Mia Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

by sav2003

It was a perfectly normal Order meeting. Well, at least until the time-traveler dropped in.

2. Target Practice

Hey y'all!

I've finally finished the second chapter! I'm so excited to be posting this one, as I had a ton of fun writing it! I'm currently working on chapter three of Mia Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and chapter five of Scars of the Future, so keep an eye out for those! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting, I always love hearing what you all have to say! A quick disclaimer before we begin- in this chapter I use direct quotes from the books, as well as a few lines of Bridge Over Troubled Waters by Simon and Garfunkel, so if you recognize anything in the fic, that is why. As always, sit back, relax, enjoy, and on with the chapter!

- Sav

---

December 28, 1980

3:25 A.M.

Hermione woke up screaming.

Unfortunately, this was not an unusual occurrence. Ever since the day at Malfoy Manor, she could not sleep without vivid memories invading her mind. Her nightmares only increased after the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry was always the one to help her after the nightmares and she would do the same for him. They'd taken to sharing a bed after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, as Harry was overprotective of Hermione after she got hit with Dolohov's curse, and Hermione was worried about the effects that losing Sirius had on Harry. They had never stopped, even after the war ended. It became a safety net after a while—their way of saying that no matter what life threw at them, they would always have each other. Nobody said anything about it, they all understood. No one was left untouched from war.

Hermione blinked a few tears away and tried to control her breathing. She looked around the unfamiliar room and gripped her wand in her hand. After a minute, it all came flooding back to her. 1980, Potter Manor. She was startled out of her realization by a knock on the door.

"Mia?" James's voice called from the other side of the door. Faintly she heard small whimpers, and what she thought was Lily's voice, though she couldn't make out any words. Still shaking a little from her nightmare, Mia hopped off her bed and opened her door to find James, Lily, and a sniffling Harry. The moment Harry realized the door was opened, he let go of his mother and reached out towards Hermione with a loud cry of "My-My!" before latching onto Mia's neck and laying his little head on her shoulder, all the while gripping her nightshirt tightly in his tiny fists.

Hermione squeezed her little brother closer and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. No matter when she was, her brother never failed to calm her. After a couple seconds, she opened her eyes to look at James and Lily. She was horrified as she realized that she must have woken them with her screams.

"I-I'm so sorry for waking you," she said in a shaky voice. "I didn't mean to scare you. I could have sworn I put up silencing charms-"

She was cut off by a confused James.

"Mia, what are you talking about? Harry woke us up. He was crying and asking for you, and we couldn't calm him down so we figured we'd give you a try. What's this about scaring us and silencing charms?"

"I-I- you didn't hear anything?"

"Should we have? Are you ok? Mia, have you been crying? What's wrong?"

Hermione looked down at Harry, astonished, before taking a deep breath and reluctantly answering James's question.

"I get nightmares. I usually end up screaming in my sleep. I didn't want to worry you, so I put up silencing charms on my room. Harry was always the one who calmed me down. I don't know how he knew I was having one just now, though."

"Mia, you didn't have to do that. We're family. You don't have to hide from us," James said, looking concerned.

"Trust me, Dad. My nightmares are not something you want to hear. I don't want you and Mum to have to listen to them, and I most definitely do not want to subject Harry to them either."

James shot a pointed look at Harry. "Sorry love, but it seems that Harry has already made that decision for you, and so have we. We're family, we're helping. End of story." With a definitive nod, James strolled past Hermione and into her room, plopping down on her bed. When Hermione just stared at him, he raised an eyebrow.

"Well? I'm waiting."

Lily, somewhat amused and exasperated at the antics of her husband, chided Hermione.

"I wouldn't try arguing with him, you'll just waste your time."

"Now I know where Harry got his stubbornness, he was the same way. It drove me around the bend."

Lily smiled, and together they walked into the room and sat on the bed. Lily snuggled up next to James, and Hermione was still holding onto Harry, who hadn't moved his head from her shoulder.

James looked up at Hermione, eyebrows furrowing in concern. "You said Harry was always the one who calmed you down. What does he normally do when this happens? How do I make it better?"

Hermione gave James a small smile and wiped a few tears from her face, before looking down at her brother. "He usually does exactly what he's doing now. He'd wake me up and hold me until I fell back asleep. On the nights where my nightmares were worse than usual, he would sing me back to sleep."

"He could sing?"

"Yes, but he would only ever sing for me. He never liked all the attention."

"What songs did he sing?"

"Primarily muggle music. He always liked Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, and The Eagles. After my nightmares he would sing Bridge Over Troubled Waters by Simon and Garfunkel."

Lily smiled. "Those are some of my favorites, too."

As a thought struck him, James curiously looked up at Mia.

"Has he always been a psychic nightmare-detector?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, he's never needed to be one. We've been sharing a bed since the end of fifth year, and my nightmares didn't really start until the end of what would have been our seventh year."

"Why have you been sharing a bed for so long? Did something happen? What about summers and the Hogwarts dormitories? I'm no stranger to sneaking around Hogwarts at night, but surely someone must have noticed that you weren't sleeping in your bed every night."

"Remember earlier when I mentioned a rescue mission at the Department of Mysteries?" At their nods, she continued. "It was a trap. We ended up losing someone close to us, and I almost died."

Hermione pulled her shirt up just far enough to reveal the lower half of a large, jagged, purple scar that bisected her chest. James and Lily gasped. Like her arm, it only looked to be a few weeks old.

"It's a curse scar. I can't glamor it, and it won't ever fade. I was unconscious for two weeks afterwards, and I had to take ten different potions daily for the five months following the battle. Madam Pomfrey said the only reason I survived was because I had silenced my attacker before he could say the spell. I was told that Harry refused to leave my side while I was in the hospital, and that Madam Pomfrey gave up on kicking Harry out of my bed after the third night she found him there.

"I woke up two days before the last day of school, and neither of us wanted to sleep on our own, so we talked to a house-elf that Harry had befriended. He dismantled the Ministry's underage magic tracker and apparated us between our houses. It was the same drill with the Hogwarts dormitories, except we just had to make sure the drapes around our beds were closed. After the war ended, we moved in together. Neither of us wanted to be apart. We had been living with each other for a little over a year before he- well, I only manage sleeping two or three hours a night now."

Hermione wiped away a few more tears. She had missed her brother badly, but having Harry back, even if he was a baby, was helping to fill the gaping hole in her heart.

What she didn't tell her parents, was that she hadn't slept for four days after he had died. She didn't want to think about it, but the painful memories clawed their way to the forefront of her mind anyway.

The sound of Harry yelling her name rang in her ears. The blinding flash of green light hurtling towards her was stained on the back of her eyelids. The sight of Harry's body crumpling as he pushed her out of the way would be forever burned into her memory.

A hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her flashback.

"Mia?" James looked concerned.

Hermione whimpered and looked away.

"It's my fault," she said brokenly. "The war was over, and the rest of the Death Eaters were being tracked down, I didn't think anyone would try anything at King's Cross- I shouldn't have let my guard down— why didn't I notice we were being followed? I should have reacted quicker—the curse was meant for me, and he should have let me die… he shouldn't have pushed me out of the way— it should have been me! And now— now, I'm here, with you, he should be here, not me! Being here, being with you, having Sirius and Remus back, having a family— that's all he's ever wanted! And I'm-" She cut off as she let out a strangled sob.

"Shh, Mia," James said as he wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok, love, it's not your fault. Harry made his choice— he saved his sister, and now, you're saving him. You're saving us, too. You're not taking the one thing he's always wanted. You're making sure that he'll have it. He'll have a family this time, and that's because of you."

As Mia's sobs slowly turned to sniffles, James noticed that Harry had fallen back asleep in his sister's arms.

"Lily, why don't you go put Harry back to bed? It seems he's fallen asleep again."

Lily nodded, and carefully took Harry from Mia. At the loss of her brother in her arms, Mia curled into a ball, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs, and resting her cheek on top of her knees. Lily's voice drew her attention.

"Goodnight, Mia, I'll see you in the morning."

"'Night, Mum."

As Lily left the room, James turned back to his daughter. In that moment, he noticed how truly broken she was. She may have looked like she had everything sorted, but past her well-practiced facade, he could see that she was a traumatized war victim, barely holding herself together. He resolved then and there that he would fix it, fix her. He would make her better, even if he spent the rest of his life trying.

"Mia, lie down, love."

Mia gave her father a confused look, but did as he asked, stretching out and burrowing back under her covers. James smiled and moved so he was sitting on the side of her bed. He reached out, stroking her curls that were tossed haphazardly across her pillows, and started to sing softly.

"When you're weary,

Feeling small,

When tears are in your eyes,

I'll dry them all.

I'm on your side.

Oh, when times get rough,

And friends just can't be found,

Like a bridge over troubled water,

I will lay me down..."

As he sang, Mia slowly relaxed. His voice was deeper than Harry's but comforting all the same. She could feel herself drifting back to sleep, and she knew for the first time in many weeks her nightmares would not plague her.

When James had finished the song, he looked down at his daughter to see that she was sleeping soundly. Quietly, he got up from her bed and kissed Mia on the forehead, before exiting the room, being sure to leave the door slightly ajar, so that the silencing charm would not take effect. He wanted to hear if she started having nightmares again, so he could come wake her or calm her down. As he turned away from the door, he suddenly found himself face-to-face with his wife, who was smiling softly.

"You're good with her, you know that?" Lily commented as they made their way back to their bedroom. James gave her a half-smile before responding.

"There's something about her, Lils, I don't know. I mean, we just met her, but already I feel like- like she's mine, just as much as Harry is. Even before she introduced herself, I felt it, I just didn't know what I was feeling. I still don't, if I'm being honest. And then there's Harry. I think he feels it too. It's like he knows she's his sister. He's never warmed up to anyone as fast as he has to her, and he somehow knew she was having a nightmare. I don't know what it is, but I know that I want her safe and happy just as desperately as I want to win this war."

Lily nodded. "I feel it too. She is my daughter. I know it, like I know that the sky is blue, or that I'm a witch. I think it has something to do with her adoption. We can ask her later, and if she doesn't know, I'll hit the books. For now, though, let's get some sleep."

---

9:30 A.M.

As she walked into the kitchen, Hermione was greeted with the sight of her parents talking to Remus and Sirius. Lily was manning the stove, while James, Remus, and Sirius were sitting at the breakfast table, the latter of whom was gently bouncing Harry on his knee.

"Good morning, Mia," James said, smiling.

"'Morning, Dad. It's good that you two are here," she commented, briefly turning her attention to Sirius and Remus, "I was hoping to talk to everyone before the meeting today."

"Sure thing, Mia," James said. "Why don't you tell us during breakfast?" At Hermione's nod, he continued. "Um, Mia? Lils and I had a question, but it might sound a little odd…"

Hermione smiled. "No question of yours could possibly sound any odder than the ones Ron's able to come up with."

James gave a small laugh and ran his hand through his hair. "Right, well, we noticed that even though we just met you, we feel like- like-"

"Like you've known me my whole life?"

Yeah. You feel like our daughter. Lily thinks it has something to do with your adoption, but we decided to see if you knew anything about it."

Hermione nodded. "Mum would be right. You know how divorce is practically nonexistent in the wizarding world?"

"Yes," said James, nodding. "That's because when a witch or wizard marries, a marriage bond is formed between the two partners, and their magic mixes together, which is something that cannot be easily undone."

"Exactly. Magical adoption the same. When Harry adopted me as his sister, a familial bond was created between the two of us. A marriage bond and a familial bond are similar in that they affect a person's magical signature. With a marriage bond, the magic equally mixes to create a new version of their magical signature. Usually, this helps to balance out the magical gene pool- each party gains traits they did not previously have, so that any children will have a higher chance of having both traits. For example, Dad, your strong suit is transfigurations, while Mum's is potions. When you married, your magic mixed and adapted both the Potter and Evans lines. Harry is equally good at potions and transfigurations.

"A familial bond still causes both parties' magic to mix, but only one party's magical signature is significantly changed. Because I was the one being adopted into the Potter line, when my magic mixed with Harry's, my magic adapted to match that of the Potter family magic, more specifically, the most recent version of the Potter family magic— the Potter/Evans mix. Of course, Harry's magic gained a few Granger traits as well. For example, after my adoption he had an easier time with arithmancy and ancient runes, but my magic still changed more than Harry's, because I was becoming a Potter, whereas Harry already was one.

"I feel like your daughter, because my magic is consistent with the mix of magic that would result in any of your biological children. I feel like your daughter because I am your daughter. That's how I understand it, at least. Does that make sense?"

James furrowed his eyebrows. "I think so. It would also explain the decreasing magical ability in the Sacred Twenty-Eight— no offence, Pads."

Sirius laughed. "None taken, Prongs. My family is messed up."

Remus looked up at Mia curiously. "It makes sense that due to the familial bond, James and Lily view you as their daughter, but how come I view you the same way I view Harry, if not a little more… mine? For lack of a better term at least. I don't really know how to explain it."

Hermione smiled at Remus. "This one's a little simpler. It's because Moony views me as Pack on two accounts. You view Dad and Sirius as packmates because of their relationship to you as both Remus and Moony. Dad and Sirius are your brothers, just as Prongs and Padfoot are Moony's packmates. You view Mum as Pack because she is Dad's wife, or your packmate's mate. Harry and I are Pack because we are your packmates' cubs. That's the first account for me.

"The second account is probably why you feel like I am more yours than Harry is. Future you viewed me as your cub. If the Ministry hadn't created all the stupid, prejudiced laws, I would have been Hermione Potter-Lupin, just as Harry would have been Harry Potter-Black, had Sirius not been framed. I'm sure the fact that I'm your son's godmother also comes into play here, but I'm not totally sure how. I'm also guessing that Sirius feels the same way as you but reversed. He probably views me the same way he does Harry, but Harry feels more like his, because Harry is his godson. Am I correct, Sirius?"

Sirius's eyebrows were raised in a 'I'm-shocked-and-a-little-impressed' look. "You're really smart, Kitten."

Hermione snorted. "Well, they didn't call me the Brightest Witch of Her Age for nothing… Did that help explain things, Remus? I really hope it did because I was just telling you what you told me. Time travel is weird."

"It did help, a lot actually, so thank you," said Remus as he got up from the table. He walked to where Mia was standing and wrapped her in a hug, before continuing. "And I'm sorry for dying on you, Mia."

Hermione drew in a sharp breath as she pulled away from Remus and her eyes filled with tears. She crossed her arms and looked away, furiously trying to blink away her tears, but it was no use. Miserably, she asked: "How'd you figure it out?"

She heard heartbroken gasps coming from her parents and Sirius at her confirmation of Remus's suspicions and looked down at the ground. Remus pulled her back into his arms, and she buried her face in his chest.

"You've only referred to my future self in the past-tense. The same thing with my mate. Teddy— he's happy though, right?"

Hermione nodded and spoke, her voice slightly muffled from Remus's shirt, which was gradually becoming wet with her tears. "He misses his parents, but yes, he's happy, and he's safe, and he's loved. He lives with his grandmother. Harry and I would visit him every day, and on the weekends, he would spend the night with us."

"Thank you," said Remus, his voice breaking slightly, "for taking care of him when we couldn't."

"You don't have to thank me, Remus. He's— mine. He's my godson."

A sharp intake of breath drew everyone's attention. They looked over to see Sirius with a look of both comprehension and resignation on his face.

"I die too, don't I? You told me that it was good to have me back, and that you and Harry never got to give me my birthday presents. Do I at least go down fighting? If I die, I want to go down fighting."

Hermione moved to hug Sirius as Lily levitated breakfast over to the table.

"You do. Both of you went down fighting." Mia wiped her tears away and looked over to Lily as everyone retook their seats. "Thanks for breakfast, Mum."

"You're welcome, Mia. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to all of us about?"

Hermione sighed. "I wanted to drop the worst of the bombshells about the future in private, that way you're all prepared for when I have to talk about them in the meeting today."

The group nodded their assent and braced themselves for whatever Mia had to say.

"Sirius, you are currently the Head of House Black. Your uncle, Alphard, would not let your mother fully disown you. As the head of your house, you have control over all Black family elves. Could you please call Kreacher here? I'll explain what's happening in a minute."

Sirius made a face, but nodded, and called for Kreacher. Seconds later, the grumpy and slightly insane elf popped into the kitchen of Potter Manor.

"Blood-Traitor Master calls for Kreacher? What would Kreacher's Mistress say if she be knowing Kreacher must respond to Blood-Traitor?" Sirius growled, but Mia held up her hand before Sirius could respond.

"Hello, Kreacher, my name is Hermione Potter, and I can help you. Kreacher, I know things. I know you love your Master Regulus, and I know about his orders to you. I also know how to carry out those orders, and I know how to return your Master Regulus to you, but I need your help to do this."

"Blood-Traitor Miss knows what she cannot. Where is she be getting her information?"

"I can't tell you that, Kreacher. I can help you follow Regulus's orders. I know how to destroy what you cannot. Now, do you want my help, or not?"

"Miss promises to destroy it?"

"I do."

"What does Miss want Kreacher to do?"

"Return here in twenty minutes with the locket. Tell no one what you are doing, not even the portraits. Make sure you are not seen or found out." The minute Hermione finished her sentence, Kreacher nodded his head and disappeared with a 'crack'.

"Mia," asked Sirius, "what is going on?"

Hermione sighed, before looking over at Sirius.

"Your brother defected from the Death Eaters. He discovered a secret of Voldemort's, which resulted in him trying to destroy one of Voldemort's prized possessions. That's why he went missing last year. He took Kreacher with him when he left to steal the item. It was a dangerous mission, and Regulus told Kreacher to save himself and to destroy the item. He was presumed dead in my time, until about half a year ago, when I noticed something odd with the tapestry in Grimmauld Place. I'll tell the longer version of the story in the meeting, where I'll also destroy the object. Bottom line, your brother is not dead, I know where he is, and I know how to save him."

Sirius looked a mix of broken and hopeful. "Reggie… he- he's defected?"

Mia smiled and nodded. "He has. Since he's in no immediate danger, we'll pick him up after the meeting, that way, the Order won't try to attack him for being a Death Eater."

Sirius gave Mia a half-smile, and then sighed, looking guilty. "He probably hates me. I've been a right prat to him for the past few years. Not that he hasn't been a prat to me either- but still. I think most of that was to cover up that I still care for him. He's still my baby brother, no matter how much I disapprove of his decisions, and now, even if I haven't lost him, I've still lost him."

"You haven't lost him, Sirius. He still loves you. He may have acted like a Gryffindor, but he's still a Slytherin, and the Snakes value self-preservation. He was a prat to you, to protect both him and you. Having a good rapport with your brother would have been dangerous for both of you. You would have never been able to get away from your family, and Regulus would not have been able to blend into the background.

"After Harry, Ron, and I saved him, he was asking for you. When we told him that you had— that you had died, he was devastated, even more so when he found out that you had died believing he was a Death Eater. He had left a note for you, explaining things— he wanted to make amends. He had hidden the note in his bedroom, but you never found it because you never went in there."

"I-I… I still have my little brother? He doesn't hate me?" His voice wavered, and for a minute, Mia could see the Sirius from her timeline— tempered from twelve years in Azkaban, regretful of his actions, but hoping for the best. She hoped she would never have to see that look on Sirius again. This Sirius was full of life, joy, and mischief. While she did get glimpses of this Sirius in the one she knew, her version of Sirius was broken, haunted. She wouldn't let this Sirius become the man she knew.

"He doesn't hate you, Sirius."

Suddenly, Mia found herself crushed in a tight hug. She could feel Sirius's tears landing on her, but she didn't mind, nor did she draw attention to the fact that he was crying. A little while later, Sirius released Mia, and she turned to face her parents.

"Dad, yesterday you mentioned that you and Mum have a will. Who witnessed your will, and who is the executor?"

James and Lily both furrowed their brows in confusion.

"Dumbledore was the witness, and Fireclaw, our account manager, is the executor. Why?" Asked Lily.

"Harry never knew you had a will and I only found out you had one yesterday, when Dad told me. This means that your will was sealed. Otherwise, Fireclaw would have carried out its instructions. The only two people who can seal a will are the Minister for Magic, and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. The Chief Warlock has been the same person for the last century: Albus Dumbledore. And he just so happens to be your witness.

"Your will was probably sealed by Dumbledore. He had full knowledge of what your will entailed. Why would he seal it when he knew what you had intended for Harry? I have a theory, and I want to see if I'm correct. Tell me, who is on the list of guardians you selected for Harry?"

"Um, ok. Well, Sirius first, because he's Harry's godfather, and down the list in order is Remus, then Alice and Frank, then Andy and Ted, and then Pandora and Xeno. If none of them could take Harry, then he would go to St. Margaret's Magical Orphanage. We made sure to set aside money to cover the extra charges that taking in Harry would add, and when listing guardians in our will, we specified that under no circumstances would Harry go to Lily's sister and brother-in-law. What does this have to do with Dumbledore sealing our will?"

Hermione felt white-hot rage boiling inside of her, and everyone in the room shuffled their chairs backwards a little at the sight of her hands clenching and hair sparking. She couldn't believe that the sorry excuses for human beings that were Vernon and Petunia Dursley were actually paid for taking in Harry.

She was sure that Dumbledore was using Harry's fund to pay the Dursleys— she already knew Dumbledore had threatened the Dursleys, as she remembered Harry telling her about the Howler Dumbledore sent after the dementor attack before fifth year. But the money was probably the only thing keeping them from throwing Harry out on the streets. The worst part though—they didn't even use any of the money on Harry!

Mia took a deep, calming breath, but it didn't do much to stop the sparks. Nevertheless, she answered James's question while desperately trying to control her anger.

"Dumbledore is a dead man, and this time, I will be doing the killing."

"Wait— Dumbledore died? Somebody killed him?"

"Yes, but that's not important right now. What is important, is that he should run if he knows what is good for him."

"Mia," James asked, "why are you plotting murder?"

"Because," she said in a dangerously quiet tone, "my theory on why that pig sealed your will is correct. He sealed it, so no one could call him out on completely ignoring it. On November 1, 1981, Dumbledore left Harry on the doorstep of Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey—the home of Vernon and Petunia Dursley."

"He left Harry at my sister's house?!"

"I'll kill him!" The growl that left James was practically feral. "He knew that under no circumstances was Harry supposed to go to the Dursleys! We even explained our reasoning when he asked why! Petunia hates everything related to magic, and that extends to her own sister! We told him that she wouldn't treat our son right!"

Suddenly, all the candles in the room flickered before extinguishing, and the room temperature dropped a few degrees. Everyone looked towards Mia. The sparks in her hair were growing brighter, louder, and more frequent, her eyes- usually a lovely chocolate brown, were now glowing an angry amber color, and her pupils had turned to cat-like slits.

James, momentarily forgetting his anger at Dumbledore in concern for his daughter asked: "Mia? Your… your eyes-"

"Side effect of an incident with Polyjuice," explained Hermione, practically growling, "it only happens when I'm extremely pissed off- which I am.

"He knew! He knew before he placed Harry there that they would abuse him, and he did it anyway! His Hogwarts letter was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs! Harry only moved into Dudley's second bedroom because the Dursleys thought they were being watched! He'd been treated like a house-elf since he was four! He only found out he was a wizard from Hagrid when he had to deliver Harry's Hogwarts letter! For the first eleven years of his life, he didn't know how you died! They told him that you were drunks that died in a car wreck! My brother didn't even know his own name until he was six! They only called him 'Boy' or 'Freak'! The first hug he ever remembered receiving was one I gave him near the end of our first year!"

Her tirade was cut off as a vase on the kitchen counter abruptly shattered into pieces.

"Sorry," she said while silently sending a Repairo at the vase. "Please excuse me for a moment."

They watched as Mia stepped through the sliding glass door that led into the backyard of Potter Manor— although really, it was much closer to a forest than a yard. The three Marauders were about to follow her, when they saw a protective bubble envelope Mia and the area around her, forming a thirty-foot circle.

Lily, instead of trying to follow her daughter outside, picked up Harry and sat back in her chair. She knew all too well that there were very few effective ways to blow off steam, and violence just happened to be one of them. Considering all that Mia had already told them about her life, Lily wisely decided that she didn't want to end up in the crossfire between her daughter and whatever she decided to take her anger out on.

Since the Marauders were effectively locked inside the kitchen, they all retook their chairs and the group studied Mia from inside the house.

"What do you think she's going to do," asked Sirius, as they watched Mia conjure five dummies.

His question, however, was answered as all the dummies simultaneously fired off shots of different colored light, all aimed at Mia. It happened too quickly for him to determine what spells the dummies were throwing, but he could tell that they were sure as hell not stunners. Everyone jumped as a curse that Mia had deflected smashed into a tree, causing it to explode. The dummies were not fighting like trainers, they were fighting like Death Eaters. This realization seemed to hit everyone at the same time. Mia, their nineteen-year-old daughter, friend, and family member, was essentially fighting five Death Eaters at once- and winning.

The group was on the edge of their seats, watching as Mia jumped, blocked, ducked, and hexed. It was clear that everyone had mixed feelings about the scene playing out in front of them. They were impressed at the sheer skill that Mia possessed, and yet they had to stop themselves from jumping into action every time a curse came hurtling towards her. To put it frankly, they were scared sick— in both a good and a bad way.

Ten minutes later, Mia reentered the kitchen, sweaty, out of breath, and a little worse for wear, but in a much better state than her opponents. Two of the dummies lay in pieces scattered across the ground, two were tied up to a couple of nearby trees, and the last one was on fire.

"Sorry about that, I'm much better now. For future reference- if you haven't already figured this out- it is usually wise to hide when my cat-eyes decide to make an appearance. Harry used to call them my 'Danger Eyes'. Another good thing to know in Harry-Terminology are my Danger Eyes Caution Signs. We have the 'Warning Sparks'- basically when my hair starts letting off sparks, my 'Back-Away-Slowly Mode,' also known as the part where the lights start flickering, and the 'Get-Out-Now Temperature Drop.' That last one is self-explanatory. Usually, I'm good about not accidentally breaking things, but I'm not always in control when it comes to things like Harry's safety and happiness. Everyone has a line that people should never cross. My brother is that line."

"Mia, love," said James, "you are terrifying sometimes."

She grinned in response. "Thanks, Dad."

The 'crack' of Kreacher popping back into the kitchen startled everyone but Mia.

"Perfect timing, Kreacher. Do you have it?"

"Yes, Miss. Kreacher bes sure nobody be seeing anything." Kreacher held the locket out to Mia, who pulled out a dragonhide pouch from her beaded bag. She dropped the locket into the pouch, shivering at the feeling of pure evil that ran through her bones when she touched the locket. There was no way in Merlin that she was wearing that thing again. She closed the pouch and placed it back into her beaded bag before once again directing her attention to Kreacher.

"Thank you, Kreacher. Would you prefer to be there when I destroy it, or would you rather I give you the remains back afterwards? I have no doubt that Regulus would not deny you the remains of it as a reward for all your hard work."

"Kreacher watches Miss destroy it. Does Miss require anything else?"

"No, Kreacher, thank you. I'll call for you right before I do it."

Once again, Kreacher nodded his head and disappeared.

"Right," said Mia, turning back to the group, "we should head over to the meeting. Make sure you don't say anything to Dumbledore just yet. I want to tear up his reputation with the Order, but it will be most effective if I let all the little things stew and build up with them first, and then let him deal with the questions. He will regret ever messing with my brother's life. I'll make sure of it. Another good thing to know about me— I have a nasty vengeful streak."

At this, the Marauders looked a little concerned, but Lily just smiled pleasantly, before apparating with the group to headquarters. It seemed that Potter women were a force to be reckoned with.

The minute they landed inside headquarters, Harry started squirming and reached out for his sister. After Harry was passed to Mia, she looked around incredulously.

"Is that it? We just apparate through the wards? Where are the security questions and the potion flushers? What if someone here is polyjuiced? Why haven't we been checked for the Dark Mark? This is a war, not a bloody house party! Come on guys! What happened to constant vigilance?! It's like you're asking to be attacked! We didn't even change locations from yesterday! This building is compromised! Even though we wiped Pettigrew's memory, we have no idea what information he already gave to the Death Eaters! We are sitting ducks! I came back to save lives; not watch you all get yourselves killed due to your sheer stupidity!"

Mia's rant gained attention from the other Order members, and it seemed like many of them felt that she had a point- if the ashamed faces around the room were anything to go by. In a move to placate the furious witch, who was holding her brother protectively as her hair sparked wildly, Dumbledore stepped forwards.

"Do not worry, my dear, I have placed wards around the building that will stop anyone who is not an Order member from coming through, and wards that will alert us of an oncoming attack— in which case we are prepared to fight."

Hermione snorted. "Your wards are easily bypassable. All someone would have to do to get through is grab a hold of a member as they go through or steal a member's wand and polyjuice themselves. And as for being prepared to fight an oncoming attack— you're actually ready to defend your life at any moment?"

"Of course we are."

"Really," she asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes."

"So, if you were to be attacked right now, you'd be prepared for it?"

"Yes, we would be."

Hermione cocked her eyebrow. She looked around, discreetly making sure that all the order members were watching, before turning back to Dumbledore.

"Expelliarmus," she toned boredly.

Gasps were heard around the room as Dumbledore's wand came flying towards Mia, who caught it with one hand and pocketed it.

"I thought you said you were ready for an attack," she said, as she stared down Dumbledore, who had gone very pale. He opened his mouth, but Mia didn't give him a chance to respond. "No matter. You're lucky that I thought ahead. I have another location that we can use, because I refuse to reveal anything in a compromised area."

Suddenly, she turned and pointed her wand at Sirius, who slowly held up his hands.

"I gave Sirius Black two gifts last night. What were they?"

Sirius blinked then responded. "A leather jacket your brother designed for me, and the ashes of my mother's portrait."

Several people snorted, but she ignored them and turned back to the group.

"That was a security question. Sirius is who he says he is. He is going to question everyone here to make sure we have no spies. Sirius, be sure to check their arms as well. Stun and bind anyone who can't answer their question, and anyone who refuses to show their arms."

She turned to her father and pointed her wand at him. "Dad, you sang to me last night. What song was it?"

"Bridge Over Troubled Waters."

"Good." She removed her wand from his face and once again turned back to the Order. "I am taking my father to help me secure the new location. When I get back, I will start transporting people over."

One person- she couldn't remember their name, spoke out in irritation. "And just who do you think you are, coming into our meeting and ordering us around?"

Her family glared at the man, but she simply held up her hands. "Alastor, do you have any objections as to how I'm running things?"

"No," Moody grunted, "and good on ye', lass, I've been complaining about the security here for months." He looked around the room. "Anyone who refuses to do what she says will be facing the wrong end of my wand. Black, get questioning."

"Thank you, Mad-Eye— arg, I really need to get out of the habit of calling you that, it makes no sense to anyone but me. Ready, Dad?" She held her hand out, and once James grabbed a hold, they disappeared with a pop.

When they landed, James looked around. He saw trees— lots of them. In fact, that was about the only thing he could see. Trees.

"Mia? Where are we? Why are we here?"

"We are in the Forest of Dean, and we're here to set up temporary Order headquarters." As she talked, she removed the disillusionment charm on her beaded bag and dug around in it. After a few seconds of searching, she pulled out a medium sized object that looked to be made up of canvas. Turning back around, she said: "You've pitched a Wizard's Tent before, right?"

At his nod, she handed him the object.

"Good. Set it up please, while I do the wards."

"Your solution is a tent in the middle of the forest with a few wards?"

"Don't underestimate me, Dad. It might be a little cozy, but that tent can hold the entire Order. I know the terrain here quite well, in case we are found or need to escape, but it's highly unlikely that we'll be found here, especially with my wards protecting the area. I managed to keep Harry, Ron, and myself hidden for a full year, I'll have no problem keeping the Order hidden for a few hours."

They worked in relative silence; the only words being spoken were that of spells. Just as James finished pitching the tent, he noticed that his daughter's hair was… floating?

"Mia? I finished the tent… why's your hair floating?"

Instead of answering, Hermione tapped the air with her wand and said "Finite." James jumped when his son came into sight on Mia's back. Harry had wrapped his little legs around her torso, and one arm around her neck. The other arm was raised off to the side, holding a tiny fistful of Mia's hair. He was giggling and gurgling happily, although up until then, James hadn't heard so much as a peep. James had trouble stringing together his words.

"How- when-? I-I thought Lily had him?"

"Sticking Charm, Silencing Charm, and Disillusionment Charm. I did them wandlessly and nonverbally right before I disarmed Dumbledore, just in case he actually was prepared for me to attack."

Harry, not one to be left out of the conversation, nodded seriously and said in a no-nonsense sort of voice: "My-My," before going back to his previous activity of playing with his sister's hair. James could not help but to laugh at the scene his two children made.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Could you start duplicating the couches inside the tent while I finish up the wards?"

James nodded and walked inside the tent. He was barely in there a minute before Mia heard his voice yelling from inside.

"Mia, are these supposed to be in here?"

She walked in confusedly, only to stop dead in her tracks, trying to reign in the irritation that flooded her at the sight she was met with.

"Bloody hell, Ronald Weasley," she said as she picked one of his numerous jumpers off the floor of the tent. "It's been over a bloody year! 'Sure 'Mione,'" she mimicked, purposefully making her voice low, "'of course I'll clean my stuff out.' This doesn't look clean, Ronald!"

James tried to curb his amusement at his daughter's frustration, but it wasn't working too well. Thankfully, Mia had yet to notice, as she was still yelling at an imaginary Ron Weasley.

"Look at my and Harry's side of the room! We can take five minutes out of our day to clean up our half of the tent! Surely you must have had time in the past year! And you wondered where all your jumpers went! I swear to Merlin, Ronald Bilius Weasley, if I have to pick up a single pair of your underwear off the floor of this tent, then so help me, I will find a way to pull you into this bloody timeline and hex you into the next bloody century!"

At this point, James could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing. Hermione darkly glared at him. Her hair was sparking again.

"I've hexed Harry and Ron multiple times before, I'm not averse to hexing you too."

Knowing danger when he saw it, James managed to control his laughter, but the grin on his face was not going anywhere anytime soon. Bitterly mumbling under her breath, Mia sent multiple cleaning charms at the pile of clothes on the floor, and then magicked them into boxes to sort through later. James started duplicating the couches and Mia went back outside to finish setting up the wards.

When she reentered the tent a few minutes later, it was to find James sitting on her and Harry's bed, looking at a framed photo in his hand. It was a picture of her, Harry, Sirius, and Remus, right before the spring term of their fifth year. She smiled sadly.

"That's the day Harry adopted me— we wanted a family photo. It's also the last photo Sirius was ever in. When we went on the run, that was the one picture that came with us. Harry and I didn't want to part with it."

She wiped away a tear and felt as Harry leaned his head against the back of her shoulder in comfort. James, not knowing what to say, simply pulled his daughter into his arms and let her cry. After a few minutes, she pulled away and wiped her face with her hands.

"Sorry, it's just- it's hard."

"Mia, love, you have nothing to apologize for."

She gave her father a half-smile and sniffled a bit, before shaking her head and pulling out her wand. "Expecto Patronum."

James watched, entranced, as Mia's doe jumped around the tent, making a circle and coming to a stop in front of Mia, waiting for directions.

"Go to Sirius, and tell him: Padfoot, heads up, Dad and I will be apparating back in about a minute, so please don't hex us when we come in." After the doe pranced off, Mia turned to her father. "Dad, can you apparate us back into the current headquarters? I need to portkey the rest of the Order in here."

"How did you get a portkey? The Ministry monitors them."

"The Ministry can't monitor something they don't know I have."

"Mia… why do you have an illegal portkey?"

"Constant vigilance. Besides, it wasn't illegal in my timeline, the Minister himself knows I have it. Also, it isn't a normal portkey." She paused to pull out a silver necklace with a flat circular pendant from under her jumper. Engraved on the front side of the pendant were two interlocking H's, and on the back was "12/28/95."

"Harry gave me this the day he adopted me. I charmed it into an emergency portkey, but I altered it a little bit. I made it reusable, and instead of having one location programmed into it, I have multiple locations queued to it. I have different activation phrases for each location, and once the activation phrase is said, it transports the user to the corresponding location. I made multiple ones for the Order, which is how the Minister knows I have one. I even gave him one."

James grinned in awe and excitement.

"That's brilliant."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks, now could you take us back to the headquarters please?"

"Sure thing, love."

The minute they landed back at headquarters, James and Mia were met with Sirius's wand in their face.

"Prongs," Sirius grinned evilly, "if you really are Prongs, what book did I catch you reading in seventh year, and who did you steal it from?"

James glared at Sirius. "Padfoot," he hissed, "you said you wouldn't tell!"

Looking like a true Marauder, Sirius said, "Answer the question, Prongs, otherwise I'll assume you're a Death Eater and stun you."

James sighed and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that, Prongsy? I didn't hear you."

"Fine! I was reading one of Lily's muggle romance novels! Happy? You're a terrible person, Padfoot!"

Many members of the Order, Mia included, snorted, and Sirius turned his wand on Mia.

"Kitten, name everything you've flown on, and what position you play in Quidditch."

Hermione sighed. "I've flown on a muggle airplane, a broom, a hippogriff, a thestral, and a dragon, more specifically a half-blind Ukrainian Ironbelly. And you know very well, Sirius Black, that I hate flying and don't play Quidditch. If you want my brother's Quidditch position, he was the youngest seeker in a century."

"Good job, Kitten, you passed. Now for Harry's question-"

Sirius was cut off by Fabian Prewett.

"Hang on-" he turned to direct his attention to Mia, "you've flown on a dragon?"

Gideon jumped in before she could respond. "And a hippogriff, and a thestral?"

"Not by choice, but yes. It was necessary at the time, otherwise, I wouldn't have done it. I hate flying."

Gideon snorted. "You don't do anything by halves, do you?"

Hermione smiled wryly. "It's sort of hard to, when your brother is Harry Potter."

"Which brings us back to Harry," said Sirius, looking at the small boy on Mia's back. "Prongslet, your security question is really easy, so you better get this right." Mia glared at Sirius, but he continued. "Who is your favorite?"

Harry picked his head up off his sister's shoulder and looked around the room confusedly for a few seconds, before turning back to face Sirius and grinning.

"My-My!"

Sirius gasped and gave Harry a stink-eye. "No, Prongslet, you're supposed to say Padfoot. Do you want to try again?"

"My-My!"

This time, Sirius turned his glare on Mia. "This is your fault."

"Oh, don't be a baby, Sirius." Hermione raised her voice and addressed the rest of the Order. "If everyone could gather up and link arms, that would be much appreciated. I'm going to portkey us to the new location. And before you ask, yes, it is legal. The Minister in my time knows I have it."

Once everyone had gathered and were holding onto each other, Mia took her free hand and reached up to grasp her necklace.

"It's levi-o-sa, not levio-sa."

When they landed, Remus looked at Mia, confused. "Mia… what on earth was that?"

Hermione shrugged. "The activation phrase."

Turning to the rest of the Order, she said: "Everyone, please take a seat, there should be enough couches. I'm not going to tell you where we are, in case anyone gets captured. Now that we're in a secure location, I will be telling you all about my years at Hogwarts, and after that, my action plan. I'll pause for questions after I'm finished with each year. Before we start, does anyone have any questions?"

Dumbledore spoke up. "Hermione, my dear-"

"I am not your anything, Dumbledore, and as I don't recall giving you leave to use my first name, it is Miss Potter to you. Don't think I don't know how your grandfather act works; you've certainly used it enough times on my brother for me to figure it out."

Dumbledore stepped back a little in shock, not being used to having someone call him out, but composed himself and started over. "Very well, my apologies, Miss Potter. I was wondering if you would kindly give me my wand back. In your haste to find a new location, it seems you have forgotten to do so."

"No, I did not forget, and no, I won't be giving it back to you. Besides, it won't for you anyway. Its allegiance is to me now."

Dumbledore paled a little, but persisted, nonetheless. "Even so, I am currently without a wand, and in these times, it does not bode well for one to be out and about wandless."

"It's not my fault that you are so conceited as to not carry a back-up wand purely because you believe that no one could possibly disarm you." Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "Moving on, now that everyone is seated and comfortable, I will start my story."

Mia took a seat on the couch behind her, in between her parents, and moved her brother off her back and into her lap. She then looked up at the Order and began to speak.

"Our story begins on November 1, 1981, outside of a small house in Little Whinging, Surrey. The deaths of Lily and James Potter, and the disappearance of Voldemort had happened a little more than twenty-four hours prior. Sirius Black had been arrested for aiding in the murders of the Potters, and for the murders of Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles, and had been sent straight to Azkaban without a trial. Word had traveled fast, and most of Wizarding Britain already knew what had happened the night before— how the Potters had been betrayed and how a baby defeated the darkest wizard since Grindelwald and managed to escape unharmed, apart from a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. However, Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, had disappeared off the radar.

"After Hagrid had picked up Harry from Godric's Hollow, as per Dumbledore's orders, Hagrid took Harry to the house in Little Whinging. He arrived in the middle of the night, where he met Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore explained that they were outside the home of Lily Potter's muggle sister, and her husband, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, and that they would be leaving Harry there, as they were the only family that Harry had left.

"What I find interesting, however, is the fact that, as a witness of my parent's will, Dumbledore knew that under no circumstances was my brother supposed to be left there, specifically because Petunia hated everything to do with magic, and therefore would not treat Harry right. I only found out about that bit a couple hours ago from my parents, though. My brother and I never actually knew that our parents had a will— it was sealed for some reason, presumably by the Chief Warlock, although that fact is yet to be proven.

"Professor McGonagall also protested when she figured out that Dumbledore was planning to leave Harry at the Dursleys', but Dumbledore ignored her. Once Hagrid handed over my brother, Dumbledore set him on the doorstep of the Dursley's home with a letter, a few blankets, and the unhealed cut left on his forehead from the Killing Curse. He then walked away, without ringing the doorbell.

"I talked with Professor McGonagall after the war ended about how Harry was left at the Dursleys'. She told me that when she asked Dumbledore about healing the cut, and making sure it doesn't scar, Dumbledore refused, and said that even if he could do something about it, that he wouldn't, because scars can sometimes come in handy. After a little bit of research that I did, I found out that he actually could have healed my brother's scar, something that would have saved my brother and I loads of grief— and probably a few lives as well, but that explanation will have to come later."

Mia ignored the angry looks that the Order was shooting at Dumbledore. So far, her plan to discredit Dumbledore was going well.

"For the next ten years of his life, my brother was abused by the Dursleys. Dumbledore never once checked in on Harry, and to all those who went looking for and asked about the welfare of my brother, Dumbledore would tell them all that Harry was safe and happy. He wasn't. Harry was treated worse than a house-elf.

"He was forced to do all the chores, he was bullied by his aunt, uncle, and cousin, he only wore his cousin's hand-me-down clothing because the Dursleys refused to buy him anything, and even though his cousin had two bedrooms, my brother was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. The only reason that the Dursleys agreed to take in Harry was because Dumbledore was threatening them, and if my suspicions are correct, using the money my parents set aside for Harry's care to pay off the Dursleys, even though the Dursleys only used the money for themselves.

"My brother's treatment was so bad, that when my brother first successfully produced a patronus, the memory he used was the day he found out that he was a wizard, because it meant that he could get away from the Dursleys. And yes, you heard me correctly. Harry only found out that he was a wizard after Hagrid visited him to deliver his Hogwarts letter. The Dursleys tried to stamp out his magic, and my brother grew up believing that his parents were drunks that died in a muggle car crash. He only found out about his fame and the truth behind the deaths of his parents from Hagrid, the same day he found out that he was a wizard."

More dirty looks were being sent at Dumbledore, the worst of them coming from Mia, Lily, and the Marauders. Taking a moment to recompose herself— it would not do to set her tent on fire, after all— Hermione continued.

"Hagrid took Harry to Diagon Alley, where Harry was introduced to Professor Quirrell, our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He always stuttered and wore a huge turban. They went into Gringotts to get some money for Harry, and while they were there, Hagrid took a small package out of a vault on Dumbledore's orders. Harry then went to Ollivanders to get his wand. It was eleven inches and made of holly with a phoenix feather core. Ollivander told Harry that it was curious that that wand chose him, considering that Voldemort's wand was the brother to Harry's. Their wands shared feathers from the same phoenix.

"Fast forward a couple of weeks, I met Harry, Ron, and Neville on the train, we were all sorted into Gryffindor, and the third-floor corridor was announced as out of bounds. A few days into the start of the term, Harry, Ron, and I were looking at the Daily Prophet. Apparently, someone had tried to break into a vault at Gringotts, but the vault in question had been emptied earlier that day, and the aurors were still looking for the culprit. The weird thing though, was that the vault that the person tried to break into, was the same vault that Hagrid and Harry stopped at.

"A few weeks later, Draco Malfoy challenged Harry to a wizard's duel at midnight in the trophy room. Ron accepted on behalf of Harry and took up the position as Harry's second. When they were heading to the duel, I tried to stop them from going. I told them that Draco had probably told Filch what was happening so they would be caught out of bed. They didn't listen, and we ended up getting locked out of Gryffindor Tower. Having no other choice, we headed to the trophy room.

"Sure enough, it was a trap, and we were nearly caught by Filch. We sprinted down a corridor and came to a dead end, as the door at the end of the corridor was locked. I used an Alohomora, and we hid in the room, which was locked for a very good reason. It turns out that the corridor we were running down was the one that was announced as out of bounds, and the room we were hiding in held a giant cerberus."

"They kept a bloody cerberus locked up in the school, held back by nothing more than a locked door?!" Alice Longbottom looked about ready to hex Dumbledore.

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p.' "His name was Fluffy."

Gideon raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Who the bloody hell would name a cerberus 'Fluffy'?"

Mia snorted. "That's exactly what we thought, and for your information, it was Hagrid who named him." Gideon nodded in understanding, and Mia continued with her story.

"The minute we saw Fluffy, we ran— obviously, but not before I noticed that Fluffy was standing on a trapdoor. We figured that Fluffy was there for a reason, and that he was probably guarding whatever Dumbledore had Hagrid remove from the Gringotts vault.

"During the Halloween feast that year, I was in the bathroom crying over something Ronald had said to me, while Harry and Ron were eating dinner. In the middle of the feast, Professor Quirrell ran into the Great Hall, screaming that a troll had somehow gotten loose in the castle."

"First a cerberus and now a troll?! Hogwarts is supposed to be a school, not a bloody death trap!" Once again, Alice Longbottom was seething. Mia gave Alice a half-smile, letting her know that she shared the same sentiments, but otherwise didn't acknowledge her outburst.

"Because I was in the bathroom, I missed the announcement about the troll. Harry realized this and headed off with Ron to go warn me. Long story short, they accidentally locked the troll in the bathroom with me, so they ended up fighting it and taking it down, just in time for Professors McGonagall, Quirrell, and Snape to find us." Again, her sentence was cut off, but this time, it was to numerous sounds of disgust and shock coming from the Marauders.

"Professor Snape?"

"That git was allowed to teach children?"

"You've got to be kidding me. Snivellus? As a professor?"

Mia sighed and glared at Dumbledore while responding to the Marauder's objections.

"Yes. Someone thought it would be a good idea to have Snape stay out of Azkaban and teach children, purely because he regretted that Mum died. We'll just ignore all of the crimes he committed in order to get his Dark Mark."

Once again, Dumbledore interrupted. "I'm sure that I hired him for a good reason. He must have wanted to look after young Harry, in honor of Lily's memory."

Hermione laughed humorlessly. "I can think of maybe three times where he actually tried to help or protect my brother, and one subject that I agree with him on. However, those four cases alone do not even come close to making up for pointing Voldemort at my parents and the Longbottoms, and for seven years of emotional abuse!"

Due to Mia's well-honed war instincts, she was easily able to duck the two hexes that were aimed behind her and speeding towards Dumbledore. The aging wizard, however, was not so lucky or agile. The two curses coming from Alice and Lily hit their intended target square in the chest. Many Order members watched in shock as Alice's stinging hex knocked Dumbledore to the ground, right as Lily's Bat-Bogey Hex hit home. The rest of the Order members looked proud and a little disgusted— the damage from Lily's Bat-Bogey was not a pretty sight.

Lily cleared her throat, bringing the attention off a moaning Dumbledore and back to her. "Sorry," she said, smiling sweetly- a smile that had caused a shiver to run down the spines of all the poor souls who had faced her temper before. "I suddenly felt the need for a little bit of target practice. Please continue, Mia."

Alice nodded in agreement but shot a glare at every member in the tent. "The first person to cast a Finite on him will end up exactly like the headmaster."

Mia grinned, gave a small chuckle, and sighed. "Oh, I can't wait until you two meet Gin… Sorry- I mean Ginny. Ginny Weasley. You both would love her. She has a wicked temper, and the nastiest Bat-Bogey I've ever seen— yours came close though, Mum. When all of Gin's brothers weren't wrapped around her finger, they were terrified of her."

"You hear that Fab? Our future niece is a scary one," said Gideon, grinning at his brother.

"Not particularly surprising, given her mother- Molls scares me all the time. However, I must admit that I'm excited, Gid," replied Fabian cheekily.

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled fondly, once again being reminded of the twins. Shaking her head, she then continued with her story.

"A few days after the Troll Incident was my brother's first Quidditch match. About halfway through the match, Harry's broom started acting up. That's when I noticed that it looked like Snape was jinxing his broom-"

"That git!"

"-so I ran beneath the stands and set Snape's robes on fire-"

"That's my daughter! Go Mia!"

"Your kid is amazing, Prongs."

"-which caused Snape to both break eye contact, and knock Quirrell over in the process of trying to put out the fire. Harry was fine and ended up winning the match. Later, Harry noticed that Snape had been limping, and he suspected that Snape had tried to get past Fluffy. We took our suspicions to Hagrid, and he let slip that Snape was trying to help protect the object that Fluffy was guarding, also that the object was the business of Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel, and that we should stay out of the situation."

Lily gasped, and her hand flew to cover her mouth. "Nicolas Flamel? As in the Nicolas Flamel? One of the most famous alchemists in the world? That Nicolas Flamel?"

When Mia nodded, Lily sent another stinging hex at Dumbledore, who had yet to recover from the first bout of hexes. She glared furiously at him.

"You hid the Philosopher's Stone in Hogwarts?!"

"Good job, Mum. That took us ages to figure out, and you did it in a few minutes' time."

"Well, of all the possible valuables and riches, the item would have to be really important for someone to do something as crazy as breaking into Gringotts- no offence."

"None taken."

"Anyway, when you factor in Nicolas Flamel, the answer is obvious."

"Wait a minute," said Gideon, looking at Mia, "I understand how Lily figured out that it was the Philosopher's Stone, but did she just imply that you broke into Gringotts?"

Hermione stared at him before asking with a straight face, "What did you think I rode the dragon for? I certainly didn't do it for fun."

Gideon, as well as many other Order members, gaped at her.

"You broke into Gringotts and escaped on a dragon?"

"Oh, not this again."

"Is that what we looked like last night?" Asked Remus, pointing to the many shocked faces around the room.

Mia snorted. "Almost exactly."

"No way," said Fabian with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised, "I don't believe you."

"Would you believe the Prophet?"

Before he could reply, Mia had summoned the Daily Prophet article of the break-in from her beaded bag and thrust it at Fabian. His eyes widened as he saw the picture that was front and center of the newspaper, depicting rubble flying as a Ukrainian Ironbelly burst out of the top of Gringotts and flew off with Harry, Ron, and Hermione clinging to the back of the dragon for dear life. The title of the paper read: "Golden Trio Breaks into Gringotts," in bold and flashing lettering.

"Do you believe me now, Fabian?" Asked Mia with a smug grin.

"No offence… but you, your brother, and my youngest nephew… you're all insane."

Mia laughed. "Yes. Yes, we are."

As the paper was passed around the room, Mia observed the different reactions of the Order members. Some of the older members like Elphias Doge and Caradoc Dearborn had shocked expressions on their faces, while Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene McKinnon, and Emmeline Vance all looked a little sick at the picture. James, however, told Mia that he would be framing a copy of the picture to hang in the Manor, as it was "too bloody brilliant to not show off." Once everyone had settled down again, Mia continued with her recount of her first year.

"The next few weeks after the Quidditch match mainly consisted of us trying to figure out what Fluffy was hiding. Over winter holidays, my brother discovered the Mirror of Erised was also being kept in the castle. For those who do not know of the mirror, rather than showing your reflection, it shows your deepest desire. Harry didn't know that at first, all he knew was that it allowed him to sit with his parents every night."

By now, Harry had fallen asleep on his sister's lap, and she looked at him sadly. As an eleven-year-old boy, his deepest desire should have been becoming a Quidditch star or Head Auror, not being able to see his parents. She noticed that Lily was wiping her eyes, but Mia didn't call attention to it. She always hated when people did that.

"Dumbledore knew he was sneaking out to go sit in front of the mirror, so he explained how it worked, and told Harry that it would be moved and that he should not go looking for it. Once we figured out that Fluffy was protecting the stone, we went to Hagrid with our suspicions about Snape trying to steal it, but he still thought it was unlikely.

"A little while after that, my brother and I were given detention for being outside after hours. We were trying to smuggle a baby Norwegian Ridgeback out of Hogwarts. Hagrid had won it as an egg off a stranger in a pub, and he hatched it in his hut. Ron wrote to Charlie about it, who had some of his friends from the reserve pick up the Ridgeback. Charlie's a Dragonologist and was working on a reserve in Romania. We were told to meet them at the Astronomy Tower at midnight, where they would pick up Norberta. Originally, Hagrid had named her Norbert— he didn't know she was a girl.

"The pickup went well, but Draco found out that we would be out of bed and ratted us out. For our detention, we had to go with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest to try to figure out what was killing off some of the unicorns. While we were in the forest, Harry stumbled onto the thing that was killing the unicorns. It was a cloaked person, and the person was drinking the unicorn blood.

"The person tried to attack Harry, but he was saved by one of the centaurs. We figured out that it had to be Voldemort who was drinking the blood to stay alive, which led us to the conclusion that Snape didn't want the stone for himself, but for Voldemort. Harry had told me and Ron that his scar was hurting him, and he believed it was because Voldemort was nearby. The fact that it hurt frequently inside Hogwarts furthered our suspicions against Snape.

"Later, Harry realized that it was awfully strange that Hagrid had won Norberta. It was no secret Hagrid wanted a dragon, and the stranger just happened to be carrying around an illegal dragon egg. Hagrid said that he never saw the stranger's face, but the stranger did have a lot of interest in the animals that Hagrid worked with— especially Fluffy. Hagrid accidentally revealed to the stranger that the way to put Fluffy to sleep was with a bit of music. This gave us more evidence against Snape.

"After the one of the last Quidditch matches of the year, Harry noticed Quirrell and Snape heading into the Forbidden Forest, and so he followed them on his broom, and overheard an argument they were having. It sounded like Quirrell was trying to stop Snape from getting past Fluffy. We went to Professor McGonagall hoping to find Dumbledore to warn him about Snape. Professor McGonagall informed us that Dumbledore had been called to London on urgent Ministry business and wouldn't be back for a few days. With Dumbledore out of the school, we knew that Snape would make a move for the stone. Since Professor McGonagall didn't believe the stone was in danger, that left it to us to protect. We decided we would go down the trapdoor."

"What? Mia, no, go get a different teacher! Have them guard it," Lily said, panicking. Mia looked over to her mother and shook her head.

"If Professor McGonagall didn't believe us, who would? We would just look like three incredibly nosey first-years. We couldn't risk the chance that Voldemort would fully come back, so we snuck out of Gryffindor tower and headed towards the third-floor corridor. Harry tried to convince me and Ron to go back to the dormitory- he didn't want us in danger, but we refused. We were in it together from the moment the mountain troll went down in the girls' bathroom, and no matter how many stupid fights and arguments we had, we always would be.

"When we arrived, we saw that Fluffy was already asleep, meaning that Snape was ahead of us. As we were going through the trapdoor, Fluffy woke up and tried to bite us, so we made a jump for it, and landed on something soft that looked like vines. When the vines started moving, I realized that we had landed on Devil's Snare."

"You have got to be kidding me," grumbled Alice.

"I set it on fire, and we moved to the next obstacle, where we had to find a specific flying key out of hundreds while flying on a broom. Harry had no trouble with finding and catching the key, until the keys started to attack us. We somehow managed to make it through the room and onto the next challenge: a life-sized game of Wizard's Chess, where we had to act as substitutes for some of the chess pieces and play our way across the board."

"Mia," growled Lily, trying to keep ahold of her temper, "please tell me that when you say, 'life-sized game of Wizard's Chess,' you don't mean that it was exactly like a game of Wizard's Chess, you know, where the pieces actually kill each other."

"Yes, Mum. It was exactly like Wizard's Chess."

This time, it was three stinging hexes that found their way to Dumbledore. Once each from Lily and Alice, and another from Marlene McKinnon. When some of the Order members looked at her questioningly, she shrugged her shoulders, glared at Dumbledore, and nonchalantly stated that she too felt the need for a little target practice. Mia had a feeling that she and Marlene would get along famously.

"Since Ron was the best chess player of the three of us, he commanded the pieces and played as the substitute for the Knight. I played as the Rook, and my brother played Bishop. Near the end of the game, Ron realized that the only way for us to win was to sacrifice himself."

Many gasps could be heard around the room as the Order processed that a twelve-year-old boy was about to put his life on the line to protect a priceless artifact that someone thought would be a good idea to hide in a school. After sending their share of nasty jinxes at Dumbledore, Gideon and Fabian moved across the tent to sit closer to Mia, as they could no longer stomach sitting close to Dumbledore. They were disgusted with him. He was the headmaster of a school, he was supposed to keep children safe, and currently, it didn't even seem like he was trying.

"Ron was knocked unconscious by the chess piece, and my brother and I were able to win the game. After making sure that Ron was ok, we went on to the next room, which had another troll inside. It was already knocked out though, so we assumed Snape had gotten to it, and we left the room to solve the next challenge: a potions riddle.

"We were in a room surrounded by fire and in the center was a line-up of potions bottles. The line-up contained multiple poisons, one potion that allowed a single person to go forward, and one that allowed one to a person to exit. I figured out the riddle, and Harry made me take the potion that allowed a person to go back. I didn't want to leave him, but he wouldn't have it. He insisted that it was his fight, and that he wouldn't let me continue putting my life in danger for him. He forced me to go back, told me to get Ron to the hospital wing and to send an owl to Dumbledore. Before I left, I gave him the first hug he ever remembered receiving. We were both terrified that it would be his last. I think this next bit might be better to watch. I don't think I'd be able to describe it accurately."

Being careful not to wake little Harry, Mia stood and moved beyond the circle of Order members to the back of the tent, stopping at her bedside cabinet. She opened the largest compartment and pulled out a small pensieve, along with a small vial of memories from what looked to be a meticulously organized shelving unit filled to the brim with other labeled vials. Walking back to where the Order members were gathered, Mia set the pensieve down in the middle of the circle and poured out the memory, watching as the silvery strands swirled around the pensieve. After tapping her wand gently to her brother's head and casting a nonverbal spell, she turned to look at her parents.

"Silencing charm," she explained. "He doesn't need to hear or see this. If he wakes, I'll distract him. There will be more memories as we go along, and many of them are hard to watch." As she moved back to her seat, she turned her attention to the rest of the Order. "I created a spell a while back that works like a muggle projector. It makes things much easier, and this way, we don't all have to take turns using the pensieve. Once I start the memory, I can't pause it without completely ending it, so please hold all questions until the end."

At the nods and confirmations of the Order members, Mia aimed her wand at the pensieve. "Aperta Proiectura." The tent was suddenly plunged into an eerie light as the memory started, showing a young Hermione and a carbon-copy of an eleven-year-old James Potter (except for the eyes, of course,) surrounded by a circle of black and purple flames. Both were scraped up and injured, and their clothes were looking worse for wear.

"The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire — toward the Stone," Hermione said, looking at Harry.

Harry looked at the tiny bottle. "There's only enough there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow. Which one will get you back through the purple flames?"

Hermione pointed at the round bottle furthest on the right.

"You drink that," said Harry.

Hermione shook her head. "No, Harry, I'm not leaving you."

"You have to, Hermione. This is my fight. I won't let you put yourself in danger for me."

As Hermione looked ready to protest, Harry interrupted her.

"No, listen, get back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the flying key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy — go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."

Hermione looked as though she might cry.

"But Harry — what if You-Know-Who's with him?"

"Well — I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Tears slid down Hermione's cheeks and she suddenly threw her arms around Harry, who looked shocked at first, but then squeezed her back tighter.

"Hermione!"

"Harry — you're a great wizard, you know." Her voice trembled.

"I'm not as good as you," said Harry.

"Me! Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Harry —be careful!"

The memory faded to black, and opened to Harry walking into a large room, with a man in a turban, standing in front of a large mirror. Many Order members gasped, quickly realizing that the man in front of the mirror was not Snape.

"You!" gasped Harry.

Quirrell smiled. "Me. I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."

"But I thought — Snape —"

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter curse, trying to save you."

"Snape was trying to save me?"

James, Sirius, and Remus looked to be in just about as much shock as Harry. Lily, however, smiled slightly. Even if they were no longer friends, Sev had still tried to save her son.

"Of course," said Quirrell coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really… he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular… and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

At this, Lily's hair sparked, making her look very much like her daughter.

"You stay the hell away from my son!" Growled Lily. James was glaring at the memory, and he clenched his fists as Quirrell conjured ropes around Harry.

"You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"You let the troll in?"

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls — you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off — and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now, wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

"That's the Mirror of Erised! Tell me the stone isn't inside the mirror..."

Mia didn't see who shouted it out, but she responded anyway. "I wish I could. Unfortunately, the stone is inside the mirror."

The Order watched anxiously as Harry tried desperately to distract Quirrell from getting the stone. Many were confused as to why Quirrell was talking to himself, but their faces drained of color when they heard someone answer back.

"Use the boy…Use the boy.…"

"Don't touch him," Lily snarled.

"Mia… tell me that's not… he can't be in the room with them, right? It's just Quirrell and Harry… right?"

Hermione sent a grim look towards her father but said nothing. The atmosphere became more tense as Harry looked into the mirror and saw the stone being placed in his pocket. When Quirrell unwrapped his turban, many people screamed, both out of the shock and horror at the way Quirrell and Voldemort looked, and out of fear for Harry's life. Emmeline Vance let out a little whimper when Voldemort started talking. Mia couldn't blame her- it was awful.

"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and join me…or you'll meet the same end as your parents…They died begging me for mercy…"

"LIAR!" Harry shouted suddenly.

"Oh, Harry, my baby…" Lily had tears rolling down her face.

"How touching…" Voldemort hissed. "I always value bravery…. Yes, boy, your parents were brave…I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight…"

James and Lily's faces drained of blood.

"You leave us out of this, you monster! Don't you dare taunt him with us!"

Lily's fists were clenched as she shouted at the memory. James was possibly worse- he was so overcome with rage that he was shaking, but he couldn't seem to form any words.

"…but your mother needn't have died…she was trying to protect you…Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."

"NEVER!"

"Run, Harry! Get out of there!" Lily wished that her yells influenced the memory, that somehow, her son would hear her and get to safety, but to no avail.

"SEIZE HIM!"

"NO!"

Many shouts could be heard around the tent, telling memory Harry to run, yelling at Quirrell and Voldemort, and just general noises of fear and horror. Mia was glad that she had the forethought to put a silencing charm around Harry, who was still sleeping soundly. She was also glad that she put up noise cancelling wards around the tent as well. Even though they were alone in the middle of the Forest of Dean, the amount of noise the Order was making surely would have attracted some attention.

Suddenly, all the noises stopped as Quirrell reached out to choke Harry. The only sounds that could be heard were the screams of Harry and Quirrell.

"Master, I cannot hold him — my hands — my hands!"

Quirrell's hands were red and raw, and smoking— literally.

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!"

"NO! RUN HARRY!"

Lily was in hysterics. Her yells and cries only got louder as Harry reached out to grab Quirrell's face in self-defense, all the while screaming at the blinding pain coming from his scar. When the memory faded to black, Lily lost it. Terrified tears were rolling down her face as she begged for a sign that her son was alive. Nothing happened.

"What? No, no, no, NO! Harry, wake up! WAKE UP!"

"Mum!" Said Mia, raising her voice to grab Lily's attention. "Mum, look! Look."

Carefully, Mia stood up and gently placed her sleeping brother into their mother's arms. Slowly, Lily looked down at the peaceful face of her son.

"Harry?" Her voice cracked.

"It's ok, Mum," said Mia quietly, placing a hand on Lily's shoulder, "See? Harry's safe. It was just a memory. It's not going to happen again. I won't let it. I promise."

As Lily visibly started to calm down, Mia looked towards her dad, Sirius, and Remus, to see how they were handling seeing Harry in danger. All three had gone pale and were staring in horror at the space where the memory had previously been playing. It seemed like none of them had processed that the memory had turned off. James was shaking. There were tears in his eyes, and he looked like he was at a loss for what to do and how to help.

"Dad. Moony. Padfoot."

Mia waited to continue speaking until all three of them had met her eyes.

"Hell will freeze over before I allow that to happen. Not even death can stop me from making sure that never happens. Harry will be safe. I swear it."

Remus and Sirius slowly nodded, taking deep breaths. James, however, stood up and walked over to Mia, wrapping his arms around her and crushing her in a tight hug.

"Thank you for coming back, Angel," he said hoarsely, his voice thick with emotion, "I know we've already said this, but thank you so, so much for coming back, for fixing it."

"You don't have to thank me, Dad," said Mia quietly. "I'd do anything for Harry. He's— mine. He's my brother."

"Still—thank you. I don't know how we'll ever repay you…"

"You already have."

James pulled back slightly to look at his daughter in confusion. She stared him straight in the eyes.

"You've given me a family again. That is so much more than I could ever ask for."