A/N: Hello guys, welcome to the 7th chapter of "Dark is all that's left!".

The last chapter ended on a high and I love the reviews that flowed in. I reckoned it would have been quite different to the other chapter deaths as Fred wasn't an active participant in her misery, although if you look at it, inaction and failure to step up for a friend amounts to betrayal in some way.

Disclaimer: I don't own the HP universe, if I did, there'd be no Weasels at the end, and we'd live happily ever after.

Chapter Warnings: Graphic Torture and strong language. Reader discretion advised. Although you really should expect this from now on.

Notes at the end of the chapter.

Same night, Hogwarts

After a long night of cleaning up the mess at The Burrow along with the Order, Severus Snape returned to his quarters exhausted. He could really do with a shot of Ogden's finest Firewhiskey kept inside his personal quarters, of course gifted by his longtime friend Lucius. As he took a swig, he thought back to the mysterious figure with the Amethyst glowing eyes. No one, even the old Headmaster, had noticed it watching them from a vantage point atop the hill. He wasn't aware of the Dark Lord's involvement considering lately he hadn't been summoned. Especially after the latest breakout at Azkaban, he hadn't been to Malfoy Manor, which the Dark Lord used as headquarters. It wasn't much of a surprise as the Dark Lord had become paranoid ever since the Headmaster and Potter started having their extracurricular outings. Could it be a new recruit, or maybe Ms. Granger? 'No, the Dark Lord wouldn't entertain muggleborn in his ranks. The last war was proof enough. It would be counter-intuitive to his paranoia. Besides, she was Potter's best friend and love interest. He wouldn't trust her completely given the situation.', mused the greasy-haired professor to himself as he took another sip of the amber liquid. He would have to keep a keen eye on the events now. Although his gut feel strongly tilted towards the bushy haired know-it-all, he couldn't quite comprehend her to be so cold and dark despite her stint at Azkaban Islands. He shuddered at the thought of the wizarding prison having avoided it narrowly after the last war, all thanks to Dumbledore, though he won't thank him out loud.

Few days later, Acid Factory

The death eater woke up to acrid smell of brewing and could see a bunch of glass containers with bubbling watery liquid and a can of muggle gunpowder. The past few days had been a blur, the last of which he remembered entering Diagon Alley being followed by a Weasley from what he looked like. He could vaguely remember a pair of glowing eyes ripping through his occlumency shields and rummaging through his memories as if it were merely waste parchment. Those didn't belong to his master, his were glowing reds, these though resembled a form of purple. His master would be displeased, he had simple order to cause as much chaos as possible, however, he hadn't anticipated the shop owners to fight back, not all but two of them did. Weasley's twins, they almost caught him as he cursed one and they started retreat, however, he was apparently caught. No doubt it must be the Order, who else would stoop low enough to use muggle means. Dumbledore and his bunch of muggle loving blood traitors. The Dark Lord would certainly be doing a great service when he rids the wizarding world off Mudbloods and their kind.

The dark witch spoke as he came out of his thoughts, "Oh Hello! You're awake. You've been quite a rude guest, didn't even talk once with me. Fear not, I've seen all I wanted. Not much I must say! For a death eater, your mind is just full of shite and groveling at his feet and some more shite. The only interesting information is the headquarters' location. I'll just have to make do with it. You're wondering why you're unable to speak is it?" The death eater frantically nodded unable to voice his thoughts, fear and panic gripped his heart as he struggled against his shackles.

"Oh! Bloody calm down now. It's just a spell, maybe dark, just to temporarily disable your speech. You know, my past few guests had a habit of begging and pleading, and it drove me nuts. As much as it's still possible. Well, you do have another use for me. It's simple really, you just have to return to Malfoy Manor. Why, you'd ask?" Hermione pointed towards the bubbling container, "See there? that's Nitroglycerin. What's that? Let's just say it's something that can blow up your precious Lord's minions. I'll probably just use you as a carrier. How? I'm glad you asked. I've magically duplicated your main arteries and veins and they're still not pumping anything. I just have to pump in some Nitroglycerin, keep it in stasis below 50 degree Celsius, dissolved in acetone. I'll also add some Gunpowder in stasis inside your body. Once you're at the Manor, I've set the trigger, so as soon as you have a Crucio or Avada Kedavra thrown at you, the acetone will vanish, and a warming charm will warm your duplicated arteries and veins to above 50 degrees... And kaboom! End of story. Awww… Don't look so gloomy, I'm not too cruel, you won't remember a thing. Just like past few days. You want to know how? Here...'OBLIVIATE'"

Hermione finished removing his memories of the day. It had become a routine for her, repeated exposure to the obliviate charm caused his brain damage beyond repair. His mind was now perfect for the imperious curse, just a few days of waiting for the combustible liquid to stabilize. Muggle chemistry is so interesting, and it'll be undetectable by the Malfoy Manor wards. The Dark Lord would be angry enough at Avery, just any high-powered curse will do the trick.

The Burrow

Multiple healers from St. Mungo's had visited Fred, however, there wasn't anything that could be done for his situation. Everyone in the house knew he had a fate not very different from the Longbottoms at the Janus Thickey ward of St. Mungo's. The curse that hit his twin George had put him in a coma, however, the healers were able to fix most of the injuries and it was only a matter of time when he'd wake. Meanwhile upstairs Harry and Ron contemplated the situation.

"Harry, you can't let it affect you so much. You said it yourself, professor Dumbledore and you are working on something secret to defeat You-know-who." said Ron as Harry sat brooding over the past week's events. "It's not that Ron! And his name is Voldemort! You might as well start saying it. I'm worried about the last two Horcruxes we have to hunt. Dumbledore says one of them could be at Gringotts. We don't know which vault or even if it's truly there."

"Can't believe V.. Vo..ldemort made 7 horcruxes. Did Hermione know about these? She might tell Him if she did. You reckon she's working for Him know?" said Ron with distaste towards the witch whom he had a crush once.

Harry replied with a frown, "I don't think he'll recruit her. She's a muggleborn, convict or not, he won't tolerate them in his ranks. Besides she had no skill above 5th year, Ron. I think she might be hiding on her own. Even I thought she might have joined the Death Eaters, but knowing Lestrange and Malfoy, they won't allow her to join them." He had really been thinking back to his birthday gift and the note with it. He knew it was Hermione who sent him that and it hurt him even more that she thought he was a traitor, when it was her who acted like a monster she was. Dumbledore convinced him of her guilt, so she must be guilty. He has never been wrong before, it must be a darkness she hid from the beginning. Ginny, Ron and even Mrs. Weasley had convinced him of her guilt. She has to be guilty, Ginny caught her in the act. It must be true...

"Mate! Harry! What happened?" Ron's voice got him out of his musings. "Nothing mate, just thinking back on some stuff. Come on, I'm hungry, let's get something to eat."

4th October, 1997

It was the first Hogsmeade weekend for the Hogwarts students this year. Almost everyone was looking forward to it considering the dark events of the past month. Ginny was practically beaming with the thought of going down to Hogsmeade with Harry, her first date of the year. Ron's relationship with Lavender hadn't lasted long past their 6th year. He decided to take a stroll down towards Honeydukes, where he saw a beautiful girl with blonde hair and a pale white face smiling at him. She winked at the redhead as she left the shop. Easily enchanted by her beauty, he sought after her, knowing full well she wasn't a Hogwarts student. Maybe she's from the village. Be as it may, she trailed slowly outside the village into the fields that accompanied the village. Ron, never really having an acute sense for any lurking danger followed her into the fields as they reached a large tree that shielded anyone from view. He caught on to her as he panted from waking so fast in the cold weather. The girl had his back to him all this time as he spoke.

"Excuse me miss! I haven't seen ya around here before. You are pretty beautiful though." The girl smirked and turned towards him. As she was turning her features started morphing. Ron was stunned to see the beautiful blond locks turning dark, the eyes from a light hazel to a malicious purple with a slight glow. The beautiful unmarred face turned to one with old scars. The terrifying thing was the face was of a witch he long ago fancied, and now detested.

"Awww.. thanks Ron! I never knew you found me beautiful!" with that her smirk twisted into a much more malicious grin.

Same day, somewhere in Wiltshire

With glazed eyes Avery was portkeyed to the gates of Malfoy Manor, the portkey self-destructed bringing Avery out of the haze and realized where he was. Unknown to his altered anatomy, he realized he must have escaped the Order somehow. He went through the wards and the gate into the Manor. As he reached the entrance, he was taken to the dining room where his master and few other death eaters except Bellatrix, Greyback, Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy Sr. and Rookwood sat. They had been out on a raid with few lower rank Death Eaters and had yet to return back.

"Come Avery, it's been quite few days since I gave you the mission." the Dark Lord spoke with a hiss, a slow smile gracing his features. "My Lord, I.. I apologize. I was captured by the Order. I gave them the slip and I'm here now my Lord." He trembled with his recent failure and could see the fallen body of Hogwarts Muggle studies professor lying lifeless on the table.

"You know, I don't tolerate incompetence Avery, I gave specific orders to vandalize Diagon alley and report back, yet you had to take the Weasley boy and cast the dark mark at the Burrow." an annoyed look crossed his face as his eyes glowed scarlet. "While I appreciate the initiative, I don't appreciate disobedience. Come forward."

He couldn't quite comprehend what his Lord meant, he was captured since the attack. He hadn't done any of which his Lord accused him. As soon as he started speaking, "My Lord, I.." a loud voice bellowed through the dining hall, "SILENCE! I Will Not tolerate insolence. CRUCIO!"

Just as the cruciatus curse hit Avery, the trigger in his body tripped and suddenly his body glowed red from inside, and the explosive mixture running through his veins detonated as it mixed with gunpowder once the stasis charm was removed. The instant explosion caught everyone off-guard and most of the Manor was blown to rubble. Everyone excluding Voldemort and Nagini were dead, the snake and the Dark Lord himself looking worse for wear. In an instant he had lost almost all of his loyal inner circle and most of his wizarding army. He'd have to now rely on the few giants and the werewolves. As he got out of the rubble a singed piece of parchment with a shabby scrawl dropped into his hands which read, "With Love, Harry Potter!" The bane of his existence had once again struck him where it hurt the most, thankfully Nagini was resistant to such attacks being a horcrux herself. He would end the war one way or another.

"HARRYYYYY... POTTERRR!" an inhuman scream bellowed across the destructed wing as Voldemort apparated with Nagini back to Riddle Manor in Little Hangleton.

A/N: Apologies for the late chapter, please R&R.

It seems Hermione is using the age-old Brit tactic of divide-and-conquer. I know, the chemistry got a bit heavy, and if anyone with a chemistry major is reading this, please pardon me for any mistakes. I'm a major in IT, so my chem knowledge isn't quite up to date, and I've taken quite a bit of creative liberty with the whole liquid explosive, you could say it's about 50% accurate, which is more than enough. This is fiction after all.

Do let me know how you liked it or what aspect you liked or didn't.

Cheers!