the_debt_of_time

After losing his flat in Diagon Alley, Remus had nowhere else to go and came
pleading to his father for refuge. Lyall Lupin accepted him back with the stipulations that
Remus not get involved with anyone else—as it was his relationship with Mia Potter that
had apparently kicked Lyall's worries into full force. Remus knew that his father had a
problem long before he ever became involved with Mia, but there was no sense in arguing,
not when Remus had no desire to take a witch—especially back when the only one he
was destined for had not even entered Hogwarts yet—so he had agreed to the ridiculous
rules.
Over the years, he cared for his ailing father, who still drank too much, but nowhere
near what Remus had previously seen Sirius do. Lyall, for instance, never put himself into
a coma. Though, in the end, he did drink himself to death. Cirrhosis was something that
rarely killed wizards and witches—Sirius Black was living proof of that. A wizard could
withstand much more damage to their organs than a Muggle, but it was not impossible.
Lyall Lupin had eventually succumbed to the decades of disease, leaving Remus the cottage
and not a Sickle more.
"I hear you're looking for work," Dumbledore commented thoughtfully. "A friend
of mine says you come by the Ministry several times a month to drop off applications."
Remus's eyes widened slightly. He had, in fact, dropped off several applications at
the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and various other departments located on Level
Two inside the Ministry. He reapplied at least once a month, always knowing that he would
never get the job. What the application did offer him, however, was a brief glimpse into the
Auror Office where a recent Hogwarts graduate with occasionally purple hair had taken to
following old Alastor Moody around, peppering him with questions, requesting
assignments, and—at least twice a day—tripping over the bin in the corner of the room.
With only a murderer locked away in Azkaban as the single solitary remaining
member of his pack—save for Harry, of course, whom he was forbidden from
contacting—Remus silently kept watch over his mate throughout the years. First, by
coinciding trips to Scotland to overlap with Hogsmeade weekends where he could watch
from a distance to make sure she was safe and happy, knowing that he could offer her
nothing else. Later, when she graduated only to join the Aurors, he had been overwhelmed
by fear and the driving need to protect her. It was only the memory of Mia's comforting
words that kept him from seeking out Nymphadora Tonks. Mia knew them in the future,