the_debt_of_time

brightly when Dorea explained that it was enchanted to be able to unlock any door and
untie any knot.
Thus far, Sirius had used it to break into Filch's office four separate times.
Mia's gift confused her at first when she opened the small package containing a
beautiful small hand mirror. That is, until she pulled it from the box, revealing its twin
beneath it. She brightened, recognising the gift immediately; the last time she had seen the
mirrors, one of the two belonged to Harry, and it was broken.
After thanking her parents, she gave the second mirror to James.
She had woken up every night over the Christmas holidays with her brother, Sirius,
and Remus in her bed—all having arrived to the sound of her screams, at least until Remus
left to spend Christmas with his family.
James had taken her aside before leaving for King's Cross Station. "Take the mirror
and talk to me every night before bed. That way I know you're okay. And if you're not, you
can come and sleep in my bed."
Since returning to school, she had called her brother through the mirror several
times each week. Nights when the nightmares became too much, Mia would descend the
staircase from the girls' dormitories and make her way up the boys' quietly, slipping into
the room shared by James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, and crawl in beside her brother, who
kept the nightmares at bay.
Each morning upon waking, James would give his sister his Invisibility Cloak so she
could slip back into her own room, unnoticed by snoring roommates.
Having to sneak around at night made Mia feel weak, especially since it was to keep
a dead woman from haunting her thoughts. This weakness was why she had ultimately
stopped contacting James at night a little over a month into the new term. He would ask
her about it every morning, and she would lie, feeling guilty for making him worry over
her. But a harsh reality check would hit her from time to time: James would not be around
forever. She would need to sleep on her own at some point.
"Morning," Mia said with a yawn as she reached the Gryffindor table for breakfast.
James stared at her, or actually, stared at her hair.
She knew it was an especially spectacular mess—at least twice as voluminous as
normal and looked tangled beyond repair. The dark circles beneath her eyes looking back