the_debt_of_time

her. The water then had been cold—which was helpful—but the scent in the air that now
poured over him was warm. Much too warm. He swallowed hard and tried to remain quiet.
"Sirius?" she whispered next, and a part of him bristled as he heard her pull the
curtains away from the bed across from him.
She had come looking for her brother, of course, and Remus had immediately
assumed it was because of her nightmares, which grew worse upon their initial return to
Hogwarts each year. He felt terrible for her and wanted to help, but—despite the fact that
Sirius's bed was directly next to James's—Remus could not help but silently complain over
the fact that once she had found her brother missing from the room, she had gone to Sirius
next.
He heard footsteps, and his eyes widened. He had known she would not find Sirius
in his bed, which only meant that she would seek him out next, but he was yet unprepared
as her scent grew closer, so he clenched his eyes tight to try and focus on something else.
It was normal for a fourteen-year-old boy to deal with arousal, especially in the general
vicinity of the female population, but it was something entirely different for one who had
a nervously charged werewolf inside his head.
He finally heard her whisper his name and groaned quietly. He forced the sound
back down his throat as he tried to forget that she had called him beautiful a month ago
with her hand against his scars, nothing but a scrap of cotton separating her touch against
his skin.
"Yeah?" He winced as he pulled the curtains back revealing a sad-looking Mia with
dishevelled hair—which was not helping his issue—fidgeting with her hands. She had dried
tear tracks on her cheeks. "You okay, love?"
"Are you okay? Oh, are you sick? I thought it had been getting better. I'll go." She
frowned and made to move.
"No, it's nothing." Lie. "Not wolf related at least." Lie. "I think I just ate too much
at dinner." Lie.
"Oh." Mia chewed the side of her lip, toeing the floor.
"Nightmares?" he asked softly, and she hesitated before nodding. "I don't know
when James is due back. Those idiots ran for the kitchen the second we got back to the
dorms," he admitted, a part of him annoyed that James was not here to take care of his