Rita avoided the Champions tent, probably because she saw me lurking nearby. She instead stuck to the stands, her now uncharmed quills going a mile a minute even before the action had begun.

It was textbook, or well, fiction book. The first task went as it did exactly, no deviations, except I was in the crowd hiding with the rest of the staff when the dragon did a flyby. Of course I may have used my future knowledge to win big in the semi-illegal betting ring, but I'm told that all's fair in love and war. The staff knew about the parties in the various common rooms, but nothing was done about it. I resisted the urge to drop a hint about the egg, knowing they would all get it eventually. Though I did terrorize Rita Skeeter quite a bit. She tried to get the champions to tell how far along they were with their clues and I started to pop up behind her no matter who she was talking to, not just protecting Harry. I thought Krum was going to hug me once. Rita had been almost hanging off him, asking questions about his career with Quidditch and gossip involving females rather than about the tournament. I took great pleasure in appearing behind her using a secret passage behind a tapestry that I had learned from the twins. Despite her stint in Slytherin she was unaware of it, jumping out of her skin when I touched her on the shoulder and suggested she had better things to do than harass students during school hours. I waved to the Bulgarians before vanishing back behind the tapestry, having left my class with Nearly Headless Nick as a substitute while I tortured the journalist. I found the practice of using the ghosts perfectly fair seeing as the other resident history teacher was one himself.

With my health better and the threat of Winky and Crouch gone I was able to concentrate on my animagus transformation. The Doctor passed on some effective meditation techniques and the twins usually knew the best places to get what in Hogsmeade so illicit potions brewing got easier. I didn't even have to use Myrtle's bathroom, having a private one of my own. There were dual sinks, the last resident having been a married couple, and I sacrificed one of these to brewing. If anything got weird on me then the Doctor could leave his frame and hunt me down wherever I was in the castle. He found the breaking the rules thing exciting, probably because if we were caught he wouldn't be punished since he was made of paint. Frankly the only rules I had to worry about were the actual law. Hogwarts Professors were allowed to brew whatever the hell they wanted in their off time, though it was sort of traditional to hand it down to the resident potions master. However, animagus potions are more than slightly illegal.

I felt a 'disturbance in the force' when Rita Skeeter entered the grounds, and almost always snuck off to mess with her. It was more a hobby than a chore after a while. When she started to head for Hagrid's hut I dropped my research, leaving Zoopy to stir the cauldron every five minutes and 37 seconds in my absence, he was only too thrilled to oblige. I managed to make it there before Skeeter really got going, only just asking about what the creatures were. Funnily enough Draco Malfoy was helping with the creatures, his robes slightly singed and a bit of blood smeared on his chin. In the books he hid from the Skrewts. Did I cause such a change? Thought for later. I dropped my disillusionment charm, grinning like a spectre directly to her right.

"Rita, darling. Lovely to see you again but I do believe you were banned."

She jumped dropping her bag in the process. She scowled at me as she picked it up.

"Marissa. How nice to see you as well. When will I get that interview about the lovely Time Mistress?"

That damned nickname. They had published what I'd done to clear Harry's name, basically saying that I had fiddled with experimental time magic with Ministry personnel on hand to observe. Someone came up with the name and it stuck. I'd choked on my oatmeal when I first read it, images of the female master fluttering in my head, as well as female Time Lord in general. I'd been sick with worry over what the Doctor would think but he found it hilarious. I was the Time Lord of witches, and now I had the name to go with. I kept the smile firmly in place.

"Over my dead body, my dear. Now, I think it's about time you left."

Hagrid had been warming to her, which would have ended disastrously. He seemed to realize he misjudged the reporter when all the kids sighed with relief as I led her away. After she had apparated from outside the front gates and I was sure she wasn't going to come back in beetle form I returned to my classroom, arriving just as it filled with students. A double with the fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. Fun fun. I had half a mind to transfigure some armor and have their exam before Christmas be a jousting match, with the match ups chosen at random. I'd have to run it by their heads of house before I got permission. I didn't see Snape allowing me to dress his kids like tin cans and let them beat each other up. Pity.

I did make them watch the 1957 version of Don Quixote, and nearly slipped up with A Knight's Tale. That wouldn't come out until 2001, but I had it on my laptop. I would have copied over to the film needed for the projector, but caught myself before I went through the effort.

I was at the staff table laughing over my coffee at the morose looks on some of the students faces when they learned about the ball. Minerva raised an eyebrow at me,

"And what is so funny?"

I motioned with my cup at a particularly distraught 2nd year who was desperate to go but didn't have a date and also couldn't dance if her wails were anything to go by.

"The poor midgets. It's like those awkward school dances or the weird balls with foreign dignitaries, always hated those."
Sirius perked up,

"Really, you at a ball?"

I rolled my eyes,

"Yes, yes, it was part of my job."

"And what was your job again?"

I shrugged, realising I had messed up with revealing even this much.

"Experimenting with the fabric of time, space, and reality. I also helped toppled a few tyrannical governments while I was at it, though honestly I didn't do much more than legwork most of the time."

I sipped my coffee in the silence following that statement before sighing,

"But that's over, I can amuse myself watching those who actually have to worry about going to this shindig."

Minerva huffed,

"You shall be going to this 'shindig', Mara. Teachers have to attend, and they have to dance."
I froze, turning to stare at her.

"I'm sorry, I think I have a bout of the plague scheduled for that weekend, I'll have to get back to you."

Sirius snickered and I elbowed him lightly in the gut,

"Shut it, this includes you too."

He elbowed me right back,

"Pureblood, remember? I've dealt with things like this since I could walk."
I huffed,

"Oh stow it. But I'm not dancing with anyone from the Ministry, the urge to strangle might become too much."

I went back to my coffee, but a thought occurred, causing me to sacrifice a mouthful to the god of spit takes. I turned to Minerva in horror, ignoring her sudden alarm,

"Minerva I don't own a dress!"

She just stared at me for a second before she started laughing. I stared at her, along with most of the other people in the hall. I nudged her shoulder, expression almost pained.

"I'm serious!"

The man next to me snorted,

"No you're not, I am!"

I elbowed him without looking, causing only a brief pause in his snickering.

I whined pitifully,

"Minerva, I don't even know where to go to buy a dress! Or how really, I've never-"

She stopped laughing, giving me a funny look.

"If you've been to a ball before then you must have gone dress shopping!"

Noooo, that's what the TARDIS wardrobe was for. I shifted uneasily,

"Well, no, I never picked out what I was wearing. Someone else usually did depending on where we were, and I don't exactly remember the process."
Sirius abruptly stopped his laughter, apparently realizing what I had accidentally implied. My 'memory loss' had nothing to do with it, the stuff had just happened in a blur of excitement and death defying situations. But to them they had been laughing at my 'condition' and were awkwardly attempting to recover. I decided to help them out a bit. I sighed, setting my coffee down.

"I'll just wear normal robes and patrol, getting onto couples and generally ruining the fun."

Minerva shook her head, expression stern,

"Of course you won't, there will be plenty of time to find you something to wear. The next Hogsmeade weekend should suffice. Take a friend and pick something out."

I couldn't figure out how to tell her that there was no one to take with me. I suddenly and violently longed for home. I hadn't in a while, but it hit me out of the blue, slamming down on me and weighing on my chest until it was slightly difficult to breathe. I let the conversation pass over me for a while until I could slip away, not trusting myself to speak.

The Doctor wasn't in his frame as I passed through the sitting room, and I checked on the potion, which was simmering lightly just like it had been for the past few days, before falling into bed fully clothed. For the first time in a while I cried myself to sleep, thinking of my home, the TARDIS, my apartment, the workplace I was just starting to tolerate before I got stuck here, the dog at the kennel that I had been thinking of getting when I realized the Doctor was phasing me out as a companion, the few people in UNIT who spoke with me every now and then, the government officials who would nod to me in recognition. That last bit wasn't exactly missed persay, but the influence I had would have been nice here. Made saving everyone ten times easier.

As it was I was stuck away from my old life, my old time. That had been an old fear of mine, getting abandoned somewhen random and unfamiliar by the Doctor. I knew he wouldn't do it on purpose, but if he died and his reincarnation didn't like me it was possible, if not probable. Now I was in the 90's with little to no plans for my actual life other than change the plots of life that used to be novels. When had I started assuming my 'life' was over? When did this all become a job to get to the next canon event? My duty to help? When had I given up on myself?

~TimeLordOfPie