The survival of Amelia Bones was not just a personal victory; it was a strategic earthquake that sent shockwaves through the entire wizarding world. Voldemort's plan had been simple and brutal: eliminate the single most competent and incorruptible figure at the head of the Ministry's law enforcement. With her gone, the DMLE would have been thrown into chaos, leaderless and vulnerable, allowing his Death Eaters to operate with near impunity.
But the plan had failed. Amelia Bones was alive. And she was furious.
The next morning, she left Susan in Ariana's care, a silent, profound trust passing between the two women. "Keep her safe," Amelia had said, her voice hard as flint. "I have a Ministry to cleanse."
She returned to her office not as a politician or a bureaucrat, but as a warrior. The near-death experience had burned away her last vestiges of patience for Fudge's political maneuvering. She was the Head of the DMLE, and she was going to war.
Declaring a state of national magical emergency, she invoked wartime powers that superseded Fudge's authority. She bypassed him completely, not that he would have fought her at all, her first act to order a full, uncompromising sweep of her own department. Every Auror, every clerk, every assistant was brought in and forced to take the Honest-Citizen Loyalty Oath, as it was now being called in the inner circles. The three Aurors who refused were arrested on the spot. The mole who had leaked her travel plans was exposed and captured within hours.
The purge was swift, ruthless, and brutally efficient. Any Ministry employee with known Death Eater sympathies or family connections found their careers suddenly, irrevocably over. Those who had been coasting on Malfoy's old influence found themselves under intense investigation. Amelia Bones, her natural Hufflepuff tenacity now honed to a razor's edge, was tearing through the corrupt infrastructure of the Ministry like a badger through rotten wood. The wizarding world, for the first time in a year, saw its government finally, truly, fighting back.
Meanwhile, in the quiet sanctuary of Ariana's London flat, a different kind of education was taking place. Susan Bones, a girl known for her quiet demeanor and loyalty, found herself with a front-row seat to the workings of one of the most brilliant minds of the age.
She watched in awe as Ariana prepared for her N.E.W.T.s. It was not the frantic, last-minute cramming Susan was used to seeing at Hogwarts. It was a calm, methodical, and deeply intimidating process of pure intellectual synthesis. Ariana didn't just review subjects; she deconstructed them, found the connections between them, and formulated new theories that went far beyond the scope of the curriculum. She would spend an morning mastering the complex spell-work of advanced Charms, then spend the afternoon writing a flawless treatise on the alchemical properties of the same spells.
Susan, still shaken from the attack on her home, found a strange comfort in Ariana's unshakeable logic. One evening, she confessed her own feelings of helplessness. "They were so powerful," she whispered, her voice trembling at the memory of the Death Eaters. "I just… froze. I don't know how to fight people like that."
Ariana looked up from a complex chart of trans-species Transfiguration. "Fear is a logical response to a mortal threat," she said calmly. "Freezing is an inefficient one. The key is not to eliminate fear, but to channel it into a predetermined, practiced protocol."
And so, alongside her own N.E.W.T. preparation, Ariana began tutoring Susan. It was not like Harry's D.A. lessons. It was a highly concentrated, one-on-one course in practical, logical defense.
"Your shield charm is adequate for deflecting minor jinxes," Ariana told her during a practice session in the magically expanded study. "But against a curse with concussive force, it will shatter. You must learn to angle it, to deflect rather than block. It is a matter of physics, not just power."
She taught Susan how to analyze an opponent's stance, how to predict their next spell, how to use the environment to her advantage. She was not just teaching her spells; she was teaching her how to think like a fighter, a strategist. For Susan Bones, who had always been a good, steady student, it was a revelation. She was receiving a level of personalized combat training that would have been the envy of a senior Auror.
The days passed in this strange, productive rhythm. In the evenings, they would be joined by Hermione and Daphne, who would bring their own research updates on the spaceship project, their conversations a dizzying blend of magical theory, advanced physics, and pure-blood politics that left Susan utterly spellbound. Midnight lazing in one corner of the room, watching calmly.
Finally, the week of Ariana's N.E.W.T.s arrived. Sirius, looking proud and paternal, came to collect Susan and take her to Grimmauld Place for the duration. "Give 'em hell, Ari," he said with a grin.
Ariana walked into the examination hall at the Ministry alone. The proctors, ancient and stern looking wizards from the Wizarding Examinations Authority, looked at her with skepticism. A sixteen-year-old attempting all twelve N.E.W.T.s? It was unheard of, no matter who it was.
Seven days later, she walked out, leaving a room full of stunned, speechless examiners in her wake. She had not just passed. She had redefined the very concept of mastery.
With her formal education now officially, and spectacularly, concluded, she returned to her flat. Her results would arrive in a few weeks, but they were a foregone conclusion. Now, she could turn her full, undivided attention to her true projects. The war was heating up. The Horcruxes were waiting. And the moon, silent and distant, beckoned. The quiet time was over. The real work was about to begin.