the_debt_of_time

"Madam Pomfrey said I should give you one of these every three hours," Remus
told her as he reached for a phial of purple liquid from the table next to her bed.
"How long have you been here?"
"Doesn't matter." Remus shook his head and uncorked the Pain Relief Potion, not
wanting her to know that he had been at her bedside for days, not letting anyone but the
mediwitch near her. "You should drink this. It'll make you sleepy, but you need your rest."
As she took the phial from him, he brushed the hair from her face, tucking a curl behind
her ear. "You need to get better."
Hermione nodded and swallowed the potion down quickly. "Tastes... funny."
He watched as the potion went to work right away. Hermione's eyes blinked rapidly,
a sign of her fatigue. He was grateful that Madam Pomfrey had the good stuff on hand,
and that Hermione did not need to be sent away to St Mungo's like Dora, where he could
not be by her side.
"Sleep now, love," Remus whispered as he watched her eyelids begin to droop.
"I called you 'Remus,'" Hermione mumbled, clearly already fairly inebriated from
the potion.
He smiled sadly. "That you did, love."
"You called me 'love' again. Why's that?" A strange, relaxed smile fell over her face.
Remus smiled back at her, remembering how Mia Potter could easily down a bottle
of firewhisky and still hex someone sideways if they looked at her wrong.
"It doesn't matter. You won't remember this conversation when you wake up."
"Tell me anyway."
Remus hesitated before speaking. "I call you 'love' because... that's what you are
to me. Precious. Essential. My heart." He took her hand, cupping it with both of his.
"There's only one other person in this entire world that I could ever love more than you,
and I'm all but certain that I don't deserve her."
He wondered if Moody or Kingsley had told Dora that Sirius was dead and that
Remus, who was supposed to know the future, had not done a thing to save him.
"And she's safer without me."
"That's... stupid," Hermione muttered.
Remus laughed quietly.
After a moment, she whispered, "Still hurts."