the_debt_of_time

"Mia!" Sirius snapped. "You almost used an Unforgivable! Are you at all
comprehending the severity of the situation? Do you know what would have happened
had you succeeded?"
"They would have died," Mia admitted, still not looking at him.
"Yes! They would have died, and you would have killed them!"
"We're at war."
"We are not," Sirius said, looking shocked by her admission. "There is a war,
but we are not soldiers. Mia, you almost crossed a line―"
"That's your problem, Sirius!" She turned her eyes on him, growling. "You still think
there is a line! Dark magic, Light magic... It's not all black and white. You can kill a person
with a Severing Charm—that we learnt as first years. Magic is grey!"
"Fine," Sirius conceded, "but we weren't in battle, Mia. It was a fight. An unfair
fight, I'll give you that, but the Carrows weren't even marked Death Eaters―"
"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters, Sirius. If the people I love
are attacked, I will do what I need to stop them. Or avenge them. Some people are
irredeemable," she said, thinking of Future Remus's letter. "Some people just can't... can't
be saved."
Sirius reached up and took her face into his hands. "I'm not trying to redeem or
save them. Screw them all. I'm trying to save you," he insisted and then pulled her into a hug.
The moment her arms wrapped around his neck she burst into tears, letting the
cigarette between her fingers fall to the ground as she wove her fingers together, holding
him close as she wept.
"Mia, please don't let anger consume you," he pleaded with her. "I know it's hard.
I've been there, I'm... I'm there too often, myself." He sighed and ran a hand against her
hair consolingly. "You can't take lives without consequences. Don't end up like them.
You're not a killer. Promise me you won't do anything like that again. Azkaban is a better
punishment for Death Eaters than death."
Mia pulled away and frowned, her eyes clenched tight. "Azkaban might not always
be a permanent punishment. What happens if they—?"
"Escape?" Sirius snorted in amusement, looking at her as though her lack of sleep
had forced her to lose all common sense. "Mia, you can't escape Azkaban."