When Your Parents Tell You Bedtime Stories

Epilogue-Eight years after chapter 24

"How long do you figure he's been down here?"

"My guess? Five years. Shame we didn't find this place sooner...we might've been able to save him."

"What do you say, Doc?"

"He was killed; no one could have saved him. Killed by the Unforgiveables...almost all of them."

"Wow, someone had it in for this guy. Must have gotten on Rigel's nerves, huh?"

"Why wouldn't Rigel make this public, like the rest of his murders?"

"Dunno. Just another body now, though. Hopefully the last now that that son of a bitch is dead."

"A year today, right?"

"Yup, and I hope he's turning in his grave."

"He was a good guy. I knew his father."

"Everybody knew his father."

"What about you, Doc? Ever expect Rigel Flint to become the next Dark Lord."

"Never saw it coming, Lad. Doesn't seem as though anyone will ever forgive him for it, either. His grave only gets one visitor."

"Persephone Granger, right?"

"Bingo. Got a new last name though now, Laddie. Got married last December...on Mr. Flint's birthday too."

"I'll never understand it."

"Weren't they friends?"

"Sure, but so was Aludra Spica, and look what he did to her."

"Poor girl...."

"So, Doc, who is the poor soul?"

"No one to feel too sorry for. Remember that story that hit the papers years ago-about Hermione Granger being raped?"

"Yeah. Quite a shocker. Poor Persephone...."

"The real shocker is who Hermione Granger left her daughter in care of, eh?"

The three men chuckled.

"He done a pretty good job though, if I do say so myself."

"Back to the story, Doc. Who is it?"

"The man who raped her-Blaise Zabini."

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Five years earlier; same holding cell

"Master, please...you don't know what you're doing...."

"Oh, I think I do, Mr. Zabini."

"But I've been loyal!"

"I know and I thank you for that; but I swore revenge a long time ago and you're involved in that. You see, you're the reason it all went wrong."

"Wha...Wha...."

"Yup. You raped Hermione Granger, did you not?"

"Yes...years ago, but I don't see...."

"She then bore a child and died three years later, leaving it in the care of Draco Malfoy, correct?"

"Yes...but...."

Rigel was just getting warmed up, a fire raging in him, determined to finally vent some of his rage. "The child grew up, became my best friend, and at age fifteen found out you were her real father. She then came to talk to you and you told her the truth, correct?"

"Yes, but I...."

"Then you kidnapped her and Mirach Achernar, locking them in a cell together. What did you do with her?"

"I...."

"Please, Mr. Zabini, make this easier on yourself; answers that are true and to the point, if you will."

"I raped her too, Sir."

Rigel's eyes widened; he had not seen that coming. He regained his composure and continued his interrogation. "Something happened in that cell of yours, Mr. Zabini, that drove Miss Granger and Mr. Achernar closer."

"Rigel, I really don't see the point in this. You're acting strangely, what's going on?"

"IT'S ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!! THAT'S THE POINT!! YOU WERE THE CAUSE FOR HER FINDING SOMEONE BETTER THEN ME!! YOU WERE THE REASON SHE WOULDN'T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!! YOU WERE THE REASON SHE WAS SO UNHAPPY!!" Rigel took a deep breath and attempted again to compose himself. "Why would you rape your own daughter?"

"There's one slight detail of the story you seem to be missing." Blaise Zabini smirked at having the upper hand for the moment, despite the fact that he was wandless and trapped with a madman inside a cell where no one would hear him scream.

"What?"

"I'm not Persephone Granger's father."

"You're not?"

"Nope. Three weeks premature my ass. Miss Perfect Granger was just trying to save herself from the shame. She'd shagged Potter three weeks before I got a taste of her. I just knew there was a certain something that didn't seem quite right...Persephone reeked of it."

Rigel watched him wither in pain for minutes before he realized he had cast the curse. He didn't stop it. How dare he...how dare he! Rigel would teach the slimy bastard a lesson; but Harry Potter was next. They were all the cause of his pain. Anyone and everyone linked to her.

Blaise Zabini was heaving and retching up blood in the corner of the cell not an hour later when Rigel finally decided he'd had enough; it was time to end it. Blaise looked up with a dignity he had not possessed for many years now and watched his last few moments of life with a guilty conscience and a knowledge of the fact that he deserved this, if not more.

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"Poor bastard probably never saw it coming, being one of his first supporters."

"They always said it was revenge that drove Rigel Flint over the edge; I guess poor Zabini did something wrong."

"Lucky bastard if you ask me. Not many guys that wouldn't have given a limb to shag Hermione Granger."

"Come on, let's get this pile of bones outta here."

"What're we gonna tell the papers, Doc?"

"We found nothing. He's just another name. No one cares about Blaise Zabini."

"Think if people found my body like this they'd just haul me off like I wasn't a person?"

"Na, Scotty. You're a person. Zabini was a monster, right out."

"Yeah. Come on...I've got to get home to Emily and the kids."

"Want a couple rounds at the bar first in celebration?"

"What we celebrating?"

"Hell, I dunno. Why don't we drink a few to Blaise Zabini, lucky son of a bitch."

"It's Christmas Eve."

"Alright then, a round to The-Boy-Who-Lived then. May he find his mind before time runs out."

"Amen." The voices faded and the cell once again echoed with a scream that would forever be trapped within its walls. A scream made by a man they called Blaise Zabini.