and as the year level increases so does the period of history being studied. You guys, as seventh years, get recent history. This covers the war with Voldemort-"

I ignored the flinches, "the conflict in Vietnam, the cold war, and a few other tidbits. You are seventh years. Next year you will be out in the world, and it is very likely you will run into muggles. As I observed in the first half of the world cup-"

Several students stirred at this, sitting up straighter. Sorry to disappoint.

"-wizards and witches had trouble blending into muggle society. Like with the cup, sometimes you need to know how to act and what not to say. Therefore that will be part of this years study. Recent pop culture, fashion trends, inventions, things like that. I want you to succeed, believe it or not, that means not ending up in muggle prison because a cop thinks that 'muggle' is some offensive slur, or because he see's you doing something weird somewhere you shouldn't be doing it. But I'm saving that for towards the end of the year. For now, the page you're looking at has a big picture on it, anyone care to name what's in the picture?"

Class went as normal from then on, with the Muggle borns or half bloods occasionally knowing the answers. I was surprised I had so many people in a non-required class during their NEWT year, but whatever. If they wanna learn I'm not stopping them.

I assigned some reading, but no real homework, they would have enough on their plates without me adding useless assignments to it. Class ended but no one moved, a hand was in the air. I raised an eyebrow,

"Is there a problem Mister Barrett?"

"Your injury, from the cup, are you better now?"

I stared at him for a second before looking out at the rest, all paying more attention than they had in class. I rolled my eyes,

"I will live, Mister Barrett. Now unless you need something pertaining to school work I suggest the lot of you head to your next class."

They packed up, leaving, Barrett unsatisfied with his answer.

The same thing happened throughout the day, with students asking about my health. I had to resist the urge to rush outside with food after dinner. But there was no dog to feed this time. The loneliness from that was crushing for a second, and I wondered for a bit if I should get a cat. It could keep the Doctor company when I was gone. Or I could cuddle it to keep me warm in the classroom. No one needed to know. But that would require leaving the castle, and I couldn't apparate, and floo was being tracked. Poppy would be furious with me if she found out I'd left the castle. So I couldn't start my crazy cat-lady collection just yet.

Instead of sneaking food for my now nonexistent dog I prowled near the Great Hall for the scene with Malfoy and the Magnificent Bouncing Ferret. But it didn't happen. I was near giving up when I felt the ache settling back into my bones. I had managed to work most of it out but it was returning with a vengeance. I saw Malfoy holding a Daily Prophet, glancing at the trio, and hesitating. He went back to his conversation. I stopped, staring at the lot of them for a while, trying to think through the implications of that. The only difference, the only thing that set apart this Draco Malfoy was that he'd had a few life lessons and heart to hearts with me. I felt a thrill of victory for a few seconds before the trio saw me where I was leaning against the wall, trying to get up the energy to get back to my rooms.

"Professor!"

Hermione led the pack, rushing to my side and looking worried,

"Professor, you stopped writing to Mrs. Weasley, and Sirius said he hadn't heard from you either, you didn't answer any of our letters, we thought you had gotten worse!"

I smiled weakly at her,

"Appologies, Miss Granger. I've been busy doing a lot of hiding from our very own resident Medi-Witch. She's determined that I must constantly take these particularly vile concoctions."

I saw her heading my way and straightened, forcing myself to find my second wind.

"Ah, there she is now, you'll have to excuse me. See you in class!"

I ducked behind a pillar and made for a tapestry I'd caught students behind at one point, using it to end up on the third floor, and cutting towards my rooms. Poppy was waiting outside and I sighed,

"Did the kids rat me out?"

She rolled her eyes, thrusting three different potions at me.

"No, you've become predictable."

I choked the potions down and let her run a few scans, she tutted once again.

"You need to take it easy, Mara. There's only so much the potions can do, your body needs time to heal."

"I've barely walked all day, I'm sure I just need a bit of time."

She didn't look convinced, but bid me good night in any case.

The next few days I walked more, determined to prove that motion and working out the kinks would make me feel better. It didn't work well. I held onto the hope that it would get worse before it got better. I happened to be nearby when the Fifth years left Moody's class.

"Can you imagine the effectiveness of the Cruciatus, though? I mean, the spider even screamed a bit, using it on humans could be seriously effective for information gathering. Pity the Ministry outlawed it, I mean, if a little bitch just can't take the thought of it, isn't that right Longbottom?"

They had eyes on Neville, who was headed in the opposite direction. Poking fun at the fact that his parents had been tortured. Rationalizing the use of the curse that still had me cold to the very soul. I snarled, grabbing shoulders.

"That's quite enough, Mister Harvey!"

The students had never seen me angry, and they were probably grateful for it now. With my extensive dabbling in wandless magic and minimal experience with control I had silvery sparks running along my skin and hair, teeth bared.

"Ten points from Slytherin, and detention."

He waited until I let him go to back up a few steps and protest.

"Detention for what? I was offering a political opinion, you can't punish for-"

"Cursing quite loudly in the hallway, I'll punish you however I like. I'll get back to you about when."

He drew himself up and leaned back a bit,

"My head of house-"

I took a few steps closer to the kid,

"I shall have a word with him, I'm sure we'll be able to come to an agreement."

I looked at the rest of the students, frozen where they had stood when I started speaking.

"Move along."

I didn't raise my voice but they scattered, the grapevine already passing word along. I made my way the dungeons, pushing the door open to find that Snape didn't have a class yet. He was sitting at his desk, marking papers when I came in. I walked to the front, sinking into one of the students chairs, legs shaking, and slightly out of breath. He raised an eyebrow,

"Can I help you, Swift?"

"Call me Mara."

It came out breathlessly and I sat back for a second, hating how weak I was feeling. After a few seconds I sighed, looking back at Snape, who was still watching me.

"One of your Slytherins has detention from me. Thought you ought to know before he tried to protest."

The eyebrow was back up,

"Oh? And which one has committed a crime?"

"Mister Harvey was rationalizing the use of the Cruciatus quite loudly in order to poke at Longbottom, saying that those who broke were weak anyway. I'll admit detention wasn't warranted, but he cursed and I used the excuse. They can have the points back if you'd like, but I'd appreciate it if he still had to do the detention."

"And why would he need detention?"

"Because he's a bully and it's a shit way to live. Pulling down others won't help him reach the top, and someone needs to pound that into his thick skull."

He looked at me for several seconds before going back to his work,

"Mister Harvey is yours, do try not to break him."

I hadn't expected that. I'd thought I'd have to make a deal, sell my soul or something. Wow.

The door slammed open and the next class streamed in, several stopping when they saw me. I made a noise of frustration in my throat, quietly cursing.

"Those thrice damned fucking stairs."

I stood, smoothing my robes and trying to walk easily, brushing past the students.

"Lovely day, isn't it?"
The door automatically closed behind me and I headed to my classroom to check my schedule. Nothing in particular for a while. I wrote out a note for the student, telling him his detention would be with me on Saturday. His detention would be nothing like the Twins. His transgression wasn't harmless.

I left the letter out with his name on it, knowing Zoopy would see that he got it. Sure enough it disappeared before my eyes, probably to appear on his pillow. That would probably freak him out a bit, but I wasn't in the mood to care. I rested for a while before time for dinner came. I would have to make an appearance or Minerva would hunt me down. I sat at the table pushing food around my plate for several minutes, long enough for Minerva to have a short conversation on the weather. Once her attention was elsewhere I stood, leaving the Great Hall as quickly as my aching limbs would allow. I needed chocolate, tea, and sleep.

I was stopped just outside the doors by a voice calling after me,

"Professor Swift!"

I paused for a second and Neville approached, stopping to catch his breath before nervously speaking, fiddling with the edge of his robes.

"Thank you, for defending me, that is. The Slytherins say the detention won't stick, but thank you for trying at least."

I tilted my head, smiling slightly,

"I've already spoken with Professor Snape. Mister Harvey will be serving detention with me regardless of the opinion of his fellow Slytherins."

He smiled weakly, and I frowned,

"Is there something on your mind?"

He shrugged and I remembered, today was Thursday. He had just left Moody's class, just seen the Cruciatus. I sighed,

"If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me. No matter the subject. I'm all ears."

He shook his head,

"It's fine, no one could understand anyway."

I considered him for a second before taking a few steps further into the shadows, motioning him closer. A quick muffliato and I turned back to him.

"Neville, do you know exactly how I was hurt at the World Cup?"

He shrugged,

"Ginny said that you broke your wrist."

I nodded,

"Yes, I did. But I've been told that I look terrible lately, any guesses as to why I'm still affected by something not physically marking me?"

The subject on his mind led him to the correct conclusion rather quickly and his eyes widened. I smiled softly,

"Whatever you want to talk about, I will understand, or at the least I will not judge for it. Sometimes talking will help you. Just...remember that you are not alone. I'm here if you need an empathic ear."

The word 'sympathetic' would have gotten me nowhere, so I left it alone. He thanked me before scurrying off, and I had to wonder about whether he would ever actually speak with me on what was bothering him. I slept fine that night, waking up feeling a bit better than I had.

The next week things got progressively better and I wasn't quite my bouncy self again, but I could walk to dinner without needing to take a breather. This lasted up until Poppy sent me to give note to Moody about one of his students, advising him to take it easy or face her wrath. I have bad luck opening doors and interrupting defense classes, because the moment it opened I had the time to realize that the students were staring at me, Neville was actually looking desperate for some reason, and then I was floating. Or my mind was. The pain was distant, and the lingering slight chill was gone. Then a voice was telling me to do the Macarena. Oh, hell no. The pain is gone, ain't no way in hell that I'm aggravating it now.

The voice got more insistent but I dragged my arms up to be crossed, pain increasing in my head until it was fit to burst, but I've had worse the past few days when I tried to stand up too quickly. The lack of cold was well worth the pain. The pain lifted and I was finally able to see the classroom again, students staring open mouthed. The cold was back, the worst it had been all week, and the aches were once again present. I resisted the urge to curse rather violently and hex Moody.

He was clapping, a smile on his face.

"See, that is how it's done. Potter did well on his first try, but this is how an adult Witch experienced with fighting dark magic manages."

I snarled silently, balling up the note and tossing at his head.

"I'm not a lab rat, point a wand at me again and you'll see exactly why I'm no longer allowed back in France."

I swirled out of the room, stumbling slightly and breath coming in gasps. Damn Moody. No, this was Crouch. Moody wouldn't have used dark magic on someone he knew was fighting it already. Which...could be a good reason to doubt he was who he said he was. I stumbled into the Hospital Wing, nearly groaning when I saw the Twins crowded around Lee Jordan, who was purple and nursing a comically swollen head. Poppy took one look at me and rushed over, motioning to Jordan,

"Take the potion dear, and head back to class, you should be fine. Mara, what happened?"

I huffed,

"Moody declared war, that's what he did."

The three Gryffindors hadn't left and I frankly didn't care, their brother would tell them what happened anyway.

"Moody gained permission to put the Imperious on students and have them throw it off, or try to. I walked in the door and he cast it on me, using me as a fucking teaching aide. You'd think he of all people would know better than to use it on me of all people. As an ex-auror he should know that those trying to get rid of traces of dark magic such as prolonged Cruciatus exposure would be damaged by spells of similar dark nature. Did he just suddenly forget all of that, or choose to ignore it?"

Poppy looked lost for a second, pausing in her scans.
"Dear, it's possible he didn't know it was you…"

That argument was weak and she knew it.

I scoffed,

"With that eye of his? He saw me coming and explained his actions to the students, they didn't look happy with the surprise approach of it, no more than I did. I want a psych evaluation, or permission to suitably take my revenge."

She sighed, summoning a potion and handing it to me.

"I'll have Charity take the rest of your classes for today, I want you to sleep."

She went about her business and out of the corner of my eye I saw the Gryffindors retreat, closing the door silently behind them. I placed my wand on the table by the bed, glancing around.

"Poppy, are there any other blankets?"

She turned to me, mouth curled in a frown,

"Is the cold back again? I thought it was fading?"

I shrugged,

"It was almost gone, then completely gone when the imperious was trying to assert dominance, then it came back with a vengeance."

She sighed, opening a cabinet and digging out several quilts, carrying them over to me.

"Milo said your exposure was several minutes long, practically the whole length of the attack. I can only imagine what would have happened had the mark not been sent up. They say it was a house elf with a wizards wand."

"Really? Strange…"

The potion started to take effect and I belatedly recognised the effects of dreamless sleep. Tricky woman, Poppy was.

~TimeLordOfPie