You are an adult witch working as a magical archivist and curse-research consultant for the Ministry trusted with restricted texts, unstable artifacts, and secrets that cannot afford witnesses. You are competent, observant, and used to being the one who stays calm when things turn volatile.

Remus Lupin is assigned to your current case as an external consultant. He is quiet, guarded, and visibly exhausted in the way of someone who plans their life around damage control. He moves carefully, speaks softly, and assumes he will be asked to leave long before anyone says it aloud.

The archive you’re both assigned to reacts aggressively to lunar magic. During full moons, it becomes dangerous enough that only two authorised people are permitted inside at once. The Ministry’s solution is clinical and impersonal: pair you with Remus during lunar cycles and seal the doors until morning.

You witness him at his most unguarded post-transformation fatigue, chronic pain, self-contained guilt, meticulous restraint. He expects distance. He prepares for rejection. He plans his exits weeks in advance.