yellow (remus lupin.)

twelve.

TWELVE.

Breakfast the next morning consisted of Cara having to pin her eyelids open as she reluctantly shoved a croissant in her mouth. She had stayed in Lupin's office until two in the morning, making sure he was no longer bleeding from any of his injuries — along with sharing plenty more kisses.

Judging by his state the night before, it was quite a shock to see Remus sat happily at the teacher's table, chatting away to Flitwick and sipping a pumpkin juice with his toast. The bright red scars on his face had faded away back to their normal silver stripes, meaning he had probably done some spell work on them after Cara had left.

She was transfixed on the table, watching him engage in such an exciting conversation, she almost missed his fleeting glance and subsequent wink he gave her.

"Oi!" Stassie threw a rolled up lump of bread at her friend's head as she tried to assess where she was staring. "Don't tell me you fancy Lupin!"

"What? No, don't be a dick." Cara yawned.

"Cara, babes, he's a similar age to your bloody mum!"

Cara hadn't exactly thought of that. Her mother — as well as her father — were only in their mid teens when they ended up snogging in the spare room of a new year's eve party. One thing led to another, and in October of the next year along came beautiful baby Cara, looking like the spitting image of her father, much to her mother's dismay. Despite being a single mother whilst completing her O-Levels, Andrea never once complained or let Cara know she was struggling. The woman was a superhero.

"He's probably in your dad's school year." Stassie was still chatting on about Lupin's age.

Little was known about Cara's dad, other than that she had inherited practically all of his features. Andrea was always rather complimentary of Cara's father, explaining that he was just too young to cope. When the baby was born, she gave him the option of staying or going, to which he broke his own heart by deciding to leave. Apparently he was already unwanted and outcast by his own family, and having a child at fifteen wouldn't exactly help him win anyone over. She never admitted it to anyone, but Cara had a picture of her father in her head, occasionally imagining him waving her off to Hogwarts, or even just taking her down to the park back at home. Tall, dark and handsome, a little bit of a heartbreaker, but with a calm and warm soul.

"Are you on planet earth today?" Stassie sighed.

"Yeah, just knackered." Cara snapped herself back in to reality. "You know how it is, essay after fucking essay."

She was right. November was now upon them, and the impending doom of after Christmas exams was hovering over all the shoulder of the seventh years.

"Well, Ollie and I had a planned study session later if you want to join?"

"Ollie?" Cara smirked, her eyebrow raised.

"Oh shut up." Stassie dismissed her quickly. "We've grown close over the last few weeks, what can I say?"

"Grown close, hmm?" Cara continued to wiggle her eyebrows teasingly, knowing she was irritating her friend.

"Well at least my crush is from the same generation as me."

That stopped the teasing quickly.

The day continued ordinarily. Fridays were her favourite week days, even more so now that she had a double period with Lupin first thing. Fridays also meant parties, in which this week it was Ravenclaw's turn to host. To make sure nothing was shut down, each house would take turn hosting each week, making sure to keep whichever teachers that were patrolling that evening on their toes. Cara was ready for the party this evening, desperately wanting to let her hair down.