the_debt_of_time

"Gran, do you remember Mia Potter?" Neville asked.
Augusta looked Mia over carefully and then, as she eyed Sirius at Mia's side, the
pieces seemed to fit together for her. "Dorea's girl. Your parents were lovely people," she
said matter-of-factly. "Yours―" She glanced to Sirius. "—were wretched."
"Agreed," Sirius said with a chuckle.
"Mum," Neville said, taking Alice's hand. "Someone's come to visit you. Old
friends," he added quietly, tossing a smile of appreciation to Hannah, who beamed back at
him with love in her eyes.
Alice turned and looked wide-eyed at Mia, who immediately broke under the empty
gaze of her friend and fell to the bed next to her.
"Oh, Alice, I'm so sorry.. ." she cried, burying her face in her hands, unable to
look at her friends in such a state, knowing that she should have done something to stop
this from happening. Jamie and Lily were one thing—Harry needed to be protected—but
she could have stopped Alice and Frank from being tortured.
"Uh... Hermione?" Neville whispered.
Mia looked up, glassy-eyed, into Alice's vacantly smiling face. Alice blinked rapidly,
her gaze darting back and forth as she reached for empty sweet wrappers. She handed three
to her son.
Neville frowned, looking down at the wrappers in his hand. "Sorry, guys... she
does this."
"I remember." Harry inclined his head. "What does it mean?"
Neville shrugged. "Her way of giving me a gift? She scratches at the papers, though.
Healers used to think that she was trying to communicate but the only letters that she'd
leave behind were 'i', 'a', and 'm'. We tried asking her, 'I am what?' but nothing ever came
out of it."
"Holy fuck.. ." Sirius whispered and ignored the scowl that Augusta gave him.
"She's not spelling out 'I am', Are you, beautiful?" he asked Alice, grinning at her. "You're
spelling 'Mia.'"
Alice hummed at him and then turned her head toward Mia, widening her eyes
further.
"It can't be that simple," Mia whispered.
"What?" Neville was asking, looking terrified. "What's wrong?"