Author's Note: Not quite up to my usual standards, in my opinion. Started with the last couple of lines from the other one, just so I didn't have to keep reminding myself. I feel deliciously twisted.

Muses of the Chapter: Als, Limewire, and religious dogma XD

Part of this was written after I finished writing an English paper, and part of it was written after a church service. So it probably sounds even less like Ron than usual.

Warnings: Same as previous chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything else that's been previously copyrighted. I own Annie, Mel, the dungeons, and all usual inhabitants of the manor.

"Dobby," I gulped, "where's Hermi—" CRACK! "—one? Damn."

I was certain that things had just gotten a great deal worse.

"Dobby? Hermione?" I called nervously. The only reply I got was the echo of my own voice.

Anxiously, I looked around, taking in the dimly-lit stone corridor. I heard the faint drip of water somewhere nearby, but other than that, the passage was silent as the grave, which—as I realized a moment later—was not the best way to describe it.

Gulping a little, I paused a moment longer, wondering if Hermione was safe, or if Dobby was coming back, and a million other things. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I turned and took several steps to the right. Then, realizing that I had no way of finding my way back to this spot if I should need to, I pulled out my wand to mark my way.

Quietly, I muttered a quick lumos, then used the tip of my wand to etch a faintly glowing arrow on the stone wall. Taking a deep breath, I moved down the hall as quietly as I could, my wand still raised in anticipation.

Every few dozen feet, I stopped to make another mark as I traveled. Ahead of me, there seemed to be a slowly-brightening light of some sort, and I decided to make for that.

After a few moments, I became aware of a faint skitter behind me. I paused, making another mark, and a few seconds later, it stopped too.

"Who's there?" I'd tried to sound brave, but I didn't think I'd succeeded—my voice trembled a little, and sounded weak even to me. A small sound—it might have been a murmur, but it just as easily could have been the squeak of a rat. "Hermione?" I called, not daring to hope. This time, it was definitely a human-sounding murmur, though I still couldn't tell exactly where (or what) it was coming from.

There was a definite answer, this time. "Hello?" it echoed down several damp corridors. It sounded faintly familiar, but decidedly not like Hermione.

"Who's there?" I called back, moving toward what I guessed as the source of the shout.

"Someone who wants out! Who're you? Aw, hell, it doesn't matter, just keep yelling so I can find you!" It was getting closer now, and Ron could tell that it was a feminine voice, though he still couldn't place it.

"Alright! Sounds like you're nearly here! Just keep following my voice!"

"What the hell else am I supposed to do? Just keep yelling and we'll be fine!"

"Do I know you? Your voice sounds familiar!"

"I don't know—we'll find out when I get there, won't we?"

After a few more minutes of shouting, during which it never crossed my mind that we might be heard by someone or something undesirable, a wandlight appeared at the end of my corridor and I almost sighed with relief.

"This way!" I called before she could move the other way, waving my own wand above my head.

"I see you, don't get your knickers in a twist!"

So I waited for her silently, looking over my shoulder to make sure nothing was lurking behind me—though I knew that any danger was more likely to be unseen.

"You. How the hell did I get mixed up with you again?" Her voice was full of disbelief, and I turned around, guessing who I'd find.

I was right. It was the girl I'd met last summer and— embarrassingly enough—the girl for whom I'd nursed a minor infatuation for several weeks.

Melody, damn it.

There was someone with her, though, and I focused on the small, skinny girl in black robes beside her. "Who's that?" I asked bluntly, taking in the dark curls, pale skin, and blue eyes.

"I don't know—I found her wandering around down here. She says her name's Annie. Don't think I'm finished with you, yet, but we've got to get out of here—for her sake, if nothing else. Where were you going?"

I explained that I'd been heading for the light, and that seemed to suit her purposes, so we continued in that direction, me leaving arrows every twenty feet or so.

"What are you doing?" she asked after a few moments of this.

"Making sure I can find my way back if I need to." I stated irritably, as though this should be obvious.

"Back to where? Don't tell me that you already know how to get out!" She looked murderous, and I quickly explained that I'd gotten in by accident, and I was only marking to make sure I didn't take the same turn twice.

We walked the next several hundred feet in awkward silence, me continuing to mark our way.

Unexpectedly, she stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, dousing her wandlight silently. "There's someone up there," she breathed, quickly pressing herself and the child against the damp stone wall.

I stared at her blankly.

"Put it out, you idiot!" she hissed, dragging me toward the wall by my sleeve. I quickly fumbled my wand out, too, and we stood mutely in the dusk of the catacomb for a few moments before I heard them, too.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMW

A/N: Still not as long or as good as I'd like, but I'm hoping for another chapter this weekend, now that I've got a definite plot map in my head. Also, I have discovered the wonderfully insane character that is Bellatrix. So, recommend any fantastic Bella fics you'd like me to read.