Hi All,

Welcome to the 18th Chapter of "Dark is All That's Left!"

It's the final chapter before the epilogue and before you begin, I would like to apologize in advance.

I have rewritten the chapter twice and everytime I wrote, I felt I can't do justice with the end.

Ginny was never a huge villain, she was merely an opportunist in this fic and so there was hardly a way for me to setup a fair fight between the two. It was always going to be Hermione having the upper hand once she got hold of her. Ginny's main strength was that she was hidden in plain sight and protected by people who were powerful which is why the prior chapters were much more interesting in terms of fights.

It was a journey I started a year back, not knowing how it'll end. It was the first long fic I wrote and so please forgive me if there were any plot holes and mistakes along the way. I've always tried to write it as best as I could. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it tanked. Whatever it was, it was fun to write.

Please be a little gentle in comments if you don't like the chapter. I know I'm not a 100% satisfied, but I couldn't put off posting and this was probably the best I could muster at this moment.

Disclaimer: All HP rights belong to JK Rowling, I'm merely writing fanfics for fun

Ron, Ginny and Harry landed unceremoniously on the floor without their wands and each of them found themselves being bound and incarcerated by magic resistant cuffs. The cuffs were shackled as usual to the overhead beam making it impossible for them to move.

Within a few moments Hermione apparated back to the safe house with a slender metal rod hanging limply from her hands, "I hope the newly wed couple is enjoying my hospitality? It isn't much but I guess it'll suffice."

"You bloody MONSTER! Do you know how many innocents you've killed?" Harry snarled, struggling against his cuffs.

"I don't keep count, you know! It's been difficult with my incomplete education and the stint at Azkaban if you've forgotten." Hermione replied with a smile tilting her head.

"I knew you were deranged. It's a shame I ever loved you, Hermione." a voice next to her spoke.

"Oh! I didn't know we're taking turns, Ron. Besides, I've seen enough in your head to know about that little boy crush you had. And the other crushes you had after that. I might have puked hard after seeing things in your head, urrghhh!" Hermione rolled her eyes with a mock shudder. "Shut up, Death Eater!"

"Boy you really are thick headed, Ron! Hey Harry! You didn't tell them who killed the old snake-face?" Hermione moved closer to Ron, "Well, then he also probably didn't tell you that I tortured and killed your brothers. I killed dear Bill and Charlie. I tortured your father until he was begging me like the wretched weasel he was, begging me to spare the rest of his brood and you know what, I enjoyed watching them all squirm."

"I'll kill you, you bitch! I'll rip your eyes out!" Ron cursed her struggling against his shackles while Hermione just laughed heartily.

"Big words, Ron! For someone who orchestrated the entire war, you think I'll be intimidated by a child's threats?"

"What do you mean orchestrated the war?" Ginny said skeptically.

"Ah! The twat has finally spoken. I was wonder-" Hermione turned around towards the bound Ginny.

"I'll KILL you bitch, get away from my sister!" Hermione whirled back to Ron punching him in the nose hard, "I will castrate your balls and feed them to you, if you interrupt me again. Understand?"

Ron's head reeled back from the punch and blood poured from his head profusely, yet he sneered and spat back on Hermione's face.

Hermione just used Harry's wand to clean her face, "You really have a big mouth, Ron! Let me help you fix that."

Both Harry and Ginny begged her to stop as she flicked Harry's wand in a swirl and Ron's jaw snapped shut. She pointed her wand towards the room and accio'd a leather bag. With a cruel smirk, she rummaged through the bag and pulled out a long needle with a thick thread.

Ron shook his head in horror as the others pleaded to spare him. Hermione though pointed her wand towards his mouth and shot a suturing spell. The needle slowly and painfully threaded his mouth from edge-to-edge as muffled screams and yowls filled the factory. Silence ensued as the needle hung limply from the edge of an unconscious Ron's sutured mouth dripping blood.

Harry couldn't believe what he saw, his only friend being tortured grotesquely by someone whom he had considered more than a friend once upon a time.

"Why! Why, Hermione? What happened to you! Why'd you became this… this Monster!" Harry asked, tears welling up in his eyes.

"What HAPPENED? YOU are asking ME! Well, what happened was the one person I spent my life saving, protecting and helping in times when none did, betrayed me. YOU, HARRY Fucking POTTER! Refused to trust and back me when I needed you the most." Hermione snapped her eyes towards him in anger, the years of subdued emotions bursting through. "You trusted the word of THAT bitch. One whom you barely spoke with, and happily condemned ME, the person who saved Sirius and helped you through the TriWizard Tournament, even when Ron didn't believe in you. I didn't kill Luna, you idiot. Why would I? She was a good friend to me. Just because of you all betraying and condemning me, I lost my life, career, I lost my precious wand, I never even got to see my parents one last time. Poor souls were beaten to death by a wizarding mob and buried in a cemetery for fucking ANIMALS. See my face, POTTER! You see these scars, some are from the surface I slept on and others from when I clawed my own face trying to stop the pain caused by dementors."

"I can't believe it, Hermione. WHY would Ginny lie? Even Dumbledore said you were guilty." Harry said, shaking his head in denial.

"Dumbledore this, Dumbledore that. Even Dumbledore was a fucking human, Harry. They do make mistakes. You made one by trusting him blindly and he made another by not pushing for Veritaserum."

"Don't blame this one me Hermione! I saw you killing Luna, you got what you deserved. You don't dare blame my husband for your crimes now. You'll never get away with this." Ginny said, cutting off Hermione's rant.

"Shut up, Ginevra! I wasn't talking to you, but that's alright." Hermione grinned widely looking from Harry to Ginny and back, "I've waited so long for this Mrs Potter. Let me show you my hospitality. Why don't you take off your shoes? Let me give you a nice pedicure and foot massage."

"NO! Leave her be… She's my only family... Please Hermion-" Harry was cut off in the middle of his plea as Hermione shot a silencing spell at him. He struggled against his shackles and wailed trying to plead Hermione but no sound came through.

"Enough begging Harry, it doesn't suit someone of your status to grovel. Besides it's just us girls playing, so just shut up and relax!" Hermione crooned sweetly, giving him a wink as she turned her attention to the leather bag, ruffling through the contents.

"Ah! Here it is! It hasn't been used in a while!" Hermione said excitedly while pulling out a blood-stained hammer with a wedged nail-puller. "Look Ginny! I've got a surprise for you. And don't you worry dear, I've even practiced before with Rita."

Ginny couldn't believe her eyes, this was surely a nightmare. Granger seemed completely unhinged and the needle hanging from Ron's bleeding mouth didn't give her any hopes of getting out alive. Her voice shook with fear, "H...He...Hermione! Please, please let me go. I'm innocent. I could have been mistaken during my testimony! Please forgive me, Hermione."

"Tsk, tsk! You have a poor memory, dear. Don't worry, you'll remember soon. Now, let's begin." Hermione said with a wide grin holding up the hammer.

Hermione vanished Ginny's shoes and exposed her feet with perfectly cured toes. She leaned forward to hold the hammer's wedge between the great toe's nail but Ginny kicked around. "Hold still, Ginny!"

"No, no, no, no… please Merlin! No! Leave me, please..." Ginny wept trying to move her feet away while Harry silently kicked around trying to get Hermione to stop.

Hermione stood up and went inside the other room only to return back with a medium sized Sledgehammer and the tool box. "Well, since you can't seem to stay still, I guess I'd have to make you."

Hermione placed a couple of wooden boards beneath Ginny's feet and rummaged through the toolbox before pulling out long iron nails. She flicked the wand and Ginny's feet locked in place with two nails hovering over each foot.

Ginny begged and pleaded mercy while Harry watched in horror as Hermione lifted the sledgehammer above her head and swung down hard on one of the iron nails driving it through her flesh and bone finally lodging it deep into the wooden planks, pinning Ginny's right foot on the wooden board.

A blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the factory as blood seeped through the wound and into the board below. The pain was mind numbing, nothing like this had she ever felt before.

Just as the pain dulled down to a throb, Hermione swung the hammer again driving the second nail through the same foot. Ginny pleaded and screamed for mercy, but there was only pain.

Harry couldn't speak yet he thrashed around tears welling up in his eyes at his helplessness. Two more blows later Ginny was left with a hoarse throat and both her feet pinned to the wood with deep wounds.

"Huh! So much work! It's so tiring working with these tools. Now, how's your memory, remember anything new?" Hermione said wiping imaginary sweat off her brow with her palm while dropping the sledgehammer to the ground from the other hand.

Ginny's mind was reeling with pain, she was trying her best not to blurt the truth. However, with the steady throbbing pain in her feet, coupled with the slow but steady blood loss was making it difficult. "...please, let me go. I'm innocent Hermione! Please!"

"She's a tough nut, Harry! I'll give her that, you married well. Too bad I don't intend to leave her whole for long." Hermione quirked glancing towards Harry. "Well, let's get on with my old plan then."

Hermione bent down and wedged the old hammer's end between the toenail. With a smirk towards the still begging Ginny, she pulled the hammer back ripping the toenail off the skin leaving it bloody and exposed with another shriek filling the room. She cackled loudly as repeated screams filled the room once again as she proceeded to rip every nail from Ginny's toes.

"Well played, Ginny. I'm impressed. A true Gryffindor I must confess dear. But fear not, I have lots of toys and even more time to play with you." Hermione lifted the fallen metal rod in her hands taking aim with a triumphant smile which sent terrifying shivers down Ginny's spine.

She lifted the rod high and swung down on her legs hard, a resounding crack echoing through the hall as Ginny yelped and screamed in extreme pain. Hermione repeated the action multiple times across until the lower part of Ginny's wedding gown was bloodied red due to her shattered shin bones.

Harry couldn't do anything but beg and scream silently at Hermione to stop as his magic struggled against the shackles and finally broke through them with sheer force of his magic. He picked up a metal scalpel from the leather bag near him and drove it through Hermione's back.

Hermione felt the metal pierce her flesh as she dropped the rod and in sheer desperation wandlessly knocked Harry back into the pillar beam. She once again bound him but this time all his limbs were held by multiple shackles holding him to the pillar. She pulled the scalpel out with great difficulty, her other wound hadn't completely healed despite taking a healing potion, this one just adding to the injury.

"I never took you for a coward, Harry. You disappoint me. You literally stabbed me in the back for this bitch? Well, this proves you both are made for each other." Hermione went out of the room and returned shortly with a vial with clear liquid marked as Veritaserum. "See this, Harry. This is from Professor Snape's personal stash. I was hoping she'd confess on her own, but that was too much to expect I believe from a snake like her."

Hermione ennervated Ginny who had passed out due to the torture and forced the potion down her throat before removing the silencing hex from Harry. Within a few moments the potion took effect as Hermione asked the first question, "What's your full name, bitch!"

"G...Ginne..evra Potter nee Weasley" Ginny slurred in response.

"Who killed Luna Lovegood?"

Ginny tried her hardest to fight the compulsion this time, yet she couldn't help blurting out the truth, "I…I killed her!"

"What! Gin, why? Why'd you kill Luna?" Harry was stunned at the confession.

"Because I lost control. She was harping on about what a cute couple you and Granger made. It was sickening to see this bint get what was supposed to be mine. I lost it finally and assaulted Luna in that corridor. I hid myself in an alcove when I heard Granger coming down to check and in desparation used the opportunity to stun her, and then I used Granger's wand to finish off the lunatic and blamed it on Granger. Everything was perfect after that, if only those meddling Death Eaters hadn't foiled it by freeing her. I wanted to become Lady Potter and I did finally."

A booming laugh filled the room as Hermione stepped back clapping slowly and cackling mirthlessly. "So, Harry! What do you have to say now? Looks like your precious wife was the real murderer. What will you do now? Hmmmm!"

Harry hung his head in shame, he had thrown away his chance at love. Truly betrayed the one who always looked out for him. Ginny may have played him and others, but it was his blind faith in Dumbledore and lack of faith in someone he claimed to love the true reason Hermione felt betrayed. "Hermione! I… I'm Sorry!... I'm sorry, for everything! I was blinded! Please give me a chance to make it better. If you just surrender I will fight for your innocence. We can still get married-"

"-No Harry! You still don't get it, do you? You can never make it better. What you and Ginny have done is not just destroyed my life. You have cost me my parents, they were innocent Harry. Even if I forgive you for my life, I can never forgive you or wizarding Britain for the brutal murder of Dan and Emma Granger. I can never love you Harry. There's nothing but hate for you inside my heart. I won't kill you… No, that would be an easy way out for you. Your punishment is… To Live! Live all alone, no friends, no family. Alone, just like I've been." Hermione breathing heavily sat down near the wooden crates with her back resting against them, hissing as the wound pressed lightly against the crates.

"No, no Hermione. Please, I apologise for all my mistakes. Please spare them. I-" Harry grovelled looking sideways towards Hermione.

"Absolutely NOT! My judgement is final, just like the Wizengamot's was, that day. I hereby sentence Molly Weasley to a life of mourning the deaths of all her brood including your precious wife and your Best friend..." Hermione pulled out an L85 automatic rifle from the crate next to her and gingerly pointed it towards the unconscious body of Ron Weasley.

"NOOOOO!" Harry cried in vain as a few rounds of 45mm bullets annihilated his best friend's body.

A teary-eyed Ginny, already resigned herself to the same fate, just looked at Harry with her final words, "I'm sorry Harry, but I did love you truly!"

Harry looked away from her in disgust before Hermione pointed her gun towards Ginny and unloaded the entire cartridge of bullets through her body.

"...So mote it BE!" Hermione threw the gun away as she got up taking support of the crates and walked towards Harry.

"You will give me a wizard's oath, Harry! An oath on your life and magic. You said you'd do anything for penance. Well this is your chance now."

"What more can I give Hermione, I've already lost everything." Harry said quietly, shaking his head.

"You will give me a vow on your life and magic that you will never leave Britain and intentionally or unintentionally never try to contact me or find me. Come on, say it Harry! I need it and I need it now!" Hermione hissed back.

"Fine! If that's what you want, I'll do it." Harry raised his head to look into her amethyst eyes, "I, Harry James Potter, hereby swear on my life and magic to never leave Britain and I shall never try to find or contact Hermione Granger intentionally or unintentionally, through any means. So mote it be."

A golden glow emerged from his core spreading through his body and faded away into a fine thread between Hermione and him before disappearing completely.

Hermione touched his face one last time, her eyes welling up with tears, "My vengeance is now complete. Goodbye Harry! I'm going away… Forever! Forgive me!"

Before Harry could reply, Hermione disapparated in a wisp of black smoke.

"Hermione… I… Forgive me…!" Harry trailed off watching the spot she stood a few moments ago.

A/N: If you have read thus far and not left, Thank you so much, I'll post the epilogue in a few days.

Please do let me know what you think of the fic.

If you didn't like it, you could politely say it's terrible and be done with it.

However, if you did like, please do comment so. I will definitely respond to it. Cheers!