the_debt_of_time

Chapter Eighty-Three

Missing

It is a calcifying crime, it's tragic

I've turned to petrified past life baggage

I want to disappear and just start over

So here we are

(Hercules - Sara Bareilles)

August 24th, 1978

By the time Sirius and Mia entered Tuts Tower, she had created a cold stone wall,
blocking all emotions from her expression. She walked into the room with her head held
high, and Sirius could see Dorea standing there in Mia's visage, a look that both fed his
heart and terrified him at the same time. She had neither screamed nor cried. Mia had barely
acknowledged him when he informed her that Remus was missing.
Word reached him through Moody, of course, and an Order meeting was called.
Despite knowing that Mia was supposed to be left to the sides, Sirius knew he needed to
bring her. Remus was not only her best friend, he was a part of her. As much a part of her
as Sirius himself was. Unfortunately, the second she erected that cold barrier of
indifference, he began regretting his decision to include her.
"She has found a beautiful balance between the bravery of a Gryffindor and the self-preservation
of a Slytherin," Dorea had once told him in regards to her daughter.
Sirius wondered what other traits Mia had picked up from their rival House. He,
more than anyone, knew what it was like trying to find that balance. The bit of himself that
was pure Gryffindor struggled against the Black blood in his veins, and that made him rash,
reckless, and often left him riding a fine line between sanity and fury.
Mia had a habit of doing one of two things when faced with a threat: either, like a
Gryffindor, she would bravely face it head on, with a wild and sometimes violent temper;
or, like a Slytherin, she would seem completely in control, calm, and indifferent, so that her
target would not even realise until it was too late.