the_debt_of_time

for the fourth time to relay a message from Sirius, it took Alice begging Mia not to hex her
boyfriend for him to walk away unscathed. Don't kill the messenger and all that rot.
The moment she left the boys down by the lake, Mia had returned to the castle and
made her way to the Room of Requirement, requesting it to turn into a familiar room for
her. She spoke to Hogwarts in great detail as the room conformed around her, walls
changing colour and texture, the floor shifting from hardwood to marble, and expensive
furniture popping up out of nowhere. Hanging from the ceiling was a large chandelier, the
final touch on what looked nearly identical to Malfoy Manor.
She created the place she hated more than any other place in the world.
Because she desperately needed something to destroy.
For the better part of three hours, Mia hexed, smashed, destroyed, and set fire to
everything within reach. She blamed the Death Eaters and Voldemort more than she
blamed the Marauders for what had happened. While James and Sirius were acting like
arrogant children, she knew that Snape had been dabbling in the Dark Arts; and even if he
had never caused a problem before, that was the line that James drew with everything and
everyone. Mia knew James would grow to be a good man, to join the Order of the Phoenix,
and fight against the Dark Arts. In a way, she imagined he thought he was doing that now.
In an incredibly stupid and immature way—that she did not approve of—she
supposed he was.
She wanted to be furious at Sirius, though, who should have known better, but try
as she might, she just could not fuel her rage toward him. She had known Sirius for years.
She had seen him older, sitting around a table at Grimmauld Place, throwing bitter insults
back and forth with Professor Snape, who was always provoking him. It was a constant
and deeply rooted grudge.
She could not change anything.
When she even tried, it did nothing but stoke the fires of an already resilient rivalry.
Every decision she made either triggered a chain of events she was trying to prevent
or added fuel to the open flame of the future that she could see unfolding right before her
eyes. Her very existence in Diagon Alley five years ago triggered the bad blood between
Severus Snape and James Potter. The same event that brought Sirius Black into their
lives. Her love for Remus and her mistaken sympathy for a bullied Peter Pettigrew had
formed the Marauders. Her need to defend her friends had her at war with the young