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

stalker

Remus and Sirius chose to sit on the same side of the table in the Great Hall so they could both see Caroline better. Instead of sitting at her regular seat, Caroline was sitting at the Slytherin table with Regulus.

Almost everyone in the Great Hall finished eating and were starting to leave but Sirius refused to leave when Caroline and Regulus were still there. Sirius angrily gripped his fork and stabbed the baked potato that he wasn't planning on eating. He subconsciously started stabbing at the potato and Peter watched him with sad eyes.

"That was a perfectly good potato," Peter whined. No one had bothered to ask how Peter was feeling because everything, like always, was the Caroline show. Peter's rosy cheeks were tear-stained and his normally clear eyes were filled with a certain type of sadness. He'd been stress eating, which meant eating five servings instead of two, and it was not healthy but no one seemed to notice.

"What?" Sirius asked. Peter used his fork to motion to the potato on Sirius' plate and the Black boy looked down at it. He hadn't realized what he was doing and he pushed his plate away. "Whoops."

Remus had an open book in his lap and was trying to read it but he couldn't do that when there was a possibility of someone stealing his girlfriend. She technically never said that they were boyfriend and girlfriend but Remus thought they were serious enough to call each other that. He constantly glanced up at the pair, who were smiling and laughing.

"How can someone be so happy when their dad just died?" Remus scoffed. Peter felt a pang in his heart and he looked at his empty plate, blinking away tears.

"Well Professor Dumbledore says that everyone handles it differently," Peter informed, his voice cracking. He reached a hand up and quickly wiped away a tear that rolled down his cheek. "Caroline's going through the denial phase, which means she's just going to continue on with her daily life as if nothing's happened."

Nobody even seemed worried for Peter in the slightest and the Pettigrew boy looked back down at his plate. "Oh, they're feeding each other," Sirius whined. "I wanted to do that with Caroline! Reggie is such a stealing arse!"

From a distance, Regulus shoved a spoon full of mashed potatoes into Caroline's mouth. She almost choked on the spoon but managed to swallow the mashed potatoes. "You can't keep shoving food into my mouth!" she exclaimed.

Regulus laughed and scooped up more mashed potatoes. "Well, you're refusing to eat and I've got to get the food in you somehow!" he chuckled. They both laughed and Regulus put the spoon down. "Care, you know I'm here if you want to talk, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Caroline nodded. "Everyone's leaving now, do you wanna go to the library?"

"Sure," he agreed. Regulus helped Caroline to her feet and they ran out of the Great Hall, hand in hand.

"Come on," Sirius urged. "We have to go follow them!"

"You sound like me with Lily," James noticed. "SIMP!"

"Fuck off," Sirius scowled. Despite their banter, all of the Marauders left the hall and followed after the duo. They reached the library and found an empty table a few tables over from Regulus and Caroline.

They were huddled over an open book and neither of them noticed the Marauders. Remus attempted to look away from them and focus on his own book. Caroline giggled at something Regulus said and Remus was forced to lift his head to address the melodic sound.

The sandy-haired boy watched in jealousy as Regulus flipped the page for her. Suddenly, she glanced up and Remus' head immediately shot down like he'd been reading the book the whole time. "The chances of existing are slim," Caroline read aloud. "So the chance of you and I existing at the same time is near impossible."