Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or anything in their magical world. These characters and their world belong to the talented J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.
The air was crisp and Amelia was relieved to finally be out of the Ministry. So much had been happening since the return of Voldemort had been confirmed. The Ministry was in total disarray and she was being forced to work overtime, like all other Ministry employees. Never mind that she had believed Harry Potter in the first place.
She could still remember the day of his trial. If you could even call it a trial. Had any other Hogwarts student been involved there would have been little to no action taken. That travesty was designed entirely to hurt that poor boy. However, he had been a charming lad, clearly nervous, but charming just the same. It hadn’t taken Amelia long to realize why her niece talked so frequently about Harry Potter.
Summoning a bottle of Firewhisky from her kitchen, she settled down on her porch. With the return of Voldemort the future was bleak. She feared for Harry, but more than anything she feared for her young niece. Susan was a warrior, like the rest of her family, but she was not ready for a war. However, if a war was brought to her doorstep, she would not turn her back on it. It was not in Susan’s nature to walk away, especially considering this little crush she had on Harry.
Already her young niece had joined an underground Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Susan didn’t think she knew about that, but she knew. She made it her business to know. Susan was her family and she was going to do whatever she had to in order to keep her young niece safe.
Sipping her drink, she tried to think of a rational way to approach the situation. She knew the Ministry was working everyone to exhaustion; but in the end, they weren’t really doing anything. They were only trying to appease the public. They didn’t have a clue how to go about stopping Voldemort, and sadly, neither did she.
“I would have expected that you gave up alcohol years ago,” a familiar voice drawled from behind her. “After all, Firewhisky was the reason you ended up in my bed all those years ago. Or at least, you claimed it was.”
Sitting her glass down, she turned to stare into the cold eyes of Severus Snape. She had never planned to see him again. There was no reason for him to be arriving at her house.
“What can I do for you, Severus?” she demanded briskly, refusing to draw attention to any of his comments.
“You could leave town,” he suggested, studying her intently.
“And why would I want to do that?”
“I may have been a mistake to you,” he muttered, not meeting her eyes, “but you weren’t a mistake to me. The Dark Lord is looking for you. You have been deemed a threat. Amelia, he will kill you. He plans to do it himself. You have to leave”now.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she told him, coldly.
“Why are you so stubborn?” he demanded. “Do you want to die?”
“Would you care if I did?”
“Of course, I would care. If I didn’t care I wouldn’t be here. The Dark Lord does frown on his slaves warning his victims.”
“I’m not leaving,” she told him. “This is my home. He will not drive me out of it. I don’t even know what he would want with me. I am no specific threat.”
“The details were not given to me. All I know is that he wants you dead. Let me stay with you.”
“No.”
“Why won’t you let me help you?”
“You would die for sure. Your master would kill you, if he even knew you were here. You said so yourself, he wouldn’t approve.”
“I don’t care what happens to me,” he snapped. “I care what happens to you. That night may have been meaningless to you, but it wasn’t to me. I have watched you for years. I have always wanted that night to be a reality and then you finally gave me what I wanted. You know me, Amelia. You know how hard it is for me to admit to something like that.”
She did know how hard it was for him. Therefore, she decided that she owed him the truth.
“That night wasn’t meaningless to me,” she told him, taking his hand. “You’re not meaningless to me. I care what happens to you. I pulled away from you because this is not the time for a relationship. We cannot afford to be distracted.”
“I will always be distracted by you.”
“Don’t be,” she said sternly. “Go home. If we both survive this war, we’ll talk about this again. In the meantime, I am staying right here.”
He looked as though he would argue, but in the end, he simply disappeared with a loud pop.
*
Time passed and Severus continued to worry about Amelia. He saw her at Order meetings, but she acted as though their conversation had never taken place. Stubbornly, she continued to behave as though nothing was amiss and he could not stop her. All he could do was worry from the sidelines, which he did. He would always fear that she would be lost to him forever. One night with her was simply not enough. He wanted more.
Staring into the fireplace in one of the Dark Lord’s home, he heard a loud pop behind him. He did not bother to move. It would be another Death Eater. He had no interest in pointless chatter with fellow slaves.
“Snape,” squeaked the annoying voice of Wormtail. One of the inescapable Marauders.
“Leave me be,” he muttered.
“The Dark Lord requests your presence,” he went on. “There is to be a celebration tonight.”
“And what, may I ask, are we to be celebrating?” he asked, still staring at the fire.
He didn’t particularly care about the answer. He was in no mood to celebrate some pointless feat. He wanted to be left alone with his misery. Working on both sides of the war was becoming tiring and in that moment, he simply wanted to be left alone.
However, after a few moments, he realized that the rat had failed to answer his question. Turning to face him, Severus knew something was wrong at once. Pettigrew stared back at him with fearful eyes. It was clear that he didn’t want to tell Severus what had happened.
Jumping to his feet, he grabbed the rat-like man and pulled it close. “What happened?” he snarled.
“Our master has succeeded in killing a powerful enemy. Amelia Bones is dead.”