A/N: Sorry for the late update! It's almost finals week, and I wasn't able to find time to upload this. Enjoy:)
Chapter 9
Remus scratched his chin.
He was in Sing Chi's, waiting for Sirius. His manuscript lay before him on the table as he added a few more words to it.
"Excuse me, can I borrow that chili sauce?"
The brown-haired werewolf looked up to see a slightly pudgy, middle-aged wizard in bottle-green robes.
"Oh." He pushed the container over. The stranger leaned over to take it, and his eyes—twinkling sea-green orbs—fell upon the slightly crumpled sheets of parchment.
"Are you a writer, son?"
Remus quickly moved to gather his novel together. "Er, no. This is nothing."
The wizard sat down in the seat Remus had been holding for Sirius. "You know, there's nothing to be ashamed of, my boy."
Remus stopped shuffling his parchment. "Ashamed of what?"
"Your work."
He stared into his jasmine tea to avoid looking at the man. "I am not a writer, sir."
"If you say so." The stranger rose to his feet, taking the container of chili sauce with him. Remus watched him sit down at a table on the other side of the restaurant.
When he returned his attention to his own table, Remus saw that there was a scrap of parchment where the chili sauce had been.
"What's that?"
He looked up. Sirius had finally arrived. The handsome black-haired boy drew up a chair and grabbed the hand-lettered menu.
Remus studied the parchment. " 'Navin E. Ross. Shrouded in Mystery Books.'"
Sirius tore his face from a very tantalizing picture of lemon chicken. "An agent? Since when do you write, Moony?"
Remus squirmed with discomfort as a waiter came up.
"Two orders—make that four—of the fried sweet buns, two large orders of lemon chicken, five orders of vegetable dumplings, two large orders of sweet-and-sour pork…and four bowls of fried rice." Sirius peered over the top of the menu. "Anything else, Moony?"
"A large order of salt-and-pepper spareribs," Remus told the waiter. "And another pot of jasmine tea."
"So," Sirius continued as he handed the menu to the waiter, "Since when did you become an author?"
"I'm not, Padfoot."
"Then why were you given that? And what's with all the parchment?"
Remus realized that he had not finished putting away his manuscript.
Sirius grinned. "Hand it over, Moony."
Knowing there was no way out of this, Remus surrendered the parchment over.
xxxxx
"Not bad," remarked Sirius as he lifted a piece of pork to his mouth.
"Don't drip any on it! Watch the sauce!" squeaked Remus as he rushed to protect his manuscript.
Sirius waved Remus away carelessly. "Don't worry, chum. I won't let anything happen to your precious story."
Remus picked up the last dumpling. "Do you honestly think it's good?"
"Moony Moony Moony. Do I lie?"
"Yes."
"Alright, well, I'm not. You really ought to take that agent up on his offer."
"I really don't know, Padfoot. I merely dabbled in this for fun. It's never even come to mind as a possible life's work."
"What of it?" Sirius looked baffled. "It's not a bad life—working at your leisure, an excuse to daydream all the time, good money…"
"It's such a gamble, Padfoot. If my work doesn't sell, I'll be on hard times. I need something I count on. I need stability."
Sirius pointed a chopstick at him. "Even if it means being Madam Malkins's assistant? Moony, you should put a hold on the "practical" for once in your life. Do what you want to do, instead of always what's safe."
Remus fingered the scrap of parchment. "Maybe. I'll consider it. My manuscript?"
Sirius smirked and slipped it into his own pocket. "You're not getting away with this, my friend. I'm making sure Prongs gets a look at this. Honestly, for hiding—and attempting to lie about—your writing, we ought to set you loose this full moon…"
Remus paled. "You'll do no such thing!"
"And I'll make sure Lily sees this, and Nicole…"
"Nicole already has," Remus pointed out sullenly.
"Oh. Wait, how come she knows and I don't?" Sirius's eyes narrowed.
"Because she caught me writing Chapter Twenty-seven and lashed me to a chair so she could read it. I swear, Padfoot, that woman of yours gets more and more like you everyday."
"A fact that I'm very proud to hear," mused Sirius. "She's got to be my best work."
"Bad influence," grumbled Remus as he signaled the waiter for the bill.
Sirius removed his money bag and counted out some Sickles. "I pay today. Think of it as your first commission."
"What took you so long anyway?" Remus wanted to know as they pushed through the doors into the bright sunlight. "What happened with that man?"
"Well…that does bring me to my next agenda…"
xxxxx
"Shopping?" Remus yelped.
"It's for good cause, Moony," Sirius replied. He had just told his friend the whole story, and he was determined to get started on the renovation of the salon.
Unfortunately, Remus was positively allergic to the act of shopping. He abhorred it almost as much as he did the full moon.
"I'm going home!" Remus announced. "Goodbye, Pad—yeow!"
For Sirius had grabbed him by the scruff of his neck before he could Apparate. "Moony, I'm going to need your help."
"Exactly WHY?"
"You're brilliant, you have a good eye, and if you'd been with me and Prongs when we were decorating the house, you might've helped me convince him to not go with bright-orange walls."
"You weren't any better than him."
"See? That's why I need you!"
"Padfoot…"
"It's for a greater good. Think about it—you will henceforth be known as 'The Wizard Who Saved the Greatest Salon in the Wizarding World'."
"That's a rather long title."
"All you have to do is look at bits of paper and colors and help me decide which is the best."
Remus threw up his hands. "Fine. But I promise you, Paddy, that I will be complaining loudly and eloquently all throughout."
Sirius considered and decided it was a small price to pay. "We have an accord."
XXX
A/N: Chapter 10 is already written, but I might be redoing parts of it—so it might be a while before it'll be up.
To Wilty- Thanks! I was pretty relieved that you reviewed—I'd thought I was forgotten, haha. As for the greenhouse guy…well, we'll see how he turns out, bwahaha…
God bless:)