the_debt_of_time

Basilisk?! Remus inwardly cringed. What the hell has Dumbledore been letting these kids do
at school?
"I'll remind you, Ronald," Hermione said tartly, "that I never actually saw the
basilisk. Not really. And it was just an animal. You can't fault a creature for acting on
instincts." Briefly, Remus was reminded of a little fox in the Shrieking Shack chasing after
a rat. "Humans are much more dangerous because they have motives."
"And what is Sirius Black's motive for coming after me?" Harry asked, a bite to his
tone.
Hermione gasped. "After you?"
"Mr and Mrs Weasley were arguing because, apparently, Black broke out of
Azkaban to come after me, and the Ministry's covering it up. They've sent guards to
Hogwarts to search for him before he can get to me."
"Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry, you'll have to be really, really
careful. Don't go looking for trouble―"
"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry. "Trouble usually finds me."
Remus snorted, and when there was a lull in the children's conversation at the noise,
he pretended to snore.
"How thick would Harry have to be to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill
him?" asked the other boy, the one Hermione had called Ronald. "No one knows how he
got out of Azkaban, no one's ever done it before. And he was classified as a top-security
prisoner too."
"But they'll catch him, won't they?" Hermione asked earnestly. "I mean, they've got
all the Muggles looking out for him, too."
Somewhere between the kids talking about Sirius, Hogsmeade trips, and a faulty
Sneakoscope that Harry had been given, Remus fell deep into his thoughts. Sitting there in
the same compartment as him was the son of one of his best friends. The boy that, by all
rights, he should have raised had the Ministry not thrown up anti-werewolf laws. Harry's
voice, so much like James's, was painful to hear, but nowhere near as painful as it was to
hear the girl, Hermione, talking with him. She was rambling on about the history of
Hogsmeade with that swotty tone that Mia used to reserve for proper scoldings when
James and Sirius got up to something. It caused Remus's heart to swell and ache. The wolf
inside was stirring, wanting to go to her—this girl, his best friend, his Beta—and wrap his