the_debt_of_time

"Is that... ?" Remus began, his eyes falling on a woman who looked similar to
Sirius's cousin, although it had been years since he had seen Narcissa, and this witch was
quite a bit older.
Before Mia could answer him, another voice confirmed his suspicions.
"Narcissa, go! Draco, go with your mother!"
Remus watched as Lucius Malfoy shouted at Narcissa and then to a blond teenager
who was his very likeness but with less of a hateful glare. The boy huffed but took his
mother's arm in hand and swept into the next room, flicking his wand upward and levitating
Padfoot to follow.
Remus stepped forward as though he could do something—perhaps follow after
Padfoot and release him from his bindings—but Mia clutched his hand tightly and pulled
him back to her side.
"Quiet, Remus. We need to just get through this."
He noted that her breathing had quickened; when he focused, he could hear her
heartbeat pounding hard against her chest.
"Where'd they take Padfoot?"
"I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?"
"We found it... We found it... PLEASE!" Hermione cried out.
"Liar! Crucio!"
"No!" Remus shouted, watching in horror as his best friend was tortured right in
front of him, while he stood there unable to stop it. When the black-haired witch stopped
cursing Hermione, she knelt down and pulled a long dagger from her boot. Suddenly, the
girl was screaming again as the blade tore into the flesh of her arm.
Remus could not look. He felt sick, and his eyes fell on Mia, who looked strangely,
defiantly calm on the outside despite his werewolf senses picking up her racing pulse.
"I don't understand; where'd they take James?" he asked her, remembering that the
black-haired witch had insisted Sirius and Hermione be kept away from Potter. "Why
am I not here with you?!"
"Because it wasn't your job to protect me," Mia explained.
"Yes it is!" he shot back, her words sounding blasphemous in his ears.
"It's our job. Our job to keep you―"
"No, Remus. It wasn't your job to protect me."