To See Justice Done
By: ChoCedric
She hates Voldemort, hates the Dark Arts and anything to do with them. The year is 1980, and he and his Death Eaters are becoming more and more powerful. Everyone around her calls the demon You-Know-Who, and she does too when she's in public, but in her own home, she only ever calls him Voldemort.
She doesn't think her hatred of him can stretch any further, but it rises to a deafening crescendo when her sister and almost her entire family are killed. Susan only survived because she happened to be babysitting her at the time. Even though she's consumed with grief and anger, she knows she now has a responsibility - to take care of this precious little baby girl.
She's been working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for a while by now, and she tries her hardest to see that justice is done. She knows she's harsh on the Death Eaters that are caught, but every time she looks at the smirks on their faces, she sees four pairs of sightless eyes staring at her, the eyes of her murdered family.
And then, suddenly, it's all over. Voldemort is defeated, defeated by a tiny baby boy who's just about Susan's age. Amelia can hardly believe it, it's mind-boggling! Her heart wrenches with sadness at the loss of Lily and James, knowing that yet another child has been orphaned in this stupid war. But at least it's the last one.
When she agrees for Sirius Black to be thrown into Azkaban without a trial, though, she doesn't feel quite right about it. Half of her heart is filled with rage, feeling that this madman should never see the light of day again, but her sense of fairness and justice permeates the other half of her. What would her sister think of her now, to know that she might have condemned an innocent man to a fate worse than death? But he didn't look innocent! the other half of her screams. He was in the middle of the street laughing like a maniac, Amelia! What could scream guilt better than that?
She and Susan live in peace for about thirteen years, but then she starts seeing signs again, signs that all is not right with the world. It starts with the Quidditch World Cup, when the remaining Death Eaters reappear and the Dark Mark is spotted. Amelia feels nothing but horror. How can this be happening again? Lord Voldemort is supposed to be dead, defeated!
But she remembers something Dumbledore said back when the war had ended. "Lord Voldemort is not entirely dead," he had told her somberly. "He is in exile, biding his time. He will return." Amelia had not thought much about it at the time - what was the sense in worrying about something which, in her opinion, didn't look very likely? But now she's realizing that Dumbledore may be right.
And when she finds out that a teenage boy, one of Susan's good friends to boot, Cedric Diggory, came out of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament dead, she knows it for sure, and it's not just because of Harry Potter's claim. The signs had been there all year. When Susan arrives home from school, she holds her close as the young girl cries for her lost friend. "It's not fair!" she wails. "It's not fair! He was so good! He didn't deserve this!"
And Amelia agrees. She didn't know Cedric, but trusts her niece's judgment. And Lord Voldemort takes the best of the best from the world. Cedric Diggory is no exception.
She has now become the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. When she sees young Harry at his trial, looking haunted and guilt-stricken, she knows he's telling the truth when he talks about the Dementors, simply because of the look in his eyes. No one could lie about Dementors with that expression on their face. She's disgusted by the fools at the Ministry trying to discredit Harry and Dumbledore. Open your damn eyes! she screams inside her mind. The truth is staring at you, and you're not seeing it!
And finally, at the end of the next school year, the truth becomes known. Harry and Dumbledore were right all along. Lord Voldemort is back.
And her whole body goes numb as she finds out another truth.
Sirius Black is dead ... and he was innocent.
She barely has time to think about how her anger and rage at the time let her agree with the decision to condemn him to Hell for twelve years, because her door is suddenly blasted open and none other than Lord Voldemort stands in the doorway. "Amelia Bones," he says softly, a sinister smile gracing his face. "My, my, my. You are a fool."
And Amelia fights him with every fiber of her being, fights him until a spell catches her off-guard and she's lying paralyzed on the floor with a wand pointing straight at her chest. He doesn't even look human as he sneers at her, and Amelia sees her life flash before her eyes. She sees her sister and her family staring at her, sees the face of her niece who's currently over at a friend's house (thank Merlin, thank Merlin, thank Merlin, she thinks.) She sees the face of every Death Eater she's sentenced, sees the faces of others who have lost loved ones because of this monster.
So, as Voldemort utters the most vile of curses, she sends up a prayer to everyone, but especially to her lost family, to Cedric Diggory, to Harry Potter, and ... to Sirius Black. As the green light whizzes towards her, she can only hope that those she loves will think she's lived the best life she could, that they will forgive her for the wrongs she's done.
And then it hits her, and Amelia Bones exits the world, her last act of defiance, of wanting to see justice done, complete.