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

the smell of garlic

Piles and piles of food filled on the empty platters on all tables of the Great Hall. Caroline suddenly felt the need to throw up due to the overwhelming smells filling her senses. Normally, she loved the smell but over the past few weeks, it's been getting worse and worse.

"Excuse me," Caroline said, her voice coming out as a whisper. She left her seat and exited the Great Hall hurriedly and Lily's green eyes followed her best friend in clear distress.

"She's been like this for over a month now," Lily sighed. "I don't know if she even eats anymore."

Remus frowned. He'd noticed Caroline leave in the beginning of meals but he'd assumed that she was going down to the kitchens later or something. Now that he thought about it, Remus had never asked her about when she ate or why she wasn't eating during meal times.

"I'll go check on her," Sirius offered. No matter how many times Caroline rejected Sirius, he still persisted because he did care about her. Remus wanted to check on Caroline but it wouldn't make sense to the rest of the group because he didn't even seem that close to Caroline.

"Sure," Lily nodded. Sirius put his fork and knife down and left the hall quickly to catch up to Caroline. Luckily, she hadn't gone far.

Caroline was sitting on the ground a few feet away from the entrance of the Great Hall and her knees were brought up to her chest. Her hands were covering her face and her head was leaning against the wall.

"Care, are you alright?" Sirius asked. He sat down next to Caroline and she removed her hands from her face so she could see the dark-haired boy. 

"Fine," she answered vaguely. A tight smile was on her face and it looked real but Sirius could see right through her facade.

"You don't seem fine. You haven't been eating."

"I don't see why that's your problem," Caroline snapped. She suddenly flinched and let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry, you're right. I haven't been eating. The garlic-"

"The garlic?"

"The mashed potatoes have garlic. I can smell it every time it's near me," the blonde explained. "Then, there's chicken. The grilled chicken has garlic and the spinach has garlic-"

"How are you able to smell it?" Sirius asked suddenly, cutting her off.

"I don't, I don't know," Caroline sighed. "The garlic makes me want to throw up and then when I wake up or when I go to sleep, I need to throw up. I'm not even eating so I don't know how I could possibly throw up so much. And it, it hurts so much, Sirius."

"What hurts, princess?"

"Everywhere hurts," Caroline whispered. "And I can't go to the Hospital Wing because then I'll get all these questions from everyone and I haven't told Lily because then she'll be scared and I don't want her to worry about me. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"We should get you to the Hospital Wing," Sirius suggested. Caroline shook her head and buried her face in her hands again. "Care... we have to. You're going to get sick, you might already be sick."

"I'm fine, Sirius. I think I should just take a nap or something."

"Okay," the Black boy agreed slowly. Sirius' gaze moved towards the lower part of Caroline's body and he cleared his throat a bit. "Care, not to sound rude or disrespectful or anything, but I think you're on your period."

Caroline lifted her head again and her eyes widened at the pool of blood on the floor. "I don't bleed that much on my period, Sirius!" Caroline exclaimed in a scared tone.

She stood up and started to hyperventilate. Sirius didn't know what to do so he started to freak out too and he suddenly scooped her up bridal style, not really caring for the blood.