Brave. Loving. Passionate. These are a few words that can be used to describe Amelia Bones.
The Bones family, as many readers will undoubtedly know, is a proud wizarding family that can trace both accomplished wizards and Muggles through its lineage. Active members of the Order of the Phoenix, the family is no stranger to wartime tragedy. During the first wizarding war, the now esteemed Susan Bones’s grandparents were slaughtered personally by Voldemort and Death Eaters took the lives of Edgar Bones, their eldest son and uncle to Ms Bones, as well as his wife and children.
Years later, Amelia Bones would join the growing list of deceased family members.
‘It was awful,’ Susan said recalling the day she found out about her aunt’s death. ‘I was gardening with my mother during the summer holidays when my father came home, devastated, with the news. He had planned a visit to her house the very day that the Aurors were called after reports of a disturbance in the neighborhood.’
Followers of the drama surrounding Amelia Bones will remember that the illustrious Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was killed in her own home. A later investigation found that it was Voldemort himself that cursed her with his specialty, Avada Kedavra. There were signs of spell damage from two different wands to the house which suggests that Amelia, a known duelist, had held her own against the Dark Lord.
Before her death, Amelia was a beloved member of the Ministry of Magic. After gaining many accolades during her time at Hogwarts, the ambitious Ravenclaw student went to work at the DMLE straight from Hogwarts.
‘She was one of the greatest witches of our time,’ said co-worker Arthur Weasley and former Order of the Phoenix member. ‘She butted heads a lot with her Department Head [Bartemius Crouch Sr.] but they respected each other. Oftentimes it was just the two of them working late into the night during the first wizarding war.’
It came as no surprise when the hardworking Amelia was chosen to replace Crouch as head of the department. Many in the Ministry viewed her as a logical replacement for Minister of Magic, a likely reason for her targeted murder.
But more than a public servant, Amelia was a loving aunt.
‘She never hesitated to help me,’ Susan said. ‘Growing up she was always happy to talk to me and have me over for tea. After the first war, our family had gotten so small and I had lost all my cousins. My parents didn’t want to have any more children so she was the only family we had left. Her loss, it was hard on all of us.’
But for many, Amelia’s death inspired others to fight harder. During 1996, Susan’s sixth year, a multitude of students flocked to the growing student group Dumbledore’s Army, dedicated to the bringing about the fall of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Amelia Bones’s death, and the death of other family members, served as a rallying point for members of the DA to keep fighting for those who could no longer.
This tremendous witch fought for us in life and after death.
In Her Honour
Amelia Bones