This was the day she had been waiting for. She stood on the porch of her family's home as the large tawny owl swooped out of the sky clutching her NEWT results in its leg. Amelia Susan Bones didn't have a doubt that she would receive her 10 NEWTs but still her stomach was in knots and she was nervous. Her brother Edgar wasn't even paying attention to the second owl that was carrying his OWL results. He never carried as much about his grades like Amelia did, but she still managed to always keep up with her. The owl dropped the letter on her head and she almost fainted as she picked it up in her trembling hands.
Carefully she opened the letter and read her results. "YES!" She hollered into the morning light. Her mother came running out of the house and Amelia turned to look at her. "I got all 10 NEWTs. I am going to the Ministry." She said collapsing in her mother's arms. They were both crying and laughing. She had set goals in her life and this was only the second one and she had achieved it.
For her whole life Amelia wanted to be an Auror, she never played with dolls or rode a toy broom with dreams of being a famous Quidditch player. She stayed indoors reads the books about famous dark wizards and witches. She had mug shots on her walls. There malevolent faces scowling down at her daily just drove her harder and harder. She jogged 5 miles every morning and always ate correctly. She even took muggle kung fu lessons just to be as deadly with her hands as she was with her wand. She was the youngest witch to be the president of the dueling club and she was the reining champion, being beat only by Professor Dumbledore himself.
She had been all business since the day she was born and now she had the NEWTs she needed to enter into Auror training.
Breakfast was a subdued event. After the big party last night it was a unsettling silence around the table. Her brother was ignoring her completely, and it was getting to her, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his childish behavior.
It wasn't her fault that he only got 7 O.W.L.s, but then he was more artistic and he cared about other things that his studies. He was still just as smart as Amelia and there were times he could out duel her. But their father expected nothing but the best from his children, and seeing Amelia's 10 NEWTS and Edgar's 7 OWLS had put her brother in the dog house according to their father.
She didn't like being upset with her baby brother. She reached out a hand and gasped his. He looked up meekly at her and smiled. She gave him a warm smile before she withdrew her hand. There they were friends again.
Their father breezed into the kitchen. "Ready Amelia?" He asked as he wiped at some lint that clung to his robes. She looked up and saw that he was wearing his plum robes.
"Is there a trial today?" She asked excitedly.
"We just have some proceedings I need to preside over." He pulled himself up to his full height of 6ft 6. Karden Bones cut a very impressive and imposing figure. He seemed to ripple with power and energy when he put on his Wizengamot robes, especially when he hung his Chief Warlock chain around his neck. Amelia loved her father so much. He was always her favorite. She nodded and stood up and gather her robes and her bag. She kissed hero brother on the top of his wheat colored hair and pecked her mother on the cheek and followed her father over to the fireplace. She watched him step in and vanish.
"Mom I might be home late some of my friends want to go out tonight," She called before she too stepped into the fireplace and vanished. Her mind was all over the place as the fireplaces whirled around her.
The Ministry had always been a favorite place of hers, she could remember when her father would take her to work and she would sit on his desk and watch him work. He wanted to be an Auror, but his vision prevented him from making it through the training. She came to a stop and walked out of the fireplace. She was wearing the green robes of a Auror in training. Her father was already gone, and she was alone to take in the majesty of the Ministry.
Hundreds of wizards and witches were heading to work or going to the various Ministry offices for help or with questions. She stepped into the flow of traffic and she let it carry her to the elevators.
"Amelia!" She turned around at the sound of someone screaming her name, and the whirlwind that was Frank Longbottom. Amelia jumped into her best friends arms and hugged him tightly. He set her down and linked his arm through hers as they walked onto the elevator. "Well I supposed you got all of your NEWTs?" He asked as the gilded doors of the elevator slid close.
"As if you would be here if you didn't get all nine of yours." She told him as the disemboweled voice of the elevator called out the various floors and offices as they descended into the very bowels of the Ministry.
"Well I would have taken Ancient Runes but I was never good in that and when I only got a A in my OWLs I just didn't want to put myself through all that again," he said as he bounced nervously in the elevator. Frank was always like that, in class he would tap his quill against his desk. Amelia used to count the number of taps he could get before the bell rang.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open to a corridor. "Level 2" said the voice. Frank and Amelia smiled at each other as they stepped off. They turned toward Auror office and they saw a few other wizards and one witch about their age waiting outside the office. Amelia recognized the girl. She was a Ravenclaw, she smiled at Frank and Amelia. Frank seemed to go red around the ears.
"Who is that?" she whispered to Frank. He didn't seem to hear her, so she nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.
"Thats um Alice Prewett," he said blushing as she looked at him and then looked away. Amelia would ask him about that later when they went out to that muggle pub in London she had heard about. They looked up as the door to the Auror office opened. Amelia had to blink as they looked at very stern looking witch glared at all of them.
"I am Lucretia Black, I will be your instructor for the next three years. Now you may come to hate me or love me, but you will respect me." She walked up and down the row they were sitting on and dared any one of them to disagree with her statement. "And if you survive this training you will become an elite wizard known as an Auror. This is not child's play, as most of you have worked hard in school to received the necessary NEWTs to even enter into this training." She pulled out a roll of parchment. "Amelia Bones," Amelia stood up and nodded. "Frank Longbottom," Frank stood up and nodded. Her face softened as she called the next name. "Alice Prewett," the girl stood up and nodded. "Hugo MacMillian, Theodore Tonks, likes to be called Ted, and Casper Crouch." The last three boys stood up and nodded as their names were called. She looked over all of them and rolled up her parchment. "And so we begin," she grinned like the cat who got the milk. She turned and walked down the hallway to the door marker 'Auror Training.'
Amelia's heart gave a leap as she followed down the corridor to the next chapter in her life.
They walked into a darkened room, not even the light bouncing off her locket reached into the room. Amelia and Frank both pulled their wands and had them at the ready when Amelia felt something brush past her. "Stupfy!" she shouted her wand tip burst forth with a jet or red sparks with the strength of her hex.
The lights came on so suddenly and brightly that many of them staggered under their brilliance.
"All of you but Amelia are now dead," came the stern voice of Lucretia Black. Everyone's eyes fell to the floor to see what Amelia had stunned. It looked to be another wizard. "You all walked into a darkened room and only two of you drew your wands." her voice rang out. "And only Amelia had the wherewithal to fire a spell." they couldn't see her but they saw where her voice was coming from. A glass partition that ran from the floor to the ceiling. "It is always better to ask forgiveness than permission. Even if she had been wrong it would have been simple to apologize to the unlucky person to fall under her wand, but if this had been a real life or death situation all but her would dead." She said the last word with such force they all shuddered. She waited a heartbeat before she spoke again. "You all need to understand that we aren't hunting down underaged wizards flying brooms over a muggle town. We aren't chasing witches crossbreeding venus flytraps with mandrakes. We are hunting down some of the most vile and power wizards in the world. They would sooner kill or torture you than be captured." She let her words sink it. "This is not child's play. So get serious about it. Target practice!" She finished with a shout.
They all jumped as suddenly the room was filled with cloaked figures. Amelia didn't need to be told twice as she took down two of the figures before anyone else even drew their wands. Frank and Alice were right behind her.
Behind the glass Lucretia looked on. A rare smile fluttered across her face as she looked at Amelia. "She is going to be great," she muttered to herself as she made a note in her chart.