the_debt_of_time

secondly, whatever awful schoolgirl crush she apparently had on him was distracting her
from the fact that he had made such a colossal mistake.
"Why don't you tell me why you think Harry and Ron hate you," he said, hoping to
further distract her. He felt a bit guilty but relieved at the same time when she frowned as
she remembered why she had been crying earlier.
"Harry was gifted a very expensive broom for Christmas," Hermione whispered.
"Too expensive. And anonymously. And recklessly, he and Ron were ready to go running
off to test it out on the Quidditch Pitch, ignoring the fact that it could very well have been
sent to him by Sirius Black."
Remus frowned at the news. If the broom had, in fact, been sent to Harry by Sirius,
he could not understand the motive behind it. Certainly, the broom could be jinxed, but it
seemed stupid and pointless to purchase something so expensive, put all the work into
spelling it, only to hope that someone would not catch it? Plus, Sirius was on the run.
Where would he even get enough Galleons to buy a broom? And why go to all the effort at
subtlety when he had clearly already been able to break into the castle to try and attack
Harry?
A nudging voice that sounded an awful lot like Mia was telling Remus that Sirius
bought the broom because Harry was his godson, and it was Christmas. He remembered
listening to a young Sirius Black go on and on with James after Harry's birth, talking about
how they would teach the boy to fly and how to play Quidditch. Sirius had insisted that he
could teach Harry how to be a Beater, but James told him that Mia said he would grow up
to be a Seeker. Because, of course, Mia had already known.
"So I told Professor McGonagall," Hermione continued, "and she took Harry's
broom away."
"It's only a broom, Hermione." Remus tried to smile at her, offering what little
comfort he could.
"It was a Firebolt."
Remus choked on his tea and stared at the girl wide-eyed.
Hermione's frown deepened. "I know."
"No, no." Remus cleared his throat. "Still just a broom... just a... a broom.
Besides, once Professor McGonagall looks the broom over, and I'll help, it'll be returned
to Harry, and things will be fine. I promise."