the_debt_of_time

"You cheated on Hermione?" Harry snapped angrily at his godfather, emerald eyes
flashing as he jumped to conclusions.
Sirius sighed irritably, opening his mouth for the rest of the pastry but bringing his
drink to his lips instead. The glass clinked on his teeth, and Sirius swore under his breath
in frustration. "My girlfriend up and vanished into thin air one day, and I was told multiple
times, by Albus Dumbledore, that she was dead and someone," he said loudly as he turned
to glare at Remus, "refused to say otherwise."
Remus shook his head. "You know I couldn't."
"So, I tried to... move on."
Rolling his eyes, Remus scoffed.
"What?" Sirius barked.
"If by 'moving on' you mean drinking yourself into a coma that lasted three days,
then certainly. Yes, moving on."
"You did what?" Harry yelled. "Sirius! You could have died!"
"It's possible to drink yourself into a coma?" Ron asked, looking terrified and
strained as though he were frightfully trying to calculate the number of butterbeers and
firewhiskies he had consumed over the course of his young life.
"He could have drunk himself to death," Remus said, his voice hard as he stared at
Sirius. "Pretty sure that's what he had been going for. Do you realise how much a wizard
has to drink in order to get alcohol poisoning?" he asked, looking at Harry, thrilled that he
no longer had to bear the weight of the disapproval that came from witnessing Sirius's
personal rock bottom. "James was furious when Sirius woke up."
Sirius groaned, thankfully looking just as guilty as he had when the original situation
had taken place. "I'm not proud of it, thank you very much. If you haven't noticed, I've
never been good at coping on my own. But she's not pissed about that. The drinking and
the girls she understood. She said she figured that I'd go through some sort of grieving
period, end up at the bars and blackout only to wake up with... well, company. Although
she doesn't know about the coma, so I'd appreciate that little bit of knowledge to be kept
quiet," he said, looking at Remus. "Just assume you're under an Unbreakable Vow, thanks."
"So, if not the girls, then what happened?" Harry asked.
Sirius winced, purposely bringing the glass to his mouth this time, finishing off his
drink and coughing as it apparently went down the wrong way. "She wasn't bothered by