the_debt_of_time

inside your head." He winced, looking regretful when Sirius shot him a dirty look. "Don't
look at me like that, you know I don't mean literally. It wasn't just you in that memory he
intruded on in your mind. You're letting him provoke you into reckless action. You're not
a coward, and the people who matter the most know that."
"Fine," Sirius huffed. "So Department of Mysteries. Why don't you snoop around
when you're down there guarding the prophecy?"
"Because that's not my job when I'm down there," Remus argued. "Protecting Harry
is the most important thing right now."
"I know that," Sirius barked. "I'm just... nervous. You're the one that sends her
back. You send her the stupid letter. You got to see her memories. I can't do shit for the
Order, I can't protect Harry, and I have no part in getting Mia back. I'm fucking useless."
"We have more than two years to get her back, and there's still a war going on."
The reminder, however, went in one ear and out the other.
"But the war will be over. She said so. She told you, right?"
"It was the reason she didn't change anything; the reason Dumbledore would not
let her. The war was over, and we'd won in her time."
Sirius watched the frown etch itself on Remus's face. He understood, feeling the
corners of his own mouth turn down. The war being over, having won, was the reason for
many of the horrible things that had happened in their past—all known and apparently
ignored by Mia. It was the reason she did not save James and Lily, the reason she did not
stop what happened to Alice and Frank, the reason she allowed Sirius to end up in
Azkaban, and Pettigrew to go free.
It was the one thing that gave Sirius hope in the dark times of this war. The
memories Mia had shared with Remus told them that, at the very least, he, Tonks, Harry,
Hermione, and Remus would make it through this, and the war would be over in less than
two years.
"The letter says that you get the Time-Turner in the Department of Mysteries. I
know you're acting like it's all guesswork, Moony, but the letter says―"
"Just because the letter says―"
"What?" Sirius snapped. "Don't you trust yourself? It says that you go to the
Department of Mysteries!"