Written for the Quidditch League Competition

Team: Montrose Magpies.

Position: Seeker.

Prompt: Write a work based friendship. (No romance).

Remus felt like he had the most boring job in the world. Libraries weren't very exciting at all from this side of the counter. He wanted to read the books; he didn't want to sort and re-shelf and stamp and scan them, and he certainly didn't want to deal with the book stacks going out to the schools for children.

He hated having to stick the slips of paper to the inside of the books the most. The thought of doing that to the books - sticking bar-codes in and stamping the edges of the book with the name of the library - made him feel ill.

Plus, he was basically doing it alone. The Manager came in to work but he had more important things to do with his time, and Peter, his colleague, hadn't shown up in a month.

Thankfully James, his Manager, had informed him that there was someone else starting that day and Remus was looking forward to meeting his new colleague.

...oOo...

Remus waited patiently, watching everyone who came into the Library. He had a shock when a guy in a leather jacket and long hair strode up to the counter.

"Mate, I'm supposed to start work here today," the guy said. "Where do I go?"

Remus quickly moved away from the counter, leading the guy to a door and knocking on it. He waited for James to come out.

"Sirius. I thought you'd never get here," James said, pulling the other man in for a hug.

"Didn't have a clue where this place was," the man replied. "Good to see you again, cousin."

James grinned between them. "Remus, this is my cousin Sirius. He's going to be working here. I'll take the desk if you want to train him? Sirius, this is Remus."

Remus nodded his head. After his initial shock that Sirius didn't look like a Librarian, he was glad to have someone else working there.

"Good to meet you, Remus."

"You too, Sirius," Remus replied. "Put your stuff in the office and I'll show you around."

...oOo...

The rest of the day was spent walking around the Library, showing Sirius the different sections. Sirius seemed to be paying attention and Remus wondered if Sirius actually loved books, or if he was just trying because it was a job.

"It's smaller than I expected," Sirius said once they had finished looking around.

"Yeah?"

"James told me he's in charge of this massive and busy library," Sirius explained. "I'm actually a bit relieved."

"It's small, not as busy as he likes to pretend," Remus replied. "Now, this is the trolley cart," he added, and proceeded to explain to Sirius about it.

Once he was satisfied that he had shown Sirius the basics of everything, they realised that the Library closed half-an-hour before and that the pair finished for the day.

...oOo...

The next morning Remus was surprised to see Sirius standing outside the Library, having a cigarette. Sirius had been earlier than him!

"James gave me a lift in," Sirius offered as an explanation. "So, what do you do for fun in there?"

"Read?" Remus suggested.

Sirius started laughing. "You're in the right job then, aren't you?" He commented.

"The right job leaves me on the wrong side of the counter," Remus replied, sighing loudly. "But it's quiet and it's not stressful..."

"Yeah, that's why James hired me. I was working a shitty job before, stressful with rude customers. I ended up walking out about three weeks ago. Told James and he said he'd hire me. I've spent the last few weeks moving down."

"That explains why he hasn't hired anyone sooner," Remus said, watching Sirius drop the cigarette butt and stamp on it.

"Ready to start?" Sirius said, pulling the door open.

"Ready for your first day?" Remus replied, walking through.

...oOo...

Remus found that he didn't have to help Sirius too much that day. He kept an eye to make sure that Sirius wasn't struggling, but Sirius had remembered everything from the day before perfectly. He was friendly, chatting to all the old ladies that stopped in, Smiling at the kids who came in for story time and telling them jokes and making them laugh, and fitting in perfectly.

Remus was also glad to have someone else to talk to. He had James sometimes, but James had other stuff to do than stand with him all day. Now he had Sirius to laugh and joke with.

The Library hadn't been that entertaining since he had started and he learnt more rude jokes in a single day than he had ever known.

"Guys, I have to make a call, might be a while. Can you finish putting the books out and tidying up? Then you can head off."

"Sure," Sirius said. "Come on, Remus."

Remus followed him from the office and headed towards the book trolley.

"That can wait," Sirius said, grabbing his arm and yanking him across the Library. "Let's play a game."

"What game?"

"Hide and seek of course. This place is quite dark. You have twenty seconds to hide."

"We can't -"

"One," Sirius said loudly, covering his eyes.

"Sirius?"

"Two," he added.

"We have work -"

"Three."

"I'm not playing this," Remus said stubbornly. As he walked away, he heard Sirius loudly counting.

He had a job to do, not play some childish games. His eyes fell on the counter in the corner and he smiled to himself.

Perfect.

...oOo...

"Remus, where are you?" Sirius called in a singsong voice, walking around the Library. Remus crouched under the counter. Sirius had been searching for five minutes without luck, but his voice was close now.

"Aha, found you," Sirius shouted, leaning over the counter. "My turn to hide."

Remus stood up, stretching his legs. He put his hands over his eyes and began counting.

Once he hit twenty he looked up, his eyes meeting an amused looking James.

"We were... playing a game," Remus offered, his eyes darting to the books still waiting to be stacked.

"Great," James replied. "Let's do the books later. Start counting over, I need to hide. At least Sirius waited until the end of the day."

Remus grinned, covered his eyes, and began counting again. Sirius starting there certainly livened the place up.

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