the_debt_of_time

Lily laughed. "Oh please."
Mia sighed, annoyed with how self-conscious her reflection looked in the mirror.
"Lily, am I incredibly stupid?"
"Are we talking about you cursing twenty girls in the Great Hall this morning for
hitting on Black?" Lily asked using her prefect voice. Mia rolled her eyes.
"It was seventeen. And they didn't hit on Sirius, they tried to poison him. Besides,"
she said as she took in a slow, deep breath to calm herself, "I already gave the counter-
curse to Madam Pomfrey. They'll be fine."
"So your self-imposed stupidity must be in regards to your rumoured date with the
infamous Lothario?" Lily asked with a raised brow.
Mia knew her friend was only teasing, but the stack of Valentine's Day cards on the
breakfast table, and the rumours she had heard over the years, not to mention the few
times she had actually seen Sirius sneaking off with some random witch behind corners
and down dark corridors made her feel terribly inexperienced by comparison.
Awkwardly, she smoothed her hands down her blouse, frowning at her reflection.
"Oh, Mia, I was just kidding." Lily grabbed her hand and pulled her over to sit on
the bed beside her.
"I'm not good at this, Lily. I can't look at him and not think about.. ."
"His past?"
The future, Mia thought but said nothing.
"Does it upset you? The gossip about him?"
"No," Mia said, surprised by her answer, but then she had known the older Sirius's
reputation long before she had ever been sent back to meet his younger self. "What bothers
me is that he's unreliable. I can't trust that he'll tell me the truth. He's all sarcasm and jokes,
and while it's endearing—slightly," she allowed with a roll of her eyes, "he's not open about
anything. It scares me."
"You dated a werewolf for a year," Lily pointed out.
"Yes! And I'm more afraid of Sirius Black!" Mia shouted. "What the hell does that
say about me?"
"Probably that you really like him. And you're afraid of getting too close and getting
hurt. Do you think he'd hurt you?"