yellow (remus lupin.)

thirty nine.

THIRTY NINE.

As the weeks passed, the heat of the sun and joy of living wore off. The carefree lust for life summer had brought was snatched away when Harry Potter had been attacked by dementors at his home with the Dursley's. Brought to Grimmauld Place for safety, Cara felt more protective of him than ever.

When he was finally cleared of any wrongdoing by the ministry and returned to school, she didn't want to let him out of her sight. He was her little brother in many ways, and his enthusiasm to join the order only infuriated her. In an attempt to smooth the cracks, Dumbledore had allowed her to continue assisting Pomfrey as well as pitch in with the order, allowing her to see him at Hogwarts. She felt sick with fear most days, knowing he would be a target for all sorts of evil energy.

Finishing up a shift on the ward, she pulled her jacket over her shoulders wearily. A yawn escaped her lips as she descended the steps, spotting Harry, Ron and Hermione waiting at the bottom for her.

"Cara!" Ron cried, waving at her over enthusiastically.

"Alright dickheads." She smiled, exhaustion in her eyes. "What are you doing down here?"

"We wanted to see you before you go." Harry piped up. "Plus we're fed up of Umbridge."

From what she had seen and heard about Dolores Umbridge, there was a lot left to be desired. A terrifyingly constant smile — even in moments of anger — as well as a wardrobe that consisted of nothing but sickly pink, she was a strange woman. There was a sinister tint to everything she did.

"Can you convince Remus to come back, please?" Hermione pleaded. "The woman is insane. When you get detention, she makes you write lines, but what you have to write gets scratched into the skin of your hand."

"I'm fairly sure that's child abuse!" Cara mumbled, her eyes wide in disgust. "I don't think Remus has any plans to come back any time soon, sorry."

"Fuck's sake." Ron sighed. "That means we have to behave."

"You had to behave with him too you know." She chuckled, another yawn breaking out.

"But you didn't?" Harry chimed.

Hermione and Ron were sent into fits of giggles as Cara bit her lip. Harry looked thrilled with his quip, an arrogant smile painted on his face.

"And on that note, I'm leaving." She smiled, patting their heads patronisingly. "Work hard, stay safe, don't get in trouble."

The three of them bid her farewell as they prepared to head down to dinner. Hermione and Harry gave her a hug, whilst Ron had devised some handshake they shared, much to the other two's confusion.

"Get some sleep Cara, you keep fucking yawning." Ron instructed her.

"So would you if you had to save the world and patch up grazed knees at the same time." She retaliated.

Leaving them to their evening, she headed to the Dumbledore's office, in which she could travel back to Grimmauld Place by floo. The travelling was sucking the life out of her, but she felt she had no choice. Harry had been through plenty in his short life, she didn't want him coming to any more harm.

Dumbledore wasn't in his office, so she could relax her face into the usual bitchy exterior. She was too exhausted to fake another single smile, and all she wanted was to go to bed. Flinging the powder down and reciting the address, she was surrounded by luminous green smoke. Landing in the Grimmauld living room with a bump, her demeanour relaxed when she realised how close she was to home.

"Molly! I'm back!" She shouted, dusting off the remains of the powder and headed towards the kitchen.

"In here!" She heard her dad shout back.