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

jelly slug

"Hi, Care-bear."

"What do you want, Petey?" Caroline asked. She sat on a wooden bench in the schoolyard by herself and was trying to get in as much studying as she could before the Transfiguration exam. She shut her Transfiguration book and gave her older brother her full attention.

"Do you mind if I sit?" Peter asked. Before she could even open her mouth to answer, Peter had already taken up half of the bench. He reached into the pockets of his oversized robes and pulled out a small box. The Pettigrew boy slid a tray out of the box and held it out to her. "Do you want a Jelly Slug?"

"Sure," Caroline answered suspiciously. She suspected that he'd put something in them to prank her but didn't refuse the offer. Caroline went for a red jelly slug but he shook his head.

"I like the red ones. Take a green one," Peter offered. She smiled and took a green jelly slug from the tray. Peter put the array of slugs on his lap and took out a red one. "Cheers."

They smashed their jelly slugs together, causing both of them to giggle. Caroline popped the slug into her mouth and Peter followed shortly after. "Why are you being so nice to me, Petey? You never let me take your candy."

"I'm sorry for forgetting your birthday," Peter said.

"That's what this is about."

"I feel awful because you're my little sister and I should know when your birthday is. I even marked it on the calendar but we forgot to flip it so we didn't even see that it was your birthday until it was too late," Peter explained. "Did Mum or Dad send you anything?"

"They did actually. I don't really want it though but maybe you will. If you want, you can come by my dorm later and pick it up if you want," Caroline suggested.

"What is it?"

"Black licorice wands and a Queen vinyl record," Caroline answered.

"I love black licorice wands!" Peter exclaimed. "I can pick them up after classes if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, of course. I don't have anything planned anyways," Caroline shrugged. "I think I'll go out and look for nargles but they're already everywhere so it isn't really much of a look."

Peter had no idea what mystical creatures she was always talking about and he definitely didn't know what nargles were but he nodded in understanding. "Do you want the Queen record too?" Caroline asked.

"Why don't you want it? Queen is amazing!" Peter announced. Caroline tilted her head and let it rest on Peter's chubby shoulder.

"Petey, I don't have a record player."

Peter snorted and shoved another slug into his mouth. "Oh yeah. Well, Sirius has one and I think he'd like it."

"Peter, do you know what it's like to love someone? In a non-platonic way, I mean."

The short boy rolled his eyes and grabbed a yellow jelly slug. "Now you sound just like Sirius. Wormtail, what is love? Wormtail, do you know what it's like to love someone?" he mocked by making his voice gruffer and lower. Caroline giggled as he went on with his impression. "Wormtail, I think I love her. Wormtail, I'm in love with Caroline-"

Peter realized that he'd gone too far and paused immediately. Caroline lifted her head from Peter's shoulder and raised her eyebrows. "Petey, what did you just say?"

"I didn't say anything," Peter replied quickly. "Did you know how expensive these jelly slugs were? They've made them 10 Sickles instead of 8 Sickles, that's 2 Sickles more! And for only six slugs? That's insane!"

"Petey, don't avoid the question. Did you just say that Sirius Black is in love with me?" the younger sibling asked.

"I don't recall saying that," Peter responded. He shoved another slug into his mouth to shut himself up but Caroline persisted.

"You just mocked him and said, I quote, 'Wormtail, I'm in love with Caroline.' Did he actually say that?" Caroline asked.

"Did I say Caroline? I think I said Katherine, that fifth year Hufflepuff," Peter bluffed. "You know what, I think that it's almost time for Potions so I'm just gonna go. I will be picking up the wands and the record later, alright? I'll see you then, Care-bear."

"Alright," Caroline agreed slowly. "I'll see you later then, Petey."

"Oh, wait! The Halloween feast is tonight and I don't know if you've forgiven everyone yet but I think we'd all like it a lot if you sat next to us," Peter added.

"Yeah, alright."

"Really? Great!" Peter stood up from his seat on the bench and sped off in a random direction.

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Caroline sat across from Lily in the Great Hall, who looked up in surprise but smiled nonetheless. "I'm glad you decided to sit with us," Lily said happily. Her and Marlene had already been forgiven last night in their shared dorm so she didn't have much to fear.

Caroline mustered up a fake smile and glanced over at the Slytherin table where Regulus sat. The curly-haired boy raised an eyebrow but didn't dare to come over into his enemy territory and ask her about it.

Remus took his usual seat at the Gryffindor table but was surprised when there was a girl sitting in Caroline's seat. Caroline could feel his warmth radiating from next to her but neither of them dared to say anything.

"I love the Halloween feast," Sirius announced in an attempt to break the tension. "They have the best food."

"Yeah and the pumpkin pasties," Peter added.

"They have that every night, Wormtail," James snorted.

"Yeah but they taste different on Halloween," Peter insisted. "Pumpkin pasties with pumpkin juice is the best."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself buddy," Sirius said. He patted Peter's shoulder and gave the boy a disappointed look, then turned away.

A couple of minutes later, trays and trays of food appeared in front of the students and teachers in the Great Hall. Everyone started piling their plates with delicious food immediately, consisting of roasted chicken to oatmeal and raisin cookies, but Caroline looked at the platters in front of her, pursing her pink lips together and furrowing her thin eyebrows.

The smell of the freshly cooked food made her mouth water but made her feel nauseous at the same time. She felt like she was going to throw up and the color in her rosy cheeks slowly drained from her face.

"Care, is something wrong?" Lily asked. She'd been watching her best friend intently and Caroline looked like she wanted to eat the food but she didn't move towards it at all. Remus turned to the beautiful girl and frowned when he realized her plate was completely empty.

Caroline's attention went from the food to her favorite redhead and she wore a small smile on her paled face. "Nothing's wrong. I need to go, um, feed the thestrals. Excuse me," Caroline muttered. She grabbed her bag from under the bench and left the Great Hall in a hurry.

"What's up with her?" James asked.

"I don't know, she seemed fine a couple minutes ago," Lily thought aloud. "Do you think she's allergic to one of the foods or something?"

"Nah," Peter shook his head. "Caroline's not allergic to anything. She probably just wasn't hungry. I wouldn't ask her about it if I were you."