Algeron and Tonks sat in front of the air flushing machine, waiting impatiently for it to finish. Algeron sighed and shrugged.

"Well, you know what they say about a watched pot never boils?" he said. The machine stopped and dinged, and he opened it eagerly and typed into the computer the code. "Here we are. Feremone sample number 2.... 23607. Feremone of..." The image appeared on the screen of what looked like a tarantula with black and brown spots, and Algeron's eyes widened. He nodded and lept from his seat. "I'm worried!" he declared. "It all makes perfect sense now! It was staring me in the eyes but I didn't want to face it."

"What?" asked Tonks. "What is it?"

"That," he said pointing to the screen. "That is an African Spotted Wolf spider. Their bites cause mild nausia, then hallucinations followed by comas then eventually... death! It all makes sense now!"

"But why the soda straws?"

"It's so clean and well planned. Why didn't I see it before..."

"Algeron!" He remembered she was there and turned to her.

"It's an old African tribal tactic. First you give your enemy a gift, but you lace it with feremones."

"The money!" said Tonks. "All of the victims had tainted money." Algeron nodded and picked up two cotton balls, a clear plastic tube and a toy spider.

"Next you plant the male African Spotted Wolf near the victim."

"The soda straws."

"It's quite simple. You plug one end with sugar," He stuffed one of the cotton balls into one of the ends of the tube. "You put the male in, you plug the other end with sugar," he placed the toy spider in and stuffed the cotton ball into the other side. "The male smells the feremones on the victim. He chews his way through the sugar and out of the straw. He climbs onto the victim, but when he can't find the female he gets angry until he bites you."

"The triconal was a control measure," said Tonks. Algeron took the toy spider out of the tube.

"It's an insecticide. The spider dies within a day, and the bites are virtually undetectable."

"But then why didn't Blake go first?"

"The soda straw in Blake's locker, whoever did this, put a female in by mistake. So she squirted her feremone all over the inside of the straw so that she could attract a male. Any male! What she got was a Brown Recluse spider." He picked up another toy spider and had the two facing each other. "He chewed his way into the straw. They met. They mated. She ate him." he tossed one of the spider's over his shoulder and typed something into his computer. "She crawled out of the straw, into the air vent and had babies. Babies that grow larger with every generation. And the venom is more potent now. That's why Pansy reacted within an hour."

"Oh no," muttered Tonks.

"They breed like mad. By this point there could be thousands. More than thousands!" Tonks stood up and ran to get her cell phone. "I'm going to St. Mungos to get some blood from Pansy, and we'll have the anti-venom in an hour at the most. Call up Lupin and get everyone out of there now!" Tonks obeyed and began to dial the number.

Malfoy took in a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head. He, Harry, Blake, Snape and Lupin were all outside of the great hall, protecting Malfoy from hearing what people were shouting at him.

"I don't know what got a hold of me up there," he muttered to Harry.

"Or who got a hold of you," said Harry. Malfoy glanced at Blake and nodded.

"It was just like, Abel was calling me. Like he wanted me to jump."

"Do you still trust this spirit of yours?" Malfoy shook his head, and Lupin's cell phone rang. He walked around the corner to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Lupin! Thank God!" It was Tonks. She sounded upset.

"Tonks?" he asked. "Calm down. What's wrong?"

"We've just identified the source. There's no ghost. It's spiders!" Lupin's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You have to get everyone out of there!"

"Where's Algeron?"

"He's at St. Mungo's to get the cure. I'm on my way over there."

"Make sure he get's it fast," said Lupin, and with that he hung up. "We need to get everyone out of the building now!" he said as he came to Snape. "It's spider's that are causing the hallucinations. We need to evacuate the building. Get everyone outside. Harry, get Max and have him sniff every student before they leave the school. If these spider's get loose it'll be a nightmare. If Max reacts, healers are outside. Have the student go to them, and they'll take care of everything else."

"Yes, sir," said Harry, and he ran off, and Snape took charge of evacuating the building.

Tonks hurried around the lab, collecting her purse and other items, then turned to turn off the digital recorder. What was playing on it caught her attention and her jaw dropped.

"eeerrrr.......Heeeerrrrrmiiiiioooneeee....Grrrraaaangeeeerrrr...."