the_debt_of_time

She ignored the attempt at humour; the stress of the moment was too great.
He stood from the bed, making his way to a large, wooden cabinet in the corner,
opening it to reveal a bottle of firewhisky and two small tumblers. Filling the crystal glasses
with the amber liquid, he closed the top of the bottle and walked back over to the bed,
holding one drink out to her.
"Cheers, kitten," Sirius said and swallowed the drink down quickly before returning
to the cabinet. All the while she watched him with trepidation. "Let's go save Moony."
"Let's?" she asked, raising a brow. "Let's as in 'let us?' Us as in me, and Remus,
and―"
Sirius refilled his glass from the corner of the room. "Well, I'll need a few more
drinks first, but yes, I'm coming with you." He sighed before tossing the second drink
down his throat.
"Sirius―"
"I may be a better man these days, a little more capable of sharing than I used to
be," he conceded with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I know very few wizards who would
be entirely fine with knowingly letting their witch fuck their friend down the hall."
"I was actually thinking the orchards," she whispered, ignoring his crass phrasing.
"That's.. ." he began slowly, "strangely appropriate, actually." He refilled his
tumbler one last time, draining it swiftly. He set the glass down on the table and turned
around to look at the one in her hands, still full. "You going to drink that?"
She looked down at the firewhisky, swallowing nervously before bringing the crystal
rim of the glass to her lips and slowly savouring the burning liquid.
"We should have done this years ago," she said after swallowing. "I should have
made sure it was done. Then we wouldn't even be in this mess." She sucked in a breath of
air and tried to hold back her tears. "With a sealed Pack Bond, he wouldn't have been seen
as a threat. He might have been welcomed as an ally instead of the spy that he was."
Sirius sighed and stepped between her thighs, placing his hands on her shoulders
where he attempted to rub the stress from them. "Well, I can understand why Remus
wouldn't want to. And maybe it should have happened when you two were together, or
maybe we should have done this when Lily found out about the Pack Bond and bloody
suggested that we seal it. It needs to be done. I'll be all right," he promised her. "But you