Hey y'all!

This chapter (more specifically a few characters) ran away from me a little bit, and I think that's all I'll say. As always, sit back, relax, enjoy, and on with the chapter!

-Sav

December 29, 1980

James had awoken for the second time that morning, this time to the heavenly smell of coffee and a Full English. Upon realizing that both his son and daughter were no longer in the room, he headed to the kitchen, where he found Mia tending to the grilled tomatoes, and Harry giggling happily from his high chair. The rest of the kitchen still remained quiet, though James wagered that it would not be too long before it started to fill up. Knowing this, he sat down next to Harry, and took his chance.

"Mia?"

"Yes?"

"You put a silencing charm around your room again."

Mia didn't reply. James tried again.

"I understand that you don't want to disturb us, but try to see it from my point of view. We– Lily and I, Remus, Sirius, even Harry– we all just want to help. You don't need to worry about disturbing us, because we'd rather be there with you. You shouldn't have to do this all by yourself. You don't need to, Angel. Let us help. Please."

After a few minutes had passed, with the only sounds being those of Mia moving about the kitchen, James started to think that he wasn't going to get a reply. That was fine though– he'd already said what he needed to say, and he knew at the very least his daughter had heard him. Finally, however, her quiet voice broke the silence.

"Why do you call me that?"

"What? Angel?"

She nodded.

"I call you Angel because that's what you are to me."

Seeing Mia's puzzled expression, James continued.

"You've looked after Harry for nearly half your life– you even fought in a war alongside him. That alone would be enough to warrant the name, but you didn't stop. You literally fell from the sky with the intention of re-entering a war you just finished fighting, all so you could save more people and give your brother a happier life. It would have been more than enough to simply stop his death, but you never stop– even when it becomes dangerous for yourself. You knew what it would be like coming here and yet you still came– knowing that Lily and I were marked for death, knowing that Sirius would be falsely imprisoned, knowing that Remus would be left alone, knowing that the war was over, that you don't have to fight anymore— but you decided to come anyway. You're my angel, Mia Potter."

Mia brushed a few tears from her eyes and sent a small, sad smile towards James. "You say all of that, but really I'm a selfish broken girl who just wants her brother back. Don't you see? We were at peace. I've put the future of the entire Wizarding World at stake all so I wouldn't have to live knowing my brother is dead. That he died the second he got a chance at happiness. If I fail, if we lose the war–"

"We won't lose the war," James said fiercely. "Mia, you are the furthest possible thing from selfish. Love, you looked me in the eyes yesterday and told me that not even death would stop you from fixing things. We won't lose simply because you won't allow us to. And all this for your brother. You're not selfish, Angel."

"But–"

"No buts," interrupted James. Hearing the front door open, James decided to lighten the mood. "Besides, I'm your dad, and I'm older, so I'm automatically right."

Mia, trying to hide her smile at James's declaration, rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Please , you're barely older than I am."

"Barely? I'm twenty years older than you, young lady."

Mia rolled her eyes. "You're twenty. I'm nineteen."

"Nuh-uh! You cheated! Time travel is cheating!"

"Nuh-uh? Really? Yeah, Dad, you're so mature– wise beyond your years, with a vocabulary to match."

James threw a hand to heart, a look of utmost offence painted across his features and cried: "Angel! How could you defamate my character? Oh, the betrayal! My own daughter defamates me!"

"Defames, Dad. It's defames, not defamates. You're only proving my point!"

Sirius snorted as he entered the kitchen, catching the tail end of James and Mia's bickering. "My darling godkitten, if you're calling Prongs's vocabulary into question, you should know he's really quite the linguist–"

"Thank you!"

"–especially when properly intoxicated. He comes up with entire languages all by himself. Moony and I call it Prongs Prattle. Everyone else calls it drunken gibberish– well, we call it that too."

"Some friends you are," James huffed, crossing his arms.

"Mate, you spent an hour telling us how you had been 'Lilyfied' since 'wand-age!'"

"I have been Lilyfied since wand-age!"

"Sorry, you've been what?" Asked Mia, confused.

"What our Lilyfied-Prongsie means to say is that he's been in love with Evans since our first year at Hogwarts."

"That's Potter to you, Sirius Black!" Lily's voice sounded from the stairs, and she entered the kitchen moments later, only to be immediately wrapped in her husband's arms.

"Lily-Flower, my love, I'm being defamated," spoke James, his voice slightly muffled from having buried his face in Lily's hair. She rubbed James's back in a consoling manner, before taking his face in her hands. "I think you mean defamed, love."

Sirius and Mia didn't bother holding back their laughter at the childish pout that crossed James's face.

"Going back to my point–" said James in annoyance, rolling his eyes. Inwardly, he was just happy to see his daughter smiling. "Not only am I older, but I'm also your Dad, which means I'm right, which means I win. Ha!"

Finally, Mia gave in. "If you say so, Dad."

"I do." James bobbed his head with such finality that the simple motion closed the matter at hand– well, once the snickering of Mia, Lily, and Sirius died down.

Remus entered not long after that, and it was then that breakfast was finally served up. Mia was quickly coming to understand that this was how the group spent every morning: together. As a family. It was nice, she found herself thinking, comforting. A small slice of the peaceful white-picket life before having to face reality again. Before fighting the war again.

Mia allowed the easy atmosphere to linger until after they had all finished with breakfast– all apart from Harry, though he seemed more than content to continue making a soup out of his tomatoes, rather than eating them.

"We should talk about the plan for today," Mia started, "there's so much to do and so little time."

"I thought we had the morning off?" Asked Sirius. "The next Order meeting isn't until this afternoon."

"The rest of the Order has the morning off, but there's something I need to do before the meeting, and I'm going to need help." Mia replied.

"Anything you need, Angel. How can we help?" James's face was set in a look of determination, a look that portrayed quite clearly that he really did mean it when he said anything. Mia looked away quickly in an attempt to control the tidal wave of emotion that enveloped her every time she realized just how much her new-old found family cared for her.

She cleared her throat. "We're going to divide and conquer if that's alright with everyone." After receiving nods of confirmation from the group, she turned to face Lily. "Mum, if I recall correctly, you were training to be a Potions Mistress before you all went into hi–" A look of horror slowly dawned over Mia's face.

"Mia? What is it? Angel, what's wrong?" James jumped into action at his daughter's sudden distress, kneeling in front of Mia and gently bringing a hand to her face to cup her cheek, pushing back some of her hair in the process. "Love, what's happened?" His voice was filled with concern from the lack of response from his daughter, and that worry only grew the longer she did not reply. Finally, her wide, terrified eyes landed on him, her piercing gaze sending chills down his spine.

Her voice barely reached above a hoarse whisper, but the dread laced within every inch of her voice was deafening.

"You're supposed to be in hiding."

"Angel-"

"Why aren't you in hiding?"

"Angel-"

"It's December, 1980." She said, her volume growing as she gained a frantic sense of urgency. "He already knows about the prophecy. You should've been in hiding by now. Why aren't you hiding by now? "

"Angel-"

"He'll kill you! I won't be able to stop it! He'll kill- you have to be in hiding! Why aren't you in hiding?! "

"Mia!" She blinked, sending a few scared tears down her face, as James finally managed to get her attention. James used his thumbs to gently brush away her fallen tears. "Angel, calm down. Breathe. We are in hiding. We have been for almost a year now. We only leave the Manor for Order meetings, and even then, Lily and I aren't actively being sent out on missions. Same with the Longbottoms. It's alright, love. We're as safe as we can be for now."

Mia took a deep breath, trying to release some of the panic that had overtaken her. After a few long seconds, she jerked her head in a sharp nod.

"Sorry… I just– I didn't even think, a-and-"

"There's no need to apologize for worrying about us, Angel."

"Right then," she started quickly, trying to focus back on what she had been saying, and wanting to move on from the moment as fast as possible. "Mum, you would be the most skilled at potions out of everyone here, right?"

"Well, I'm not the one who brewed Polyjuice in second year, but I am definitely more adept at potions than this sorry lot."

"Oi, I'm not horrible!" Interrupted Sirius in offense.

Lily snorted. "Tell that to the time you brewed a Forgetfulness Potion which turned your skin green."

Sirius huffed. "That was a low blow, Evans."

"Potter." She corrected, rolling her eyes.

"I've never been very good with potions either," said Remus, wrinkling his nose. "The smells bother me too much."

Mia huffed a small laugh, a hint of a smile gracing her face. "I remember."

"Don't even try with me and potions," said James grinning. "Even my lovely Lily-Flower gave up on me years ago. I'm a lost cause."

Mia narrowed her eyes, silently vowing to get her father to a passable level of potioneering. Anything less than was simply unacceptable, and if she could get her brother and Ron into NEWT-level potions, then she wagered she could do just about anything.

"So that's settled. Mum, I need you to set up some sort of sick-bay here. We're going to need Essence of Dittany, Murtlap Essence, Skele-Gro, Draught of Peace, Blood-Replenishing Potion, Calming Draught, Sleeping Draught, Dreamless Sleep Potion, Wiggenweld Potion, just about any other healing potion you can think of, Antidote to Common Poisons, Antidote to Uncommon Poisons, and– oh, I wish I still had those bezoars…"

"I have a few bezoars here," said Lily, concern etched into her features, "as well as some of the other potions you mentioned…" Her voice took on an alarmed note as she mentally went down her daughter's list."…I like to keep a stock in case of emergencies… Please tell me you're not planning on being poisoned…"

Mia didn't respond to her mother's question, but rather she continued her list. "We're also going to need…"

"There's more?" Asked Remus incredulously.

"...warm blankets, some sort of hospital bed, towels you don't mind throwing out or burning, a bucket, and drinking water– lots of it."

A heavy silence had fallen over the group by the time Mia had finished.

"Kitten, what's going on?"

"We're getting Regulus."

Sirius paled. "All this for… for Reggie? I thought you said he wasn't in any immediate danger… Reg…"

Mia placed a calming hand on Sirius's shoulder. "He's not in any immediate danger."

"But-"

"He won't be in any danger until we try to save him."

James furrowed his eyebrows. "But that doesn't make any sense. How is he not in danger until we try to save him?"

"It's a bit complicated, and Sirius, I'm sorry, but this will be hard to hear."

Sirius took a deep breath before nodding, and Mia took that as her que to start her explanation. "At the moment, Regulus is unconscious– thank Merlin for that. I couldn't even imagine… Anyway, Harry and I were renovating Grimmauld after the war ended, and I realized that the Black Family Tapestry didn't have an exact death date for Regulus, rather it just said May, 1979. But the interesting part is that the tapestry is self-updating as it uses blood-magic to track all members of the House of Black. That means–"

"The tapestry should've had an exact date for Regulus." Said Lily, her jaw dropping in realization. "That's how you knew he was alive! He went missing in May, and has since been presumed dead. Someone would've had to charm the tapestry to list May as the death date, since the tapestry wouldn't have listed a date at all."

Mia nodded, confirming Lily's theory. "I talked to Kreacher, who confirmed that Walburga, believing that Regulus had died, was the one to charm the tapestry." Mia nudged Sirius with her elbow. "It was probably the only good thing your mother ever did in her life."

Sirius scoffed. "I never thought I'd be grateful for something that old bint did."

"But how could he still be alive and unconscious for all that time without some sort of medical help or people knowing where he is?" Asked Remus.

"Well, I was wondering about that as well, except Harry, Ron, and I had the advantage of knowing his location and how he supposedly died. I told you all earlier that Regulus had tried to acquire and destroy one of Voldemort's prized possessions. We only know that because Harry and Dumbledore went to do the same thing, except when they acquired the item, Harry realized that it had been a fake, and the real one had been stolen and replaced by Sirius's brother."

"How'd you figure that out if he had been missing for years at this point?" Interrupted Lily in confusion.

"He left a note, and we had help from Kreacher with the rest."

"I see." Replied Lily.

Mia took a deep breath. "Regulus drowned in an inferi-infested lake."

"Merlin …" Sirius whispered in horror. "Reg…"

"The inferi have been in that lake for over twenty years. For them to remain…intact…for that long would have required something along the lines of a stasis charm, which would have preserved them indefinitely. And it would have been too hard to put a stasis charm over every single inferius, so that leaves placing the stasis charm on the lake. When somebody drowns, water gets into the lungs, but it's not uncommon for water to be swallowed either. Since that water has a stasis charm…"

"That's what's keeping him alive." Finished Sirius quietly. "He won't start dying until we try to get the water out of his lungs."

"It worked last time, Sirius. It will work this time too. I won't let your brother die, Sirius. I swear it."

Sirius gently tugged on Mia's arm, pulling her into a crushing hug. "You're an Angel, Mia Potter."

"I told you so." James was quiet enough that only Mia (and likely Remus with his overly sensitive ears) could hear. Mia simply rolled her eyes and tried not to smile. When Sirius let her go, Mia continued with her rundown.

"You all should know that before the inferi attacked, Regulus ingested a potion that while not immediately lethal, will need to be counteracted reasonably quickly, as its effects are… not pleasant, to say the least."

Lily nodded, a no-nonsense look about her face. "In that case, if there's nothing else I need to know, I'd like to get a start on setting up."

"Thanks, Mum," said Mia, agreeing with her mother's plan. "We'll let you know before we leave."

"I'll be in the lab if you need me." With that, Lily scooped up Harry from his high chair and headed down the hall into a room Mia had yet to enter. Lily's words quickly caught up with Mia, however, and she turned excitedly to face her father.

"You have a potions lab!"

"We have a potions lab. It's yours too now, Mia Potter. Lily's really the only one who uses it, but I'm sure she'd love to have you in there."

Mia smiled, before getting back on track. "Right, who's the strongest with fire spells?"

"That would probably be me," replied James.

"Great. You're on fire duty. Remus, Sirius, you're going to help Dad with the fire spells for as long as possible. That will buy time once we've started. Sirius, could you call Kreacher here please?"

Sirius nodded, and he had barely finished saying Kreacher's name when the old elf popped into the room.

"Bl– Master Sirius calls for Kreacher? Miss has Master Regulus?"

Sirius was shocked silent at the change in address from Kreacher. Though he did hear the blunder at the beginning, he never expected the elf to show any sign of liking or respecting him. Seeing that Sirius had yet to speak, Mia took the chance instead.

"Kreacher, we are about to go rescue Regulus. It's entirely your choice, and if you don't want to then please say so, but it would be helpful if you could apparate us in and out of the cave. Again, this is your choice. Not an order."

At the mention of the cave, Kreacher shuddered, but quickly squared his shoulders. "Kreacher helps." His voice was firm and unwavering. "Master Regulus saved Kreacher. Kreacher helps save Master Regulus."

"You're a very brave elf, Kreacher. Regulus is lucky to have an elf as good as you are."

Kreacher sniffed a little, but otherwise did not respond to her words. "Is Miss ready?"

Mia accioed her beaded bag and attached it to her belt, before taking her father's hand, instructing Remus and Sirius to join hands with them as well. Finally, she turned back toward Keacher and held out her hand.

"We're heading out, Mum!" Mia yelled over her shoulder and down the hallway. She had just enough time to hear Lily's response of "Be safe!" before Kreacher popped them out of the Manor, and directly onto the island the dark seaside cave amongst the cliffs.

"Thank you, Kreacher." The sound echoed eerily, bouncing off the jagged walls of the cave, and causing Kreacher to flinch.

"Miss rescues Master Regulus now."

Mia nodded, and turned her attention to the Marauders, who were looking almost more serious than she had ever seen them. "In a minute, I need you three to put up any fire spells you know, and try to keep them there for as long as possible." She reached into her bag and pulled out a long length of rope that was coiled around itself in a large loose loop. As she started to secure one end of the rope tightly around her waist, she continued to relay her instructions.

"It is extremely likely that once we start the inferi will try to climb up onto the island. Dad, whatever happens, do not drop your spells until it's time to apparate. Hold them off for as long as possible. Kreacher, the second it's safe to apparate, do so. We want to be as quick as possible. Sirius, help Dad with the fire spells until it looks like Remus might need help."

Mia finished tying the rope around herself and handed the free end to Remus, who took it in confusion.

"Mia, what are you doing?" He asked, though she could tell by his worried tone that he already knew the answer.

"Something stupid." She responded. "Remus, you're physically the strongest. The moment you see my head back above the surface, I need you to pull me in as quickly as possible. I'll try to help as well, but I can't guarantee how effective I'll be."

"Mia you're not-" Sirius was quickly cut off by Mia.

"I am."

"But Angel-"

"I'm doing it, Dad." She said firmly. James took a deep breath in, and though he looked very much like he wanted to object, he stayed quiet. Mia again reached into her bag and pulled out a diving torch with an old piece of parchment stuck to the handle.

"Regulus wrote the note," she explained as she clicked the torch light on. "We stuck it to the torch last time so we could use it as a tracker underwater. Is everyone ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be, I think." Sirius said shakily.

Mia nodded and cast a bubble-head charm, before pointing her wand at the torch. "Avenseguim." The torch flew from her hand and plummeted under the water. Mia followed quickly, taking a leap off the island and diving deep under the surface.

Immediately she felt dozens of hands on her, grabbing her, trying to drag her down. She tried her best to relax and searched around for the light coming from the torch. Finally, she spotted it off to the side a couple of meters, resting against the deathly still body of Regulus Black at the bottom of the lake.

She swam as best as she could, fighting her way through the swarm of inferi around her. She so desperately wanted to close her eyes at the sight of the inferi, pale, skeletal, lifeless, moving in horrifying unnatural animation. Rather she pushed ahead, wincing as the inferi began to claw and scratch at her, drawing blood.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, she reached Regulus. As she reached out and started to haul Regulus into her arms, the inferi became more and more aggressive. Cold, dead hands wrapped around her throat. She tried to scream, but it was cut off as the inferi began to choke her. Letting go of Regulus with one hand, she pulled her elbow back and launched it as hard as she could into the inferius behind her, knocking its grip off her neck long enough for her to lock her arm back into place around Regulus and cry out "Ascendio!"

She felt herself rocket towards the surface, Regulus in tow. The second her head broke the surface, she screamed out: "Now, Remus!"

Her bubble-head charm had broken the second her head made it above the lake, and she could feel the inferi trying to drag her back under. They were biting, grabbing, and tugging, their nails were cutting lines into her skin. She kicked as hard as she could trying to get away from them. She could hear Remus and Sirius shouting as they frantically pulled her back towards the shore. The massive flames coming from James's wand reflected off of the lake's surface, creating a deceptively beautiful light show.

Her head was pulled under again causing Mia to cough up the water that had invaded her throat. More water entered her lungs as she inhaled reflexively. They were everywhere, violently trying to keep her from exiting the lake. She kept kicking and tightened her death grip around Regulus's torso.

A wave of relief swept over her when at last she felt warm hands grip her body, yanking her back above surface. She gasped and spluttered, trying to catch her breath. Sirius and Remus were still shouting, trying to drag both Mia and Regulus from the water while simultaneously fending off the inferi that had started to attack them as well.

"Here! Take him!" She yelled out, shoving Regulus's body towards Sirius as hard as she could. Sirius grabbed hold of his brother for dear life and hauled him up onto the island, allowing Remus to do the same with Mia, who was kicking off the inferi as they tried to regain their grip on her. The instant Mia was back on land, James dropped his charms and grabbed hold of Remus and Sirius, right as Kreacher popped the group away from the deadly cave, back to the safety of Potter Manor.

At the crashing sound of bodies hitting the hardwood floor, Lily came running into the room, wand in hand.

"We need to get him somewhere. Now." Said Mia, as she was being helped up by James and Remus. Sirius, however, stayed on the floor, cradling his brother's body in his arms.

"Reggie…" He whimpered.

"Sirius, he's going to be fine," said James, strongly, taking his best friend's hand, "but we need to move him so we can start healing him."

When Sirius didn't move, James gently shook his shoulder getting Sirius's attention. "Come on, Pads. We have to move him."

"Mobilicorpus." Muttered Lily. Regulus's body floated up into the air, and started to follow her as she quickly made her way down the hall and into the potions lab. The rest of the group followed after her, and Mia was happy to see the cot that Lily had set up, covered with towels rather than blankets, and a long line of potions set out on a nearby table.

"First thing's first," said Mia, getting straight to business. "We need to get him out of these clothes and into something dry. I'll need to see if he has any other injuries as well."

No sooner than the words had left her mouth, Kreacher snapped his fingers, and Regulus was left in a pair of clean, dry, pajama bottoms. His chest was badly scratched and bruised, but apart from that, and maybe a broken rib or two, Mia didn't see any other major injuries, and his legs were pretty much the same. She took a few more seconds to scan him, knowing that she still had a little time while the stasis-water stayed in his lungs. Finally, Mia felt around for his pulse. It took a few seconds before she found it– it was faint, barely a pulse, but it was there.

"Mum, you know how to do CPR?"

"It's been a while since I learned it, but I'm able to, yes."

"I'll start then. Be prepared to switch off with me. Hopefully we won't need to though."

Lily nodded.

Mia centered her hands over Regulus's chest, locked out her elbows, took a deep breath, and started chest compressions. She tried not to flinch as she felt his ribs break beneath her hands. The knowledge that she was resuming play on Regulus's death clock prodded her mind, but she didn't allow her concentration to waver from her count of chest compressions. Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. She tilted back Regulus's head, pinched his nose, and delivered two rescue-breaths, before moving back to chest compressions. One, two, three, four…

By the time her sixth go of chest compressions rolled around, Mia had started to tire. She started to move to let Lily take control, but she was stopped by the sudden violent coughing coming from Regulus. Mia immediately moved to toss one of the warm blankets over him, hoping to stave off the potion induced chills she knew would be coming soon. As he took a great, heaving breath in, the glorious sound ringing in their ears, the group finally relaxed.

"Regulus?" Asked Mia, leaning over his face. "Regulus, can you hear me? You're safe."

She watched as Regulus slowly blinked his eyes open to stare straight back at her.

"Am I dead?" His voice was hoarse, and his words were not what one would call comforting, but it was the second-best sound the group had heard all day.

"You're safe, Regulus."

"I am dead, then." He stated matter-of-factly.

"What? You're not dead, Regulus." Mia replied, her eyebrows knit with worry.

"But I must be dead. The last I remember I was in–" he shuddered "–in the cave. The lake. And now I've just been kissed awake by a pretty angel. I have to be dead."

Mia rolled her eyes, and tried to hide the blush that was quickly spreading across her face. "You've not changed one bit, Regulus Black."

"Do I know you? I think I'd remember if I did."

"You don't know me," she replied, smiling slightly, "but I know you. I'm Mia. And you're not dead. I promise. You're safe."

"How do you know me, but I don't know you?" He questioned curiously.

"I'll get to that part later."

"Where am I then? I didn't think it possible for me to be both alive and safe."

"You're in the potions laboratory at Potter Manor."

"Potter… as in James Potter? The one that my- that–" Regulus's eyes widened and his mouth dropped as his brother stepped up next to Mia. "Sirius?" He whispered, as though he were afraid that if he spoke too loudly, the sight of his smiling brother might vanish before his eyes.

"Hi Reggie," replied Sirius, equally as quiet, trying to keep his tears from falling.

"Sirius!" Regulus sat up so quickly that he very narrowly avoided smacking his head against Mia's. "I didn't know what to do– I had to do something. H-He created these– and he used Kreacher to hide it, and I couldn't just let it happen–"

At the confused look that crossed Sirius's face, Regulus cut off abruptly. "Y-You– You found my note, right?"

"No, I didn't–"

Regulus looked crestfallen.

"– but I know you're not a Death Eater. And I know that you nearly died going against him. And I know that you are my brother. You've always been my brother. Even when I thought you were on his side, you were still my brother. I lost you once, and I almost lost you again today. I thought I wouldn't ever be able to tell you that. I thought you died believing that I hated you. I don't hate you Regulus. You're my brother, and I love you. Please don't do that to me again, Reggie."

"You don't hate me?" The words sounded foreign and childlike.

"I could never hate you, Reg."

At this, Regulus threw himself at his older brother, trusting Sirius to catch him. It was like he was a little kid all over again, feeling Sirius hug him so tightly that his brother became an impenetrable wall against the dark, scary, outside world, and Regulus was finally– finally safe.

"Siri?" Regulus asked, his voice muffled by Sirius's shirt.

"Yeah, Reg?" Inwardly Sirius tried to contain his worry– his brother hadn't called him that in years. Since they were little, really.

"M'thirsty," he slurred.

"I'll get you some water." Sirius tried to move, but the second he did, Regulus shot up in alarm, his eyes wild and panicked.

"Don't leave me!"

"Hey, hey, Reggie it's okay. I'm not going anywhere, I promise." Seeing that his brother's grip had tightened around his stomach like devil's snare, Sirius looked to Mia for help.

"Kitten, could you–"

"Already done," replied Mia, passing him an opened green plastic water bottle.

"Here, Reg, drink this."

Regulus took one look at the water bottle, the color of the plastic making the liquid inside look a dark emerald hue, and he flinched violently, cringing away from his brother like he had been scalded.

"No! No, please! I don't want to drink more! Don't make me drink more!"

"Reggie, calm down– it's just water!"

"No! Please! No more!"

Sirius looked to Mia, at a loss for what to do. Before she could take over however, Kreacher jumped up onto the cot and took Regulus's hand in both of his, and gently stroked the top of his hand like one would calm a scared animal.

"Kreacher?"

"Master Regulus must drink more. Master Regulus made Kreacher promise to make Master Regulus drink it all."

"Kreacher, I'm scared," he whimpered.

"Kreacher knows. Master Regulus must drink it all, though. Kreacher promised."

"You're right, Kreacher…I-I have to stop him…"

Kreacher took the bottle from Sirius and gently passed it to Regulus, who stared at it for a few seconds, tears forming in his eyes. He took a deep breath to compose himself, then slammed his eyes shut and downed the entire bottle in one go. When he had finished, he curled up into a ball at the top of the cot, put his head between his knees, and waited for the visions to start up again– for Sirius's screams from his mother's cruciatus to pierce his skull.

"Mum?" Mia asked, carefully watching Regulus's shaking form. "Could you please charm the rest of the bottles to a clear color?" Lily did so immediately.

"Thank you for getting him to drink that, Kreacher," said Mia quietly.

"Kreacher understands. Saw Miss spike it with Calming Draught."

A ghost of a smile crossed Mia's face. "I figured something like this might happen."

"Mia, what the hell was that?" Asked Sirius, clearly shaken.

"The potion he drank is still quite strong in his system. That was some of the effects happening again."

"Bloody hell…"

"C'mon Pads," said James, tilting his head towards the door. "Let's– you, Remus, and I go clean up a bit. Get a shot of firewhiskey. Long day yet. Mia and Lily have got this handled."

"I want to stay."

"It's okay, Siri…" Regulus chimed, his voice sounding small from his position on the cot. He tilted his head up to look at his brother, and everyone was happy to see that he seemed to be much calmer than a few minutes prior. "I'll be alright."

"But-"

"Really, Sirius. Go– I'll be fine. Plus," he smiled weakly, "having your ugly face in the room might ruin my chances with the pretty angel."

Mia rolled her eyes. Sirius huffed a laugh before adopting a stern expression.

"Oi, that's my goddaughter you're talking about!"

"Your– what? How does that work?"

"We'll explain later. You're sure I–"

"I'm sure. I'll be okay."

Sirius hesitated for a moment and looked at Regulus, making sure it really was alright if he left the room. Finally, he nodded and left the lab with Remus and James, leaving only Lily, Mia, Regulus, and Kreacher in the room.

"Kreacher, if you want to–" Regulus was quickly cut off by Kreacher crossing his arms.

"Kreacher stays." He replied, stamping his foot as punctuation.

Regulus smiled slightly. "Thank you, Kreacher. For everything. You're the most wonderful elf in the world."

Kreacher averted his eyes. A look of shame crossed his face. "But Kreacher is a bad elf," he said mournfully. "Master Regulus told Kreacher not to tell. Master Regulus told Kreacher to destroy the locket. Kreacher did not tell, Miss already knew. Kreacher could not destroy it. Kreacher tried and tried. Miss told Kreacher she helps destroy it. Miss told Kreacher she helps save Master Regulus. Kreacher helps Miss."

If Regulus was shocked by anything he was hearing, he didn't let on. "Kreacher, you are a good elf. If Mia already knew, then you didn't tell her. I told you to destroy the locket no matter what. You couldn't destroy it by yourself, and Mia offered to help. It still gets destroyed. In addition to all that, Kreacher, you helped to save me."

"Kreacher helped to kill Master Regulus." He replied miserably.

"Only because I asked you to. You helped to save me, Kreacher. You helped to save everyone. You are the best elf in the world. You are my friend, and I will not have you thinking otherwise. Clear?" His voice was firm but soft, and though he was clearly feeling ill and starting to tire, it was abundantly clear that Regulus would not let up until Kreacher understood his point.

"Yes, Master Regulus," Kreacher eventually said. While his tone was casually dismissive, Kreacher looked like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. "Master Regulus lets Miss heal him now. Too much talking."

Regulus smiled, and nodded his head. "Yes, Kreacher, I'll let Mia and Evans— Potter?— heal me now," he placated.

"Call me Lily, Regulus," she said kindly, before turning to her daughter. "Mia, what are we starting with?"

"Bezoars. I want that potion neutralized and out of his system as fast as possible."

"Um… Mia?" Regulus questioned shyly. Instantly, Mia's attention snapped to him.

"What's wrong? How can I help?"

"Nothing– it's just– do you happen to have more water?"

"Of course," she said softly, passing him a (now clear) water bottle. Regulus took the bottle gratefully, but paused before drinking it to send Mia a weak, teasing smile.

"Have you spiked this one as well?"

Mia had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry– I just couldn't think of a better way to quickly calm you down."

"You've nothing to apologize for," he replied, after chugging half of the bottle. Mia mentally noted to watch him for signs of overhydration. "You saved my life– even though I'm not quite sure I deserve it. I'll forever be in your debt."

"I'm sorry, but that's crap. You don't owe me anything. I just… I couldn't leave you down there. You deserve the world, Regulus Black."

It had taken Mia and Lily the better part of two and a half hours before they were comfortable enough with Regulus's health to finally stop treatment. While Regulus seemed to be doing much better, with the potion flushed from his system, his minor injuries healed, and his ribs on the mend with some Skele-Gro, he was still dealing with a bit of lingering thirst and general tiredness. Mia had also patched up the numerous cuts and bruises she had received at the hands of the inferi. While both Lily and Regulus were mildly horrified at the sheer number of them on Mia's body, Mia was just happy that the entire rescue mission went just about as smoothly as possible.

Now, however, came the harder part of catching Regulus up to speed with everything going on (mainly concerning Mia) before the Order meeting that was taking place in just an hour. Thankfully, the reveal of Mia's past went a lot easier than anyone had anticipated. As the group had sat down for lunch– graciously attempted by James and Sirius, and then salvaged and prepared by Kreacher, with help from Remus– Regulus turned to Mia and said:

"Right then, tell me the truth. Do I stay this good looking in the future, or do I end up looking like Sirius?"

Mia choked on her tea.

"How?" She asked when she could properly breathe again.

"Well, you know me, but I don't know you, and you know other things you shouldn't. You called Lily 'Mum,' Sirius called you his goddaughter. Either you're stalking me and there's been some sort of mix up with an extremely advanced aging potion– one that could age the mind as well as the physical body, or you're a time-traveler. Time-travel seemed more logical."

By the time Regulus had finished, the entire group was staring at him in astonishment.

"You're brilliant, you know that?" Mia said finally.

"Oh yeah," he said cockily, before his tone changed to something more sincere. "Almost as brilliant as you."

The rest of lunch was catching Regulus up to speed with the rest of the Order before the meeting. Regulus had remained surprisingly straight faced for the majority of the retelling, his facade only breaking a few times. Hearing about his brother's fate was torture. Hearing about the Chamber of Secrets and Tom Riddle's diary was almost worse.

"There's more?" He whispered, the blood draining from his face.

"Five total, currently. There were seven in my time."

Regulus stood up abruptly from the table and darted towards the bathroom, knocking over his chair in the process.

"Reg!" Sirius said in alarm, standing up just as fast. Sirius looked like he was going to rush after his brother, but Mia beat him to it.

"It's okay, Sirius," Mia said, shooting a quick look over her shoulder when she heard retching noises coming from the bathroom. "Just a bit of– er– distressing information. I'll go make sure he's alright." She spared a quick look to everyone else at the table before taking off after Regulus. Again, Sirius made to move, but James grabbed his wrist.

"Mate, let Angel handle it. It's alright."

"But Reg-" Sirius objected, looking lost.

"They'll explain later, I'm sure," Remus interjected. "For now, just let them do what they need to."

Regulus looked up from the toilet when he heard Mia enter the room. She passed him a bottle of water–which he took thankfully– before sitting down next to him on the bathroom floor. The pair stayed silent for a few minutes, with the only sounds being Regulus's heavy breathing echoing off the tile.

"So it was all for nothing then?" He asked eventually. The barely-there tremors that had permeated his body since he rushed off had yet to fade.

"It wasn't for nothing," Mia replied quietly. "You did so much good. When we– Harry, Ron, and I– were hunting the other ones down, you gave us a starting point for everything. What kind of objects we might be looking for, where he might've hid them, how they work– I'm not sure we would have even found and survived them all had you not done what you did. More than that, you inspired so many people. You inspired people to be brave like you. To be kind like you. During the Final Battle, Kreacher banded all the house-elves of Hogwarts together. He led an army of house-elves into the battle, wearing your locket, and telling them to fight in your name– they used your name as their battle cry."

Mia didn't comment when she saw him swiping stray tears from his eyes.

"You saved me, you know." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "When I lost—" she swallowed hard. "When I lost Harry, you're the one who helped me. I didn't have anyone else. Harry was my only family left. Ron and the Weasleys— they tried, but they had their own family they needed to look after. They had already lost so much. We all lost so much. You gave me a purpose. You helped me get here. The calculations, the arithmancy, the spell modifications— I couldn't have done it without you. Everyone else would have told me to leave well enough alone. Horrible things happen to people who meddle with time. But if this works, you'll have saved the world twice over."

Regulus shook his head. "I'm no saviour, Mia. I'm just a scared kid."

A melancholy look fell upon her face. "That's what we all were. That's what we all are. Scared kids fighting a grown-up war. That doesn't make you any less a hero." She paused for a moment, before playfully punching his arm. "Besides– if nothing else, you're my saviour, Sleeping Beauty."

Although Regulus did not understand the reference, he rolled his eyes nonetheless. "And you, pretty angel, are mine."

"You're a dork," she replied, gently shoving his head with her hand. "We should get back. Sirius is worried about you. So are the others."

Regulus nodded. "First– one more thing. The locket?"

Mia's face hardened. "It will be destroyed by sundown. I promise."

Regulus took a deep breath, and smiled.

"Thanks, Angel."