"So you're telling me that Remus Lupin jinxed you?" Layla repeated after Diana had finished explaining all that had happened at Diagon Alley, and the way she had run away from the boy afterward.

"I actually don't know," Diana said earnestly. "I went over all of my books... but there was no jinx or curse with such effect. It was just... different... it didn't really feel like a spell. Besides, he's not of age yet. He couldn't have done magic outside school."

"Then what do you think it was?" Layla mused, but Diana only shrugged, glancing outside the compartment's window thoughtfully.

"I have no idea..."

The train finally started moving. Diana had thought that she was no longer going to think of Remus Lupin. But now that she had seen him again, it brought back the feeling she had gotten by touching his hand. She couldn't possibly shake the thought away. The feeling lingered in her memory like a bad nightmare that she couldn't wake from.

  Diana tried distracting herself by listening to Layla's fascinating stories of what she had done over the summer. Layla's father used to be a Ravenclaw, but her mother was French and therefore had studied at Beauxbatons.

Diana had never met her personally, but she had seen her pictures numerous times in Witch Weekly. Layla's mother was a well-known model in the Wizarding world. From the pictures Diana had seen, she was tall and had short hair, with skin as dark as the glorious night and beauty worthy of the moon. And Layla had certainly taken after her mother when it came to good looks.

    Diana had always wondered how Layla's father had met a famous French witch and ended up marrying her. But her question had been answered a few years ago when she'd found out that Layla's dad was a celebrated author and a famous editor of the Daily Prophet.

Diana admired how Layla always got to meet interesting people and hear fascinating news that happened in the Wizarding World. Although for a few years now, the news had started to take a dark turn with the Dark Lord at large and the number of his followers growing each day.

"We should better change," Layla said after long hours, checking her watch. "We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon."

"Yeah, okay." Diana nodded warily before standing up and taking her Hogwarts robes out of her trunk.

While Layla chose to wear a skirt for her Hogwarts uniform, Diana always wore trousers. She felt more comfortable in the boyish look, as her mother would call it. She hated when she was told how a proper lady should dress or behave.

But now that she was at Hogwarts again, Diana was planning on doing everything that she was forbidden to do at home; she would run through the hallways, skip the last few stairs, stretch her legs out and put her feet up on the table, swear loudly, and wear trousers all year long.

At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble among the crowd of students to get outside soon. After fully changing into their Slytherin robes, Diana and Layla left the train along with the others.

    It was freezing on the tiny platform, and it looked like it was going to rain that night.

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" Diana heard a familiar voice call out. Looking up, she saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.

She always thought that Hagrid probably came from a giant bloodline. Diana was raised in a family that believed half-breeds to be evil, or rather a disgrace to the Wizarding community. Although Diana had never really given it much of a thought. But she couldn't deny that she did find some half-breeds rather scary in some stories she had heard as a child.

Diana and Layla followed the rest of the students along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred carriages awaited them, setting off all by themselves, bumping and swaying in procession.

    Once Diana and Layla got into one of them and closed its door behind them, the carriage trundled toward a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates. It soon picked up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle, until it finally came to a stop.

They ran into the castle as the little raindrops started to fall. The Great Hall was the same as it had ever been; magnificent. Each of the long House tables was lined with students, their faces glimmering by the light of thousands of candles, which were floating over the tables in mid-air.

Diana and Layla joined the rest of the Slytherins at the end of the table, waiting for the first years to arrive so they could soon get the sorting ceremony over with and start the delicious feast.

"Look who's arrived," Layla whispered with a smirked, nudging Diana with her elbow.

Looking up and following her gaze toward the doors of the Great Hall, Diana felt her stomach drop when she saw that Remus Lupin had just entered the Hall along with his three Gryffindor friends.

***

After the sorting ceremony and the feast came to an end and the students were done with dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood up from his seat from over the teachers' table, catching everyone's attention.

     "Now that we're all fed and watered," he spoke, "I would like to say a few words. Mr. Filch asked me to kindly remind you that magic in the corridors is forbidden, and the dark forest is, as always, out of bounds."

His blue eyes then wandered over at James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who were grinning at each other knowingly.

"And now I would ask the Prefects to lead the first years to their common rooms. Goodnight to you all."

At those words, Remus saw James look around until his gaze finally landed on Lily Evans, who was sitting a bit further from them with her three friends.

     "Psst!" James called out to the girls, catching their attention. He then said cheekily, "C'mon, Evans. Let's put the kids to bed." He winked, standing up.

Lily groaned to herself as she glanced back at her friends miserably. "He's not even a prefect! What is he playing at?"

     She then stood up as well, ignoring James's presence to the best of her abilities. "Gryffindor first years, follow me please!"

"Follow us, you mean." said James, but Lily was already gone.

"Nice try, Prongs," said Sirius, sniggering as he patted James on the back. "It's gonna happen soon, mate. Just hold on in there."

"I will, Padfoot. I will," said James with a confident nod, and so off he went, as arrogantly as ever.

   Instead of following his three friends out of the Great Hall, Remus quickly walked forward to catch up with Lily as the first years started gathering around her.

     "Look, Lily," Remus started once he reached her, "I know fifth year prefects are in charge of taking the first years to the common room, but would it be okay if you took them yourself? I have to give this to someone." He shook the Charms book which he had in his hand.

     "Oh... yeah, sure." Lily smiled kindly, nodding. "Who's the book for?"

  "Er... I don't really know her name," said Remus, smiling goofily as he ran his free hand behind his neck.

     Lily chuckled. "Then how come you ended up with her book?"

    "It's — it's a very confusing story," Remus confessed. "I'm not sure what happened either, to be honest."

"All right." Lily laughed, though she spared him one last curious look. "I'll take the first years myself — Oh, and the new password for the common room is 'Hippogriff'."

      "Okay thanks, Lily. You're the best." Remus smiled at her in appreciation, before turning to walk toward the Slytherin table at the other end of the Great Hall.

With the mass of students who had gotten up from their seats, wanting to get to their dormitories after a long day, it was hard for him to spot the mysterious blonde girl he had met in Diagon Alley.

  Remus had no idea what had happened. One second he had bumped into her and her books fell down, but the next moment when he picked up the Charms book to hand it to her, she had suddenly dropped it again, looking horrified.

  Remus could still remember the look of terror in her eyes as she had stared back at him, as though he was a monster. As though she had seen him as he truly was within...

     A dangerous werewolf.

Before Remus could've asked her what was going on, the girl had run out of the shop, leaving her book behind. Remus couldn't understand what had happened, no matter how hard he thought about it over the remaining days of their summer break. It just didn't make sense.

  Therefore, in hopes of finding out what had made the girl that scared, Remus searched for the mysterious blonde girl in the Great Hall. Giving her book back was just a good excuse to talk to her again.

     He had seen the girl many times before in the last few years, seeing as they shared many classes together. Thus he already knew that she was a Slytherin, but he still didn't even know her name. He had never paid enough attention to her in the past, in order to actually find out who she really was. But that was until now.

     Things were about to change.