Diana decided not to talk about her feelings to Layla. It was her best friend's birthday after all, and she wanted Layla to be happy without having to worry about Diana. So she swallowed up every word that was killing her inside, trying to distract herself from all the thoughts that were haunting her.

He's just another stupid boy, Diana told herself over an over again, but deep down, she was surprised that she felt hurt.

It was a small gesture. All he'd done was to finish the assignment, and he was willing to give her half the credit anyway. Diana should've been glad, if anything. But it still bothered her, and she hated the feeling.

She had started to think that Lupin was different. How wrong she had been...

"Look, I know you don't want to talk about it, but it's obvious that it's bothering you," Layla told her after a few days had passed. The look of distress was visible in Diana's eyes, and there was no denying. "And you have every right to be pissed at him. I would be too. But you need to talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about." Diana shrugged, trying to sound as careless as possible. "I'm actually glad that he finished the assignment on his own. I'll get the extra credit without even trying. Now I can spend more time on practicing Charms and Transfigurations. We've got O.W.Ls coming up in a few months."

Even though Layla didn't buy a word of what Diana had said, she didn't push it anymore. Diana wasn't one to talk about her feelings, and she was hard to break through.

The day that Diana had been dreading finally arrived. It was Monday morning, and Diana had Ancient Runes as her first class. If she hadn't loved the subject and its teacher, she would've dropped out the class immediately.

Waking up early for breakfast, Diana entered the Great Hall through its doors with Layla right beside her.

"Look. Regulus is there," said Layla as the two approached the Slytherin table, gesturing at where Regulus was sitting all alone, holding onto his knife and fork in a graceful manner. "Should we join him?"

"Are you asking me if I want to annoy another human being?" Diana raised her brows in mock-disbelief, before scoffing. "Please. As if you have to ask."

So, with mischievous grins playing on their lips, they walked toward Regulus.

"Hey, pretty boy," Diana called once they reached him, smirking.

Regulus closed his eyes and groaned in annoyance without even looking up as Layla took the seat beside him and Diana sat opposite them.

"Not you two again," Regulus said reproachfully, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up. You love us," said Layla, pouring some tea into her cup as she kept on smiling.

Regulus glared at her. "I absolutely don't —"

"Your opinion is irrelevant in this situation," said Diana, thrusting her fork into a sausage on a large dish in the middle of the table, moving it directly to her mouth and taking a big bite from it.

Regulus gave her a look. "Didn't your parents teach you dining manners?"

     "Oh yeah, they did. Big time," Diana said with her mouth full. Regulus grimaced in disgust, but Layla only laughed.

     "That's why I call her my little brother," she said, grinning.

     Diana and Layla went on for long minutes, preserving in annoying Regulus to the best of their abilities throughout breakfast. But even though Regulus kept nagging about how didn't want to spend his morning with them, he didn't get up to leave even though he could have. Because deep down, he was enjoying their company.

     "Don't you wanna get going? You'll be late for your Ancient Runes class again," Layla told Diana after a long while, looking down at her watch. "You've got a long way to go."

     "Nah. It's fine," said Diana, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

    She then glanced over at the Gryffindor table for a quick second, seeing that Remus was sitting with his friends, still having breakfast.

     He could push her away all he wanted. Diana didn't mind anymore. But what she cared about now was to find out the secret passageway that Lupin used in order to get to the Ancient Runes classroom. There had to be a shortcut. Diana was sure of that.

     A minute passed by, and then another. That was when Diana's attention was caught when Lupin finally got to his feet. He slung his backpack over his shoulder loosely and gave his friends a small wave before making his way out of the Great Hall.

     "Bye." Diana said all of a sudden, shooting to her feet and quickly grabbing her bag as she hurried after Lupin, ignoring the questioning looks Layla and Regulus gave her at her sudden action.

     Diana tried to keep a safe distance from Remus as she followed him up the marble staircase, hiding behind the walls and sneaking glances at him every once in a while, trying to find out where he was going.

At long last, Diana realized that Remus had stopped walking. She hid herself behind a wall nearby, peaking her head forward to see what he was about to do next.

Her grin widened in glory when she saw Remus reach out for a torch which was hung on a wall and pulled it downward. The torch gave a crack and then the next moment, to Diana's astonishment, the stone wall behind the torch opened. It was a secret door, probably to a passageway.

Diana remained hidden, watching sneakily as Remus walked through the passageway and disappeared from her sight. And then, the stone wall closed behind him.

With the feeling of excitement surging from within her, Diana waited a few seconds before following after him on her tiptoes, trying to make as little noise as possible. She looked around the corridor to make sure no one was around, before pulling down the torch's handle just like Remus had done only a minute ago.

She grinned in triumph when the torch gave a crack and the stone wall behind it started to open up.

But her smile dropped immediately the next moment when the door fully opened, and Diana found it completely empty. It wasn't even a passageway. It was a secret closet with cobwebs covering its ceiling and dust all over the floor. She frowned in confusion, because she couldn't understand where Remus had gone. She was sure she'd seen him enter this closet.

     Although the next moment Diana let out a shriek out of surprise when a voice said from behind her, "You weren't following me by any chance, were you?"

     Startled, Diana turned around promptly, only to see Remus standing behind her in the corridor.

    "I — n-no — of course not," Diana stammered, her heart racing.

     She was sure that Remus had stepped inside the closet. How on earth had he managed to appear right behind her? He couldn't have Apparated either.

     "Let me guess," Remus went on with a smile, "you were trying to see how I get to the Ancient Runes class."

    Diana pursed her lips together, avoiding his eyes as she suddenly found it hard to speak, a flush running across her pale face. He was standing close to her. Perhaps too close.

     "You don't make a good spy, you know," he said, and Diana felt like she was going to melt into the ground any moment now.

     When Diana failed to answer, Remus gave her another little smile before turning on his heel to leave the corridor. Diana glared after him, her teeth gritting together as all the anger she had felt throughout the last week returned to her all at once.

     "You're a real dick, you know that!?" she yelled after him, fuming.

     Remus turned around abruptly, giving her a surprised look, as though he hadn't expected her to speak in that way. "What?"

     "I'm not dumb. You think I don't know why you finished the assignment on your own?" Diana said sharply. "You were trying to get rid of me! Well, just so you know, I wasn't too fond of being around you either!"

     Remus threw his gaze away from her. She was right. The reason he had done the assignment on his own was because he'd been trying to keep away from her, but not for the reason that she thought.

     This time, it was Remus who had remained silent, unable to find the right words to say to her. Diana glared at him one last time before walking past him to make her way to class. But Remus was fast to pace forward without thinking, and so he grabbed her wrist in a quick motion, stopping her from moving.

    "Let go of me, Lupin!" Diana snapped.

     "I'm sorry," Remus said in a quiet tone, all the words he had wished to tell her dying on his lips.

     He knew because of his condition, he couldn't get involved in her life. He couldn't spend too much time around her, afraid of catching feelings. But now, it was his guilt that was swallowing him up. He now realized that he had hurt her, and this was the last thing that he wanted.

     "Let go," Diana whispered as Remus held on tight to her wrist, though she cursed herself, because deep down, she craved the opposite.

    As much as she hated to think about it, she didn't want him to let go. She wanted him closer.

     Her breath had become slightly shaky as she stood close to him, their chests almost touching, their lips only inches apart from one another.

     "You don't understand," said Remus, shaking his head lightly. "I had to."

     "You had to do the assignment on your own? What, someone threatened you that if you didn't do it, they would kill you?" Diana snapped at him sarcastically, trying to ignore the tingle she was feeling where his hand touched her skin.

     Remus said nothing, his brown eyes locked with her blue ones. Diana felt as though all the air in the world had run out and it became hard for her to breathe as she looked up at him.

     The distance between them was so little that she could practically feel his breath on her skin. All it would take to close the distance was if she went on her tiptoes. She was tempted to do it, just to see what would happen. Her heart started to beat faster.

     But Diana was snapped out of her thoughts when Remus shook his head the next moment and dropped his hand, taking a step away from her.

     "I apologize," he said more formally, avoiding her eyes. "I didn't mean to offend you."

     And then, without waiting for Diana's response, Remus turned around and left the corridor, leaving her feeling lost and dazed.