Who?
April 1926 - Outskirts of Rēzekne, Latvia
"We've been walking for hours," Theo complained loudly. "What, are we gonna walk all the way to Paris?" The snow piled up on his shoes as he dragged his feet. Draco and Mia shared an exasperated look, having heard the same complaints since shortly after they'd departed the doomed train.
"We're taking a boat to Paris," Draco reminded him. They'd had the trip mapped out before they'd even found this nobody to play the missing royal. Sure, they'd gotten a little off-course with the zombified workers and the whole train exploding into flames in a ditch... But the plan still stood! They would just have to adjust.
"A boat?" Mia asked quietly. "How are we going to find a boat to Paris in all this snow and, you know, land?"
"We're catching a boat in Germany," Draco provided. Great now there are two smart-ass complainers, he thought to himself.
"So we're walking all the way to Germany?" Theo cried from where he was struggling behind them, Sirius bumping his leg every so often to try and speed him along.
"No, we are not walking to Germany. We're taking a bus." Mia had to give the blond some credit, for all his exasperations with his friend he still had a calm tone of voice and hadn't ridiculed the straggler once.
"And where are we supposed to find a bus in the middle of nowhere?"
"There's a depo in Warsaw. We'll just have to walk a few more days and we can catch a ride from there to Berlin." Mia groaned and rolled her eyes at the knowledge they'd be on their feet for several more days. Like she hadn't spent the last several days since leaving the orphanage doing exactly that! Now they were walking even more? Just fantastic.
"Are we even going to make it to the depot before our tickets expire?" She asked the boys since she'd seen the tickets in Theo's bag when it had fallen open after their unexpected train departure. The two men shared a look before Theo coughed slightly and Draco glared at him.
"It'll be fine, we'll just have to get new ones issued." Mia held back a snicker as the others tried to hide the fact they were using counterfeit tickets from her. She'd figured it out before they'd gotten on the train (the tickets still had fresh ink on them and everything, did they really think she was that stupid or naive?). She was waiting it out to see how long it would take before they made a big enough slip-up that she could call them out on it.
"Well, I'm bored," Mia declared a few days later. "Anyone have any fun topics for conversation?" The ground squished uncomfortably under their feet as the forest floor did its best to dry out. The snow had been slowly melting as they headed further inland.
"How about no talking at all?" Draco grumbled. Listening to Theo's constant gripping for the last who-knew-how-long was really starting to get to him. Sirius growled and nipped at the man's ankles and Mia and Theo did their best to suppress the giggles at the canine-human rivalry.
"What are we gonna do when we get to Paris? I mean, surely we're not meeting the Empress dressed like this after traveling for weeks on end?" Mia asked. Theo let out a dreamy sigh.
"We're going to see My Moon. Looney, my dear, Theo is on his way!" He declared to the sun that had started to steadily rise as they walked and now sat warmly above them.
"Uh... Looney?" Hermione questioned. Draco glared at his friend threateningly over his shoulder, but Theo didn't seem to get the hint.
"Looney has hair as silver as the moonlight. Her face is as dainty as a pixie, and she's so wonderfully eccentric!"
"Theo," Draco whispered harshly, slowing down to try and stop his friend from talking.
"She makes a person feel as though they've just been handed a steaming cup of Какао after a long day out,"
"Theo!" Draco tugged his friend back from his dramatics as he pranced in circles, trampling grass into mud. "Stop talking about you know who." He mumbled under his breath.
"Like you're being wrapped in the softest odeyalo on a crisp fall evening and you're being warmed by the fire."
"Is this a person he's talking about or some kind of magical creature?" Mia inquires as Draco falls to the ground, failing to stop his friend.
"She is the Empress's beautiful cousin!" Theo declares.
"Oh, I didn't know the Empress lived with other relatives," Mia spoke.
"She doesn't," Theo interjects as Draco slides a hand down his face in vexation. "They just live in the same city."
"So are we going to her house to change and clean up or something?" Theo hums and picks up Sirius. He twirls the little dog around, stuck in his own mind with a dopey grin on his face.
"Well... Nobody sees the Dowager Empress without convincing Luna first," Draco explains (tired of hiding the fact; given that they'll have to begin Mia's nobility lessons soon anyway). Mia stops walking and stares at her companions.
"Oh," she chuckles softly. "No." She turns, setting down her suitcase and beginning to pace next to it. "Not me, no, nope. No! Nobody ever told me I had to prove I was the Grand Duchess!"
"Look, Mia-"
"Show up in Paris, yes. Look nice, fine. I can do that. But lie?"
"Hey, you don't know it's a lie. It could very well be the truth!" Draco fibbed to her, attempting to placate their meal ticket. "Okay, so there's one more step on your path to finding out who you are. I thought you were going to see this through to the end."
"Look at me Draco!" She exclaimed, pulling on her frayed and oversized clothing. "I am not exactly Grand Duchess material here! And besides, I told you from the beginning I wasn't going to change everything about who I am to push this narrative! We were supposed to see the Empress Dowager and have her tell us if I am or am not her missing grandchild." She storms off to the left, finding the little river they've been following and ploping down next to it. She hugs her knees to her chest as she stares out into the water. Theo and Draco share a look before the brunet slowly makes his way over to her, Sirius by his side. The dog nuzzles into her lap as Theo takes a seat beside them.
"Mia, when you look at the water what do you see?" She spares him a glance before looking back at the calm surface of the river.
"I see a forest and a river," she deadpans. Her acquaintance chuckles at her.
"I meant your reflection in the water. What do you see?" She stares at herself for a minute. Her tangled hair is a mess in her over-stretched hair tie. Her face has specks of dirt on it that blend with the freckles on her skin. Her eyes are dull and ordinary, everything about her is plain and ordinary.
"I see a skinny little nobody," she tells him quietly, resting her chin on her knees. "With no past... and no future." She couldn't believe she'd followed these men all this way just to stop now. But she couldn't pass for royalty! She barely passed as human most days. Theo hummed for a minute before patting her on the head like she was a child.
"I see an intelligent and strong young woman. On a number of occasions, you've shown a steady head and poise equal to any royal in the world. And I've met my share of royalty." He glanced back where Draco stood observing them with a scowl. Theo lowers his voice a bit before continuing. "My parents were members of the Imperial Court, I grew up surrounded by nobility and royalty alike. I know what I'm talking about. Mia... There's nothing left for you in Russia. Everything is in Paris. We can teach you what you need to know to get an audience with the Empress. But it's up to you where we go from here." They sat in silence for a little while, Draco examining his map out of boredom as Mia and Theo stared at the water, contemplating what he'd said.
In all honesty, Theo was beginning to have a little bit of a soft spot for the fire-cracker of a woman. The plan from the beginning was to use her for the money. But at this point, he had a little bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, she was really who they were proclaiming her to be. Maybe she would find a loving family in Paris after all this time.
Mia, for her part, was thinking very hard about what the man had said to her. There really was nothing for her in Russia; the orphanage would never allow her to come back even if she wanted to return. And by now the job Madame Skeeter had arranged for her at the fish market was probably filled by someone else. All her life the only thing she really knew about herself - about her family - was that they had some kind of connection to Paris. Sure the odds were a million to one that she was actually royalty, but she wasn't deluding herself. She knew very well that she'd agreed to go along with these people because the Empress would take one look at her and laugh her out the door. She was prepared for that because it ruled out one minuscule possibility and got her to France. It gave her a starting point. But now there was someone she had to convince before she even saw the Empress. Someone she had to make think she was a princess just to be able to appear before the woman who would tell her to get lost. Was this even worth it?
Mia sighed aloud and raked a hand through her unruly hair before standing (jostling Sirius from his spot in her lap) and holding out a hand to Theo.
"Guess you better start your teaching."