AN: Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter as much as I did! And thanks to all those wonderful reviewers of mine! Now, the original chapter 4 revolves around mostly Lily and James, but this one will be more Caitlin and Remus.

Remember to Read&Review!

Disclaimer: I am fighting a losing battle for the right of all Harry Potter oriented things. As for the time being, it belongs to J. K. Rowling. And all unfamiliar characters belong to my friend, Stephanie. But I'm working on it!

Ruby Moon

Sugar-Coated Surprises

As the sun set, it cast brilliant shades of orange, blue, and pink across the sky. The beautiful colours gleamed across the surface of the still lake, making it seem like a stained glass window. The wispy, white clouds crossed the sky slowly and the sun could no longer be seen behind the tips of the trees lining the Forbidden Forest. The crisp fall breeze blew her hair around her face and sent shivers down her arms, but she did not move. She couldn't explain what it was about the scene before her, but whatever it was it made her feel completely at peace.

Well, almost.

Caitlin sat huddled in the grass, her friends all around her as they enjoyed the last warmth before winter hit. James and Lily were there, though they did not speak to each other or even make eye contact. Four days had passed since the kiss between them, but instead of taking everyone's advice and giving James a chance, Lily pushed him away. It was impossible to persuade her otherwise, and though he pretended not to be, James was crushed.

Sirius was enthusiastically snogging a fifth year Hufflepuff girl named Karen Dawson, and seemed to be completely unaware that they were in public. Caitlin figured that he didn't care, but it was making her uncomfortable.

Arianna was staring off into space, thinking about Merlin knows what. She seemed to have no problem with Sirius and his partner, and Caitlin wondered how she did it.

Peter was nowhere to be found, which left Remus. He was leaning against the trunk of the tree, a book in his lap, paying no attention to anyone else. The breeze lightly tossed his hair into his eyes and he would shake it away, once again revealing his brown eyes. Caitlin watched from the corner of her eye as he stretched his legs out in front of him, looking up from his book for only a second. She looked away quickly, suddenly becoming amazed with a blade of grass at her hand. When she was sure he had gone back to his book, she looked up again, but stared out over the lake instead.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. Ever since they arrived back at school, her mind seemed to drift easily and it always drifted to the same thing. When she woke up in the morning, her first thought was if he was already up. At breakfast, she wondered if he would sit down beside her. During class, she wondered if his thoughts ever drifted to the seat behind him, where she was sitting. And at night before bed, the last smile of her day was for him.

But it was so wrong! You weren't supposed to have a crush on your best friend. James and Lily were different; James had developed the crush pre-friendship. She and Remus had been friends since their first train ride, why was she just feeling this now?

What was worse, she didn't know how he felt. What if he didn't like her the same way, could she go back to being just friends? Or would it ruin the relationship they already had? And if he did feel the same, could it work out? So many unanswered questions flittered through her head and each one brought a new worry with it.

'What am I supposed to do?'

"It's almost time for supper," Remus said, interrupting her thoughts. Everyone came out of their reverie, looking around to see that it was in fact nearly time for the evening meal. Reluctantly, the group stood and made their way back to the castle, not one breaking the silence that still surrounded them.

They reached the Great Hall (Sirius said 'good-bye' to his 'girlfriend') and made their way over to the Gryffindor table. Caitlin made to sit beside Arianna, but found that Lily and Sirius were already on either side of her. So, she sat down on Sirius' other side and began to fill her plate with food. Unfortunately for her and her already confused mind, Remus came last and chose the seat beside her.

Caitlin tried to stop herself from over-reacting and found it extremely challenging. Her entire body tensed and she found herself playing with the hem of her sweater, in an attempt to keep her mind occupied.

"Amazing girl, she is," Sirius said, piling his plate with a mountain of food.

Finding the opportunity to distract herself, Caitlin asked, "And what was her name again?"

A blank looked crossed over Sirius' face. "Well, I can't really seem to remember. It's either Kayla or Kaycee…," he trailed off.

"As per usual," Arianna said, rolling her eyes.

"These are really good potatoes, no?" Sirius said, stuffing his face with food. Caitlin grinned a bit. When it came to being subtle, Sirius was the last person you wanted to talk to.

Everyone started their own random conversations and Caitlin strangely felt left out. Since her only two options were to talk to either Sirius or Remus, she ended up being extremely quiet, which definitely wasn't her. Most of the group didn't notice how unusual she was acting, except one.

"So…how are your classes?" Remus asked.

"Good," Caitlin answered shortly. If she remembered correctly, this was the longest conversation they'd had alone in a week.

"Great!" he said, looking away uncomfortably. Silence ensued and Caitlin began to wish that she could just vanish on the spot.

"And your parents, how are they?" he continued.

Still looking down at her plate, she answered, "Fine."

'Wonderful! Two words! This is a fabulous conversation Caitlin!'

"That's umm…that's good."

Again silence engulfed them and Caitlin was beginning to feel as if he was just as tense as she was. This wasn't good. He was one of her best friends and the best answers she could come up with were 'Good' and 'Fine'.

'Say something! Anything!'

"How's your…"

Remus looked at her, waiting for her to finish, but Caitlin drew a blank. Embarrassed, she looked away.

'That was great! Now he thinks I'm an idiot!'

Just as she was thinking of what she could possibly say to him, he spoke up. "Caitlin, is something wrong?"

She looked back at him. "No, everything's fine," she said, shaking her head. "Why?"

"Well, it's just… it's like you've been trying to avoid me lately. I just don't understand why."

"Oh… well, I'm not really. I guess it's just that…"

"Hey Moony! You think I could beat James in a fist fight, right?" Sirius shouted down the table. Caitlin looked away from Remus, slightly thankful for the interruption.

Annoyance laced his tone as Remus said, "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"No, seriously! Do you think I could?"

"Padfoot, I don't really care whether…"

Arianna suddenly cut in, as if to save the conversation from turning into an argument. "Look, I'm sure Sirius could beat him in Quidditch and everything…" she said.

"How are you so sure of that?" James interjected.

"Oh, that's cause I'm just amazing," Sirius grinned.

Arianna sighed annoyed. "Would you let me finish? Anyways, yeah, he could beat him at Quidditch, but an actual fistfight? Don't think so."

"Are you saying I'm weak?" Sirius asked, sounding offended.

"You are weak," James said.

"No I'm saying he's stronger," Arianna replied.

"Would you care to prove that?" Sirius said.

"You really want to fight him?"

"Sure, if you wanna lose a tooth or two."

"I'd beat him like that," Sirius said while snapping his fingers.

Everyone gave him disbelieving looks and a few grinned, minus the still uncomfortable pair near the end.

"Okay, then. Why don't we all just gang up on Sirius?" Sirius said exasperatedly as he took in the looks that he was being given.

"Don't worry, we plan to," Caitlin said.

As soon as dinner finished, Caitlin rushed away to the Common Room, to avoid any questions that still might have come from Remus. It's not that she was trying to avoid him; it was that she didn't want him to know how deeply she did care for him. She had decided sometime during dinner that he couldn't know; if she told him, it would ruin their relationship.

She reached the Common Room and Caitlin went straight to her neglected homework. Maybe if she looked busy, he would leave her alone for a bit. She pulled out her potions essay and set to work.

Soon after, the others arrived, but Caitlin pretended to be too busy to notice. From the corner of her eye, Caitlin noticed Arianna talking to Audrey, President of the S.B.F.C.C.O.G. (Sirius Black Fan Club of Crazily Obsessed Girls), and wondered why. Audrey and the rest of the members never talked to Arianna, Caitlin, or Lily only because they were close to Sirius and were seen as a 'threat'. It was all ridiculous to her, none of them would ever in their right mind date Sirius Black, and they mostly ignored the other girls.

Audrey left, leaving Arianna with a slightly perplexed look, before she headed off to their dorm room.

Lily came over, followed by the others, and sat beside her.

"You left quickly," Lily stated.

Caitlin shrugged. "Just needed to start my work."

Lily nodded in acceptance of her answer and pulled out her own work. Caitlin turned back to her parchment, but felt a pair of eyes on her as she worked. Sneaking a look from beneath her fringe, Caitlin saw Remus seated in the armchair directly across from her, watching her with thoughtful eyes.

'Why does he have to look so attractive when he does that?'

Caitlin returned rather reluctantly to her work. In a perfect world, they would let her sit there and stare at him all day. They wouldn't mind if she told him how much she liked him, because it wouldn't make a difference. In a perfect world, he would like her too.

About an hour passed, and Caitlin was beginning to feel the effects of thinking so hard for long periods of time. Her eyes were starting to grow heavy from her weariness and her mind was beginning to drift away from her work. Sirius had left not fifteen minutes after they arrived in the Common Room, no doubt to go meet Karen or some other girl. James and Peter left for the library to go do some research for their essays, and Arianna had yet to return from the dorm room.

Caitlin sighed for the third time in a minute. She could not think of a single reason why you would use a laughter charm. Perhaps she would go look in the library, James and Peter must have found something by now.

Picking up her books she said, "I'm off to the library. I'm going to see if James and Peter have found anything for this Charms essay."

Lily nodded distractedly, not looking up from her homework. Caitlin turned and walked away towards the portrait hole when she heard a shuffle behind her.

"Wait, I'll come with you."

She looked over to Remus to see him hastily gathering his things and shoving them into his bag.

"No really, I'm fine," she said, looking for any excuse not to be left alone with him. She was afraid she might do something stupid.

"It's okay," he said walking over to her. "I need to research some things for my Transfiguration paper."

Caitlin inwardly groaned. Why her?

They left the Common Room (Remus held the door open for her and she mentally kicked herself) and walked down the corridor in the direction of the library. It was silent; no other students passed them on their way. Outside the sun had long since set and the only light was that of the lit torches hanging in their brackets on the wall.

She walked slightly ahead of him, her books clutched to her chest and her lips pursed. They had not spoken since her mumbled 'thank you' leaving the Common Room and she planned on keeping it that way. If she could just make it to the library and to James and Peter, there would be no weirdness.

Unfortunately for her, Remus had other ideas.

"Caitie, wait," he said as he walked to catch up to her. She must have been nearly running, for it took him a few seconds to reach her side. When he did, he stopped and looked at her.

"There's something I need to talk to you about."

'No, no, no! I wasn't ignoring you! Don't tell me you're mad!'

"Oh," she muttered. "What did you want to talk about?"

His brown eyes looked into her blue ones with nervousness and excitement.

"There's something I've been wanting to tell you, but I don't know how you'll take it," he said.

'Please just yell and get it over with!'

"You're one of my best friends Caitie and I care about you so much."

'Once you get angry we can make up and put this all behind us, so just do it already.'

"I mean, you're smart, and funny, and beautiful…"

'Yelling is really not that difficult…what?'

"And I've never met anyone like you. You're so special and important to me."

'Okay, seriously, what?'

Remus paused and a small smile crept onto his face. "What I'm trying to say is…I like you Caitie. I really, really like you. I was wondering if you'd like to be my girlfriend," he said.

'…'

If there was ever a time for proper, conscious thought, now would have been the time. But Caitlin's luck didn't extend to that and so she stood there, a shocked astounded look on her face and her mind completely blank.

Remus looked at her with concern. "I know this is a lot right now. But I know I would be good for you and…I really don't know what I'm doing," he said, a slight laugh at the end of his sentence.

'This is actually happening. He actually just asked me to be his girlfriend! Remus Lupin just asked me to be his girlfriend!'

"Caitie?"

She finally looked at him, a smile growing on her face. "I…"

'But what about earlier? I swore I wouldn't. This could ruin everything. I couldn't live with myself if I lost him.'

The smile left her face. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach as she looked away from him down at her feet. She knew she was going to hate herself for this, but it was best.

"I'm sorry Remus. I can't," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

He looked at her confusedly. "What do you mean? I thought…"

"Look, you're a great friend Remus," she interrupted. "But I just don't…I don't like you that way."

The words felt like poison in her mouth and her stomach twisted into tight, painful knots. She couldn't bring herself to look at him; she didn't want to see the pain it was causing him to be rejected by not only the girl he liked, but his best friend.

"Well, that's fine," he said finally. Caitlin winced at the pain she heard in his voice. "I'm sorry I…"

"No, I'm sorry. Really this isn't…it was…we can still be friends," Caitlin said.

He nodded. "Yeah, we can still be friends."

There was silence for a while as they stood in the middle of the corridor, not looking at each other. Caitlin couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make this conversation any worse.

Finally Remus said, "You know, I really don't have to go to the library. I'll see you back in the Common Room."

"Sure, okay."

And with that, Remus turned and left her in the hall, alone, hurt, and in tears.

XXX

The following day was like every autumn Sunday should be: bright, sunny, but not at all hot. However, the gang was stuck inside catching up on their homework that had been disrupted by certain frustrating events.

Caitlin had not said much to Remus after the night before, and he seemed just as unwilling to try to make conversation. This was exactly what she feared. That all this confusion would screw up their friendship. He must hate her! She was so insensitive the night before… he must think that she was purposely trying to be cruel.

'I ruined everything.'

"Hey Caitie, is everything okay?"

Caitlin looked up from her page to see Arianna and Lily looking at her with concerned expressions. The girls had retreated to their dorm to do their work because Sirius was being too distracting for them to concentrate. She figured it would be okay to tell them up there, but she was still nervous.

"No. See, there's this guy…"

"Caitie has a boyfriend!" Arianna squealed.

"No, that's the problem."

Lily and Arianna looked at her confused.

"This guy…he's so brilliant and handsome and charming…and a good friend. I didn't want to risk anything even though I really, really do like him."

"Did you think that maybe it would be worth the risk?" Lily asked.

Caitlin shook her head. "I couldn't bear it if I lost him as a friend. But I think I already have."

"Maybe we could talk to him, explain things," Arianna suggested.

"No, I don't want anyone else involved. This is my problem."

"Caitie, you have to talk to him," Lily said. "If he's a close friend, then I'm sure he'll understand."

Caitlin looked at her friends, suddenly grateful for their presence. They were right, Remus would understand…but she wouldn't tell him. She pulled a smile and said, "Thanks. Now let's go to the Great Hall. Dinner should be ready now and I'm starving!"

Lily and Arianna laughed and the girls left their dorm behind. They walked together, chatting idly, and when they reached the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall they realized that the four boys were missing. Caitlin silently thanked God, because their absence meant the absence of her sitting uncomfortably through supper.

Dinner was quiet without Sirius and James there to keep them entertained, and so the girls thought about what they could be doing. It was obvious that they were planning a prank (that's the only reason they would have missed supper) and obvious that it would be on a Slytherin, but what they would come up with was a complete mystery.

After dinner, the girls returned to the Common Room. Caitlin still had to finish a Transfiguration paper due for the next day and decided she would go to bed right after. They did not meet the boys along the way, or anyone who looked as if they had just been pranked, so they assumed the boys were still planning. Whatever they were thinking up, it must have been big.

They entered the Common Room and headed up the spiralling staircase towards the dorm. Lily was a head of them as Caitlin and Arianna made jokes. They were completely unprepared for it when Lily stopped dead in her tracks with the door open. Both Caitlin and Arianna crashed into her back, letting out an 'Ow!' each, before peering over Lily's shoulder to see what was going on.

The ceiling of their dorm room was raining white lilies, which drifted down and softly touched the floor where they would then vanish. They were endless, and real, the girls realized as they slowly entered the room.

Caitlin looked up at the enchanted ceiling and heard Arianna gasp. She looked down to see her point at something on Lily's bed. Moving closer, Caitlin realized that it was a white packaged tied off with red ribbon. Lily too moved closer, her eyes never moving from the box.

Caitlin watched as Lily picked up the box and tugged lightly at the ribbon, causing the paper to unravel and fall away from the gift. The box was simply white, and Lily lifted the lid, letting it fall to the floor beside the wrapping paper. Caitlin and Arianna inched closer trying to see what was in the box. Lily lifted a note from the top, revealing an assortment of chocolates…all of Lily's favourites.

Tears came to Lily's eyes as she put the note down and looked at the box. Caitlin slowly picked up the letter and read it.

Dearest Lily,

I've been trying to get you to listen to what I have to say about us for ages now, but you seem to always push me away. I have no clue as to why you're doing this, and I hope that one of these days (hopefully sooner rather than later) you will take the time to explain. But you have got to know this now. I love you, Lily. I think I've loved you ever since that first train ride that we had to Hogwarts. I know, it seems impossible, but who's to say that this, that we, couldn't work out in the end? We could never say for sure if we've never given us a try. So please, I'm begging you, Lily. I know we have a lot of arguments, but what relationship doesn't have that? Give me the chance to show you that I've grown up and I've matured from that boy that would always hit on you to someone who truly, deeply cares about your feelings. I will never give up on you. Even if it takes a hundred thousand more gifts and surprises to get you to give us a chance. That's all I'm asking for, Lily. Then I'll let you choose freely if you still feel that me and you shouldn't be together. I'll let you go, even if it will hurt me. And those are my chocolate covered promises to you.

Love Always,
James.

Caitlin looked over at Arianna, who smiled and motioned to the door. Understanding, Caitlin left the letter and followed Arianna from the room, leaving Lily alone.

They walked down the stairs and into the Common Room to see the Marauders waiting. James stood up straight when he heard the footsteps, but relaxed slightly when he saw it was only Caitlin and Arianna.

"How is she? Is she…?"

Caitlin laughed and walked forward to give James a hug. "That was the sweetest, most charming thing I have ever seen James Potter. I think she loved it," she said.

James' face lit up. "Really? I wasn't sure if…"

"Relax, you dork," Arianna said. "She'll probably be down soon."

"You heard the woman, mate," Sirius said, walking over and putting a hand on James' shoulder. "Do or die."

"Sirius!" Caitlin chastised.

"What?"

"James loves Lily and as long as he does there's nothing for him to worry about," she said. It dawned on her that her words were not only spoken for James, but for herself as well. Arianna began to talk to James and Caitlin stepped back. Looking at all that James had gone through just to get Lily's attention, it was overwhelming. Perhaps not all was lost between her and Remus.

Everyone suddenly turned as they heard footsteps descending the stairs. Lily reached the bottom of the stairs, her face tear-stained and anxious. Again, James straightened up and a smile adorned his face.

Lily beckoned him over and James went over to her, where they began their conversation in private. The others went to the fireplace to give them privacy, but kept a close eye just in case things went south.

Caitlin dropped down onto the couch and stared blankly into the fire.

"That was nice, what you did for James."

Caitlin looked up and saw Remus standing beside her, watching with hesitation.

Caitlin shifted over and patted the seat beside her. Remus looked surprised for a moment, but then sat down beside her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"After Sirius' comment. I think that really helped him," Remus answered.

Caitlin nodded. "He needed it. If he does really love Lily, then eventually she'll see it."

"And if she doesn't?"

Caitlin looked at him. The same hurt that she had seen just the night before crossed his face, before it was covered up by a look of questioning.

"Then maybe she already has."

'Do it! Just tell him!'

"Caitie…"

"I'M NOT SNAPE, LILY!" James yelled. Caitlin looked over her shoulder at James and Lily, who were still deep in conversation. She may not have known what they were saying, but by the look on Lily's face she knew that realization was dawning on her.

And she was right; Lily suddenly enveloped James in a soft, sweet kiss. She did not object when James pulled her closer and when they finally separated, Lily had a beautiful smile on her face.

"Finally," Caitlin muttered, causing both she and Remus to smile.