you are loved. - r.lupin (ft. THE s.black)

new friend

Caroline was once again standing in a broom closet, just like always. Normally, she would've loved the feeling she got from sneaking around with Remus but right now, she was pissed and the actions felt repetitive. To her, it was always the same shit. She was pulled into a dark broom closet and her and Remus would snog. Then, he would ask to hangout later and she would agree and the same thing repeated every day.

Remus dove in for a kiss but the blonde girl turned her head to the side so his lips landed on her cheek instead of her lips. Remus frowned and cupped her face so she faced him but Caroline still refused to meet his eyes. "Is something wrong, darling?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong," she lied.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" His thumb was moving back and forth while the rest of his hand stayed still so it soothed Caroline slightly. The Pettigrew girl reached up and gently removed his hand from her face. Her gaze was trained on the floor and she tried her best to refrain from making any more contact with the boy in front of her.

"Yeah," she replied, "I know. Listen, I gotta go to breakfast now."

"Okay. James and Sirius have practice tonight and I think Peter's tagging along. Do you wanna come to my dorm?"

"I've got to study for the Potions exam," Caroline lied. Potions had always been her easiest subject and she received O's every year without even trying.

"Alright then, maybe we can study together," Remus offered. "I've been getting E's and I want to make it an O." He laughed in attempts to diffuse the unfamiliar coldness in the air. Caroline didn't laugh and Remus pursed his lips together.

"I prefer to study alone."

"Care, is something wrong?" Remus asked again. "Did I do something wrong?" The boy started to doubt Caroline's loyalty. Technically, they weren't together and Regulus was much better looking than him so he couldn't really blame Caroline if she was cheating on him.

"How old am I, Remus?" she countered, ignoring his previous questions. Remus frowned and she took a step closer so they were inches away. "How old am I, Remus?" the blonde repeated. "Tell me how old I am."

"You're fifteen, Care," he answered softly. Caroline felt tears forming in her eyes but she didn't dare let them fall in front of him.

"Okay," Caroline responded. She felt her breath hitching and her heart rate pick up. The sound of her heartbeat was deafening her and she backed away from him slightly. "I need to go, don't bother looking for me later."

"Are you cheating on me?"

"Excuse me?" the youngest Pettigrew asked as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. 

"You heard me, Caroline. Are you cheating on me?" Remus repeated. Caroline's mouth was agape and her eyes searched Remus' to see if he was joking or not, but his eyes were hardened like steel. "You're distancing yourself from me and I saw you last night with Regulus Black so don't try to say that you weren't with him."

"I'm sorry if it seems like I'm distancing myself from you, my intentions were not to hurt you. But honestly, we're not even officially together so why would you even think that? Why are you assuming the worst?" Caroline asked hotly. "Do you not have faith in me?"

"Just answer the bloody question, Care."

"No I'm not cheating on you with Regulus Black! Remus, we aren't even together so I couldn't possibly cheat on you! Just," Caroline sighed and rested her hand on her forehead. "I'm going to pretend like this conversation never happened and I'll see you in class, Remus." 

Remus was frozen in his spot and he couldn't seem to do anything but blink as Caroline left him alone in the dark closet. Caroline made her way to the Great Hall and walked towards the Gryffindor table. She saw her other friends, who were all chatting happily, and she walked the other direction until her feet brought her to the Slytherin table. 

The first person to notice her there was a platinum blonde with a sneer on his face. Regulus noticed the pure disgust in his eyes and he turned his head to see Caroline. "Hey, Care."

"Do you mind if I sit with you? Just for today?" Caroline sniffled slightly and Regulus stood up so he was towering over her. He wiped a single tear from her cheek and shoved over an older boy that was sitting next to him.

"Yeah, of course. Take Avery's seat," Regulus offered. Caroline sat in the now empty seat next to Regulus but she didn't eat, she just sat there. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not right now," Caroline mumbled. "Maybe later."

"Okay," Regulus agreed. "I was planning on hexing the Gryffindors while they were practicing for quidditch but there are always so many chances to do that. We can talk about it then."

"Yeah, okay. That sounds nice," Caroline nodded, her mood becoming better by the minute. Regulus moved a pancake from his plate to hers with his fork. "Oh, I'm not really hungry-"

"It doesn't matter if you're not hungry, Caroline. You have to eat," Regulus insisted. Caroline mustered up a sad smile and cut off a piece of the pancake. She ate it and Regulus' smile matched hers. "There we go."

---------------

"She's with him again!" Sirius screeched later that night. Him and James finished quidditch practice early and the four Marauders were in their dorms with Sirius leaning over the map. "Caroline is hanging out with Reggie again!"

Remus was far too busy with his own thoughts to even pay attention to what Sirius was going on about. The werewolf wondered why Caroline was mad at him and what he did wrong. The sandy-haired boy hadn't even noticed that she wasn't just mad at him, she was mad at the rest of them too.

"Why don't we just let her live her life?" James insisted. "Caroline is clearly mad at all of us for some strange reason and I think we should let her cool down with whoever she chooses. Let's talk about something else."

"Alright," Sirius agreed. "What are you guys gonna be for Halloween? I was thinking that we could all match and be the Ghostbusters. I know it's stupid to dress up when we're 16 but we're not gonna be young forever."

"Halloween's almost here?" Peter's voice raised in surprise and he took a bite of his chocolate bar. "That means that Caroline's birthday is almost here too. She always says that the easiest way to remember her birthday is by knowing that it's exactly four days before..."

Peter trailed off and scrambled off his bed, falling onto the ground in the process. He quickly recovered and ran across the room, over to the calendar hanging by the door that the boys never bother to keep track off. It was on the month of June and Peter quickly ripped the pages off until it landed on the month of October.

One of the boxes at the bottom of the paper was circled multiple times in bright red marker while all of the other boxes were blank because they weren't as important. In bold uppercase letters was 'CAROLINE'S 16TH BDAY!!!'

"Oh shit," Peter gasped. He felt himself choking on the air even though the windows were wide open and the wind was blowing inwards. The older boy blinked multiple times to make sure he wasn't dreaming because he really hoped that he was.

"What is it, Wormtail?" Sirius hissed, clearly annoyed. He was still watching the two dots in the Slytherin boys dorm angrily. Sirius wanted so badly to stab the map so he didn't have to look at it anymore but his eyes were glued to the two dots.

"I think I know why Caroline's mad at us," he muttered softly. Peter dropped the chocolate bar on the floor from shock and his body was still stuck in its place, his eyes re-reading the single event in the month of October.

Sirius' head lifted from the parchment immediately and Remus was snapped out of his daze. "Well, spit it out then, Wormtail!" Sirius demanded.

Peter weakly moved to the side, revealing the calendar to the rest of the boys. Remus' eyes squinted as he looked at the calendar from a distance but the words were clear and bright. "Oh shit," Remus breathed out.