the_debt_of_time

"She's got a scar on her ribs from a Dark Curse," he blurted out. "She didn't say it
exactly, but I asked, and she didn't deny it. It has something to do with me." He frowned
as he remembered the look of pity in her eyes. He had somehow caused her to get hurt,
and she felt bad that he knew it.
"Even if that were the case, would that change your feelings for her?"
Sirius stopped to think. Would it change anything? Had it changed anything? "No.
It doesn't. Not how I.. ." he tried to clarify, but the words would not come out. "I just
want her to be safe."
"Because you feel guilty for putting her in danger."
Sirius nodded sadly. "Yes."
He had seen first-hand how Mia's relationship—whether friends or more—with
Remus had essentially put her in danger with not only Fenrir Greyback but Professor
Higgs. She had jumped to Remus's defence during that first class, basically putting a target
on her back as a werewolf sympathiser. Then, her love for their friend had taken her into
that forest. Sure, Sirius and James had been right there beside her, but it only proved that
Mia would always come to the rescue. What would happen if one day Death Eaters broke
into Hogwarts to come for Sirius? He knew for a fact that Mia would rush to help, throwing
herself into danger.
He cleared his throat. "I mean, I don't want her in danger."
"That's because you love her. Knowing that you could be the cause of her pain and
suffering causes you pain."
There it was: love. Sirius wanted to flinch at the word, throwing up his walls as
Dorea spoke of love so easily—as if it came naturally to her. He could not understand how
a member of his own family had first-hand knowledge of the feeling and was able to talk
about it so openly.
"Oh, there's more Slytherin in you than you realise, dear. Tell me, Sirius, when you
were with my daughter... intimately.. ." Sirius finally let his stony exterior break a little
under the weight of discomfort that her words caused. "Did you feel something different
than when you're intimate with other witches?"
"This conversation should be awkward." Sirius raised a confused brow as he folded
his arms across his chest. He would have expected the witch to give him "the talk" any
minute now had she not known he was already quite knowledgeable in that area.