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Remus Lupin took a deep breath of dry air, savoring the scent of old leather, paper, and ink. He never really expected for an opportunity like this to happen to him, but whatever the reasoning behind it, he was truly grateful. Studying in the legendary Library of Alexandria was a rare honor, generally bestowed on just a select few new scholars each year. This year was the first time that honor had been given to a werewolf.
That the news had come on the third anniversary of James and Lily's deaths had been a tremendous boon. It had given him something to focus on besides his grief, and given his few remaining friends the opening to drink with him rather than leave him to spend that horrible anniversary drinking alone.
Lily would have been so disappointed with me if she knew I had been crying over them when something so wonderful had just happened. She might have been envious, but would have mastered her emotions, and given him a list of things to investigate for her. Ever the practical one was Lily Potter.
His lips quirked into a wry smile. James would have been an entirely different story. Knowing James, he would have teased Remus for a few hours, then thrown all of his contagious energy into "helping" Remus pack for Egypt. True, the "help" would have been more than a hindrance than anything else, but Remus would have probably been laughing too hard to scold his friend.
A week or two after he would have arrived in Alexandria, an owl would arrive from his friend, asking for a spell to help in some sort of hypothetical situation. A hypothetical situation that was more than a little likely to cause all sorts of mayhem and hilarity to ensue, and hexes to be thrown afterwards.
Once a Marauder, always a Marauder, as James had declared on more than one occasion, much to Lily's chagrin.
I miss you two so much.
"Remus?" a quiet male voice inquired.
Remus turned, recognizing one of his friends amongst the other scholars. Valentino Carmine was a brilliant man, and surprisingly non-judgmental for a graduate of the insular, patrician Atrapurus Academy, though, Remus supposed he should have expected it. Anyone who came to the Library of Alexandria in search of knowledge needed an open mind, especially given the strange information in some of the more obscure texts.
There was a saying etched into the stone above the library's entrance in hieroglyphics, and echoed beneath in Latin. Translated, it read, "Knowledge you shall find, but wisdom you must gain. Judge little. Respect all."
Those few words summed up Valentino Carmine to a T. For that matter, it summed up most of the scholars at the Library.
What set Carmine apart from the rest was his incredible tenacity. Raw or focused, it was practically a force of nature. Any setback they encountered, he tackled with everything at his disposal, always persisting until that challenge was conquered and he achieved what he wanted. If he wanted to know something, then by Merlin, he would find out.
If he really wanted something, then gods help the poor soul who stood in his way.
Merlin only knew how Remus would have been able to resist that sort of persistence from Carmine if he had seriously pursued Remus romantically. In another time, if he had never become lovers with Sirius, Remus imagined he would have taken the Italian man up on his offer to retire to his flat for the night. Carmine was full of such passion and energy, and was just so intense...
Almost exactly like Sirius. And that was what stopped Remus from agreeing to a nightcap.
There would always be Sirius. His first love, his true love. No matter who elicited an admiring look from Remus, he just couldn't push past the feeling that he was betraying Sirius by just looking at another man, not that it really mattered or made sense. Sirius was as good as dead, locked away in Azkaban for the rest of his life.
Remus' jaw clenched. How Sirius could have turned his back on his friends, to hand them over to their deaths...he just didn't understand. I don't know if I ever want to understand....because if I understood, it means I would be one step closer to forgiving him for having a hand in their murders... I can't do that.
"Remus." Carmine's tone told him that the other man had been trying to get his attention for a few minutes, and was fast growing concerned. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Remus forced himself to smile. "How may I help you?"
Carmine studied him for a moment, most likely reading his body language with a kind of artless ease that seemed instinctual, then nodded, a visible acknowledgement that he was going to drop the matter, at least for a little while.
I'm going to have to come up with something to distract him. I don’t want to talk about Sirius, or James and Lily. Or Peter.
As it turned out, he didn’t need to come up with something to distract Carmine's clever mind, as Carmine had come with news.
The raven-haired wizard held up a scrap of paper, spiky handwriting visible though his fingers. "One of the older scholars told me where we could find the scrolls on Athenian defensive magic that we were looking for last week." He grinned and waved his arm to beckon Remus forward. "Shall we?"
----
Over the years, his friendship with Carmine settled into an easy long-distance camaraderie, kept alive with infrequent visits and regular owls. Carmine's job as a Magical Defense Specialist put him in a unique position to travel the world, and with that travel, run across jobs that would accept a werewolf as an employee or were particularly suited for someone of Remus' talents.
In that, Remus owed his friend a great debt.
After spending two years in Alexandria as a research assistant for an elderly scholar, Remus found himself in Romania, assisting with strange infestation of kelpies at a dragon reserve. A few months later, following a tip from Carmine, Remus began working in Ireland, using some of the knowledge he gained in Alexandria to help construct and bespell protections for a magical primary school. Employment at the primary school followed for a few months until a batch of altered Wolfsbane Potion left him weak and severely ill for six months.
His savings nearly gone, he returned to England and worked at a quiet bookshop in Muggle London for a while. Then came the Werewolf Decrees, and working in Muggle London became illegal.
Once he heard the news, Carmine arranged to meet with him in London. That night, as they chatted in Carmine's rented room, the Italian wizard offered to take him along for his next jobs. Anxious employers, he had said with a wry smile, were always appreciative of help.
They traveled together for several months before an emergency called Carmine home to Italy. Remus drifted from job to job, returning to Alexandria whenever he had enough financial padding to make studying at the library comfortable. He began to take courses offered at the library for those seeking Mastery in any given subject. It was a long, hard road, but the rewards, and friends he made along the way, made it worthwhile.
He went back to England the year Harry Potter started at Hogwarts. Even if he didn't see his best friend's son, Remus took comfort in the knowledge that if something were to happen, that he could quickly be at the school.
It was during the summer before Harry's third year that Dumbledore approached him to take up the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Dumbledore had chuckled as he stated that he should have come to Remus much sooner. After all, it wasn't every day that a former student would manage to attain impressive marks from the study programs at the Library of Alexandria.
Remus had blushed, and muttered a disclaimer, citing wonderful teachers as the reason behind his success.
"Ah, but teachers cannot strike the fire of desire for knowledge into life," Dumbledore had retorted. "They can only give it the fuel to burn brighter."
As the last days of summer scorched the Scottish highlands, Remus found himself staring up at a familiar castle, breathing in a welcome sense of homecoming. This was where he belonged.
----
Halloween arrived all too quickly, and with it the full moon. When Remus retired to his office to await Severus with his Wolfsbane potion, he discovered two bottles resting on his desk. One was a particularly fine Italian wine Remus had been introduced to by Carmine and had grown to favor; the other was a strong sobering potion.
A folded note was attached to the wine, written in a familiar hand.
My friend,
Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I thought this would be a fitting present for the news you'll be receiving tomorrow.
Congratulations, Remus Lupin, the world's newest Master of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
As I said earlier, you'll be receiving word from Alexandria tomorrow or the next day. The head of the library was positively bubbling with excitement over your last paper. Old coot nearly chattered my ear off. I wouldn't be surprised if you started receiving requests from various wizarding schools in the next few weeks, asking for you to guest-lecture.
Yes, it really was that impressive, and stop shaking your head. You're brilliant and you damn well know it.
I'll be in the neighborhood during your next Hogsmeade weekend. Drinks are on me.
Affectionately,
Carmine.