the_debt_of_time

"If I'd done something right about my brother, he wouldn't be a bloody Death Eater
to-be!"
Sirius's volume pulled her from her dark thoughts, and she found herself trying to
keep up with him once again, as the two of them burst through the doors into the entrance
hall.
"It was him, Mia. I know it was."
Mia also had a strong feeling it had been Regulus. She had spotted a head of black
hair ducking out of sight while everyone else was distracted with retrieving Lily from the
lake. The only other wizards with hair that black were Sirius and Snape, both of whom had
been in her sight at the time.
"He tried to kill Evans," Sirius said, as though he could not quite believe the words
as he said them—as though he needed to continually remind himself in order to be able to
report his own flesh and blood for attempted murder. "Merlin, if he'd succeeded... I'd
never be able to live with myself. Never be able to look James in the face again. Fuck!
Stupid little prick."
"Don't tell Dumbledore," Mia said as Sirius took a turn toward the headmaster's
office.
He spun on his heels, looking at her in complete disbelief. "Are you actually
defending my brother's actions? Are you kidding me?"
She forced herself to forget that, at this moment in time, Regulus was a Voldemort
supporter and potential Death Eater. It would not be long before he defected.
"Of course not! But first, we don't have actual proof it was Regulus. We only have
the knowledge that Death Eaters are accepted at the age of sixteen, and it just happens to
be your brother's sixteenth birthday today. If you go to Dumbledore, he'll just nod his head
with that twinkle in his eyes, and offer you a sweet."
Sirius would not have a chance to prove anything, especially if Mia went with him.
Dumbledore would assume that Mia was trying to change the timeline, and he would ignore
their suspicions of Regulus.
No, there had to be another way.
"So, what do you suggest then, Mia?"
She smiled as the answer came to her. "McGonagall."