All right folks! the long awaited tenth chapter! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. This is a little bit of a cliffhanger, but not really. So have fun reading!

Chapter 10

Death Eating

Ron's Pov

He had heard yelling downstairs and had run down to see if Ginny and Hermione were okay. He was met on the stairwell by a mediwizard in complete panic.

"Oh Merlin, they've come to finish them off! Oh!" he had spotted Ron. "Got a wand? Good. Go help! I've got to get all the patients to safety… no I've got to alert the others… no, I've got to go help, no wait your doing that. So what are you standing there for? Hurry up!" and before Ron could ask what was happening, the man had fled down the hall.

Ron was greeted with complete chaos as he finished his flight to the ground floor. At least twenty death eaters were assembled in the waiting area. They were fighting assorted people, including Ginny and Hermione, two nurses, and an old witch who seemed to be hitting one over the head with a handbag.

He and the other four visitors who had come to see what was happening quickly joined in. Ron however was impeded by a very distraught manicured witch, the same Eavan Williams who had given Harry her telephone number not an hour ago.

"Oh, my hero!" she cried, jumping into Ron's arms. "You have to save me!"

"Damn it, this is not the time!" he very unceremoniously dumped the girl on the ground where she began screaming like a drunken banshee. He ran over to join in the fight.

They were out numbered, but not very badly. However, the death eaters fought dirty, well if you could consider "dirty" as using about ten illegal curses every few flicks of the wand. Two of them were down, but they had already taken out six hospital workers, four of which weren't breathing. And of course, the other hospital workers kept trying to get in and administer first-aid to the fallen, which, though sweet of them, was making it very hard to walk anywhere.

The old woman who's purse was used as a lethal weapon was fighting Pettigrew, so that accounted for why she was not yet dead as well.

Hermione and Ginny were back to back, very much the trained duelists. They were clearly doing well, one of the fallen death eaters at their feet. The three other death eaters fighting them were all bleeding, though the same could be said for the girls. Ginny's hair was slowly soaking with red liquid, and Hermione's forehead was bleeding, dripping crimson into her eyes and mouth.

Ron would've liked to get over there, but too many death eaters stood between them. He raised his wand to face his first opponent. "Oppugno!" he shouted, birds sprouting from his wand. They began attacking the death eater. He flicked his wand lazily, slightly overconfident. Now, the real fighting would begin.

"Avada-"

"Protego!" the death eater stopped the curse before casting it, knowing it could easily rebound. Ron had only seconds for his next move. In one solid movement, he dropped the shield and pointed his wand at the death eater, thinking, levicorpus. The death eater rose into the air, suspended by one ankle. His wand dropped out of his hand.

Ron rushed forward to face the onslaught of death eaters. It was clear that they were losing. If they didn't get some help soon, they would fail. Ron tripped over a medi-wizard kneeling next to a fallen comrade, trying to patch up his wounds.

"Get up and help!" Ron shouted at the wizard. "We need help fighting! It doesn't matter how many holes you patch up if the death eaters keep ripping out new ones! Protego!" a death eater had sent a curse at him. He hoped that the mediwizard would get the message and start fighting, but he could not stay and see. There was too much going on to stay in one place for too long.

He faced his next opponents, two witches, there faces hooded. But under one hood, Ron caught a glimpse of white hair. He didn't doubt that this was Narcissa Malfoy. He would bet that the hood of the figure next to her would reveal the dark tresses of her sister, Bellatrix Black.

Ron couldn't help but feel scared. He had rarely faced opponents of this skill level, and never two at the same time. Though he hated to admit it, the sisters were incredibly accomplished magical duelists.

He had only seen Narcissa fight once, and Bellatrix twice. The first time was at the Ministry, when Sirius had died. The second time, they had been battling together in one of the many fights against the Order.

He raised his wand shakily.

"Aw, look," crooned Bellatrix. "It's little Harry's friend. One of the ickle Weasley's"

"I suppose he didn't learn from that brother of his," simpered Narcissa. "Dear Percy, such a good little puppet."

Ron had known that Percy had been under the Imperius curse at the time he died, but he hadn't known that these two had been the ones who cast it. The information didn't upset him as much as the pair hoped it would, trying to goad him into making a stupid mistake.

But he wasn't stupid- or at least, if he was, he could control himself. He stood there and took what they threw at him, but after a couple of petty insults, they grew bored with the game.

"Enough of this Cissy," sneered Bellatrix. "Shall I?" and with out hesitation, she yelled "Avada Kedavra!" And everything went black.

"Looks like he's awake."

"Shh, Ginny, don't wake him up!"

"He's already waking up, don't be stupid."

"Both of you shut up! How are you doing mate?"

Ron opened his eyes. He was in a clean white hospital room. Harry was standing next to his bed. Ginny and Hermione were sitting on the edge.

He tried to sit up, but Hermione quickly stopped him. "You'll make it worse."

"I'll make what worse?" but his question was answered a second later when he felt a surging pain in his back. He cringed. "What happened?"

"You were lucky actually." Ginny spoke up. "That death eater you had levicorpused, he had gotten his wand back. He sent a Sectum Sempra at you just a second before Bellatrix's killing curse hit. Basically, you got knocked down by Sectum Sempra and the death eater in the air got hit by Avada Kedavra."

Hermione walked over and started fluffing his pillows. "You should be all right after a day or two in the hospital. You'll have a massive scar on your back though."

"I feel like something the cat dragged in, ate, coughed up, and left to rot for three days. Anyway, what happened during the fight?"

"And thank you Ron, for putting it in such graphic terms for us," Harry said, wincing. "Well, we had quiet a few casualties on our side. Only three death eaters down. And they were all dead, so we couldn't exactly ask them what they had come for. What I want to know is, why didn't you come and get me?"

"No time mate, or I would've." Harry turned around. It occurred to Ron that he was seriously upset that he didn't get to join in the fight. Typical Harry, to be upset about not participating in a deadly struggle for your life.

"So," he decided to change the subject. "Lupin any help with, you know, the letter?"

"Well, I couldn't really tell him much. Dumbledore didn't want many people to know." Harry paused. "I did ask him, you know, since he had been around Voldemort's werewolves for so long, if maybe he knew of some important item of Voldemort's, but even I knew it was a stretch."

"Well," said Ginny, "it was asking a bit much. I mean, in his condition, and all."

"What are you talking about?" Ron heard the confusion in Harry's voice.

"Oh, well, didn't you know?" she looked around, seeing the bewilderment in everyone's face. "Well, when I was in hiding, our secret keeper would sometimes get news… but now that I think of it… it doesn't make much sense does it/ I mean, they were supposed to be in hiding themselves…" she trailed off, just as confused as the rest.

After a second, Harry continued, "well, anyway, he didn't know anything, so we're still stuck. Nothing to go on."

"Wait a second," Hermione broke in. "We do have something. If I could just go to the library, I might be able to see… but no, I'll have to make do. Harry, where's that letter?"

"Why, what do you need it for?"

"Because, Dumbledore wouldn't just leave that letter. He would have had some way to tell you what the horcrux is. And, unless I'm wrong, the answer is in that letter."