the_debt_of_time

She took a quick look while he was distracted, glad to see that the wound had healed
cleanly, but the scar was still red, and the skin was pulled tight. It looked uncomfortable,
to say the least.
When he returned his focus to her, he jolted, clearly unaware that she had come so
close. To prevent him from hurting himself more, Mia placed her hands gently on the
exposed skin of his shoulders. "Calm down, Remus, I'm taking care of you."
He pulled away from her, wincing as she touched him. "What? No, I'm fine, just a
little sick is all. I don't want you to catch anything."
"I'm not going to, and you're not sick."
He looked up into her eyes, terror recognisable in his own.
"Remus, I know."
"You... know?"
His bottom lip began to quiver, and suddenly, Mia realised his age. This certainly
was not the grown man that had been a symbol of strength for her. And that older Remus
had been known to break down post-transformation, crying into her arms. This was a
terrified, eleven-year-old boy who had never known kindness in regards to his condition,
aside from his parents. However, Mia was convinced he had suffered at home, as well.
"I know about your lycanthropy," she said clearly with as kind a tone as possible.
"I don't know what.. ." he began but gave up when the tears welled in his eyes.
Covering his face with his hands, he asked, "How?"
Anywhere she touched, he tried to pull away, but Mia refused to let him. She
soothed the skin of his arms with gentle caresses and smoothed his hair away from his
forehead with her fingers.
"I read books, I know the signs, and I'm even smarter than you," Mia said
affectionately. "I figured it out last month when you were sick during the full moon. It's
why I left you the Chocolate Frogs. I know they make you feel better."
She frowned when she reached up to run her fingers through his sweat-soaked hair
and he flinched.
Remus whimpered, his head still in his hands as he cried. "You should go. I... You
weren't supposed to know. I'm going to have to leave. No one was supposed to find out."