the_debt_of_time

had practically been a farewell kiss. Was she ever going to see him again? Would he be
there waiting for her, the day after her nineteenth birthday? Or would he, like Remus
declared, die without her?
"Do you love Sirius?"
Mia's throat tightened, and she felt tears stinging her eyes. "I don't think I can say
it."
"Why not?"
"Because he's not ready to hear it," she explained, and the tears finally spilt over
onto her cheeks. She wiped them away as though they had betrayed her emotional resolve.
"Plus, I'm not ready to see him walk away from me. Not again. He's done it twice now, and
I've tried to be strong, but it hurt like hell. I don't think I could handle it a third time."
Moments after their first kiss, he had turned her away. Minutes after the first time they
made love, he had asked her to leave his room. "Besides... if I am in love with Sirius, I
feel like the first time I say it should be to him."
"You really think he'd walk away from you again?"
Mia shrugged honestly. Sirius was a constant conundrum. It was an everlasting
battle between his heart and his conscience, and his conscience was lying to him.
"The night of the concert, when he came into my room, drunk, he didn't really
know I was there. He kept saying how he knew how he felt about me, that he didn't want
to ruin you and me because we were in love, and he couldn't do that to his friends. Then
he went on and on about how he needed to be a good man."
"He really needs to get over that issue."
"I know. He... He said he hasn't been with anyone since... since me."
Remus raised a sceptical brow. "Really?"
"You didn't know?"
"No, I mean.. ." He paused, looking deep in thought for a moment or two. "We
haven't seen him with anyone, and he hasn't been bragging like he used to, but, well...
you've heard the way Ravenclaws gossip. He really said that?"
"You think he was telling the truth?" she hesitantly asked.
"What do I think?" Remus sighed, pondering the situation. This had not been his
plans for this morning. He had planned on waking up with a witch on his chest, but hearing
her moaning another bloke's name and then discussing her relationship with said bloke, ad