the_debt_of_time

"And if you changed something now, who is to say that there would not
be more suffering?" Dorea stood and moved to sit directly beside Mia, taking both of her
hands within her own and sighing as Mia began to cry.
"You don't understand... people are going to die."
Dorea inclined her head. "People tend to do that. Mia, sweetheart, we are all given
a number of years to live our lives. The content, not the length of those years, is what matters.
You cannot cheat Death. If you were to change something now, save one life, Death would
only take another."
Mia looked away, ashamed as she asked, "What if I didn't care who was taken
instead?"
"You've lost so much, my girl, and we promised to never pry into your past." Dorea
pulled Mia into her arms, stroking a hand down her curly hair. "But your loved ones mean
just as much to you as anyone else does to their loved ones. A life is a life, and you are not
capable of being so selfish to risk one for another when you already know the outcome."
Mia continued to cry, heartbroken. She did not want to hear these words, not from
Dorea. She wanted someone to give her permission to fix the future, to save them all. The
tears eventually stopped flowing, and she looked up at her mother and threw caution to
the wind. Damn the consequences.
"What if it was Jamie?"
Dorea looked very briefly caught off guard, but her expression was shielded away
almost instantly. She drew in a slow and calculated breath before firmly insisting, "My
answer remains the same. I have faith that however long your brother's life is, it will be
filled with meaning and love."
"How can you know that?" Mia broke down again, wishing, pleading for Dorea to
change her mind and let her confess everything. The burden was too much.
"Because you wear our words," Dorea whispered, touching the golden bracelet on
Mia's wrist. "James is currently the last of the Potters. Which means that in the future, he
is either alive to give you this bracelet himself, or he has had children or grandchildren and
they have placed this in your care. Therefore the Potter name continues, and James lived
with meaning and love in his life."
Mia did not respond with words but nodded rapidly.