Bella was picking herself up off the floor wondering what the hell had just happened, the dazed witch shook her head trying to clear the ringing from her ears after being slammed into a wall. She had heard her aunt's portrait speaking to the strangest house elf the pureblood witch had ever seen, when Bella had noticed the Potter coat of arms on his uniform she fired off a curse at the creature.
The little bastard actually had the audacity to move out of the way and then fire a curse at her; Bella was so surprised she didn't even react hence coming round on the floor with a sore head. What was the world coming to when a house elf not only tried to dodge your curses but actually fought back, they were on her masters list for annihilation anyway but Bella would ask the Dark Lord if she could deal with that one personally.
Bella was going to have a chat with her aunt's portrait to find out what else had changed while she had been away when two groups did the imposable and portkeyed into the most noble and ancient house of Black. She adopted her usual tactic of a spread of three killing curses that would hopefully hit a few but at least scatter them, forcing her opponents to seek cover.
As soon as Luna had confirmed there was nobody behind them she shouted 'clear' and they went into full attack mode, as the green killing curses came rushing towards them she levitated furniture to block their path. Sirius was doing the same job for the other group allowing six people to rain down spells and bullets on their target, Bellatrix might be good but nobody could stand up to that barrage.
The female death eater didn't have time to register her astonishment at the tactics being deployed as Bella was too busy trying to stay alive, she dived onto the floor and her momentum slid her along the recently polished surface until she hit the double doors of the dining room.
Jumping up Bella frantically attempted to apparate but discovered to her dismay preventative wards were already in place so was left with no choice but to enter the dining room as the doors were destroyed just as she got clear. Bella felt something tear into her left elbow with such force that it spun her round, this was probably not a bad thing for the death eater as two reductor curses whizzed by where her head and chest would have been the second before.
The pain being emitted from her now useless arm was excruciating but Bella had quickly come to realise that if she didn't get out of here she wouldn't feel pain ever again, these were not ministry aurors out to capture her using nothing stronger than a stunner - these people wanted her dead and had the skills to achieve their goal.
The death eater had been in enough fights to recognise this battle was only going to end one way unless she got out of there in the next few seconds.
Amelia had grabbed everyone available to her upon receiving Harry's call, he told her they were working on a timescale measured in minutes so the minister had to trust they knew what they were doing. Tonks, having been brought back into the Black family by Sirius, was able to see the house but not enter it until invited by him. The metamorphous was in charge of setting up the perimeter and anti-apparition wards, Sirius would create the portkeys that would take their group inside the house and Amelia's task was ensuring the bitch didn't get away.
This proved easier said than done as glass suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forced her team to take cover, the flying glass was closely followed by a truly terrifying sight. Bellatrix Lestrange was considered the wrong side of crazy on a good day, this was probably not one of her better days as she swooped down amongst them loosing blood from the side of her head while her left arm looked to be hanging off at the elbow.
She was sending off killing curses in all directions and the aurors were left scrambling for cover as she raced right through them until reaching the edge of the wards, she apparated with only one thought in her mind as her left forearm dropped onto the pavement.
Bellatrix Lestrange had escaped for now but nobody would be asking her to lift up her left sleeve as it would be empty, they weren't quite sure if she'd splinched herself or if there just wasn't enough tissue left holding the arm on during apparition.
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