<Disclaimer: We own Kate and Kira, although they'd probably have quite a few things to say about that if they knew. HFA belongs to Meir Brin and is being used with her permission. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. But you knew that already, didn't you?

Disclaimer: We own Kate and Kira, although they'd probably have quite a few things to say about that if they knew. HFA belongs to Meir Brin and is being used with her permission. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. But you knew that already, didn't you?

Chapter 24
Kira’s Crazy Rampage

Neither Hermione nor Kate said anything for a moment. Then Kate clenched her fists and turned back to the young witch.

“Draco Malfoy did this, I’ll bet,” she hissed between gritted teeth. “That lowdown, inbred, pureblooded scum.”

“Keep your voice down,” Hermione warned, casting a glance about for nearby Malfoy fangirls.

“Well, I guess I better find her,” Kate said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, not daring to suggest that the pile of rubble behind the House-elf were what remained of her friend.

“She’s still whole somewhere,” Kate said. “Those rocks aren’t the same color as she was. And there aren’t enough to be her.” Her voice was bare of emotion, but her hands were shaking.

“Calm down,” Hermione said. “She’s got to be somewhere in the castle then. We’ll be able to find her.”

Kate looked up. “You’ll help me look?” she asked, hope flaring up in her oddly colored eyes.

“Well, yes. I’m really the only one here who can administer the spell to bring her back to life,” Hermione said, holding up the pieces of parchment upon which she’d copied notes from her research. To her surprise, tears welled up in Kate’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked, alarmed.

“Nothing. Just…well…nothing really,” Kate said, wiping her eyes. “But thank you. Thank you very much. You really don’t know how much this means to me.” And she smiled. Hermione was privately confused, but she kept it to herself. Something about this student was odd, and not just because she was a house-elf. Apart from the regular students, who generally had few problems more important than “how-shall-I-wear-my-robes-to-impress-Draco/Snape/Harry/Ron/Insert Lust Object Here-today?” Kate gave her the impression that everything she did was centered on something more important than that. Either way, there seemed to be a lot on her mind.

It struck Hermione that she’d never seen the house-elf student, or a half-golem before. That was odd, particularly since Kira tended to draw attention to herself. Large beings made of stone who broke benches on a daily basis were not normal even for a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Kate had wanted to trail Hermione over the school while she looked, but Hermione insisted that Kate at least go to her last class of the day.

“You missed enough while you were in the kitchens. What were you doing there all afternoon anyway?” she had said. Kate had become very quiet, and refused to answer, but she went to her class and agreed to meet Hermione in the library afterwards.

An hour later, Hermione had searched as much of the castle that was accessible to students as she could in the time period. She had told her fellow Gryffindors to keep an eye out for the half-golem as well, in the hopes that if she did not find Kira someone else would. The young witch sat down at one of the tables in the library, looking over several pages of her notes and rechecking them yet again in one of the golem books while she waited for Kate. She didn’t have to wait very long.

“Well, did you find her?” Kate cried as she skidded into the library, earning herself a glare and a shush from Madam Pince. She wrinkled her nose at the vulture-like librarian and ran--quietly--over to the table where Hermione was sitting.

“No, I’m sorry, I haven’t found her yet,” Hermione said. Kate deflated visibly. “But Hogwarts is huge. I haven’t finished looking yet. I did tell my classmates to keep an eye out for her.”

“Thanks,” Kate said. “You know, you don’t really have to do this. I’ll find her by myself, eventually…I hope.”

“Nonsense. You’ll find her much more quickly with me,” Hermione said firmly. “I told you I’d help, and I will.”

Kate looked up, smiling weakly. “You’re a lot cooler than fanwriters give you credit for,” she said. Hermione blushed.

“Well…I don’t suppose you’ve got much else to compare, do you?” she said modestly, standing up from the table and closing the book she'd been reading. Kate gave a derisive laugh and followed Hermione out of the library.

Unseen by Hermione and Kate, as Kate passed by the table, one of her floppy ears hit the book Hermione had been reading and left it teetering on the edge.

It fell to the floor, neglected and unnoticed, but hardly unimportant.

*****

Their continued search proved fruitless, and Kate had to be reminded twice that if a door wouldn’t open for Hermione’s Alohomora charm, it was probably for a very good reason. Kate begged Hermione to get the password to the prefect's bathroom, but Hermione said it was pointless, as Draco wouldn't have been able to get into it either. Two hours later they still hadn’t found Kira, and Hermione was beginning to wonder if maybe Malfoy was really the one who had taken Kira. They were just climbing up the stairs to get to the next floor when suddenly Parvati Patil assailed them.

“Hermione!” Parvati called, jogging up the steps towards them. “I think I found the student you’re looking for.”

“What? Where is she?!” Kate cried.

“Um…” Parvati sighed. “Why don’t you come with me?”

Kate blinked, and she and Hermione began to follow Parvati down the stairs, too…

“Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom,” Hermione said flatly, as the threesome came to a halt at the door to the haunted restroom.

“You might want to go inside and get her,” Parvati suggested as Kate stared curiously at the bathroom door the threesome was standing in front of.

It was not without a slight groan that Kate reached up to twist the doorknob and pushed open the door to the haunted toilet. Someone--Myrtle, no doubt--was sniffling morosely and Kate crept quietly across the floor. There was no Kira in sight, and Kate wondered if perhaps she was in one of the stalls. Not wanting to confront Myrtle herself, Kate peeked carefully around the stall doors until she found what she was looking for…

Hermione, waiting from the doorway, watched as Kate glanced into the last stall and looked back.

“I’m gonna need some help here,” she said. Myrtle abruptly stopped sniffling and floated through the door to see who was in her restroom.

“I don’t suppose you’ve misplaced that statue?” she said miserably to Kate.

“She’s not a statue,” Kate said as Hermione crossed into the bathroom and towards the stall. “She’s my friend.”

Myrtle sniffled. “Talk to ME about friends, will you? The nerve! Nobody was ever friends with me! Everybody was too good for miserable, moaning, moping Myrtle! Well I don’t care if she’s the bloody Queen of England, I want her out of my toilet!” she yelled, her voice steadily rising until she burst into tears and flew through the door of the stall and down into the toilet with a splash. Her sobs echoed through the U-bend. Hermione pushed open the door, and when she looked in, uttered, "Oh dear."

They had found Kira, all right, in all her stony glory…

Upside down, with her head firmly planted in Moaning Myrtle's toilet.

*****

Madam Pince bustled around the library, grumbling to herself about all the books that were lying about. These fanfic-writers were even messier than the normal students of Hogwarts and those that actually took time out of their character-lusting schedules to study and read weren't nearly as careful with the books. They were always being returned with watermarks, bent covers, and dog-eared pages. Sometimes the pages were even ripped! The books themselves took care of themselves because of the wards on them--Madam Pince had lost count of the number of times she'd had to send students down to the Hospital Wing with concussions from books bonking them over the head after they'd damaged them--but the damage was still done, and it was irritating.

She sighed as she bent down to pick up a book that had fallen neglected under a table. It was open, and as she lifted it up and read a paragraph, she realized the book's subject was golems and their creation…

Hadn't Hermione Granger been looking up golems?

That was odd. Hermione was normally very careful with all the books, and even more so with the ones from the Restricted Section. As soon as the girl was finished with them, she gave them back to her or one of the other librarians to put away, as she was supposed to.

Perhaps that squeaky little house-elf student coming in and bothering the girl had distracted her, and made her not realize she had dropped the book.

Madam Pince walked over to her desk and sat down, still reading the golem book. It was actually quite interesting.

When she turned a page, a folded piece of parchment fell out--some notes that Hermione had apparently taken. On the paper were several component characters needed to create the correct symbol that brought a golem to life.

She turned a few pages, past what Hermione had been focusing on, and kept reading. One part caught her interest especially:

The most famous, or perhaps infamous golem ever created was made by Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague in an effort to protect his predominantly Jewish town from persecution. Using cabalistic magic, he imbued a clay statue with life and elementary intelligence. This creature served him as a servant and as a protector of his people.

This golem served well at first, but eventually its creator decided to unmake it. Loew had come to fear the golem, because over time it had become corrupted by its own strength and power, and turned evil and destructive.

There are several types of magic that can be used to animate a golem as have been explained in earlier chapters, but in all types great caution must be taken to avoid an incident similar to what happened to Loew's golem. If the symbols or spells used to animate a golem are not used correctly, even a golem created with the best intentions can turn violent and go mad.

"Oh my," Madam Pince remarked. "That would be quite awful."

But, of course, Hermione Granger wouldn't be foolish enough to try using such powerful magic and animating a golem. The girl was far too smart and responsible for that.

*****

"Kate, I believe she is quite clean enough. Do you want me to re-animate her or not?"

"Hold on…Parvati, can you lift me up one more time?"

There was a sigh and then a moment later the squidgie, squidgie, squidgie sound of an already clean surface squeaking in protest as a rag scrubbed it even cleaner.

"Kate…" came Hermione's voice again.

"Well, we can't clean her after you reanimate her. It'll wash the mark off."

"Kate…" Hermione was started to get annoyed.

"Hold on. We is having to--"

"Kate! I do have classes I need to make lesson plans for, you know." That was a complete lie, as she already had her lesson plans ready for the next two weeks' worth of classes. But if she had to watch Kate scrub her stony friend one more time, she was sure she would go mad.

Fortunately, Kate got the idea.

"Yes, ma'am," she answered meekly, lowering her rag. Parvati rolled her eyes and lowered Kate to the floor.

"Well, she was in a toilet…" Kate squeaked obstinately.

"Parvati, do you have that extra robe? The poor girl will need a change after I re-animate her. Her clothes are soaked."

"Got it."

"Good. Thank you for the help Parvati," Hermione said. "If I would have asked Harry and Ron, their lusters would have stormed the bathroom and made a general mess of things."

Parvati shrugged. "Lavender caught Vambiolaria before she could get vaccinated. I've got nothing better to do."

Kate winced instinctively. "Um, out of curiosity, did you two get vaccinated?" she asked.

"Yes," Hermione answered. "Ginny and I were first in line."

"I did, too."

"Oh…good…" Kate said vaguely.

"All right,” Hermione said. She laced her fingers together and snapped them, "as daft as it may sound, let's make some magic."

Kate giggled. "That was corny."

Hermione just smiled as she pulled out her notes. It was rare that she ever managed to get anyone to laugh.

She stopped with a start as she looked at her parchments. She could have sworn there had been another page…but after looking them over again she was positive they were all there.

Finding Kira and levitating her out of the toilet had been the easy part. Now things were going to get far more difficult.

"Do we have the ink?"

"Check," Parvati answered.

"The human-hair calligraphy brush?"

"Check."

"The refined Mandragora root?"

"Check."

"The mortar and pestle?"

"Check and check."

She asked about ten other ingredients that Kate had never heard of in her life before saying, "I believe we are set."

The two started following the directions and Kate watched the entire process with intense interest. It looked horribly complicated, and she was once again glad that Hermione had agreed to help her, because with her luck she would have only succeeded in making Kira sprout tentacles or turned her into a wilver flamingo or something.

"This sure is complicated," Parvati commented as they blended exactly three drops of armadillo bile into a mixture of some ingredient Kate had never heard of and three one-inch cubes of Mandragora root (finely minced).

"Well, this was the most complicated of the processes to revive a golem in the book, but the others had ingredients that were too difficult to get ahold of."

Parvati nodded in understanding. "You would have never been able to get them from Snape…"

Hermione blended what they had of the mixture into the cauldron and mixed it with the ink.

"Do we need to boil it?" Parvati asked.

"No, we just need to let it sit for three minutes, so the Mandragora root can dissolve."

Hermione looked at her notes.

"Then we take the ink and use the brush to paint the correct symbol on her forehead. The symbol to revive her is a combination of several, actually, instructions of a sort. That's how golems are controlled. But there is a symbol for free-will that we can use, so she isn't a subservient automaton." She took out her quill and using normal ink she scratched out the symbol on her notes. She held it up." This is what the final symbol should look like."

"Er…Hermione…are you sure you have that right?" Kate asked.

Hermione looked slightly puzzled. "Of course. It said so in the book."

"But that doesn't quite look like the symbol that was on her forehead before . . ."

"That symbol may have been from one of the other processes for reviving a golem."

"Oh."

Kate told herself to stop worrying. Everything would be absolutely fine! Hermione knew exactly what she was doing!

…Right?

*****

"Oi! Harry!" Ron called, waving to his friend from across the Great Hall, which was only half-filled at the very most. His shouts echoed, and next to him Ginny winced at the noise.

Harry came over and sat next to Ron. He looked around the room, his mouth agape in awe. "How did so many get sick so fast?"

Ron shrugged, and looked around the room himself.

"It's highly contagious," said Fred, from across the table.

"Very dangerous," added George.

"They've been dropping like flies."

"More like gnomes, after we've had a good cleanup in the yard."

"Not that we're complaining," Fred said with a grin. "Most of our students are sick, so we've canceled all but one of our classes. Leaves us more free time."

Ron kept looking towards the doors as they talked, and his eyes suddenly widened in worry. "Hey, where's Hermione? You don't reckon she got sick again…"

Ginny shook her head. "She was one of the first to get vaccinated, remember? We both were."

Ron relaxed and devoted his attention to his meal.

"She might be off with Krum, though. Who knows," Fred added mischievously. Harry tried to hide a smile.

Ron choked on his food. After a fit of coughing, he turned and shook his fork at Fred in a menacing manner. "Mot frummy!" He turned back to his meal and shoveled more potatoes into his mouth. Harry grinned and waited for his food to appear on his plate, courtesy of house-elf magic…but nothing happened.

Ron noticed him eyeing his plate and said, "May nin daken a log dime hooday."

"What?"

Ron swallowed. "They've been taking a long time today. The house-elfs, I mean. It took them five whole minutes before my food showed up." He dug into his dessert and his eyes widened. "Blimey, this is good cheesecake! I wonder where they got the recipe? I don't remember them ever making it before…"

At that moment, Harry's food finally decided to appear, and he dug in with gusto. Watching Ron eat had made him hungry.

"You don't suppose…you don't suppose Hermione really is with Krum, do you?" Ron asked thoughtfully, scraping the rest of his cheesecake off his plate.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "She's probably making up her lesson plans for the next three weeks."

"Right," Ron said. "That's it, I bet." He snorted. "She's probably making up lesson plans for the next three years. Or she's in the kitchens trying to free the house-elfs. It would explain why the little tea-cozy wearing gremlins are--so--bloody--slow…" he said, waiting impatiently for his flask of pumpkin juice to refill.

"You'd better not let Hermione hear you putting down the house-elfs like that," Fred warned with a grin.

"Yeah, if she hears you saying that when she comes into the Great Hall…" George trailed off threateningly, then added, "then again, after having a snog with Krum, she'll probably be in too good a mood to get angry."

Ron choked again, let out a full-mouthed, garbled exclamation of anger, and flung a potato at a wildly grinning George. Ginny and Fred just laughed.

Harry was hardly paying attention, however. As he ate his cheesecake (which really was delicious) his eyes were still sweeping up and down the hall, taking in all the empty seats.

Lupin wasn't there. He had been one of the first. After that, it had been Neville, which wasn't entirely surprising, given his never-ending bad luck. He'd run into Andtauriel Longwood in the hallway on the way to breakfast, after she had become sick but before she had collapsed in the Great Hall, and been one of the few canon-students of Hogwarts that had caught the disease. He'd sat with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan before everyone ran out of the hall, so they'd caught it, too. Lavender Brown had been near Seamus in the common room, so she'd also contracted the disease. They were last of the Gryffindor canons that had caught it before they'd all managed to get vaccinated, though.

The fanwriters were another story…

"What do you suppose caused everyone to get sick?" Harry asked out loud.

"They didn't quarantine the Lusterbuffs fast enough," Ron said. "That's what they're saying."

Harry shook his head. "It happened too fast for it to be that."

"Well, that house-elfish student, the one that collapsed, may have gotten a bunch of people sick by coming into the hall, and then they got a bunch of people sick…" Ginny said.

"Maybe," Harry said. "Something still seems funny about it, though." He turned back to his cheesecake.

There was a pause, then a thoughtful, "You don't suppose--you don't suppose Hermione's off in the library? Er…where Krum might be? I mean, not that I care, or anythi--"

Ron was cut off by a sigh, very loud thump, and several screams.

He and the others jumped to their feet and whipped around. A Slashering had collapsed in her seat and fallen backwards off the bench onto the floor. Her friends were screaming, and one or two of them that hadn’t been vaccinated were backing away fearfully.

Dumbledore, Sirius, McGonagall, and the other Professors were already running towards her when Harry and the Weasleys raced to her side.

Harry felt her pulse. It was racing. She was sweating up a storm, and murmuring incoherently.

"Everyone who hasn't been vaccinated yet, don't go near her!" McGonagall called out as she ran. "And no-one leave until we say so!"

The Professors halted and gathered around the girl.

"I think it's another one, Professor Dumbledore," Harry said.

Dumbledore knelt by the girl's side and picked up her hand. He sighed deeply. "Indeed. We will have to levitate her to the hospital wing--"

He was interrupted by another sigh, thump, and set of screams. They turned and saw that a Canonlaw had collapsed out of his seat. Before they could even react, there was yet another thump at the Wantingmor table. Then Sirius caught a girl falling unconscious out of her seat at the Slashering table, several feet away from the first girl. Within seconds, students were dropping like flies, some landing face-down in their food, others falling off the wooden benches onto the cold, stone floor.

Screams echoed through the Hall, and some students made for the doors, but Dumbledore gently laid the girl's hand down, stood, held up his arms, and called out in a commanding voice, "STOP! Everyone remain calm!"

One last Wantingmor collapsed, and it seemed that there were no more victims for the time being.

"Raise your hand if you have been vaccinated," Dumbledore called.

All hands were raised.

"Were those who collapsed vaccinated?"

There were resounding "no"'s throughout the Hall, as the friends of the victims answered for them.

"Then obviously whatever made them all sick at once cannot affect any of you," Dumbledore reassured them. "Please remain calm. We may need your help caring for the ill." He looked over at a table and added, "And could someone please pull Miss Brown's face out of her soup before she drowns?" A student complied. "Thank you."

The atmosphere was still tense, but more subdued now.

"What could have caused them to all become ill at once?" McGonagall wondered aloud.

Harry looked around the room, thinking desperately. Something was nagging at him, a thought he couldn't shake. As he looked at the empty plates, he desperately tried to find a connection--

"Well, it didn't dint their appetites," George said, looking around.

It hit Harry like a brick. "The food!" he cried. "The food's been contaminated somehow!"

Ron's eyes widened. "He's right! Look, all of them ate all their dinner."

"Of course," Sirius said. "It would make those who haven't been vaccinated sick at the same time, but everyone else would be entirely unaffected."

"The kitchen is most likely where the contamination is taking place," Snape said.

Dumbledore nodded. "Professor McGonongall and Sirius, you head to the kitchens and see what is going on down there. Find out if any infected students ever made a visit. I will need assistance from the rest of you," he said to the other Professors.

He turned to the students. "Ginny, please go down to Madam Pomfrey and explain what has happened. Fred or George, go to Meir Brin and alert her immediately."

The Weasleys raced out the door, all three of them, as Fred and George both decided they were the one to go.

As he had received no directions, Harry ran out of the Hall after Sirius, Ron close at his heels.

*****

"It's ready."

Hermione took out the brush. It was slightly bushy, as it was made from her own hair, but after she dipped it in the ink concoction, the strands stuck together enough so she could actually write with it, rather than just making a huge, shapeless smudge. Squirming with anticipation, Kate jiggled up and down on her feet as Hermione slowly started inking the symbol on Kira's forehead.

As soon as Kira was revived, they'd figure a way out of this place, and back to Middle-Earth. Then they'd find Gimli and Éowyn, find the Bridge somehow, and save the world.

Provided that they weren't too late and Middle-Earth hadn't already been destroyed…

No, Kate told herself. It might have been months since they had left it, but it was still there. It had to be. Something would have happened, they would have known, wherever they were.

Something as wonderful and enduring as Middle-Earth could--would not fall.

She wouldn't let it.

All she needed was Kira to be revived, and between the two of them they would figure out how to get back and do what they had to do…

Hermione carefully finished the last stroke and stepped back to admire her work. She compared it to the symbol she had drawn on her paper and nodded with satisfaction.

Tucking the papers away, she took out her wand, tapped Kira on the forehead and chanted, "Recreatus spirarus!"

Nothing happened.

Hermione looked down at her notes worriedly. "I'm positive I--"

Deep within the statue that had once been Kira, there was a rumbling sound. Kira's breath started to rasp, like a breeze blowing through a granite crack. It started slowly, a tiny whisper that grew louder until it was a wheeze. Her body seemed to grow more fluid, her joints creaking and cracking as mobility was slowly returned to her. In the depths of her eyes, embers of light flickered into being, glowing brighter and brighter as she wheezed away.

They were blood-red.

Kate was pretty sure her eyes had been green before, albeit they had looked like they were made of gems, in accordance with the half-golem-ness…

"--it," Kira wheezed in a gravelly voice as cold as the center of a mountain. It sent chills down Kate's spine. Kira's eyes flickered with what could only be described as unbridled hatred as she looked at the three girls. The sheer force of her gaze made them all back away.

This was no teenage girl staring at them. It was a horrible…thing, both alive and dead, gazing levelly at them as if they were nothing more than insects.

The light burst forth even brighter in her eyes as she became fully conscious. With a grinding scrape, her jaw opened and she unleashed a horrible grating howl, more horrible than anything the three girls had heard before, anguished and filled with insane rage. It was unearthly.

Kate's eyes widened in horror. She looked over and saw that Hermione was extremely pale. Parvati was trembling like a leaf.

She had an inkling feeling that this was not what the reanimation was supposed to be like…

"Kira!" Kate screamed. "Kira, what's wrong?!"

Kira responded by screaming again…and swinging a massive stone arm into the toilet stalls, crushing them like cardboard.

"Elbereth…" Kate whispered in horror.

This was too much for Parvati. She raced for the door, but before she could reach it, Kira swung again, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying into the wreckage of the stalls. She landed on the wrecked stalls with a loud thud.

"Parvati!" Hermione cried, racing to her side.

"Kira, stop it!" Kate screamed.

Kira stopped screeching and hissed, "Whooooo…?"

"What?" Kate asked in surprise.

"Whoooo…did thisssss to meeee…?" she hissed, her eyes aglow. "Whooo…erassssed the mark?!"

"It w-was Malfoy," Kate stuttered. "He tripped a fangirl and she spilled the pumpkin juice on you and he put you in the toilet and--"

Kira roared again with rage and walked straight into a wall…and out the other side, leaving it crumbling in her enormous wake.

"Kira, wait!" Kate cried. She raced after her friend as fast as her tiny, house-elf legs would allow.

Parvati was unconscious. Hermione checked the extent of her injuries, but she only seemed to have sustained a nasty knock on the head as far as she could tell.

Students poured into hall, staring fearfully at the gaping hole in the bathroom wall.

Of course, that statement is somewhat inaccurate as there was hardly any wall left…

"Get a professor!" Hermione yelled at the students. One of Parvati's friends came over to her side and several other students ran off to get the nearest professor they could find.

Hermione ignored all the questions the onlookers asked, frantically trying to figure out what she had done wrong…

Professor Flitwick came shortly after, led by a student. When he saw the damage, he exclaimed, "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Parvati is hurt! She may have a concussion!" Hermione cried. Knowing Parvati was in capable hands, she started to run, pulling her wand out as she did so.

"Miss Granger--!" Flitwick called after her.

"No time to explain!" Hermione yelled over her shoulder.

It was inconceivable.

Unbelievable.

As crazy as it was…she had made a mistake. She had actually gotten the spell wrong somehow…

And now she was determined to fix it.

As Hermione disappeared around the corner, Moaning Myrtle morosely floated out of her hiding place in the U-bend and looked around at the Kira-induced devastation that had formerly been the bathroom.

"Well wasn't she a right little ray of sunshine…"
*****

After they'd passed through the tapestry, Sirius hastily tickled the pear, Professor McGongall, Harry, and Ron waiting impatiently behind him. It giggled and the picture swung open, revealing the entrance to the kitchens.

The foursome hurriedly rushed through; a gust of hot, stuffy air full of the smells of food blasted them back. When they pushed through the door, and got a good look at the room, they gasped in shock at what they saw.

"My goodness!" McGonagall said, with a rapid intake of breath, a hand held to her chest in surprise.

"Blimey!" exclaimed Ron. Then after a moment of thought, he added miserably, "Hermione isn't going to be happy with this…"

Now they knew how the food had been infected…

The floor was blanketed by the bodies of unconscious house-elfs, all of them murmuring deliriously in their fevered slumber. Only one was conscious, and it was frantically running back and forth across the kitchen, trying to prepare food, clean dishes, and several hundred other menial tasks at once. At the moment, it was carrying a tray off dishes.

It looked startlingly familiar…

"Dobby!" Harry cried. "Dobby, what's happened?"

Dobby jumped and the dishes fell to the ground with a great crash. He screeched and his ears flopped wildly as he panicked over the mess.

"Dobby, calm down!" Harry took out his wand and pointed it at the dishes. "Reparo."

The pieces skittered back together and become whole again. Beaming at Harry, Dobby gathered them together and managed to put them in a washbasin without further incident.

While McGonagall and Sirius felt the houselfs' pulses and quickly discussed how they could move them to the Hospital Wing, Harry carefully stepped around the house-elfs to Dobby, Ron following right behind him.

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said to him. "You are far more kind to Dobby than he deserves Harry Potter, sir. Dobby can never repay you after all of the things you have done for Dobby…"

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and cut the house-elf off. "Dobby, what happened?"

"Dobby does not know, Harry Potter! Dobby came into the kitchens after starting the fires in the fireplaces and found all the other house-elfs sick. Winky--Winky is ill!" Dobby turned and looked sadly at where she lay in her normal spot near the fireplace, which had burned down without the house-elfs' attentions to it. He turned back to Harry, visibly upset. "Dobby wanted to go to Dumbledore and tell him the house-elfs were sick, but dinner needed making and Dobby's duty comes first. After dinner, Dobby was going right to Dumbledore."

"You have no idea why they're sick?" Harry asked.

"Dobby thinks they have the Vambiolaria. Dobby is not sick because Dobby was given the vaccine after being near--" here his voice went low with horror "—Andtauriel Longwood."

"But none of the other house-elfs were vaccinated, were they," Harry said resignedly.

"No, Harry Potter, sir--"

"Dumbledore never expected the house-elfs to get sick, and we were running low on vaccine already…" McGonagall said, stepping up to join them. Sirius was at her side.

Ron looked up from Dobby to Harry, his eyes wide in horror, and his face pale. He grabbed Harry by his shoulders and shook him. "Do you know what this means?" he hissed. "Do you know what this means?!"

Harry stared at him blankly.

His voice quaking in horror, Ron slowly said, "She will never let us live this down. Ever. I can hear her now, 'See! What have I been telling you all this time! House-elfs are living in horrid conditions and look what's become of it!'" He shook his head remorsefully.

McGonagall shot a stern look at Ron, one that said, 'There are far more important matters at hand,' but next to her Sirius was visibly suppressing his amusement, and Harry had to do the same.

McGonagall turned to Sirius. "Is it possible that Dobby infected the other house-elfs?"

Dobby's jaw dropped in horror. "If Dobby did, he did not mean to, Miss! Dobby would have never--"

"Don't worry, Dobby," McGonagall said. "If you did, it's not your fault."

"I don’t think it's possible for someone to be a carrier and not become infected, even a magical creature. An infected student must have been here," Sirius said.

McGonagall bent down to Dobby's level. "Dobby, did any students come down here?"

"Dobby does not know, Miss. Dobby was doing his other tasks around the castle, and when he came back to help with supper, all the other house-elfs were sick, Miss."

McGonagall sighed and stood up. "I suppose it was just one of the fanwriters coming down for a snack before they realized they had come down with Vambiolaria."

Sirius nodded. "I'll go tell Dumbledore. We'll have to have vaccinated fanwriters go on shifts in the kitchen." He paused and grinned mischievously. "It'll…build moral fiber," he added brightly. He turned, picked his way through the fallen house-elfs and bounded out the door.

Ron was still staring around the room as if in shock. He shook his head. "She'll never stop bothering us with Spew now, Harry. We'll have to go into hiding if we want to escape-- change our names, grow beards--"

"No clothes!" a house-elf gasped behind them, cutting Ron off. "No clothes, Miss! Please!"

They turned and saw a house-elf crawling pitifully on the floor towards them. It tugged feebly on the edge of McGonagall's robes, squeaking again, "Please, Miss, no clothes! We is going to work harder, Miss! We is so sorry!"

McGonagall looked at the creature with pity, and bent down and held its hand. Looking at the pitiable thing, Ron's face took on an expression that made Harry think that maybe now he wouldn't blame Hermione very much if she bugged them about S.P.E.W after all.

"No clothes," McGonagall said compassionately. "Don't worry, this does not mean clothes."

The house-elf sighed in relief.

"Now, tell me, did any students come in here before you all became sick?" she asked.

"Yes, Miss," the house-elf squeaked.

"Who?"

"It is a another house-elf, Miss. She is saying she is a student. She is teaching us how to make New York Cheesecake, Miss, and then she is leaving and all of us is getting sick."

McGonagall's eyebrows rose. "Did she say her name?"

The House-elf scrunched its fevered brow in thought. "She is saying her name is…is…" The creature paused for one, nearly endless moment, and for a second Harry was afraid it would dramatically collapse before telling them the answer--like in a mystery novel or something.

But the elf spoke.

"It is…Kate, miss," the Elf said with finality. "She is saying her name is Kate."
Then it collapsed into unconsciousness once more.

McGonagall eyes widened. She let go of the house-elfs' hand, stood, and ran out of the room as quickly as she could without treading on the recumbent house-elfs, her robes billowing wildly behind her.

Harry shared a look of confusion with Ron, and wordlessly they picked their way through the room and raced after her.

"Farewell, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby called as they left the room. Then, humming to himself, he got back to washing the dishes.

*****

"Kira!"

Kira ran ahead, heedless of the fact that Kate was calling her name. She screeched that same horrible, dead-sounding cry over and over as she rushed down the halls. She smashed walls into rubble, knocked over suits of armor (which complained quite loudly afterwards), and tore pictures down (which complained even more loudly than the armor) as she ran. Her feet crushed everything in her way. Quite fortunately, the students were smart enough to get out of it, diving into classrooms and down corridors as she passed by, leaving a swath of destruction behind her like a massive ocean liner in a fragile, marsh environment.

"Kira! Stop it, please!" Kate cried, but the horrified screams around her drowned out her high-pitched, tinny voice. She was nearly bursting into tears now, horrified for her friend, hoping desperately that whatever had happened was reversible, and that until it was fixed, Kira wouldn't do anything she would regret. "KIRA!"

But Kira only plowed on, screaming as she ran--a great bellowing cry of anger and defiance.

Casting a brief look behind, Kate saw students running off to find professors.

When she saw them she thought several words that would have been very impolite to say out loud. There went their cover.

Kira reached a juncture in the hallway that led off to several others, and paused, her sodden robes moving up and down as her chest heaved. She stood in silence, as if sensing something, feeling for something. Like she was listening to the very walls of the school, letting the stone tell her what she wanted to know.

Kate skidded to a stop behind her.

"Kira…?"

Kira nodded as she heard what she wanted to hear and felt which way to go. Screaming again, she ran down the hallway towards the dungeons…

*****

Harry and Ron jogged behind McGonagall as she hurried through the halls. Her face was pale and more stern-looking than Harry thought possible. Students parted in front of her and pressed to the sides of the hallways to get out of her way.

"Professor McGonagall, what's wrong?" Harry asked her.

"There is no time to explain, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said breathlessly.

Harry thought she seemed worried about something, and almost angry…but why?

They reached their destination--McGonagall's office--and she rushed inside. Harry and Ron hesitated in front of the doorway for a moment, not sure whether or not they should go in.

"Should we--" Ron trailed off, nodding towards the doorway.

Harry was about to walk into her office, when she burst back out again, a look of mingled horror and fury on her face. Ron and Harry and jumped and backed away slightly on instinct.

"Professor…?" Harry said.

"We must get to Meir Brin and Professor Dumbledore immediately!"

She swept off down the hallway again, and if it was even possible for someone her age, she was going faster than before.

"Professor, what's wrong?" Harry asked. There had been very few times he had seen Professor McGonagall this worried before, and it was starting to make him nervous.

"Those girls!" McGonagall said. "The half-golem and the house-elf--Kate and Kira--they aren't on the roster! They aren't students here! I was suspicious of them earlier, but every time I was going to check the roster, I was called away to help deal with the Vambiolaria outbreak, until it was driven completely out of my mind."

"If they're not students, what are they?" Ron asked.

"They must be Mary Sues," McGonagall said. "They are most likely the ones causing the Vambiolaria outbreak."

"They're just Mary Sues," Harry said. He was still slightly confused as to why McGonagall was so upset. "All we have to do is tell Meir Brin and she can flip her switch and get rid of them. The Vambiolaria will clear up eventually. Er, right?"

"That's not what I'm worried about," McGonagall said, and her voice was choked with worry now. "Earlier today, Miss Granger came to me and asked for permission to go the restricted section, to research information about golems. She said that she was trying to help the house-elf reanimate her friend, and I thought there was no harm in it at the time. After she left, I was about to check the roster, just to be careful, but once again I was called away from my office--Lavender Brown had collapsed in the Common Room."

Harry's eyes widened as he came to horrified comprehension.

Ron, however, still seemed oblivious. "What's that got to do with…" Then he gasped and looked up at Harry. "Oh. Oh no! HERMIONE! They've got Hermione!"

"These two are far more intelligent then any others I've seen and the half-golem is incredibly strong. They may try to hold her hostage. Miss Granger is in very real danger." McGonagall's voice was choked with anger and worry. "And if I had checked the roster before…"

As if reaching some wordless agreement, all three of them sped up.

*****

It wasn't hard to find Kira and Kate. All Hermione had to do was head in the direction of the terrified screams and follow the path of destruction.

This is all my fault, Hermione though guiltily, as she ran past crumpled armor, torn tapestries, and walls that had been reduced to rubble. Students were running screaming back in the direction she had come from. All my fault…
She didn't know what exactly she had done wrong. She had copied all the pertinent information from the books onto her notes, and she had followed her notes exactly. That meant either she hadn't copied down some important information, or she copied the information she had incorrectly.

But she had been so meticulous with her note-taking, as she always was. How could she have made a mistake?

She was Hermione Granger, the Know-It-All, the Model Pupil…how had she gotten something wrong? The only time she had made a mistake with magic was back in second year when she had given herself cat-like features with the Polyjuice potion. But the potion itself had been perfect, and the only person it had hurt was herself. It had worked perfectly for Harry and Ron.

It wasn't so much that she had made a mistake that made her feel so horrible. It was that her mistake was going to end up getting people hurt--and already had, Hermione reminded herself bitterly, thinking of Parvati. She had never made a mistake that endangered other people's lives before.

If someone died…

She tried to shrug the thought off. She couldn't think about that now. She needed to focus…

Hermione swung around a corner her wand out and her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She discovered that the trail led down the hallway that entered the dungeons.

Of course! thought Hermione. Malfoy is the one she's after! She's headed for the Slytherin Common Room!
As she ran down the hallway a group of Slytherins ran towards her screaming. They shoved past her roughly, elbows jabbing her in her sides, hands pushing her shoulders, nearly knocking her down in their haste to escape. She pressed through the mob, trying her best to avoid the thrashing limbs, and ran the way the hysterical students had come from.

She skidded around a corner, and what she saw before her made her gasp. The portrait at the front of the common room was still intact--though its subject had apparently run off. However, next to the portrait, there was a roughly human-sized hole gaping in the wall. Crumbled stone cluttered the floor. Suddenly there was a loud scream.

And it sounded suspiciously like Draco Malfoy's.

Her wand up, Hermione barreled towards the hole…and she was promptly knocked backwards by two hulking shapes that suddenly loomed in front of her.

Crabbe and Goyle--being the loyal friends that they were--had abandoned Draco, and were running out of the Common Room as if all the Dementors in Azkaban were at their heels. They disappeared down the hallway.

Another scream of utter terror rang out, followed by a high-pitched voice squeaking, "KIRA! NO!" and the sound of something crashing.

Scrambling to her feet, wand ready, Hermione jumped through the hole in the wall, clambered over the rubble and raced into the room.

The sight that greeted her was one she would surely never forget.

Draco Malfoy was scrambling across the floor, desperately trying to escape the horrifying creature in front of him. He ducked and screamed again as it hurled another piece of furniture at him. Standing only a few feet away, a livid Kira panted and reached for another table. Somehow (Hermione didn't even know how it was even possible) she looked harder…darker. The horrible light in her eyes was brighter than before and growing brighter still. Kate was running around Kira, just out of her reach, pulling on her enormous, floppy ears in distress, and screaming at Kira at the top of her lungs, telling her to stop.

Without hesitating, Hermione pointed her wand at Kira and yelled, "Stupefy!"

The Stunner hit Kira right in the side, but because she was a magical creature, it had no affect on her whatsoever.

Aside from making her very, very angry, that is.

She turned her piercing, wild gaze on Hermione and let loose another roar of anger. Then she picked up a table and threw it at her.

"Hermione!" Kate screamed.

Hermione blasted the table with a Reductor Curse and it disintegrated in the air.

In the meantime, Kira hefted up a large stone statue of a serpent and with pounding steps, advanced upon Malfoy, ready to kill. Malfoy was on the floor, pressed into the corner of the room, his back against the stone wall. The half-golem advanced upon him, and lifted up the statue...

Draco screamed.

“No!” Hermione cried.

She swung the statue down...

“KIRA! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”

Malfoy, who had averted his eyes, turned back to see Kate standing over him, trembling like a leaf. Kira was frozen in place, holding the statue menacingly over Malfoy and her friend.

“Moooove oooout of the waaay, Kaaaate,” Kira hissed threateningly.

“No! I won’t let you do this!”

“I didn’t know you cared,” Malfoy sarcasmed.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” both Kate and Hermione snapped. A bitter look on his face, Malfoy clamped his mouth shut.

“Whyy aaaare yooooou prooooteeectiiiing hiiiim?” Kira asked furiously.

“It’s not for his sake, believe me. It’s because I know you’ll regret it,” Kate said to Kira, staring determinedly at her.

“Nooo, I wooon’t,” Kira said, and for a second she seemed more like her sarcastic self than the angry creature that had attacked Parvati in the bathroom.

“Yes, you will,” Kate went on. “It’s not in you. You’re not capable of killing someone like this, in cold blood. I can’t let you do this. When you’re back to normal, you’ll never be able forgive yourself!”

“Yeeees, I wiiiill,” Kira argued. “Heeee’s a giiiit.”

“That’s not a good enough reason to kill someone. To maim them, maybe, to insult their inbred mother, sure,” Kate said, eliciting a “Hey!” from Malfoy, “but not to kill them.”

“Iiis soooo,” Kira argued.

“Is not.”

“Iiis soooo.”

“Is not.”

The red light blazed brighter in Kira’s eyes, and every line in her face looked like it had been made by livid sculptor. “Do you knooow whaaaat it waaas liike? Being peeetriiifiiied? I wassss awaaake fooor the whoooole thiiiing,” Kira hissed. She glared at Malfoy, hatred practically beaming out of her eyes. “It waaaaas woooorse thaaaan beeeing dead,” she snarled. “It was like I was buuuuried alive, aaaall encaaaased in iiiice, cooooold and paaaaaain ruuunniiing up and doooown my body liiike fiiire. It waaaaas agony.”

“You can’t cause that kind of agony in him, Kira, and you know it,” Kate pleaded. “It’s not in you. Look, you’re not a perfect person--”

“That’s for sure,” Malfoy sneered.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” Kate, Hermione, and Kira snapped at him.

“--but you’re a good one, and this just isn’t something you’re capable of,” Kate finished.

Kira lifted the table up and down experimentally, as if beating an imaginary person over the head with it. She turned back to Kate. “Yeeeess I aaaaam,” she said. “Iiit’s noooot thaaaat haaaaard.”

“Kira! Stop taking me literally!”

“Moooove!” Kira demanded, no longer in any mood to joke around.

“Kira!”

“MOOOOVE!”

“I’m not moving!”

“Geeeeeet ooooout of theeee waaaaay, ooooor I’lll kiiiiill yoooooou, toooo!”

“No you won’t,” Kate said, and she dearly hoped she was right. “Come on Kira, we have a mission! We have to save Middle-Earth! We have to go home!”

But Kira only roared and raised the statue higher. Malfoy screamed, and to Hermione’s horror, the half-golem slammed it down with crash. Hermione flinched and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, fearing what she would see before her, she saw Kate and Malfoy standing and sitting frozen...the statue embedded into smashed rock next to Malfoy’s head.

Malfoy looked as if he were going to be ill. He opened his mouth, and muttered, “Guuuuuuuh.”

Kira slumped to the ground, the red light fading from her eyes, the livid expression on her face softening until she looked more like her regular self. "Oooh craaaaap."

Malfoy started to regain his composure and looked properly outraged that someone had just slammed a statue into the wall mere inches away from his head. "I demand to--" Malfoy began to yell. Kate rounded on him.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll shut up and get your skanky, arse out of here right-this-minute," she informed him coldly. Malfoy sneered at her.

"I don't have to listen to you."

"Maybe not, but you'll wish you had when you make her mad again," Kate pointed out. "And trust me, you will. You have the perfect disposition for it."

Malfoy glanced at Kira, who was rubbing her temples with a loud, grating sound, and swaggered (very quickly) out the door, obviously trying to make it look like he'd decided to all on his own.

“Are you okay?" Kate asked, patting Kira on the arm.

"Iii caan't beleeeive I diiidd thaaat," Kira groaned. "I'm sooo sooorrrryy, Kaaaate. I neeverrr wooould have threeateneeed yooou..."

"I know," Kate assured her. "I know you wouldn't." She attempted to give Kira a hug, but being small she couldn't quite manage it and hugged her arm instead. "That was the spell, or something. Not you."

"I aaalmooost kiiiilled sooomeoooone," Kira said miserably.

"It was just Draco Malfoy,” Kate said. “And you would have stopped yourself. I just helped." There was a short pause. "You realize that the Malfoy fangirls are going to be after our blood for this, right?" she said, and laughed.

Kira smiled weakly. "Yeah, we had better get out of here, hadn't we?"

"Yes, you should," Hermione, who had been watching, spoke up. "You're going to be in more trouble than I care to think about."

Kate looked at her fearfully, realizing Hermione had overheard what she had said about Middle-Earth and their mission. "Oh no...you're not going to tell anyone, are you? Please don't!"

"Tell anyone? I don't have to! They've already seen her trying to kill a canon character!" Hermione paused. "Even if it WAS Draco Malfoy...and was my fault.” She shook her head. “I think you should tell me exactly what's going on, now," she said sternly.

Kate and Kira looked at each other and sighed. If only there were some way of getting around explaining this over and over. If only they could make some flyers.

"Long story short we got taken from our homes and trapped in the bodies of Mary Sues in Middle-Earth. We got swallowed by a plot hole and ended up in OFUM, then here," Kate said. She gave Hermione a nervous grin. "I...don't suppose you'll help us get back to Middle-Earth, will you?"

Hermione looked at her, aghast. "Help Mary Sues back into a fandom? Absolutely not! I'm getting Meir."

"Noooo, doooon't!" Kira exclaimed, and jumped up with surprising speed to block Hermione's way. "Weee're not reeealllly Maaaary Suuues. We're regular girls. We just got trapped as Mary Sues in Middle-earth.” She paused and drooped, and it was an odd sight, a ton of stone drooping. In a more normal voice, she muttered miserably, “We just waaant to go hoooome."

Hermione backed up nervously.

"Please, we don't want to go back to Middle-earth, but we have to," Kate said, coming between Hermione and Kira. "We've got to go back, because if we don't save it, it'll be destroyed. Besides," she added, looking at Hermione wryly. "Do we really look like Mary Sues to you?"

Hermione had to admit that no, they did not.

"Just give us a chance to explain, please?" Kate begged.

"I'm not getting out anyway, am I?" Hermione observed. Kira was solidly blocking the door.

"Noooo," Kira admitted. "Nooot untiiiill yooou heeear uuuss oooout."

Hermione sighed. "All right. But you should hurry, they're coming."

Kate gulped. "Right."

Because she was the only one who could currently talk properly, Kate began to explain how she and Kira had been stuck as Sues. She explained that they were avid supporters of good fanfiction. Her voice racing urgently, she briefly ran through the things that had happened in Middle-earth thus far, and why they needed to get back.

“And so other girls like you have died?” Hermione asked, aghast.

“Yes,” Kate muttered sadly, tears welling up in her eyes at the memory of them, of Fimalda burning in the glade, of Bragolthond getting his throat stabbed under the changing trees of Lórien, of Zoe lying bloodless in the black dust of Mordor...

Kira looked away, her face solemn and mournful-looking.

"Please, we're tired and scared and we just want to go home," Kate was saying plaintively, trying to hold back her tears, and having a very difficult time of it. "We miss our families and our homes and our...ourselves, but we can't go back until we save Middle-earth.” She finally stopped rambling and looked up at Hermione with a doleful expression. “Please help us. Please?"

There was a moment of silence as Hermione stared at them. Then--

"All right, I--"

"REDUCTO!"

The door against which Kira had been sitting was suddenly blown inward, around Kira, who simply stayed where she was with a look of surprise on her face. Instantly, Meir Brin and a number of canon wizards poured into the dungeon around her, sending spells at the girls as fast as they could. Kate shrieked and jumped up before she was hit with a petrificus totalus. Kira roared and lumbered between the wizards and her frozen friend, spells ricocheting off her rocky skin like bullets.

Hermione screamed and ducked as the wizards poured in. "No! You don't understand! They’re not normal Mary Sues! They’re just normal girls trapped in their bodies! They were afraid to come to you--”

“Stay back, Miss Granger!” McGonagall cried, grabbing Hermione and pulling her forward to safety.

“It’s my fault the half-golem went on a rampage,” Hermione babbled on, shouting to make herself heard over the din. She struggled to escape McGonagall’s grasp. “I used the wrong symbol when I revived her! Stop--!"

Meir Brin darted to the front of the crowd, smacked the girls with the Switch of Character Banishment, and Kate and Kira disappeared.

"NOO!" Hermione screamed.

There was silence.

"No..." whimpered Hermione. She stared at the spot the girls had been, tears starting in her eyes. "Those poor girls..."

"Hermione! Are you okay?” Harry yelled, as he rushed through the doorway with Ron. They had refused to stay away, so the professors had made them wait out in the hall during the battle. From the silence, they figured it was safe to come in now, and rushed up to her.

“They’re gone,” Hermione said, shaken. “They’re gone, just like that. They weren’t...they weren’t trying to...it was my fault...”

“What are you going on about?" Ron asked. “They were Mary Sues.”

Hermione rounded on him furiously, much to his surprise. "You don't understand!" she cried. "They weren't like the others! The poor girls were only trying to get home!"

"Hermione, they were Mary Sues," Harry said, trying to calm her down. "Just Mary Sues."

At that, Hermione broke down. She grabbed the nearest person and started sobbing on their shoulder.

Despite having been shouted at mere moments before, unfortunately for Ron, it was him.

"Er..." He ineffectually patted her on the head and turned to Harry, pleading silently for help.

"The Mary Sues must have affected her mind," Meir Brin said sympathetically.

Hermione was too busy crying to answer back.

"I'll take her to the Hospital Wing," Professor McGonagall said gently. She placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. Hermione let go of Ron and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. Still sobbing, she let herself be led down the hall. Ron and Harry shared a worried glance and followed after.

"Back to class everyone," Meir Brin stated loudly, and the Professors ushered the onlookers away. After they cleared out, Meir Brin let out a huge sigh.

"Well, that was horrible. Look at all the damage we have to repair."

"Indeed," answered Dumbledore, the only person who had stayed.

"At least the Mary Sues are gone now, and that means within a few weeks we won’t have to worry about Vambiolaria anymore." She looked at the gaping hole the half-golem had left in the wall and all the other damage it had caused. "Poor Hermione. I wonder if it was a memory charm, or just typical mind-numbing influence--"

"Or perhaps Hermione was telling the truth."

Meir Brin turned around and looked at the Headmaster in surprise. He had a troubled look on his face.

"You don't think it was true, do you?"

"I think we should have perhaps listened to Hermione's story first."

"But they were just typical, run-of-the-mill Mary Sues . . ."

"Were they?" Dumbledore answered. "Did they disrupt classes and try to outshine everyone else? Did they befriend any cute animals? Did they chase after any objects of their affection? Did they do any illegal magic, or make up their own spells? From what we've heard of them, they stayed out of everyone's way, were polite to teachers and other students, and even did well in class."

"The half-golem broke things--"

"Which is to be expected when one is several hundred pounds in weight and suddenly much stronger than they once were. And when she did break things, I remember that she apologized quite profusely. As for this incident . . ." He cast his hand about and gestured at the damage. "Hermione admitted that she used the wrong symbol when reviving the half-golem and that is what made her violent." Dumbledore paused thoughtfully. "Aside from causing a plague--which I doubt they had any control over--they did no wrong, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If Hermione's story is true they probably were frightened to come to us for help, fearing exactly this."

Meir sighed and sat down on some rubble. "Under the circumstances, what else could we do? Stunners weren't working. She would have hurt someone. And unfortunately we couldn't just get rid of her and not the house-elf."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

"For once, I hope you're wrong," Meir said. "I really hope you're wrong..."