yellow (remus lupin.)

eighteen.

EIGHTEEN.

Christmas festivities had overgrown the school buildings like a weed. December was well and truly in bloom as students buzzed around the halls discussing Christmas plans. Teachers appeared sweeter than usual, dismissing any trouble with the excuse that it was nearly holiday time.

Despite Stassie's best attempts, there was no use getting a smile from Cara anymore. It was like she had received a personality transplant. The once confident and outgoing girl with friends in all the years had been reduced to a shy and lonely soul. Her grades were slipping, yet she didn't care. Worst of all, she had stopped turning up to Remus's lessons, claiming it was only revision anyway and she didn't need to be there.

He missed her immensely. He only got to see her at mealtimes, in which most of the time his vision was obscured by other students sat at the table. Once the initial shock had worn off, he couldn't care less about what lurked in her background. All he wanted was to kiss her one more time.

But Remus had a plan.

He had heard in passing conversation in the staff room that Cara had landed herself a detention for failing to hand in her essay on time. It was due to be Flitwick taking detention that evening, but he already had practice with choir booked. Remus swooped in and offered to take the role, to which Flitwick thanked him profusely, completely unaware of the teacher's ulterior motive.

That's how he landed himself where he was, watching the clock intensely as he waited for the hands to hit eight o'clock, and for Cara to walk in.

"Sir?" She opened the door shyly at three minutes to eight, popping her head around the door.

"In you come!" He spoke perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "In you come."

Seeing him properly for the first time in a few weeks, she desperately tried to sedate the manic butterflies in her stomach. He still looked as chipper as normal, but she knew she had hurt him by cutting him off so quickly. His hair was a little longer than she last remembered and his left hand was bandaged, yet he was still Remus. Her Remus.

"Have you got something to do?" He asked, to which she shook her head as she sat down at the seat next to his at his desk. "Well, I have plenty you can help out with for a bit."

He offered her half the pile of marking he had beside him, and gave her a quill to help her mark it.

"It's only second years, you'll be done in no time."

Remus was smiling at her and acting as if nothing had ever happened. She had tried so hard to push him away, yet as soon as he gave her that warm and proud smile, she began to melt again.

She began to mark the work quietly, applying ticks and grades where applicable as he matched her moves. She knew he was watching her whenever the scratches from the quill on the parchment stopped, but she was still too scared to turn and catch him in the act.

Everything about her entranced him. He noted that when she was concentrating, she held her lower lip in between her teeth. Every time she finished one paper and moved on to the next, she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, only for it to betray her and slide back forward as she ticked and crossed sentences.

It only took around twenty minutes for them to finish marking when detention was meant to last ninety minutes.

"Thank you for that." He piled up the papers and slipped them into one of his unorganised drawers, on top of chocolate bars and other random objects. "Now we need to talk about your attendance."

She was expecting a formal lecture from him about her sporadic disappearances, yet she got something quite different.

"Please stop trying to avoid me. I'm not afraid of you, nor ashamed of you. I want to be around you Cara, you mean rather a lot to me." His tone was gentle, yet firm. There was no point in denying skipping his lessons, not when all the other staff had confirmed it was just his lessons she was missing.