Irma sighed deeply as the clock began to approach eight, knowing students would be moving towards their common rooms in the next half hour. With the beginning of the semester, students were always at their most studious, not yet overworked with classwork yet. They were in the library the most amount of time they would be until exams came, and they had their hands time with having to study. There were books scattered on all the tables, and Irma knew she had a long night ahead of her.

The best way to clean up was the begin with the front of the library and work her way to the back, straightening up books and putting things away as she went. Even the students that were polite enough to put things back wound up putting them in the wrong order. Sometimes she wished they had just left them on the tables. As she turned down the first aisle of books, the voices of two professors from across the way caught her ear.

"Doing some reading, Severus?" Remus said as Irma turned to look at the two.

Severus was hunched over a book, looking up to glare at Remus when he spoke. Irma didn't know nor did she care to know too much about either of the professors. The most she knew about Severus was that he was Minerva's lover, a fact she had ironically also come across one evening in the library, and that he was always after the Dark Arts position. Irma liked him enough, he'd come around in the passing years; he certainly wasn't friendly by any means, but she didn't mind it. He made no effort to get to know her, and Irma liked it that way. He spent a lot of time in the library, but he always put things back. It was enough for her.

Without much presence at staff meetings, Irma had yet to make an opinion about Remus. He seemed cheerful enough, but she didn't know much beyond that. Severus smirked. "You know why I'm here."

Remus nodded, kicking his feet awkwardly against the carpet. With the few interactions she'd seen between the two men, Irma had immediately sensed a tension between them. Whispers among staff in the halls and at meals made her think it had something to do with when they were students together. "That's why I came by."

"Unless you plan on brewing your own Wolfsbane, I suggest you leave me to my reading. You wouldn't want me to slip something wrong in by accident, would you?"

"And tell me, Severus? What would Albus do if you decided to pull a stunt like that?"

"I'd think you know all about how Albus handles such occurrences. Though, I'm not like you, I won't hide behind Albus to avoid punishment." Severus closed the book in his hands and stalked closer to Lupin. Irma raised an eyebrow. Severus sounded out for the kill. "Believe me, if I chose to pull a stunt, I'll gladly take credit for it."

Remus backed up from Severus. "Is this how the entire year is going to go for us?"

"You seem awfully concerned about me," Severus snorted.

"I'm simply trying to work together."

"I will brew your little potion to avoid any harm coming to the students and staff. But, if you think anything else is going to change between us, you're really thicker than I thought."

Severus began to walk away, and Irma tried her best to blend into the bookshelves as he faced her. Remus called his name again, and Severus turned back to face him. "I think you think I came in with grand expectations about how things were going to be between us." Remus spoke with a little more confidence than he had before. "I never expected to be friends; I did, however, expect to be treated with a little bit of respect and civility. We are colleagues whether you like it or not."

"You should have thought of that fifteen years ago. Maybe you and Black can get together and work on that, now that he's out," Severus snapped. This time, he turned down the center aisle and disappeared out the door quickly after.

Remus sighed and punched the edge of the bookshelf. Irma stared at him for a few moments, feeling slightly sorry for him, but also curious about what he could have done to anger Severus so much. From what Irma had seen over the years, Severus was one to rarely show emotion. Something truly bad must have happened between them for him to be so furious. Irma couldn't ever remember him being so nasty, cold and sarcastic, but never so nasty. "I'm sorry you had to hear that," Remus said, suddenly a few feet from her, breaking Irma's thoughts.

"It's alright."

Remus smiled, but it was a sad sort of smile. "I best be out. Library is closing soon?"

"Ten minutes," Irma replied, unsure of what to say.

"Good night," Remus said. Irma replied the same and waited for closing time to finish her sweep of the room.

Once she had finished for the night, Irma began towards her rooms, exhausted from the day. Students had been utterly useless, asking questions like they had never been in a library before, and the interaction of Severus and Remus had been on her mind.

As she rounded the corner to her rooms, she once again heard Severus's voice. Two run in's in one day? It was so rare she saw so much of the staff. Most of her days were spent alone or with the students. Peeking down the hall, she saw Minerva and Severus walking towards her, clearly too caught up in their own conversation to notice she was watching. "You know how to brew Wolfsbane, do not use that as an excuse!"

"I'm busy, Minerva," Severus snapped. "Whether or not my time is being used to brew your precious Gryffindor's potion or not is irrelevant. I said I'm going to my rooms."

Minerva looked exasperated. "Ever since Remus walked through those doors, you've been doing this to me."

"Good night, Minerva."

Severus began to walk ahead of her, but Minerva pulled out her wand and muttered, "Imobulus."

Unable to walk, Severus glared at her. "What?"

"You haven't spent a single night with me this week."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you and Albus brought him onto staff."

"You know I had nothing to do with his hiring!"

"If you wanted to, you could have protested it."

"Oh, you know that's not true. When Albus makes a decision, he makes it."

Severus muttered some counter curse to reverse the hold she had on him. "Leave me be, Minerva." Without letting her say another word, Severus hurried further down the hall. Minerva sighed as she watched him walk away, and Irma felt slightly sorry for her. If she had been Pomona or Poppy, she would have done something about it, but she had no interest in befriending the Deputy. With one last look at the exasperated witch, Irma retraced her steps and found an alternative route back to her rooms for the night.