the_debt_of_time

grey streaks. She turned her attention to his face, glancing over the scars that had not been
there minutes earlier for her—years for him.
Suddenly, her smile vanished. "Jamie. Lily."
Remus frowned, his heart breaking for her. He remembered exactly what it felt like
when he received the news that his friends had been murdered. He assumed that knowing
about the event beforehand would not make the grief any easier for her.
She blinked her eyes rapidly, and he watched as she swallowed hard. "I know,
nothing changes." She took in a slow breath and let it out through her nose. "What did
Jamie think happened to me?"
"I left the flat right after you vanished, and I went to tell Dumbledore what
happened," Remus said. "The Order was told that you died on a mission."
Her brows furrowed. "That doesn't even make sense."
Remus shrugged apologetically. "It's what they were told. Few believed it, of course,
and an investigation was opened, but Dumbledore kept a tight lid on it. I think he even
prevented the Prophet from printing anything about you. After a while, with so many others
going missing and dying, people just kind of assumed that you were the first casualty, you
know... after Mary." He sighed, refusing to mention the massacre at graduation where
her father had been killed or the attack on St Mungo's where they had both lost their
mothers. "And then Lily got pregnant, and James was... very busy."
Mia smiled faintly. "Harry."
"James was a good father," Remus told her.
"I knew he would be," she said quietly.
"I never wanted to cause you pain," he whispered, reaching up and brushing away
the hair that had fallen in her face.
"I know, and it's not your fault." She sniffled, pressing her cheek into the palm of
his hand. "What am I going to do? What am I going to do without Jamie?" she asked, her
voice breaking again. "I never even got to say―"
"You'll do what we've all had to do. You'll grieve and then move forward."
Mia bobbed her head, visibly choking down another sob. "At least I have you. You
were all alone, weren't you?"
"It's all right," he assured her. "You vanished, and I was the only one who knew
why. It wasn't pretty. Peter, well, we know now why he wasn't around much."