the_debt_of_time

"You want to tell me why you're upset today?" Lily inquired quietly. She placed her
hand on top of Sirius's as it rested on her stomach, smiling up from time to time at James,
who was doing his best to be the leader that he had always been.
Sirius understood why Lily needed to be specific. Despite his future godson giving
him a purpose in life through the shitstorm of war, he was unpredictable at best, reckless
at worst. He had been arrested no fewer than three times since quitting the Ministry.
Getting into pub brawls with random wizards had become a hobby—one that he had
previously relished with great pride, especially considering he recently sent Lucius Malfoy
to St Mungo's after running into the Death Eater at the Leaky.
Sirius had been there with Remus, stocking up their flat with what little food the
two actually ate these days when they had spotted Lucius meeting with a table of associates.
Remus had pleaded with Sirius to leave it alone, but when Malfoy loudly announced that
after years of failing in her duties as a wife, Narcissa was finally providing him with the heir
he deserved, Sirius lost it.
The man was married to his cousin, a witch plenty of wizards desired, and now had
a son on the way. It was not fair, and Sirius held a bitterly jealous grudge against the man
who did not appreciate the gifts he had been given.
He beat Malfoy unconscious, and it had taken three other pub patrons to pull him
off before Aurors arrived. A week after Lucius had been released from St Mungo's, Benjy
and Dorcas were murdered.
Sirius blamed himself for their deaths.
"Didn't sleep well last night," he lied to Lily. "Fucking cat woke me up before
sunrise."
Most of Mia's things had been boxed up a month earlier, but the cat remained loose
despite Sirius's desire to shove it in a box and owl it to Abu Dhabi. Even though he was
the beast's primary caregiver now, the stupid cat still did not like him. Mia had been right;
he should have bought her a fucking kneazle.
"You wouldn't want it, would you?"
Lily sighed and then nodded her head. "Bring Snuffles by tonight. But only once
you've showered," she said with a stern glare. "You look like shit and smell worse."
Sirius smiled at her. Lily was never one for subtlety. "Still planning my
intervention?"