the_debt_of_time

boyfriend—a lover? "How do I even begin to explain Harry?" Mia took in a deep breath,
smiled and just said, "Harry James Potter."
Remus grinned excitedly. "Prongs has a son? And is he—?"
"Lily's." Mia nodded, beaming. "Looks just like them. Identical to James, but Lily's
eyes. Exactly." She must have not realised she was crying again, because she startled when
Remus gently wiped a thumb across her cheek. "He was my best friend. At least, before
you. Before I was sent back."
He wanted to ask about Harry, to know more about him. He wanted to ask if James
and Lily had any other children and what they were like. He wanted to know about Sirius
and himself and Peter, and if any of them had families. Certainly not himself, of course,
and maybe Sirius never settled down either, considering he was Soul Bonded to Mia—but
surely Peter eventually found someone. He never had the chance to ask, though, as the scene
changed.
They were in the Astronomy Tower, and it looked as though a herd of hippogriffs
had been trapped inside it at some point. Rubble and dirt were littered everywhere, and up
ahead a bushy-haired girl leant against the railing.
"Hermione, are you all right? Let me see your arm."
"That's... That's me," Remus said knowingly, and suddenly faced with his future-
self in better lighting, he winced, noting the additional scars, lines in his face and
significantly grey hair. "I look―"
"As handsome as ever," Mia whispered from behind him.
He turned and looked at his best friend, who was staring at his older self with pure
admiration.
"Wow," she said, gasping a little. "I'd forgotten. It's been so long since I've seen
you—older you, I mean."
"It's nothing," Hermione insisted, tucking her arm in close to her. "Stray hex. Had you not been
there, I'm sure it would have been worse."
"What does she mean 'Had I not been there'?" Remus asked, watching as his older
self examined the wound on the girl's arm. His own focus turned to Mia, who was
subconsciously picking at the triangular shaped scar on her arm: the one they had fought
about back when they had been dating.