Minerva McGonagall set the table in her small flat beneath Gryffindor Tower. She placed a flower on the place-setting across from her own.
An extended trial at the Wizengamot had kept Amelia too busy to visit for more than two months now, and the month before that had seen Hogwarts students sitting their exam, with Minerva busy minding her students and unable to break away for a weekend. After three months apart, Minerva needed to see her. Her quiet summer of research and occasional missions for the Order seemed too quiet and lonely without Amelia.
Minerva glanced at the clock and twitched her wand. The standard clock-face transformed, melting away to reveal a family clock underneath. Minerva's hand pointed to "home", as did Amelia's. Minerva sighed. Maintaining two separate homes grew frustrating at times, but both of their jobs required constant, sometimes round-the-clock attention. Plus…. well, in some regards the wizarding world was no better than the muggle one. It was easier, in many ways, to continue their lives as two old maids, dedicated to their careers. And if they spent the weekends and more than a few weeknights (the fireplace in McGonagall's apartment connected to the Floo network, which made instantaneous travel easy, even if they couldn't apparate in or out of Hogwarts), it was nobody's business but their own.
Minerva checked on the roast grouse in the oven. Another 10 minutes and it would be ready. She looked at the clock again. Amelia's hand still hovered over home. Minerva frowned. They had planned for Amelia to come over by 7 and already the clocked ticked toward 8.
Amelia's hand on the clock quivered. Minerva smiled and looked to the fireplace, waiting for Amelia to appear.
But the thin clock hand spun straight past "travelling." It shuddered to a stop, and Minerva's heart froze right along with it.
Mortal danger.
Minerva didn't think. She stuffed her hand into the jar on the mantlepiece, grabbed a handful of Floo powder and flung it into the flames. She stepped into the fire before it even had the chance to flare green. "Wifflepuff Warren," she commanded. Her Hogwarts flat vanished and she burst out of the fireplace into Amelia's living room, wand raised.
Whatever had happened, happened fast. Mere seconds ago, the clock showed Amelia safe and at home. Now her home was in ruins, furniture destroyed and scorch marks on every wall, radiating out from behind the kitchen table.
"Amelia?" Minerva called, moving slowly into the room. Her eyes darted around. For all she knew, there could still be Death Eaters here. "Love?"
She didn't see anyone. She moved toward the epicenter of the blast point. "Amelia!" she screamed, dropping to her knees. Amelia's eyes stared up at her, frozen in the terror of death. "No," Minerva begged, clutching Amelia to her. "No, no, my love." A sob tore through her and her wand fell from her fingers, rolling away across the worn linoleum. It bumped against the wall and Minerva looked up, eyes drawn to Amelia's family clock. Amelia had always been less cautious than she; her clock stayed a family clock all the time, rather than disguising itself as a traditional clock. Of course, Amelia didn't have the risk of students knocking on her door, looking for a cuppa and a sympathetic ear.
It barely looked like a clock anymore. The face had shattered and pieces fell in chunks across the floor. One piece still hung in the frame, with Minerva's hand pointed to home. Minerva looked away.
A solid pounding noise erupted from the door. "Ms. Bones. Police, open up!"
Minerva got to her feet and wiped the tears off her cheeks. Muggle police. She couldn't be here. She picked up her wand. "Esconde magia."
The spell rippled across the house. Broken pieces of the clock transformed, locations replaced by numbers. The pictures hanging on the wall and sitting in frames on Amelia's bedside table froze, flat and motionless as any muggle photograph. Spell books on the shelf shifted, the lettering on their spines rearranged into banal, non-magic titles.
Flames still flickered in the fireplace, although the fire had almost burned down. Minerva pinched Floo powder between her fingertips. She looked at Amelia one last time as she backed into the fireplace and was whisked away home.
Tears stung at her eyes as Minerva emerged from the fireplace in her own flat.
In her kitchen, Amelia Bones was pulling a burned grouse from the oven to set on the counter. She heard Minerva cough, breathing in ash from the fire, and turned. She was at her side before Minerva stepped from the fireplace. Amelia reached for her, and Minerva wrapped her into her arms.
Minerva's lips quivered. She had seen Amelia's body. Moments ago, she'd held her lover's corpse in her arms. Yet here she was, safe. Alive. Real. In her arms and in her home. "You're here," she murmured.
Amelia nodded against her chest, head tucked under Minerva's chin. "I am," she said. "I had… got a tip today at the Wizengamot that the Death Eaters might come for me. I didn't have a lot of time to put my contingency plan in place, to make it look like any attack against me succeeded."
Minerva clenched her arms tight around Amelia's body, pulling her to her in a fierce embrace. "I… I just saw your body."
"I'm so sorry you had to see that," Amelia whispered. She turned her face up to kiss Minerva. "I'm alive," she reassured her. "I'm here, love."