the_debt_of_time

"You were an―" Caught so completely off guard by Sirius's declaration, Mia blurted
out her first slip-up in years. She cleared her throat. "I mean—You want to be an Auror?
You've never said anything about that before."
"Decided recently," Sirius replied with a careless attitude that Mia recognised as one
of the many walls he used to hide his vulnerabilities. "Also, besides it being a requirement
for Auror training, I'm determined to figure out how to brew Veritaserum before I
graduate."
She narrowed her eyes a little as she remembered Remus's birthday the year before.
"You and Veritaserum have a bad history."
"I've a bad history with Death Eaters, but I'm still taking Defence."
Mia and Remus both winced at the casual reference to his attack only months earlier.
"Oh, come on." Sirius rolled his eyes again, this time with an added bit of
melodrama that came in the form of his arms slumping down at his sides as though he had
a lead weight in each hand. "I want things to go back to normal. A normal year, a normal
morning where Evans tells me I'm an annoying child, Moony and Mia exchange breakfasts
like the nutters they are, and I pull a morning prank on Prongs."
"What did you do?" Lily, Remus, and Mia all asked accusingly at the same time.
Sirius barked a laugh in response and straightened his posture in amusement. "Wow,
I haven't gotten all three of you to sync like that since third year when I replaced all the
Slytherin Quidditch brooms with Muggle ones." He grinned excitedly. "'You're going to
get detention, Sirius,'" he mimicked his friends in a mocking tone. "I'll have you all know,
I did very little. Honestly, it was the easiest hex I've ever used."
Just then, a bleary-eyed James walked into the Great Hall, adjusting his glasses as
he made his way over to the Gryffindor table to join his friends. Yawning, he reached for
a scone and took a large bite of it before turning to look at the shocked and silent faces of
his entire House and half of the Great Hall.
"Whaappened?" he mumbled around a mouthful.
Remus and Mia gaped at Lily, who looked like she was struggling not to laugh, but
Sirius was beside himself with glee.
To avoid James entirely—especially considering she was trying not to condone
Sirius's behaviour—Lily stood and left the table.