The long awaited update has come! Now that school is out for summer, I do believe I will have this story completed soon! Thanks to Nymph and PV for bugging me constantly to finish:D Don't forget to submit reviews!

Chapter 8: Time for Murder

"Another butterbeer for you, Neville?" Ron asked loudly across the table to his red-faced co-worker who was looking like he'd had plenty to drink already, "No? Colin?"

Colin nodded to Ron and they waved down the waitress walking by their table. It was now 9 o'clock on Wednesday evening and Ron thought it a perfect plan to spend the evening out at a noisy restaurant with his mates from work, tell them he was extremely tired after dinner, and claim to head home for a restful night's sleep. The three grown wizards were having a smashing good time drinking and gawking at the women in the pub.

"Well boys, I'm beat!" Ron said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the rest of the commotion in the pub..

"Yeah, me too," chimed in Neville and Colin at the same time.

Ron threw down a handful of sickles onto the table and put his hot on, "See you blokes in the morning!"

As he scurried out of the restaurant, Ron looked down at his watch--it was nearly 9:15--he needed to hurry, so he sped off to his apartment building where he would park the ministry car.

"'ello there, Ron!" Ernie Macmillian, the parking garage attendant at the apartment building said as Ron hopped out of his car and gave him a small tip.

"Good evening, Ernie. Could you see about getting this car washed up tonight, I'll have to be returning it to the ministry soon." Ron was trying to act as casual as possible, and fortunately, Ernie didn't notice a thing.

"Sure thing, Ron! Did ya need it done soon? I've got a few others I'll be washing up before too long."

"Oh, its no rush really, I don't even plan on going anywhere at all tonight, so it could wait until morning. I'm just going to have a quiet evening to myself, and try to get to bed a bit early. I am quite tired this evening!" Ron wanted to make sure it was clear to Ernie that he was home at this time and that someone had seen him go into the building.

"Good night then, Ron. I'll have this Ministry Car all shined up for you by morning."

Ron tipped his hat to Ernie and started his way up the stairwell to his flat. When he arrived in his dimly lit apartment, Ron got to work quickly to move his plan into full action. First he sat down at the fireplace and made a floo call to his mother, Molly. He knew it would be traceable on the floo network records and if Molly were ever questioned during this whole incident, then she would place Ron right there in his flat. He only spoke to her for a few minutes to tell her he'd be coming to visit over the weekend, depending on his work load and then he pulled his head out of the fireplace to make some extra precautions. He took a sheet of parchment which he had charmed days earlier to change color if it was touched by floo fire. He placed it in the fireplace so he would know if he'd missed any calls whilst he was out.

Then Ron wound some sound string around the doorbell chime hanging next to his front door. He'd picked it up from his brothers' joke shop and it would grow longer if loud sounds were made by whatever was touching it. He'd know if someone stopped by to see him if he was out by checking the length of the string.

With the apartment secure, Ron hurried to change into the blue suit Hermione had instructed him to wear. He grabbed a towel from the cupboard and stuffed it in the side of his jacket underneath his arm...he would need it later to fake a broken leg. He took a quick look at himself in the mirror before putting his hat on.

"This polyjuice potion had better work, Hermione because we can't let anything go wrong..." he said quietly to himself in the mirror and then pressed his hat onto his head.

Instead of going out his front door and down the main stairwell, he decided it would be best to climb out of the window and onto the fire escape where he could slip down into the unlit back alley and not be seen. It was a windless night and there was a weight in the air that seemed to press itself upon Ron as he quietly climbed down into the alley. He looked both ways: not a soul in sight. He gathered his nerves and started making the walk towards the Malfoy mansion. He'd have to go quietly the entire way there on foot because he didn't want to risk being seen by anyone who may recognize him. It was now nearly quarter until 10 and he'd have to hurry quick to make it on time. He thought for a moment how quickly he could apparate to the Malfoy estate, but then he remembered that using magic was strictly against the rules during this entire operation. Instead, Ron just picked up the pace and ran quietly in the dark towards his destination.

Amazed that no one had spotted him along the way, Ron was pleased to see that the garage door was slightly open when he arrived and thought to himself, "She's going along with the plan just as we planned. Straight down the line. Perfect."

He slipped quietly into the garage and got in the back seat of the Malfoy's car. He settled onto the floor and threw a dark blanket over himself that Hermione had left in the back seat of the car. As he lowered his head deeper into the back seat he felt it knock into an item with a clink sound. He turned his head and picked up a glass bottle with a red liquid inside. It was the polyjuice potion and Hermione had left it just where they could use it at the right time. Ron quickly placed it back down on the floor of the car when he heard voices coming outside.

"Hurry up now, Draco dear, we don't want you to be late for your train." Hermione sounded calm and confident.

Draco droned something about his leg being stiff, but Ron didn't try to strain himself to listen. He needed to be very still until the moment was right. Ron shifted his eyes up towards the window where Hermione was now opening the back door and putting the suitcase in the backseat and glancing down at him. Ron smiled nervously, but Hermione's expression on her face didn't change. She slammed the car door and opened the passenger side before running back to Malfoy and helping him limp his way over to the car.

"Remember what the healer said darling you'll need to take it easy on this leg of yours." Hermione was being falsely sweet to Malfoy. In a matter of minutes both she and Ron knew that Malfoy would complain no more.

As Hermione drove silently to the train station Malfoy went on about how boring it was going to be for him on the train and that the doctors should have let him travel by some other means. Hermione wasn't really listening to him.

"Makes you feel pretty good to get away from me, doesn't it Draco?" Hermione said to him in a scathing tone as she turned the wheel to make a hard right onto a dark street.

"Hey this is not the right street, you mudblood, the train station is the other way!" Draco obviously wasn't listening to her either, but Hermione kept her eyes fixed on the road as she drove.

"Hermione, you stupid mudblood witch, you are going the wrong way. You'll make me miss my train!" Hermione was now slowing the car down on the pitch black street they were now driving along. She placed her hand on the horn and honked it three times. That was Ron's signal. It was time for murder.