"You need to have a reason to hide something, Sirius. Motivation to want to keep
me out."
He stared at her for several long seconds, fidgeting slightly in the uncomfortable
silence as the pieces clearly began to fit together in his mind. His grey eyes widened in
obvious fear and anger. "No."
Mia struggled to fight back her emotions as she gripped her wand. "I don't want to
do this, either."
Sirius stared at the sliver of vinewood in her hand, took a step backward, and snarled
at her. "I am not showing you Grimmauld Place!"
"Good. I don't want to see it. I don't want... I don't want to see that. But there's
nothing else you would try to hide from me. Can you think of anything?"
"I... I.. ."
"Sirius, please keep me out," she pleaded as she raised her wand. She wanted him
to fight back—fight her. She thought about using any other memory, but Sirius was too
open with her about too many things these days and not nearly ashamed enough of his
past to hide the many nights he had spent with other girls at Hogwarts. It had to be this.
"Fuck." Sirius clenched his hands at his sides, his shoulders visibly stiffening. It took
several moments before he managed to look her in the eye "F-Fine... Do it."
"I love you," she whispered. "Legilimens!"
Remus stepped out of the fireplace and dusted the soot off of his hand-me-down
robes, knowing that if they started looking even worse, he would be forced to let Mia or
Sirius buy him new ones. He fought off their charity for as long as possible, unwilling to
part with second-hand items, considering Sirius had bought the building they were living
in, and he was pretty sure Mia took the brunt of the bills when it came to food. It was not
like the Potter vault or Sirius's inheritance from his uncle had been dented by it. A part of
him wanted to accept their help, but his pride was too great, and so he left the flat each
day—when he was able to—in search of work so he could carry his own weight.
Unfortunately, today was just another typical day of poor luck for the overly-
qualified-yet-still-a-werewolf wizard.