the_debt_of_time

Remus scolded himself for not thinking clearly during his preparations for his
approaching job. His mind had been so focused on keeping Harry safe that he had actually
forgotten who else might be on the train—who else might be at Hogwarts, in his classes.
Oh Merlin, she was going to be his student.
As voices approached the compartment, he looked around anxiously and rushed to
the window where he collapsed onto the seat. He pulled his recently repaired, second-hand
robes up over him like a blanket, allowing his shaggy hair to fall in his face a bit as he closed
his eyes. Like a toddler caught staying up too late, he feigned sleep the moment someone
walked in the room.
"Who d'you reckon he is?" a young boy asked.
"Professor R. J. Lupin."
Remus's chest tightened, and his heart pounded at the sound of her voice. That
voice belonged to the first friend he'd ever had. The first person to extend him a hand of
kindness. The same voice that he awoke to on mornings after a full moon in the hospital
wing growing up. The voice that soothed his worries and fears and pleaded for his
promises. Remus inwardly smiled over the fact that the first time he heard his best friend's
voice in over fourteen years, she was saying his name.
"How d'you know that?"
"It's on his briefcase."
"Wonder what he teaches?"
"That's obvious," whispered Mia—No, not Mia. Her name is Hermione now. "There's
only one vacancy, isn't there? Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Well, I hope he's up to it," said the boy doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex
would finish him off, doesn't he?" Remus furrowed his brow in response. "Anyway...
What were you going to tell us, Harry?"
Remus then heard a voice that felt strangely familiar even though he had never
heard it before. It sounded almost like... like James.
"I heard your parents arguing at the Leaky," Harry said. "Talking about Sirius
Black."
"The man in the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked. "He looks frightening."
"Hermione, you saw a basilisk last year, and you're afraid of some bloke?" the other
boy said with a laugh.