i defenently did not save at this point

Try exiting the game completely, restarting it and reloading your save.


the last autosave was way back at the ministry

You don't have any recent manual saves?


Someone reported a bug that allowed them to get through locked doors (Big Bug in the Game.... (or Big way for Ghosts), though I don't know if that would allow you to dodge the attack. I assume you've already tried reloading a few times to see if you could pause the game, heal or Rush Attack out of the way of the fireball?