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

the other marauder

Caroline missed Remus more than she would admit and saw herself looking forward to Potions class. It was the only class she had sitting next to Remus and sometimes they would have to make potions together so they would have to talk. At least, that's what Caroline thought.

"Hello princess," a smooth voice spoke. Caroline's eyes widened as the person took the seat next to her and she plastered on a fake smile.

"Hi, Sirius. What're you doing here? I thought you sat in the back of the classroom," Caroline said. She bit her thumb nail subconsciously and glanced around the room, only to see Remus sitting in Sirius' old spot. He was looking down instead of looking at her and she turned back to Sirius.

"Remus and I talked to Professor Slughorn about switching seats and he agreed. Isn't that great?" Sirius asked. "Now we can talk all the time."

"Yeah," Caroline weakly laughed. "Great."

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Caroline knocked on the door in hopes of seeing Remus but instead, Sirius opened the door. "Oh, sorry," Caroline apologized. "I was looking for Peter but I can come back another time-"

"Care, stop." Caroline immediately shut up and she sheepishly smiled, blushing slightly. Sirius found it cute whenever she unintentionally blushed and she looked at the ground because she was embarrassed. "Would you like to come in?"

"Is there anyone else in there?" Caroline asked. Sirius shook his head no and raked his fingers through his black locks. "Okay then."

The Black boy opened the door wider and moved to the side, grinning widely as she walked into the room. He walked over to his record player and set it up while Caroline sat on the bed and watched him carefully. "What's that do?" she pointed.

"So I put this on the record and," Sirius paused and put the small pick on the record as it spun around, "boom."

Music started to play from the device and Sirius foolishly swayed to the music. Caroline giggled at him and he immediately stopped. "What're you laughing at? Come on," Sirius said, holding out a hand to her. "Dance with me."

The sound of Caroline's laughter made Sirius smile more than the music would ever be able to. Reluctantly, she grabbed his hand and led him to the center of the Marauders' dorm. Sirius' hand went to her waist and her hand went to his shoulder while their free hands intertwined.

They danced around in circles and Sirius occasionally twirled her around, causing her skirt to lift a bit but the boy didn't even look at that. His eyes were trained on her happy bright eyes, a rare thing he saw these days.

Take my hand...

The two slowed down so they were just swaying now and Caroline hummed to the music because she got the slow beat but she didn't know all the words. "This is just like what I imagined," Sirius said.

Take my whole life too...

"What you imagined?" Caroline mocked jokingly, raising her dark eyebrows. Sirius would have blushed and shut up immediately but he mustered up the courage to speak his mind.

"Yeah. We'd dance for minutes and it'd be perfect with a few accidental stepping on the shoes and then..."

For I can't help falling in love with you...

"And then what?" Caroline asked, completely oblivious. Their dancing slowed even more so they were just swaying instead of actually moving around like they had been seconds ago.

Sirius' grey eyes flickered to her full lips and he muttered, "and then this."

His head was tilted downwards and he moved so fast that Caroline could barely register what was happening when their lips touched. His lips skillfully moved against hers and he smelled of the forest mixed with his cologne. Sirius used the hand on her waist to pull the petite blonde closer to him and Caroline found herself kissing back as the last line of the song came on.

For I can't help falling in love with you

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Sirius impatiently sat on his bed, waiting for his best friends to come back. He sat in a criss-cross position and rocked back and forth, feeling like he would burst from happiness. One by one, they filed in and sat on their respective beds.

The minute that Remus walked in, Sirius became unable to hold it in anymore. "I KISSED HER!" he shouted eagerly.

"No way!" James exclaimed. "Congrats man! I'm happy for you!"

"Wait, y-you kissed Caroline?" Remus stuttered. They'd parted only a few days ago and the werewolf refused to believe that she moved on that quickly. "As in Peter's sister, Caroline?"

"YES!" Sirius screamed happily. "WE DANCED AND THEN I KISSED HER AND THEN SHE KISSED BACK AND I WANTED TO DO MORE THAN THAT BUT THEN SHE SAID SHE HAD TO LEAVE BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE WE KISSED!"

"Uh, are you sure it was her? Maybe it was someone else that just looked like her," Remus suggested. He'd hoped that this was all some sort of sick joke but Sirius was never the guy who played awful pranks on his friends.

"Moony, why are you trying to crush the man's soul? Look at that happy face," James said, gesturing to Sirius' apparent grin.

Remus shut his mouth and managed to choke back his sobs as he covered himself with his red comforter, one that happened to match Caroline's. He peered across the room to see Peter's reaction because the main reason that they didn't want to make their relationship public was because of Peter.

"That's awesome!" the chubby boy cheered. "As long as you don't break her heart, I'm fine with it. Just please don't shag on my bed."

"I plan on doing just that," Sirius smirked. Peter frowned and Sirius winked casually. "Only joking, Wormtail."

"Are you guys gonna date now?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders but his huge smile remained plastered onto his face. "I don't know. I'll have to talk to her about it tomorrow. But if all goes well, we could be the best couple that Hogwarts has ever seen," the Black boy announced.

Remus shifted in his bed and reached over to the drawer of his black nightstand. He slid the drawer open, revealing a single black box inside. The sandy-haired boy opened the box, just to make sure the item was still there, then closed it and shut the drawer.

"Moony, what's up with you? I didn't want to say anything but you've been acting like someone gave you antidepressants instead of cocaine," James sighed. "Sirius just kissed his dream girl and you don't seem the slightest bit happy!"

"I'm happy for you, Sirius. Really, I am," Remus insisted. "I just haven't been feeling well lately. Probably the full moon that's coming up."

"Nah, you know what it is?" Sirius asked, snapping his fingers to trigger his memory. "It's his girl! Come on, Moony. Tell us about your girl problems," Sirius said. "Maybe I can help you work it out and you can be like me and Caroline."

"She doesn't love me," the werewolf whispered sadly.

"What did you say?"

"I said she doesn't want to go public," Remus said in a firm tone. "We don't have to talk about my stupid problems anymore. Explain to me what happened between you and Caroline again."

Sirius went into deep detail about his experience a few hours ago and Remus laid in his bed, listening to all of Sirius' inner thoughts about the girl and how they would be so perfect together.