Betrayal was the first thing Mia felt. How dare she mention Sirius like that? And all that time… All that time and Lulu hadn’t breathed a word.

Only Izzy would have the nerve to wake him up before nine in his birthday. As much as he loved her just as much as a sister, at that moment he felt like she was the most annoying creature on the planet.

Mia cleared her throat. “Speaking of letters, Harry, what the hell were you thinking?! Fighting a troll?! Seriously, how did you and Ron manage to get yourselves in more trouble in one term than Sirius and James in a whole year?”

She gasped as she saw the photograph on the cover and read the headline, her eyes opening very wide. She looked up at her mother, who nodded. BLACK ESCAPES, she read again. “When… when did this happen?” Mia managed to ask.

Mia had realized that something was wrong as soon as the train stopped and the lights were turned off. The furious rain outside only made her imagination reach even more horrible places.

But it wasn’t long before she realized she was wrong. Seconds later, there was a sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and she turned. Her eyes opened wide when she saw who it was.

This is it, Sirius thought as he sat on a chair. He had been caught and it was only a matter of time before the Dementors came to give him the kiss. He was never going to see Mia again. In fact, he was never going to see anyone again because he was going to completely empty, soulless.

He groaned, getting up and, for a moment, he had to sit back again because the room started spinning. Too much time lying down, he concluded.

The train’s horn announced its approaching and he looked at the clock on the platform’s wall, which indicated it was 6 in the afternoon. Right on time, he thought.

“So, Izzy mentioned yesterday that you’ve been ill.”

“Stomach flu,” Mia murmured, her face buried in the pillow. “A bad one.”

What had been cheers were now desperate cries and heart-shattering explosions. Whatever was going on outside was not a celebration – it was terror.
 
 
 

No, that wouldn’t do. Not only would Izzy leave to Hogwarts annoyed at him but also Mia would probably be angry and kick him out of bed. Now, he’d gotten himself in a pickle.

It was nearly two weeks later that Sirius and Mia had the chance to come back to Hogwarts in order to attend the Weighing of the Wands ceremony as Harry’s guardians.
 
 

She reached for the handle and opened it but it literally ran into somebody and Izzy immediately regretted having sneaked out at all. Right in front of them was Severus Snape scowling. His eyes narrowed at them.

Just thinking of the concept made him shiver from head to toe, not mention the fact that a girl wouldn’t just drop from the sky from him to take. He needed to ask one, which was revealing itself a task far scarier that facing Voldemort and all his Death Eaters together.

Mia wondered if she’d spent her last twelve Christmases asleep or, at the very least, numb. They felt hollow compared to that one. No matter how hard she tried for the kids, Christmas ever since 1981 hadn’t really felt authentic. That night it did and it was like… a breath of fresh air.

Then, Sirius heard his wife sigh. “Tell me about the task.”

“Now?” he asked in disbelief. “You’re in labour, Mia. Shouldn’t you be… you know, focusing?”

She gave him an impatient look. “On what? The painful contractions?

The crowd was mad, nearly impossible to get through and nobody seemed to realize there was no reason for cheering until screams of girls echoed in the front.

“I’m going down there,” Mia said, walking to the stairwell that lead to the entrance of the basement, ignoring the other members of the Order that were arriving to the Hall. “I need to see it’s really him.” Then, she stopped walking, midway through the stairs. “He’s… this is insane, bloody insane.”

"Long story short, the ministry’s been playing a dirty game lately,” Lulu said. Of course, she was softening the whole situation by a lot. “Take my advice and don’t read it if you want to have some rest this morning."

That one had made it for Sirius. It was bad enough there would be an audience at all for something as mild as a self-defence underage magic case, but there was just no way he’d let them treat Harry like a criminal – be judged in the same pit as they were. If Fudge wanted to play dirty, he’d picked the wrong person to do it with.

Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prune practices that ought to be... prohibited, she had said, to everyone’s confusion. How many different things could that mean?

Mia was pretty sure that all the trouble Harry had gotten himself into had started out as non-dangerous but he was fifteen already – she couldn’t protect him from all potential sort of danger forever.

“‘High Inquisitor will have supreme authority over all punishments and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments and removals of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members. Signed, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, etc., etc.’” She smiled even wider. “So… I really think I will have to ban these two from playing Quidditch ever again.”
 
 
 
 

“What are you waiting for?” Harry shouted at everyone. “RUN!”

Life as the Hogwarts headmistress turned out not to be as easy or enjoyable for Umbridge as she would have imagined initially. After all, it seemed the power to do nearly anything was overrated

Those you love are those who can hurt you the most, Mia thought. She’d heard those words somewhere… or maybe read them. Either way, they made a whole lot of sense now.

No, no, no, no, he thought. Was she dead… no, he wouldn’t allow himself to think of it. She was tough. It took more than a little flight to bring his Mia down.