Chapter Text
“People are strange,
When you’re a stranger.”
People are Strange - The Doors, 1967.
Sirius O. Black was an eccentric man. For one, nobody knew what the ‘O’ in his name stood for. If asked, the young man would retort with a different answer each time. He owned a small stationery shop in one of the streets of London named “Black Ink”. The store served multiple purposes other than pure stationery : it sold books, travel guides, an array of various magical and spiritual items, but most importantly, it was a means to keep Black’s other business afloat. Black Inkorporated” as Sirius called it once in an interview : free-lance monster hunter and supernatural detective. Both very well-sought after professions of personnel who dabble in the paranormal. Eradicating ghosts, relocating and taming dangerous magical creatures, artifact handling, researching supernatural medicine and much more. It was all in a day’s work in these specific lines of occupations.
Much of the details about Sirius’s cases aren’t public knowledge. Some suspected he made his clients sign a non-disclosure agreement, some rumored he didn’t actually have that much business going on - the latter clause being easily shrugged off due to the popularity of the Black Ink’s establishment and services. How Sirius Black managed to stay elusive all this time was one of his many secrets.
In some articles from a few years prior, two colleagues were mentioned to aid the hunter in his goals, however Remus couldn’t find more information about the store owner nor his associates. No photos, no descriptions, anything that could potentially identify them.
It certainly didn’t reassure Remus before his job interview.
Well it wasn’t much of a job interview, since Black Ink definitely wasn’t hiring, however Lupin was well past the point of ‘actively looking’ for a job. Now he was begging. With his type of experience but lack of certification, no previous employer could offer him a proper position. London rent was no joke, and most odd jobs Remus maintained over the years could never stick.
With no information on the boss, no certainty to get employed and absolutely no other options, Remus Lupin entered the Black Ink. The door was painted in a dark blue colour, contrasting the light brown wood of the dozen shelves and white walls, a bell chimed when he stepped inside.The air was stuffy and smelled of paper and a lavender freshener. The interior had a light but vintage look and the store’s products were seemingly put everywhere in an organized chaos. Stationery on the left, magic items on the right and a couple of bookshelves in the middle. From the doorstep, Lupin could notice some customers, each in their own corner. An old lady, wearing a purple coat decorated with feathers, her gray hair adorned with a light green hat, was browsing a card display rack. In her hands she was holding two cards, deciding between the two. Remus could discern the writing from a distance. First inscription was “Wish you a speedy recovery!” with an image of a blue hedgehog. The second, to Remus’s horror (and distaste of bad puns), was an all-black card, with an illustration of a wolf howling, above it written “Get well moon!”.
He shuddered and looked away.
Closer to him, but on the next side of the store, stood no one but himself. His reflection in a floor-length mirror, that is. His brown curls weren’t long enough to hide his evident (and ever-growing) eyebags. His outfit looked a tad bit shabby, even if it were his most presentable clothes. He matched his pair of brown, slightly too long for him, pants (and it was quite a feat really - for Remus wasn’t short at all. They originally belonged to his father, and he never grew quite enough to reach his giraffe height.) with an ordinary white button-up, onto which he threw a brown jacket, a few shades darker than his pants. For a moment he hesitated on wearing a tie, but decided against it. It wasn’t a real job interview, he would probably just leave his CV with the cashier and go away. Overdressing wasn’t something that Remus liked to do.
However now he wished that he did, in fact, overdress. He cursed himself for not looking his best, when he noticed an absolute angel, browsing the Supernatural section in the bookshelves. The Adonis was concentrating on skimming through the various titles, clearly with a goal in mind. His dark brows were furrowed, and his piercing glaze complimented his pale blue eyes. A lock of his ink-black, shoulder-length hair fell into his eyes, and he promptly put it behind his ear, leaving visible a couple of subtle piercings. Remus audibly swallowed, accepting his fate. The man was absolutely his type. Slightly shorter, but not enough to make him bend down for a kiss. Rosy cheeks that made him adorable when he would blush. He looked to be around Remus’s age, but his hands showed clearly evidence of multiple years of hard, manual work. Maybe if he got hired and this man was a regular, then he would have a chance. One could only dream.
Walking past what could be his soulmate, he made his way to the checkout desk. Behind it stood a pretty woman in her early twenties, though her fashion style resembled one of a moody teenager in high school. Straightened blond hair with red highlights, eyes attacked by an eyeliner from all directions, badly hidden by her glasses, and a vibrant cropped top. She smelled of tobacco and overly strong perfumes that didn’t hide the previous smell very well. She was shorter than Remus, but still looked down on her client, a young teenager, buying what seemed to be a birthday gift for one of their peers. The product in question was a set of moving puzzles - a set of normal puzzles that changed the image it arranged into every few seconds.
“Thank you for buying from Black Ink. Goodbye and have a nice day!” The woman behind the register smiled, clearly repeating the same sentences she learned by heart. Her accent showed through certain words, but he couldn’t quite place her origin. She smiled up at him, “Hello and welcome. How can I help you?”
“Hi” he signed in greeting, preparing himself mentally, “My name is Remus Lupin. I was wondering if you…” he gulped and grimaced slightly. “If you were hiring?”
The girl blinked twice. Marlene , he could read on her nametag.
“I’d have to speak with my boss. The store is running quite well, but I’m sure we could use another pair of hands.” She decided on saying.
“Erm… I wasn’t talking about that,” Remus blushed up to his ears. He was a grown man and yet he still gets embarrassed when speaking to strangers. Great, this was pathetic. “I was referring to - ah, you know…” he added then in a smaller voice: “ Black Inkorporated ?”
The blonde raised an eyebrow. Any higher and it would have reached her hairline. The silence was deafening.
“Huh. We… They don’t hire, I’m afraid. Again, I would need to contact my superior to give you a definite answer.” Her eyes wandered somewhere behind him.
He gulped, “It’s fine. This is fine. I will just… leave my CV with you-”
Remus couldn’t finish his sentence, before a loud crash, followed by an ear-piercing screech erupted behind him.
“Si…” Marlene looked at the source of the noise in shock. “Sir! What are you… get back!”
Remus looked behind him. The Adonis from earlier was now standing on the right side of the shop, near various magical artifacts. One was in fact shattered on the floor, a glass jar, with a still readable label “WRAITH TO GO”.
In between the handsome man and Lupin, in all of its glory, a wraith.
Wraiths are a special kind of ghost. According to ghost researchers, you could categorize all phantom-like beings into three categories. “Won’t kill you”, “might kill you” and “will kill you”, of course, they were officially called “Class One, Two and Three” respectively and it was a tad bit more complicated in actuality, but that was the most important part to know. Wraiths were typed into the second class. Possibly lethal.
And now it was running free in the stationery shop. Aggressive after being stuck in a jar on a shelf.
The dark entity rushed to attack, while producing another blood-curdling scream. It flew in the direction of Marlene who ducked under the desk. This isn’t the first time Remus saw a wraith in his life, but he’s never been this close before.
He had to think quickly. To stop the immediate danger, he could either trap the ghost again or get rid of it. The jar was already in pieces, and finding another empty container would be impossible in this store. Getting rid of it, it is. Wraiths are weak to light, salt, iron and some specific magic spells that Remus not only did not know, but also could not use.
Light, salt, iron. Light, salt, iron…
Flashlights. Kitchen? Chains. This possibly cursed, iron sword in the corner, behind the handsome man.
The wraith, missing the cashier, decides to plunge after the elderly woman in the stationery section, a way easier target.
Stationery. Light. Elderly.
With no time to waste, Remus bolted up from his place near the checkout desk, in the direction of the lady. He scanned the items, looking for some sort of lamp, or flashlight made to be attached to books for reading in a darker environment. Fortunately enough, he found one near the cash register, and snatched it on his way. He switched the light on, directing it at the phantom. The light source wasn’t strong enough to defeat the phantom, which hissed in more annoyance than pain, and protected its eyes by looking away. Right at the Adonis that set him free, who since did not move an inch, staring expectantly at Remus.
“Please hide, Miss!” he directed at the woman, who was clutching her heart speechlessly. “In here, Miss!” Marlene added, surfacing from under the desk, ready to protect her more vulnerable
customer.
“Come here, ghost! Catch me if you can!”
Lyall Lupin always told his son that people aren’t perfect. They are either smart or pretty - and no one could be both, with the exception, of course, of his late wife, Remus’s mother, Hope Lupin.
He guessed that Adonis was no exception to his father’s rule.
The wraith hurled itself into the dark-haired man, with improbable speed, the client dodging at the very last second.
Without a second to waste, Remus ran again. Usually he wasn’t a man of action, preferring to stay back and solve supernatural problems with logic and strategy, however he knew that not everything always went according to plan. In times like these, you need to act. (Especially if you’re saving the elderly and the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen.)
The phantom attacked the Adonis yet again, and this time the man had no luck, and fell backwards on the floor.
Reaching for the sword, Remus had to be quick. The man laying down would not survive the next attack. Fortunately no curse has befallen onto Lupin for touching the sword, and with one swoop motion, he cut through the phantom’s chest, dividing its spirit in two parts.
The wraith hissed as it turned into dust, dirtying the pretty man on the floor.
With the corner of his eye, Remus saw that Marlene was taking care of the old lady, and they were both safe and sound.
He kneeled down, sticking out his hand towards the man, with the intention to help him up. “Are you okay?”
The man put on a satisfied smile. “Quick thinking. Quick to action. I like that.” He took the hand and pulled himself up.
“I’m… Thank you?” Lupin was conflicted on what to feel - and how to react to the compliment. With adrenaline still pumping in his veins, he didn’t notice the other man was still holding his hand, shaking it up and down.
Blue eyes met brown, and the dark-haired man laughed. Shite, even his laugh is pretty.
“You’re hired.”