the_debt_of_time

The room was virtually destroyed. Furniture was upended, curtains torn, and there
were large holes in the walls. Mia frowned as she ran her fingers over one of them, noticing
blood on the stone.
She heard a noise in the corner and spun to see Remus huddled against the wall,
knees pulled to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. Even across the room and
in the dark, she could see a new long scar cutting through his face, beginning at his left
eyebrow and slicing against the bridge of his nose, ending in the centre of his right cheek.
"Hello, love," Mia whispered as she moved closer until she could kneel down before
him. Remus turned his face away from her, quietly sobbing into his folded arms. She
worried that he would flinch away from her like he used to when she would approach him
about his lycanthropy after a rough moon. She worried he would snap at her, put up walls
and block her out, or just ignore her altogether, but the moment she sat down and leant
against him, Remus fell into her arms, crying into her lap.
"It's going to be okay," she whispered, stroking her fingers through his hair as she
tried to hold back tears of her own. She kissed the top of his head, holding him close.
"Dumbledore will fix everything. You didn't do anything wrong."
"I could have killed someone. I could have killed him," Remus said through gasping
sobs. "I'm going to end up like the rest of them—like Greyback. I'm going to end up
hurting someone."
"I will never let that happen. I swear on my magic, Remus, I will do everything
possible to make sure you never become like Greyback."