Ever since the age of two, Leila Cambridge had wanted to fight.
Her father was a top Auror and was constantly battling in the war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Then, when Leila was seven, You-Know-Who fell and she lost the chance to fight. Though she thought it horribly selfish, she was disappointed that she didn't get the chance to battle.
Things were quiet in the years following He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's downfall, yet Lelia still desperately wanted to be in the line of fire. She thought there was nothing nobler than to lay down her life, and die if necessary, to protect future generations.
Lelia went through her years at Hogwarts as a Hufflepuff, working hard and studying her arse off to become an Auror. Many of her Professors were skeptical that the small Hufflepuff would be brave enough to go up against some of the most horrible witches and wizards out there, but, as Lelia would always say, Gryffindors weren't the only ones who were brave.
Lelia proved herself to be quite fearless during Auror training where she was first to volunteer to fight the older, more experienced men and women who were top in their profession. She did visit St. Mungo's quite often because of her chivalry, but she didn't mind. Fighting was her art, and if she had to suffer to achieve perfection, she would.
She graduated top of her class at the Auror academy. She was more than ready to move up from her low rank to the higher ones, so she could go on more dangerous missions.
Lelia actually did manage to earn herself a spot in the elite Auror group, just as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned.
Positioned at Hogwarts to ensure the safety of the students, Lelia was a bit antsy. Nothing exciting happened there.
Yet, on a very hot day in June, Leila and her fellow Aurors were told that the Headmaster would be stepping out for a few hours and to look for any suspicious activity.
Leila thought nothing of it. There had been instances like this all year long, and nothing had happened at all.
She patrolled the corridors, sighing at the familiar sights. The History of Magic classroom was still dull, the hallways still had white walls and yellow tile, still filled with the screams of students-
"Wait," She said out loud, "Why do I hear students screaming?"
Leila ran towards the noise, and found a red-haired girl desperately shouting curses at the two death eaters that were advancing on her. Bright lights flew at the teen and she dodged them, with what only Leila could assume was sheer dumb luck.
She felt a rush of euporia, because this was what Leila had been waiting for her whole life. She ran towards the girl and joined the fight, nearly getting hit by a stunner. With a wave of her hand, just as her father had shown her, one man was hanging by his ankle, and the other mute.
The teenager looked up at her in amazement. Leila raised her eyebrows and said quite loudly, "Are you daft? Run!"
The girl stared at Leila for one more moment, perhaps wondering why she sounded more happy than panicked. Once the girl was out of her sight, she brought the man hanging from the rafters by his ankle down, and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus."
The man went rigid and fell straight backwards, with a comical thump. Lelia laughed, briefly forgetting about the mute man for a moment. She was reminded when a sharp pain tore a muscle inside her wand arm. She moaned in pain, not exactly sure what he'd done to her. She tried to Stun him, but she couldn't raise her normal arm so she tried with the other. It hit him; not in the chest as she intended, but she felt better when he fell to the ground anyways.
Now, starting to feel a bit panicked as she realized that real Death Eaters were in Hogwarts, and no student was safe. This wasn't a game anymore. She had to alert her colleagues immediately.
She found Tonks outside the Great Hall, battling a Death Eater. Leila screamed, "Expelliarmus!," in an attempt to disarm him, but as her other arm wasn't as skilled as her wand arm it missed and bounced off a lantern, shattering it into a million pieces which seemed to snow on the wizards and witches fighting.
Leila ran to another hallway were she found a rather chubby boy and very dreamy looking girl fighting off Rosier, a man who's picture was up in her office. She knew it was him because his mask was off; it seemed to be cracked in half on the ground. Leila growled as the man sent a rather nasty binding curse on the girl, the rope tied so tight around her she looked as if she couldn't breath.
"Avis!" Leila shouted, and this time could not miss because a flock of angry birds flew out of her wand at Rosier's head, pecking his face apart. He screamed in agony and fell to the floor, the birds still mauling him quite viciously.
Leila reversed the biding curse, and the girl looked as if she could breathe.
"Take her to Madame Pomfrey, boy!" Leila barked, as she spotted Kim Josten struggling as two Death Eaters who were shooting a never-ending fountain of spells at the painfully new Auror, who had only started her job only a month ago. Sprinting over to her, she joined in.
It was like a dance, dodging and shooting, both sides skilled at their craft. Kim seemd to do better with Leila at her side, and was now successfully wearing down the enemy. She had even managed to throw in a healing spell on Leila's wand arm so she could now shoot out jinxes with more precision.
It seemed as if the two Aurors had the upper hand, until Kim got hit with a blindingly green light. She fell to the ground, crumpling up into an ungraceful ball. Death seemed to radiate off of her.
Time seemed to be suspended for a moment for Leila. A girl only two years her junior was gone, just like that. Leila just stared at the witch, who if she had only moved an inch over would not be dead…
She had known many people who died in her line of work, of course. Her mentor had been killed a few months previous. But nothing was as terrible as watching someone die. Nobody had told her, nobody had warned her that it would be so horrifying, so devastating.
Nobody had told her it was like the world crashing down on top of you and refusing to get up.
Quite suddenly, Leila was on the ground, thrashing on the cold ground in pain. She looked up to see the same man that had killed Kim was the one torturing her. Through her pure anguish and grief, Leila wondered why she even wanted to fight at all. Dying for a cause, seemed foolish now, because she was so young. She hadn't even had the chance to marry or to become a mother.
She could see her life flashing before her eyes. Her mother was playing hide and seek with her. The place where she was going, her mother could never find her. Merlin, she hadn't even said goodbye to her mother.
Leila could see her father now. He had been dead for years but she could his see his face clearly. He was laughing and saying, "Maybe one day, my little Leila will learn to eat cake without getting some on her nose." She never had.
She moaned with agony as her ribs started snap from pure tension. It was her younger sister's face she saw next, asking to borrow her sweater. Leila regretted saying no…
"AHH!" She shrieked. Her best friend's voice was in her ear, "If you fight Leila, you'll die."
'Your going to die, Leila,' was her last coherent thought.
Soon, the pain was over, and the man who stood up above her laughed cruelly.
"Avada Kedarva,"
For Leila, there was nothing.
The Moment She's Waited For All Her Life by wewillmissyou
Chapter Notes: [I orginally posted another story for this challenge which got rejected. I am not going to resubmit it because I like this story better. So if there is any problems please feel free to contact me].
The Alternate Universe is really slight, because it mentioned there was no deaths in HBP on Harry's side (besides Dumbledore).
I would like to thank my lovely beta bluemoon13 for all her excellent help!
J.K. Rowling is the author of the century. I pale in comparsion.