the_debt_of_time

Mia grimaced. "There are different types of bonds?"
"What?" Sirius looked down at her with a raised brow. "Of course there―"
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
Mia froze on the spot, her eyes wide and frightened at the sight in front of her. She
gripped Sirius's hand like it was her lifeline and silently began wishing that she was back in
1998, the day after her nineteenth birthday, where she and Sirius were safe and alive.
Sirius glared ahead at the young woman that stood before them. "Bella."
The woman looked much the same as Mia recalled, though younger. Her black hair
was as thick and shiny—just missing the streaks of grey. She shared the sharp, angular
features that appeared to be a Black family trait, and her hooded eyes were identical to what
Mia remembered of an older Andromeda.
Sirius narrowed his eyes. "I'd say it's good to see you, but since your very appearance
makes me want to Scourgify my eyeballs―"
"You are pushing your luck, little cousin." Bellatrix sneered at him. "You dare come
here, step foot inside this house after everything you've already done?"
Mia wrapped her arms around Sirius's bicep, clinging to him tightly as the word
"Crucio" echoed in her mind.
"And you've brought a Potter as your date?" Bella's stare fell on Mia, and she scowled
at her with a look of hate that did not exactly rival the one an older Bellatrix gave to a
young Hermione Granger before setting the Cruciatus Curse upon her.
"It's tradition, didn't you know?" Sirius smirked defiantly, apparently unafraid of the
woman whom he had witnessed torture her own sister. "The official bridal-bonding with
blood-traitors. It'll bring the happy couple wonderful luck for their marriage. Lots of
blessings, many sons, blah, blah, blah.. ."
Bellatrix took another step forward. "You are nothing but an insolent little blemish
on an otherwise perfect Noble House."
Mia looked up at Sirius's determined face and then turned to stare at Bellatrix. She
remembered seeing an older Bellatrix with a bound black dog hovering behind her, cackling
with glee.
"I've just caught myself a wayward blood-traitor. Sirius Black, back from the dead."
Something lit inside of Mia at the memory, and she felt herself reaching for her
wand.