Miranda winced. "Ohh…Isn't there a potion or something he could take for that?"

Fred and George chuckled while Sirius wore a subtle grin. Tonks and Remus shared an amused glance.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Miranda!"

Miranda looked to her, brows raised. "Oh come on," she complained. "I mean, he can't be happy with that." A pause. "Can he?"

"Is that really all you have to say?"

She held up her hands in a helpless gesture. "Hey, I'm a muggle. I mean, he looks powerful and all, but I'm not gonna be facing him. Besides, I already knew he was dangerous. What else should I say? 'Oh, that makes sense. I can see now why he's in such a bad mood.'?"

Hermione growled, threw her hands up. Miranda continued, unperturbed. "And why don't you just nuke him? Throw some acid in his face or something. Hell, shoot him—shoot him right in the face. He won't be getting up after that." A pause. "And you'd be doing him a favor, because I mean..." She wordlessly gestured to the image. "Yeah, he's got all that going on."

"I don't even know what to say."

Miranda sighed. "I know it's the 'muggle' thing to do, but if it gets the job done…" she trailed off.

"You do realize that if we did that it would only cause a massive backlash?"

Miranda shrugged. "That's what machine guns are for—don't give them the chance to get pissed-mow those suckers down. A couple rounds, then boom." She snapped her fingers. "War's over. Party at my place. Your welcome, courtesy of the muggle."

Hermione looked heavenward, shaking her head.

"Unless, of course, they're bullet-proof and you forgot to mention it…"

"She does have a point," Ginny said. Some of the others seemed to consider it.

Miranda pointed a finger at Hermione. "Yeah, and you know it would work."

Hermione's brow furrowed, a sure sign that she was allowing thoughts to swirl.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake," snapped Moody, "We're not doing it, so get the thought out of your heads."

"What? Why not?" Miranda said.

"Because we have rules and ways of doing things in the wizarding world. We're not taking the easy way out by using muggle weapons."

"If it'll make you feel better I'll do it," she offered. "I mean, I'm a muggle, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?" Her brows furrowed. "In fact, I think it sounds pretty fair. I should be allowed to have some way to defend myself." Looks were exchanged. "Seriously, someone find me a machine gun and I'll go Rambo on their magical asses."

"What's Rambo?" she heard someone whisper.

Moody stepped forward. "The answer is no."

Miranda's brows knit. "Are you really going to quibble over method at this point? I mean, I thought You-Know-Who and his followers were out there killing people."

"There are."

"With no intention of stopping."

"They don't."

"Then why do you care about method?" she demanded in exasperation. "He's killing people. Chop his head off, burn the body. Yeah, I know it won't kill him, because horcruxes, but at least he'll be knocked back down to Level One. Then he won't be such a danger."