the_debt_of_time

He was sitting at a table by himself, between the Arithmancy and Alchemy sections.
She beamed a little when he smiled up at her, noticing the quill in his hands was a little
shaky. The full moon was later that night, which meant she knew Remus was on edge. She
sat down quickly at his side and reached out with her hand, covering his and lowering it to
the table with a soft smile.
"Sorry." Remus frowned, pulling his hand away from hers to set his quill down and
crack his knuckles. "Jittery. Haven't had a chance to go for a run since the weather's not
that great. Now I'm all... bottled up. I thought we weren't going to meet up until almost
moonrise?"
"I spoke to Sirius."
Remus averted his gaze. "What did he say?"
"You know what he had to say," Mia said, brandishing her wand and waving it
several times in the air, casting a non-verbal Silencing Charm as well as her famous Slytherin
common-room-worthy Notice-Me-Not Repelling Charm. While Remus was distracted by
her spell work, she scooted closer to him and whispered, "You've been keeping things from
me."
"I don't know what I'm supposed to say. We talked... talked about the whole mate
thing, and then there's you and Sirius, and I―"
"Do you think you and I gave up?" she asked him point-blank. "That we took the
easy way out because we felt like we didn't have a choice?"
Remus frowned and closed his eyes. "I don't have a choice."
"If you did?" Mia inquired and watched as Remus swallowed.
He breathed in deeply through his nose. "I'd choose you."
She watched him carefully as her vulpine senses took control of her; apparently, her
human ones were missing what had been right in front of her face this whole time. She
could see his heart beating against the pulse point on his neck, she could hear the way his
breathing deepened as he inhaled, and she could smell the very moment her scent triggered
something deep inside of him.
It caused an old, familiar arousal. His response made her grin, feeling empowered.
His eyes were still closed when Mia reached her hand beneath the table and rested
her palm against his thigh. He flinched at the touch, eyes opening to look at her with a