⚯͛ Sweet Caroline - Sirius Black ⚯͛

-46-

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. .**.☽ .*

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Caroline jumped on Sirius in a huge hug as soon as he came out of the Gryffindor common room, her arms round his neck. He barked out a laugh and wrapped his arms tight round her waist.

James, Remus and Peter walked past them.

"We'll meet you in the hall, Pads," James grinned at him.

Sirius just shot him a thumbs up, his arms still round Caroline.

"I got you a gift!" She said happily once he let her go.

"Oh yeah?" He raised a brow, looking down at her hands, "I don't see it..."

"It's in my pocket."

She wasn't wearing her robes as it was a Saturday, and the only pockets she had were the back pockets of her jeans...oh.

He just grinned as it hit him, "you want me to get it?"

"Sure," she shrugged indifferently, but smiled up at him before stepping close to him once more.

"Best birthday..." he reached an arm round her so his hand brushed carelessly over her butt as he found a present sticking out her back pocket, "...ever."

She let out a breath she didn't even realise she had been holding when he pulled away from her, the butterflies in her stomach making it so she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

He looked down at the present in his hands. It was a thin rectangle, covered neatly in brown wrapped paper with a bow tied round it in string.

"Can you guess what it is?" She asked, rocking back on her heels nervously.

"No idea," he put his ear to it jokingly, "nope, not a cat."

She giggled, "okay just open it."

He gently pulled the bow undone and pocketed the string, before taking off the wrapping paper.

"I'll hold onto that," Caroline said, putting the paper into her own back pocket again.

He stared at the two mirrors in his hands.

"Um," she stepped forward, "they're two-way mirrors...so wherever we are in the world, we can still...see each other, talk, you know."

He just looked up at her as her brown eyes began to cloud with doubt.

"Is it...is it okay? I mean I didn't know if it was something you'd like or-"

His arms around her interrupted her rambling.

He murmured into her hair, "thank you. This is...it's such an amazing gift."

Her eyes widened happily, "oh really?"

He nodded as he pulled away before bringing her face to his and kissing her firmly. After he pulled away he looked down at the mirrors still in his hand.

"So," he handed her one of them, "you keep this one and..."

"Yeah, you keep that one," she said, looking into the mirror he had handed her and smiling when - instead of her own face - she could see Sirius who had the other mirror still in his hands.

"Wow," Sirius breathed at the mirror he was holding, smiling back at Caroline's.

"Come on, love, shall we go grab some breakfast?" She asked, taking his free hand in hers.

He smiled down at her, kissing her on the cheek, before saying, "let's go then."

· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽

Sirius' eighteenth birthday came with a huge party in the Gryffindor common room. It was hosted by the Marauders, so obviously it was loud with a lot of smuggled in alcohol.

Caroline, in a more tipsy state than usual, was sat on Sirius' lap at the side of the common room. They were recovering from just dancing for a solid hour, both of them quenching their thirst with more fire whiskey. Her free arm was draped around his shoulders, but her balance wasn't the best so he made sure he kept a tight grip round her waist so she didn't fall off him. And besides, he liked holding her to him this way.

"Hey!" James came up to them, yelling over the music, "when are you guys getting back on the floor?"

"Soon!" Sirius called back, making Caroline rub her ear at the loud sound, "get some good music on again and we might consider it!"

James grinned at this and winked at him, "challenge accepted!"

James went back to the floor, heading for the DJ, but became distracted with Lily Evans dancing near him. Sirius and Caroline both just sighed...yeah, they weren't getting good music any time soon.

She turned to look at him, and after a moment a stupid smile just spread on her face.

"What?" He laughed, "what's that look for?"

"You're literally so beautiful," she said, and lifted a hand to trace her thumb against his bottom lip absent-mindedly.

He was grateful then for the lack of exposure parties brought, the darkness covering his red cheeks at her drunken compliment and her wandering hands.

"Not as beautiful as you, ma chéri," he said lowly, kissing her thumb that was still by his mouth.

When Caroline had alcohol she was like a completely different person. Like most drunken people, she lost the majority of her inhibitions, she had no insecurities, no anxieties. And for someone as eternally anxious as Carrie, this provided a temporary relief.

And drunk Carrie was bold.

So she did what anyone would do really, she kissed her boyfriend.

He smiled into the kiss, deepening it almost immediately like it was just instinct to him.

From across the room, Tyler, Archie and Jane looked away from the couple. Their typically reserved friend who hated human contact was snogging her boyfriend in the middle of a party. It was a weird sight.

"Drunk Carrie really does not care, does she?" Jane commented, slightly amused.

"It's cool and disgusting at the same time," Tyler said.

"Like the time you walked in on them making out in her kitchen-"

"Don't," Tyler groaned, swatting Archie away, "I had just gotten that image out of my head as well..."

"They've been going for a couple months now."

"Yeah, what's his record?" Archie asked.

Jane thought about it, "hm...was it Vicky Grenning in Ravenclaw? That was like four months."

"No no," Tyler shook his head, "Ollie from Hufflepuff, they were together for like the end of third year to the end of the first term of fourth year I swear."

"Oh yeah, Ollie Turner's his record," Jane snapped her fingers triumphantly, "so Carrie still has a couple months to go."

"Think she'll do it?"

They all looked over to the couple who had stopped kissing and were heading on to the dance floor as a 'Queen' song came on, laughing with each other as they began to dance.

"Yeah...I think she will."