A/N: WHOA! Two chapters in one day! I've been hard at work! Really, I didn't want to post the previous chapter without this one shortly after it; they really should be one long chapter, but oh well. Thanks for reviewing so soon Kagome! You're cool! And thanks to everyone else who has reviewed the last couple chapters-you guys rock! Anyway, here comes the next chapter....aaaargh....I utterly loathe it...read on!

Chapter 17: Behind the Dungeon's Door

The next evening, Harry and Ron left Gryffindor Tower, the Invisibility Cloak in tow, headed down for the dungeons.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Harry inquired uncertainly.

"Of course it is!" Ron replied fiercely. "Since when did you become so concerned about whether things are smart or not?"

"Okay, okay, relax." Harry rolled his eyes. Ron was right in saying that. "Where's Hermione, anyway?"

"In the library, studying as usual," Ron whispered. "Shh…here we are, Dungeon 35." They threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves.

"Aloho-" Ron began, but Harry seized his arm before he had finished the spell.

"We can't go in there! It'll be too obvious of the door opens and closes for no reason!"

"So? It won't matter, no one's in there-"

"Yeah, can't you hear them talking? Shut up!"

The two fell silent. Sure enough, there were voices behind the door. Ron checked his watch. 8:03. He strained to understand the conversation.

"-look at this filth! Don't they ever clean this place?" a cool female voice complained. Jasmine.

"I know, Mom, Beauxbatons was so much better than this trash heap," Hunter's voice rumbled.

"It doesn't matter. Once we are finished here, we'll move on. Maybe Durmstrang…what do you think, Hunter?"

"Fabulous." He snickered. Suddenly business-like, he added, "What's next?"

"Well, use your brain! What's the only thing left to do?"

In a low voice, he answered, "Kill her."

"Yes, my son, yes! You're getting it now!" She cackled.

"No! You can't!" Ron gasped. He recognized Bianca's small, yet strong-willed voice.

"Shut up, idiot girl!" Jasmine screamed. SMACK! Bianca squealed, obviously wounded. "Keep quiet!"

"Now," she continued, "it needs to be done as soon as possible, preferably tonight."

"Tonight? But, Mom, we're still "dating", and I haven't gotten any yet!"

Jasmine screamed in exasperation. "Hunter, must you always think with the head below your waist? This is your job! Rape her before you kill her if you must, but by midnight, she'd better be dead!"

"Okay, whatever, Mom…" He sounded bored.

There was another SMACK! And this time, Hunter roared in pain. "None of this, "Whatever, Mom," crap! By the time I was thirteen, I had already killed. At fourteen, you were born, and I still kept up my work for the Dark Lord! It's all about loyalty and where your priorities lie…"

Bianca dared to speak again. "Why? Why are you going to try to kill her?"

Another SMACK! "We ARE going to kill her!" she raged. "This has gone on far too long! I would have figured that we'd have been done with this in the summer…After I killed that idiot Goulet, the French Minister, I thought my work was done. But no, that slimy Muggle policeman figured out who I was. He knew I was a witch. To keep my cover, I killed him too. I conjured a dog to run in front of his car. He crashed, and later died, as I found out. Then, finally, I thought I was finished. But nooooo…

"There was another person in the car. A woman-his sister. Thinking she may have figured out what really happened, I snuck into the funeral home she visited in preparation for her brother's funeral, using my Invisibility Cloak. A teaspoon of arsenic later, she was vomiting all over the floor. Ten minutes later, she was dead." Ron's stomach convulsed grotesquely, and he desperately fought the nausea.

"This is it though- the missing link that has the potential to put me in Azkaban. Hermione Granger- the clever Mudblood daughter of that woman- stands between me and adulation from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's servants! There is no other way; she must die." Jasmine cackled once again. Ron tried to envision the scene: her blonde hair glowing in the eerie light, head thrown back in evil bliss, her ocean-blue eyes blazing.

"Yes, Mom, yes! Whatever it takes, I'll do it." Hunter spoke victoriously. "I'll go now. Where is she?"

A pause, and then, "Walking in a corridor from the library. Hurry! Do it when no one can see."

Hunter replied hesitantly, "But there is something else…another person. Ron Weasley. He loves this Mudblood, and he'll get in the way of things."

She laughed yet again, though very casually this time. "Don't let him stand in your way; kill him too if you need to! Merlin, I thought you were smart!"

At this, Bianca began screaming bloody murder. "NO! NO, MOM, NO, HUNTER, DON'T DO IT, NO!"

"SHUT-UP!!" Jasmine roared. "Learn to respect your superiors, or you'll never be great! Crucio!"

Harry gasped. Bianca's shrieks of pain filled the corridor. Someone must hear…someone must be coming…he thought. But no one came.

"I'll kill them! I swear to God I will-" Ron fumed.

"Shh! Quiet!" Harry didn't want to think about what would happen if they were caught eavesdropping.

Finally, the shrieks subsided, but Jasmine wasn't done with Bianca yet. "Wingardium Leviosa!" A crash sounded, then a scream of pain, then a hollow thwonk of a head hitting a stone floor. Then, silence.

"Go! Take the Cloak!"

A few seconds later, the dungeon door opened. Jasmine McEwan left it by herself, but the sound of two people's footsteps followed her away from Ron and Harry.

They looked at each other.

"Hermione!" Ron whispered, panicked.

"Let's go," they said together.

A/N: That was sooooo painful to write….oh man, I think I am scarred for life!! I feel extremely bad now…please read and review-the sooner you do, the sooner the next chapter'll be up! At this rate, I feel fairly confident that I'll finish this fanfic before Saturday, but who knows, that may change…anyway, I'll post more later!