Author's Note: Written for Round 12 of the QLFC, Pair Up!

Team: Pride of Portree

Position: Chaser 2

Chaser 2 Prompt: You'll be writing about two characters in a colleagues relationship: James Potter l and Remus Lupin.

Prompts Used: 2. (scenario) a quidditch accident, 8. (dialogue) "Move away from the door and let me at him!", 9. (object) windmill

Word Count (excluding Author's Note): 2,021

Note: This is an AU in which James and Lily Potter survived the First Wizarding War, and where Peter Pettigrew never became a Death Eater.

This is a canon divergent AU.

While it is mentioned when in the timeline this AU diverges from canon the how, where, why, and the specifics are not. (That is for another story and time.)

No Charity, Please

Colleague

One associated with others in some employment—not of partners in business.

(Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language, 1908.)

Remus wiped his brow and surveyed his work. After three hard hours of physical labor—it always helped to do strenuous work approaching the full moon—he had chopped enough wood to cover the rest of the week.

Good. He would need that. He could sense it in his bones that it was going to be a particularly bad transformation this month.

With a wave of his wand and the appropriate charms cast, he allowed himself a small smile as the split logs danced and arranged themselves in orderly stacks by his cabin's back door—thirty yards away from the chopping stump.

The cheerful melody of crickets singing was the only sound that could be heard in the early mist of twilight. The oddity of crickets being present on an island a few dozen miles off the coast of Scotland still slightly unnerved him. (Where had they come from?)

As the light faded, the chirping and tweeting from the island's colony of songbirds had slowly grown quieter until Remus could only hear a nest of young hatchlings' soft peeps from far in the distance. The sudden booming of distant thunder came as no surprise to Remus—Moony had sensed rain would come since morning—but the distinct aroma of curry did.

What was James doing here?

Although, all four of the Marauders still boasted that their friendship was as strong as ever, sadly it wasn't. It hadn't been for many years, not since their sixth year when the war had finally crescendoed into a statistical victory for the Ministry, Dumbledore, and his multilevel resistance organization that he had carefully orchestrated into the necessary yang to Voldemort's yin.

They would still meet for a round of pints at the Three Broomsticks every month and they would still gather for a friendly game of Quixote Quidditch every other week or so, but that was the extent of their once famous comradeship nowadays.

Oh, they kept up a unified front during business hours and at the occasional progress meetings but it was merely professional courtesy.

They weren't friends—not truly, not anymore—but rather friendly colleagues.

Their strong friendship hadn't crumbled in one night but bit by bit down through the years. Starting at that cursed last battle and receiving the coup de grâce, as it were, when the newly formed Marauders Associates, LLC had bought the small bookstore he had been working for, six years ago.

"Your bookshop would be a perfect addition to the Marauders." James and Lily had declared one rainy Sunday afternoon as the small bidding family browsed the orderly rows of books and various school supplies. Little Harry stayed close to his mother, only venturing within a few feet of her to look at a cover that had caught his eye or to bring a book back to her. All the while his baby sister, Amabel, was happily cocooned within her baby sling. Her nimble fingers kept busy playing with her mother's necklace.

"I don't own it." I can't own it, ever, was what he meant.

"You run it like you do." Lily had countered. "I can tell how much you put into this place. Not a single book out of order and that little children's corner with all the wonderful educational books wasn't here two years ago."

Remus had turned to straighten a center display of various journals to hide his growing blush. Lily always could make him blush. Make him feel normal if only for a moment. "Mister Greene is the one you need to talk to. He is the one nice enough to employ a werewolf."

"That's why we're here." James had begun, summoning a tied, rolled parchment. "Mister Lucas Greene—the former proprietor of Arcane Academia Books—has sold us the whole store. The whole building too."

"What? He never told me anything about this." Remus took the parchment and quickly scanned its contents. He had had no knowledge that Greene had been thinking about retiring or selling the store, yet the magical deed of sale proved that this wasn't another one of James's pranks.

"Count this as his way of telling you." James gleefully added as he accepted the deed back.

Lily had gently laid her hand on Remus's arm. "He did want you to have it, but since you couldn't legally he came to us."

"You're now looking at half of your new employers." James had grinned. "Arcane Academia Books is now owned by Marauders. Welcome back, Moony."

In a matter of a week, the name of the bookstore was changed to Roman's Academic Texts and Supplies and the modest two-room flat above the store had been loaned to him—his first flat.

On the surface, it appeared that everyone was happy with the consolidation but in reality, Remus was not. Sure, he got to stay and run the bookstore his way, even initiating a few things that Greene had always vetoed, but that didn't stop the fact that all of it was charity—and Remus knew that charity had no place in business.

Neither James nor Sirius (oddly Peter always came by regularly for a meal of fish and chips followed by whatever Quidditch match was on the wireless) had been by the island since Remus had completed his modest cabin eighteen months ago.

Remus was the only unattached wizard at Marauders Associates—the perpetual bookish bachelor—a choice that he had doggedly made due to his ailment, but the knowledge that everyone was in a committed relationship besides him had only increased his loneliness more. A fact that was only emphasized more when he had been given free run of this small island.

"Surprise, Remus!"

It was his twenty-sixth birthday and his first true surprise party. His flat had been decorated with red and gold streamers and banners. Everyone he had been close with during school had showed up. It was one of the happiest moments of his life—until he had opened the gift from James, Sirius, and Peter.

"Is this a land deed? Oh, I could never take this! It's too generous!" Remus had exclaimed looking from James to Sirius to Peter, his shock clear.

"Not just some old land but a beautiful island." Sirius beamed.

"Island?" Remus had asked, opening the folded legal document he held.

"Yep." James grinned. "A private island just for Moony to roam and claim for his own."

So, it's a safety measure against the wolf... Remus' thoughts and his brief surge of joy trailed off into disappointment and regret. If even the group of guys who had become secret animagi did not trust him fully then maybe it truly was time to move to a deserted isle, away from everyone.

Remus still felt the disappointment and emotional pain from their dismissal of him as their tenant. He still missed the tiny apartment over his bookstore in the heart of Hogsmeade but he had been in the way of progress there.

Now his apartment was used as another storeroom for the bookshop and he was expelled here—an isolated island where he didn't place anyone and everyone in mortal danger—every night.

The proverbial cherry on top was that he hadn't—couldn't—legally own any of it thanks to being outed by Snape during their seventh year. Lily had been furious at Snape—they all had—but the kneazle had already been let out of the bag. He was a card-carrying werewolf.

"Hi Remus, missed you at the match today." James levitated his empty curry takeaway to the bin and then summoned a beer from Remus's icebox. "Oh, you're out of beer." He held up the beer he had just summoned. "Last one."

That was the last straw. He had had a full six pack this morning—more than enough for now and tomorrow.

Flicking his wand Remus silently collected the last beer before James could open it.

"Oi, Remus!" James protested.

"James, what are you doing here?" Drinking my beer and eating takeaway without bringing enough to share, he silently added as he opened the beer for himself.

"Come on Moony. What's some beer between friends?"

"Indeed, cheers," Remus muttered and took a nice long drink. The bitter, cold liquid was exactly what he needed after his long day working and to pre-medicate for his fast-approaching transformation; now only a few hours away.

James sighed and flopped down onto a nearby stool. "I guess I did have enough beer."

Remus joined him while keeping a firm hold on his last beer.

"Had another little row—or I will when I get back home—with the love and light of my life."

"What did you do this time?" Remus found himself asking, though he didn't know why. They weren't best mates anymore.

"You act as though I'm the one at fault."

Remus quirked an eyebrow as he took another swig of beer.

"Okay, all right, this time I might be the one to blame." James rolled his shoulders.

Remus drank and waited. His eyes constantly strayed to the clock ticking down his last minutes as a human before his descent into a bloodthirsty animal that knew nothing of friendship, compassion, or love.

"I might have let Harry play in a friendly game of Quidditch."

"James you didn't. He's only eight!"

James frowned. "You sound like Lily. Look he's fine…now…for the most part."

Remus gritted his teeth. "What happened?"

"You've seen Harry on a broom. He's a natural Seeker with how good he flies and plays. Why, he can spot that snitch and chase it like the wind."

Remus nodded his agreement. He had once seen Harry in action and the boy did have promise.

"His dream is to become the youngest Seeker on the Gryffindor team in over a century. It's a doable dream but one that requires practice. Lots of practice and often. Except…"

"Except, what?"

"Harry still has trouble with judging distances—something he inherited from me—and when he grabbed the hovering snitch he didn't realize that instead of being slightly above and out of the way of the windmill blades that he was still right in the path."

Remus closed his eyes. "How bad are the injuries?"

"Not too bad. Isela Blue—"

Remus reflexively sighed in relief. If Isela—Sirius's live-in girlfriend and student mediwitch extraordinaire—was there, then it shouldn't be too bad.

"—healed his arm right up. It's practically perfect. Just a little tender and sore. Should be right as rain in a day or two."Just as Remus was about to question his colleague further, a loud series of knocks threatened to bring down his cabin's door.

"That will be Lily." James paled and summoned his cloak. "Stall her, please Moony. I hate to face her when she's this furious—never ends well."

Remus was going to tell him to open the door and face his wife but he found he couldn't. Even though they were little more than glorified colleagues he had compassion on him. Lily could be a right monster when angered with righteous indignation.

"All right. You have three minutes." A loud bang shook the whole front of the cabin. "Better make that one."

James nodded and grinned his thanks before slipping on his cloak and vanished.

Remus opened the door but kept his hold on it as he successfully blocked the irate witch's from storming into the cabin.

"Lily what a pleasant surprise. What brings you—"

"Remus, move away from the door and let me at him!" Lily interrupted anger still ablaze in her emerald eyes.

The small pop that emitted from behind Remus told him that James had left. Good.

Lily pursed her lips and looked from behind Remus to him and back again. "He's apparated away."

Remus relaxed. "Yes."

"Do you know what he did?"

"He told me, yes. How's Harry?"

Lily deflated somewhat. Remus wasn't the one at fault. "He's his father's son. He keeps telling Amabel about his grand chase around that field and windmill to catch that elusive snitch. Keeps parading around the yard and house with his sling."

Remus smirked. That did sound like something James would have done back when he was Harry's age or back before they all had been friends at Hogwarts.

After Lily had left, Remus vanished his empty beer. Maybe they weren't the closest of friends anymore, but being colleagues wasn't too bad he supposed.

Fini

Author's Note 2: Big shoutout to my wonderful teammates who beta'd and helped mold this into a better story by their questions.