Author's Note: Sorry about the cliffhanger. There's gonna be another in this chapter as well, but I don't think there'll be one in the one after this.

This'll be a short chap. One; I only have half an hour to write it, quickly check it, and put it up. Two; the scene is a bit boring, and if I added stuff to it, it'd just be filling up empty space, so there'd be no point.

Chapter 3

Down in the Dungeon

Brianne stared in shock. For one, she hadn't even known there were dungeons in this manor! But once she thought about it, she supposed it would fit, as this used to be an old castle.

And two, HER FATHER HAD FOUND OUT!! How could he have? How could the letter have come at that particular time? If it had been one minute later, she probably would be sitting up in her room, talking to Loretta about her future in the magical world.

Although she already knew the answer, she asked, "What have I done to be put into dungeons father? I've never been badly punished for something I can't remember doing!"

Gil glared at her, daring to question him! "You have done nothing Brianne, but as you know, I am a very rich man, and people will do almost anything to steal some of my money. There have been some warnings now that someone is planning a ransom kidnap, and they're planning to kidnap you. It is for your own protection. No one will ever find you in the dungeons. No one," he said, with a slight look of satisfaction.

Brianne knew that he was lying. She knew that the reason he was locking her up in the dungeons was because he didn't want her being swept off to some wizarding school to learn magic. She now knew that her father hated magic. She still wasn't sure why, but she knew that he did, and he wouldn't want a daughter of his being taught how to use it.

"Follow me now Brianne. I will have some of the comforts of your bedroom sent down so that your stay there isn't so unpleasant. I know that this all seems rash, but this is all for your safety."

Brianne stood there, not sure of what to do. She could bolt right out the door. She was in the perfect position to do so as her father had walked behind her, and nothing was blocking her from running out. But no, she would be caught. There are guards all along the manor wall, and even so, she couldn't just leave Bronzer, and Loretta. "And all your mothers things," said a small voice inside of her.

"Al-alright," she said, and reluctantly followed her father out of the main hall, past the kitchens, and to a long stone spiral staircase. She counted the steps as she went down.

"103, 104, 105," she continued counting. 'Wow, 111 steps. We must be really far underground now,' she thought.

Once they reached the bottom step, she looked around. It actually wasn't that bad. Her father was planning to build a saloon and spa down here, so half of the dungeon had marble all along the side. The workers hadn't finished it yet. The other half though was dark and bleak.

She was disappointed to find that here was walking over to the right, the stony side. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'At least she'd have something nice to look at."

He led her to the very last cell. It was larger than the ones you saw on television. 'They must've held than one person,' she thought.

"I'll have a proper mattress and some lighting brought down for you. I'll make sure Loretta is sent with some of your homework as well. I believe that Ms. Leary has asked you to please read A Wind in the Willows? Well, you have plenty of now," (he said, looking very snotty), "so why not start it?"

"Sure," Brianne said in bemused tone, "Why not."

Not twenty minutes later, Loretta was gibbering away about how she had let 'The Lady' down, and how she had to find someway to get Brianne to that magic school.

"Oh, I have failed," she moaned.

"It really isn't your fault Loretta," replied Brianne for the hundredth time, "Now calm down. I'm a witch, I'll find some way of making this all work," (she said the, "I'm a witch," part with a great deal of pride.)

Loretta wiped her swollen eyes. Brianne was a bit surprised. Loretta had always been the image of a tough woman. She was so tough, she acted like a man sometimes. Loretta was the last person d expect to see crying.

"Look Loretta. It's getting late. Why don't you go to bed, and come back in the morning, and we'll talk about it then?"

She looked up, wiping her eyes again. "Alright miss, and thank you for…."

"Please Loretta, its fine. Now go up bed. We've got a lot of planning to do tomorrow."

Loretta shuffled her way to the stairs before turning around. She gave one last pained look, and then ran up the stairs.

"Hey Bronzie. How you doing kitty?" she asked Bronzer. Loretta had brought him down with a few books and some chocolate that had been out of date since two days ago.

Brianne down on mattress that had been placed on the floor for her. It wasn't as comfortable as her bed, but it wasn't too bad.

Fingering a little dent in the floor, she thought about what had happened.

She really had no idea how she was going to get out of this.

She pushed harder in dent.

She really wanted to go to Hogwarts.

Her finger barely fit through.

She was angry with her father for putting her in here.

She trieo find the bottom of the dent.

'Why does he hate magic so much?' she thou.

Her finger started to hurt from the cutoff of blood circulation. She pulled it really hard, until…

Pop…Bang!

She shot upright, and looked at the dent she had just been touching. She put her finger back in, and then pulled up slowly, curling her finger underneath.

Some boards in the floor lifted up with it.

"Bronzie, look!" she cried in excitement, "A trap door!"

Me: sorry again, ill have the next chap up tomorrow tho!