the_debt_of_time

being around the boy that Remus should have known his entire life—by all rights, he
should have raised Harry himself. Except werewolves did not have rights.
Harry was a very talented wizard. Not only was he brilliant at Quidditch and
duelling, but he was exceptional at Charms, though nowhere near the bar that Hermione
had set for the rest of the school. Through a bit of prodding, Remus discovered that Harry
struggled a bit with Potions—something Remus could relate to—and that he was annoyed
with Divination. When they were not practising Harry's Patronus Charm, they talked about
Quidditch.
Quidditch was something Harry could talk about easily, and with renewed
enthusiasm since Minerva had returned to him his Firebolt. Though the identity of the
mysterious gift giver remained a secret, Remus still had a feeling that it had come from
Sirius. No one else seemed logical, but he could not put together why a man who had a
hand in murdering the boy's parents would care to give him a present.
"Trust Sirius. Always Sirius," Mia had said.
A part of Remus really, desperately wanted to, despite all the damning evidence. A
part of him actually began questioning that evidence... that was until the entire castle had
been awakened in the middle of the night with rumours of another break-in involving Sirius
Black. He had gone to the Great Hall to help monitor the students before breaking away
to help search the castle, but Dumbledore remained strangely quiet about where the breach
in security had been. Remus had his own theory and had it confirmed the following
morning during an emergency staff meeting.
"Perhaps you should consider removing the portraits altogether, Minerva," Snape
suggested, "seeing that an escaped convict was able to enter your tower simply by uttering
a password to an idiotic painting. I would advise perhaps something akin to Ravenclaw's
method of common room accessibility, but basing entrance upon intellect would certainly
leave your entire House sleeping on the stairway."
Remus choked on a small laugh that tried to work its way out of his throat against
his will. He stifled the urge to remind Snape that Slytherin House had once been forced to
sleep in the corridors when they were unable to locate the entrance to their common room.
Minerva seethed with fury. "Is now the time, Severus?! I understand that with Remus
back in the castle and Sirius Black on the loose, you've felt the need to revert to an
adolescent attitude, and a poor one at that, but can you perhaps put aside your personal