Chapter Six: The Dark that Stains

Bring your armies against me my love

Infiltrate me with your spies and

Implicate me, all lies

The world's not out to get you my love,

I know it feels that way sometimes

Yet you don't need an army by your side

Fill your head with guns and bombs

Don't take too long, take too long.

Fill your head with guns and bombs don't take too long, take too long.

Moments after George's confession, Hermione awoke, terrified, before remembering Severus was there. She looked around her surroundings, noting they had drastically changed, and it was George, not Snape, who guarded her sleep. He looked at her, his brown eyes meeting her own worriedly. "Y… you're awake. Blimey, n… never thought you would."

"I thought it was a dream. All a dream." Her words ended in a choked sob as George moved to hold her.

"I know, I'm so sorry, 'Mione."

She looked at him a moment before continuing, "I heard you." He gulped visibly and reddened.

"Musta been the charms or something. I haven't said a thing…"

She looked at him sadly. "Pity."

He stared at her in surprise. "Whaddaya mean?"

"I had the biggest crush on you in school."

"What? Why?"

"You were always so nice to me. Even when Ron and Harry were mean to me in first year, you were there. Remember meeting in the library each night? All the times we'd sit and you'd help me research assignments…" He nodded sadly and looked at the bruise on her face.

"I wanted to kill him when I got there. I hated him. I hated my own brother, wanted to kill him. What the hell does that make me?"

"I don't know."

"I… I should go. This isn't right… you're upset and hurt and you don't know what you're saying…"

Her eyes widened in terror. "Please don't. I'm so scared of being all alone…" Nodding, he moved to sit on the edge of her bed, and the pair talked until she fell asleep.

Fred curled himself into a ball, his back against the brickwork as he rocked, his eyes never leaving the still form of his younger brother. "I killed him… I killed Ron." He looked up at Harry without seeming to see him. Severus moved to him, handing him a small bottle.

"Drink this, Fred. It'll take the pain away." Nodding, the red haired man swallowed down the mix, his rocking slowing until finally he slept. "How is Miss Weasley?" Harry by now held the sobbing girl in his arms, soothing her as best he could.

"She'll be ok."

"Minerva, we need to get them to Hogwarts, now. Get the floo powder."

"No! It can't be true, it can't!"

"Ron's dead?" George sat heavily upon Hermione's bed, freckles standing out against his deathly pale skin. "How?"

"Killing Voldemort. 'Mione, he wanted me to tell you… that he was sorry. He loved you." The girl sobbed, falling against George's chest as grief washed over her. For his part, Ron's older brother sat silently, offering what comfort he could. Albus and Harry walked from the room, deeply shaken.

Molly and Arthur Weasley walked slowly into Hogwarts, Charlie and Bill following at a distance, heads bowed. The body of their youngest son lay in some unnamed funeral home, and it was time to see their living family. Molly clung to her husbands jacket, as though terrified he was about to leave her as well, but straightened herself as Albus neared them. "Molly, Arthur, I am sorry for your loss…" he began before falling silent. There was nothing that could be said to ease the pain, and all present knew it. Moments later, Albus continued, greeting the Weasley sons before moving on with the conversation "Perhaps you should speak to Severus and Minerva before you go in, it may answer your questions better than your children can. Unfortunately, though not surprising, neither are handling the death well." Nodding, the group followed Dumbledore into a small room. Inside, Severus and Minerva sat stoically, eyes downcast. Neither spoke. "Molly and Arthur are here to speak with you."

The pair looked up, devastated, and Molly sobbed brokenly. "What happened? Please tell me what happened…" Minerva whimpered softly, and thus Severus related the tale, straightening and focusing his gaze upon the back wall of the room.

"Voldemort possessed Ron, though we were all unaware of it. That is the cause of his drastic shift in behaviour. He kidnapped Hermione, and we went to rescue her with Mister… with Harry and Ginny. There was a setback, and when Fred and George arrived, we made use of their offered services. Ron, Voldemort, used the Crutacius on Hermione, she was seriously injured but George was sent to bring

Hermione here, which he did. He did not witness what happened next. Voldemort used the same spell on Ginny, though Harry disarmed him. He began taunting us all, but Ginny stood up to him, giving us time to regroup. She took him by surprise; he was too shocked to do anything…"

"She stood up to him and called him a mudblood…" Minerva added, a hint of pride mingling with the sadness in her voice. "If it weren't for Ginny, we may all have been killed. You should be most proud of her courage."

"We used Crutacius…"

"We?"

"Harry, Fred and myself, and eventually, Ron emerged. He informed us that if he died, Voldemort would die with him, and begged Harry to kill him. Harry couldn't, wouldn't. It wasn't his choice, as Fred pointed out. It was a choice for the Weasley's, and Ron had made his choice. His siblings followed his lead."

"Who… who killed him?" Severus began to say it was him, but Minerva cut him off.

"Fred killed him, Molly. I'm so sorry."

"He killed his brother?! How? How could he kill Ron?" Molly wailed, hysterical.

"How dare you," Minerva bellowed, eyes hardened with fury. "You think you're feeling pain? Fred just committed an act that will haunt him for the remainder of his life, and you're angry at him? Ron had a choice, a horrible, horrible choice. No matter what happened, he would die, Molly. He would die if Voldemort left his body, and would die if he didn't. He chose to die a hero rather than a casualty, and Fred allowed him that final dignity. He killed his brother rather than let him suffer indefinitely at the hands of Voldemort, who had full and utter control of his body. Voldemort was torturing him, Molly, by raping and beating the love of his short life. There was no way Ron could survive, think about that before you go in there and inflict another hell upon that poor boy's shoulders." With that, she stormed from the room, the regretful sobs of Molly no comfort to her.

Severus stood stiffly and began to walk from the room, turning to look at the mother once more before he left. "You've already lost one son today, Molly. For the love of God don't let Fred go. He needs you." He was gone before she could reply.

Severus stalked down the hall, a mask of anger firmly in place. A light tap on his shoulder, however, got his attention, the mask slipping away without notice. "Mister Weasl…George… to what do I owe this surprise?"

"I heard what you told my parents just then… I just wanted to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Why did you call us by our first names? You never have before."

Severus paused before answering. "Too much has happened for there to be such formality, don't you agree? And after all, with all the Weasley's involved, the story would be quite confusing…" he eyed the boy almost warmly, a wry grin flickering over his features.

"So… did he really die a hero?"

"I have seen many heroic acts, Lilly Potter for example, and Ron's death shall be remembered with Lilly's. We were fortunate enough with Harry to have a Boy Who Lived. We all thought, all expected, it would be he who finally defeated Voldemort, and that he would continue to live on afterwards. But your brother was unfortunate enough to become trapped in the Dark Lord's web. My best guess is that he was targeted in order to hurt Harry emotionally, but Ron was stronger than Voldemort ever thought he could be. And now he is dead, he has died a martyrs death, but he has, with the help of your twin, saved the wizarding and muggle worlds. For the rest of time, people will remember him as a hero who died to save us all." George turned and walked away. Even his new found respect for the Potions Master wouldn't allow a tear to fall in the man's presence. For his part, Severus was also grateful… for all the same reasons.

Authors Note: Yes, I know that it took forever to get the rest of this story up. SORRY!! I'd list the reasons, but I doubt you'd all believe them! Anyway, yes, I know there are some obvious questions raised: for example, why have George run when he could floo? Easy. They needed the noise to be shocking enough to bring Ron running, unprepared. The sound of someone saying 'Hogwarts' would give him warning. But if she was seriously hurt…? Yeah, yeah, I know, but Sev has been Potion Master for ages, so surely he'd have at least some Medi-Witch training, seeing as he had to deal with idiot students for a living, and the dungeons are far from the infirmary. And yes, I know how sentimental it got in parts, but then, it builds towards the next instalment. It's still in the works, though, sorry! Being at uni, I haven't gotten to write as much as I wanted to. Hopefully, though, it will be posted much more often than this was. Once again, sorry for that.

More importantly, though, THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! They meant so much to me. I was going though my email on a bad day, and read through and absolutely loved them all! You all rock! Thanks for the feedback!