the_debt_of_time

The werewolf pack that he was sent to infiltrate had been on the move a week prior
to Remus losing contact with Moody, and tracking them down again was proving difficult.
Not only was the pack exceptionally large, they were also being split into smaller groups
during the move from county to county, always under the cover of darkness, generally
Disillusioned, and violent when confronted.
Fortunately, when the Aurors finally caught up with one of the smaller groups, it had
not been a full moon. As it was, three of them were sent to St Mungo's with clawed-up
bodies. Luckily, so far, no one had been infected with lycanthropy.
Unluckily, they had yet to locate Remus.
The first few weeks, Sirius watched as Mia tried to move on. Prohibited from
directly working on the mission for the Order, she returned to her job at the Ministry where
she tried to distract herself with work. When that clearly failed, she tried to not-so-secretly
assist with Remus's recovery by bringing home Ministry files on werewolf tracking patterns.
When she threatened to shift into her Animagus form and just go off looking for
Remus, Sirius had to request that she take a temporary leave of absence from work and left
her at the flat with Lily to keep watch over her.
After work one day, he was met at the fireplace by Lily. "How bad?"
"I don't know how bad it is," Lily admitted sadly. "I can't communicate with her."
"Can't―" Sirius raised a brow in confusion until a thought occurred to him and he
sighed in understanding. "Full moon tonight. Has she been like that for long?"
"Since you left this morning. Should I be worried about James? Will I find him at
home in bed or out in the woods somewhere?"
"If he's not at Potter Cottage, send him a Patronus and tell him to get his hooves
home," Sirius instructed, tiredly running a hand through his hair as he removed his Auror
robes and flung them onto the sofa, not caring much about where they landed or in what
condition.
"Has anyone thought to do the same for Remus?" Lily asked. "If we can
communicate through Patronuses, maybe he can send one back?"
Sirius saw the exhaustion in her eyes there mingled with worry. While Mia had taken
Remus's absence the hardest, the rest of them were also handling the situation poorly.
"Since we don't know what's going on with Remus, if we sent a Patronus, we could
endanger him if he's managed to actually infiltrate the pack."