Slightly Off-Kilter

Gayle thought she'd been extremely clever. She'd left the castle, gotten to Hogsmeade, purchased essential supplies (chocolate frogs counted as essential and so did wizard crackers), and Apparated to the Shetland Islands without any problems. She was determined to find the tinker toys and bring some back as proof she wasn't entirely crazy, just mostly.

Since she pictured in her mind exactly where she was going Gayle had no problem trekking there. It never occured to her that there might be someone following her. Not that she would have minded the company, as long as it wasn't a DeathEater.

Papa Stour Island, one of the Shetland Islands north of mainland Scotland, was a craggy isle full of cliffs, wildlife and during the day, tourists rock climbing and cave spelunking. Gayle waited until dusk when all the tourists wandered away and then slipped into the magically hidden cave where she remembered Voldemort hauling all his tinker toys.

She grabbed a few items, shoving them into the pillowcase she'd absconded with from Severus' linen drawer. Her senses on high alert (she was crazy not stupid), she crept back out of the cavern and clambered back up the path leading to it. She emerged from the path onto the cliff and looked out at the sea crashing against the rocks below.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she jumped, screaming.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" She looked up into the face of Severus Snape and sagged in relief before swinging the pillowcase and bashing him upside the head with it. Before anyone else could react, she Apparated back to Hogsmeade.

The group followed and Albus Dumbledore Apparated by Hogsmeade in time to see Gayle running down the small streets of the village. "GAYLE HAMMERSMITH!" he shouted angrily. "GET BACK HERE!"

Gayle made an about face and pelted back to him just as Severus, Minerva, Remus, and Sirius Apparated next to the aged wizard. "What were you doing?" exclaimed Remus worriedly. "If the DeathEaters had caught you -"

"I'd have done this!" she informed him pertly and promptly began to scream and babble incoherently.

Severus rolled his eyes and boxed her ears. "CEASE!" he roared.

"Stop yelling at her!" shouted Sirius.

"Quiet everyone!" Albus shouted over them all. When everyone had gone quiet, Albus held out his hand for the pillowcase Gayle clutched tightly. Wordlessly she handed it to him.

He dumped its contents on the ground and everyone first gaped at them and then at Gayle, who was grinning at them triumphantly.

"My God, Tinker toys, not tinker toys!" gasped Sirius in wonder, filtering through various magical tinkering tools. "What was he going to do?"

Albus' lips thinned. "He was making Dark Magic items, wasn't he, Gayle?" She nodded. "He had sufficient enough power back then to quite adequately create some powerful magic items to wreak all sorts of havoc, especially against Muggles."

"Look at this!" Remus exclaimed, digging through the empty chocolate frog wrappers to bring up various tinkering tools and one particularly gruesome item that closely resembled a mangled rabbit's foot. "Merlin's Ghost, if he'd cursed these items and sent them back into circulation at high quantity..."

"Exactly." Albus continued to watch Gayle, who snatched up a chocolate frog and tear open the package, carefully inspecting the wizard card.

"It's you," she informed him and handed it to him. "I've already got you."

Albus solemnly took the card. "I don't believe anyone has ever given me my own card, Gayle, thank you." She beamed a smile at him and wandered back toward the village and the castle, humming "My Darlin' Clementine" to herself.

"That would explain the hoard of Dark Magic items many of the DeathEaters have been collecting so zealously over the past years, even after he fell. Lucius Malfoy has been infamous for it. They're trying to get the known items out of circulation so they can reliably be replaced with their forgeries." Minerva glared down at the evidence before them.

"Yes, but now that Gayle has sprung the trap on them, we can efficiently do some damage." Albus began to walk after Gayle. "Severus, come with me. Remus, Sirius, clean this up and get to the post office and send owls to all the Order members. Minerva, organize the teachers. We strike later this evening at the caverns. I want those 'toys' decimated."

Remus and Sirius hurriedly scooped up everything and shoved them into the pillowcase while Severus and Albus ran to catch up to Gayle. Minerva followed in their wake. Now that they had an idea of some of Voldemort's plots in chaos they had a better chance of if not stopping him then slowing him down.

Severus paced the Great Hall impatiently waiting on word from the Order members that their raid of Voldemort's secret tinkering stash had been successful. He was supposed to be on the raid himself but someone had gone ashen and hysterical when she learned he was intent on joining the group. To keep her calm and from doing any more foolish stunts, Dumbledore had ordered Severus to remain with her.

He glanced down at his hands and noticed he was still carrying around the damned bear. He stalked over to her chair where she was eyeing him warily. He shoved the bear into her arms, making sure it hit her nose so she breathed in the plumeria scent. Her brown eyes widened in pleased surprise and she made a squeak of joy, hugging the bear tightly.

"Oh Mr. Bear, Severus isn't such a dick after all."

Severus rolled his eyes and stalked back to his pacing.

At dawn the group returned with bags full of magically tinkered items. Albus had every intention of examining them prior to their destruction. If any items had already been sent into circulation he wanted to have some idea of the magnitude of their power. The bags were placed in one of the empty dungeon chambers and magically locked by Albus using a very ancient spell that probably only he knew the accompanying unlock charm.

Trustworthy informants within St. Mungo's reported no interest in Gayle's whereabouts and rumors spread by Order members in the wizard community made it known that Gayle was more than an absolute loon, she was an unreliable one as well, telling wild stories that were completely untrue. The intent was to make St. Mungo's safer for her.

Well into the month of July Dumbledore informed Snape that it was time for Gayle to return to St. Mungo's. Severus' version of the Sanity Restorative had failed spectacularly but had proven to be an interesting study aid. After taking a small sip, Professor Flitwick, the Charms instructor, spent four hours straight doing super researching on difficult charm spells. It was a victory for teachers but not much for sanity.

Severus kept trying but after a while Gayle began to refuse the potions, claiming they made her ill. Eventually he just piddled with the potion more for his own sake than hers. He never noticed her growing more quiet and serious as time passed.

Severus and Gayle, accompanied by Minerva and Albus, walked back into St. Mungo's to find Gayle's cell redecorated to more livable surroundings. Since it had been proven she could live in a normal residence without being a danger to herself and others, she was given more roomy furniture, including a sofa, a writing desk, more bed linens and blankets. Even curtains decorated her cell door, masking slightly from the inside the bars and keeping the draft within down.

Gayle was touched, emotionally (the 'in the head' brand was a given). She and Mr. Bear waved vigorously at the group as they made their farewells and trudged back down the corridor to leave. The trip back to Hogwarts was somber and Severus spent most of it muttering to himself under his breath and making Minerva glance worriedly at him.

The rest of the month of July and the first week of August found Snape snapping at everyone who moved within his purview and even Albus was dreading when the students returned for the school year. It wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

Severus Snape did indeed go off the deep end in the middle of August but it wasn't because the school year was starting. A frantic owl delivery from St. Mungo's brought horrible news. The asylum had been burgled of one of its inmates, a certain Gayle Hammersmith.