Chapter 343: The Black Death Plague
Once they had guessed the infiltrator's identity and purpose, Kael, Gandalf, and Galadriel tightened the net around the school.
The other professors were told that an enemy had slipped into Hogwarts, and they too grew wary, as if facing open war.
Each Head of House took direct responsibility for their own students, forbidding them from moving about alone. The other teachers increased their patrols through the corridors.
Portraits were hung in every corner to serve as eyes and ears, ensuring not a single blind spot remained in the castle.
The atmosphere grew tense.
The students, baffled, had no idea what had happened. They only knew that ever since the Quidditch brooms had broken apart in mid‑air, their professors had become very stern.
Confused or not, they obeyed. Outside of classes, they stayed in their dormitories and common rooms, and even when they went out, it was always in twos or threes.
Even Peeves, for all his love of chaos, felt the strain and quieted down a little.
As the spirit of the castle, very little that happened within its walls could escape him.
Once he understood that some hidden figure was behind all of this, he was furious. In his mind, this shadowy meddler had ruined his fun.
He swore, loudly and often, that he would find this rat in the walls and teach them a lesson they would not forget.
He spent his time flitting through the stonework, hunting down anyone sneaking about, even hiding in the lavatories where the portraits could not see.
Whenever he spotted a student acting shifty, he would burst out of a wall or out of a toilet, clamp a hand on their nose, and shout, "Got you! Little mouse, you cannot escape Peeves's eyes!"
In the end, all those he caught turned out to be nothing more than children trying to sneak food or play where they should not, not the infiltrator they were seeking.
Still, Peeves's antics did their work. The more mischievous students settled down, and even the hidden enemy had to lie low for a time.
The only thing none of the staff could quite understand was why any sane student would choose to sneak food into a lavatory.
Even Kael was left speechless when he heard it.
As for Angbor, the first‑year who had been all but bewitched by the suspected Ring of Power, Kael's final judgement was comparatively light. He deducted fifty house points from Basilisk as punishment for picking up and keeping the ring, and then sent the boy back to his house.
He did not reveal that the brooms' failure in the Phoenix House match had been Angbor's doing. Officially, the points loss was simply for breaking school rules.
Angbor had been led astray by the ring, but he had still done the deed and nearly killed several Phoenix players. If the truth were made public, he would become the target of every grudge in the school, and bad blood between the two houses would be all but inevitable.
Kael also covertly investigated Angbor's dorm‑mates and other friends, checking whether Saruman might have hidden among them.
After all, the ring had clearly been delivered to Angbor on purpose. It was very likely placed there by someone who knew him or could approach him easily.
But again, there was no result. None of Angbor's roommates or classmates bore the slightest trace of darkness. None showed signs of possession or of having touched the Ring.
Even with no fresh trail to follow, Kael did not lose heart.
With the school now under tighter watch and Gandalf and Galadriel overseeing the children in class, Kael turned back to the Marauder's Map and pushed to complete it as quickly as possible.
Backed by potions of vigour and the Crown of Wisdom, he worked day and night, and the map neared completion at astonishing speed.
Saruman, lurking in the shadows, seemed to feel the danger closing in.
Just as Kael was about to finish the Map, another incident occurred.
When Edward came pounding on the office door in a panic, Kael already had a bad feeling. "Something has happened?"
Edward nodded, breathing hard. "It is three students from Dragon House. Professor Gandalf and Lady Galadriel are there already. They asked that you come at once."
Seeing how urgent he was, Kael did not waste time with questions. He left the office at once and hurried to the scene.
The accident had taken place in the kitchens. When Kael arrived, three second‑year students were lying on the floor. Gandalf, Galadriel, and Marglas, Head of Dragon House, stood over them.
Up in the air, Peeves was tap‑dancing in delight, waving a Quidditch Beater's bat and chanting to himself, "Peeves has caught the culprit! Peeves has caught the culprit!"
At the sight of the three children on the ground, Kael's pupils narrowed. He did not even stop to greet the others. He rushed over and knelt to examine them.
Once he confirmed that all three were still breathing, he let out a long, deep breath.
Two had clearly been struck by Stunners.
The third had a large, angry lump on the back of his head, as if someone had clubbed him from behind.
"What exactly has happened?" Kael asked, looking up. "Gandalf, my lady?"
Gandalf shook his head. "We only arrived a moment before you. When we got here, this is what we found – all three already on the floor. But you can ask Peeves. He was the first to notice something was wrong and had the portraits alert us at once."
Kael looked up at the poltergeist in surprise. "Peeves, what happened? Tell me everything."
At the same time, his eyes flicked to the bat in Peeves's hand, then to the boy with the lump, and a suspicion took shape.
At Kael's question, Peeves puffed out his chest, putting on even more drama than usual.
"Oh, it was frightful, frightful!" he crowed. "Those three Dragon House brats snuck into the kitchens, so Peevesy followed them, soft as a whisper. And what do I see but a horrible sight!"
He jabbed the bat towards the boy with the swollen head. "That one is the bad 'un, Headmaster, sir! He brought the other two in all sneaky and sly, and then – wham! – He stunned them both from behind and dropped them like sacks of potatoes!
"His eyes were so scary I dived into the wall and only stuck my eyeballs out to watch. Then that nasty little rat pulled out a black bottle and tried to pour it into the food and drink for supper—so Peevesy gave him a good whack on the head, bop, and down he went!"
"Heh heh, good work from Peeves, is it not, Headmaster?" he said, grinning hugely. "I caught you a bad man!"
A black bottle. Kael's face hardened at once. "Where is the bottle?"
"Ta‑da!" Peeves cried, bouncing and producing a small black vial. "Peevesy could tell with just one look it was nasty stuff, so I snatched it right out of his hand!"
Kael started to reach for it, but Gandalf and Galadriel both spoke sharply in the same instant.
"Do not touch it, Kael!"
He drew back at once, every sense on guard, and instead used a Levitation Charm to catch the vial in mid‑air.
He studied the black liquid within, then glanced at the other two. "You recognise what is inside?"
Galadriel stepped forward, her deep eyes fixed on the little bottle. She extended her senses into it. When she spoke, her voice was very grave.
"This contains the Black Death Plague," she said. "A most wicked disease."