yellow (remus lupin.)

nineteen.

NINETEEN.

The night of Christmas eve was strange for Cara. She was the only seventh year Gryffindor student left over the holidays, and only Harry, Hermione and Ron remained out of the rest of the house. She knew that it wouldn't be them causing all the commotion in the common room during the middle of the night, but someone sure was. Too scared to move, Cara slept through it in a hope it wasn't her father making another surprise visit.

It wasn't until the morning arrived that she realised what had happened. A small present lay on the table by the fire in brown paper, with her name written in cursive writing on the tag. Whoever had wrapped it wasn't exactly an expert, but they had tried their absolute best to make it presentable. It hadn't come from the post, so it had to be from someone within the school. No one else was awake, so she quickly unwrapped it.

On the top was a card, with Cara identifying it instantly as Remus's writing.

Merry Christmas darling! Sorry for the state of the wrapping, but you understand I haven't done it in a while. All my love, RJL X

Underneath the note was her Christmas present. There was a book explaining fairies in their entirety, one she had been desperate to buy for weeks. She remembered a conversation she had had with Remus just a few days ago, in which she rambled on for ages as she lay with her head in his lap about how much she wanted to learn about fairies. She thought it had all washed over him, that he was just nodding and humming to remind her he was still there. Instead, he had listened to her every word, watching in adoration as she told him animatedly.

"You remembered." She whispered, brushing her thumb over the textured writing on the front cover.

Picking it up, she noticed there was something much larger sat underneath the book. Turning it over, it was a record of The Visconti Master by T.Rex. God alone knows how, but he must have heard her and Stassie discussing the band during one of his lessons, surprisingly not jealous at Cara declaring her undying love for Mark Bolan.

Remus knew the second he heard them debating that he would have to dig out some of the records Sirius had left behind when he went to Azkaban. There was something about Sirius's daughter having identical music taste to Sirius himself that made Remus chuckle. There was no doubt Sirius would be bursting with pride at the idea.

Hearing voices growing louder from the dorms, she shoved the note behind a random book page, just in time before Ron, Hermione and Harry came down into sight.

"Merry Christmas!" Hermione smiled widely as she skipped down the steps, the boys echoing her as they walked towards the door.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Cara returned the greeting, avoiding Harry's desperate glances.

She felt so immensely guilty that she had been avoiding Harry for weeks now. Anytime he had tried to send her an owl, she had ignored it. She purposely walked in the opposite direction from him. He was starting to feel a little hurt, but he knew it wasn't either of their faults.

"Go on without me, I'll be down soon." Harry held back and told his friends, who dutifully left the two to it.

Harry awkwardly plopped himself down next to her, as she shuffled the brown wrapping paper out of his way.

"Harry." Cara sighed. "I — "

Harry caught her off guard, as he threw his arms around her and hugged her.

"Don't say sorry. It's not your fault." He held her tightly.

The weight of guilt was instantly taken off her shoulders and she relaxed, hugging him back.

"Thank you." She squeezed him as she whispered in his ear.

Harry gave her a knowing nod before swiftly jogging away to catch up with his friends.

Cara placed her presents out of sight under her pillow, rereading the note continuously. She threw a decent outfit on for the day, consisting of jeans along with her comfiest oversized jumper, and made herself presentable before heading down the corridors towards the great hall.

When she entered, there were so little students present that the teachers and pupils were combined onto one long table. Various people at the table greeted her and wished her a merry Christmas as she passed them, to which she replied happily. She reached the end of the table, where Remus was sat opposite Harry and his friends, eating a croissant.

"Finally, she surfaces." Hagrid teased, sat on the other side of Remus.

There was a seat at the end of the bench next to Remus, and she elegantly slid into place next to him.

"Sorry, there was a terrible noise in the common room that kept me up all night." She explained with a smile, purposefully knocking her knee into Remus's under the table.

"Oh, sorry, that might have been Scabbers. He was knawing at my bed frame all night." Ron grumbled, eliciting a giggle from those sat around him.

Those at the table naturally fell into conversation with one another, with most oblivious to the fact that Remus and Cara both had one of their hands under the table. Hers was resting on her thigh, but she suddenly felt a spare hand clamber up onto her leg. Remus was pretending to indulge in conversation with Hagrid, but he had slipped his little finger in with Cara's, letting his hand lay there peacefully. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him there and then, but that was probably too much of a shock for the poor teenagers sat opposite her.

"What are you planning on doing this afternoon?" Remus spoke low, now free from the entrapment that was conversation about magical creatures with Hagrid, still with his hand in hers.

"Nothing much, probably mucking about with any presents I get."

"Come for a walk with me."

He didn't have to ask Cara twice, and she nodded profusely with a grin slapped on her face.

"Thank you, by the way." She added, in reference to her gift. "I still need to give you yours."

"You're very welcome darling. And you don't have to get me anything."

Remus had grown used to limited gifts on Christmas and birthdays. Despite giving off the carefree image, he was rather excited for her gift.

"I'd give you the world if I could, but I don't think they sell that down at Honeydukes."

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a/n: very thankful for 5k reads angels x