As I was writing this chapter, I got the strange feeling that maybe I've read Jane Eyre a few too many times…

(We Will Go Home)

Remus was just about to put out the candle at his bedside when he realised his case was nowhere to be found. His suitcase and satchel had been at the foot of the single bed when he arrived, but what had he done with the brief? Then it came to him; the mad dash to catch up to the ancient house elf, barely having time to put away the book in his hand let alone retrieve his effects. Really, he should wait and retrieve it in the morning, surely it was safe enough where he had left it, but it felt strange not to have it in his sight. In this vast house, he had left a piece of his miniscule self somewhere it shouldn't't be, and before Remus could tell himself he was being ridiculous, he had shut the door softly behind him and was on his way to the library once more. It was hard to say for sure in a house where each hall and door was the same, but he had thought his room not far from the library when a much more congenial house elf had led him there. As he walked down the shadow laced hall, he prayed he wouldn't't lose his way, only to be discovered sleeping on the staircase in the morning.

Luck was with him, after a short walk he came to the double doors of the library, one still a crack open, presumably from his hasty exit earlier. He slipped through and hunted half blind around the desktop where he was sure he had left his case. He frowned when his fingers failed to turn anything up in their search and just as he was starting to panic, a voice cleared itself behind him.

"Is this what you are looking for? They're very good, you know. But it's not what one would expect." When the shock of someone else being in the room wore off, Remus was able to turn around and saw only the back of a rather shabby armchair in front of the fire. He took a couple steps towards it once his heart started up again, and as he rounded the desk he saw one a pair of very long legs stretched out before it. One was bent at the knee and had taken up residence on an equally worn stool while the other trailed rather gracefully over the carpet. Caught up as he was in the examining of these legs, Remus had almost forgotten someone would be attached to them until he spoke again. "Well, don't just hover there in the dark. Come. Sit." Remus perched on the edge of an ornate wingback chair. Not only did it look much newer, it looked by far to be the less comfortable choice of the two. But he was not worried about that. All Remus' attention was focused on the sheaf of papers in Black's hand.

"When I discovered this lying about on the desk I assumed I would find the life's work of yet another librarian yearning to be a writer. Instead, I find these. As I said, very good, and quite a surprise." He stopped shuffling through the papers for a moment to regard a piece that was almost entirely black, yet wrought with minute detail for all the monotone. On the paper, a great, grey wolf prowled through dense underbrush. The charcoal etched page was a dappled forest of black and greys, no white paper to be seen. Remus blushed at the sight of it. Partly because any art is such a personal thing, and partly because of the image it depicted. He tried to look at something other than the paper and with very little forethought on the matter his attention was caught by Black's hands. He had long, slender fingers. Strong. They reminded Remus instantly of the legs he had been admiring only moments before and as his thought travelled there his face became a degree redder than before.

Black slipped the papers into the portfolio and handed it to Remus. Remus searched for something to say to this man, to break the heavy silence, but Black quietly rose from his seat and left the library as if he had never been there in the first place. Remus was left to stare wonderingly after him.

After that night, Remus' life was not so strange. He set to work in the library, creating a catalogue in one of the empty ledger books he preferred to use. For the next week, he was not asked to join the family for dinner again and was quite relieved for it. Instead he spent his mornings working on the massive display of books, ate a private lunch in his room, and was left with the evening to do as he pleased with himself. More often than not, Remus found himself in the library in the evening, too, wanting to enjoy the collection as he was too professional to do as he worked. Black seemed to be careful about not coming to the library as he worked. In fact, the only time Remus ever saw him, it was seemingly accidental. He had the feeling Black preferred not to be seen, though he was sure every now and then as he worked, that he had entered the room. Yet if Remus looked for him, he would only hear the large doors slowly closing. Perhaps Black thought it would make him uncomfortable if he were to be there as he worked, then again, why would a Black ever care what made him uncomfortable. So he allowed himself to become absorbed in the simple pleasure of such menial tasks. Remus wasn't sure when his services had become en vogue for the wealthy and well read, but all in all the work suited him fine. One night, engrossed in a musty copy of Paradise Lost, Remus suddenly glanced up at one of the large, darkened windows. He paused in his reading for a moment to gaze at the swollen moon in the sky, silently reminding him of the more terrible days ahead. Then next afternoon, Remus went in search of Black. The task was turning out to be a more difficult one than he would have thought. The dreary house was being attacked by house elves with dusters in every corner, and a delicious sent was filling the halls near the kitchen.

Remus came upon the lady of the Black house in the main entranceway. She appeared to be trying to decide on whether to have an ostentatious bouquet of belladonna or an equally ostentatious bouquet of asphodel. Each time she changed her mind there was a burst of pollen in the air surrounding her, so Remus did not even attempt to ask her about her husband's location. Finally he gave up attempting to pursue him in the upheaval and returned to the quieter library only to discover Black seemed to have similar ideas. "Ah, I had just been searching for you; I need to speak with you." "Well, better you than her. She's been nattering at me all week for opinions on the most redundant things. It's her party and I want no part of it."

Unsure of how to respond to the outburst, Remus cleared his throat and continued, "You see, I'll need to be away for the next three days."

"Three days? And where are you planning to go?" Black scowled. Remus was taken aback by his sudden mood and he stuttered as he tried to come up with a feasible lie. Why hadn't he thought about this in advance?

"Ah, well. I, uh. To Calais," he spat out. Black turned to stare at him, but Remus was spared having to come up with anything more concrete when the doors of the library suddenly burst open. "Sirius! People will be arriving any minute, what are you doing in here?" As she said this, Lady Black's eyes flicked at Remus as if it were definitely, in some way, his fault. Whatever the issue was. Remus took the opportunity to make a silent exit, his thoughts in another place than Black's odd behaviour.

Now don't worry, I promise all the good and tingly kind of stuff everyone is waiting for is coming up in the next chapter!
- Primavera