the_debt_of_time

"Do you not remember it?" Pandora inquired, confirming the fact that she knew
where and when Mia was from, at least vaguely. "You should drink juice made from
jobberknoll feathers. Unless you've ingested Swooping Evil venom. I don't know the cure
for that."
Mia frowned. "My memory is, unfortunately, quite intact."
"So you've come for me to be your conscience then?" Pandora asked, a bright smile
crossing her face at the new prospect. "I've never been a conscience before. You'll let me
know if I'm doing well, won't you?"
Mia forced herself not to roll her eyes. "Can I change anything?"
Pandora seemingly ignored the question, something that would have provoked Mia
to irritation a long time ago, but now she understood that her friend had listened to the
query and was, in fact, answering it in her own strange way.
"A phoenix is a beautiful creature, don't you agree? Tiny little birds born from fire
and ash only to grow and die in fire and ash, and then be reborn in fire and ash. Phoenixes
change constantly."
"Yes, but they don't die."
"Don't they?" The blonde tilted her head to the side, looking like a confused creature
herself. Her wide doe eyes only furthered the comparison. The perfect picture of
innocence. "I don't know if I could burst into flames and survive it. Come back from it
maybe, I've never tried before. But phoenixes can do it. Marvellous creatures. They grow
and they change."
"They suffer when they burn. What if the phoenix didn't have to burn?"
What if she could change the future? What if she really, really tried? Would it work?
She knew Future Remus's letter by heart. She knew what Dorea had told her, what
Dumbledore continued to remind her. She had done the calculations herself. She knew the
outcome. But Mia was also humble enough to admit that she did not know every area of
magic. Certainly, there had to be some sort of... miracle stored away somewhere?
Pandora placed a hand on her arm, drawing Mia from her thoughts. "Then it
wouldn't be reborn. The phoenix would die and stay dead."
"Everything dies," Mia argued.
"And everything changes. Death doesn't mean the end."
"Not everyone can be a phoenix."