Ron hurriedly slammed the door shut behind him. That wouldn’t hold them for long. He cast a strengthening charm on the door and as many locking charms he could remember. It would have to be enough. He swiveled to look around the room. The foyer was dark and musty. Ron didn’t know why Hermione had come to this house and he didn’t care. All he knew was that he had felt it when she was injured. Had known when she cried out even though he was miles away.
“Hermione!” he cried out in the silence. He heard the sound of spells being cast against the door. The Death Eaters were trying to get in. Ron frantically ran further into the house searching for Hermione. He saw the body of a Death Eater at the bottom of the stairs and spared him only a glance. He stepped over the carcass and walked up the stairs. “Hermione, where are you?”
Ron listened desperately for any sound that might give away her position. He clutched his wand tightly and wiped the blood from his left hand on his robes. When he had Apparated here he hadn’t expected quite so many Death Eaters to be outside. They had just been standing outside laughing and talking. Ron couldn’t clearly remember what happened after that because he had lost it. Hermione was injured and possibly worse, and they were laughing.
“Hermione!” he called out again. The desperation was thick in his voice as he clambered up the stairs.
“Ron.” The voice was weak, barely a whisper, but Ron heard it and ran. He ran as hard as he could to the source of that voice; to his Hermione. He burst into the room and paused for a second. The body of Draco Malfoy lay across the doorway. On Draco’s face was an expression of wide eyed shock. Goyle’s corpse lay not far away missing the lower half of his torso. And there on the bed lay Hermione.
Ron leaped clear across the room and clutched her. Her eyes were halfway closed and a small trickle of blood streamed down the side of her face. Ron caught his breath at that, but then his hands felt warm where he was touching her and he looked down. A dark liquid had seeped through the side of her robes. He carefully pulled it aside and swore violently. The wound was big and she had lost a lot of blood.
“Hermione, it’s me, I have to get you out of here,” he whispered to her gently. Her eyes opened a little more and recognition flooded her face.
“Ron…I…I thought Malfoy wanted to switch sides….it…it was a trap,” Hermione managed to say before erupting in a coughing fit. Ron noticed that her cough brought up more blood and he knew he didn’t have any time to waste.
“It’s ok, don’t speak. I’ll get us out of here.” Ron scanned the room, not knowing what to do. The house was shielded against Apparating. The Death Eaters had done that as soon as he locked himself in. He would have to fight their way out. Ron gently laid Hermione back down on the bed and went over to Draco’s body. He searched around it and found Draco’s wand. With one last glance at the man who had tried to kill Hermione or worse he kicked the lifeless figure and turned back to Hermione.
Ron knew he couldn’t fight with Hermione over his back. He had no hope of actually carrying her through the crowd of Death Eaters outside. He had two options. He could either escape and bring help or fight them on his own. Ron shook his head silently. He would not abandon Hermione here for as long as it took to bring help. He would have to fight them on his own.
“Time to see if those DA sessions paid off,” Ron whispered to himself. He looked down at Hermione. Her eyes had closed completely and her breath was ragged. He did not have much time.
“Hermione,” Ron leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I love you.” Ron waved wand and muttered the incantation “Phoenicia Rosa”. A beautiful red rose appeared in his hand. He laid it down next to Hermione and turned around to face the door. “I’ll be right back, Hermione.”
Ron closed the door behind him and locked it. He cast a Glamour spell on the door so that it disappeared and seemed to be part of wall. He heard the crash which meant the front door had given way. If he remembered correctly, there were seven Death Eaters outside when he had apparated here. Ron thought he might have killed one on the way in. So that left six. He steeled his jaw and lifted both his wand and Draco’s. They would not get past him. He stood like that in the narrow corridor and waited.
The first Death Eater bounded up the top of the stair and skidded to a halt staring wide eyed at Ron. None of them had on their masks so Ron could see clearly his expression turn to one of surprise at finding Ron standing there waiting for them. Maybe they expected him to be hiding somewhere. Ron fired off the Diffindo curse at that face and sent the man flying back into the stairs. Five left.
A flash of green light arced over the stairs and ran the distance towards Ron. He threw himself against the wall as it whizzed by. The Avada Kedavra curse, they were not playing either. Suddenly two more Death Eaters ran up the stairs and began firing curses at Ron. He quickly put up his shield and used Draco’s wand to cast Expelliarmus at the first one. The Death Eater dodged it easily and sent a beam of red light straight towards Ron. It penetrated his Shield and pierced his side. Ron gasped but he did not stop his attack.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” He levitated the first Death Eater just as he saw the second one begin to cast the Avada Kedavra at him. He moved the levitated killer in front of the curse. He saw the green glow hit the body but kept it between him and his assailant. Switching wands he blasted the Sectum Sempra curse through the body of the dead floating Death Eater and towards the other one who was trying to get a clear shot at Ron. It impacted and Ron saw him fall lifeless to the floor. He threw the levitated corpse down the stairs and put his hand to his side. It wasn’t that bad and there were three more. Ron barely had time to register the scrape behind him and duck before the sword nearly took his head off.
He swiveled and saw a Death Eater he thought he recognized from Hogwarts. No matter, he jabbed Draco’s wand as hard as he could into the belly of the killer and shouted “Accio Spine!” He heard the gasp of the boy he remembered growing up with as his spine cracked and shifted trying to go to the wand. The man began to cry as the pain hit him and Ron held onto him as he looked around for the last two Death Eaters.
“I...I don’t want to die.” The man sobbed. Zabini, that was his name. Ron had no sympathy for him. Hermione lay dying in the next room and he needed to move fast. He released the man and let him fall to the ground. Ron peered around the hallway. Two more left.
Ron tried to listen as hard as he could over the sounds of the crying Death Eater. There. He heard the footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway. Ron could not see in that direction but maybe he could draw the man out. He levitated Zabini and flung him the length of the Hallway. Hermione, I’m coming. Ron steeled himself as he saw a shadow move to avoid being hit by the flying Zabini. He fired a stream of arrows from his wand in that direction, a grim smile on his face. Funnily enough, the arrows came from Quidditch as the supporters of the Appleby Arrows were fond of firing arrows out of their wands to celebrate goals. It wasn’t done anymore but someone who knew Quidditch as well as Ron did would know how to do the spell.
He heard the thud as a few of them hit their target and saw the body fall. A wand rolled down the length of the corridor towards him and stopped just short of reaching. One more to go. Ron wiped the sweat from his eyes and stood there in the middle of the hallway. Nothing. No noises, not even a whisper. Ron imagined he could hear Hermione’s ragged breathing from here.
Ron waited but nothing happened. The last Death Eater was somewhere, but didn’t seem to be advancing on him at the moment. Ron glanced around nervously. Every second wasted here brought Hermione closer to death.
“Show yourself, you murdering scum!” Ron shouted at the shadows.
“Like you’re so much better, you Blood Traitor.” Ron swiveled to stare at the eyes of Lucius Malfoy. In a split second Ron flew back across the corridor as he saw a red light hit him high in the chest. He crashed into a desk and slumped to the ground. He couldn’t breath and he felt the warm blood gushing from the wound in his chest. Hermione.
“You and your family and friends, denying the power of the Dark Lord.” Lucius Malfoy advanced on Ron’s struggling form, a sneer of pure evil adorning his face. “My son had learned eventually that you cannot fight against the Dark Lord. That you must do as you are commanded to. Greater will be my glory that I could sacrifice my son to the Dark Lord’s cause!” Malfoy stopped and kicked the wand he saw lying next to Ron away from him.
Ron looked into his cold grey eyes and with every ounce of strength that he had left lunged. I’m coming Hermione. He plunged Draco’s wand into Lucius’ left eye and shouted “Accio Sword!” He then fell to the floor from the exertion as the sword swung by Zabini earlier catapulted across the room to embed itself in the head of a screaming Lucius Malfoy.
With a silent thump, the body of the last Death Eater fell besides Ron. As he did, Ron felt the anti Apparition wards melt away around the house. He pushed himself off the floor and to his feet. He picked up his wand as he stumbled towards the room Hermione lay in. After he removed the Glamour from the door and pushed it open, he looked at the prone form of the woman he loved.
She still breathed, but it was shallow and Ron could barely see it. He crumpled on the bed next to her and put his arm over her body.
“I’m here, Hermione, I did it. We’re going to make it.” His hand felt the rose he had conjured earlier and he held onto both it and her tightly as he began to Apparate the both of them to the Lobby of St. Mungo’s. The words she had drilled into his head making him smile a little as he said them out loud.
"Destination . . . determination . . . deliberation."