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

all too well

Caroline and Sirius made up, but only after Sirius promised to stop being mean to Severus during meetings. She couldn't stop him after the meetings were over or before the meetings began but it was much better than the constant bullying.

The summer was fleeting rather quickly and Sirius wished that he could be around Caroline more but she refused to shrink him and put him in her suitcase. Caroline would've but she hadn't mastered the spell for turning him back to normal size so he could stay in that miniature size forever.

They were currently sitting on the floor of the living room with Remus, playing a muggle board game. Sirius was smoking, making the entire room smokey, and Remus was counting his paper money from the game with a large smile while Caroline just frowned with her hands cupping her face, her gaze fixated on the board.

The television was playing in the background and Caroline had just rolled the two dice and they'd formed a 12. "That means you have to go to-"

"I know what it means, Lupin," Caroline snapped. She rolled doubles three times in a row and this was the fifth time she's gone to jail in the game Monopoly. It was almost like the game had something against her. Caroline glumly picked up her metal pretzel piece and moved it to the jail spot.

Sirius eagerly grabbed the dice and played around with them in the palm of his hand before rolling it onto the board. He wasn't doing as horribly as Caroline but every time he rolled the dice, he landed on Remus' property and he was almost broke. Luckily, Sirius moved his sneaker piece three spots, which happened to be his own property.

Remus took the dice next and blew into his hand, as if that was going to help him win even more. His properties took up more than half the board and his money was overflowing, it was a surprise that he hadn't won yet. Not to mention, every five seconds he shouted, 'I'm rich!'

The werewolf dropped the dice and watched as it came out to a total of 7. He moved his dog piece and it landed on Caroline's property.

Caroline smiled and held her hand out to Remus. 

"I'm not paying you," Remus scoffed. "You're in jail. I'm not giving my money to a juvenile convict."

"What're you trying to say?" Sirius asked, cocking his head to the side. He was considered a juvenile convict and Remus practically disrespected him. 

Caroline giggled at Sirius and continued to hold her hand out expectantly. "You still have to pay," Caroline said.

"I'm not paying a prisoner."

"You have to," the blonde shot back. "It's my property."

"If you weren't in prison, I would've paid you," Remus replied defiantly. "And besides, it was my property first."

"Well, I stole it so stop being a sore loser," Caroline argued. 

"Loser? Me? I'm rich!" Remus said gleefully, holding up all his colorfully organized paper money. Caroline rolled her eyes and moved her pretzel piece on the board so it was no longer in prison, but just visiting. Remus' jaw dropped. "You can't just do that! That's illegal!" 

"It's a free country, Lupin," Caroline said smugly. "Now cough it up."

"No! You should lose $50 just for doing that! That's escaping from prison!" Remus shouted.

"I escaped from prison!" Sirius screamed, matching the volume of Remus. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Sirius jumped over the board and tackled Remus, causing Caroline to gasp. They had a few good jabs at each other until Remus went for the face and Sirius let out a girlish cry.

Remus fell over and the three burst out into laughs.

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Caroline and Sirius were currently going through the leftover Chinese food in the refrigerator at midnight for a snack. Correction, Caroline was going through the leftovers while Sirius was playing around with the radio. 

"Ohh, I love this song," Sirius commented happily. "Remember? This was the song that was playing when we had our first kiss."

The song playing was Can't Help Falling in Love with You by Elvis Presley. "I remember," Caroline said calmly as she continued to check for the container with the lo mein. She knew she should've marked the containers but at the time, she was much too lazy to do so and Sirius was begging her to play cards with him. 

Sirius tackled her from behind and wrapped his arms around Caroline's waist while letting his chin rest on Caroline's shoulder. Sirius moved her hair over to one side and began kissing and pecking at her neck.

Caroline's mind immediately when to Christmas day in her sixth year, since she was in the same exact position, but she tried to push the memories out as she took in the scent of smoke, rather than vanilla.

"Come on, Care, dance with me," Sirius pleaded. He stopped kissing her neck and turned to look at Caroline with adorable puppy eyes. The blonde let out a dramatic sigh while smiling and put the containers back into the refrigerator.

Caroline spun around to face Sirius and she bit her lip to hid her wide smile as she wrapped her arms around Sirius' neck and intertwined her hands. Sirius had his arms encircling her waist as they swayed around, not really dancing but they didn't mind it.

"Take my hand," Sirius sang badly. Caroline scrunched her nose up but still grinned as he let out a small laugh. "Take my whole life too. You have to sing the next line with me."

"Do I have to?" she mocked, knowing she would sing them anyways. 

"Yes," Sirius huffed.

"For I can't help falling in love with you," they sang together terribly. The light coming from the open refrigerator cast a shadow onto Sirius' face and Caroline could only make out half of his face but she could tell by the look in his eyes that he was happy.

Sirius admired her so much, just wishing he could stare into those eyes all day. He wanted to be like this, with her, for as long as possible. "For I can't help falling in love with you," Sirius whispered.

He leaned forward and kissed Caroline, causing fireworks to explode inside him. Sirius moved his arms so he brought Caroline closer to him and she laughed into the kiss. Sirius smiled. This is exactly where he wanted to be.

From his room, Remus laid on his bed with a scarf in his hands. It was Caroline's Gryffindor scarf. She left it in his dorm in his sixth year and Remus was found it in his trunk when they'd already broken up. 

It sounded pathetic when he thought about it but it was the last thing he had to remember Caroline by. Their relationship was secret so they had no romantic letters over breaks, no photos, no shared hoodies, at least not hoodies that they wore in public. 

Remus wanted to give it back, he really did, but he couldn't bring himself to. Every time he tried to, Sirius was around and he would have to reveal their past relationship. After the war ended, Remus distanced himself and by the time he was ready to see her again, he couldn't find her so he couldn't give the scarf back. 

It looked like every other Gryffindor scarf, the same thick fabric and the same crimson red and mustard yellow colors. It didn't even smell like Caroline but he knew it was hers.

There was a small embroidered pink daisy in the corner of the scarf, barely visible to those who don't look close enough. It was her favorite flower. She marked a lot of things with the small daisy, where no one would see.

Remus went over to his luggage and he stuffed the scarf in, just wanting to forget it. He was lying to himself in a way. If he wanted to forget the scarf and forget Caroline, he would've burned the scarf or thrown it out, but he knew that he would always go back to the scarf, and he would always go back to Caroline if he was given the chance.