the_debt_of_time

"No one's going to find out," Mia promised. "I brought my suspicions to
Dumbledore, and he's given me permission to be here with you each month, before and
after your transformation."
"You're... you're not afraid?" Remus slowly lowered his hands to look at her,
shocked.
"Of you?" Mia smiled. "Why would I have reason to be afraid of you, Remus?"
"I'm a monster!" he shouted, eyes flashing gold.
Mia growled angrily, and the ends of her hair sparked with riotous magic. "Don't
you dare! That's my friend you're talking about! You are a survivor of a situation that
someone else put you in." Tears formed in her eyes as she related to her own words. "All
you can do is follow the rules, keep people safe, and try to find some semblance of
happiness in the process."
He shook his head. "There's no happiness in this, Mia."
"There will be," she promised him as she thought of Tonks and Teddy. "And until
you figure it out, it's my job to help make it less painful. Do you need another Pain Potion?"
"Did... Did you heal me?" he asked, reaching behind his back to touch the scar.
"Madam Pomfrey did it last month, and... it feels different."
"I'm a very fast learner."
Remus frowned. "I don't want your help. I don't want to hurt you."
"And I don't want you to hurt longer than you're forced to," she said, not taking no
for an answer. "You let me take care of you and be there for you so you don't have to be
alone. In exchange, I promise to never be in harm's way when you're close to your
transformation. It's not like I plan to follow you beneath the Whomping Willow."
His eyes widened. "You know about that?"
"Once I told Dumbledore what I'd figured out and that I wanted to help, he
explained everything to me."
"I'm.. ." Remus looked down, suddenly appearing embarrassed and self-
conscious. She knew the look. She saw it constantly anytime people brought up Harry's
past or Ron's family. It was the look someone got when they thought they were being
pitied. "I'm not another lost stray like... like Sirius."
Mia smiled down at him. "No, you're not. Sirius is a lost pup who needs a good
home." Sirius was wounded and beaten, and it had taken him weeks to properly bounce