the_debt_of_time

"I'd like some firewhisky," Sirius said clearly. "But you're out. I already checked."
"I wouldn't even waste cheap firewhisky on you," Remus retorted as he came back
into the living room, collapsing into the large armchair in the corner. He was still physically
exhausted and sore from the prior night's transformation. "Last I remember, you couldn't
even get pissed."
"Not on firewhisky," Sirius confirmed. "But I miss the taste. Miss a great many
things." Then, after a full minute of silence, he added, "We have a lot to talk about."
"I'm sorry," Remus blurted out. "I'm sorry for fighting with you the last time we
saw one another. Maybe if I hadn't... I don't know." He scowled and leant forward in the
chair, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "I shouldn't have jumped at the chance to
take every mission Dumbledore threw at me. I missed her," he said as though it were a
good enough explanation, which he knew it was not. "I missed her like a piece of me was
gone."
"I know the feeling," Sirius said quietly.
"I couldn't talk about things, and you were... I didn't know how to keep you alive,
Sirius," he admitted. "You barely functioned after Mia went missing; you almost died. Then
the Order started putting us out on missions. But if I had been around more, you never
would have mistrusted me and―"
"Don't go there, Moony. I know what I was like those last few years. If I wasn't
drinking, I was fighting, and since I kept getting arrested for doing it in public, I tried
bringing it home. Couldn't fight with James because he and Lily had Harry, and they had
their own problems. It didn't help that I had Wormtail right there whispering shit in my
ear, and Snivellus accusing one or the other of us of being a spy during Order meetings.
So, I took it all out on you. It was a fucked up situation."
"Yeah."
"Mia?" Sirius asked, looking up and meeting Remus's stare.
"Hermione," Remus quickly corrected. "She's called Hermione Granger here."
"Time-Turner?"
Remus startled. "How the hell would you—?"
"I'm not an idiot, Remus," Sirius scoffed, his eyes narrowed. "I got more O.W.L.s
than you did. Once I figured out that I wasn't hallucinating her, I was able to put two and
two together. When she and Harry rescued me, she had a necklace on. I've never seen one