A/N: This piece was done for a newts500 challenge.
Amelia"A terrible loss... She was a great witch."
--Albus Dumbledore
o0o
Madam Amelia Bones stalked out of her fireplace, glaring through her monocle and cursing the Ministry up and down. Memos, meetings, useless lists, departmental posturing... stupid mindless politics. If it were up to her, they'd be offering classes in battlefield first-aid, self-defense, and home-front mentality, special legislation for underage combat spells, junior Auror training, alarms in every home so no one could be taken by--
surprise--
There was a soft pop behind her. And a scream.
She whirled, flinging an Anti-Apparition Jinx at the sound. A robed figure, splinched almost in half by her Sneak Wards, reeled against the wall. Firing the same jinx at the most likely corners, she knocked the sofa over, exploded one of her lamps, and caught another splinched Death Eater in the act of Apparating.
She raised new wards, dealt with the legless man's blood loss, then headed for the fireplace to Floo HQ.
The wards went down. Green fire swirled on the hearth.
The unauthorized entry activated another trap spell. The mantle stones shivered into keen shards, all pointing inward, tipped with poisons drawn from the very air. With a horrible puff, the fireplace imploded and the Death Eaters' screams faded as the Floo Network pulled them away. Somebody on the other end was going to get a nasty shock...
Unfortunately, destroying the fireplace also cut her off from the Aurors.
She turned to the front door just as a powerful blast from outside almost demolished it. The locks held, but the hinges started to give.
"Mobililibra!" An enormous bookcase shot across the room and slammed into place over the doorway. Ragged pages fluttered in all directions.
Amelia Bones renewed her wards and collapsed in a chair, panting from the effort.
Then she stiffened. The wards had vanished. Her breath caught sharply. They'd been broken with such terrible ease...
The tip of her wand danced, renewing them. Once more they were carelessly stripped away.
A tall figure Apparated in absolute silence. He flicked his wand lazily, and one of the bound Death Eaters was jerked into the path of Amelia's Killing Curse. The man never had a chance to scream. Another flick disarmed her with such force that her chair fell over backward.
Rising behind the ruined chair, Amelia Bones centred her prize antique flintlock and shot Lord Voldemort in the chest.
He staggered back, then stood straight, lowering his hood. The red eyes bored into hers, and she snarled at him, bringing all of her hatred and frustration into the forefront of her mind.
His voice was like a snake's.
"Foolish woman... did you doubt that I had taken precautions against such a puny attack?"
"You're uglier in person," she spat.
"And you," he whispered, "are less formidable..."
Blood spattered the walls of the locked room. The high, cold laughter filled her ears and the last thing she thought was that it wasn't fair, but she'd done her best and nobody would be able to say that she'd gone out without a fight.
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