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

sherlock holmes

Not only did Caroline's appearance change back to normal, so did Sirius'. His hair was gelled back nicely and his tie wasn't even tied, it just hung from his neck. Instead of Hogwarts robes, which he was apparently too cool for, was a black leather jacket. Sirius' stupid mocossans were traded in for his usual black combat boots and the book that he carried around was replaced with a pack of cigarettes.

In the Great Hall, Caroline tried to talk to Lily but her blue eyes kept travelling to the boy sitting one seat away from Lily. Eventually, Caroline got fed up with the smoke drifting towards her and she grabbed the cigarette out of the boy's lips and dropped it in his untouched coffee. "Hey!" Sirius protested.

"That stuff will kill you," Caroline warned in a sing-song voice. She sat back down and continued her conversation.

Several minutes later, James remembered what Sirius had said to him on the Hogwarts Express when James asked why Sirius had given up smoking. "That stuff will kill you." James Potter's head shot up from his plate of scrambled eggs and his light brown eyes widened significantly and his jaw dropped.

"Careful," Caroline said. "The nargles will go into your mouth."

The bespectacled boy didn't bother to ask what she meant by 'the nargles' and he turned to Sirius. Then back to Caroline. Then back to Sirius then back to Caroline and then back to Sirius. "I... you," James gaped at Sirius. "You... wait... her?"

Caroline's head cocked to the side and her dark eyebrows furrowed at the Potter boy. "What are you talking about, James?"

James' jaw dropped again. "Now I understand! She doesn't know! Nobody knows! Except me! I put two and two together! I'm so smart!" James shouted gleefully. The other Marauders stared at James in confusion and Sirius' eyes widened in realization.

"Know what?" Caroline asked.

"Sirius-" James was cut off. Both of Sirius' hands covered James' mouth and his voice came out but it was too muffled to hear any distinct words.

"Shut it, Sherlock Holmes," Sirius hissed at James. He turned to Caroline and flashed her a dazzling smile. "Nothing, princess," he assured.

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Sirius knew that becoming Remus to get Caroline wouldn't work. He also assumed that flattering her and becoming her best friend wouldn't work because then he would be too far into the friend zone. So, he did the one thing he knew how to do. He tried to make Caroline jealous.

"Psst, Sirius!" Caroline whispered while they sat next to each other in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall was explaining how to turn a desk into a pig and Caroline was getting awfully bored.

"What, princess?" Sirius whispered back.

"What are you doing next weekend?" The blonde wasn't planning on asking Sirius to Hogsmeade but she asked out of curiosity.

Sirius smirked at the girl and raked a hand through his hair. "I've got a date."

Instead of talking to Sirius, Caroline faced the chalkboard and frowned slightly. Sirius thought he was making Caroline jealous but he was proved wrong when she asked, "do you think I can go with Remus?"

"What?" Sirius spluttered. "Do you fancy Remus or something? Is that why you want to go with him?"

"Well, Lily's got a date with Amos Diggory," Caroline giggled. "And since you're now one of my closest friends, I was thinking we could've hung out together. But you are clearly busy, so I thought I should ask Remus or the other Marauders."

Sirius winced slightly when she said 'friends' so casually. The Black boy's frown was now more apparent than Caroline's small one. "Why did you think of Remus first? Why not James? Why not Peter?" Sirius pestered.

"Well, because I assume that James will be following Lily and Amos all around Hogsmeade. Peter and Remus would probably be forced to walk around with James and I thought I'd spare Remus the misery," Caroline said jokingly but Sirius didn't laugh.

If he'd known that Caroline was free, he would've just asked her out himself. But now, he was going with some bimbo and Caroline would probably go with Remus. While Sirius was scowling at the table, the blonde girl turned around.

Remus' hands were resting on his chin, staring at the girl of his dreams, and she suddenly turned around. Caroline smiled at Remus and he looked around, thinking she was smiling at someone else. The sandy-haired boy looked back at her and waved. Caroline's smile became wider and she waved back. Then, she turned around and faced forward.

35 minutes later, class was over and Caroline still couldn't turn her desk into a pig. Sirius left with some girl and was probably going to go snog in a closet so Caroline thought she was the last one in the classroom.

"That's not how you do it, darling." Caroline felt someone leaning over her shoulder and she knew who it was but she just wanted to make sure. "Do you mind?" Remus asked, reaching for her wand.

Caroline shook her head 'no' and Remus' warm hand wrapped around hers. "I'll guide you through it," he suggested. Caroline felt his warm breath against her ear and it sent tingles up her spine. "So it goes up," he said, guiding the wand. "Then down, then forward."

The desk transformed into a pig and Caroline smiled. She turned to Remus who was smiling right back at her. "Okay, now you can turn it back. It's the same movements."

Caroline held her wand steadily and repeated the movements slowly. The pig turned back into her desk and the euphoric girl threw her arms around Remus. "Thank you, that took me all class!" Caroline gushed.

Remus wrapped his arms around her waist and took in Caroline's scent. It was the same scent he remembered smelling in his Amortentia last year. Blueberry muffins with a dash of cinnamon.

"You did most of it on your own, Caroline. I just guided you a bit," Remus insisted, feeling his face heat up slightly. Caroline eventually pulled away, her sunny smile still present.

"Thank you though," Caroline added. She grabbed her tote bag that was hanging off her chair and let it rest on her right shoulder. They walked out of the classroom together and went on their way to lunch. "I've been meaning to ask you something, Remus."

"What?" Remus asked.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"Yeah," Remus laughed. "It's the first trip of the school year, I think everyone's going."

"I meant, are you going with anyone?"

If Remus' face wasn't red, it was completely red now. Was she going to ask him to Hogsmeade? Remus looked at the book in his hands instead of her in hopes of helping him calm down. "I was planning on going with the other Marauders but Sirius has got a date and James is going to follow Lily on her date."

"Would you like to go with me? I don't really have anyone to go with either," Caroline said. Originally, Remus was planning on stalking Lily with James but this was much better than stalking.

"Yeah," Remus answered quickly, his voice becoming three octaves higher unintentionally. He cleared his throat and lowered his voice again. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"So, Jane Austen?" Caroline asked.

"Hmm?" Remus hummed. Caroline pointed to the book in his hands and the title read Pride and Prejudice.

"You seemed more interested in the book than you are with me," Caroline noticed. Remus blushed, knowing the only reason why he was pretending to be so interested in the book is so he didn't have to blush as much around Caroline. "I can't blame you, it's a good book."

"Y-you've read Jane Austen?" Remus stuttered. Caroline laughed and nodded her head, causing her soft hair to bounce with her.

"Yeah. Is this your first time reading Pride and Prejudice?"

"Second, actually. It's a very interesting read."