Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, not me.

A/N: Keep the reviews coming! Yay for reviews!

Well, we're back to the lighter side now, after that foray into angst… this is a Remus chapter. However, it is a Remus chapter in which something occurs that may or may not cause gratuitous angst later on…

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"This lawsuit is coming up far too quickly," Aemilia grumbled.

Remus looked up. "It's only the twelfth, Aemilia."

She snorted. "Gives me a grand total of two days."

"You know you're ready," he told her gently. "You always are."

She sighed. "Yes, I know I'm ready," she said. "It's just… well, I guess I'm a bit paranoid, you know."

"Because of your father?"

She nodded. "I can just see myself making an absolute fool of myself."

"I can't."

She managed a weak grin. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Remus."

The door to the library swung open and Severus came in. He was scowling fiercely. "Don't stop your work on my account," he growled at Remus and Aemilia, before going into the Restricted Section, pulling out a book, then leaving again.

Aemilia stared after him. "He's testier than normal."

"It's like… something happened to him," Remus said. "And he's bottling it up inside."

Aemilia looked at him. "You bottle up your emotions all the time, Remus," she told him, smiling, "and you don't turn into Witch Weekly's Bad-tempered Bastard of the Century."

"Do they really have that award?"

"If they don't, they should. It would confer honour on the teaching staff at Hogwarts."

"I always thought Severus was the country fair type, myself," Remus mused aloud, a mischievous glint in his eye. "You know, first prize for Best Carrot Cake goes to Betsy Patterson, first prize for Best Slimy Thing In Jar goes to Severus Snape."

Aemilia giggled. "He could bring a whole new era into interior decorating."

"Instead of distressing furniture, people will be Snaping it," Remus said, grinning. "Now, to successfully Snape this chair, you will need to explode your cauldron on it thirteen times, then fling twelve tiger's livers and a random selection of other disgusting potion ingredients at it and leave it for three days before cleaning."

Aemilia was laughing so hard now she was almost falling off her chair. "Then finish off the look with some tastefully placed slimy things in jars," she wheezed.

Neither of them could talk any more for laughing.

"You know," Remus said thoughtfully when they had both calmed down, "whenever I sit down to help you with the lawsuit, I always just end up making you laugh."

"Be off with you then," Aemilia ordered him imperiously, but she was smiling.

Remus put on a mock pout. "Who am I going to talk to then? I don't see that Seraphim woman being anywhere near as susceptible to my jokes as you are."

Aemilia wrinkled her nose. "I don't like her."

"I do," Remus said, "but she is a bit serious."

"So are you, when you're not planning Snape's career as an interior decorator, or You-Know-Who's new way to spend his free time as a conga-line dancer."

"My point exactly. She does not seem like the type to indulge in planning Snape's career as an interior decorator, or Voldemort's new way to spend his free time as a conga-line dancer. Anyway, I thought you didn't like her."

"She's hiding something."

Remus shot Aemilia a quizzical look. "How do you know?"

"Women's intuition," Aemilia replied promptly.

"Anything not circumstantial and completely subjective?"

"Women's intuition isn't a myth, Remus," Aemilia told him, flicking through some pages of an enormous codex and scribbling something down on a piece of parchment. "She's got a dirty little secret, and I can sense it."

"What type of dirty little secret?"

Aemilia shot him a look. "One that's dirty, and little."

"I thought women's intuition wasn't a myth."

She smiled and punched him playfully. "You, Remus Lupin," she told him, "are incorrigible."

He pretended to tip his hat, even though he wasn't wearing one. "Thank you, Miss Aemilia."

"You're quite welcome." Aemilia flicked a few more pages and scribbled some more things down. "Now go away, so I can work."

"Fine," Remus said, poking her playfully. He made to leave, but turned back. "You have ink on your face."

"And you'd like to smear it over my whole face, isn't that so?"

"Damn, you discovered my plan. Now look at me so I can get it off."

Remus sat back down again and took his wand out of his sleeve. Aemilia looked up at him. "Where is it?"

"On your face, stupid." He put the tip of his wand against her skin. "Scourgify!"

"Gah, Remus, that tickles!" Instinctively, she squirmed away from his wand, but he pulled her back.

"If you're not going to let me clean it off by magic," he told her calmly, "you'll have to let me do it the normal way."

He soaked the tip of his sleeve in Aemilia's glass of water and began to dab at the spot on her face. "You'll ruin your robes!" Aemilia protested, pulling her chair out of his reach.

"After the amount these robes have been through, I doubt a little ink will really hurt them," Remus answered. "Now come here, damn it!"

He grabbed her arm and yanked her closer to him. She overbalanced, fell off her chair and landed face-first in his lap.

He sighed. "Aemilia," he said, "when I said 'come here' I didn't mean 'jump into my lap.'"

Aemilia sat up. "You did that on purpose."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Aemilia, just let me clean your damn face!"

She poked her tongue out at him but pulled her chair up and sat down, letting him dab the ink away. "How did I get ink on my face anyway?"

"You tell me, you're the - don't do that!"

"Don't do what?"

"Run your hands through your hair - now you have ink all over your scalp!"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did!"

"Sooner!"

"Because I couldn't see that you had ink all over your hands!"

"Oh." Aemilia bit her lip. "Can you get it out?"

"Yes," Remus told her, "but I'll have to use magic. Pass me my wand."

Aemilia passed it. "You're not going to tickle me again, are you?"

"Not if I can help it," Remus replied, taking the wand. "Scourgify!"

"Remus, that tickles! Stop it! Re -"

Aemilia stopped suddenly. Remus felt himself freeze.

She was less than an inch away from his face, her skin flushed, her black hair coming out of its loose knot. Her breathing was shallow and quick.

She is beautiful, he thought, and then his instincts - so well trained by the wolf within - took charge. Cupping one hand behind her head, he pulled her to him.

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Next chapter is a Sirius interlude!