Atoning

I hauled Hannah inside my room and Summoned a towel.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"One of the second-years got mad - started spraying water everywhere - the common room's flooding - people went to get Sprout - Dumbledore -" she panted.

"They won't be able to help," I murmured. "What's the password to your common room?"

"Elephant ears," she replied.

I nodded. "I need you to get the Weasley twins. Gryffindor password is Mimbulus mimbletonia. Bring them to the Hufflepuff common room as soon as you can."

I ran to the Hufflepuff common room and shouted the password when I was still halfway down the hall. Hurdling over the knee-high barrier between the common room and the corridor, I saw a small girl crying as water poured from her hands. Sprout and Dumbledore were standing nearby, Sprout tying to help as Dumbledore looked on. There was already standing water on the floor, I realized when I landed; it came halfway up my calves.

"Ah, Hermione," Dumbledore said warmly. "Nice to see you."

"And you, sir. Ma'am," I replied, wading over to the small, terrified girl. "What's your name?" I asked her, taking her hands.

"L-Laura Madley," she whispered.

"All right, Laura," I said absently. Most of my attention was focused on her magic; her terror was choking me and making it hard to focus. "I need you to calm down for me, okay? Breathe with me. In . . . out . . . in . . . out . . ." I slipped into the pattern we used for meditation and probed her mind. Her fear began to subside, and I was in. The water stopped pouring from her.

"Now," I said mildly, "isn't that better?" She nodded, still crying. "What should we do with all this water?" I asked her. She hiccuped, eyes growing wide and round. "I'm not blaming you," I assured her. "I had a feeling this was going to happen to someone soon." I caught sight of a window. "Does that open?" I asked, gesturing to it.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied.

I opened it up and looked at the water. "I daresay a little more water wouldn't hurt the Black Lake," I said. The girl's - Madley's - eyes widened again.

I focused on the water and raised my hands, shaping it into a fat rope that I then sent through the window. I fed it into the lake.

The water roared by me, right next to my face. It was freezing cold and moving fast, creating a wind. When the standing water was gone, I called the moisture from the carpet, upholstery, and wood of the furniture and sent that into the lake, as well.

"Impressive, Hermy," someone said from behind me. The Weasley twins had arrived.

"Did you call us down here for a demonstration-"

"Or was there a good reason?"

I turned to face them. They, too, had been getting ready for bed, judging by their half-undressed states. They had nice abs, I noted.

"There's a reason," I said. "Miss Madley here" - she squeaked at being addressed - "has had a rather hard time of it tonight, conjuring water. Do you two know of any spells that would cause such a thing?"

"No," George said instantly. "We've been working on something kind of similar - we call them Portable Swamps, they turn into a swamp when the pellet's dropped - but they're nowhere near close to trial and they wouldn't cause someone to conjure water."

"What is this?" Fred asked. "What do you mean, conjuring water?"

"Madley lost control and filled the common room with water," I said dryly. "You two have heard of mages, yes? Elementals? We actually exist, we're actually here, and I'm teaching them how to control themselves and their magic. Madley controls water. We need an explanation to hide that from the rest of the school."

"We'll be happy to help - we'll say she agreed to try our Ton-Tongue Toffee and we accidentally slipped her the wrong thing. They're wrapped in the same color, it shouldn't be too difficult to pull that off."

"Wait a moment," Dumbledore said. "In order to make it seem like it really was a prank gone wrong, we will need a scapegoat."

"We'll do it," the twins chorused.

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Then I suppose you will have to do detention every night this week. It won't actually be detention," he said hastily, seeing the mutinous looks on the twins' faces. "You will just have to be out of sight for a few hours each night, tomorrow through Saturday."

"Where should we go?" Fred asked.

"There is a wonderful room on the seventh floor," Dumbledore said mildly. "I'm not entirely sure how it works, but when there is great need, it appears - across from the tapestry of the trolls learning to dance, I believe."

"We'll figure it out," George promised. "Come on, Fred, time to start spreading that rumor. Hermy - quick thinking." He smiled and winked, then vanished with his twin.

I turned to look at Dumbledore and caught sight of Sprout. In all this commotion, I'd forgotten she was in the room. She looked dreadfully confused.

"I'll explain to Pomona," Dumbledore said softly. "You take Miss Madley here and teach her what you can. She must be back here by lights-out tomorrow. I will expect you in my office after the second-years' curfew goes into effect."

"Very well," I said. "Come, Madley. We need to talk. Susan, you can come too, if you'd like."

"We will keep the Hufflepuffs in the Great Hall tonight," Dumbledore said, "claiming that the common room needs a night to dry out. Nobody will miss either of you. Now - Professor Sprout - if you will kindly come with me to my office, we will discuss this. Professor McGonagall will be in the Great Hall tonight to watch your students." He led her out of the common room.

"Come on, then," I said briskly. "Sooner done, sooner over." I led Susan and Laura to my rooms and let them in. Laura's teeth were chattering; she was soaking wet, dirty, and cold.

"Laura, there's a shower through that door. Go wash up, and I'll start a fire out here," I told her. She nodded and scurried into the bathroom. Susan fell into one of the two chairs in front of the fireplace while I set the wood ablaze.

"So what now?" she asked when she heard the shower start running.

"I don't know," I said, rubbing my eyes as I dropped into the other chair. "I guess we teach her meditation, get her started on control, tonight and tomorrow. I need you to find Luna tomorrow, so you two can take over when I'm with the other group." My brain was spinning as I tried to come up with a plan. "I have Pepper-Up, we'll let her go back to her dorm and get some sleep tomorrow night. You sleep here tonight, and in the morning, you'll teach her while I grab an hour or so. Then find Luna and bring her back here. You know where my bed is - go ahead and get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

~*~
"How has it gone?" Dumbledore asked me the following night.

I rubbed the sandy grit from my eyes. "It's gone," I said tiredly. "She'll be okay. She won't have a lapse like that again. She's joining my regular group on Saturdays."

"You seem rather tired," he remarked.

"I've had an hour of sleep since yesterday morning," I answered. "Of course I'm tired."

"In your opinion, is she a danger?"

"No. She's got a way to go before she can be considered a danger to anyone. What happened last night was a fluke. She'd have to get really upset or mad for that to happen again, but I don't think that's likely. Luna talked to her for a bit. She'll be okay," I repeated.

"Very well. Get some sleep," he told me, eyes twinkling. "I daresay I won't use you when you're so exhausted."

"I appreciate that."