the_debt_of_time

they put a stop to me at every juncture. Now I know why, but back then I was livid. Moody
was on my case constantly about sticking my nose where it didn't belong. One day I
snapped and quit." He casually added, "I might have threatened him."
Mia snorted. "How'd he take that?"
Sirius shrugged. "I was arrested and put in a holding cell for a few weeks. Remus
didn't tell you much about what it was like after you left, did he?"
She shook her head. "No, not much. I didn't really want to hear about it at first. But
I do now, if you're willing to share."
He swallowed down his worries. "Ask me anything, and I'll tell you."
"Why Peter?"
Sirius recoiled slightly, feeling as though the breath had been knocked clean out of
him. "Fuck. You're just going right for it, aren't you?"
She frowned but then nodded. "I need closure. And I think we both need
forgiveness."
Sirius sighed and looked away from her, not willing to meet her eyes. "I didn't trust
Remus. Not even after you begged me to, made me promise to," he said shamefully. "We
were fighting all the time and Wormtail... You were gone and he showed right up, the
little shit. He seemed so, well, you remember. Harmless."
"I remember."
"I made a mistake, and I'll regret it for the rest of my life," he very nearly whispered.
Mia looked down at his hands, which had been fidgeting in his lap as he spoke. She
reached out and took them into her own, rubbing her thumb over the knuckles slowly as
though she were relearning the contours of his fingers and the texture of his palms. Her
fingertips grazed the numbered tattoo that had been his prison identity.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't," he muttered and pulled his hands away from her when she went to touch
the Azkaban mark again.
"I need to say it."
"I-I can't do this, Mia."
"We can't pretend that it didn't happen," she told him as he stood up and moved
away from her. "I need to get it out."